Freedom Lifestyle
Ditch the rulebook, quit the cubicle, and get intentional about designing a life that feels good for you. What's your free?
Hosted by Sam Laliberte—serial entrepreneur, digital nomad, and your go-to gal for all things flexible work and freedom vibes—this podcast features real stories from people who’ve boldly said “no thanks” to the 9-5 and built lives they don’t need to escape from.
From remote work and online businesses to van life and financial independence, each freedom lifestyle episode explores real-life stories and strategies for breaking free from convention.
Live a life that’s courageously authentic and on your own terms. Live your free.
Freedom Lifestyle
How a Layoff Led to Her First Year in Business: Nichole McHugh
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She boldly launched her own venture after an unforeseen job cut
Nichole, a paramedical and cosmetic tattoo artist, unveils her transition from an unsatisfying corporate job to becoming an entrepreneur. Discover her dramatic story of being part of a 1500 person job cut that happened over a 10 minute zoom call!
Takeaways:
- Paid advertising strategies (how much you need to spend and what works)
- How to use the law of attraction and manifesting in business
- Being your own cheerleader when your people don't understand your choices
Nichole shares the vital mindset shifts and marketing tactics at the heart of her success and client acquisition. We also delve into the manifestation process, and how it can shift your life and career path in unimaginable ways.
Support the show:
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About the show:
Sam Laliberte - entrepreneur, digital nomad and freedom seeker, hosts the Freedom Lifestyle Podcast to expose people to the many ways you can design your dream life and unlock your own version of the freedom lifestyle. Her guests have empowered themselves through flexible work as a way to “have it all” - financial, location AND schedule freedom.
Embracing the Freedom Lifestyle
Speaker 1I don't want to have to live my life the same way that , like my neighbors are living their life you know , I want to have the freedom of choice to do what I want and the way that I do it .
Speaker 2You're listening to the Freedom Lifestyle podcast series . I'm sharing relatable stories of freedom seekers who ditched conventional office life and courageously asked for more .
Speaker 1The energy just completely shifted my entire being just felt so free .
Speaker 2My business was still generating income while I was on the beach , I decided to quit and just stay at home .
Speaker 1I really can't work for anyone but me . It's literally just doing whatever the hell you want to do .
Speaker 2As for me , I'm your host , sam , and I've spent the last four years creating a business that allows me to work from anywhere . The Freedom Lifestyle looks different for everyone . What's your free ? You're listening to another episode of the Freedom Lifestyle podcast . Thank you for being here . I know there are many exciting and valuable things you could be doing with your time right now , and you chose to be here with me , and that means a lot .
Speaker 2When I'm creating these episodes , I ask myself what is something I wish I had known six years ago when I was starting my freedom journey , or what do I still need to learn and hear six years in ? One thing that I had resisted for a really long time was paying for software and tools to actually run my business . I wanted to keep things as low cost as possible . I worked hard for that money . I wasn't just gonna spend it away . So I was doing a lot of things myself DIY hack solutions but ever since I started shifting my mindset and investing in the right tools , I really have been able to grow my business , because sometimes it takes money to make money . So true Good news is , I vetted a bunch of these tools for you , and if you go to buy me a coffeecom , slash what's your free ? You can download a free copy of Sam's favorite tools . This is the tech , the tools and the software I swear by to manage my various location independent revenue streams .
Speaker 2Today you're gonna meet Nicole , who is a paramedical and cosmetic tattoo artist who started this business after being unexpectedly laid off in a very dramatic way . In the episode , she actually talks about what that day looked like , when she got on a zoom call with 200 of her colleagues and everyone was let go all at once . She talks about what she did next and how she used it as an opportunity to finally start a business that she always knew she wanted to run and live . That life she always knew was made for her , but she didn't necessarily have the courage to go for it . Being that this is her very first year in business , we talked a lot about what she's doing to actually get her name and her brand out there to secure her first roster of clients Everything from her exact paid advertising strategy , what types of content and types of ads are working well , how much she's spending on ads , top performing posts and things that are working and aren't working , but also all the mindset pieces that are really behind the scenes and crucial to your first year in business , your first , second year , fifth year , 10 year . Honestly , it really never goes away . She talks about being your own cheerleader , being okay with not having people's respect and the type of business that you have , and how she actually uses the law of attraction and the power of manifesting in her business .
Speaker 2With no further ado , meet Nicole . Nicole , welcome to the Freedom Lifestyle podcast . Thanks so much for coming on the show . You and I have never met before or spoken before , but the reason why we're speaking is because , about a month ago , I did a post on Instagram saying I really want to speak with people who , unfortunately , maybe lost their job or were laid off because that's happening to so many people right now but actually use this as an opportunity to finally make a leap to living more free , starting a new business , going into freelance , making a big change and have had success with it . I guess that's your story . Why did you feel the desire to share it and why did you think it was important to come on and tell that ? Because it's kind of vulnerable to share what you're going to share .
Speaker 1Being vulnerable is actually like a personal development thing that I have been trying to work on in general . So thank you for saying that . When I saw your post , I was kind of in this I mean , owning a business is like a roller coaster anyways but I was kind of in this place where I was like I wanted to share more of like the personal side of how I started my business and stuff , because most of what my Instagram and like social media are right now is just , you know , my work and everything , which is great , but I do have like a really cool story to tell , I think . So when I saw your post , it was like exactly me and I liked your style , and the Freedom Lifestyle podcast is also kind of a cool name .
Speaker 2So Thank you . Yeah , I think for people who want to make the leap and make a change , you can learn the skill , take all the business courses , do all the coaching , all of that but often it's the mindset piece and the belief in yourself and so much of the stuff behind the scenes that people don't really get to see , and so I'm glad that that resonates in terms of my style . It's definitely what I want the Freedom Lifestyle to be focused on is the personal side of it , because I believe a lot of the stuff you can just search on the internet , you can Google , you can use AI tools now to build your business , but you can't use AI to change your mind yet , and so I'm glad you're coming on to share . What is the term Freedom Lifestyle mean for you ? How did it resonate when you heard it ?
Speaker 1I feel like it resonated with me in a few different ways , like , first of all , obviously , the freedom of schedule and being able to make my own schedule I don't have to show up when my boss tells me to show up because I'm my own boss and that kind of like freedom . And then also financial freedom of like learning a high income skill and , you know , building your business off of that . But I think also there's a freedom in choosing and designing your life in a way that works for who you are personally . And I think that that's like mostly how it resonates with me is that I don't want to have to live my life the same way that my neighbors are living their life . You know , I want to have the freedom of choice to do what I want and the way that I do it , and have you always been like that as a kid ?
Speaker 2Were you somebody who wanted to do things differently , or your own way , or is this something you developed later on
Transitioning From Unfulfilling Job to Entrepreneurship
Speaker 2in life ? You wrote in your bio your 26 . So 26 years of life . When did that start showing up for you From ?
Speaker 1a young age I wanted something bigger for myself . When I was a really young kid I really wanted to be like a famous pop star singer , and that was like my dream forever . So that's like where my mindset was . Obviously that didn't come to fruition , but yet , yet , yet . But it was like kind of an up and down thing for me .
Speaker 1Like I had that really gritty spirit when I was really young and then when I came into like my teenage years I was a little bit of a wild card . I'm a middle child , so I was like the trouble child or whatever you know . I was like experimenting with life and like having fun and stuff . But that led to very strict parents and kind of shifted me into a mindset of like oh , maybe , you know , I should take it in a little bit , like I should be following all the correct steps that we're supposed to take to like be safe and successful in life , like not so much risk taking .
Speaker 1And I would say that I ended up going to college right out of high school , which I don't regret anything in my life . But you know it wasn't exactly the path I would have chosen for myself had I known what I know now . But I did go to college route and then tried to do the corporate job thing and stuff , but it was just constantly unfulfilling for me , and so I think it wasn't until maybe like a couple of years ago that I really started being really serious about wanting to be my own boss and like starting to take risks and try out different things to make that happen .
Speaker 2And what do you mean by unfulfilling ? Because I feel like that's one of those words , that it's a feeling , right , it's really how it sat with you and it felt with you and how it showed out for you . What did Nicole , being unfulfilled , feel like and in what ways ?
Speaker 1It was that like feeling when you're doing something and you're just like , oh my God , I have to do this forever . Whatever I was doing I worked in retail , I worked in restaurants , I worked at a corporate job , I worked remote , I worked in an office like every single thing that I did it felt really kind of exciting at the beginning and then , maybe three months in , I would just be like is this it ? Is this all that I'm going to be doing for the rest of my life ? And that's where unfulfilling lands for me .
Speaker 2And so you've been quote unquote free fairly recently , right ? Yes , so I'm going to stop laid off . How long ago was that ? January of this year , okay , so like eight-ish months in . So what type of work were you doing before ? And it sounds like you had already woken up to the fact that you didn't want to be doing this . So were you already making moves on the side to start this business , or what was happening prior to getting laid off ?
Speaker 1Well , okay , I was working for an Airbnb property management company . Basically , I worked remotely as a like sales operations person , which sounds as boring as it was . I literally just sat in front of a computer , like messing around with spreadsheets all day and gathering data , things like that . And yeah , I knew I had a lot of like really big changes in my life last year , and so having that job was miserable , but it also like gave me a sense of consistency amongst all the other chaos that was happening in my life . So , I guess , leading up to when I got laid off , I was just like super unhappy .
Speaker 1I knew I wanted to do something different . I had this dream of like being an esthetician . Like it's something that's been in the back of my mind for like years , because I don't like to wear makeup , I like to just take care of my skin and go like full natural face , and so I like this idea of being an esthetician and working with women and like giving nice facials and stuff . But to go to beauty school was like six months full time plus the tuition , plus like how do you work a job at the same time that you're going to school full time ? Is that whole like dynamic . And then I found this permanent makeup course and like I have a lot of body tattoos , I love getting tattoos , I love art and just tattoos in general .
Speaker 1And so when I found this course from my now mentor , who lives really close to me , and the course was coming up in like a few weeks when I found it , I just like decided that I was like I'm just going to try it out because like anything is better than what I'm doing right now . And so I went and I just did it . I took a week off from work and went and did the course . It was like eight hours a day for five days and after I left there because I was working remotely , I spent like so much of my time practicing because I set up a whole like room in the second bedroom of my house with like a practice table and like a TV and stuff in there and I was just hours of the day I was just practicing tattooing .
Speaker 1I hated my job still , but I didn't see myself leaving it because I needed as many people do need the financial security of having the full time . But I knew that I didn't want to do it anymore and so I was kind of like trying to make a plan for , like how I was going to play it , and then , literally a month later , I got an email for like a suspicious HR email that said I had to be in a mandatory meeting . And instantly I knew , because I knew somebody else that had gotten laid off and they got the same email .
Speaker 2I'm so curious how did you feel when you got that email , especially new my ?
Speaker 1heart like sank into my stomach . Well , and it's crazy because I kept telling myself like , oh , I hope I get laid off because then I can get like unemployment and I can get severance pay and stuff like that . And so I think I like subconsciously kind of manifested it , and then when it was actually happening , I was like , oh my God , it's actually happening . Why did I do this Careful what you asked ?
Speaker 2for .
Speaker 1Yeah , like be careful , what you asked for . So it was definitely like my heart dropped into my stomach . I had a moment of panic before I even got on to the meeting . I was like searching for new jobs , like I went on to like Glassdoor or whatever and I was like scrolling through and I was like saving a bunch of jobs . And then I had this moment where I was just like you know , I clearly had manifested this to happen and I was like why would I waste this opportunity ? Because why would I go into another job that I'm probably also going to hate , when I have this new skill that I've been practicing relentlessly and yeah , so that was kind of how I felt . Then I got on the email or on the meeting . They told us we were laid off and I literally had like no emotional reaction whatsoever . It was a virtual meeting , it was a remote meeting and there was like I think there was like 300 people in it or something Like it wasn't just me , it was a ton of people in the company .
Speaker 2All getting laid off at once .
Speaker 1All getting laid off on like Zoom yeah on Zoom With no notice , nothing , like we all showed up and then they were like you have until noon tomorrow to like save all your documents because you're going to lose access to everything , or I think it was actually that day . Like noon that day I couldn't even log into my computer anymore . It was crazy . Did everyone have their mics on ? I don't think so . I think it was like such a big meeting that not everybody could talk .
Speaker 2They like manually muted everybody . You can like turn that setting on or off . I can't even imagine that chaos , Like people must have been crying or shocked or angry and if you're all on that so you're muted . Could you see each other ?
Speaker 1I saw a few people , but I don't know . Honestly , it was like literally tons of little squares , like I don't even know how many . I think it was like all in all , I think there was like 1300 people that got laid off , but there was only like three or 400 people in the meeting , which was crazy , and they weren't even like nice about it . They were just like , hey , sorry , we're making budget cuts or whatever , and I regret to inform you that all of you guys have been laid off and , as of noon today , you're losing access . And then bye . And then everybody was just like yeah , yeah , and I felt I mean , I was in a place where I was like , you know , I was nervous , obviously , at first , but then I was excited , but I felt bad for like thinking of the people who have like families and stuff they have to support and just , you know , people that aren't as like advantageous of a position as I was . I definitely felt for those people .
Speaker 2Wow , okay . So next ? So at noon you lose access to everything . Yeah , you were immediately starting to look for jobs , which is just so normal . You're just like , ah , I need to replace this immediately . Yeah , how soon did you say actually ? No , I'm not just going to do the same thing over and over again . I'm going to use this as an opportunity to actually do this thing I want to do . It was within the hour .
Speaker 1Yeah , it was like that's pretty , pretty immediate , because I mean , like I'm very much about like law of attraction stuff and like manifesting , and like what you think about and what you work towards is like what you're going to get in your life .
Speaker 1And , looking back , I had clearly been creating this moment for myself and when it finally happened , I was like I would literally be the biggest idiot in the world to waste this opportunity .
Speaker 1So I got my last paycheck , I got my severance pay and put all of it into buying all the things that I needed and literally and this is what's crazy too is , I think a couple days after , I got an ad for a chair for rent like a tattoo chair for rent literally three minutes away from my house in this really nice shop , and so things just kept happening that were confirming like this is a good idea , this is what you're supposed to be doing , and it felt good too . So I didn't have that feeling of like , oh God , I'm risking it all , we'll see what happens . I had this thought of like I can go get a job anytime that I want . There's countless jobs being offered all the time , but I'm not always gonna have the time and money and drive to actually create this for myself , like this is my chance . That was the feeling that I had , but I got the chair rental and that I've been there ever since . But yeah , it's just been a trip .
Speaker 2Okay , yeah , I think there's such a calm comfort and knowing the job market will always be there . They'll always be some boss that's down to hire you and tell you what to do and make their dreams come true . And you know that'll always exist . And if you will confident in your skills and even just understanding workplace trends and your experience to date , then that'll always be there as a backup plan if we need it .
Speaker 2And some entrepreneurs I talk to hop back and forth . Right , you have a business idea , you do it for a bit . Maybe something changes either your passion , your partnership with your business partner or giving the industry . And then you go back to get a job but you're like , oh , I still wanna be an entrepreneur . And then you go back to being an entrepreneur and you know , that's even a dance I've seen some people make . So it's just so great knowing that that'll always exist for you .
Speaker 1Yeah .
Speaker 2And so you have the chair and that is where you perform your business , which is permanent tattooing and makeup and various services . What did you have to learn other than the skill of actually performing the service ? Cause a lot of businesses that are built on a passion or this type of unique skill set they wanna just be doing the thing . But in order to do the thing , you have to get the customers , you have to put yourself out there , you have to market your business . How has that journey been for you ? Is that something that's come naturally ?
Speaker 1It definitely has not come , naturally . No , okay , I would say that's actually one of my bigger struggles as a business owner is all of the online marketing , like business-y kind of things
Challenges and Strategies for Client Acquisition
Speaker 1. I'm somebody that I barely like . I made my website with Squarespace and I could barely do that Like with the templates and everything just filling in the blanks .
Speaker 2Because you didn't know what to say and you found it hard to articulate , or the actual skill of knowing how to do this stuff .
Speaker 1The physical creating of it didn't come easy for me . I say I'm a pretty good writer , like the words I can come out with . It's a matter of like designing things like that , and same with like for Instagram ads or Facebook ads or anything like that . But yeah , it's definitely been a hump I've had to come over . But every time I face like a wall of feeling like , oh my God , like I just want to tattoo , I don't want to have to do all this other business stuff , I think of the alternative of if I don't do it , which is like having to go back to a job and that's just like not an option for me . So I'm like , okay , well , I have to figure it out . So it's really come to me on a case by case basis and definitely like I'm taking it one day at a time and , yeah , not trying to think too far ahead in the future or like try to understand everything all at once . I try to just focus on what's in front of me .
Speaker 2And having a why . That drives you on those days where things aren't going well or you put out a piece of content and it doesn't resonate with people , or you do a sale and nobody buys , or something like that , on those days where the things that you thought would work well don't . That's when that resilience piece comes in , of that roller coaster of the entrepreneurship ride . And if you have a why behind why you're doing all of this , that is so helpful to just tap into that and not give up because it can be so tempting . It's like , well , I could just go get a job , I could just go get my monthly paycheck , I don't have to be uncomfortable putting myself out there doing all these hard things , and that can feel kind of tempting when you're in that .
Speaker 1I see what you're saying , yeah , but I also like it doesn't feel tempting for me . It almost like pushes me to like wanna learn my business more because I want so badly to not have to go back to a job like that . Yeah , I'm just like no , like that's not for me . I'm gonna go this way , amazing .
Speaker 2So how has it been getting clients ? So you said you're learning a lot of stuff about putting yourself out there marketing your services . With this business that you have right now with the chair rental , are you responsible for bringing all of your clients in , or do they also give you clients ? How does that work for your business ?
Speaker 1Yeah , so basically it's just like a landlord type of situation . So I just rent the chair from the shop owner and I run my business fully on my own . There's a bunch of other girls that do the same thing in there .
Speaker 1Getting clients has been kind of like a juggling act , like you were saying a moment ago about you know , having to like put yourself out there , and it's really just been a matter of like I might run an ad that doesn't do super well , or I run an ad thinking that I'm going to get a bunch of clients from it and maybe I get a couple , or maybe it just doesn't do well at all and I have to have this mentality of like either it hasn't worked yet or it's a matter of just wait , like that didn't work . So what else can I try , kind of thing . Or I've even consulted with some of the other business owners in my shop and been like hey , if you don't mind , how are you targeting your audience ? Because I'm having a hard time and I just feel like most business owners are like willing to kind of like share those kinds of things , to like hold each other up , especially in the beauty industry . You might run into some that like want to keep all their secrets . But that hasn't been my experience , so far .
Speaker 2No , that's good Having mentors in your space who really understand how that specific industry works . What is the secret that you could share with us about the industry that you've found as really effective in securing clients or getting your name out there , that you've either learned from somebody else or that you've even learned by just trying things yourself ?
Speaker 1I think that what's worked for me really well , because I actually started out like with maybe two or three clients that I got organically and then I had a bunch of referrals come from them . I don't know if this is really a secret , but me just being like really personable and myself and like down to earth when my clients come in , I think just sets this really nice tone for them that they just start sending people to me just because they like me . You know what I mean . I mean my work is good too , obviously , but I'm like trying to think of how I want to say this . Do you know what I mean ?
Speaker 2Yeah , People do business and buy things from people that they know , that they like , that they trust . Just by being yourself and not being too formal during the actual experience has allowed people to really connect with you . Do you ask for the referral , do you stay at the end or do you have any formal follow-up email or anything like that .
Speaker 1I send everybody home with an aftercare baggie that has their wash and cream and everything in it and instructions . I used to put a little card in there . I haven't really been doing that lately because it wasn't like coming back as often as I thought , but so , no , not really . I guess to answer your question , I don't really like say like , hey , send me referrals . But if they do send me a referral , it like means a lot to me .
Paid Advertising and Impact on Relationships
Speaker 2You talked a little bit about ad strategy and paid advertising . Is that something you're doing on an ongoing basis , like , do you have a budget set aside for paid ads , or are you doing a lot of organic social media on your Instagram ?
Speaker 1I'm doing a little bit of both right now . I kind of going back to like the referrals thing . I felt like for a little bit , because I was getting so many referrals right off the bat , I stopped kind of I've been describing it as playing offense with my business , which would be like going out and like getting my own organic clients . So I kind of fell into this place where I was like just waiting for referrals and I was like why is my business growing ? I'm not getting any clients like this sucks . And it really was because I just wasn't putting in the amount of effort that I needed to like see the return that I was looking for .
Speaker 1And so just within the last month I have really been like cracking down on like lead generation on Instagram . So I'll go to other local beauty businesses profiles or , because I'm doing scar camouflage Now , I've been going to a lot of like meds , spas or plastic surgery accounts and I just go down the line and I'm following their followers . You know what I mean , so I'm reaching out to them . Attaching my Instagram to my Facebook has been really helpful too , because every time I post an ad or a promo or anything on my Instagram , it also goes to Facebook , so I've had a lot of people reach out to me that way . I've been spending about two to $300 a month on Instagram ads and I've been seeing a significant amount more people reaching out to me that way as well .
Speaker 2Amazing . Okay , that's good . It's great to have like actual numbers of perspective , because I think when people here paid advertising , they're like , oh my God , there's no way I could afford that . Yeah , it's expensive , but what's nice about it is you can kind of set any amount that you're comfortable with and kind of see the results . Are you designing all the ads and managing it all yourself , or do you have help with any of this stuff ?
Speaker 1Yeah , I'm doing it all myself right now and my strategy thus far has just been I'll put out , you know , two or three ads at once and then see whichever one's performing the best and I'll either like re-boost that one or base my next ad off of kind of similar characteristics .
Speaker 2Smart . What types of ads have been performing best for you ? What trends have you noticed in your own creative advertising tests ?
Speaker 1Yeah , my most recent one , no-transcript Ink Angel permanent makeup , and I just rebranded to Vici Paramedical and Cosmetic Tattoo , and I created a post that was just about my brand , it was just my logo , and then it was a slide carousel and the next one was like what the name means , and the next one was about me , and then , you know , it's just like general information about my business , and that one , honestly , has gotten me , I think , 100 and like almost 200 website visits in like two weeks , versus Wow . Yeah , the other ones I was posting model ad campaigns , like because I'm looking for models to tattoo at a discounted rate , basically , and those ones did well , but they didn't do as well as the brand one , and I think that that was because not a lot of people know what Paramedical Tattooing is . So the branding ad , one kind of like , explained that a little bit more and so people were like more curious about it . Yeah , totally .
Speaker 2I think you touched on something really important about your type of business . So there's a book called Breakthrough Advertising and basically they talk about the different types of problem awareness that a customer has , where some people aren't even unaware of the problem . Some people are aware of the problem but don't know even a solution exists . Some people are solution aware , product aware , most aware , and there's basically a formula and you figure out where your business is and I feel like you have one of those businesses where people aren't even solution aware . They might not even realize that there's actually a way to solve for something that might be bugging them or might be a challenge for them . And so can you talk a little bit about your actual services and the solutions that you provide people who might not even be aware of that themselves .
Speaker 1Yeah , of course . So Paramedical Tattooing is well , it encompasses a few different services . It's basically an umbrella statement , but basically what I do is I do scar camouflaging , I do Inclash Stretch Mark Removal , stretch mark camouflaging when it's needed . Other things that are encompassed under Paramedical Tattooing could be like a 3D areola restoration or I've heard of like fingernail tattoos , like for people who have lost a finger , maybe , or something like that , and basically my focus has been mainly on scar camouflage and stretch marks at this point .
Speaker 1But people have scars from all sorts of different types of things . It could be a trauma , it could be self harm , it could be like a surgery that they had , an injury that occurred , a C-section tummy tuck you know all these things and those all come with . You know emotional attachment to them . Some people like to keep them for that reason , but sometimes people don't want to look at them anymore or it's a big insecurity for them , and especially with , like , all of our body and image standards these days , with social media and everything like , people sometimes just don't want their scars anymore , and so the solution that I provide is basically a flesh colored tattoo where I color match my clients and just blend in the scar with the rest of their skin . And same thing for stretch mark camouflage same idea and then Inclash Stretch Mark Removal just does . It basically damages the skin where the stretch mark is occurring and so that the skin regenerates collagen in that area and heals itself out .
Speaker 2Hmm , kind of like a micro needleing facial .
Speaker 1Yeah , it's exactly the same as micro needleing . Yeah .
Speaker 2Okay cool , that's my type of facial .
Speaker 1Yeah , I love those .
Speaker 2Okay , cool , Well , very unique business model . And that's the ideal , at least for me . It's how can I make money ? Have that financial freedom , have that schedule freedom , have that flexibility , be my own boss , but ideally I also just make a positive impact in the world .
Speaker 1Yeah .
Speaker 2Like there's so many ways to make money that would give you freedom . That would still leave , at least me , feeling unfulfilled , and I really admire that . You've been able to , like make a really positive impact on your client's lives and , like you said , people come into it with baggage and you really are helping people and I think that's so amazing . Honestly , thank you , thanks . Thank you so much for the people around you who knew you as like a nine to five or corporate person and now you are having this business totally have shaken things up in your life . You're your own boss . Has it impacted any of your relationships ? Are there like misconceptions that people have about you that you've had to kind of correct people on ?
Speaker 1Yeah , I would say I think for the most part , like my friend relationships have stayed pretty like supportive and the same . I think that the relationship I struggled with most at the beginning especially was with myself . Like I had to change into , oh , I'm trying to start a business to I started a business and I'm running my business Like this is a thing that I'm doing , this is who I am . But my friends are obviously like you know , they're like yeah , good job , super supportive , everything like that .
Speaker 1I would say my relationship with my family has been a little bit interesting , just because none of them had like been in that same mindset . You know they've always like played it pretty safe , like my parents specifically so , and they're supportive of me . But it's kind of like those memes , you know , when they're like oh , good luck with your little business , like that's kind of the feeling that I've gotten from them a lot , or they call me with like some job that they found that they want me to apply for something like that and I have to be like no , like I'm running my business , like this is the thing that I'm doing , and so that's been a little bit tough . I think like those relationships .
Speaker 2What do you think it would take for them to see that it was a real business Like is it a revenue number or a milestone that you would have , or like a length of time of you doing it , and do you care if they ever change ?
Speaker 1I don't really care . I might have like a year or two ago , but at this point I don't . I would say it would be somewhere between a revenue number and the length of time that I've been doing it . Yeah , traditional yeah success measures . Yeah , traditional success measures for sure .
Speaker 2Okay , well , good for you that .
Speaker 1you know a year ago that would have been challenging for you , but now it's something that you're just able to accept and not let it hold you back and just kind of you're navigating it , but it doesn't sound like there's conflict involved , which is good yeah it's just a matter I think of , like you just want people to take you seriously , you know , like with anything that you're doing , and so , yeah , it's a little bit difficult when people that are close to you are like supportive , but you can tell that they don't like fully get it , and I think that's a big part of like self development in general , but like also especially with owning a business , is just not letting that bother you . Like you have to just know that this is what you're doing and like have full confidence that you're just going to crush it .
Speaker 2Absolutely , amen . Okay , I feel like that's a great place to end . Thank you so much , nicole , for coming on and sharing this and being so vulnerable and being so real about what the personal journey has been for you from being a nine to five or , as they say , to full time free . It's awesome to hear . Thanks , yeah , thanks for having me Absolutely . Any last words of advice or anything that you want to share before we wrap up with the audience ?
Speaker 1I feel like just whatever you want to do or whatever you think that you want to do in your life , like you can do it and you just have to apply yourself and like stop caring about what other people think . And it's definitely a constant practice too . I feel like I make it sound like I've overcome all these obstacles and like everything's just you know , free flowing now , but that's not the case at all . Like my life isn't like super glamorous or anything . It still is like a constant grind and I'm always having to correct my thinking and re boost up myself , esteem and remind myself that I'm worthy of all of the good things that are in our scope of possibility , and so I just hope that , like for other current business owners or freedom lifestylers , people like that like I just hope that you just have a good time and I just hope that you just go after whatever it is that you want and , no matter what kind of obstacles that you face , just know that you can get through it if you try hard enough .
Speaker 2Amazing . I love that . I completely agree . Once you set your mind to it and claim it , I think in manifesting in law of attraction is like don't get so caught up in the how . Yeah , just like , decide what you want and own that and imagine what that is like and feel that energy and get excited about the possibility and the how often just works itself out , doesn't it ? It's so strange how that happens so , but we can really get stuck on that of just like not seeing the path and the steps . Just try to think about where you want to go and really make that come from yourself and not what you're expected of 100% . Yeah , thanks for tuning into another episode If this one inspired you to take action , but you could use some help on your plan .
Speaker 2Or perhaps you've got too many ideas bouncing around in that beautiful brain of yours . You'd love some clarity on your strategy , what you should pursue first and why . Well , I am now offering one on one freedom coaching sessions . You can book these at buy me a coffee dot com . Slash what's your free . This is our opportunity to have a virtual coffee together . Spend an hour getting clarity on how you can unlock more freedom and flexibility in your life on these calls . You can ask me anything , but here are some things that I'm an expert in Creating a location , independent lifestyle , building , service based and freelance businesses , leveraging the gig economy and platforms like Fiverr , utilizing podcasts to build your personal brand and developing passive income streams . So book your freedom coaching session with me at buy me a coffee dot com . Slash what's your free . I would love to have a virtual coffee with you .
