Michelle: I’ve got my lighter fluid. I’m ready to go.

JLD: Yes. Michelle’s a visibility expert who helps launching entrepreneurs skyrocket their visibility, monetize their success, and bring their unique mission to the online space. Michelle, take a minute and fill in some gaps from that intro and tell us a little bit about your personal life.

Michelle: Awesome. First, I’m so excited to be here. I am Michelle Lewis. I’m the founder of Visibility Vixen. I have six courses. I run a mastermind and a bi-yearly visibility summit. My personal life I am married with my pug Oliver. And my background is in T.V. film and natural medicine.

JLD: So, of all those things you do really, really well, what do you do great? Like, what is the thing that you are most expert in of all things?

Michelle: It’s definitely helping people get more visible and to break down their barriers that are keeping them from getting more visible online. That’s my jam.

JLD: What’s something we don’t know about visibility? About becoming more visible? Like, let’s get real specific, real tactical.

Michelle: Absolutely. So, I think the most tactical thing would actually be color. I was able to combine my history in T.V./film with natural medicine to look at color in a unique way. So, for example, using a brand color that not a lot of people use, but I know you do, talking about orange. Orange is seen on screen as a very like a sweet and sour color. Orange lenses are put in front of the camera if it’s appearing to be somewhere exotic. And orange is the light center of the pancreas organ which represents balance. So, it’s a great brand color for anyone that is a lifestyle expert or even VAs because their goal is to bring more balance into people’s lives.

JLD: Well, I just got gosh-darn lucky because I had no idea. I just said, “Fire. Fire is yellow and orange and red and let’s just do all of those things.”

Michelle: Absolutely. So, you rocked it without even knowing.

JLD: Yes. So, Michelle, I wanna take you down a notch because we’ve been bringing the heat, bringing the fire, and now I wanna talk about your worst entrepreneurial moment ever. So, take us to that moment. Tell us that story.

Michelle: Definitely. So, it was actually a moment that was about six months ago for me. And I was hosting my first online visibility summit. And I do my summits a little different where I actually went and met with entrepreneurs in person, taped them, spent probably a thousand hours editing and getting everything right and promotion.

[Crosstalk]

JLD: Wow.

Michelle: And then it goes to hit live and Hurricane Harvey hits. And in addition to that, a lot of the people that – it just it didn’t get promoed the way that it should. So, I had all of this expectation and then it all came crashing down. Understandably so because it was a natural disaster, but for me it was so discouraging and such a gut-wrenching moment which I know that we’ve all had. So, it took me a couple weeks to get through that, but I did.

JLD: So, I will say it’s definitely not uncommon to work really, really hard on something, have huge expectations and then for them just to fall flat for any number of reasons. I mean there are always a lot of reasons for that to happen. And let’s be frank, the first time any entrepreneur does something, it usually is the case. I mean we just don’t know what we don’t know. And so, then we’re like, “Oh, well, this person did that, and this happened. Well, of course, when I do this, that’s gonna happen too.” And we’re missing a lot of key factors that we just don’t see. So, what were some really key things, now in hindsight, of course beyond the natural disasters and all that, but that you really think you could have done that maybe would have helped out the process or just improved the overall experience?

Michelle: Absolutely. Well, I think I did everything correct in the way that I promoed it and the ads and very clear with my speakers with what my intentions were. But I really think that I didn’t – I put way too much expectation on myself. That it had to be this huge success because it’s huge success for someone that I admired. And chances are, when you first launch something, it’s not gonna live up to that. And so, I really sat back, I accepted that it made me a much better entrepreneur for the next time that I hosted it. It’s just a part of the process. So, I wish that I had been a little bit more forgiving of myself.

JLD: Fire Nation, one thing that I would definitely say here is had I been Michelle or had I been advising Michelle, I would’ve said, “You need to go find somebody who is currently where you wanna be.” Meaning somebody who’s successfully done exactly what you’ve done. And honestly, maybe Michelle did this, but this is the advice that I would give to anything that you’re going to be doing. Don’t just sit there and say, “Okay, this is what needs to be done A through Z, do it, and then launch it.” No. There again are hidden mine traps in everything along the way that you don’t even know exists until you know they actually exist. So, find somebody who’s done whatever it is that you wanna do or who is currently where you wanna be. Find them, hire them, invest in yourself with them for your mentor so that they can tell you what those boobytraps are, what those mistakes are, what the definite things are you should be focusing on because their experience can be priceless.

Now, Michelle, you’ve also had some great ideas over the course of your journey. Absolutely. Take us to one of those a-ha moments. Tell us that story.

Michelle: Sure. So, I was kinda sick and tired of doing the same thing day in and day out. I went up to my local coffee shop with tons of white sheets of paper and I asked myself, “What were the biggest hindrances for me?” Because I used to be a stand-in, so I had an acting coach tell me when I was 12 years old that I was not good looking enough and I was too overweight to ever be on camera. And that really hindered me from, at the time, wanting to be an actress, so I became a stand-in. So, I was in front of the camera, but not when it was actually recording. Very clever of me. And so, I sat down and listed what all of those hindrances were that held me back and I recorded my video training series about that. And that really shaped all of my courses, and my mastermind and my future training. So, it was really a powerful moment for me.

JLD: Fire Nation, what’s gonna be a powerful moment for you? I mean only you know that. You need to sit down and say, “Hey, what’s going to excite me? What’s going to really light my fire in the area of – whatever that might be.” And then start putting the steps in place to make that happen.

And, Michelle, you obviously have a lot of takeaways from that, but what’s the biggest one? The biggest lesson that you want Fire Nation to really get?

Michelle: For me, it’s really sitting down and figuring out, “What are the biggest lies that have been whispered into your ear your entire life so strategically that you’re convinced that they’re your own thoughts?” When I realized that, that artificial construct of my reality came crashing down and I was able to build who I wanted to be. It takes some work, but it is so important. Especially if you feel you’re called to a mission in the online space.

JLD: So, you have a lot of things going on right now, but what fires you up the most today? And your pug doesn’t count. I’m sorry.

Michelle: Oh, my pug always counts. But probably I’m most fired up about my next summit which is all focused-on systems. This is the first time I was able to get everyone in a room together at the same time. And I’m so excited to show entrepreneurs the simplest strategic systems that they can implement in their business from the experts in the field.

JLD: Now, of course, besides doing an anti-hurricane dance, like what is something, maybe one thing specifically that you’re going to do this round that you didn’t do last time that you think is really gonna help?

Michelle: I think it may sound cliché, but I have all the strategies in place. Systems have never been a problem for me. So, I’m doing a lot of work on myself. I’m deep in meditation every day. I’m fueling my body correctly. I’m working really, really diligently on my mindset and I’m also reaching out to a lot of the connections I’ve built in the last six months so that they can support me on this new summit. It’s gonna be great.

JLD: Well Fire Nation, if you think that Michelle’s been dropping value bombs, you’re right. In more, coming up in the lightning rounds when we get back from thanking our sponsors.

Michelle, are you ready to rock the lightning round?

Michelle: I am ready. Let’s do it.

JLD: What was holding you back from becoming an entrepreneur?

Michelle: It was honestly not following my gut instinct of my mission.

JLD: What’s the best advice you’ve ever received?

Michelle: Body follows the mind.

JLD: What’s a person habit that contributes to your success?

Michelle: Every day I am at the coffee shop with my devotional study, an inspirational book, and an educational book.

JLD: Recommend one internet resource.

Michelle: ClickFunnels. It’s changed the structure of my business for the better.

JLD: Fire Nation, it is amazing. I actually did a killer webinar with russelleofire.com/click. Definitely check it out. It’s a full hour-and-a-half webinar. Me and Russell dropping value bombs on ClickFunnels.

Recommend one book, Michelle, and share why.

Michelle: I recommend Breaking the Habit of Being Yourself by Joe Dispenza. That’s been the most instrumental book of my life and it really, really helps you break down what’s holding you back and build a new future for yourself.

JLD: Fire Nation, you’re listening to audio, so you obviously love audio. So, get over there and listen to the audiobook. And if you’re not already an Audible member, eofirebook.com will get you that audiobook for free plus 30 days.

So, Michelle, let’s end today on fire with a parting piece of guidance sharing the best way that we can connect with you and then we’ll say goodbye.

Michelle: Awesome. Well, my parting piece of guidance would be to remember that the only way to keep changing your future is by changing your thoughts. I wish I would have known that so many years ago, but it’s really changed my reality. And my gift to Fire Nation is my visibility training series that I mentioned earlier. So, you can find that at visibilityvixen.com/fire.

JLD: Fire nation, you’re the average of the people you spend the most time with and you’ve been hanging out with ML and JLD today. So, keep up the heat and head over to eofire.com. Just type Michelle in the search bar. Her show notes page will pop up with everything that we’ve been talking about today. Best show notes in the biz, timestamps, links galore. Of course, head directly over to visabilityvixen.com/fire for that killer gift. And Michelle, thank you for sharing your journey with Fire Nation today. For that we salute you and we’ll catch you on the flipside.

Michelle: Thanks so much.