Season 1, Episode 8: Embracing Vulnerability + the Power of Storytelling
A compelling storyteller allows oneself to be vulnerable. Vulnerability can be scary to think about, but sharing your story opens the doors for conversation. You never know who might relate to your backstory and gain wisdom from your teachable moments.
In this eighth episode of The Limitless Podcast, Jamie gets the ball rolling by sharing her most significant life moments, leading to her success as an entrepreneur and health coach. She talks about her memories of growing up, career experiences, transformative events, and finally, her latest program — Thrive Mastermind.
Join the Limitless community and tell your narrative; remember that your story is worthy of being heard.
If you want to know how Jamie got to where she is — with a limitless mindset and efficient work-life flow — this episode is for you!
Here are three reasons why you should listen to this episode:
Learn the value of betting on yourself to get where you want to be from Jamie's experience of moving to New York.
Understand that you can find your purpose and passion in challenging ordeals, as Jamie did with her wake-up call.
Discover the power of telling your story to empower others and build a community by following Jamie's encouragement.
Resources
Stop being a lone entrepreneur and start leaning on fellow rebellious business owners. Join my 5-month business invigorator, Thrive Mastermind, and support your business with my mentorship and the partnership of six other entrepreneurs. Ignite growth toward your biggest vision!
Sign up for Jamie’s 3 Steps to 30 Days of Content FREE MINI-COURSE today!
Sign up for Jamie’s 12-week Marketing Mastery business activation program today!
Connect with Jamie and share your story: Instagram │ Website │Twitter │ LinkedIn
Episode Highlights
[7:59] Growing Up
Jamie is originally from the Midwest in the United States. She grew up in a small town in Ohio.
She is part of a big family, which she sees as a gift wherein there is care and love for each other — a place to fit in.
Jamie remembers that she was an A+ student but also had a "mischievous or rebellious" streak. She wasn't afraid to bend the rules when she could.
[11:28] Jamie’s Ever-present Curiosity
Having grown up in a small town, Jamie always had the core value of being curious, making her want to seek out anything and everything.
For college, she chose to attend Ohio University, and she was the only one from her small town to do so at the time.
Attending Ohio University allowed Jamie to reinvent herself and deepen her curiosity about what she wanted to do in life.
[13:16] First Opportunity for Entrepreneurship
At Ohio University, Jamie pursued a degree in magazine journalism.
During her college days, she created a digital online magazine called Thread Magazine which ran six times a year. It was the first fashion magazine on her campus.
When establishing Thread Magazine, Jamie learned that the big first step is hard. Instead of putting pressure on herself, she understood that it was time to learn and practice.
She picked up how to unsubscribe from the perfect A+ student mentality from this experience, which also helped her realize the importance of taking care of her health.
[16:45] Stepping Foot into Social Media
Jamie's first jump into using social media was during her undergraduate days running Thread Magazine.
Twitter and Facebook were the commonly used platforms back then.
Pinterest and Instagram were only about to launch.
From her first entrepreneurial experience, she decided to minor in Spanish and marketing.
[18:25] The Move to New York
Jamie moved to New York without a job. She heard from others that a New York home address was essential to getting a job in the magazine industry.
Her parents were initially baffled by her decision, knowing that living in New York would be expensive.
Admittedly, she struggled during her initial years in New York. Jamie couch-crashed upon moving to the city, then eventually stayed in a less-than-ideal apartment.
The New York experience as a fresh graduate was a rite of passage. What's important is that she bet on herself and found her footing and support system.
Listen to the full episode to hear more of Jamie's anecdotes about her financial struggles in the Big Apple.
[22:40] Entering the Fashion Industry
Jamie eventually got an internship at Interview Magazine.
Then, she also worked at Henri Bendel for their public relations team.
At Henri Bendel's flagship store, Jamie met celebrities and assisted in their shopping during the department store's heyday.
Jamie: "I might have been leaving a house in the morning that was the yellow cube of hell. But then I got to slap on some heels…and walk down Fifth Avenue and see, 'Okay, this is the potential.' This is the opportunity that the city can create, where it's just a matter of sticking to my goal, sticking to my desire, and continuing through." - Click Here to Tweet This
A big part of her New York journey was seeing the opportunities everywhere. It could have been overwhelming, but she chose to subscribe to the opportunity.
[24:21] Diving into the Corporate World
After working at Henri Bendel, Jamie moved to a corporate setting and ran the social media for Jetsetter, a brand of Tripadvisor, for five years.
She supported Jetsetter in navigating content and maximizing their email for revenue and partnerships.
At Jetsetter, she worked with Showtime on their television series Billions, and on the drama series Suits.
Jamie experienced her first burnout in her social media manager role.
[26:00] Social Media and Businesses
There are two foundational groups of businesses that try to use social media.
The first is those who ask the hard-hitting questions about how social media helps their businesses thrive.
The other group is those who are excited to build a community with social media.
The former, especially with older established brands, took a little bit of convincing to get them aboard to use social media to leverage their business.
This is why Jamie became a so-called data nerd, creating spreadsheets to show how to generate new traffic, looking at traffic sources, and turning them into partnerships.
[28:39] Trying Out Entrepreneurship
Jamie decided to leave Jetsetter without a job in line. She looked for other work and was offered corporate opportunities, but felt that these were the same as what she had just left.
Then, she realized that she could turn her previous freelance work into a career — working as a consultant for TEDx speakers, bestselling authors, and female-owned brands.
However, Jamie still experienced burnout, having adopted a “more clients = more money” mindset.
[30:11] The Wake-up Call
In 2019, Jamie's dad died from complications before his retirement. He was an insurance agent who worked long hours.
From this challenging ordeal, she had two realizations.
One was to prioritize her health and help others do the same.
Jamie: "We are meant to live this life, not work to live. We want work to be life-giving." - Click Here to Tweet This
Another was that she already had the toolkit to create a healthy routine, which included meditation and paying attention to her body's needs.
[32:41] Deciding to Become a Coach
Jamie became a certified health coach in 2019, celebrating her father's legacy through what she does now and finding her meaning and purpose in life.
Jamie: "Life-giving because what happens inside our internal thoughts, the mindset, the way we take care of ourselves, absolutely bleeds out into our business, absolutely down to our relationships, and ultimately, how focused we are how much we enjoy things." - Click Here to Tweet This
After sharing about the loss of her father, she found her community.
As a health coach and holistic business coach, it's all about empowerment, not the hustle.
[34:54] The Present
Jamie has been an entrepreneur for five years and a coach for three years.
Her journey was about owning the process and learning.
It took her three years to get to a six-figure earning, but it was more about the people she helped and the impact felt, rather than the money.
Coaching has become her most fulfilling experience.
[36:21] The Choice to Share
Jamie embraced vulnerability to share her story — showing others that it took a support system, failures, and challenges to get to where she is now.
The three main areas allowing Jamie to be a full-time entrepreneur with many avenues include a support system, a strong self-belief, and activating strategies.
She translated her learnings to her latest program — Thrive Mastermind. Listen to the full episode and check out the resources section to know more about Thrive Mastermind.
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Transcript
When I moved to New York, I actually crashed on some couches. My first apartment was on 101st Street and I like to call it my “yellow cave of hell” because it was not an environment that you got to thrive in. It was very yellow where our heater would absolutely spew steam out of it from time to time. And like we had a really hot pull in our bathroom that we had to make sure we didn't bump into. My first years in New York were absolutely a rite of passage, for sure.
Jamie Ratermann: You're listening to The Limitless Podcast, where we dig into all the possibilities that exist when you lean into the big vision for your life and your business. Hi, my name is Jamie Ratterman and I am a holistic business coach, meaning I am just as invested in growing your health as I am and growing your wealth. With 11 plus years in brand and social media marketing, I help rebellious entrepreneurs master marketing, embody leadership, and say “fuck it” to the hustle.
This show is here to encourage you to become radically aware of your self-imposed limits, to break free of your shoulds, and expand your brand into a movement led by you. The way I see it, marketing is a way of spreading your mission, social media is a gift for connection, and sales are where you build your strongest relationships. Let's dig in.
Hello, and welcome to episode eight of The Limitless Podcast. I am so excited to let you guys dig in today. This is a juicy one. This is a vulnerable one. This is where I share my story. I'm going to allow you to get a bird's eye view of some of the biggest moments in my life and how they have informed the type of leader I am, the type of coach I am. And I really am encouraging you all to tell me if you have any similarities or if you connect with any parts of my story, because I'm laying it out. I'm telling you the things about what has brought me to where I am now. And also to invite you to do the same, to invite you to allow your story to be a guiding light for your business.
Take this moment, listen in. I hope you enjoy this story. I also invite you today into my newest and biggest offer, the Thrive Mastermind. The Thrive Mastermind is my five-month group container where we dive into marketing strategy, we dive into mindset and belief, we dive into really understanding how a positive environment for growth can be created through having six other entrepreneurs and me in your corner for five months together. The Thrive Mastermind is something I'm so excited about. We start at the end of May. It is based on three key pillars: wealth, wisdom, and worthiness. Take a look in the show notes. You can learn about it. But I would invite you to absolutely DM me if you have any questions. But let's go ahead and dive in here. I'm going to share with you pieces of me, pieces of who I am, and I hope you enjoy.
Hello lovelies, welcome to episode eight of The Limitless Podcast. I am so excited to have you here. I can't believe we have officially made it to eight episodes, meaning we have been doing this for two months together and I couldn't be more excited. This creative journey for me has been so fulfilling, so life-giving, and a large part of that is to you. All of you who have been reading and reviewing as well as sharing your takeaways into your stories, I appreciate it. I really am so thankful to hear what you take from these episodes. I actually recently returned from a trip in Colombia, where I had prepped before the trip and was able to relax and not be too much on social media. And as it turned out, all of you were still sharing about the podcast, which was really lovely. It was really fun to see how, even when I get to relax a little bit, you all get to still spend some time with me through this podcast here.
I want to encourage you though, continue to tell me. I want to know what you want to hear. I'm here to help you with marketing, health, all of the above when it comes to being an online entrepreneur. Let me know what you thought of the episodes and what you want to see more of by rating and reviewing, whether on Apple or Spotify. I would love to see those continue to come through. Also to share any takeaways. Take a screenshot of this podcast. Let me know what you found to be most exciting, whether you want to share it on Twitter or on Instagram. I love to have that be a start of a conversation.
When you promote this podcast, I promote you, because I love my listeners already. And even to the first round of my winners who came through for the contest, I am so excited to dive in with them even more because I just give those gifts away and I will do that again in the future for whoever is participating in helping me build this podcast. I just wanted to put it out there. Thank you so much for everything you're doing. Two months in and we're roaring and ready to go.
Today though, I want to talk about something that I love to encourage my clients to do and I'm going to put myself in the hot seat. I'm going to tell you about my story. What's really important to understand is that when it comes to sharing your story online, it's very important, even more than it ever has been before, to be able to be as transparent as possible of what your journey is, and what has brought you to where you are now. Not because you want to overshare, not because — the other connotations that come up sometimes are that you are selfish, all of the things, the silly things that are put on people that like to use social media around. Selfish or conceited, or whatever it might be.
Your story is the way in which you find relatability and connection. Your story is where somebody might look at you versus another company that does something similar to you and is able to go, “I like their vibe, I like their energy.” But also, it is a driving force to your purpose. Why are you showing up? What can you leave and make an impact on the world? How can you allow your experiences to guide you to your next offer? The way in which you've shared your voice on social, how silly you are in stories, all of this is a big part of your energy as a leader, but also why someone might choose you over another person.
This is a big part of this idea of competition, right? There really isn't any competition. I know it sounds crazy. But when it comes to competition, in the current world that we live in, and the way in which we are creating these invitations, through social media posts, through email, through offers, all of the above, your story is this welcoming place for someone to go, “Oh, I can start a conversation with her,” or “Oh, I have a way that I can relate to her because I had a similar experience.” So continuously, the more we get to know the leaders behind the business, the more we want to support them, work through that, and understand who they are.
For each of you, I'm going to use this episode for you to get to know me and who I am and how I've come to be the coach that I am now, why I am so passionate about growing your health and your wealth,why it's important that I do that through not only strategy but also mindset and energy. I will be sharing that with you today. But this is my declaration to you. My declaration is that your story is worthy of being heard. The things that you think are everyone's experience are worthy of sharing. And when it comes down to it, you've lived a pretty freaking fantastic life, all you have to do is let us know what it's about. And I guarantee I will learn from each and every one of you. So this is my declaration for — not only for you to listen in on who I am, but also to take off the chains, do the thing, share who you are, document your life. Talk about it in your social.
Let me tell you a little bit about me, let's dive in here. So if you've listened to the other episodes, you may have heard that I am originally from the Midwest, in the United States. I'm originally from a small town in Ohio. That is, I believe, the last time I checked, a population of 2,000 or less. I knew every single one of my classmates growing up by name, by last name. I could probably identify who their brothers or sisters were just because I knew that and in general, there wasn't a time where I felt as if I was in a specific group. Like whenever you watch those movies that talk about classrooms, schools, all the above, they'll say “Oh, there's the popular kids’ table, the athletic kids’ table,” all of those groupings.
My class, graduating class in high school was 56. So the idea that we would group ourselves was pretty silly. I got to really know every single person, but also within that, my family is quite big. My immediate family is a family of five. But of course, I am from a really large family of eight brothers and sisters on each side, meaning I had 16 aunts and uncles who got to see me on holidays. Knowing that I had just that many people who are in my sphere, which I can absolutely tell you is a freaking gift, an absolute gift to have such a big family, it's also a place of finding where you fit, how to really get your voice out there, like really being able to understand when you're in such a big group that's caring and loving of each other, where you fit. There's definitely a lot of that.
I'm going to tell you that growing up in a small town has its ups and downs, of course. But for me, that came through the fact that I was mischievous. I was an A-plus student, but I would absolutely say I ended up getting into some parties. Maybe I threw a few parties. I love how I'm saying “maybe” like I'm going to get in trouble now. I was the person that would love to invite people over when my parents were away. I was the person that if there was a time for all of my high school classmates to have fun and I could be the one that offered it, that was me. I had a tendency to not only meet new people from my own town, but others. And I just felt that I had a bit of a mischievous streak in me.
I think whenever I look back on who was my five-year-old, my 10-year-old, my 15-year-old self, I think about the girl who really just did what she wanted, got to be quite rebellious, got to decide that early on. I believe the first time I remember that I told myself I was going to move to New York was age 12. And sometimes I will lean into that small-town girl who was like, “I can do whatever I set my mind to. Yeah, New York sounds really crazy, I'm from this small town, but I can do that thing.” And I absolutely credit my mischieviousness. In all honesty, I was called ornery, O-R-N-E-R-Y. Ornery, through the majority of my childhood for the fact that I definitely, while feeling like very smart, intelligent, was also somebody who would like to bend the rules where I could.
My rebellious streak started there. I have a core value of being absolutely curious at all times. Not only curious about meeting other people, knowing your story, and really understanding how to connect with you. Not only being able to get really curious about who you are. I like to credit myself as someone who asks lots of questions to get to know the core of who you are, and how I can help your brand grow with ease — that's a big part of it. But my curiosity really started early, when I realized that being in a small town, I got to know everybody really well. We all had very similar backgrounds. Many German, many Catholic, that was the background. I got to know people that way. But I wanted to know more, I wanted to seek out more.
Whenever I finally made the choice to leave and where I wanted to go to college, I chose Ohio University, where I wanted to be the only one from my small town, because there was a lot of universities in that general area that you got to kind of have your little pockets of where you were from. For me, I wanted to do the thing where nobody got to know me. And it definitely paid off and I got to reinvent myself. Really understanding that core value within me started early that if I'm going to be a bit of a rebel, even in my own right, and deepening my curiosity to what I would like to do, that was something that has been innate in me from the get-go.
I think it's something that I always like to lean back on when I'm feeling that scarcity, leaning back a little bit like, “Oh, I can't do that.” And then like, “What would my ornery eight-year-old self do?” That absolutely is something that's a part of what I think about often. Either way, moving into my sense of curiosity and how I got to jump into a new place in the world. My next stage was my first opportunity to be an entrepreneur. I actually have a degree in magazine journalism. Writing and messaging has always been a core value of mine. I couldn't choose a major. My mother wanted me to be an engineer. My dad thought I would be great at business. Clearly, I ended up doing a portion of that. But I love to write because I couldn't choose one thing.
I got to learn many different facets by choosing that journalism degree. But the reason why, and something that I really am still so proud of myself for, is that whenever I was in school, I again tapped into that rebellious streak. There were a lot of newspapers on campus, online magazines, and I decided that I wanted to create a completely digital online magazine that got to run six times a year. It was something that — we put together 130 pages at least, I think it was around there. A 130-page magazine every six weeks — completely digital, fully designed, photoshoots, all of the above. I believed I was going to be the Anna Wintour. I believed that I was going to work at Vogue.
That was my goal of being a magazine journalist. I wanted to not only write really compelling stories, but I wanted to be a part of this really creative, really art-focused world of what magazines were. So within that, I launched a magazine called Thread. Thread Magazine was the first fashion magazine on campus and it got to being over 300 students while I was there. It's still something I'm honored by, seeing new students taking their own take on it. But really what this and the reason why I wanted to share this part of my story with you is that this first big step was really hard. I absolutely pulled all-nighters. I absolutely worried about what my professors and my classmates thought of me. I would tell you that the writing in that magazine was really good, the design was really good, but not perfect. There were certainly times when I was like, “This story isn't exactly an A-plus, but we're going to put it out there because it's still really compelling.”
We were a student magazine. We were going to learn through quantity and quality. And that was a side of me that I started to unsubscribe from, the perfect A-plus student that I was when I went through high school, in the early years of college, and said, “I'm very good at what I do. And I'm going to allow B-plus work to get out there because I want my message out there on a regular basis.” Part of my journey with doing that first step into entrepreneurship is steeped with really understanding like, “Wow, I am pushing myself so hard, putting so much pressure on myself to be this A-plus student, when this is my time to learn. This is my time to practice.” And also this was when I got to a point of, “Wow, my health is really important.”
I would do all-nighters. There was a place on campus where I could get a blueberry martini and I thought that that made me a New Yorker by doing that early on, which would be so much fun, by all means. But I would forget to take a breather, I would forget to go for a walk, I would forget to give myself space in between classes and meetings. And it felt as if I had already started my career. That was also my first jump into social media. We used Twitter and Facebook at the time. Pinterest and Instagram were about to come around. We definitely started to use those later on. Knowing that my first love became a big part of creating something brand new, and getting to see how the internet, how the digital sphere creates all these gifts of promoting our business.
That was really fun for the fact that our little Thread Magazine ended up having some of the biggest staff on campus. Because I felt as if I had created a movement and opportunity for this journalism school to allow people with these big creative dreams, these big dreams of going to a bigger city and doing magazine work that they got to work within the thing that I provided because we got to put out a new assignment. Clearly, as I talk about it, I'm just filled with pride. I need to go find the coffee table book that we created. There, it's going to make me so happy.
From that, knowing that after I realized that I really wanted to dive into that, I did two things. I ended up minoring in marketing and in Spanish, so I did a little bit of both. So moving through, talking about this important part of my life is that I continued that rebellious streak. I really wanted it to be something that was important to me, but I started to unsubscribe from some limiting pressures put on me. As I continue through the story, please let me know on the ‘gram if any of this stuff, you can relate to. I would love to kind of find my other small towners, my other early entrepreneurs in this listening crowd, so I really appreciate it. I have been a New Yorker for 11 years and I would love to tell you I made this move because I had a job. And that I was recruited and that I was found through this beautiful big magazine that I created and did all of the things and I'm still filled with so much pride — that's not the truth.
I came to New York without a job. Now, it was something that I had been told by many people after I had interned, that you had to have a New York address if you wanted to get a job in magazines. I told myself that I was going to move here and make it work, much to my parents chagrin a little bit. They're like, “Wait, why do you leave without a job to one of the most expensive cities in the country?” I'm like, “I will work it out. I'll do it. I will absolutely figure it out.” So when I moved to New York, I actually crashed on some couches. My first apartment was on 101st Street and I like to call it my “yellow cave of hell” because it was not an environment that you got to thrive. And it was very yellow where our heater would absolutely spew steam out of it from time to time.
We had a really hot hole in our bathroom that we had to make sure we didn't bump into. My first years in New York were absolutely a rite of passage, for sure. And I can say this on here, I would go on dates because sometimes I did not have enough money for dinner. I was like “Oh, yeah, sure I'll go on a date.” And sometimes they would be people I dated for a while, other times it was just a meal. I wanted to submit that here. My first years in New York was definitely me betting on myself. Betting on the fact that even though it was hard, even though I'm running through my savings — I actually took a more of a loan out — and within that, I am going to make this work.
I know that I have the strength to create something for myself here and betting on myself meant that I took a job at Victoria's Secret for a month like as a cashier. After I got this amazing degree, I took freelance work anytime I could. I was applying to jobs left and right. My first questions when I would go out or meet somebody new, like, “What do you do? Where do you work?” It was absolutely me trying to find my footing, my support system early on. But that came with some hardship. Being in that realm, it was like I had to watch my money left and right. And it felt as if I was always in a place of like, “When's the next thing? How can I handle the next?”
I shared this a little bit on my socials but there was a moment, that I like to look back on now, where I was in a small grocery shop on 100 — I think actually, it was 96th street where I was trying to buy myself groceries for a while. And I was looking at what I thought was in my account, and I did like, “Okay, I could probably buy like this protein bar, some baby carrots, and maybe this juice.” And then I got up to the counter and I was like, “Maybe I can't afford these baby carrots right now.” And I realized after I swiped, my account got down to like 18 bucks. I was like, “This feels crazy to me, this feels intense.” But I still remember in that moment going, “This is temporary. This is so temporary, I know that this can be turned around and changed.”
In particular, at that time, I had to just wait for my paycheck to come through. But it was me definitely living paycheck-to-paycheck within that first six months to that year. And I wouldn't have it any other way, if I'm being honest. Knowing that, where I am now versus then, there was something that happened in that moment, going, “I can do this, I can handle this.” Doesn't mean I didn't have nights where it was like, “Why is this going to be so hard? Why is this so difficult?” Or there were times when I had conversations with my parents going, “It's time for you to come home.” And I'm like, “No, I'm here. I've got this.” Like, there was absolutely moments in my world where I knew that I wanted to be here. It didn't have — it wasn't based in fact, like it wasn't this, “Oh, the budget’s there. Everything's working perfectly.”
I did have the privilege of my parents knowing that they wouldn't let me starve, right? Like if I asked for help, they would come and help me, by all means. But I definitely realized, at that moment, that I have my own back, that I can manifest what I want, but also I can take the actions that require me to be who I am. So coming from there, I took an internship, I worked at Interview magazine. I also worked in the styling closets, and then I found a job at Henry Bendel where I did PR and helped with their flagship store, which was a really fun thing. I got to meet some celebrities and helped them shop through Henry Bendel in its heyday.
Of course, got to meet some really great people in the process. All within that, their headquarters, which used to be this beautiful four-story department store on Fifth Avenue. Unfortunately, they're no longer there, but I was able to see what New York could look like. So I might have been leaving a house in the morning, that was the yellow cave of hell, but then I got to slap on some heels — I wore a lot of heels early in New York — and walk down Fifth Avenue and see, “Okay, this is the potential. This is the opportunity that the city can create, where it's just a matter of sticking to my goal, sticking to my desire, and continuing through.” So a big part of my New York journey is knowing that I see opportunities left and right.
There's absolutely a place where I could feel overwhelmed, but I instead decide to subscribe to opportunity, because opportunity is what the internet provides, is what entrepreneurship provides, is what really taking radical responsibility for yourself can do. And for me, when someone tells me they're overwhelmed, I just know they're creating this unnecessary pressure and forgetting that they have their own back, that you know what you can do. It's just a matter of full belief in yourself. And for me, that's been a big part of my own New York story. So eventually, after working at Bendel's, I was able to walk into what I wanted my career to be. And I went into the corporate world. I ran the social media for Jetsetter, which was a brand of TripAdvisor for five years. And in that time, I had some of my biggest insights, gains in what I did for my career.
Not only did I run their Pinterest, their Facebook, their Twitter, their Instagram, but part of that was me really being able to help navigate the kind of content they created, how their email could respond to social data, how we could create a better user experience based on what kind of feedback we're getting online. Within that, because we built a beautiful big old following on Instagram, on Pinterest, our email became a place of more revenue as well. We were able to create some really foundational partnerships. In particular, some fun ones were we worked with Showtime for their show Billions, we worked with Suits. I did not meet her, but Megan Markle was absolutely interviewed for that time because we did that partnership with that show. I just got to really know the world by being able to work for such a brand like that. Now, I have to admit, while TripAdvisor has a lot of positives, I was absolutely worked to the bone.
Most of that five years of running all of those things that I just recommended, that I was just talking about, was also me doing it by myself. I begged for interns. I got one at one point who gave me — I believe I only had five hours of her each week. But the idea was, I experienced my first roll of burnout, but also what it meant to be an improving energy. For any of my social media managers out there, for anybody who's been working in this sphere for a while, there are two foundational groups of people who try to use social media for their business: One is the person who is like, “What does social media actually do? Or what's the ROI? How can you prove it’s worth even spending any time on these platforms?” And the other one is somebody who's like, “Oh my gosh, I'm so excited to build a whole community on all of these places.”
Usually, especially in the earlier years, especially with the brands that have been around for a long time, it took a little bit of convincing, a little bit of time to get them on board with what were the possibilities of these platforms. At the time that I was there, Jetsetter, TripAdvisor, they weren't immune to being like, “Prove the ROI to me, give me exactly what happens.” Like I could show that I gained 3,000 followers through a partnership and they would be like, “But what does that do for us?” It was a lot of this proving energy, which is also where I became the data nerd that I am. I love a good spreadsheet. I can show how that generated new traffic, how we could look at the traffic sources, and how well they converted. How a partnership created a high ticket trip planning.
All of that was something that I learned a lot, but I was at the beginning of my 70-hour work weeks. It was where I realized I am working to the bone here. There was absolutely a night or two where I would come home crying and my now-fiance would be like, “It's time for a new place. It's time for a new place.” And I was just like, “No, I can prove, I can prove, I can prove.” And that was absolutely a phrase that I would repeat to myself over and over again. But in the time that I spent at that company, I was able to triple their website traffic, I was able to increase their social following by double, and also really create those partnerships that I remember. It's a passion place for me.
It's really realizing that I got to create a beautiful ecosystem that enhanced how everyone else did their job, enhanced how well we could get high readership on any content we're creating, and be able to encourage them down the pipeline to booking beautiful, amazing, luxurious trips to Paris, to New York, to California, whatever it turned out to be. About how we could create this warm invite to what it meant to be a jet setter, what it meant to do that. I look back on that, even though I did have that burnout and feeling I had to prove myself over and over again, I loved every minute of helping people create the travel of their dreams through connecting them through that lifestyle on social media, which is a big part of it.
I left that job without another job. I left Jetsetter because I didn't have time to look for another job. I ended up looking around for other work. And it turned out, even though I was offered a couple of other corporate opportunities, it felt a lot like what I had just left. A part of that is where I again decided, “I think I might try this entrepreneurship thing,” something I previously laughed at. But also, I was like, “I think I can try this entrepreneurship journey.” So for me, that was again me betting on myself. That was me also realizing that I could turn some of the freelance that I had done before into a career. So I became a consultant for three years. I was working with six brands at a time. I worked with TEDx speakers, bestselling authors, a lot of female-owned brands, and I enjoyed every minute of it, but was creating multiple-channel content for six brands at a time. This is exactly where the sprints were born, because I needed to find a way to use my best brainpower to do that.
Now, this is also where I thought I had kicked the burnout. But I sat there realizing after working just as many hours that I had at Jetsetter, but loving what I was doing even more, that I hadn't learned my lesson. I was like still sitting there going, “Oh, I can't do six brands at a time. I can't create this,” so much. It was a lot for me. I was still in another phase of burnout but wasn't changing anything. I wanted the money, a lot of entrepreneurships. Like, “If I have more clients and I have more money,” but at the end of the day, I wasn't able to really nourish myself. But I had a bit of a wake-up call.
I actually lost my dad, it'll be three years ago. My dad was about to retire. He died of complications of a heart attack. And within that, I had two big realizations: One, that I'm going to miss him every day, it's going to be pretty hard. But within that, though, his legacy is going to be that I am going to prioritize my health, and that I am going to help anybody in my sphere and my circle to do that as well. Because we are meant to live this life, not work to live. We want work to be life-giving. And my dad was an insurance agent and loved every minute of it, he loved helping people. But he absolutely did those long hours that I was already accustomed to doing. And so his legacy for me is how can I enjoy this life and have a passion with my purpose.
The second thing I realized is that, in the process of the previous years of the corporate life of the things that I had been doing, I had already started a meditation practice, I had already invested in training, I'd already invested in really seeing a little pieces of health. I was trying to create a bit of a health ritual for myself. I've always loved being able to cook — different aspects of that which we could so talk about that on a future episode. But a part of what I realized is that while I waited for hours in that hospital, while I was hoping and praying that my dad was going to be fine, I had a toolkit to help me be the person that could be the rock for the rest of my family. I was able to meditate. I was able to go on walks. I had people I could call.
All of that was something that I knew, how to work through the stress of what was happening. Doesn't mean that it wasn't hard. But I didn't allow the things that were happening, my body, the fear, the absolute hardship of what it was to overcome me, and was able to try to be a stone — a rock within my family, so that I could help others. Now, we could absolutely talk about grief. I'm having a guest come in and we're going to talk about that. But the loss of my dad gave me two things: He has a legacy of many things, but his legacy for me is going to be that I am going to live every day as best I can and make sure that we don't wait for retirement to take care of ourselves. And the second thing was, I already started to see the benefits of what I would call a mental health routine. Paying attention to what my mind needed just as much as my body.
After I lost him, that was when I decided coaching was my avenue. I got health coach-certified three years ago and that was where I knew that I'm not just here to help people share their message, bring in new clients, but also make sure it's purposeful. You've heard me say it a couple of times, in this episode: life-giving. Because what happens inside, our internal thoughts, the mindset, the way we take care of ourselves, absolutely bleeds out into our business, absolutely bleeds out into our relationships, and ultimately, how focused we are. How much we enjoy things. That is a big part of what you'll hear me talk about because I think about him all the time. And I enjoy the fact that I get to celebrate through him and all the amazing things he did, but that's his legacy.
A big part of when I talk about your business as a movement. When I talk about what I want to do, it comes from that core value, that core message. And there's nothing like whenever you have such a hardship happened to you, and then you realize there's a whole community ready and waiting for you. Because as soon as I started to share that I lost a parent, many of the friends that I didn't realize had were around and how much you could talk about it and work through that. There's going to be an episode where we dive in deeper into this subject, but I just want to share this as a core part of my story because it is where my business took off for me. It is where I felt meaning and purpose. It wasn't me just posting to social media channels. It was me honing the skills, owning the process so that it worked for not only me, but it worked for my clients.
It was something that was going to be empowering, not something that's a hustle. All of that was a big part of that switch of when I lost him and realized these skills, these tools, the way in which we mentally view them, our mindset behind them can either be fulfilling or it can be like something that we feel like we can't climb from out from underneath — so a big part of that. This is where I went from health enthusiast to health-obsessed to somebody who can really help you own that health ritual, that health process for you so that you enjoy your business and your own fulfillment, your own talent. That is a backstory, of course. That is everything leading up to where I am now, where I'm here as a full-time entrepreneur. So I have been an entrepreneur for five years, but I have been coaching for three.
It's funny enough, after I made that decision to own the process for myself to be able to lean into mental health as well as how productive I am, as well as what it means for the strategy to all be working, I had a six-figure year. It took me three years to have a six-figure year. It was very amazing. When you have a six-figure year, it doesn't feel too much different than the other years, but you’re able to take a look up and see like, “Oh, wow, okay, I helped more people, I valued my time, I priced myself in a specific way, I can feel my impact and enjoy it, savor this moment.” But you absolutely get to build off of those years that you weren't six figures, because you learned so much.
For me, this is where coaching has become the most fulfilling. There was a moment where I wanted to be a therapist. When I'm talking about back in college, all of those things, there was a moment where I wanted to be a therapist. Now, I get to coach people to pursue their biggest vision, to pursue their highest dreams. And what that looks like whenever you get to use the internet, your business, and prioritizing your leadership as a guide to do that. Now, I am that full-time entrepreneur that offers many avenues. And I wanted to share this, I wanted to share my story with you today and what is really a core element for me because, for me to get where I am now, it took a lot of support. It took a lot of failures and challenges. It took a lot of success as well. And a part of that is really me understanding — each stage of my life had many things, but a support system, a strong belief in self, and some activating strategies and steps to take, that's the core of three main areas of what have allowed me to where I am now.
That is also what I see as a part of what I call a mastermind. I have been in three masterminds in my five years, but it actually was in the last two years specifically, and they are the most beautiful environments to creating this really big scaling growth, this really big change in your business. And after being the person that people came to for marketing and health help in each of those groups — because a mastermind is not just a coach and a group, it's a coach and a focus group of other entrepreneurs like you — being able to not only help each other, but also get to tap into all of your expertise.
A mastermind is where you get to have the support of everyone else in the group, but led by a coach — led by me. And this is where I talk about my own mastermind, Thrive. Thrive is a five-month program where I help you really own your belief in self. We work through that with your mindset, energy management, your own health, how you work through those things. I share a lot of what's worked for me and clients in the past and how we can really understand your intuition — gaining that self-trust. In this moment, right now, I have never trusted myself more. I trust my intuition, I trust what I can deliver, I trust what kind of content creator I want to be. And that has come from unsubscribing from being that A-plus student years ago.
That has come from pushing past limits. And I want to help you work through those. That's a big part of it. I also bring in my strategy support. These 11 plus years of doing this, there's people in my clientele that have tripled their email list, simply by using Pinterest. I have a client right now who is soaring on TikTok and absolutely loving the process. I also have clients that simply go, “I feel so much less pressure. And because of that, I'm putting out more content that I love.” Of course, there's also elements of ads if you want it to. Knowing that you get the idea of being able to pick my brain is what a mastermind is. I allow you to choose what you need. And I'm there to customize that program for you. So that's a part of it.
Then this last piece is this potentness, this ability of being in a community. We talked about this a little bit on the episode with Emily Merrill and how community is so helpful. But in a mastermind setting, if you're like, “What should I name my next product between this or this? Or what do you guys think of doing it 12 weeks instead of 10?” All of that becomes a focus group of all these other entrepreneurs. Like, “I tried that and this is how it worked for me.” I've been in masterminds going like, “I have a client who is so unhappy, I don't know what to do about it.” They’re like, “This is how I’d talk to her. Here's how I worked through it before.” Even the primary coach can get in there and help you out.
Knowing that a mastermind is you inviting yourself into an environment that is built to help you grow. The more you can lean in, the more you can really be a part of that community, the more you're able to grow. So the Thrive mastermind is something that I will be starting at the end of May and is a five-month container where you have VIP access, one-on-one access with me. And also a Voxer group with two monthly calls in addition to any on-demand specific strategies you're looking for, that's a big part of it. So I'm going to put this all in the show notes. I'm really excited about this. Clearly, this journey that I've been on is all about thriving, is all about finding how you can create wealth, how you can tap into your own wisdom and others, that support system you're looking for, and owning your innate worthiness through strong belief in self through strong self-trust.
That is what this mastermind is going to be about. That is how and why I want to see you thrive, based on my own life, my school of life, and all of the different avenues that I've taken. So this is my invite. Did you hear anything in my story that you absolutely loved today? Let me hear it. Tell me on IG. DM me. Share any aspects of this story that feel really compelling to you, but also too, if you are ready to thrive in your business, let's talk — no pressure here. You can absolutely see if this is the environment. This is the group container that you've been looking for. It has been a big thing for me and I'm so excited to be able to provide it to you. Thank you so much for listening to my story. I’ve been vulnerable in here today and I'm feeling really good about sharing those pieces of me. But I hope that you enjoy every aspect of what I shared. And I'll talk to you soon.