Here is a little post I wrote in January 2015. I thought you might like to know a little bit more about my journey…
I have been working on lots of planning and strategy recently, not just for myself but also for my clients. I have made some very conservative projections and whilst making a VERY healthy income of late, I am well on track to make six figures + this year.
I am not saying this to brag or have a diva “aren’t I awesome” moment (I’m really not like that).
I want to show you a little bit of my journey and how I got to where I am – perhaps a whistle stop tour but here goes….
Ten Years Ago I Had One of Those Epiphany Moments
My life had been turned upside down and inside out. I had been critically ill. I had spent a week in an intensive care bed in a coma. I had contracted septicemia from a urine infection (I know – who knew that was even possible!) and my organs had begun to shut down. I had a machine breathing for me, cocktails of drugs being pumped into me and I had (what I’m told) was a fairly groovy tilting bed to move me from side to side at 15 minute intervals.
Then I started To Get Better
I was steely and strong (I would have never believed I had that inside me either). I knew I had to get back to being me and get better quickly. I wanted to be at home in my own house. I wanted to show them that I didn’t need to take months to recover. That I was a feisty girl with grit and determination and that I would not be beaten. Okay, so when I got home I couldn’t lift a kettle as I was too weak and certainly could not climb the stairs alone. I had to be babysat whenever my other half left the house – not my idea of fun but better than being in hospital any longer.
Everyday I challenged myself to do a little bit more…
…Walk a little bit further, lift something a little bit heavier.
I made it. I fully recovered.
But like lots of people who have been critically ill I had a new appreciation for life. I was not going to take life lying down anymore. Life was too short to do things that made you unhappy. I was going to roll with what brought me joy.
At this time I was a lawyer. Suited and booted and with briefcase in hand I would zip off to work everyday. It was no Ally McBeal but I was living my dream. It had always been the job I wanted to do until IT DIDN’T FIT ANYMORE.
It Didn’t Work Anymore After I Had Kids
I didn’t want to leave home really early on a morning and return home really late at night. I didn’t want to spend my time within the guilt cycle I had started to get sucked into. I was slowly becoming miserable and I had that promise with myself that that simply would not be tolerated in my world.
Time to jump ship.
Time to do something new.
Time to try a flexible way of working.
“Eeee aren’t you brave,” came the cooo from colleagues (many of whom moaned about their job and their life but just didn’t fancy taking the leap into something new).
I believed I would figure it all out and I did in the end
The Circus Was Coming to Town
Fast forward into my self employment and the circus was coming to town (eeee it took me a while to get to the title of this article didn’t it). My kids were desperate to go, all the kids were talking about it at school. I scrimped all my pennies together and managed to buy tickets (another “who knew” moment but I am sure a trip to the circus wasn’t that expensive when I was younger). We got to the circus and before the circus started around came the entertainers ready to sell their tat. Kids love tat! But I had spent every penny I had on the tickets. There was no tat, no fizzy pop, no hotdogs or popcorn. We were just here for the show. That was in July 2013.
That was the day that my service business – selling my time for money – with high overheads and low returns was put to bed. Enough was enough. I had put my heart and soul into that business but it was pants. I took a step back and saw that no matter how hard I worked and no matter how many hours I put into it there was no way I was ever going to achieve what I wanted from this business model. I wasn’t making anywhere near enough money for the hours I was putting in and I was at capacity. I could not do anymore. A few tears, a realisation and then time to pull my socks up and find my mojo again.
Had I failed? No – I learnt shed loads about how not to run a business. That was the beginning of my business training.
That day at the circus changed my life
In July 2013 I built my first website. I learnt everything I needed to know, I became a student of all things tech as well as honing my skills to help other people to run wildly successful businesses.
I have got over my tech-phobia and am now able to do everything in my business I need to do. I now choose not to do it all and to outsource various elements to other people (cause I can & the people on my team now rock!).
I Started from the Beginning
I put the foundations of my business in place. I worked hard, I gathered my crowd and built my list (which I continue to do) and I provide them with fabulous free content (which I continue to do too).
I took it one step at a time
Your empire won’t be built overnight but just look at my eighteen months from, quite frankly, the bones of my bum to a six figure + year.
I am involved in 50k + launches on a regular basis and sometimes the figures we discuss blow me away. I often laugh about how ridiculous some of the numbers we discuss on a regular basis are. Speaking with clients we often reality check them back to the real world and we are so proud of the businesses we have created.
It isn’t easy. I have worked damn hard to get where I am today BUT I have loved every minute and looking back wouldn’t even change the bad times as they taught me so much.
by Emma Holmes, Rebels and Rockstars
Emma helps heart-centred, soulful entrepreneurs to get our of their own way and build ridiculously big businesses. Although she has helped her clients make a LOT of money, Emma believes it’s not all about making stacks of money quickly – it’s about getting the back end work RIGHT with a strategy that works in the long term. Emma works with clients around the world on a business strategy bespoke to THEM. No cookie cut approach or one size fits all!
You can check out the ‘Rebels and Rockstars’ website here
If you've been thinking about starting a business for any length of time, but taking that leap into the unknown has been holding you back, then this free no-obligation, 5 day course is ideal for you.
THIS STUFF could change absolutely EVERYTHING in your world!
In this instant access FREE mini-course I walk you through EXACTLY what you need to know, so you can launch your business with the confidence you are on the path to success.
