Hi, and welcome to La Vie Attaché. Change your thoughts, change your life. In today's episode, I share with you my story. And I have a story that I would like to share with you and also how I have pivoted my life this year and turned it around to my advantage.
And I am excited as to where it's heading. So tune in and let's get going. And we are live. Hello, everyone.
Ready, steady, pivot, go. Are you ready? We have got 78. Let me just check that.
Yeah, 78 days left in the year. That is 78. 78. Doesn't seem all that far away.
When I say 78, that seems like a lot. But in actual fact, it isn't. It's nearly here. The end is near.
The end of the year is near. So today, what I want to share with you is my story. Hang on a second. Okay, we're back.
So what I would like to do is share my story with you. I have a story to tell. It's a simple story. And it involves my passion for pivoting.
You might be wondering, why did you choose pivoting? What's so special about that? But for me, it resonates with me an awful lot. I have lived in the UK for 30 years.
And I have been married to a wonderful man who served in the British Army. And we moved around an awful lot. So for me, I had to find jobs wherever I went and also settle a house, i.e. pack up a house and then unpack a house and try and make the new surroundings, the new community that we were going into the best that I could and just try and settle in as best you can.
Because when you're in unfamiliar territory, it can get a little frightening, especially in another country. But I am here as a testament to say, if I'm I can do it, you can too. And that is very much my motto, as well as my other motto is better out than in. And when I mean by better out than in, don't bottle up any feelings or emotions that you might have, like being frightened of a change or being apprehensive about something and worrying unnecessarily.
I have definitely been there, done that, have several t-shirts and we can compare notes if you like at some stage, I'd be happy to. But I'm definitely here to tell you that it is far better out than in with regards to what's going on in here and here as well. And so pivoting, I feel very passionate about it. And what I mean by that is when I was moving around to various different locations and had to pick up and put down roots in new cities time and time again, it was something that I quickly changed and adapted to.
You have to sink or swim in life, don't you? But at the end of the day, it really is all about how you make the best of any situation that is presented to you. And it has been a wonderful journey. And I'd like to encourage you to think back on your journey in your life and the bumps in the road, especially.
I've had not only some speed bumps, but some really big potholes that I thought I would never get out of. And somehow, some way you do just figure it out, whether that be through a community or through friends and family, you need a support group and especially a lot of great people around you that lift you up rather than try and hold you back or keep you down. That really doesn't do anyone any favors. So yeah, that is my bit about pivoting.
Recently, within this last year, I would certainly like to share with you, I've pivoted yet again and in a new direction. My trade has been training and accounting. I really love training and I love expressing myself to people in a way that if I have the knowledge of something, I'm going to share it with you. Why keep it in?
I don't hold back. So I really like sharing information with individuals and really enjoyed my time and training in the corporate world. But I then also had a real curiosity and passion for numbers and decided to go into accounting and had a wonderful opportunity and a great career so far to date in gosh, probably about 17 years now. I mean, the time has just flown by.
But I really do like working with numbers and accounting. Again, the numbers don't lie. And with anything, if you want to find out about something, I always say follow the money. That will reveal an awful lot about a business.
Now, two days ago, I had mentioned about your customers and I do want to talk about over the next 78 days or okay, not today, but 70 days at least about customers and how important they are and they really are the lifeblood of any business that we are doing, especially online. And with regards to training, I love it. I love accounting. I love customers.
I, yeah, there's not a lot that I don't love. Um, but I'm also one of these individuals that is very much my, my philosophy and approach with any job or career that I have in life is to roll my sleeves up and just get stuck in, see what I can do with it. Um, it's being the job or the task at hand that has presented itself to me. So again, I'm here to say, Hey, heck, if I can do it, you can do it.
I mean, I'm in my parents' dining room at the moment filming this. So, you know, why not? You have nothing to lose. Um, so there we go.
Um, right. With regards to pivoting this year. So, well, it was actually a little bit before this year, but for a few years now, I have been exploring or toying with the idea. It's always just been here, not actual action in the fact of, I'd like to do something online, something about the online world and space and has really fascinated me.
And what excites me is testing and learning to see if I can be a bit of a maverick and carve out my own career and create my own destiny with the online business that I would like to create. So I'm in the business of coaching and sharing with people trainings and also various other things along the way that I learn. Once I learn it, I will definitely be more than happy to share it with you and also work with you if you'd like to, to work together. Um, I would really love to be able to do that.
So with regards to pivoting this year, it has really thrown, I think a lot of us for a loop, but when, okay, I'm just going to say it like it is when catastrophe strikes and it does probably feel like to some people, a bit of a catastrophe in the fact that there's an awful lot of uncertainty as to where the, this virus that has caught hold of a lot of people is heading, you know, and does it exist? Is it, is it out there and how much out there and just so much, so many questions that we don't really have answers to. And I think when you just take a step back and take a breath to go, okay, what can I do in my personal world to, to control what I can do, then it helps you to find a sense of calm and balance with regards to just life in general and being able to cope with something that we haven't seen in a lot of people's lifetimes. Um, I, I don't know if anybody has been around with when the Spanish flu hit, so it can be quite nerve wracking and unsettling to say the least, but that doesn't mean to say that we have to let it defeat us.
And by that, I mean, what you do is take a look at your life. You take this moment in time that we all have this precious time to really take a step back and go, okay, let me do a life audit, shall we say, and examine, okay, where have I been in my life? Where do I want to head? And what do I need to do in between to get there?
So for me personally, I have been exploring and learning about how to build an online business and this is coming from an account now and I hate to admit it, but even, I don't know how much I have spent on online courses and various products just to build my business. Sorry, spoiler alert. Yeah. I confess.
Yes. Not very good at that one, probably because I just did not want to know. Um, but yeah, a lot of money has gone into learning and trying to figure out how to create an online business. And it wasn't until around about, I think it was March that, um, a group of gals called, well, affectionately called that for, but a big, big shout out and immense gratitude to the I am possible tribe.
They have been absolutely amazing at teaching you how to build even just a small product. Cause that was kind of their, their product at that moment in time. And way back in March, April, where they were building a product and saying, yes, you can launch this to the world and make money. And I thought, well, okay, sign me up.
I've got nothing better to do. Um, I'm in and lo and behold, at the end of the course, I had actually made money and now, okay, it's not truckloads of money. Like you hear a lot of other people say making thousands and thousands and hundreds of thousands of dollars and all that sort of stuff. So I'm here to also share with you the reality of building an online business.
We all need to be very realistic with our expectations and set realistic goals along the way of, okay, how much can I expect? How much would I like? And let's see where it takes us, but without the right tools and knowledge, you're not going to get very far, very fast. So with the help and, um, the learnings that are the teachings that I received from the, uh, I am possible, uh, fab ladies that has given me a great foundation and knowledge that I was greatly lacking with all of the other courses that I had taken previously.
So I would highly recommend that you go check them out if you haven't done or ever heard of them. Um, even if you just put in the Facebook group, hashtag I am possible, something will come up. Um, and it is Maria, Sally, Mia, and Ashley who cover your sales pitches, your funnels, your Facebook ads, and also your social media. And it's a really big thanks to Sally, um, that I was able to really get going with an online social presence because for me personally, and I don't think I'm unique or alone in this one, uh, you want me to do what on social media?
Come again? I don't get this. Um, so it was really, you know, a great way to learn, uh, in a very positive and encouraging environment. So now here I am, fast forward to October 14th and I am out on my own and venturing out into my own discoveries and certainly happy to share everything that I find out.
Um, I will share with you. So the one thing that I really do want to share with you, and I don't know if you have received any kind of communication from anyone else, but you know how I talked about, I don't know my numbers when it comes to regarding the spend that I have actually made thus far today. We're talking a good, okay, I'm going to include at least a couple of years in on this. So for the past two years, it's in the, probably I would hazard a guess in the five digit range that I have spent on courses.
So yeah, there's a lot of money involved. And I've heard of other online entrepreneurs who have actually spent around about 30,000 a year. No, let me get this right. No, that was over five years.
So I beg your pardon over five years. They have already spent $30,000 just on one particular product alone. And if you think about it, so what does a customer, not a customer, scratch that, love my customers. Um, what does an actual, um, entrepreneur need in order to make things happen?
You know, wave those magic wands that it might look like with this online world, um, that we've got in front of us in technology. Well, you certainly need in order to get set up and going somewhere, you need a website. What does a website involve? It either involves WordPress or paying another organization for a template that you can put on WordPress, or you can use other platforms to host your website.
So you need a website. You also need, um, some sort of a sales page and that will be, you hear an awful lot about, uh, funnels. People talk about funnels. Well, ultimately it's a sales, um, stream that leads a customer on a journey from, from the very beginning to, hi, how are you?
To, hey, buy my product. Um, and then all of the bits and pieces of the sales along the way. There is, um, what I'm discovering quite a science to actually building a sales funnel. It's very fascinating.
Um, but you need something to sell your product. And what that looks like is an actual funnel online that you have to launch into the world and see if any buyers will resonate with what you, your product is and come into your world. So once you have actually sold something or not, it doesn't necessarily mean to say just because they have opted into your funnel that you have sold them something, but you have the all important information of their email and certainly their name. So with regards to that, how do you capture it?
Well, there's a whole plethora of, um, what is it? Customer Relationship Management products. And so CRM is the acronym that you'll hear bantered about an awful lot. Um, and there are so many other acronyms that this is going to take far too long to even discuss them on this one.
So we'll save that and park it for another day. Put a pin in it. Um, but with the CRM management tool, you're talking about ActiveCampaign, um, MailChimp, um, oh gosh, you name it, they're out there. There's an awful lot of them that will do the same thing of capturing, uh, customer's information, uh, which is just quite simply very basic is an email and also their name.
You can capture other things, but let's just keep it simple. So those are three products already that you are already paying different companies for the privilege of using. And you can either buy into, um, an annual fee that you pay for that, or you can buy into just paying monthly and see how it goes. Some of the free options are great, but equally when you're just starting out, that's probably all that you need and free works just as good, if not better for somebody who is just starting out and finding their feet.
I think it's a great way to go. All that to say, you have three different areas that are effectively helping you build your business or create your business, but wouldn't it be great if there was one product out there that actually just did all of that for you? I mean, I just get getting thinking about it. And with that in mind, I have discovered and have been brought into the world of Groove, G-R-O-O-V-E, Groove, Groove Pages, Groove Funnel, Groove-a-thon.
You might have come across an email like this somewhere along the way just recently. Currently at the moment, the company that is called Groove is a Groove Digital, um, is doing a Groove-a-thon and there is an awful lot of very, very valuable advice that they are providing to their customers. And effectively they are a one-stop shop. They will do your pages for you.
They will do your website. They will do your course. They will do your customer relationship management. So collecting those all important emails.
If you want to sell something as a physical product, they do that as well. And there is so much more, um, that I am literally just still discovering all of this information, but I really wanted to share it with you. And I will drop a link in the message chat. Um, when I finish with this, because I think it's really important that people who are interested, serious, thinking about, you know, have a look.
You know, I would like to encourage you to have a look. There's no harm. You can join up with a free service. Free service, again, is very good.
But currently at the moment, they are offering a platinum membership. And that platinum membership for $13.97, I believe. Yeah, I'm pretty sure it's $13.97. Or they have a three month, six month and 12 month payment.
But ultimately, any way you cut it, this is coming from someone who really does know their numbers. It is a no brainer. If you do the math, you will find out that by buying into and even if you can't afford the one off payment of $13.97, or you can then break it down into three, six or 12, whatever works for you, I would encourage you to make it happen because this is a one off. You do not need to pay any more to Groove.
Once you've made your final payments to them, that's it. You are in there with access all areas effectively. You're a platinum member and you get so much value out of the one place to go rather than trying to struggle of connecting various things together and hoping that it works. And if it doesn't work and trying to figure it out, it eliminates an awful lot of struggle for people that are really serious about or not even serious, but serious about a side hustle.
You know, you don't have to do it as a full time job necessarily, but whatever shape or form that the online world takes for you, I think it's a great place to get started most definitely. So I would highly encourage you to go check out Groove. I will drop the link in the chat. And also at the moment, there's been a lot of buzz.
And again, maybe it's my reticular activating system. So reticular activating system. I don't know if I've explained this ever before, but what it is, your brain is pretty powerful. And like the old saying goes, or is it so old?
I'm not sure exactly who said it and when, but where energy goes, no, what is it? Okay. I'm going to butcher it because I can't think of it off the top of my head, but where focus goes, energy flows. So if your focus is on owning a red car, for example, what do you see?
You see an awful lot of red cars popping up day in, day out, because that is in the forefront of your mind. You are always thinking about it. So naturally the universe, call it what you will, but I call it the science of the reticular activating system in the brain is actually focusing its energy on that thought. And it's amazing how then you really start to pay attention to things in the world that are actually like that.
So there we go. A little side note on psychology today. So with regards to other things about the buzz of being in the online world, there's been an awful lot of talk about having a podcast. Yes, I have my own podcast.
You can check it out on anchor.fm and it is La Vie Attaché. Why do you say what the heck is La Vie Attaché? La Vie Attaché is about, oh gosh, well over a year ago when I was really starting to build up the momentum and energy and enthusiasm for taking my online career seriously, I thought, well, I need to come up with a name and every name that I was coming up with was taken. You will discover this with domains.
And so I had to come up with something and I thought, well, I really like life and that resonates with my coaching and just fascinated with people and life should be lived to the fullest rather than under a rock. And then the attaché was, well, I really like a good satchel. I'll be honest, you know, and maybe it's just who I, yeah, it is who I am. I am one of these people who really, really, really loves stationery and I love the smell of it.
I love, gosh, when is it? July, August, September when all the new stationery comes out, we're back to school. Oh, I just so love stationery. Um, so what better, you know, connection than life and a satchel.
So the attaché piece is instead of just it being a plain old satchel, cause lovey satchel, that doesn't really have a good ring to it. So I thought, well, why not attaché just be all, you know, highbrow with it? Why not? Um, I've since discovered that portmanteau is another way of describing a satchel or an attaché, but ultimately a portmanteau is like a steamer trunk.
If you can think back to the bygone days of when people were using, um, an awful lot of, um, steam ships to transport them and their belongings everywhere. So they would get these steamer trunks and fill them with all of their worldly personal possessions and they would be little compartments. So I really liked that idea. But anyway, so that's the background to lovey attaché.
So please do go check it out. If you haven't done already on anchor.fm, that's lovey attaché. So I would also encourage you to have a think, a serious think about what you would like to do with a podcast, because we all have a message, personal message and personal experiences that really do need to be shared. And you know, what better way to do that in this day and age when things are at our fingertips and so easy to do.
So there we go. That's my thoughts for today. I don't know how long this has become, but I hope you've enjoyed today's session and gotten a little bit out of it until tomorrow, my friends. Bye for now.