Back in August 2016, I shared the details behind the scenes of my Yay for Clients launch. It was my most popular blog post ever. I’ve duly noted that you enjoy the real, raw, behind-the-scenes stuff. Well… I’ve got another one of those posts for you today!

The most common comment / compliment I get from people who have been following me and The Rule Breaker’s Club for the past few years is “It’s so fun to watch you grow”. I LOVE getting this compliment! It makes my heart sing.

If you’ve watched my entrepreneur journey over the past couple of months (or years) you know that I can’t do the fake façade bullshit or pretend to be a fancy pants person.

I don’t want you to put me on a pedestal. I keep it real.

That’s why, in this blog post, it’s so important for me to share the honest-to-goodness truth with you.

In December 2013, I was desperate + exhausted.

(Let’s be clear though: When I say desperate, I want you to know that I was never homeless, starving on the street, or living in a war-torn country. I mean “first-world problems” desperate. It’s not life threatening, but it’s its own kind of difficult).

A year prior (2012), I’d taken Marie Forleo’s B-School (you’ve heard of it?), started my copywriting business, and got my first clients. I was on my way!

(Here’s a picture of me working as a barista in 2012 as a bridge job while I built my business. Don’t I look thrilled?!).

 

I worked my butt off so that I could move to Montreal to be with my boyfriend. I had all of these ideas of what my life would look like once I became a full-time entrepreneur.

Here’s the problem: The ups and downs of entrepreneurship were killing me.

(I’m a Scorpio, so you’ll have to excuse the dramatics).

I felt like I’d done everything I was supposed to do to make my business work. However, every single month was a freakout. HOW AM I GOING TO PAY MY BILLS?! WHERE ARE THE CLIENTS GOING TO COME FROM THIS TIME?!

After years of planning, immigration, and an international move, I was living in a very small studio apartment with my adorable Algerian boyfriend. (If you’ve ever seen the show 90-Day Fiancé, we’re like a real-life Canadian version!)

Here’s a picture of my “apartment” in Montreal in December 2013:

 

I took this photo from the bed/living room and my boyfriend is at my desk. This is our entire living space (a little kitchenette is to the right of this photo).

While living there, I was in the following place in my business:

• I’d been in business for about 1 year officially.

• I had an eBook for sale on my website (that made a couple sales per month but nothing to write home about).

• Other than that, I had an almost exclusively service-based business and was customizing packages for each new client.

• I was 25 years old and ready to get out of the “poverty mindset” that ruled my early 20s, yet…

• I never knew where my next client would come from and had to pray on my knees every month that someone would pay me to write their web copy so I could eat.

• I was EXHAUSTED every time I worked with a client and was making basically $2 per hour when all was said and done.

• My clients loved my work but I didn’t know how to turn it into a profitable business model (I didn’t even know what a business model was!)

• My business felt like a hodgepodge and I wasn’t sure how to get to the next level. In short, I was STUCK.

I knew that I was *this close* to hitting a tipping point.

I could taste the warm, gourmet coffee on the other side of the horizon. I knew I had what it takes to be successful, but I had NO IDEA how to get there.

So one day, while tinkering on my MacBook Pro and not making any money, I think I actually screamed out loud:

“I HAVE NO F***ING IDEA WHAT TO DO NEXT. PLEASE HELP ME!”

(I’d like to say that my conversations to the universe have less F-bombs these days). I made this declaration a few times, actually. And then I waited.

There wasn’t a bolt of lightning. The clouds didn’t part and drop a wisdom bomb on me.

I waited… (and probably cried).

A few days after my dramatic declaration, I stumbled upon an ad for an amazing day-long, live streamed online summit hosted by Natalie MacNeil at She Takes on the World.

I’d been following Natalie for a few months at this point and loved her weekly videos.

Natalie’s summit, however, was on a whole other playing field.

She spoke live with amazing leaders like Danielle LaPorte and Gabby Bernstein (two of my favorites). Natalie gave top-notch tips away for free. I wanted to be a part of whatever she was doing.

I thought, “If this is free, I’ve got to see inside of her paid stuff!”

Then, at the end of the summit, Natalie opened enrollment for The Conquer Club.

Something inside of me told me that The Conquer Club was the thing that I had been asking for.

Despite my fear of not having enough: I decided to go all in on the highest level of The Conquer Club (affiliate link) and take a leap of faith in spending a year working with this bombshell of an entrepreneur.

It’s hard to explain, but I knew that I needed a catalyst like this to shake me out of my funk and ignite my business.

And… I was right.

In 2014, The Conquer Club changed my life.

Here’s a little taste of how my life changed in ONE year of The Conquer Club:

 

(From left to right: Me on the set of She Takes on the World TV, swimming in Bali at the Conquer Retreat, the group in Bali, our water ceremony on the last night in Bali, the water ceremony on our first day in Bali).

• I went from feeling like an “imposter” and “too young” to be running a business to becoming the CEO of my company.

• I more than doubled my revenue from the year before.

• I stopped trying to do it all myself and hired 2 core team members, an accountant, a bookkeeper, my first web designer(s) and more…

• I brushed shoulders with some of the most inspiring women on this planet — women owning their worth and bringing in HUGE revenue numbers as well as doing really good work.

• I launched my first eCourse and made more than $7K. This totally blew my mind!

Those are some of the results I got from The Conquer Club in the first year. In the second year…

 

(Photos from left to right: Full lunar eclipse ceremony in Tulum, Mayan ruins in Tulum, “Rainbow of Sales” in Tulum, Kelley Azevedo and me in Napa, and Natalie MacNeil, Amanda Genther, and me at the Conquer Retreat in Tulum).

• I totally revamped my offerings + business model (scary but way easier when you have support in a community of people who are paying to be there)

• I booked out my signature service, Sales Page CPR, for weeks in advance (sometimes months). Better yet, I knew where my clients were coming from and how to get more.

• I got serious about having financial experts looking at my budget, cashflow, and money goals.

• I tried new strategies that I didn’t end up loving (like hiring a junior copywriter to write sales pages for me) and learned how important it is to be willing to go for it and tweak as you go.

• Delivered more than 3 speaking gigs in the year (without a whole lot of effort).

• Made a plan for my first-ever full book (which I plan on writing in 2017).

• Doubled my audience size.

• Tackled business topics that used to scare me shitless like Facebook Ads, speaking, video blogs, approaching mainstream media (stay tuned)…

In 2016, I was a mentor in The Conquer Club.

And here’s what shocked me: I’m still getting so much out of this community and training even though I’m not technically in the incubator.

• I hired a brand new team member from The Conquer Club who is also a referral from someone in The Conquer Club. These are the people I trust to give me good recommendations because they get my business and care about my success.

• The business friends I know best are from The Conquer Club. They are (a) people who are a few steps ahead of me (which is the perfect type of friends to have), (b) are now my best friends in the world, and (c) have become collaboration partners and mastermind buddies who have helped me to grow my business.

• I’m investing so much more into building a company rather than being overly attached to “flying by the seat of my pants”. I don’t think I would have gotten to this point without Natalie’s Conquer Club and the people I met in there.

• I’m acutely aware of how important it is to have a specific group of women I can go to to ask questions, share my struggles, and get feedback and support. You can’t get this in a free Facebook group (too many freeloaders + too much noise) or a Facebook group for a specific program (too topic specific). While those types of Facebook groups are great for the purpose they serve, you need a more dedicated space for big talk and incubating.

My good friend Amanda Genther and I are thrilled to be offering an incredible bonus for you this year when you enroll in The Conquer Club through us.

When you enroll in the Conquer Club through Amanda and me, you’ll get the Sales Page Dream Team Bonus. There’s so much included you’ll want to visit the page below to get all of the details:

Click here to get all of the details about our biggest bonus yet!

*Affiliate Disclaimer* I’m a ridiculously proud partner for The Conquer Club and am honored to share this business incubator with you. To make it possible to offer these amazing bonuses to you, I do receive commission if you enroll in The Conquer Club through links on this page.