306 From Working Multiple Jobs To A Full Time Coaching Business (Honest TRUTH Of How It Happened)
Working multiple jobs to building a six-figure coaching business overnight
My Origin Story
Ever wonder how someone could go from working multiple jobs to building a six-figure coaching business overnight?
In my opinion, they didn’t!
Perhaps that’s what they’ll tell you on Instagram, but they’re usually trying to sell you something on the other side!
In this episode, I'm sharing the real 8 year journey that I've been on including:
Exactly HOW I built my business
The MANY jobs I worked as a built to full time income
Why I regret NOTHING on this path!
The different strategies I leveraged to Grow My Income as a Coach
Why I stuck with it all these years (and didn't QUIT)
Success Tips for Online Business Owners in their first few years
& More
To connect with Kelsey:
Access the transcript for this episode:
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You're listening to the visionary life podcast. I'm your host, Kelsey Reidl>
Each week, I'll bring you conversations with the most visionary humans on this earth, in hopes that you'll be able to absorb their wisdom, avoid their failures and feel less alone on the roller coaster ride that is entrepreneurship.
This season, I'll be chatting with creative thinkers, masterful marketers, brick and mortar shop owners, brand builders, and people just like you who have a story to share or a vision that inspires. If I can share one quick secret with you before we get into the episode. It's that we all have a little bit of visionary inside of us, you know, that spark that nudges us to pursue our full potential in this lifetime. But perhaps somewhere along the line, it got covered up, I'm here to tell you that it's never too late to explore that inner voice and access the brilliance deep down inside of you. It's in you, it's in all of us. Let's dive in. All right, we're doing this we are doing a solo show this week. And I'm really excited because I feel like it's been a few weeks since I've released a solo app. So I'm really, really happy to just be here with y'all with the visionary crew and sharing something that's been on my mind for a while. So first, before we get into today's topic, I want to set the scene here. So I'm recording this on a Tuesday morning, I just finished my coffee and I have a seat in my home office today.
Which feels a bit weird, because for the last few weeks, I've had this really restless energy, and I've gotten out of the house any chance I can. So on the days when I don't have calls or on the days when I have like a three hour block to do creative work or content. I'm like gung ho on just leaving, I'll go to Starbucks, I'll go to a local library, I will go to like a trendy spot. You know, down the road for me wherever I can go and just pop open My Computer, get into flow state, get myself a treat, get myself a latte. And I feel like I do some great work there. Honestly, in this world we live in filled with so much distraction, so many notifications, always needing to complete 5 billion tasks around the house, I feel like it can be nearly impossible to get meaningful work done. And to me meaningful work is really about like the long game of my business, like what seeds Am I planting? What partnerships and my activating? What high level strategy? Have I not considered yet? What non social media marketing tactic could I implement? What is a long form piece of content that I can really sink my teeth into and add my own perspective to more and more I'm just not interested in like participating in this content mania that seems to be out there, like yes, produce a lot of content. But if I'm going to do it, I want it to be good content. So I feel like unless we consciously curate an environment where we're actually able to get those brain waves flowing, where we're in deeper thought, where we're away from it all.I'm just not sure that it ever happens, especially when our iPhones are sitting like one foot away from us and are constantly digging, which I think is just poison to the mind. And it's exactly why when you think about an author writing their book, oftentimes they say they have to escape to a cabin in the woods that doesn't have Wi Fi. And on day three, day four, day five, like they are just writing like crazy. And I think, you know, even though a lot of us listening, we are not authors, we still need our version of escaping to the cabin in the woods. So anyways, that's just what I've been thinking about. That's why I've been getting out of the house. Because I find that it takes me out of like the just doing quick fix things like just replying to Instagram DMS and throwing up random posts and scrolling and responding to emails, like none of that stuff really matters, you know, and I don't think any of that stuff serves the growth and scale of a business. But anyways, it's a wild era. We live in visionaries, so stay focused and keep at it. And in today's episode, I am going to chat all about how I built my business. So an origins Story episode and I'm going to share really what it took from working multiple jobs to growing this business that I have today, that is my dream business that provides for me that gives me freedom and flexibility. And I don't say all of that to like woo anybody, but just to show you that it's possible, but I want to give the realness behind it. So we'll cover the many jobs that I worked as I built this business into a full time income. I'll talk about what I regret, if anything on the eight year journey thus far, I'm going to share the different strategies that I leveraged to grow my income and stable revenue as a coach, especially as a coach who practices primarily online. I'm going to share success success tips, and why I've stuck with it all these years and more. Hey, visionaries. I wanted to interrupt this episode to actually share a pretty alarming statistic. So research actually shows that women led businesses fail more often than our male counterparts. Oftentimes, that's because we don't have the necessary support the predictable lifestyles, and sometimes it's because we try to do it all and be at all, when in reality, life sometimes has other plans, Has that ever happened to you? Well, that's why Emily and I are putting together the LEAP mastermind.
This is a weekly mastermind that provides ongoing support as you grow and maintain your successful business. And we are putting together a group of 16 women who are ready to grow in a group and a community. It's all about being around the right people, making new friends, finding new business partners who understand your challenges with running a business and building an epic life filled with freedom and joy and your version of balance. So what we're going to offer is guidance and expertise and accountability between Emily and I, we have coached 1000s of women like you to not only drive more revenue into the business, but to adopt the right mindset to create whatever business and lifestyle you desire. We give you the space to dream we give you the strategies to implement. And most of all, we give you 15 other women who are going to support you and who are going to make you feel way less alone on this journey. Now, right now, we are not selling this publicly. So the only way to get more info, the only way to get more details is to either send me an email Hello at Kelsey rydel.com. Just say the word mastermind. Or you can just quickly find me on Instagram at Kelsey Rydell. Send me a DM with the word mastermind. It is going to be a truly incredible space. We're going to meet every single Wednesday, and we really can't wait to kick off and get things started as of beginning of May. So honestly, I mean, this is the mastermind that I've always wanted to be a part of. I've invested over $100,000 in masterminds before. And I've really learned what works, what doesn't, what we need in order to succeed and I can't wait to spill all the beans. So between Emily and I, she's a mindset coach. I'm a marketing coach. We have all the tools that they really don't teach you in school. You're so skilled at what you do.
But did you ever really learn how to sell how to promote your services, how to embody the physiology of success, that's going to gift you with six figure seven figure maybe eight figure salaries down the line. So that's it, send me a DM on Instagram at Kelsey Rydell or email me hello at Kelsey rydell.com We are not promoting this publicly. So this is the only way to slide in. Alright guys, so have you ever wondered how people go from working multiple jobs, they're homeless on the street, they you know, barely or making 20k a year to cover their bills and now their million dollar content creators their six figure business owners they had a seven figure launch they're an eight figure CEO.Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh, if these are the types of people you follow online, you guys my advice is unfollow. Yes, there are success stories like that. I mean, we've all met somebody who got lucky or they were in the right place at the right time and we've all had those moments in our life to but maybe in a smaller way where you know, you walked into the bakery ordered one scone and they ended up giving you for like cool right place. right time, I got lucky. But when we see people who are glamorizing the path to a lucrative online business, especially when they're trying to sell you something on the other side, I really want you to first take it with a grain of salt. And I really don't want that to be the essence of this episode, I want this episode to moreso be about the honest, unfiltered truth behind how I went from a career freelancing, working multiple jobs, wanting to get out of the corporate world, to actually going through with my first digital course launch, to now having a six figure coaching business that I've built to support my lifestyle. So I'm not going to say that this is easy, but I will be the first person to say that it's totally possible. And I'm here to answer any questions. And the only reason why I say like, just be careful what you're absorbing. Especially right now. I mean, at the time of recording this, two of my favorite online personalities Amy Porterfield and Jenna Kutcher, they are launching a boot camp together an online digital course boot camp. And they're really leveraging their digital sales revenue in order to get your enrollment in the boot camp. So you'll see Amy talking about the fact that she's made millions in online course sales, Jenna is saying one launch gave her 35k. So you might look at those numbers and assume that they're normal. But here's the thing, Amy has been doing this for 10 years. So it's really important to manage your expectations that year one might look drastically different year one might be a shit show. And unless you're willing to give it a decade, 10 years, it might be unfair to let yourself assume that this is going to be easy and straightforward. And that it's going to be an immediate path, right?
Just because I think at some level, we all know that it's not necessarily easy to build a business, talk to any founder talk to any startup entrepreneur, talk to any visionary who's trying to bring a dream to life. It's not as easy as just like reading somebody's template, following what they say in their buck, and then having the same results. And for me, when I finally released my timelines, and saw this industry for what it really is, this industry is not get rich, quick, this industry, for me is the most incredible job I could imagine for myself, like, this is what I want to be doing with my life, I wake up excited to be a creator, excited to coach my clients. And yeah, the money's great, but even if I only made 50k a year, I would still do this because I love it. And I'd be willing to continue fighting it out looking for opportunities to grow. And I think this is truly the job that I'd be working if I could work any job on this planet. So make sure your heart's in it first, and that you're not being lured behind the dangling carrot, or whatever that expression is. So to set the stage, I want to go back about eight years or so. It would have been around 2015 at the time. And at that time, I was a bit of a restless corporate girl, I always felt a little different. I mean, this has been the story of my life. So of course, when I entered my career path, and started working, I was looking for fun opportunities, things that were beyond just sitting at an office and honestly I found some really freaking cool jobs. I feel very lucky as a multi passionate person to have worked for companies that had in the same culture, who valued experiential and who valued the opinions of their employees. Hey, visionaries, I'm going to quickly interrupt this episode to share something crazy. Did you know that 70% of all online experiences begin with a search engine? That's right. Every day millions of people log on to search engines like Google to find solutions, answers and content that meets their search intent. Whether they're searching for a gas station near them, a pair of women's Jean overalls, or a nutritionist for weight loss. Search engines have become an integral part of our daily lives. But with so many businesses competing for visibility online, it can be tough to stand out from the crowd, especially if you don't have an SEO or a search engine optimization strategy. Okay, so what is search engine optimization? Well, if I'm gonna go for the formal definition, it is simply the process of maximizing the number of visitors to a website by ensuring that the site appears high on the list of results returned by a search engine. SEO is a key driver of growth and success in today's competitive landscape. After all, people are going to Google. And if you're not on page one, they're likely not finding your website. To put it simply, a good SEO strategy helps people find you on the internet.
So here's a personal story. At present, when I collect all of the information regarding how people find me, and how they ended up hiring me as their private marketing coach 50% of my annual business revenue can actually be tied back to people finding me through Google, that is why I created everyday SEO, we are going to simplify the ins and outs of search engines. I'm going to teach you proven strategies to help you rank higher, and I'm going to help you attract more traffic to your website, because what is the point of having that beautiful website, or what's the point in building a site right now, if you're not going to bring eyeballs to it, I want you to grow your business. And SEO is an important way to do that. So if you're tired of being buried on page 933 of Google search results, and you want to start getting noticed, it is time to enroll in everyday SEO head to Kelsey rydell.com/seo. Or click the link in my bio, this is a total steal at this price. It will not stay this price forever. Kelsey rydell.com/se, o. But even though these jobs filled me up to a certain degree, I still felt like I was meant for more. And I was in tune with what was possible. For me. I don't know if you guys have ever felt that way. Like, I know there's more out there, I'm hungry for it and the current situation that I'm in, even though it might be great. It's just not what I want. So even though there's voices saying oh my god, your job is amazing. You should be so happy you, you know, you really made it whatever, like you can still have an opinion of your own and say no, this isn't it right? This is not my end destination. And like I said, I've never been a rule follower. So I wasn't scared to make a change. I knew I had something good going for me. But I wanted to move away from a traditional full time job. I don't know why, but it just wasn't working for me. And so I started by writing out what I wanted. I knew I wanted more flexibility, I knew I wanted more freedom, those are two things that have just always kind of run through me to my core. And personally, I'm the type that would rather work all hours of the day like 6am, noon 4pm 8pm. I'd rather do that on and off all day than to work an eight hour block in an office. So you might have heard with entrepreneurship that oftentimes you're trading the nine to five for the 24/7. And parts of me were totally okay with that. I was like, as long as nobody's telling me what to do, telling me what time my button needs to be in a seat at the office, telling me what the dress code is. As long as none of that's happening, I'm happy. So I did end up leaving my job. And I picked up a whole lot of random gigs. I picked up teaching spin classes and fitness classes. So I was teaching a 6am class at the local downtown spin studio in Toronto, I was teaching at Orangetheory fitness where we would do these three hour blocks. So I would do like a 4pm class a 5pm class a 6pm class. I took on freelance clients. So I was a social media manager for a lot of freelance clients. And I also started a network marketing company. So I was all over the place. You can see how this schedule was kind of all around the clock. But I remember really thinking back to this core values exercise that I had done at one of my previous corporate jobs. And my values were rooted in adventure and growth and exploration. And that lifestyle of being multi passionate and working at multiple places that really fed the adventure, the growth, the exploration. So, again, at this time, I had actually been let go from one of my dream jobs. And after I let myself sulk for the day, I got to work and I activated all these jobs, the spin class, the orange theory, the freelance and the network marketing. And I also wanted to have my own business as a nutrition coach because I had graduated from the Canadian School of Natural nutrition back in 2013. And I knew that that was something that I could activate, it was something that I could turn into revenue. So I called a website designer, I called my sister in law who design me a logo and a brand and a business card.
And I launched my health coaching services about a week or two later. So that was absolutely a wild time in life, because I was balancing five different jobs at the time. But I also loved it. So it didn't necessarily feel exhaustive. And like I said, I also started up a network marketing company. And I had seen other people doing this and integrating it into their health coaching business. So I was like, You know what I mean, what's the harm in trying? Why not activate a new income stream. And while I'm building out my health coaching business, I might as well see if I can get passive sales, which truth be told, they're not passive, of course, you're working to sell your product. But I decided to go for it. And especially as it relates to that path specifically, I definitely don't regret it. And I'm not. I know, network marketing gets a bad reputation. But my God, I learned a lot about marketing and selling a product based business and becoming a sales rep for a company that exists, but you're the independent contractor. And so I think it's really cool to say yes to opportunity, and to explore things that pique your curiosity, because for me, I was really curious, what is this line of work like, and if you're willing to kind of just treat everything as an experiment during this time, just know that some things are going to fail, you're gonna go through a launch that fails, you're going to take on a freelance job that fails, you're gonna maybe start a network marketing company and three years in, you'll be earning 1000 2000 a month, but you'll realize this is not my end game, right? And that is totally okay. So I'm in this period of life, where going full time with my business and marketing coaching services, was not realistic. At least it wasn't for me. So to assume that eight years ago, I could have had the business that I have today, selling one offer, being very clear, knowing my niche, knowing my price point, is completely unrealistic for me to think that that should have been my path, okay. Like I said, I was teaching fitness, I was freelancing, I was a social media manager, like I was doing so much to make ends meet. And to ensure that I had a paycheck, like, I don't know about you guys, but I didn't necessarily have this option, we hear things like, take the leap, and the net will appear, you know, quit everything. And there is no plan B and just like, become a startup founder. I don't know about you guys, but I had built. I didn't have a bucket of cash that I had saved, I didn't have people who were gonna swoop in and support me while I had no revenue coming in.
So I've said this in so many podcasts, you guys, but if you are looking to make this leap from full time into your own online business, whether you're selling courses, group programs, coaching, digital offers, ebooks, services, just know that there are many ways to do it. And not everybody can afford the opportunity to just quit it all. And just go full time on their business. In fact, I think that's a really scary thing to do. Unless you have backup support. For me, I had expenses I needed at least, you know, at the time, my expenses were pretty low, I needed about 2000 a month, so 24,000 a year. So I could pay that through my fitness classes through my freelancing while I built up the visionary method, but I was also trading a lot of time for money, like I was working a ton and I didn't have the luxury of spending nine to five on my business every day. So maybe it took me longer, but I did it in a way that I never came to my business with desperate energy. I never felt pressure to make sales or to sell people things he didn't need. And I am very proud of that character because all throughout my let's call it a seven year period where I had to hustle, work multiple gigs in order to get my business to a point where it was making enough money that I felt comfortable. Like I was almost making so much money still balancing other jobs that I'm like, What am I doing? But that took Let's call it seven years. All through that time, I showed up big for every single gig, I worked 110% For every opportunity I had, and I was always willing to just do the work knowing that I am playing a long time horizon here. Like, I don't need to have everything in 90 days, like a lot of these courses and programs promise and yes, like I teach a group program that is a 90 day experience, but we have to be realistic in terms of what it's going to take to get your business to a full time income, and it's gonna be worth it. Especially if you can look out okay, if I am willing to stick this out for three years, five years, 10 years? Is it all going to be worth it? In my opinion? Right.I will say that in that time period, you guys, my my belief definitely wavered. So I don't know if you've ever felt this way. But sometimes you wake up and you're like, I just don't know that. This is all gonna work out. For me. Maybe you had a failed launch, maybe a client said they wanted a refund, maybe you're not getting much traction on Instagram. And that is normal. This might be a time when you say I need to protect myself. For me, this was about maybe four years, five years into building my business. I was freelancing for a natural health food client. I was doing a great job. They really liked what they saw. And they dangled a really huge salary in front of me and said, We want to hire you full time. And with so much hesitation, they took me out to a meeting, they flew me down to Florida, I'll never forget this, I went to Palm Beach Gardens. I was sitting at this restaurant called Rocco tacos, with the manager of the Canadian operations, and the manager of the US operations. And they said, Kelsey, we want to hire you as the Canadian Marketing Manager. They said what I would earn in a salary. And even though I had this visceral reaction of I do not want this job. The money talked and I said yes, and I signed a contract. But I'm sure you can guess the outcome for months. And I knew I had made a really big mistake. I missed my business. I missed the hustle of doing all the multi passionate jobs I was doing. I knew what I wanted. I saw where the online space was going. I wanted to be a creator, but I didn't have the energy. I wanted to keep up with my podcast, but I was too tired. So it basically just word vomited out of me one day, I said, Patrick, I need to talk to you. I'm leaving. And I basically just said, I know it's only been four months, I really thought that like this was the path. But I know that there's something else I need to be working on right now. And I felt like this very deep knowing I could not keep it a secret. I don't know, if you've ever experienced that where it's just like, it's a full body visceral, it pours out of you, I really didn't want to have that conversation. Because I was so grateful that I had a job, I was so grateful for the work environment that they took a chance on me but man oh man, I just knew that I had to take the leap again.
So at that point, I decided to pick up a couple more freelance clients, I picked up my fitness classes again, that's a good thing about teaching fitness is that they're always looking for teachers. So back to orange theory, back to the spin studios. And I decided I need to launch the visionary method as a group program. But I knew I didn't exactly have the formula. And I had a lot going on in my life at the time, we had a lot of family stuff happening. That was quite draining. I was getting married in just a few months. And in addition to that, I decided this is the time I want to launch my group program. So I ended up finding a coach. She lived in Nebraska and I met her through Pintrest. And as soon as I met with her, I knew Okay, you've launched a group program before you obviously understand this industry. And so I hired her. And even though I was getting married in a few months, even though there was so much going on, I just decided like, this is my future. This is what I want and I'm fully committing and I'm putting money on the line. And I went through my first launch with her support and I got four students the launch was hard, but it gave me hope and motivation. And it showed me that I was willing to do the work and show up as needed and guys launching as hard as it is right now. It was still hard back then. So I just want to remind you of your launch isn't going according to plan don't give up because you know there are are challenges. But there are always lots of opportunities, there are always people who need your offer now more than ever, and when you're clear on what problem you solve, and what your unique value proposition is, you should be able to sell your program. So especially if you've, you know, done the work to build an audience and build community. So yeah, that's kind of like the start of the visionary method. And from there, I decided to do three or four launches, every single year, I kept launching the group program. And obviously, I changed the curriculum quite a bit. But I kept making it better, I kept feeling more confident with the launching process, I kept saying yes to every opportunity to get exposure.You know, I was teaching workshops on goal setting, I did a vision boarding workshop, I was bopping around town pitching business ideas, I was interviewing so many local business owners in Toronto to make connections. And I really started to get clear on what the visionary method was. And I focused, there was a time when I felt like, Okay, I want to launch this social media course. And I want to do it all. And I'll create content around everything. But as soon as I decided to actually get rid of everything, and go all in on the visionary methods, solving one problem for one type of person using one marketing plan for one year, things really started to escalate. And that's when a lot began to unfold. And so all through that, I guess, the underlying message that I really want to share with all of you is that if you're willing to not give up if you're willing to prioritize, just continuing to look for the opportunity for advancement, and knowing that this is a long time horizon.
And if you're willing to play the long game, then you will be successful. You know, thinking back, I did use to sign most of my visionary method clients, and I would make most of my revenue through Instagram, and my connection at the Canadian School of Natural nutrition, and referral. So those are my three strategies back in 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019, etc. Today, things look totally different, right? So like, unless you're willing to evolve and to really look around at the state of the industry, and to really say like, how strong is my vision? How bad do I want this because it's going to test you in so many ways. And everybody who goes through this journey, whether it's my journey or something similar, you're gonna have oh, shit days. Oh, shit, this isn't working. Oh, shit, I'm a failure. Oh, shit, I need to lay on the couch and watch Netflix. And maybe you haven't Oh, shit week, and it lasts for way too long. But if you're willing to push through that toughness, if you're like, if you're willing to experiment to, because for me, I was experimenting with blogging for so many years, I didn't get results from it necessarily. But all of a sudden, about four years ago, I started to get hints that people were finding my website through Google, maybe five years ago. And I didn't have any strategy behind it. But I thought, God, there's something to this, I have to learn more. So I really started to go down the rabbit hole of search engine optimization. And as you might or might not know, I'm very passionate about mastering Search Engine Optimization, or SEO to drive traffic to your website, so that when people are going to Google looking for answers to their problems, when people are using Google to punch in one of the billion searches that happen every single day, you need to be showing up and actually teach a course on this called everyday SEO, which is now available for sale. If you go to Kelsey rydell.com/every Day dash SEO, but anyways, you know, things are gonna change. And it's taken me quite a while to get to consistent revenue revenue that I feel so proud of that supports the dreams that I have in life. And right up until 18 months ago, I was still taking on freelance contracts to protect myself, maybe I came from a bit of a scarcity mindset of like, well, what if I don't sign coaching clients, but I had an opportunity to join two companies $2 million a year companies, I had a chance to join as their CMO, their chief marketing officer, it was a big task. It was going to take minimum of 20 hours a week. And even though I had a business that took me, you know, 35 hours a week to run I said yes to this opportunity because I knew that I need to always be learning and growing and challenging myself. So I acted as the CMO for a company for about 18 months for two companies, rather their husband and wife. And I don't regret that at all. So a lot of people thought, oh, wow, like Kelsey is just doing the podcast and selling the visionary method full time, no, I was still working for other people, I was still building other people's brands. So officially, for the last 18 months, I have had no other contracts. I'm not cmo for anyone. I'm not freelancing. I'm not doing any big consulting projects.
And it's taken a while to get here. But I'm proud and I'm not embarrassed to share the journey. Because I want you to know that even if it takes time, it's still worth it. And I see too many people quit after, you know, 30 days or 60 days or 90 days in a launch. And I just know what's waiting for them if they're willing to put in the time, and to really observe what's going on every time they launch. But I don't know that everybody has that level of patience. So I hope there was something in this that was useful for you guys, I really just wanted to kind of share the journey of how I used to work multiple jobs to get out of my full time job and how I eventually transitioned to running my coaching business and digital course business full time. And to let you know that I don't regret anything. It's been a process. But that's the truth of this story. So this was a bit unpolished, but I hope it landed or something in there. resonated. So feel free to hit me up on Instagram. I'm at Kelsey Rydell. And as always, if you liked the visionary life podcast, please rate review, subscribe, and we will see you guys next week. We'll be back with an interview next week. So have an awesome day visionaries. And I'll see you soon. Thanks for tuning in to this episode of visionary life. I love bringing you these conversations on a weekly basis. So it would mean so much to me. If you could help me out by rating and reviewing the show on either iTunes or Spotify. It just takes a second. And if you don't want to rate the show, you could also just take a screenshot of the episode and share it on your social media platform of choice tagging me at Kelsey Reidl. I'll catch you in the next episode..
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