Many of us dream of starting our own companies and becoming an entrepreneur. Perhaps it’s the thought of not having a controlling boss, or having more freedom to make our own decisions, or even just following our true passions, whatever it is – the call to entrepreneurship can be powerful. The feeling that calls so many of us to start building things is only overcome by its converse: fear.
Fear, as most people know, is ultimately the only thing holding many of us back from chasing our dreams.
So how did a mom of three manage to leave a well paid, corporate job, hit rock bottom, and then build a highly successful business online? Well, they say that rock bottom can be a solid foundation for building a powerful structure, and once you hit it, there you have no other option than to start overcoming all of your fears and start building (unless, of course, you are content staying there).
Nicola Moras is a mother of 3, and a woman who managed to get out of an abusive relationship, quit her job and build a highly successful coaching business. She attributes to the success of her journey to two things: overcoming her fears and working with an experienced mentor for support.
“I left my six-figure job in 2011, and spent 18 months trying to get my marketing working. It wasn’t working well, and got to the point where I was about to move my family, three kids and a husband, out of the house. I had $300 in my bank account, and $1000 left on my credit card,” says Nicola.
So what happened between rock bottom and where she is today? First of all, she decided to focus on a goal, and then to commit to it. The goal was to offer a service, online coaching in this case, that aligned what she wanted to do with what the market wanted. To accelerate her success, she found a mentor who had done what she was trying to do before.
“I overcame my fears, and now I help other entrepreneurs overcome theirs. It presents itself in different shapes and forms – nervous about not being good enough, being too shy, worrying about what others will think, not knowing what to do, I’ve heard and probably lived them all.”
Nicola’s philosophy for success is to always do things that are aligned with who you are at your core, to stop trying to be who you think you should be, and to start being who you are. Once you have that self-awareness locked in, planning and persistence is the key to growth.
But the journey hasn’t been all unicorns and rainbows. In 2013, there was a group of “mean girls” that made her almost quit. They gave away her paid content for free, and formed a hate group on Facebook. She decided to “kill them with kindness,” and invited them to her events, which they were entitled to. The drama did not end there, but the point that stood out to me most was that Nicola always delivers on what she is selling, regardless of adversity she is facing.
So what kept Nicola on track throughout her journey? Immense planning and coordination.
Running a multi-million dollar business, raising three kids and keeping a marriage healthy is something that requires time and energy. To stay productive, most entrepreneurs implement a variety of frameworks and strategies that help them remove distractions and stay focused.
Here are some of the productivity tricks Nicola uses to balance it all:
- Manifest on a daily basis, and build the to-do list accordingly. It’s important to first conceive it in your mind, and then achieve it in reality.
- Reverse engineer the whole year and build a 90 day plan around that. Figure out the good, and weed out the bad.
- Focus on the next best thing you can do every day.
- Schedule everything. If you want to run a successful company, you will be busy. It’s important to be as efficient with your time as possible.
- Menu plan at home, and batch cook food to save even more time.
Going forward, Nicola is expanding her successful business into the US market, and there is an event planned in Las Vegas early 2017. Find out more about Nicola and her upcoming events on her website.