Make IT Happen!
Michelle Holmes & daughter Mayumi - photo courtesy of Andrea Michele Photography
I remember becoming a mother for the first time so vividly. All I wanted to do was protect and nurture my little boy and be there for him whenever he needed me! For a long time that was quite literally all I needed. I just wanted to be a mum.
My husband had hit a low point after his bankruptcy had meant we lost everything… but I was entirely happy to have nothing in my life but my family and my freedom for my first 3 years as a mum… until something happened…
The thing is, I’m the kind of person that wants to create things…products, businesses, ideas…change… I have a major drive to Make IT Happen!
I believe wholeheartedly in ‘being the change’ you want to see in the world and I want to make a positive difference in the world my children will grow up in. As Will Smith (love that man) says… “I want the world to be a better place because I was here!”
I remember looking at my children one day and suddenly realising I had a duty to bring them up believing that they could do whatever it was that they were passionate about. I had to show them that they could be whoever they wanted to be… but what was I teaching them now? We were living on benefits with nothing to look forward to… and I wanted to give my kids a better life than that!
I had to do something. I had to Make IT Happen!
So, with this new fire in my belly, I set up in business and within 12 weeks I had taken us from benefits to £4k a month. Everyone patted me on the back and said I’d done really well and it all felt great for a bit…
But then I realised that in trying to make things better for my children I’d actually made things worse! All children REALLY want is for their home to be a happy one and to spend time feeling loved by their family… right?
They want their mummy to BE THERE. Not just at home… in the same space… but PRESENT!
I’d been working LONG hours, tucked away in the spare bedroom for nearly a year before I realised the insanity of the situation I had found myself in. I was exhausted and if I didn’t do something soon I’d end up sick too!
Also, my business was SO ‘vanilla’ – SO not me because I’d ended up doing things the way I thought I should be doing them! I wasn’t following my intuition, I wasn’t saying no to things I knew deep down I didn’t want to do… and I wasn’t being completely myself.
When I was in a business situation I found myself speaking in a way that wasn’t actually the way I speak and I’d find myself ‘channelling successful entrepreneurs instead of being me! Looking back now I really have to laugh! I was ‘acting’ like a single woman doing things like making excuses for having to dash off when a meeting had run over time and I had to pick my son up from school… I’d say I had another meeting to go to instead of telling the truth… and I realised something was WAY off here!
It was time to Make something else Happen!
So, I made some really tough decisions. I decided to live my life in a way that would Make Incredible Things Happen for my family EVERY DAY…
My ‘Incredible Things’ change all the time. When I first started out my IT was earning enough money to pay the bills. Then my IT was having the time to spend with my children AND making enough to pay the bills….
Now my IT is running a business that makes a positive difference, to work with the people I’m most passionate about working with i.e. other mums) and teaching my kids how to be TRULY successful (aka happy) by leading by example!
If you are a mother or a mum to be and you’re currently weighing up your options, wondering whether starting your own business is the right thing for you, I’m not here to convince you either way.
If you are feeling like there is no other choice for you but to go back to work when your baby is still tiny and if that is breaking your heart, I’m here to tell you there IS another way! You CAN Make IT Happen (whatever your IT or ‘Incredible Things’ might be)… But I’m not going to lie to you, it may not always be easy!
Yes, you CAN stay at home AND earn a good living doing something you love but there will be times when you’re still sat at your computer at 2am after your baby has woken up for the 4th time that night and you have a deadline to meet for the morning when you wonder why on earth you don’t just go and get yourself a regular job!
I know first hand how hard it can be BUT… I’ve learnt a LOT along the way that’s made things soooo much easier for me and I’d be delighted to share it with you. I wish I’d had someone tell me this stuff when I first started out on this road and that’s why I’m here now!
I invest a lot of my own time and money into learning from the most successful female entrepreneurs (and a few of the REALLY great guys too) out there. I’ve studied them, I’ve been mentored by then… and I’ve gone out and applied everything I’ve learnt from them to my own life and business.
Sometimes I have big wins and sometimes I learn a HUGE and painful lesson… BUT I’m always moving forwards and life generally keeps on getting better… I keep on Making IT Happen… which is a heck of a lot different to where I was 2 years ago!
The way I first started ‘Making IT Happen’ was by setting up shop as a Social Media Manager. I had no start up capital when I started doing this, I had no experience (apart from using social media to keep in touch with friends that is!) but nevertheless, I went from being on benefits to generating a mid 4 figure income each month within 12 weeks. I can show you what I did to make that happen… but knowing what I know now… I can show you a BETTER, FASTER, LESS TIME CONSUMING and MORE SCALABLE way to do it so you don’t have to fall into all the traps that I did!
Since those early days I’ve created my own products, membership sites, I’ve learnt all sorts about online product launches, how to develop apps, email marketing, copywriting, public speaking, time management, mindset management, event organisation, relationship marketing and generally EVERYTHING I could get my hands on that resonated with me… and these days instead of £4k months I’m having £4k weeks and I’m doing it in a way that is MUCH less effort and much more FUN too!
If you’d like to Make IT Happen (whatever that might mean for you right now) I’d love to support you with that if I can! Sign up for my newsletter and I’ll share everything I’ve learnt and continue to learn with you.
I’ll get you started by sending you my free Facebook training (I’m a VERY big believer in Social Marketing, it is after all the ONLY tool I had to build my own business from zero to £4k a month in those first 12 weeks so it’s a real Make IT Happen powertool if you ask me!) and shortly after we finish that you’ll receive my ‘Time Management for Make IT Happen Mums’ course too!
I’d love to stay in touch – just pop your name and email address in the box at the top of the page and I’ll do just that!
