(upbeat music) Success looks so easy from the outside, but all successful people have had to overcoming enormous obstacles along the way. And in many cases, look failure right in the eye. Most successful people don't focus on the struggle and they rarely talk about it because that's not what creates success. Join us here. Where we'll chat with serial entrepreneurs, both men and women, and share the good, the bad, and the ugly of entrepreneurship. We'll talk about the obstacles we face and how to overcome them to reach the success that you desire. I am your host, Cammy Lehman, and this is She's Invincible. (upbeat music) Hey everyone, thank you so much for joining us today on She's Invincible and oh my gosh, brace yourself. We have an Invincible one to introduce you to today. An award winning author, startup consultant and speaker, Michelle Jacobic emphasizes the business success that can emerge when an entrepreneur aligns with their vision, with their cash flow strategy. She helps founders avoid the financial pitfalls that are all too common when launching a venture and is an expert at empowering them to locate the profit streams that can transform a business and an entrepreneur's life. At 23, Michelle was obsessed with business, avidly consuming content from Zig Ziglar and Tony Robbins, living the high life with sports cars and vacations, and deeply in debt after years of credit card overages and payday loans. She began turning her financial life around six years later. She purchased an insurance business and systematically expanded annual revenue from 600,000 to 12 million. Michelle later took a seven figure exit from her independent insurance agency after decades of growth and now advises highly ambitious entrepreneurs on mastering the financial strategies necessary to build profitable ventures. Michelle is the best selling author of two books, the path of two profits and entrepreneur's guide to having it all and still having a life. I love that so much and prosperity after divorce. Take charge of your finances and create the life you want. Her expertise extends to tax preparation and estate planning. She also held a securities license for over 20 years. Michelle has been featured in a variety of popular media outlets including ABC, CBS, Fox, Parents Magazine, Entrepreneur Magazine and Thrive Global. Michelle lives with her husband Jody in Naples, Florida and I am so excited, Michelle Jacobic, to have you here with me on She's Invincible today. Welcome. - Well, hello, Kimmy. What a bio. (laughing) I know, I feel invincible just hearing that. So thank you for mirroring back to me. You know, we step into our power many times as we're going through our day. We feel our invincibility when somebody's mirroring it back to us. So thank you for that. - Oh, isn't that so much fun? It's like, it's like you're just reading your resume, right? Even you update your resume. It's like, wow, I really am a bad ass and you are and I'm so excited to share you today with our listeners. You are doing such great work in the world, helping entrepreneurs with finance, right? One of the biggest struggles. Gosh, if we could put you in the White House, if only, right? (laughing) Maybe we could fix this national debt. Oh my gosh, my friend, let's go. Let's jump in, let's tell our listeners how in the world did you get where you are today and what makes you invincible? - Yeah, well, it's been quite the journey, right? And I'm in a new chapter, as you mentioned, that I took an exit and it's hard to believe it's been 10 years since I made that decision to transition from everything that I knew, right? 26 years of being at the top of my game, a killer in the community with our business and stepping into the complete unknown. Like, I know that there's something more than I'm being called to do and answering that call. And I think that, you know, for me, it really does go back to those humble beginnings of knowing that I had nothing figured out, but I had a big vision. I had the vision board with the jet on it and I was chasing all those shiny objects, which as you just read, landed me in a pitfall of like financial immaturity, just exploding on me, right? So I think for me, this ability to look back and then forward and see that for most people, like most people, you know, where we are isn't necessarily where we're going to land. If we've made mistakes, they are fixable. There are lessons in the things that we go through. And I think that going from somebody who chased all of the shiny objects, you know, that seemed like the right thing at the time until the fog lifted. And I realized that I had buried myself in a mountain of debt, which is what so many people find themselves doing. And I turned a blind eye to it for far too long and had that same mantra that most people have, you know, I'll fake it till you make it. And then all of a sudden it was revealed, like I couldn't fake it anymore. And I had to figure a way out. And so where I am today is out of those chains of guilt, out of the cloak of shame that I had been wearing in my early 20s and empowered now to walk with other entrepreneurs with other people in their journey that may find themselves stuck on that path or in that, you know, trench of like despair and to say it can be better. And knowing that it's the lessons that I learned, the financial consistency is actually what led me to financial stability. I learned to replace my desire for everything that I wanted with the desire for clarity and from clarity, I have more certainty. And then I also learned that having a plan, not just a dream was a big part of what led to me having successes around both how I saw myself, how I lived my life and the success that I've seen in business and now help help the other see as well. It really comes down to working on my scarcity mindset, helping other people do the same thing and removing the blocks that were keeping me stuck as I worked towards that success. - Oh my gosh, I love that. And so it seems like a silly question, but what would you say makes you invincible? - I would say what makes me invincible honestly is this deep desire to always be learning, right? I just don't think wherever that's just my formula is like there's always more to learn, right? And here we are in this old new age of AI and whatever it is, whether it's podcasting and there's all of these means that we can consume and learn and at our fingertips. And when I think back to, you know, moving through my own journey, even in business where we had no fax machine and then there was a fax machine, we had no internet and there was the world wide web and all of the things that I've been able to come through and always have this open sense, there's a container for us to continue to grow and learn and not get stuck, embrace innovation, even with a pandemic, right? Like no one had ever experienced that before and I simply had a different relationship to it because it was like, what is it that I can learn and take from this thing that's happening that we've never experienced before? And so I think what makes me invincible is the ability to have some resilience and persistence to know that wherever I am, I'm always going to be growing and learning. - I love it. Oh, that's so awesome. Oh, and you paved the way, right? Because today we're gonna be talking about moving from financial avoidance and helping people to know their numbers and just the marriage between their lifestyle over, you know, over and when you were saying, you know, about how you found out the hard way, right? That this was important because it imploded and, you know, and it's wise to get in front of that, right? It's much easier to go into it with that knowledge and the disciplines than it is to try to clean it up later. And so I'm so excited to talk to you about this. I've read your one book so far, which I absolutely loved and we'll talk about that later, but I feel like I know so much behind the scenes, right? And I'd love to read the books of the guests that I have because it really gives me that insider view and we can have a much more rich conversation and dig deeper into the topics. - Yeah, well, I love what you just said, Tammy, about, you know, financial avoidance, right? And so let's go there, right? - Yeah, let's do it. And I think that's the main thing is the results of financial avoidance are always the same, right? Whether you're a business owner or you're just trying to run your household and it really comes down to three things. If you're in a financial avoidance space, you have missed opportunities that are gonna come your way, that you're not gonna be able to say yes to because you're buried or you don't have clarity around where you should be spending your money. Miss aligned spending means you're spending money on things that maybe you shouldn't, right? And then when those opportunities come up, you already misaligned your spending and you're deployed to resources and now you're stuck in this missed opportunity. And then the third thing is a lack of financial stability that when we have our head buried in the sand that we really don't feel at a subconscious level or even at a holistic level good about our situation because we are either a fake it till we make it or an avoidance situation and we don't necessarily take and power like that control to say, wait a minute, if I were to make a different decision in managing this, what would it look like? And the truth is that everyone has money stuff, right? Fear and money for most people are practically joined at the hip, we all know that. But if you wanna get on a path to profitability or your path to prosperity, changing those unhelpful money stories isn't optional. It's just not optional. If you keep doing what you've always done, you're always going to get what you've always gotten, right? We've all heard that saying before. So I think that the ability to come alongside and say, "Am I in financial avoidance?" is the first step. - What are the signs of that? Like maybe somebody's so clueless, they don't even know they're in there, they're there. Tell me a couple of the signs that someone would see to know, yes, I am in financial avoidance. - Well, they're spending more money than they have, okay? And they know that they're putting things on credit cards and they know that when the 30-day statement comes in, whether the intention is there to pay it off or not, that there's not enough to do that. And how do they know it? Because they don't have enough to pay it off. So the first thing that I think is a clear sign of financial avoidance is that you get into a situation where you're spending more than what you have. That's the first sign, right? And the second thing is many people don't even have a sense of why they're not looking at the money, right? And there's three things, like many people, it's just never been taught. It wasn't modeled for them. It was, they came up in a scarcity setting. There wasn't enough already. Their financial DNA is already imprinted on them. They've heard things like, "We can't afford that," right? And it cemented them, both in their childhood hearing that. And now they're saying those words to themselves, right? So it could be the other side where they're not spending, there isn't enough, but they're in a scarcity mindset, which would send them in financial avoidance because they're not wanting to even change or shift their own financial DNA. And something as simple as changing the words that they speak, like we can't afford that, submits them right now and in the future, instead of saying what else am I not seeing? What is possible? Is there an opportunity, like what opportunities could I create? Moving themselves from an avoidance into a creation space. And so I think those are two, like one is, are you overspending and just avoiding it? But the data is right there, that you have a situation that needs to be managed. And the other is, maybe things are perfectly fine, but you haven't shifted your money story or worked on learning how to budget. Maybe you've tried it afford, it didn't work. Maybe no one's ever taught you, right? 'Cause you learn calculus and trigonometry in algebra in school, but no one taught personal finance. And so sometimes the avoidance is just this, I don't even know where to start. - Hmm. And then let's talk a little bit about the internal feelings 'cause we're talking about like the facts. Like you just got your credit card bill and you don't have enough in your bank account to pay it, right? Okay, so like those are the real facts, but what happens internally to you when you're walking around knowing these facts of how you're living your life? - Yeah, I think the first thing is that so many people walk around and they feel like an imposter. I hear it all the time from my clients. And here's what's so interesting, Cammy. People can be doing really well. I have a couple that I'm working with right now that has just hit it out of the park in their business. And the truth is they both grew up in trailer park. They both grew up on food stamps and they're doing amazing. And yet they feel like imposters because the life that they're living today hasn't the younger selves that they're bringing forth in this. They feel guilty, the friends circle, the family circle. They don't, they're like, are we even worthy of this? Well, we're worthy 'cause we see it. We've created it, they worked so hard, but they feel like imposters because they haven't learned about money. And they haven't changed that story, right? And then the other side of that is, if you're walking around with that cloak of guilt and shame as I did when I had $15,000, $20,000 of credit card debt in payday loans or for as many of my clients, they owe the IRS, right? And you're just, you feel like if anybody found out the skeletons are in the closet and if somebody opened the door, you're screwed, right? So how do you deal with those feelings? You first have to make a decision that you want to change the situation and believe that it's possible to move from where you are to a better situation. And sometimes that's with education, support, right? Learning what you need to learn, getting in the trenches and saying, I'm going to figure this out once and for all and I'm no longer gonna let it control me subconsciously because most people are just waking up at three in the morning and they're not sleeping. They're not sleeping, right? And so it's affecting relationships with themselves, with their partners, it's affecting their children and they don't even realize it, right? It's affecting their workplace, it might be affecting their customers and everything that they're doing. But most importantly, there's this sense of self that isn't truth, right? Do we start to put the cloak on that we think is our truth but we can change the channel? We can change the channel. Yes, oh my gosh, and it's time to change the channel, right? Yes. If not now, when? 'Cause years are going by, faster and faster. Oh my gosh, okay, so as we speak about that and about changing the channel, let's give a couple of really quick, simple tips that are not gonna put anyone into shock but they're maybe thinking right now, like, oh my gosh, Michelle, what can I do right now until I can get on your calendar and meet with you? What are a few things that you could share that would help people to just kind of become more aware and maybe even start pulling in the reins? Yeah, I love that. So the first thing is, and there's two things that I think are really, really cool. I'll give three, okay? So the first one is to actually sit down and look at your last 90 days. Take your bank statements, take your credit card statements and do an inventory. Don't go a year, don't go three years. Like, literally, just start with the first 90 days. And I say 90 days because 30 days isn't enough, right? If there was a holiday, like, if there was Thanksgiving, you gotta think about 90 days. It's usually in 12 weeks, enough of a variation in how you spend. And if the last 30 days gas prices are up or grocery prices obviously have inflated by a lot and everybody's feeling it, right? You gotta have a real clear picture of what does the lifestyle or the business overhead if I'm speaking to entrepreneurs as well. You've gotta do both sides of the house. We'll look at the last 90 days and see not just the bills with recurring due dates like your cell phone bill or your mortgage, but where did the spending go? And have an inventory of, like, what the bills with recurring due dates are and what was your average spend for eating out, for gas, for groceries, for Amazon, for, you know, massages, all the things that you, everywhere that you spend money. So you have a full picture. The second thing that I say to people is when you do that inventory and you have the data, the clarity, what can you cut, right? The first thing is look at your subscriptions because most people when they pull up their iPhone and they click on their own contact card and you look at your Apple and it says subscriptions, you look and you're like, oh my God, I had somebody that had $200 in subscriptions a month. Believe it or not, there were two kids tied to the phone plan, right? And a lot of the subscriptions were not even the parents. It was the kids. One was like a dictionary. They wanted to look something up one time and the $8 a month was still hitting, but because they were in a financial avoidance situation, they weren't looking at the money. So you can immediately have some wins when you go under the hood and you go, okay, what are my subscriptions? Look at your iPhone, look at your credit card statements and think to yourself, if I were to take this number out of my budget and multiply it, and I always say to people, I'll supply it by 36, look at what you would recapture, not just for the next 90 days, but look at what you would recapture for the next three years. If you eliminated this right now, right? So the first thing is looking at your subscriptions, what can you cut to take dollars back? The third thing is, what can you sell? Because the reality is that if you don't have an emergency fund, right? It's not a luxury. It's a necessity. It's an insurance claim against the challenges that might come your way, that we can't predict. Before you start building your vision, tuck away some cash, like what can you do to even get there? Sell some stuff. Guaranteed, no matter where you look and what nooking cranny, your garage or basement, your closet, there are things that you could release that will be somebody else's treasure and create income for you. Today, we can create income in ways that people couldn't do 10 years ago. You could post something online today on Marketplace and it could be gone tomorrow and you $50 new hands. And so I really believe that when you start to shift from spending into creating, it immediately puts you in a place of empowerment and then you start to see how easy it is to go from one thing to the other. I love that so much. Oh my gosh, and I actually started doing that recently as I'm trying to get things out of my house that I don't use anymore. Like exercise equipment and lots of things like that. I once saw a meme and it actually popped up again recently and it said, look around the room. Everything you see used to be money. And I was like, oh my goodness, right? Talk about a hard reality. And I hear what you're saying about this emergency fund and I want to ask you about this. Like I took the Dave Ramsey course. I know that that was something that you had done and teach a lot about and, you know, and they talk about this $1,000 emergency fund, which I have. However, I haven't had any emergencies that were less than $1,000. Thank you. Thank you. I agree with you. Yeah, you know, a $6,000 basement or $10,000 basement, you know, just so many things. So what do you say about that today? Because that was a long time ago. And that is not real. I'll tell you that, you know, I think one, I don't believe that. I don't believe that $500 for a single and $1,000 for a couple is enough. I just don't. And because like you, I've lived enough life to know that when there's an emergency and emergency route canal, it's $1,800. The dog goes to the vet, it's $1,800. You know, a hurricane hits or an insurance claim hits. You know, if you have a $500 deductible on your auto insurance, great. But most people on their homeowners insurance today have a $2,500 deductible. And so for me, it's moving away from this, like everybody should do one thing and start to really assess and customize what you should be doing, right? So if I have a dog, I probably need a bigger emergency fund versus if I don't. If I have a pool, I probably need a bigger emergency fund because the pool pond going is an emergency, right? - Sure. So it really does come down to customizing and not listening to all the gurus out there that are saying, this is the answer. You know intuitively, based on your lifestyle, right? Now there is that I love milestones. I love saying, okay, the first thing I'm gonna do is have $1,000. - Yes. - And then as I'm getting there, I'm gonna look at what would be a realistic number for me. Okay, we moved to Florida. We just moved into our home. And now I have a 2% hurricane deductible. My hurricane deductible is $9,000 right now if I were to have a claim. And so my emergency fund of 2,500, which is what we've used, isn't enough, right? And the reality is that if it hits, we've got to have the fully funded emergency fund or at least increase our amount for the baby emergency fund, right? But for me, it's engaging people again in these small steps of progress where you say the minimum is 1,000. But my reality in the customization when I bring my own life together, what would I look at? You can determine generally based on like what your own emergencies have looked like. Now here's the key. The key is that while you are starting to go under the hooded budget, that as you're moving yourself to that first year or two years of breaking things up and actually putting your dollars in advance, you're not just living in this paycheck to paycheck. You're looking at the whole picture so that if you have a dog, you have an envelope that you're escrowing every single month, that then when something happens, it isn't an emergency because you were planning on vet bills. You were planning on a hurricane deductible might happen in the next three years. And so this, the emergency fund insulates you while you're working on building those escrow accounts for each of those things that are coming that they're not here yet, if that makes sense. - It does. And one thing I wanna mention because I don't wanna discount this at all is that my reaction to emergencies changed drastically when I had that thousand dollars in that account. So, and I think that is the key for me was that when something went wrong, I was like, oh no, like it was so devastating. What are we gonna do, right? But once that money was there, even if it wasn't enough, it still changed my reaction to whatever we can handle this, right? Because that was just one step of getting everything else in order financially. So you could take those big hits. But I love to say, Hammy, I'll add this. For me, changing the language from emergency fund to an abundance fund is also something that changes the energy around things that are happening. Because if the first thing you're trying to do is create a sense of abundance, that there's enough when something happens, then I would engage your listeners to instead of calling in an emergency fund, as Dave Ramsey calls it, to call an abundance fund, right? And then you continue to build those savings and those dollars in from the first step. 'Cause I love the steps. I love knowing what are we working on? What are we pulling together? If you're a single, you know your goal. If you're a couple, you know your goal and you keep each other accountable. But the reality is that I would rather call it an abundance fund, which also keeps me in a different frame of mind, right? And then it's also this, I'm opening the container for more, for more savings, for more wealth building, for more positive relationship with my money versus my reactionary, which is like, that emergency didn't bother me. A rainy day is gonna come. We've heard the rate, say for a rainy day. Yes, all of those things are true. But we also can change how we're in relationship with that, those dollars. - I love it. And you mentioned something I wanna go back to. You talked about like if you're single or you're a couple and you have goals and you're working together. What if, and I'm sure you've experienced this over these years, what if you're a couple and you don't have the same money, story, or understanding, or even you're not on the same page? Like how do you solve that? - Yeah, welcome to America and marriage, right? It is very unusual that a couple would be on the same page. And what it takes is an invitation from one of the people in the relationship that says, this is important to me. And I know that in order for us to thrive long-term in this relationship, us getting on the same page would make a difference, right? So asking for what you want need. If you are the saver and someone else is the spender, if you are the one that wants finally ready to engage and they wanna avoid, it's an invitation, right? It's an invitation to ask your partner to come alongside of you as a partner. Is it easy? No, it's why I love doing the work with couples. I literally become a marriage therapist and I have no business doing it, but I've been there myself and so I totally, totally know what that feels like and it feels really good to be the one supporting people through that conversation. And many times somebody, one of the partners will reach out to me and say, we need you and then they are totally like, yes, I'm on board but I need both people to agree. And then I get the other party and I'm like, we don't need you, why would we waste money on support? Like we could take that money and invest it in paying down our debt, no, no, no, no, but the truth is that if you want a different result, sometimes it does require you inviting in support but it first starts with asking for what you need and then honestly like, yeah, you gotta sell your partner on it but a lot of that is relational and communication and really asking them to show up as a partner versus a child, you don't need another child, you need a partner, right? And I am certain that when one partner is kicking and screaming, most of them come to the session kicking and screaming and they're the ones that have the most fun because they're carrying around the shame and the guilt and the chains as well. And what they really want is an improved situation as long as the people come together without the blaming and really looking for resolve, it's fixable. And it actually can be a lot of fun, it's so good. - And then there's divorce, of course, right? - Right. - But if you can't figure it out, then, you know, then sometimes-- - Yeah, it's the two things that sometimes just can't get to the other side and then it's like, okay, you know what? If it's something that's been the financial abuse is happening or financial avoidance and you just aren't getting to the point where you want better for yourself and you choose divorce, that is what prosperity after divorce is about. It doesn't mean you won't grieve, it doesn't mean that it's gonna be easy but there are so many things when we come to terms with the things that we want, what we want and what we need are finally the same and we make that decision. Sometimes it's a decision we make, sometimes it's a decision that's made for us. And so the work, this lifestyle redesign planning, this invitation to go under the hood and look at your personal finances, look at your business as well if you're an entrepreneur is an invitation to move through and towards what you want from that place of unplanned or planned transition. Because the truth is you're resetting, you're resetting and you get to choose what that reset looks like if you take ownership of it. And we don't always do that. I didn't take ownership in that first year or two after the divorce. I was tired of talking about money, thinking about money, arguing about money, all of it. And the reason that prosperity after divorce came to fruition and why I'm so passionate about sharing the process is that when I was ready, I went looking for information on how to reboot. And there were books on divorce and there were books on money, but there was nothing that bridged the two. And so I had to figure it out myself and I went back to how I got out of debt in my 20s and the back to basics things that I was doing. And I looked for those teachable moments and holistically, not just about the money, but about the kids, about my work, about my emotions, my habits, my spirituality. And I pulled all those things together. And that's really what the pillars are around lifestyle redesign. And it's the same pillars in the back to profits. It's the same holistic approach with how you look at your money from an emotional perspective, but that you start to empower the life that you wanna create and the vision that you have and the goals that you wanna set and then having clarity and part of that is around the money. You can't have core values in a Y and not bring the money piece in. So you define your vision, then you set your goals and then you let those things lead you to where a line of opportunities are. But part of that is the money. - I love this so much. And I just wanna hold this book up because it's such an honor to get to read this book. It's amazing prosperity after divorce. Take charge of your finances and create the life you really want using lifestyle redesign planning. This book is a Bible for anybody who is going through divorce or on the other side of it. It is just a guide to walk you through and hold your hand and answer the questions that you didn't even know you had, which I think is so cool because it prepares you. So I love that being a podcast host that's one of the benefits for me is I get to read all the books of my guests. So thank you, Michelle, for putting that out and for that honor. And the next one up is the path the profits for me. So I wanna highly recommend to everyone, whichever one is appropriate for you at the time is the one you should read first, but excellent, excellent read. Such great, solid advice. What I love about the way you wrote the book is it's so nurturing. It's like you're sitting there alongside of the person, just with your arm on their shoulders saying, walking them each step through that journey, it's like you're present with them. I felt that way when I read it, that you were present with me. And I felt that for everyone that would read it. And I think that's just amazing. So thank you. - It's the feedback that I've gotten and I love you reflecting that because my favorite thing is I get cards in the mail. I get emails, I get DMs. And that is exactly what people say. I feel like you're my best friend. - Yeah. - And I think for me, the heart-centered piece of that means that people don't no longer feel alone. And so that I'm so blessed. I'm blessed that that is what came through, that people can feel like they're someone they're cheerleading them and showing them the steps and that I've been there too and that you can get to the other side. And so thank you for that. That's a beautiful, beautiful gift to me as an author to have that reflected back. I appreciate that. - Thank you. And I know several people that are going through divorce and I've recommended this book already to several of them to get the book and just curl up on the couch with a cup of tea and just don't put it down. - You can sign on the weekend. That's right. Do you wanna meet that? - Yes, yes, yes. So thank you, Michelle, for that. And to those of you listening, the links to the books are in the show notes. So as you're listening, just click the links and it'll take you right there to find Michelle and also to order those books directly. So amazing. You know, one of the things I would love to have you chat about a little bit is these retreats that you do. So we didn't even have this on the ticket to talk about today, but as you're speaking, I'm thinking, okay, there's so many ways that you were able to help people with this money thing through your books, through your podcast episodes, through your teachings. And then it occurred to me like, oh my gosh, we should talk about this. So I know, let's talk about these retreats. What do you do there? Who needs to be there? And when is the next one? - Yeah, so I love that you're bringing this up because I'll tell you something that birthed this morning, okay? I'm actually, I literally put up a post this morning on my social channels. And I think we had almost 100 people within an hour say, yes, I'm interested. I have this thought about doing budget builder workshops, meaning you read the book and you're like, I know I need to do the work, but I really want a little bit of support. And it doesn't necessarily mean that you want Michelle in your life for four months, which is obviously viable. And I can do it with you for you. That is one of the services. But there's this calling that I'm feeling right now about hosting budget building workshops. So what I would say to you is for your audience when this drops or even after they've listened because when something is birthed, it usually is worth for a reason. It's going to be around for a while. Like I said, this is coming. I don't have a date picked yet, but I will tell you that what I see is a series of three different workshops that I would do virtually. And I would have people fired up and ready to go within six weeks. They would have their own budget. They would have support. They would have the tools done like me explaining the how, the why, and the actual tools that they would use, and we would build it together. Both the budget, the virtual envelope system, answer questions that they may have as we move through things. So if you go and follow me on social, Michelle Jacobic on any of the social channels or connect with me on my website and send me an email, then you'll be on the wait list because these are coming. I can feel it. I'm fiery about it because once I saw it, and I was like, I'm interested. I want to know if you're interested. The need is there. The Envision is my, I'll be going on year number seven of my Envision workshop, which is the ability to come alongside a people over a three day retreat. And it's men and women, by the way, it's not just women. Entrepreneurs is what that is focused on. And I move them through the pillars that you actually find in the Path of Prophets. The Path of Prophets is the Envision event, literally buckled up in a DIY format. But there's something magical about coming under the guise of somebody curating you through your vision and goal setting for the upcoming year, your revenue goals for the upcoming year, and then your growth strategy and your visibility strategy. And so those happen, my Envision event happens in late November, early December. So again, we haven't set the final day and the destination for where we're doing it. Last year, we hosted a one day virtual goal setting, which just took day one of Envision and had 158 people that came. So all of the things that are coming that will get you ready for the upcoming year, take you out of a place of avoidance and into a place of empowerment. All can be found just by following me on social and waiting for the deeds to draw. - I love it. All right, well then, let's just tell people where they can find you. Where's one easy place where people will be able to find you right now? - MichelleJacobic.com. - Love it. And it's in the show notes, you guys. So just click the show notes. If you're driving, do it later. But get on there and follow Michelle and get on her list so you can get all of the notices and notifications of everything she has coming up, her books, all the things, everything. - I'll have one more thing as well, Canva. One of the things that I've done this last year is I've burst what I call the Thrive Hives. And if you have your entrepreneur audience listening, we're hosting three this year. My next one is coming up in Providence, September 16th and 17th. They're two-day masterminds. One of the benefits of that is I keep them small and intimate to 20 people and it's not retreat driven. It's full mastermind, right? But I have a network, a vast network of three decades, working with some of the top, top industry experts that I've invested in through masterminds, through my network building and all of that, that I get to curate not only a two and a half day, like mastermind, where we solve each other problems, we come together, you end up leaving with amazing connections and sometimes customers. We don't sell a thing. There is no pitch fast. It's a true mastermind where everybody is hot seated and I have four seats left for the Providence event that's happening in September. So if you have entrepreneurs that are listening and you want to go a little deeper in your business, really get into the problem solving that is going to really shift where you are to where you want to go, there's an invitation and a seat for you. - I love it. Oh, that's amazing. So the links are in the show. No two guys, everything you need to get to Michelle and to register for one of her events, grab her books, follow her on social, whatever it is you need to do right now to get yourself on track so that you can have prosperity too. Oh my gosh, Michelle, this is so fun. So amazing to have you here. You are just a financial genius and I love how willing you are to share all of these insights to help people to get on the right track. I love the passion that you have around this and the joy that you have in seeing people transform and to get a handle on their money situation and live properly with abundance. Yes, abundantly is really what I want to say here and I love that. - You have moved from fighting cancer to discovering how to live beyond it. But what now? With so many emotional side effects still unknown, as a new survivor, you find yourself in a void as you navigate through the isolation, fear, and an uncertain future that can overshadow you and your family for years to come. Instead of focusing on the uncertainty of cancer, consider how strong and determined you are and think of the strength demonstrated by those who stood beside you through it all. Consider this. You now get to choose who you want to be and what your intentional, fulfilled life can look like. You made it through treatment. We can help you define yourself as a survivor. We're here to help you through this moment to walk beside you as you shift your mindset from counting the days of life to creating a legacy. For more information, visit www.adventuretherapyfoundation.org or contact us at info@adventurefound.org. - And so you know when she's invincible, we promise our listeners we're gonna bring them fierce entrepreneurs and we're gonna tell them everything they need to know, right? Which I think you did so beautifully here today. But we're not done because we also promise them that while we're spotlighting these fierce entrepreneurs that we're also going to pull back the curtain. See, people don't know your story. They don't know your journey. They think, oh, she's so lucky. She's so pretty. She lives at the beach, right? All these great things and they have no idea the price you paid for the life you live today. And so we're about to pull back the curtain and show them, listen, if you want the life she has, you gotta pay the price she paid, right? There's a price in everything. And I believe so much in authenticity. And you know, when people are saying she's lucky, I just wanna smack 'em because look, there's nothing to do with it. She's so invincible. So that's what she really is. And so let's tell a couple of stories right now so that people can really see what that price is because we know it's not easy, but that's not what we talk about because that's not what brings success, right? That doesn't bring abundance. But sometimes in entrepreneurship, we need to go back and tell the others because they're thinking, this is so hard. She made it so easy. What's wrong with me? There's nothing wrong with you. Nothing wrong with you. Nothing wrong with you. This is the price you pay for the life you want. And so let's jump in. We're gonna start with a story about the good. So tell us a story about the good or the greatest part of your journey so far. I would say when I look at the good, there has been an evolution that's happened in my own life moving from everything that I knew, right? 26 years in a thriving career at the top of my game, hitting all the metrics, being a leader in the industry to answering a calling and really having no idea what it even was. I truly had no idea what was next. I just knew that I was no longer wanting or willing to sacrifice my life. My kids needed me. And so the good is that I answered the call. And in that answering of the call, it got mucky. It was confusing. There were days where I felt like I was wearing a navy or a heels and they looked really great. And then I took them off 'cause they had blisters on my feet, right? 'Cause I had no idea what I was doing in this next chapter. The good was that I stepped into a chapter of self trust that rather than always like, I was able to muster all the things that I learned and the investments that I had made over the last two and a half decades with Tony Robbins and Wayne Dyer and all the self learning and all the things that kept my energies high and my mind sharp, I stepped into a place of the only thing that I could do is trust and have faith, right? Faith was one, but the good part was that I learned to trust myself. And I trusted that I didn't have to have it all figured out and it would be okay. And so I would say that the good part is that there is an element when we move through transition that we can actually connect with our future most positive self, which is what such a big part of the visualization of where we're going is, but really start to love and trust the person that we are right now who's calling us towards the future most positive self. So that is my good. - That is so good too because that is so such a good example of what is really happening in the transformation, right? It's like you are who you are right now calling yourself into this greater place. It's scary. And I love that you put it that way. - Thank you. That is amazing. And congratulations to you because once you trust yourself, you don't ever have to trust anybody else, right? Like you know, you're good. No matter what, you're good. - Yes. - And I love that. - It took really place to be. Even when things are not good. - Yeah, well, and that happened. - It's an okay place to be. - Yeah. - 100% and that happens, right? - It's pretty dangerous in ours. Of course it does. - All day long, Michelle, right? All right. We're gonna talk about the bad. So we'll save the ugly for last 'cause we don't, we wanna break it to them slowly. So let's talk a little bit about the bad part of the journey. - So the bad part of the journey, I would say the bad part of my journey and I'll speak about, I guess it's just a journey, right? So it's both business, life, all of it, would be this repeated sense of overworking, not prioritizing. Like I go through really, really good spurts of like, I've got it figured out. I don't seek balance because they don't think that it exists. But I've learned to seek harmony. But the bad is that I continue to find myself with this extra 25 pounds, lose the 25 pounds, extra 25 pounds, lose 25 pounds. And for those of you that are listening, that are health nuts, like, I wanna be like you. I wanna wake up and have it not feel hard, right? So the bad part of my journey is that there's this inner working that I'm still doing, the dance of it's all or nothing, right? Go big or go home, like I'm either in it or I'm not in it and figuring out the harmony of how to balance that want to take care of the vessel and grow a business. The want to take care of the vessel because it's necessary and needed and to make an impact in the world. So the bad is that I don't have it all figured out and then I continue to work that piece of harmony into my life. - I love that. Oh my gosh, that's so honest and authentic right there because I see your journey. I saw you do 75 hard. I was cheering you on and, you know, but it's hard. That's why they call it 75 hard. - Yeah, and I brought my foot. - 174 days in to discipline and really feeling a major shift in that area, 174 days. No alcohol, two workouts a day, drinking my water, feeling like I was embodying exactly what I have been wanting to create the harmony of my life and then I break my foot. - Yes. - Right, break my foot, right? And then bring us up all the things out. Now, could I have continued to move? My husband's a boxing trainer. I could have continued to work out every day and move my upper body, but Michelle Bad was like, for me. I guess I'll have a drink now. (laughs) - I might drink. - I may as well, well, well, I can make it 174 and I did make it through the first two, I made it through the first three phases and I only had one base left. So I was very grateful that I get the mission. - Yeah. - And it's so interesting to be now staring back at myself in this, and I don't wanna say bad, right? 'Cause this is about, I always say I pause, I didn't quit. - Yes. - And that may resonate with a lot of your listeners, but in the pause, I have 11 pounds that have come back on and I'm seeing the things that I could have set myself up for success differently in this area. So the bad is just that I don't have it all figured out and I'm still working on it. - Yes, and you're, that's the key. You're still working on it. You haven't given up, right? You were still working on it and you're my hero. I cheered you on all the way and was so impressed by your discipline and your commitment in the rain, in the heat, in all the ways. So yeah, and it is a struggle. It's hard to grow a business, shrink a body, yeah. I mean, this is so many messages, right? - There's just a lot there. - And most importantly, chase our potential, right? That's really what 75 Bard was about for me. It was really about chasing my own potential in all areas, not just one. - And what's so cool is that you did it, right? You did it. - Wow. - And I think like that we have to celebrate what we do and not think about what we still need to do. And I think like that was the thing for you as you did it and you felt great. And I think, you know, even talking about that part of it is all of that, you know, love that you're giving your body is also helping you be able to create more abundance, right? Mentally. So I think that brings clarity and all of those things as well. And I'm thinking I'm toying with the idea. Let's just say that I'll let you know. All right, that was fun. Let's talk about the ugly part of the journey. - Oh, the ugly part of the journey for me would definitely be my divorce. And not because it was nasty, ugly, but because it was the ugly. Like I didn't sign up to get married to get a divorce, right? We made it 23 years. I'll always say that's my biggest accomplishment that we made it 23 years. But the ugly part is that there were so many things that it's not just about me. It was about my children and what they had to experience and what my ex had to walk through and losing a family, right? Like his family for 23 years is my family, my nieces and nephews. Like there's just this ugly piece that comes out of any divorce, even amicable divorces that you don't even realize it's gonna be ugly. Ugly, not knowing where I parked my car in a parking lot because I was in a fog, right? It was just ugly. It was an ugly time that I knew I would get through. I had to have support. I had to have therapy, to have somebody support me through the, don't let me change my mind. I think in the prosperity of divorce, my chapter is a poor Bob, right? Bob was my therapist. Like, but there were so many ugly pieces that I didn't even expect. And I think that grief is ugly and lonely and transformation can be ugly. And so I would just say that the ugly is part of my journey thus far and the repercussions that come when you make that decision, I had made that decision for us. And we both agreed and we walked through, but it was ugly just because like, even going through it, if you both want it, it's still like, there's a sense of you don't wanna let go and then you do wanna let go and then you can't stay at each other, but then you love each other and there's all this stuff and it's just ugly. So that would be my ugly chapter. And, you know, I guess it's like a weed. A weed can be plucked and it can still grow bad and it can be pretty and it's a weed and you don't know it. And so, stare at it. Know that it most importantly, make a decision that it doesn't have to stay that way. And how you react and how you respond. I am so grateful today to be 10 years post divorce, right? And while I'm more than 10 years, I'm 14 years now and I can be in a room with my former husband and we are both grandparents to a beautiful four-year-old and we've not missed one celebration for our children or grandchildren because we at least respected each other through the ugly. And so that isn't always everybody's case, but for me, it was really important to have the outcome that I envisioned and you can only control one side. I will say that, right? I remember saying to my kids, you know, the only thing I can promise you is too safe and loving homes. And the truth was I could only promise one. The only thing that we have is the control with how we respond, what we create and how we show up. So, but that was my ugliest time for sure, the divorce. - And you know what's amazing to me is that it was the ugliest time that moved you to where you are today that encouraged you and gave you content for two best-selling books and for all the work that you're doing in the world today to help others along the way. And so I want to remind people as they listen that even when it's ugly, it's beautiful because the ugly leans to something beautiful that you can't see yet. And you just have to have faith that it's there and it's coming and you just need to get through it and you can't give up. - And not alone. I think too many people try to go and alone. - Yeah. - They don't need to. - Yeah. - It's so much easier to have the village, right? - Yes, absolutely. - And like you say, poor Bob, I loved reading about poor Bob in your book. So I hope that encourages people to, you know, want to read that book if they're going through a tough time and or even if they're having money issues that they could get the help they need through you. So thank you, Michelle. Is there any final words you want to share with our listeners today about this or anything else? - I think just, you know, know that you can wake up today. Maybe you're hearing this and all it takes is a decision. Just making a different decision. That's where it all starts. That's where transformation begins. - I love that. Okay, you guys, you know what we say. I don't know where you are in your life or your business. But if you're face down on the ground right now, get back up, girl. We know it's hard. We know it's ugly. We know you feel like you can't do it, but we're here to tell you you can. You can, you can do anything. You are invincible. Just get back up, up. - Thank you for joining us today. If you were inspired or learned something new, please follow the show. Submit a rating and review and share us with your friends. If you would like to chat to see if you can attract your ideal client and monetize your business through podcasting, please book a free call with me at cammyleman.com. I can't wait to meet you. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) [BLANK_AUDIO]
