Your GRADUATION Story
I think I can safely say that 2020 and most of 2021 have been the worst years of my life. I was made redundant in December 2020 after working for 12 years doing a job I never particularly liked. So although I was glad to get away from that job, losing it during Covid was terrifying as jobs were scarce. I then suffered a number of other setbacks – I had DVT and pulmonary embolism (blood clots in the leg and lungs) and other health issues, within a year, 2 of my beloved cats died, my relationship broke down, I lost my home plus although it was a few years ago now, I’m still trying to manage the grief of losing my mum. I was completely broken, exhausted and went into a spiral of anxiety and depression. I knew I would have to get another job but dreaded the thought of having to stay working in the same industry and being forced to work shifts which included through the night. I had no idea what I was going to do. Then I came across one of Marisa's Webinar's. She was so authentic and clearly at the top of her game. I resonated with her and what she was saying. I've always thought about setting up my own business and what better time to do it? I wasn't working so I could put all my focus and attention on doing this. So, even though I had no idea what my business would be, I signed up to EPM and what a journey it has been! I've learned so much - not just about creating an Experience Product but also about myself. After some deliberation and exploring various niches, I was always drawn back to creating something around my passion of music. Although it was a number of years ago, I did teach piano so I decided to stick with something I knew well. But mastering playing the piano can take years so it took a lot of brainstorming and researching what else was out there to eventually come up with an idea to create a course that had a clear result at the end - teaching a beautiful but fairly simple piece of music that could be learned quickly so that the focus would be more on playing piano to relax and unwind and improve emotional wellbeing. Marisa's approach to creating a profitable product had gently guided me to getting to this point. Module 1 was a breeze - I was excited about the course I would be creating and had stayed motivated. Then unfortunately I hit a brick wall early in Module 2 when it came to writing my credibility statement. Limiting beliefs reared their ugly head. Doubt and insecurity set in and I spiralled down finding it very difficult to reach out for help and support. So I just went silent and disengaged from the training. I did keep attending the weekly coaching coals and listening to everyone else and the coaching they received would inspire me to get motivated again. But only briefly, unfortunately. I'd got too overwhelmed with negative feelings and just couldn't get out of the stuck mindset I was in and procrastination set in. It wasn't until after Christmas that I finally started shifting my mindset and kicked into gear again. Mainly because I was frustrated with myself - if I didn't complete the program I would have wasted an amazing opportunity to change my life and get away from the work I'd been doing before. So I reached out to my coach, Matthew, explained where I was at and why and stated I was determined to get as far as possible in the program before it came to an end. I warned him that I would probably be tagging him many times in the milestone document and sending quite a few emails in a short space of time. Matthew was incredibly supportive and said ' okay let's do this! I'll keep an eye out for your emails :)' And that spurred me on even more. I pushed through my blocks and I did it! I completed all the trainings in Modules 1-3 for the MVP track. For quite some time I didn't think I'd get here .....But I did! I'm so proud of myself and eternally grateful for all the support I've had along the way, particularly from my coach Matthew. Knowing he was there every day, looking out for my emails, motivated me to keep going to the end. I think the training that sticks out most for me was for Modules and Session naming. I spent a long time working on this. I thought I knew what I was going to deliver and how but this made me look at it in a completely different way and that will really impact the experience my clients get from me for the better. I've learned not be embarrassed or scared to reach out for support and also progress over perfection - and I really need to remember this. Once I got going again and focused on just getting actions done rather than them being perfect - I flew through the rest of the program. This has been an incredibly journey with many ups and downs but thanks to the amazing training and incredible support, I now have an Experience Product, know what I'm going to deliver, how and will give my clients a fantastic experience throughout. I'm thoroughly excited and can't wait to continue on my journey with my business, keep chatterboxing and get those sales!
Your MISSION ACCOMPLISHED Story
After hitting a block, getting stuck and disengaging from the program for a while, I started to doubt I would ever reach Mission Accomplished. Hints of motivation crept in as I still attended the weekly coaching calls but I just couldn't get out of my stuck mindset to continue with the trainings. Things shifted for me after Christmas. As the end of the program was looming, I got frustrated and panicked about how far behind I was and really want to change this and move forward. This program is a fantastic opportunity with amazing training and incredibly supportive coaching and I didn't want to waste that opportunity. I reached out to my coach, Matthew, who was tremendous, and with his support, I got my motivation back to power through all my blocks and complete the program. So I came to chatterboxing a lot later than planned and with not long left of the program. However, although I'd not done the actual Chatterboxing training and consolidated the best way to approach this until later in the program, technically I had been chatterboxing for the last few months as I'd been excitedly telling everyone what I'm up to. So once I got back on track with the program, I followed up on those that had been interested and set up meetings to have deeper conversations. Now I was able to structure the conversation better knowing what to say when, and when to be quiet and listen, hold space so that my potential client to talk and we could establish if we would be a good fit to work together. Of course my conversations still need some practise as I'm new to this and I've still only had a few but feeling accomplished that I did get to the closing pivot. 1 of those conversations did also lead to a sale! Which I'll expand on a little further in my next story. I'm now looking forward to throwing myself into following a plan to find my target audience in more far reaching areas and chatterboxing more and more.
Your FIRST SALE Story
To be honest I'm feeling a little astonished I achieved making a sale. I've experienced many ups and downs throughout my journey in this program. I did hit a point where I almost resigned myself to giving up completely. I had serious doubts I was capable and that people would find me credible. I let limiting beliefs and negativity take over for a while. But then I reminded myself why I'm doing this for me. What achieving creating an Experience Product and having my own business will mean for me. The opportunity to work doing something I'm passionate about. This program has taught me that there is a very supportive community out there of like minded people, willing the best for each other. It's taught me to reach out for help and support from the fantastic coaches and grab the opportunities whilst they are there. Which I eventually did and it was so uplifting to know my coach, Matthew would be there to support me right to the end. Hearing how other people were doing well and making sales was so inspirational and I wanted to feel that excitement that I was there too. I also reminded myself why I was doing this for others. At the beginning of my EPM journey, I spoke to people about what I was doing and the response was incredible. Quite a few people were keen to know more and expressed how they would love to learn to play the piano. They wanted to have a creative outlet they could retreat to in order to relax and unwind. So I had to make this work in order to give other people the opportunity to experience the benefits that playing piano gives. So I pushed through my blocks and completed the program. Now I had the Chatterbox training under my belt I reached out again to those who had been really interested in my program and set up some meetings to have deeper conversations and hopefully get them to sign up. Although they were all still interested on some level, most decided it wasn't for them right now. Some didn't have a piano or keyboard right now and felt they couldn't afford that expense, others had simply changed their mind as they were focusing on other areas of their life right now. It's something they want to do but in the future. But one particular person had been bursting for me to get back in touch and was raring to go. She'd been waiting for me to be ready to start delivering my course, enthusiastically signed up and paid there and then. That was an incredible feeling - I have my first customer! I'm now working on all the preparation to deliver the course whilst also focusing on widening my chatterboxing and getting more confident with what I say and how I respond during conversations. With more practise and confidence, I'll be able to demonstrate much better how my program can help them in their lives now and why they should invest in themselves - which could turn some of those 'not right now's' into 'sign me up now'.