(Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, iHeart or TuneIn)

 

Have you ever wondered what it *really* takes to turn a dream into a thriving business? 

Are you curious about the highs and lows of a real-life entrepreneurial journey? 

And do you want to know proven strategies for navigating the inevitable challenges and setbacks that happen while you’re building a business?

If these questions keep you up at night, then you’re in for a treat with this episode. 

My entrepreneurial journey has been a rollercoaster of highs, lows, and everything in between. It’s a story of passion, perseverance, and plenty of learning moments. And in this eye-opening episode, I’m laying it all on the table: from the pivotal moments that ignited my entrepreneurial fire, to the critical changes I would make if I started over. 

You’ll get an insider’s view of everything from my business investments, to the secrets of how I built my dream team, to how I’ve weathered my darkest moments of self-doubt. (Ever thought about giving up? I’ve been there too, and I’ll tell you what kept me going.)

Press play to learn: how I tackle limiting beliefs in business and life, the strategies I use to face and conquer business challenges, the real story of how my podcast came to life, and the secrets of creating a lifestyle by design. I’ll even take you back to my very first offer, my journey to profitability, and the steps I took to grow my social media and email list from scratch. 

This episode isn’t just a story; it’s a roadmap packed with practical insights and inspiring takeaways. So if you’re craving actionable steps to start your journey or you’re seeking guidance on how to navigate the wild world of entrepreneurship, then press play now… this one’s for you.

In this episode we chat about:

• The pivotal moments that sparked my passion for entrepreneurship (1:57)
• If I had to start from scratch today, this is what I’d do differently (22:52)
• How much money I’ve invested in my business (24:21)
• My hard-won secrets for finding and hiring your Dream Team (25:50)
• My strategies for dealing with dark moments (28:03)
• Have I ever wanted to throw in the towel? (30:41)
• The inspiring story of how I started my podcast (32:45)
• My process for working through limiting beliefs in business (and life!) (34:58)
• Facing and overcoming challenges in business (37:19)
• How I created a lifestyle by design (38:43)
• Flashback: my first ever offer and how much money I made in my first year (39:33)
• My thoughts on going viral (43:02)
• How long did it take for my business to make a profit? (44:32)
• Strategies for growing your social media following and email list (45:50)
• What to do when you don’t know where to start (47:19)
• Advice for finding and following your true purpose (47:48)
• How to start your dream business today (50:17)
• Inside look at the team who help me bring my dreams to life (50:37)
• Navigating the highs and lows of entrepreneurship (52:42)

Episode resources:

• SheLaunch (join here)
• Mastering Your Mean Girl by Melissa Ambrosini (book)
• Open Wide by Melissa Ambrosini (book)
• Comparisonitis by Melissa Ambrosini (book)
• Time Magic by Melissa Ambrosini and Nick Broadhurst (book)
• The Wholy Mama Journal by Melissa Ambrosini (book)
• Six Figure Sisters (website)
• Institute of Integrative Nutrition (use the code melissa for 200 dollars off)
• Tony Robbins (website)
• Dr John Demartini (website)
• The 7 Treasures Framework for Success & Personal Mastery with Dr John Demartini (podcast)
• The Truth About Vaccine Mandates, Understanding Polarity & Seeing Both Sides with Dr John Demartini (podcast)
• How To Solve All Your Problems with Dr John Demartini (podcast)
• The Goddess Group (youtube)
• How Your Inner Critic Is Holding You Back | Melissa Ambrosini | TEDxMonashUniversity (youtube)
• You Can Heal Your Life by Louise Hay (book)
• 8 Life-Altering Strategies To Reignite Your Motivation When You’ve Lost Your Drive (podcast)

Prefer To Read?

The following transcript has been automatically generated and not checked for accuracy.

[00:00:00] In episode 562, I am sharing all about my entrepreneurial journey, how it started, how I got here right from the beginning. I have never shared some of these stories, and I’ve never shared most of this information. So I am so excited for this, and I’m also answering some of your burning questions. Let’s dive in.

Welcome to the Melissa Ambrosini show. I’m your host, Melissa, best selling author of Mastering Your Mean Girl, Open Wide, Comparisonitis, and Time Magic. And I’m here to remind you that love is sexy, healthy is liberating, and wealthy isn’t a dirty word. Each week I’ll be getting up close and personal with thought leaders from around the world, as well as your weekly dose of motivation so that you can create epic change.[00:01:00] 

Hi Beautiful, and welcome back to the show. I’m so excited about this episode because you guys have been asking for it for such a long time that I finally sat down, wrote out my journey, and now I am here to share it with you. And the journey I’m referring to is my entrepreneurial journey. So many of you ask me, how did I get here?

How have I created the business that I’ve created? And I want to share how that has all unfolded for me. So I’m going to take you back, right back, guys, right back. I’m going to share my entrepreneurial journey. And then I opened it up to questions from you incredible humans. I’ve got so many entrepreneurial questions and business questions here from you guys.

So I want to dive into my journey first and then I’m going to go to the questions. Okay. Are you guys ready? Let’s dive in. So I truly believe that it was [00:02:00] destiny for me to be an entrepreneur. My dad is an entrepreneur and I never visualized myself working for other people. And when I have worked for other people in the past, I don’t like it.

I don’t like being told what to do. I just don’t like being told what to do. That’s my personality. I love going at my own pace. I love being in control. I love the freedom to do what I want to do when I want to do it. So with that said, I remember my first ever entrepreneurial endeavor, and that was when I was probably eight years old.

Um, and it began with selling my dad’s work shirts. Now so my dad has his own company and they had t shirts printed for all of his tradesmen that work for him and they were in small, medium and large. So I thought it was a good idea to get my little dolls shopping trolley and there’s a basket and put all of the shirts in there and I got a piece of paper and it said small [00:03:00] 2, medium 3, large 4.

And I sticky taped that to the basket, I brought my brother along with me who modeled one of the shirts, and I tied with elastic band the shirt at the back so it looked fitted. And I made him come with me. We lived in a cul de sac and I went up and down my street, pushing this trolley with my brother, selling my dad’s shirts.

And I remember knocking on the door and saying, would you like to buy a shirt? Like why on earth would anyone want to buy another company’s shirt? But people did because I think they just felt sorry for me. And I would present my brother and say, this is what it looks like on, and I would get him to turn around and show the front and the back.

Anyway, I can’t remember how many shirts I sold, but I loved it. And then when we did things at school, like where you had to sell chocolates and things like that, I loved it. I just loved making money and I loved taking [00:04:00] initiative. So that was my first ever memory of business and making money and being an entrepreneur.

And then when I was 15, I got a modeling agent. And I started being booked for modeling jobs and I also had a dance agent and I started being booked for dancing gigs and back in the day you invoiced by hand and I remember writing an invoice for 250 for this gig or whatever it was. And then I would give that to the agent and then they would deposit money into my account.

I thought it was the best thing ever. So when I was 15 and all my friends were working at McDonald’s, which, although I did work at McDonald’s for two weeks, by the way, but I loved the idea of doing what I love and getting paid for it. Like that was just mind blowing for me. And so at 15, 16, 17, whilst I finished high school on the weekends and on the school holidays, I was working professionally as an actress, dancer, [00:05:00] model, and I did TV presenting.

So that was incredible. So when I finished school, I applied for a bachelor of business, majoring in marketing, because everyone was applying for university and. I just was going along with it, but I truly wanted to be a performer. So whenever I went to uni, I moved cities, an hour and a half flight, and I went to a performing arts college, which was a year long program.

And I absolutely loved it so much. It was just a dream come true to get to dance and act and sing every day of the week was like heaven for me. Absolute heaven. So I did that for a year. And then after that, you auditioned for one of the big agencies in Australia. And I auditioned and I got in and then I started working for them and doing jobs all around Australia and absolutely loved it.

And then about a year and a half into my professional career, [00:06:00] I auditioned for the Moulin Rouge. and got in. There was 500 girls at that audition and they took five of us and I got in, which was just amazing. I remember the audition very clearly. I loved it. So this was when I was 20 years old. I moved to Paris and I lived in Paris and worked at the Moulin Rouge for a year.

And this was kind of like the first time I had like a full time job. It was six days a week, two shows a night. So I think we got to work at about six o’clock and the first show was maybe like nine and then the second show was maybe, 10. And we didn’t walk out of there until, gosh, two or three in the morning.

And I remember not going to sleep most days until 4am. So it was a very different lifestyle to the lifestyle I live now. Holy moly. So different, but I loved it, but you don’t have the freedom. Like I couldn’t have the [00:07:00] freedom to travel. You know, I was living in Europe and I couldn’t just jump on a plane and go to Spain or.

Go anywhere I wanted. And that felt really restrictive for me. I was just like, I’m on the other side of the world. I want to be able to jump on a plane and just go and do whatever I want to do. And I also wanted to do other jobs. I wanted to do other dancing jobs and modeling jobs and acting jobs and everything that you do outside of that, you had to get permission for, and you had to apply for if you wanted holiday, you had to apply for.

And that felt restrictive to me. It didn’t feel like freedom and the location and financial freedom that I wanted. So, after a year, I moved to London for two years and I continued working as a dancer and acting and TV presenting and modelling and I absolutely loved it. I was being flown to New York, all over Europe, doing jobs.

I just loved it. I did a little musical on the West End. I just loved my life there. I had such great friends. We [00:08:00] traveled so much. We partied hard. We were living our best 22, 23 year old life. And then after two years, my visa expired and I was absolutely devastated. I had worked so hard to build all of these relationships, all of these connections in London.

I had such great friends. I had a boyfriend that I was dating. I was living the dream. I was traveling so much and I was devastated that I had to leave. I tried everything to stay. But. The way that the visas work there at that time, I couldn’t get another visa. And so I reluctantly had to come back to Australia and I was so devastated.

And I came back very depressed. And one of the main reasons is because I knew my thriving career was over because the performing industry in London, New York, and LA is very different to Australia. It’s not a thriving [00:09:00] industry here, right? There’s not as much opportunity. There’s not as many TV shows.

There’s not as many musicals. There’s just not as much as there is overseas. So I knew that I was coming back to kind of like, A really, really smaller industry. And I’d always told myself that when I moved back to Australia that I would start doing something different. I didn’t know what it was, but I just thought, you know, I might hang up my dancing shoes.

I just didn’t know it was going to be that soon. And so my boyfriend dumped me that I had in London. I came back here, the friends that I did have here, they dumped me and I had no job and I was starting from scratch again. I had no income. And I had to sleep on my friend’s sister’s fold out single bed in her loungeroom, and it was a really low point in my life.

Very low point. I was so depressed. I was so [00:10:00] confused. I was so lost. I was around 23, 24, and I didn’t know what I was going to do with my life. I remember one time, one of my girlfriends that lived in another city, one of my school friends, she called me and she said, you need to get up and get out of bed.

Because all I was doing was sleeping and I was very depressed. And I went to the doctors and she said, yeah, you’ve got depression and I’m going to give you some antidepressants. And she gave me some antidepressants and I started taking them. And like in hindsight, I look back and I’m like, I wasn’t depressed.

I was just lost and very sad and heartbroken and confused and unsure of myself and all of those things. And so I tried to kind of keep my performing career going. I, you know, was doing these gigs and shows and it’s just not the same. Like I said, the industry is just not as big and I wasn’t making as much money [00:11:00] and I was doing admin work to kind of make ends meet.

And I really was so confused about my path. I remember I got a little role on a TV show called Packed to the Rafters and another one called Home and Away. And I remember being on the set for Home and Away and thinking like, Oh, well, this is it. This is like the show in Australia to get on. Like this is the pinnacle, right?

And I remember being in my trailer on my own and feeling so empty and so depressed and thinking like, this is meant to be. the thing that every actress in Australia wants to be on. Like, this is the thing. And I’m so unhappy. And that’s when I realized like, Hmm, I’m not sure that this path is for me anymore.

And so I did what most early 20 year olds would do. And I partied. I looked forward to the weekend to numbing all of my emotions [00:12:00] with going out. And I continued to burn the candle at both ends. I kept on ending up in hospital in and out of emergency. I was having allergic reactions where my throat was closing over.

I would sprain my ankle and end up in emergency. That was actually from swinging on a pole in a nightclub wearing high heels. I was really lost, really, really lost. And the final straw for me was in October 2010, where I ended up in hospital and I was in there for a week and I had a whole host of health issues.

Like I had, hormonal issues. I had adrenal fatigue, chronic fatigue. I had hives all over my body, eczema, acne. I had cold sores all over my face, in my mouth and down my throat. And it felt like to me that the universe was like, okay, Melissa, if you aren’t going to stop, we are going to make you stop. And we’re going to [00:13:00] take away the thing that you need to work, which is your looks and your body.

And you are going to have to face yourself and your life. And I remember being in hospital. And I was there for a week and my mom and dad were there and they were so beautiful and so supportive. And some new ish friends that I just met sent me a little care package from a different state. And one of the things that was in that care package was Louise Hayes, You Can Heal Your Life.

And that book literally changed my life. life. I read it in a day or two in the hospital. I remember closing the book, turning to my mom and saying, why didn’t you teach me this? Why didn’t you teach me this? And she was like, Oh darling, I was doing the best that I could. And absolutely they were, they are incredible parents.

So the next day she was coming up to the hospital and I sent her a message and I said, can you please bring me a journal? She brought me a journal and a pen [00:14:00] and I just journaled for an entire week when I was in hospital, an entire week. This was way before social media and Instagram all that. So I didn’t have any of that to distract myself.

I literally sat in hospital for a week. journaling and was blown away by the realizations that I was having. And one of the big ones that I had was that surely God or the universe, whatever you believe in, didn’t put us here to suffer the way that I was suffering. Surely that is not why we are here. And then I got this answer and it was like, no, that’s not why we’re here.

And I was like, okay. And then this other intuition came over and it was like, get healthy and happy, Melissa, and you will live a beautiful life. You will live a life beyond your wildest dreams. And I didn’t know how to get healthy or happy. I didn’t know what the first steps were. But that voice was so strong within me, right?

So strong. And so in [00:15:00] hospital, I signed up to do the Institute for Integrative Nutrition certification because I knew that the lowest hanging fruit for me was to get my health sorted because I didn’t have my health at that moment. And you need your health to do what you want to do. If you don’t have your health, you can’t do the things that you want to do in your life.

So I asked mom and dad if I could borrow the money to pay for the course. And so I did that course. It’s a year long program. And a few months in, I was just blown away. I was like, why are they not teaching this information in schools? Like it blew my mind. I had no idea about all of the incredible things that they teach at IIM.

And just a little sidebar here. I’m now one of the visiting faculty for IIN, which is an absolute dream come true. Like this program changed my life and now I teach in it. I’m also one of their biggest ambassadors. And if you are interested in doing IIN, go to melissaambrosini. [00:16:00] com forward slash IIN and tell them that you want the Melissa Ambrosini discount and you can get a couple of thousand dollars off your tuition, which is just amazing.

So little sidebar there now coming back to my story. So I did IIN and a few months in, I realized that it wasn’t just about what you put in your mouth. It wasn’t just about the green smoothies and. the healthy kale salads. It was so much about mindset. And so I went on and I became a meditation teacher and I did my life coaching certification and I studied acuenergetics, which is energy healing work.

I did my yoga teacher training. I read every personal development and spiritual text I could get my hands on. I went to Tony Robbins, Dr. John Demartini. I attended all of the seminars and the workshops and I became obsessed like in a healthy way with entrepreneurship, with personal development, with health, with mindset, with wellness.

I just loved it so much. And I [00:17:00] began sharing what I was learning on my blog. And I blogged five days a week back then. So in 2011, I started my business. As a one on one health life. And I did business coaching as well. So I would have people come and we would overhaul their whole health, which always led to life stuff too.

We’d talk about relationships and then always led to purpose and business. And I loved it. I loved one on one coaching so much. And then I started doing some in person events like health events, which I loved. I would hire just local yoga studios. I would have 20 people in there and I would sell out straight away.

And I loved that. I was like, Oh, this is amazing. Like I’m just sharing what I love and what I’m passionate about and getting paid to do it. This is epic. And I would also do little cooking demos in my health talk, which I just loved. I started a YouTube series with three of my friends called health talks.

This was way before, you know, people [00:18:00] were doing this stuff and it took off and did so well. And I was beginning to get asked to speak on stages as an inspirational and motivational speaker. And my first gig was for Lululemon and I couldn’t believe it. I was like, you want me to what? You want me to come and share my story and get paid to do it?

Like, what, what do you mean? Like I was blown away. And so that was my first speaking gig and I loved it. And I truly believe that like all my performing, all my acting, all my dancing, all my TV presenting training. Was training for what I was really meant to do on this earth, which is this work that I do now.

Because people say to me, how do you have the confidence? How are you so confident on stage? And how do you know how to, you know, hold yourself? And I truly believe all of that was like dress rehearsal for what I am truly here to do on this earth, which is to teach, help, support, coach, [00:19:00] inspire, all of those things.

So I then released my first product, which is an ebook. It was about 18 and it was called Path to Wellness. And I remember the first day that I launched that and then I made sales that whole day, I made all the money I spent on the ebook to create it back in the first day because I paid for a photographer to do nice photos of me.

I paid a designer to design it. And then the next morning I opened my email and I saw I made all this money overnight and I couldn’t believe it. I was like, I made money while I was asleep. That’s incredible. And that was my first taste of passive income. Okay. So then from there, I created programs for all the OGs listening.

My first program was Get Your Glow On. Then I had the Mastering Your Mean Girl program, the Open Wide program, the MA Academy Business Bootcamp program, the Conscious [00:20:00] Relationships Masterclass, the Social Media Masterclass, and Holy Mama, and now SheLaunch. And I’m probably forgetting a few others in there as well, but they’re the ones that I can remember off the top of my head.

And again, these programs, we did launches. We made so much money in the launch and then they turned evergreen. And again, I was making money overnight and I just, my mind was blown. Like I was not taught this stuff in school. No one taught me about this in school. And then I started this group in person that met for two years every week for group coaching called the goddess group.

So every Tuesday we met, I would lead them in with a meditation and then there was a topic that I spoke about and then we opened it up for questions and that went on for two years and it was. The best, so fun. I had 40 spots every week and I sold out every single week. Every week the tickets sold out.

There was a wait list and I loved it so much. It built such a beautiful community. It was the best. And then we also filmed [00:21:00] it. And so you could watch it online as well. So that was called the goddess group on demand. And I just loved this so much. That was where I realized I loved live events and that I wanted to do this all the time.

And. There were some more events and workshops and speaking gigs. I did my first TEDx talk and that was incredible. And throughout all of that, I got my first book deal. I have written five books, which still blows my mind and launched my podcast, which has had 26 million downloads, which is so amazing. And thank you for listening.

I’m so grateful that you’re here. And I’ve just recently launched my latest offering, SheLaunch, which helps female coaches, consultants, and service providers get to six and seven figures in their business without the burnout. I am teaching this because that is what I have done. And now I want to teach it to others.

So that is a little bit about my [00:22:00] entrepreneurial journey and the things that I’ve done. And the steps that I have taken along the way. So I hope you got a lot out of that and found it insightful into my journey. And there’s so many more things in there that I’ve done and I might’ve missed some things, but that’s a little outline for you guys.

So now I want to jump to the questions, but I just want to say that for me, one of my core values is location and financial freedom. I want to be able to live wherever I want to live in the world. I want to be able to travel wherever I want to travel in the world and just take my laptop and my phone and I want to be able to have financial freedom.

And this is one of the reasons why I work for myself. And if you want location and financial freedom. You’ve got to check out SheLaunch. Go to SheLaunch. com and let us help you make that your reality, okay? So I want to dive now into the questions, okay? Knowing what you now know, if you started again from scratch, what [00:23:00] advice would you give and what would you do differently?

Okay, so I would definitely focus on building an email list. I would have done that and focused more on that from the get go, but I didn’t because I didn’t understand the importance of it and really nurturing that list. Because you have to remember that your social media platforms are rented real estate.

Your list is yours, right? All of the social media platforms could close down tomorrow, but your list, your email list is yours. So I would definitely have a stronger focus on building an email list and I would really nurture that list. And I would start an Instagram account. It is one of the best marketing tools, but that wasn’t around when I first started.

It was just Facebook, but I would do that now. And I would do what we teach inside SheLaunch, which is I would understand who your ideal avatar is. I would create an irresistible offer. I would [00:24:00] focus on creating a personal brand. And I would understand marketing and sales energetics. And I would get really good at creating content and enjoy creating content.

And we teach all of that inside SheLaunch. Make sure you go there, shelaunch. com if you’re interested, but those are the things that I would do differently if I was starting from scratch. Hope that helps. Okay. How much financial investment have you made in your business? For example, with courses, coaches, et cetera.

I don’t know the answer to that question, but all I can say is a lot. I have spent so much money on courses, mentors, coaches, trainings, books, software. I have spent so much. Much money on that stuff over the years, because I truly believe that your biggest and best investment is you. You are your biggest and your best investment.

And the more you invest in yourself, the more you fill yourself up, fill your [00:25:00] brain up, the more you can give to others, the more you can help others. So for me, I have no issue spending money on those things. I love spending money on those things. It’s like health. I love spending money on health because my body is my temple.

So I have no issue and problem spending money on those things. I don’t spend a lot of money on clothes and shoes and eating out and I don’t drink alcohol and taxis. Like I don’t get taxis. I don’t spend a lot of money on those things, like for me, it usually goes to learning or health. That’s where I choose to spend my money.

So I cannot give you an exact number, but all I can say is a lot. I’ve been on this journey since 2010 and I’ve had coaches and trainers and courses and books and all sorts of things from that moment. So, All I can say is that it would be a lot, that’s for sure. Okay, what have you learnt about hiring people who are a good fit?

Can you share stories of any poor hires and how you have improved the process since [00:26:00] early days? So, I first want to say that this has been a journey. This has been such a journey from when I first started. My first ever hire was a virtual VA that I shared with my then best friend who’s since passed. We shared this VA and that was my first ever hire in my business.

Now, what I can say is One of the best things that you can do is do a very thorough job description, outlining everything that they will need to do. Okay? So be super granular and specific here. Lay everything out that they will do. That is the first step. The second step is go out to your email list or your social media, LinkedIn, and.

Go there first. You know, I was a little bit reluctant to do this because I didn’t want people to apply for the job that just wanted to be my friend or just wanted to hang out. That’s lovely. But I’m looking for someone who wants to work with me, you know, and not just [00:27:00] be my friend. So I thought, Oh, I don’t know if that’s going to work.

But a lot of the amazing hires that we’ve had have come through my incredible email list and my social platforms. So don’t be afraid to go there. You can also go to Upwork or ask people in your network. Such a great thing to do. And then the next thing is get them to do a very detailed task and pay attention to how much they pay attention to detail.

So give them a task and see how they go. And then I would also do some profiling like Human Design, Myers Briggs, Flippin, find out their astrology, all sorts of things. Do a little bit of profiling to find out the type of person that you are potentially going to have in your business, right? So that is kind of the process that we do, a very thorough job description, go out to the email list, give them a detailed task and pay attention.

to how they pay attention to detail and do some profiling. There are a couple of little tips that we [00:28:00] do when we are hiring. Hope that helps. Okay. How did you get out of your darkest moments? Did you slow down with your work or did you keep going? Okay. So even when my heart was breaking, every month when we didn’t get pregnant for 18 months, Even when Nick and I have been through challenging times, even when loved ones have passed away, I have always kept on going.

Now, I love my work. I love you guys. I was born to serve. I was born to teach. This is what lights me up. No matter what I am going through, I always, always honor myself and how I am feeling, always. I take time off social media. And even if I take time off social media, my team is still posting stuff, or Stuff is still going out because I usually am a few weeks ahead, which is great.

So some people don’t even realize that I’m offline and it might just be a couple of days, but if I am going through something, I [00:29:00] will move launch dates if I need to, but I never give up. I never throw in the towel. I may pull the handbrake a little, but I never quit. And something else I’ve always done is never share.

What I’m going through at the moment that I’m going through it. I am not that person. I know some people do. And if that’s their style, then great. But for me, I don’t want people’s opinions. I don’t want a thousand messages about what I should be doing or any advice. Like for me, when I’m going through something, I want to have the realizations myself, I want to go through it myself.

I share once I’m on the other side. So I don’t share from the wound, I share from the scar, okay? So you gotta do what’s right for you. But I do this because I really don’t want other people’s opinions and I want to experience what I’m experiencing for myself. So I will share my realizations after. So the takeaway is, don’t completely give up when you’re [00:30:00] going through dark moments.

You can move things around. You can take as much time off as your soul and heart needs, but never ever give up. Never give up and just do the bare minimum, you know, and get support, get support from your team, family, friends, whatever it is. So, when I’ve been through really challenging times, ask for help.

Can you post this for me? Can you do this for me? Can you please check this for me? I don’t have it in my tank right now. And everyone is so willing and so supportive. So, do not give up, keep going, because the world needs you and your magic. And this perfectly follows on to the next question, were there any moments where you wanted to give up?

Now this kind of contradicts what I last said, but yes, I have wanted to give up and throw in the towel and thought, I’m just going to be a mum. But I know me, I know me better than [00:31:00] anyone knows me. And I love what I do. I love helping. I love serving. I love coaching. I love speaking. I love writing books. I love podcasting.

What I do is part of my soul’s purpose here. I was born to do this work. I have to be honest with you, since having Bambi, I have really sat with the question of. Do I want to solely be a mum and not work? And I usually only ask that question when I’m truly exhausted and maybe been up all night and it’s never coming from my truth, which you need to ask yourself, where’s that question coming from for you?

So for me, it was coming from that exhausted, tired mama. And so in those moments, I upped my self care. But the answer is no, there have never been any true moments of wanting to give up, like maybe just saying it, but I love what I do so much. And if I’m not coaching women. And not speaking and not podcasting [00:32:00] and writing and creating content.

I feel like there’s something deeply missing in my life. I get itchy feet. I’m like, I just want to help. I just want to serve. I just want to support. So that’s when you really know that what you’re doing is your truth. So yes, there have been tired moments where I’ve wanted to throw it with the towel, but not any true moments, if that makes sense.

Next question. Did you ever feel like quitting and just working for someone else? No, I could never ever work for anyone else. I love the freedom, the location freedom, the time freedom, the financial freedom, and I have all of that in my company. And now I get to teach others how to do the same with SheLaunched.

So, yeah, No, no, no, no, no. How did you launch the podcast and what is your vision for it? So when I launched the podcast, I started with five episodes and I launched with five episodes. This is really important. If you want to start a podcast, don’t just launch [00:33:00] with one episode. Have five or more ready to go when you launch, because people are going to listen, love it, and they’re going to want to binge more episodes, more from you.

So don’t just have one episode. And then you want to pick a cadence that works for you. So are you going to release a new episode every Wednesday? Are you going to do two episodes? What are you going to do? And pick it and stick to it and show up consistently. That is how you will grow. Consistency is key for anything.

The more you show up, the more reps you do, the better you’re going to get. So keep showing up and keep producing incredible content and your podcast will grow. Now my vision for this podcast, my goodness. It is just blown up. It’s one of the top podcasts in Australia. It’s often in the charts, which is so amazing.

And I’m so grateful, truly so grateful that this podcast has taken off and I get to share what I love and the [00:34:00] people that I love with you guys. So my vision from here on is to continuously produce amazing episodes every Wednesday, be consistent. Now, I have never missed an episode, never missed a week ever, and that is key to growth.

So I’m going to continue to produce amazing episodes. I have a dream guest list. I want to continue to keep getting on these dream guests. And we are actually building a recording studio. So I’m going to be filming all of them when we build that studio. So there’ll be going on YouTube as well, which will just add another amazing element to it.

Where you guys can watch the interviews as well. So that’s my vision. I want to keep growing it. I want to get to a hundred million downloads because what that means for me is that this message is reaching more ears and that’s what I want because I want to help as many people as I possibly can. So that is my vision.

All right, let’s move to the next [00:35:00] question. How have you shifted through any limiting beliefs that have kept you from growing your business? I just want to say that there have been so many, and this is how I have moved through them and continue to show up. The first step is I become aware of the limiting belief.

I can’t do this because of X or whatever it is, or no, one’s going to buy this, or who am I to teach on this or whatever it is. I become aware of it, I write it down, and I start with my inner main goal is telling me whatever it is. Then, before a meditational look at it. And I will ask myself, is this really true?

And most of the time it’s like, no, definitely not true. And sometimes I’m like, well, you know, my inner mingo will try and justify it. And I will just keep asking her the questions. Well, okay. How, how do you justify that? Well, this happened. Okay. And then I’ll just keep asking questions, keep asking questions and journaling the answer.

And I get to the bottom of where that [00:36:00] belief came from, where that story first originated. And it usually stems from something that someone said to me in my childhood. And then in that moment, I’m able to see that it is not my truth now. And I simply let it go. That is how I move through limiting beliefs.

And I’m not saying that it’s always a very quick process. Sometimes it takes a little bit longer, but that has been a game changer for me. Writing it down and then dissecting where it came from. And just having that awareness that, ah, well, that belief is coming up from my inner mingle because my sixth grade teacher or my year two teacher told me this, whatever it is, or said this, or I heard this, and it’s not actually my truth now.

My truth now is that I can do this or I am capable. So take yourself through that little exercise, write down the limiting belief, ask yourself where did that come from? And ask yourself, is [00:37:00] it true now in this moment? And then let it go. Let it go. Let it go. It is not serving you in this moment. Ask yourself, is holding on to this limiting belief serving me?

And if the answer is no, let it go. Let it go. Let it go. I hope that helps, but that’s what I do and it works for me. Next question. What did you find the most challenging or what have you found the most challenging in your business journey so far? So definitely for me, being a generator Aries, I move fast.

I move really fast. And I think the biggest thing for me has been working with people that don’t move as fast as me. And working with people who have their timeline. This is the thing. When you have contractors, they have other work, they have their timeline, and there’s nothing you can really do about that unless you employ people full time into your business.

And at the start, I definitely couldn’t do that. So [00:38:00] for me, if I write a lead magnet. I want it designed that day and then up that day, you know, I mean, this is just how I think and work. I’m like, it’s done. Let’s move on. Let’s get it out. Come on, let’s get it out. Let’s move. Let’s move. Let’s move. And I think that has definitely been one of the most challenging things for me.

Like I have big goals and I want to hit them fast, but sometimes our designers or our contractors, they have other things on and you just have to be patient. And go at the speed that everyone can go at. So for me, it’s being okay with that and just trusting in divine timing. So that’s probably been the biggest and most challenging thing.

Okay. Next question. What event was the catalyst for when you believed that you could create a lifestyle by design? Definitely, ending up in hospital in October 2010 when my friend sent me that package to the hospital. In that box was a book that [00:39:00] changed my life, Louise Hayes, You Can Heal Your Life. That was definitely the catalyst that changed everything for me.

My life literally changed from that moment on. Literally, and I’m the type of person that like got rid of everything. I cleared out everything in my life to create space for this. I’m not like a half in person. I’m an all in person. So that was definitely the catalyst for me to start creating a life that I really loved.

Yeah. That I really, really loved. Okay. Next question. I would love to know what you offered when you first started and how much money you made in your first year. This is such a cool question. Okay. So what I first offered was, I think it was 18, an 18 ebook called the path to wellness. And I made all the money back in the first night that I spent on that.

So I [00:40:00] did a photo shoot, I got some professional photos and I paid a designer to design it. I didn’t spend a lot on it to be honest. But I made it all back in the first night and I couldn’t believe it. I woke up the next morning and I was like, jaw on the floor. What? I made money while I was sleeping. This is amazing.

So that was my first online offer. And I was also doing one on one coaching. Yeah. So one on one health, life, and business coaching. This is all in the first year I was doing workshops. So health and wellness workshops. I wrote for Cosmopolitan magazine, think for a very small fee. Maybe I even did it for free.

I can’t remember. And I was doing speaking gigs. My first ever speaking gig was. I think I did it for free, I think I did it for free. And when you’re first starting out, I have no problems doing things for free. It builds confidence [00:41:00] and it deposits into your confidence bank, which I am all about. Like I did a couple of free coaching clients when I first started.

My first ever one was Jane. Jane, if you are listening to this, I love you. Thank you. And that gave me the confidence that I needed to propel me forward. So I have no issues with doing a couple of speaking gigs for free or a couple of coaching clients for free. However, you put a limit on it. Do three, that’s it.

Or two or whatever feels good for you. You have to tune in with yourself and then you start charging. Don’t fall into the trap that I have seen people do is like, Oh, I’m not ready yet. I’m not ready yet. I’m not ready yet. No. Okay. You just put yourself out there. Okay. You put yourself out there. You’ve deposited into your confidence bank, and then you go.

I teach this inside SheLaunch. I tell them, yes, okay. You can do up to three free sessions and then you go for it. And I always say, if you are [00:42:00] going to do anything for free. You must in exchange, cause there has to be an energetic exchange, right? Otherwise you’ll feel icky about it, right? So the energetic exchange could be, okay.

In exchange for me offering you this coaching for free or the speaking gig, I would say, can I please get a video or written testimonial or both? I would personally ask for both. And can you be active in the community if there is a community? So that is what I would say. And then when it comes to speaking gigs, I would say, okay, I can do this for free.

Yes. Happy to in exchange. Can I please get all of the video footage, the raw video footage and the professional photos and most people, because everything is usually filmed these days. Most people will say, absolutely, you can have all of the video footage and you can have all of the professional photos.

Then you can use that content for your social media and it’s social proof and things like that. Okay. So definitely there has to be an energetic exchange if you are [00:43:00] going to do things for free. Okay. So let’s move to the next question. How did you go viral? I have had quite a few social posts go viral.

And I teach this inside SheLaunch. There is a formula that I teach inside SheLaunch called the BCC formula, and that stands for brand, content, and consistency. And I follow the BCC formula and that is how I have gone viral. And that is how I teach my girls to go viral. So brand stands for creating a personal brand.

The first C stands for content, creating epic content that is more likely to go viral. So I teach how to do that with hooks and holds and benefits and powerful CTAs. And then the second C consistency, we talk about how important consistency is and choosing a cadence that aligns with you and your life and allows you to show up as best as you can on social media.

So that’s what I teach inside She Launch and that is how I have gone viral so many times It works. So, it’s amazing. [00:44:00] I actually have. Inside my free six figure sisters community. If you go to the number six figure sisters. co, you can join my free community for women entrepreneurs. And inside there, I have a five day training and on day three, I share about the BCC formula.

So you can dive in there. I’ll link to it in the show notes. You guys can go and check it out. It’s totally free. You can see the whole training right there. So check that out. Okay, next question. At what stage did you start making a comfortable living from your business? I made a comfortable living from my business in the first year and that was in 2011.

I was, I think, 24 or 25 and I didn’t have a lot of expenses at that time. I had rent that I was sharing with, I think it was a boyfriend at the time, maybe roommates, I can’t remember, car and food. And I didn’t go out. So like, I literally [00:45:00] didn’t have a lot of expenses. So I was making a living. I was completely living off my coaching only income, and I was still doing online programs, eBooks and speaking gigs and writing for Cosmo magazine.

So I was making a comfortable living in that first year when I was 24 or 25. And I’m just so grateful that I embarked on this journey because I’m I love working for myself. I love creating my dream life where I am in the driver’s seat. I just, I’ve never been good at working for somebody else. I just don’t like being told what to do, and I don’t like Being on someone else’s timeline.

So I just, I’m so grateful that I’ve created this business and this life. I just love it. And I love entrepreneurship so much. Okay. Next question. How did you start from zero on social media and on your podcast and grow it to where it is today? So just a reminder that we all [00:46:00] start with zero. Like literally I had zero followers.

I had zero listens on my podcast. Zero people on my email list, zero clients. We all start with zero. But when I started in 2011, I just consistently showed and I followed the BCC formula. I built a personal brand, I created epic content, and I was consistent. And that is how I have grown my social media and my podcast and my podcast.

I have never missed a week, never missed a week. Even when I went on maternity leave, I had a backlog of episodes ready to go. And I have just consistently showed up. With amazing content. So that is how you start. Yeah. And we teach this inside SheLaunch. This is how you start. And if you are brand new, a great thing for you to do is come and join Six Figure Sisters.

It is. A supportive, [00:47:00] free online community for like minded entrepreneurs like you. So come and join us. It’s totally free. And there’s lots of amazing trainings in there and so many resources for you, especially if you are at the start of your journey. So check it out. Number six and then figuresisters. co.

Yeah. Okay. Next question. I have a small business and I don’t know how to begin and I don’t know the social media side of things. Okay. So for you, my friend, definitely six figure sisters and she launched. Come and check them out. We teach you where to start. If you are a beginner. a small new business and we teach you everything with how to grow on social media.

So come and start there. And there are so many amazing resources in Six Figure Sisters. So come and join that. It’s a great place to start. Okay. Next question. How did you figure out what you wanted to do? Hmm. I followed my heart and my intuition. And I have always loved health and wellness, and I’ve always [00:48:00] loved entrepreneurship, like I shared before.

So for me, it was just a matter of tuning in. And so many of us don’t take that time to tune in. We busy, busy, busy. We fill our lives. To the top with noise that we never take the time to really stop and slow down. So I stopped and slowed down. I was forced to by ending up in hospital and I laid there for a week.

This was way before social media. I couldn’t just lay in hospital and scroll social media and laid there and I journaled for a week and just my mom and dad, no friends, no one came to see me. Just my mom and dad would come up each day to visit me. And that was it. I just journaled because I wanted to go inward.

And that’s how I usually process things. When something comes up for me, I go inward. I’m not the type of person that wants everyone’s opinion and shares it with everyone. I want to go inward and listen to my soul. So that is [00:49:00] how I figured out what I wanted to do. And I visualized my life. How do I want to live my life?

How do I see my life? Like what’s important to me? I wrote down all of my core values. I wrote down my why I wrote down my big goals and I just cleared out all of the noise. And I was like, this is how I want to live my life. I want to prioritize my life around. Health and being outside and going to bed early and nature and all of these things.

So how can I create a life that encompasses all of these things, these core values, these things that are really important to me. And if you don’t know what you want to do right now with your life, with your business or your career, stop and slow down and visualize what you want to do. How you see your life playing out for the next five or 10 years, like write down all of your core values.

What’s important to you. Yeah. What is important to you and then create a life [00:50:00] around those things. Yep. Do that. I love this. And I do this yearly. I re evaluate because things shift. So do this regularly to check in and stay in tune and true to yourself. Okay. Okay. Next question. How do I start a business like yours?

Come and join SheLaunch and Six Figure Sisters. Okay. Come and join those two things. That’s exactly how I have launched my business. That is exactly what I teach inside She Launched. This is how I started my business and now I’m teaching other women how to do it and I absolutely love it. Okay. Next question.

How big is your team today? Well, we have contractors that we use regularly, so I guess they are part of the team, but they don’t work for me full time. They do have other clients. Maybe they have one or two other clients, but they do work for me. weekly, and they still have other [00:51:00] clients. So I have about three of those.

And then we have people that solely work for us. So in total is probably about 10, 10 people, male and female, and they are amazing and I love my team and after. Every weekly team meeting, we have a team huddle every Tuesday morning and I just cry. I get off and cry because I’m just so grateful that I get to work with such epic humans.

Like I had dreamt about this for years. I wanted to work with amazing, amazing people and that’s now my reality. So I am so grateful. Like I literally, Nick’s like, looks at me. He’s just like, you’re hilarious. I just cry because I’m just so grateful. So team and hiring, it’s. It’s a skill, it’s an art. And my best hiring advice would be, you have to enjoy the person’s company first.

Like you really do. Yes, skills are important. But culture is also really important because you can train pretty [00:52:00] much everything, right? But if someone’s got a stinky attitude or they’re negative, they don’t fit the culture, like that stuff isn’t as easy to iron out. So if they’ve got an amazing attitude, if they’re positive, if they’re a go getter, if they are inspired and lit up by the work and maybe they need a little bit of tuning up on some of the skills.

I would hire that person over someone who is highly skilled and a Debbie Downer, because you got to talk to this person every day and you got to interact with this person. So you may as well find someone who’s a good culture fit because it makes your life so much more pleasant. Truly, it really does. So don’t forget that next time you’re hiring.

Okay, last question. I’ve noticed with myself and my colleagues, there are times where we are motivated and doing well. And then there are times that we hit a slump. Do you or Nick ever ride these highs or lows? And how do you navigate that? Any strategies or actions you take to pull you up and forward?

[00:53:00] And how do you get the best performance from your team? So I recently did an episode, a solo episode on motivation. So I’ll link to that in the show notes for you. I think, you know, when you have a really strong why, which Nick and I both do, I don’t ever not feel motivated. I am so driven every day. I also only have a certain amount of hours a day to work now because I have a nanny three or four hours a day, that is the only time I can work, right?

Sometimes I work in the morning before she wakes up and sometimes I do a little bit after she goes to bed at night. But during the day, I’ve only got three or four hours. So for me, I don’t have time to not be motivated. I’ve paid for a nanny. I just have to sit down, lock myself in my office, And power, which is what I do.

I power, like I don’t have time to scroll social [00:54:00] media. I just don’t, I have to just get my work done because there’s deadlines and there’s people in my team waiting for things from me. So I just have to focus and get things done. So have a strong why, why are you doing what you do? Because when you have a strong why, whether that is, you know, you’re doing a business because you want to have the income to send your children to a certain school or you want to free children and women from sex slavery, or you want to support your in laws because they’re retired, whatever it is, like, what is your why?

You want to bring your husband home from working two weeks on, two weeks off, like whatever your why is? Write it down or visually have it stuck around your computer. So when you go to work, you are looking at that. Like right now I have a vision board above my computer. I’m staring at my vision board right now.

All of my whys are on that vision board. Everything that I want to do and create this year [00:55:00] is there. So I am looking at it the whole time I’m working. So have a visual representation of your why and your goals that will put a fire cracker up your bum when you’re not feeling motivated. So try that. Know your why, have your goals at the forefront of your mind.

And when it comes to your team, I think. Like I said before, culture is so important and there’s so many amazing leadership books that you can read on how to be a better leader. This is something that I’m always working on. I am not a perfect leader. I am always learning. I’m always growing. I am apologizing for maybe responding in a way that wasn’t the most loving and nurturing way to respond.

I’m not perfect, but I am always learning and growing in this area. But I think if you want to get the best performance from your team, being a great leader, that’s where it starts. I think like a weekly team meeting is really powerful. Like a little check in with that person. I think [00:56:00] that’s really, really powerful because You can misread things so much over email or slacks or text.

So we do that. We do a weekly team meeting, like I said before, and that really allows us to all come together and just like do a little check in. And I really love that. So culture and Weekly connections are really powerful and KPIs, have KPIs for them. Everyone in your team should have like a big picture, should have KPIs, should know what they’re working toward, right?

They should have goals that they need to hit. So that is what I do. And it really works. And everyone that I work with is just. So amazing and I’m so grateful and if there is someone who’s not a culture fit, one of the best things you can do is just let them go as quickly as possible because it can bring the whole team down and we don’t want that.

Yeah. You want the energy and the vibration to be high and as stress free as possible. Yeah. So that is the end of the [00:57:00] questions and I hope that really helped and I hope you got a lot out of this episode and enjoyed. A little snippet into my entrepreneurial journey. It’s been so nice to reflect on it. So I hope you got a lot out of this episode.

And if you did, please subscribe to the show and leave me a review wherever you listen to your podcasts, because that means that we can educate and inspire even more people together. And it also means that all of my episodes will just pop up in your feeds that you never have to go searching for a new episode.

Now, come and tell me on Instagram at Melissa Rambrosini, what you got from this episode. I would love to connect with you. And love to hear what your key takeaways were to come on over and do that now. And before I go, I just wanted to say, thank you so much for being here, for wanting to be the best, the healthiest and the happiest version of yourself.

And for showing up today for you, you rock. Now, if there’s someone in your life that you can think of that would really benefit from this episode, please share it with them right now. You can take a screenshot, share it on your social media, email it to them, [00:58:00] text it to them, do whatever you’ve got to do to get this in their ears.

And until next time, don’t forget that love is sexy, healthy is liberating, and wealthy isn’t a dirty word.

---

Thank you so much for listening. I’m so honored that you’re here and would be SO grateful if you could leave me a review on Apple podcasts, that way we can inspire and educate even more people together.

P.S. If you’re looking for a high-impact marketing opportunity for your business and are interested in becoming a sponsor for The Melissa Ambrosini Show podcast, please email pr@melissaambrosini.com for more information.

P.P.S. Please seek advice from a qualified holistic practitioner before starting any new health practice.