Written for Success Sisters Magazine Inaugural Issue www.SuccessSister.org
by Linda Mullins.
What a remarkable season we are in! Bursting with possibility and opportunities to create an entirely new version of ourselves. The earth and its people - literally groaning with the birthing pains of bringing forth new life. Don’t ya see it -can’t you sense it? This is the lens from which I choose to view our emergence from the world-shaking COVID19 season.
Regardless of where you live, virtually every facet of life has been affected by this global pandemic. Yet, with all of the staggering impacts of the virus; the deaths, and a disrupted world economy, fortunes are shifting. Right before us lay the literal keys to the kingdom. Yet the cry of the nations has been for a return to ‘normal’-the peace and comfort of predictability. This, my friend, is not the typical cry of a lion-hearted entrepreneur.
As the founder of two successful start-ups, I see things quite differently. Like everyone, I cherish the American way of life and the luxuries and conveniences it brings us. And, while these things have been altered over the last many months, they haven’t really gone away.
Instead, this strange, traumatic, explosive period has revealed new opportunities for growth and innovation. The question is - what will we do with it? The choice is ours.
This very loud and distinctive wake-up call to our long-held complacent way of life begs us to arise and carpe diem!
And that’s what I’ve chosen - to embrace this window of opportunity to craft and shape my organization, Inspired Leadership Group, with multiple streams of revenue by first offering free online wellness webinars with integrative wellness professionals. Though the original business model was (and still is) to provide luxury integrative wellness retreats for leaders in exotic locations that included private sessions with concierge doctors and peak performance mental health coaches, I quickly pivoted to providing value to my potential clients by offering similar conversations online surrounding integrative wellness. My keen eye sees the overwhelming need for helping people that are stressed and exhausted to receive encouragement, refreshing and emotional & mental renewal.
If you look around and dig into the area of your expertise, I think you’ll find some avenues for your new business venture, even in this unstable economy. After all, my first startup was launched in the spring of 2008, the beginning of a recession. It was that business, a boutique wellness retreat, that I grew to just under $1,000,000 per year. I need to get busy - I have yet to reach my millionaire status!
My experience and research in the marketplace tells me that monetizing online webinars and programs is difficult now due to the barrage of meaningful content offered free of charge. Given this data, I’ve decided to offer my services free of charge in the form of “Well Webinars” as one of the channels of my marketing and business development portfolio.
While this activity is not income-producing, it is establishing and growing the brand awareness and driving leads. As a member of the Success Sisters Advisory Board, this is the type of innovation I encourage would-be Success Sisters to explore while the window of time is still open. The tools are accessible to all with very low, if any, investment.
In fact, I built my business in 2008 using some of the platforms still available today that are incredibly budget-friendly. Fivver.com is one of those. It was actually Jordi Bostock, Founder of Success Sisters that shared with me even more tools available to create the level of branding and messaging worthy of a multi-million dollar business.
That simply fact alone speaks to what Success Sisters is all about. Sharing wisdom, insight and practical tools that get the job done more effectively and more cost efficiently. I am at absolute best when I have spent time with other sharp, business-minded women pouring into me. And it goes both ways- I love sharing my expertise with my girlfriends and women colleagues. This is no doubt part of God’s plan for my life - to encourage and equip other women to be their best selves in business and in life.
I’ve been blessed with great ideas and a sharp business acumen. But the results are impacted and multiplied when I convene with other business women from different industries and different walks of life. We hold Masterminds and strategy sessions where we each chime in with our insight based on our business, life experience and world view.. Sometimes they are more formal meetings with agendas and sometimes they’re just really good conversations over a glass of wine! Aristotle had it goin’ on - the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. In other words our collective wisdom trumps our own individual wisdom every time! That’s what we get to enjoy at Success Sisters - synergy. We truly are, better together!
Though many men and women entrepreneurs have lost their businesses during the time of COVID, many have flourished. I sympathize with the losses, support them and genuinely feel their pain as an entrepreneur. Even with that happening to the left and right of us, we can and will be triumphant as we choose to take the risk, commit to a well thought-out plan of action, get advisors to weigh in, and make a move. A paraphrase from my favorite book to quote, the Bible, encourages us to ‘step out of the boat’. Nothing happens until we do. At that point, our faith, our beliefs and our plans begin to take on life.
Cheers to your success!