Hey guys, this week on the podcast, we have Sarah Michelle.
She is a board certified family nurse practitioner and she runs
a test prep company for Primary Care nurse practitioners.
Her business is at least a seven figure business that centers
around confidence building and reducing anxiety for NPS taking
their board exams. When she was preparing for her
own board exam. She felt like there wasn't a
Board review out there for someone just like her who
suffered from crippling anxiety. Therefore, she went on a mission
to make those two things, the focus and she gave herself to it
completely. She loves to teach and she's
taught on a variety of subjects she's now teaching on the
largest stage ever, and she has a podcast cup titled becoming a
stress-free nurse practitioner, which is just fabulous of listen
to it. It's very good.
Check it out. When you get some time, I'm so
excited to dive into this podcast.
She is such a hustler works hard and really has created An
incredible business for herself guys.
Let's enjoy the ride. Welcome thank you so much for
having me on the show. I'm so glad to be here.
Yeah, no, I'm so excited to hear all your hats and everything
you've got going on and take it from the top.
And really explain kind of what your day.
Looks like I've told them what you're doing, you're running
this big company, your CEO woman in charge but really take me
through what your day looks like.
So, this is kind of a hard question because I feel like my
day changes day today, there are still very much Much.
We're not in startup culture anymore in my company.
I feel like we've evolved past that because crazy enough, a
year ago today, I had me. I had a part-time assistant who
was a contractor. I had one part-time nurse
practitioner, who we do these things called life study group.
So I'll get up there and I'll teach, and I'll call people and
all this stuff. And I was kind of grooming her
into teaching at the time that she was mostly running a chat
box. So like my business was the
three of us. And so a year ago this time you
It's almost nice. It's graduation season.
Like the big time is coming up and I was like, okay like we
need to hire some people. Like I don't know who I haven't.
Totally figured out yet, but I was like, I know we're going to
need just like hands on deck. Like where does he need help?
And so we ended up hiring our first two contractors and they
worked out beautifully and they still work for me today.
And so we've evolved from me and to port on contractors last
year, we hired on to more after that.
So now we have 15 people. I think seven of which I know
like I didn't believe that something.
So seven of which are full-time. The rest are contractors but our
contractors get a lot of flexibility and what they do.
So some of them almost feel like you close to full-time hours,
just on the sauna things and stuff that they pick up along
the way. So that they even back a year
ago today where it was me and two part-time contractors to
today. Like they're literally 15 of us
running like Full Speed Ahead all the time, kind of like
breaks my own brain a little bit.
It but it's been such a massive Grove.
I mean our first year because I started at the end may have
2020. So the first year last year and
we had big grow, but from last year's met to this year's Met
has been like while Grove beyond my wildest dreams.
My day-to-day really revolves want right now.
Unfortunately, around the back end of the business.
So when I started my business I was like all front end all the
time and so what? I mean by that is like, I didn't
have a website. I didn't have an email setup.
I had like, nothing. All I had was, I made a Facebook
group and like you said, I gave it away to my classmates for
free. And I said, I'll give you this.
Little course I made for free if you'll just invite somebody into
the group as I actually gave it to the first 100 people for
free. And so is literally from May of
that year, till September. I think it was it might have
been almost October when we can Talk about all the melodramas
and lessons. I've learned in business, too,
but I talked to every single customer on Facebook people
would send me private messages. Like, hey, I want your courses,
I've been like, okay cool, you can pay me here if you're here.
I wait for the payment to come through and now that okay, send
your email. Now I'll send you the force that
I had. Like these Zoom recordings, all
this stuff so the think about that's what I did and I was just
like putting my face out there talking to people literally
Non-stop. Like I remember the first day
that I sold, the course my phone like exploded.
Like, I remember my husband, my phone just won't stop, but I got
overwhelmed. I got through my phone across
the room was like I can't even keep up evolving.
So to go from that to like now behind the scenes, that's it.
And a lot of like, software meanings, legal, meetings,
accounting meeting. So, now I'm like more on the
back yet, but I really keep up. The pieces that I truly
genuinely love. So between all those meetings
because I has to run for day-to-day operations of a
business, but between all of those meetings, I'm still doing
my life's a group. So I still teach their, I'm
still talking to students and our product Community, still
talking to students and Facebook just not nearly as much as it
was in the beginning. So I told you a lot of things
now is, I'm going to stop rambling but it's been, no
really. It's been so fun.
I literally like, I just tell people all the time like, always
dreamed of being An educator. And I always thought, you know,
I was very like stuck in that thinking of well, like, this has
to be like, okay, I'll be an instructor also, some laughs
official courses, like, maybe one day, I'll become like an
associate Dean. The Next Step would be like a,
real Dino etcetera. So, I feel like I'm living out
my dream, just like 20 to 30 years before it was thought it
was the one to combat that makes I love this.
So I what I what I love most about your journey is That
you're describing what I hear about alike from a lot of
entrepreneurs which is it was all me.
I was doing it all myself and it was exhausting, right?
And then you hear this, like I always hear there's this pivot
moment where like all of a sudden, the business starts
giving back to you and you're able to step away but your
rolled in changes because you go from being really close to the
front lines to now, kind of being the general in the back
making all the decisive move piece.
And switch the pieces, right? One of the things I'm thinking
about is I'm hearing you like what preparation did you have to
then move from being kind of one of the Frontline workers?
One of the the soldiers of the Frontline to now being the
general in the tent, making all the rules and coming up with all
the Strategic moves that you have to make to keep growing.
The business already. There were two pieces and their
names are Becca and Anna. So I'll start with Becca.
It was like November the first year, I was in business And I
was worn out because I was so terrified.
That sounds so crazy now. But I was so terrified.
We already having so much success of quitting, my
full-time job and losing health insurance.
I was like, how are we going to find health insurance?
Like what are we going to do? And I was like, hold up board
winning my job and it actually I took me quite some time.
After even I hired Becca on to quit my job.
We like fuck we coach them. I felt like every week, but in
November of that year. Year.
I literally and this will sound crazy to you but everything
always comes Full Circle A couple of years ago.
When I was working as a nurse, I actually was having to commute
in on the weekend. So the almost a two-hour Drive.
I would work Friday and Saturday or something up fights.
I work Saturday and Sunday and then I would draw back home and
I would stay with a friend on Saturday night, so I wouldn't
have to date, but you are commuting between.
And so when I was doing that my friend, my nurse friend had an
idea for Taco truck. And so she went and got a
massage in the lady, who gave her a massage was talking about
becoming a business coach and so, they did some business
coaching together. And so, I don't know why that
like hung on in my brain, but it did.
And so what, after I started my business and November that year
I was just like, so weren't out because I was working 50 hours a
week and in every spare moment I had I was working on that the
like I would get up at 3 a.m. because I started Teaching at
6:30. So given three am working my
business till 6:30 and then when I got off work at three or four
or five, depending on the day, I would work till 10 p.m. on my
business and then I would sleep very minimally and we get up and
start over so like obviously like I was burning the candle at
like literally every in the candle converge.
So Katie talked about one time a business coach for that taco van
that she never flushed out, because Katie always look so
it's like it's called that lady up, like I was just like, is he
even still doing His coaching. I don't know but I'll just call
her up and see what happens. And so, literally on a win, I
thought about it. We talked on the phone two hours
later. I signed up for business
coaching with him, stopovers of that because luckily, my husband
was very supportive. It was a big investment for us
at the top but he was like if you're going to make something
of this business and he said I have full faith that you can.
He was like you need help. And you need guys for someone to
build a business and nobody around us has any experience
like that any passing? So, I hired on Becca and my
first call with her. She said I never do this, but
you need help. Like today, she was like, before
we talk on the phone next week and do our next coaching call.
Like I need you to go ahead harsh.
Somebody I don't care who that somebody is but you need a
virtual assistant doing admin tasks.
Like you need help on the clerical side bare minimum and
she's like it once, you've hired that person, let's talk about
hard for people. So that was how I ended up with
my first virtual assistant and so the day that I The virtual
assistant which was literally like two days later.
Like I just put a posting on up and I was like, please come take
this job interview to go people, I just heard something on the
spot. I made a post on my Instagram
and I was like just hired my first employee like, you know,
super excited right Jeff? Yeah it's huge for me because it
was really hard for me to let anybody into anything.
I did this because you get like stuck in this mentality and so
silly looking back, like people can't do it as well as I can do
it. But what people don't see He is
when you're doing a thousand different tasks, you can give
like 1% to each of those hats, right?
But if you have someone who's just working on email, just
working on the Facebook group it explodes, right?
Like there's so much more room because they've got full focus
on one task. Whereas I was focusing on
literally a thousand pounds. So on top of my full-time job as
crazy as that sounds. Yeah.
This is not. So it was nice.
Basically, I made that little post about hired my first
employee and somebody used to go to school with Now she said,
hey, you know, we had connected. Ironically again, because we
went to nursing school together and then we graduated nurse
practitioner school at the same time.
So everybody's in all the same student groups.
So, we kind of reconnected little bit because she posted
her study calendar and I used part of her study calendar.
Prepare for full partner. Yeah, he's like, if you ever
need any help, just let me know. You know.
I'm a stay-at-home mom right now.
I just have my baby like, I've got Tom and I've got flexibility
to do. It was like, okay cool.
Like I'll keep that in the back of my mind and so Just having
the assistant alone. I literally within like two
weeks of that, I had an idea for a brand new program that was
going to be loved. So everything I had up to that
point was recorded, I'd always wanted to do something.
Love my students were happy for something love, but I never
wanted it to be live. And like the generic way that
everyone else was doing it. That makes sense because for me,
as a student, I didn't find Value like in the conference
table, Or webinar style. Reviewers just like to ten hour
days back-to-back. Your brain is exploding.
Like every just did that. Yeah, that's huge.
Oh my gosh, it was so alive for so painful when I was like, if I
ever make anything long, I don't want to be anything like that.
That's my goal. And so, yeah.
And that those first two weeks, I was like, I think I've got an
idea that could work. I said, because I already know
how courses are working, because we can see all the Student
Success in the Facebook group, which is really fun.
Because every time somebody passes, they come in a group,
Like post, like I love half of all the good stuff which I still
read. People don't believe me but I
really I still read every single passing post because it just
brings my heart so much joy. Like it's just like the core of
everything that I want to do, how the idea for something
called a lobster group program, which is basically a five week
program, where I prepare you for boards, and you get like little
bits of video every day. So you get the recorder courses
and then we meet up every two weeks.
And I'm like, okay, you've already learned the content,
right? So let's interact, let's talk
about it and let's make sure Sure, you know the content,
right? So they're like all the things
that I was needing as a student on a, the structure of the
calendar. I needed somebody to hold me
accountable. We have a private community in
there, so I needed someone reputable that you answer my
questions and nobody out there was doing that either.
I'm, it was all just like students on Facebook feeding off
of each other. So I mean it was just like
Massacre. Fusional really the whole like
bulk of the program is to build up confidence.
So you got the content, you can build up confidence in the
sessions. Ideally thing of the probably
just a test So even just those two weeks, I had the idea for
that. And so I called Anna up and I
was like hey I've got this idea. It's kind of crazy.
I don't know if it's gonna work but I think it's going to work.
I think it's going to be like I think you can be slow start out
with because there's a lot of student education that goes into
that program because it is so different people.
Like what are you doing? What's happening here, like they
need education before they buy. Obviously, I was like, but the
one thing I do know is I'm going to need help.
And so I was like, just come on, do have a chat box with me and
I'll do the teachings and we can talk about the rest later and
we've pretty much never looked back.
She is now my chief operations officer, she rips and runs just
as hard as I do every single day we're like a constant
communication. She was like, it was literally
it was fate. She was the best decision I ever
made. For my business was bringing her
along with me. And so, we've been able to grow
at the rate we've had because I've had her Alongside me as
well. So I think Becca was so good.
I want to stop you here because what you're saying is there's so
many nuggets and we just have to pick them out before we walk
out. So what you're saying is that
you had the right people on the bus, right?
So like one of the big things about business and understanding
how to grow a business is I hear over and over and over and over
again, that getting the right people to help you build is tan.
Amount to anything, that's even more important than the mission.
It's even more important than values at some point.
It's really important who is working with you and that's one
of the things that I think is so cool that you're pointing out,
but that also you just did it and you figured it out.
Alright? And so a lot of people get so
hung up in like oh but I don't have it all figured out, I don't
have it all planned out. I don't really know if it's
going to work. I think it might work.
I don't know. Okay.
So I will do nothing and it's like no just gonna do it.
Yeah. Just don't know what's going to
work. Just start.
And so those are two nuggets that I'm hearing from what
you're saying that are just so critical.
And I really want nurse practitioners to understand that
especially those that are thinking about side hustles or
businesses or what can I do or where can I build?
Just go try it and what's the worst that can happen?
If it fails, you're right back where you were and you just try
something else, those are really awesome nuggets and I guess my
follow-up question from that. And again we kind of go into
your Journey is when did you decide that you wanted to become
a nurse and kind of walk me through this point where you
were like because you didn't wake up one day Sarah and have
seven figure business and you know on the on the bus getting
to the dream and the journey you didn't just wake up with this
stuff, you built it over time and so take me a little bit
about. I always want to hear people's
like I decided to become a nurse win stories.
I think those are really cool and then kind of walk me
through. I guess we talked a little bit
about, but just kind of walk you through quickly like How you got
to where you did start the business?
What we do your process because I really want to know when you
were like, I think I'm just going to like give out this
education to all my classmates like you know what I'm saying?
It sounds crazy to hear. So I think there's two parts to
that, I decided to be a nurse. I decided to be a nurse.
And then I had to read this ought to be a nurse.
So what I mean by that is like growing up both.
My parents are School teachers, in middle school teachers and so
like I always envisioned myself, ironically being a teacher, I
didn't really Fairly think about medicine is much, but my parents
very much. Pushed me, I grew up in Eastern,
Kentucky is very impoverished, is very rural, feel like
education is your ticket, right? Education will always be your
ticket and so they didn't super love being teachers.
There's a lot of politics to go on teachers and so when I was
going to college, they really pushed me, choose something in
the medical field, because you're kind of job security.
But you're also going to have the education piece, you're
going to have opportunities are A big goals basically.
And so with their push, I knew there's no way because I pay for
school on my own and I wasn't like eligible for like the
grants and stuff and all that. Good stuff.
My parents, they just a little bit too much money, so knows me
paying for school, I know. Yeah, thankful, yes, yes
exactly. It's like, we're not poor
enough. Yeah, we're still not wealthy.
Yeah. So I pay for school on my own
and I knew I was Be able to afford medical school and they
probably wouldn't even be able to co-sign for those big of
lungs. So I was like, what am I going
to do, right? So I decided to be a nurse but I
always had like the teacher part of me like in the back of my
brain. And so I was halfway through
nursing school and whenever I tell the story always say
there's three sides were story. There's my side, their side and
the truth. But from my point of view, I had
a panic attack during clinical one day, And so they pulled me
aside after the clinical and they're like, you know, you kind
of struggled in this class. It was the first class I've ever
struggled in. It was the hardest one of all
versus also like the fact that caveat out there because it's
which class was a good class, okay, ever?
Just it was a juicy. It's a doozy.
So duty to work in and it's easy to learn it.
Yeah, I mean the whole thing the whole thing.
Well done, so great on the first test, I got involved the second
test, I had the panic attack and clinical.
And so, Basically, they pulled me inside and they're like, do
you really want to be a nurse like, do you think you have what
it takes beingness anxious. We have a lot of reservations
about you. Continuing in this fill with
this level of anxiety. And so I had originally wanted
to be a teacher. I kind of fallen into nursing.
I thought it would be a good fit and then I was challenge of
like, is this something that's a good fit for you?
And I couldn't even totally decide at the time, I was like,
maybe I'll kind of switch majors.
Maybe I'll try to pursue a masters and like higher
education, public administration, like something
along those lines. Like I just get through school
and do more work and more ground Restless or thing.
But ultimately what it came down to is I had those student loan.
And so I was basically going to start from scratch if I started
on any other degree. And so I was like, I've just got
to do it, right? And so the kind of the magic
moment that happened is with the push of having people that
Believe in me and didn't think I could do it because of my
anxiety. I finally figured out that
class. So, I mean, I didn't pass the
first test, literally, like the last test and that semester.
I think I can only 4% on or something crazy.
Like I had figured it out. Yeah.
I was like, oh man, I thought this and so what that allow me
to do because I figured out that stuff class that everybody
struggled with is I got asked to be a tutor.
And so when I started tutoring, I was like this is it this
lights me up. I am so excited about this.
I love to teach like this is like I feel like the perfect
match because I'm gonna have this degree.
I'm going to be able to be a nurse and do that but I'm also I
have this opportunity to educate on the side and it was kind of
my first side hustle which I didn't realize at the time and
so I was like okay like I love tutoring how do I keep doing
this? And so yeah I got a little bit.
Collocated, when I actually graduate school and became a
nurse because working night shifts working crazy hours, all
the stuff. And so I decided that even
though I'd only been a nurse for just about a year, I was going
to go and get my masters in nursing education because I was
like, I don't use it today. That's cool.
I'll use it in the future. I know I will because I just
want to like have some clinicals or something.
So I got that. But at that point I was like
kind of in the groove of school, right?
And my employer was paying for my graduate education.
They pay for my masters and there's education.
And they were about to take away the payments for graduate school
education. So I was like, if I'm going to
do any more school, this is it. And so, I found it for my post
master's program to be an f and P, and so I just kept rolling
through rolling, through roll through.
But when I always tell people, to is, I told my now, husband,
and I signed up for nurse practitioner school, he was, but
he was bad at the time. He's trying at the time now,
he's husband, he was a baby, He survived me in school for all
that time and all the crazy hours planning a wedding.
Like it, we're soul mates, like, more your life was if you're.
So what I was saying, I was so distracted with my husband.
But, no, you were saying that you were planning all this stuff
and you were, oh gosh. Oh I, where were you?
You know what? I was going to say.
I told him when I applied for school, you're working getting
your postmasters. I told him that even if I Never
use a degree of still wanted it because I thought I was gonna
make me a better educator, and I genuinely meant that when I said
it, and I still mean it today. And so you're talking about your
post about like the post certification that you because I
was like, if I'm a nurse practitioner, it only makes me a
better educator all the way around even if I'm just teaching
nurses. And so in the midst of getting
that degree is when I actually started teaching nursing
students and I was like, yeah, this is it like I'm Death
Office, was it? But this is definitely it like,
this lights me up and being able to address.
With anxiety and kind of have that one-on-one impact is
really, really cool for me. I felt like almost like tear up.
So, you know, I can't talk, I came full circle, but that's
really cool. This is really cool.
I can think of a couple of students in particular.
I've I'll tell you just one story basically, I was in
clinicals and it was in a nursing home.
So there's like, fundamentals book was I was doing at the top
and it's so funny to like look back on yourself then I'm sure
she'll look back at herself and laugh about this, but she was so
anxious to even like walk in the page.
Agents room. And like, where I went to
school. That one performed that wouldn't
have been anything. So we literally like we took a
lap outside around the building for years, some fresh air and I
was like, okay, kind of walk me through what you think is going
to look like when you walk in there?
Like what you think you're going to say, what you think?
They might say, like, assessment that we're going to do together
like all these pieces. I said, running out here with
me, get your nerves out here and then we can walk in and we can
do it together. So it's like you won't even be
alone to do it because I don't like to do things.
And so, even just giving her five minutes to kind of bring
herself together. She was able to walk in the
room. She did a really great job.
I was like, I knew you could do a really great job.
You just get so tangled up in your head which is pretty much
what happened to me when I Was preparing for my board exam
because I had an excellent educational again.
Excellent. Excellent nurse practitioner
education, it was called knowledge but that board exam
wigs me out. I don't know like what it was on
the others, just the pressure. I don't know if I just had A lot
of things going on at one time, because I was working two
full-time jobs at the time and preparing, for boards or lots of
pizza. I'm workaholic, if you can't
tell, and then I was when I took the
exam. Guys, thanks for listening to
the podcast. I hope you're enjoying the
conversation. I want to take a second to
remind you guys to join the doctor nurse podcast, email
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links in my show notes. And let's get back to the
conversation because I took the exam lessen, our it's 175
questions, so obviously, like a new my stuff, right?
And I was like, Why in the world would I thought this strung out
over this? Like this wasn't that bad.
I knew all the content even from school, like, I need to refresh
a little bit to take the exam, but I thought the content of
sure, I just needed the anxiety piece and so that's how I was
like, okay, I was the first person in my class to test,
cool. Let me just put out this little
review and see if I can help anyone else with anxiety.
Because at that point in time, I kind of felt really alone.
Again, it kind of Of being in nursing school because I was
like, I'm super anxious was like, nobody around me is super
anxious. And what I realize now is,
nobody was talking about being anxious.
That was the real thing because all the people in this group,
this Facebook group, I was like, holy crap.
Like everybody is anxious like everybody's like here is falling
out like you're so stressed about taking this exam and so I
ended up striking this chord with people that I just never
really anticipated. Just by making a course that was
Geared at what I wanted essentially.
And so really the first like three, four months, just talking
all the students, we really co-created a lot of the courses
together, like, I would get feedback from people.
I make adjustments to the videos, like, we were maneuver,
like, original course, that was three hours.
I literally like, made in a weekend and just like, put it up
there to see what people would think.
I think it's not like it's Kim's rendition now, like it's kind
of, its kind of crazy Journey, Incredible Journey.
It's been crazy. Will Journey.
That's been so fun. I like yeah, what I think about
your journey too is that there's a level of vulnerability in
realness hearing as you re like, I was anxious.
I was scared like walking that student around the building.
Yeah. Like I can imagine.
Now she probably like I would just think I'd be such a pivotal
moment. As if ya have a professor that
really just like, literally walked along a society person,
it was just like you're not alone.
Alone. Yeah, you're not alone and
because of your experience with anxiety and what you went
through, it made you that much more able to connect to where
people really are. I just think that just makes you
so much more marketable as you are more real.
More like, hey, I was struggling with this.
Like this was really hard and people are like me to like
because I don't have one, right? We all want to be seen at Flo's.
I want to be known and then to have somebody step into it with
us and Renee Brown talks about this all this time.
Time about vulnerability and why?
It's so why it's so life-changing because it's at
that very moment, right? Like, you could have looked down
at her in the pot of her anxiety.
And just been, like, must be really hard in there.
Good luck. You know, when you're ready,
we'll be out here. But you were like, no, no, I'm
gonna climb down into the hole with her and I'm going to walk
around in the anxiety and I'm gonna just sit with her in it
and then I'm going to tell her like that.
Okay, this is cool. That's all I ever needed.
She was fine. It's so So maybe that was all we
that you ever needed exactly. This this headphone is working,
maybe that was all that you ever needed.
And so yeah like see how much better you can give to someone
else when you're in touch with what's been going on inside of
you and doing that work on your own emotional state?
And yeah, I think the transparency what are is really
important because a lot of people you know, it was actually
really hard for me to say I was really anxious about taking the
exam. And it even took me a little bit
of time to figure out. Even after I made the course
that, that was inadvertently. What I had geared it towards
like, if you'd asked me in the very beginning, like, I wouldn't
have said this thing's already review, I would have said, like,
this is a really great content review.
Like, I'm an educator, like, I put Tom and it is all this joke,
right? Not that sir.
But honestly, I was doing a podcast episode last year.
I was in an interview by the resume RX.
Yes, and she was asking me something.
I don't even remember now. And I just like, clicked in my
brain. I was like, why have people
latched onto this so much so quickly?
I was like, it's all the test anxiety piece is all.
Just meeting people where they're at being really open
with how I'm feeling like it was even hard for me.
I had my face on my business for a long time, just because it was
really hard for me to put myself out there like that, like, that
is not me and so like I went, I think it From a all the way
until March of the following year.
No one ever saw my face like nobody even knew what I look
like. So that way, I can feel open to
talk about the full so it was just so intimidating for me for
people. I was like, people are gonna
think I'm crazy. People are gonna think I'm nuts
and I'm like, no, like there are tons of people that are anxious
about their number one. But number two anxiety can make
you a really great provider. And I was like, and I feel like
people miss that, And I definitely miss that when I was
in school because I became an oncology nurse and I promise you
like my anxiety. Helped me save a lot of
patience, because I was super diligent all the time, like I
was super aware. So I never want anyone to feel
ashamed of their anxiety is really important to me, and it
was really hard for me to open up my face on things.
Talk about it, openly on Instagram.
Now, like, I could do an Instagram story, any moment, be
like, anxiety, anxiety, but back then it was really, really tough
to be the opening that transparent, but actually, one
of our I did my company is transparency and along with that
empathy as well. Yeah.
Yeah, we need more of that in the world for people that are
being real, because it's how we connect.
And I think that there's so much that's wrong, you know, and it's
so strange because of covid and how people are now more distant
and more separate, and you're more alone with your thoughts
and your more by yourself and social Just Dance, 14 feet.
And so, like, all these things, like, it's not just a social
distance away from people physically.
It's also becoming a social distance, spiritually
emotionally. Everyone's struggling because
they think I'm the only one because you just live in this
little world by yourself. And I think his so great to
bring awareness to the fact that like, Hey, listen, like I am, I
was actually really good at this but I was still anxious so many
times throughout the process over.
No. But you used your strengths, you
used your weaknesses and the things that the world sees as
weak as a way to grow. A very successful business.
You were using the anxiety that you were This is a weakness, is
a chink in my armor to really be the thing that you're like.
No, this is how I connect to people.
Like there's this book by Malcolm Gladwell, it's talks
about is called David and Goliath, and he talks about the
thing that you think, makes you strong sometimes.
It's actually the thing that makes you weak and the thing
that they should week is actually the thing that makes
you strong and how in the world of thinking, oh this you know,
Goliath sighs. Strength that I have can
actually be the thing that you brings you down, but this little
tiny David like, weakness that you think, oh, this is never
going to conquer. That big thing is actually the
thing that people connect the most with.
So do that be that little thing that you think nobody will
connect to? This is so ugly, nobody wants to
see it. It's actually the thing that
everybody wants. You've gotta be really going to
be authentic. So I think that there's a lot of
that in business and people put on persona, There is no place
for that in my business. Well, I get it.
Like, literally last week, if you would see my Instagram
stories like we had a tornado crossed through like power lines
were down chaos and happenings. I was like y'all are supposed to
go on here today talking about my webinar but they had power
lines. Down our generators out, we have
baby chicks, like we've got all these things going on.
Stop it, baby chicks. They need their heat so without
the heat of it, so I definitely What are your little wings?
And then you have to be really, really real.
And that's not something you can Overlook.
Yeah, I think it's so important. I love that, man.
That is so many nuggets there. And so, another thing that I
like to talk about on the podcast is so you did.
It always have blue skies, right?
And it wasn't always just rainbows butterflies unicorns,
like they were moments. You're like, this is not, this
is not working and this is a moment.
We got a sink or swim or whatever it is.
Can you describe maybe a moment that you re like this?
This might be it. I don't know if I'm going to
make it but you did and it's even better or you know whatever
like there's some moment like that you can think about better
iBooks today which is definitely a goal because I think this is
like I think everything is happening to me.
Like in class. My brothers would be really cool
for a book, there's a lot of stories I could tell Steph I
write a book someday. One of the stories, I will
definitely tell will be about the first time I tried to get a
website done. So I needed a website horribly.
I needed to be able to sell stuff without it, going through
me every single time. It is, it wasn't feasible, it
wasn't making sense. I wanted to release more courses
all the things and so I didn't even have time to look for a
website designer. I literally told my husband, I
said find whoever you can on Google.
I really don't even care what it looks like if it functions and
we can run subscriptions on. Cool, that's great.
And so we he found this girl log actually, I found a couple of
guys and we chose the cheapest one because that was how I
started my business. I'm like all Bare Bones, right?
Which looking back. What you give?
Yeah. And so we told the guys from the
very beginning, this is going to be subscription.
Here's what we're aiming for excetera and essentially, he had
simply, he was just plugging everything in like all the words
and I wrote all the words for the website myself.
So really his big piece was doing the subscriptions.
So I'm geared up myself and my customers for almost a month and
a half. Like I've got Website coming,
I'm going to website coming up your website coming.
It comes to three days before the website supposed to launch.
He tells me that subscriptions are impossible and that was will
never be able to be done. And nobody else in the industry
is doing that like we're not in my industry invoice that I don't
know whether what you're talking about and essentially the whole
website imploded when I was talking to him about it on the
phone, I'm like I'm pretty quiet.
I'm pretty reserved, I know, probably doesn't feel that way
over. The podcast, they have had a lot
of caffeine. It was getting kind of heated on
the phone and he told me he said if you're too emotional to talk
about it I can just call and talk to your husband later and I
thought my head was gonna explode off my body.
I don't think I've ever been so angry in my life.
I was like, here I created a successful business.
I just want to website be able to put things out.
The people you're telling me subscriptions are impossible.
First of all, almost nothing is impossible.
Impossible is like, not even in my vocabulary.
February at this point, like impossible doesn't exist to me.
And so your then for you to demean and belittle me like that
and so I told him, I said, I don't care what it is, take take
the website down, I don't ever want to speak to you again.
Definitely, not speaking to my husband later.
I don't want any piece of this because I think people anywhere
near my business that a don't believe in me and my business,
but B also be so belittling. Meaning the meaning either, like
come on, like why and there have been a couple of red flags on
the way. There, been one point we were
talking about the website he like compare what I was doing to
like women that run bake sales and I was like, that's not it,
but thank you. But yeah.
Basically let me switching potentially my website, which is
gone overnight and we had to start over from scratch and we
had to find somebody else. And so doesn't sound like a big
deal. It was really Hard to find
somebody else, hey, it took another month and a half of Tom,
B and C. It didn't work when I finally
got it up to. So literally at the Top, If you
canceled your subscription, I would have to go in manually and
give you access to the end of your paid mom.
And I was actually when I about like close down the business
altogether because like, I don't know what I'm doing.
I don't know anything about websites now, like I've created
Create even more for myself. I'm still talking, all these
people just about different things and it wasn't a week
after that. Once I started fixing all these
canceled subscriptions every day that I heard the business coach
because like if I don't figure something out like calm
management wise and just like mental health, Law's like no
business. To me is ever worked in my
mental health ever. I know it's getting to a point.
I was sacrificing my mental health, but running those crazy
hours and talking to so many people all the time.
Actually. If people want that God, so that
for me was a really pivotal point in my business because
number one had the confidence in myself that was going to be able
to figure it out and tell this guy to just go away which is
really far, but number two, then to like, bro.
Yeah, really. Go away, please never speak to
you again. My number two, having to figure
it out after that point, when I've got all these people now
that are depending on me and my stuff working, and that was
really really hard because it was a lot easier when I was just
And I presume and I knew for sure it was going to work.
It was a whole different or Gill website thankful.
Wow, that is incredible journey. And, you know, as you're
describing it to I was I was thinking about the fact that
it's a lot of the journeys from entrepreneurs that I hear.
There's this moment that just feels like a Breaking Point and
then they're like, can't do this anymore and then something
happens and they keep going. Yeah, I love that.
You say that nothing is impossible and that word.
On your vocabulary because that once you get that mindset of
like everything is possible. I can do anything.
I can figure it out me to open up my mind.
I can figure it out now you're not afraid.
There's no fear in the, there's fear in the world, the sphere in
the word impossible. There's no fear, and living in
everything is possible. And so, I just got to figure it
out and it opens up your mind. And then I'll sudden you're
like, okay, I can figure this out.
Is figure about this is figure out herbal or whatever that word
is, I can never say it, but everything is figure out of
alright, and so you can figure it out.
Don't panic. Don't don't, you know, just
don't give up keep going. And yeah, look what you've been
able to do is you just kept going.
This is just so inspiring Sarah, I just think it's so incredible.
So my last question is, what is the piece of advice for a new
nurse that you would say at the beginning?
If you were talking to Sarah and she's just anxious and she's
just finishing stuff and she's still pushing and she's not
Weeping. And she's on caffeine as you're
doing all her stuff. You were like piece of advice
for her to keep and a piece of advice.
You would tell her toss it, it's garbage.
What would you say? So, I always like to remind
myself and I try to remind like my past self to in a way you
make the best decisions with the information that you have at the
top. And so like when I hired that
website designer, for example, that was the best information.
I had a top. So I think if I could like go
back in time I would just be like Give yourself a little bit
of Grace because I'm so hard on myself, so it's in the
beginning. And even today I'm still hard on
myself. Like it's not like magically
went away like I'm successful. But always my biggest piece of
advice that people getting going other than just get started.
I hate to say that because I feel like it's like, generic
cliche but oh my God, please just get started.
Whatever it is. You want to do, like, people get
lost and Analysis, paralysis, like just put it out there, see
what happens. It will be messy, it won't be
perfect. And my first course I felt like
was perfect. It was It was messy all the way
around, but it was fun and we know we figured it out and as it
grew weary maneuver and all those things.
But give yourself Grace could for it to be a little bit messy.
Give yourself some Grace to make some mistakes along the way
because they're going to happen. No matter what, especially if
you're new business, I knew nothing about business.
I'm still learning about business every day.
Like, I'm always trying to absorb more information, but it
just comes along with time and then to delete, that one's a
little bit harder. I think in a lot of ways, kind
of tie back to what I was already kind of saying to the
Delete the analysis. Paralysis number one, just there
something out there but also the leaf is being so hard on
yourself. I think part of why we are so
hard on ourselves is We've spent all this time, all this money,
we've got all this education. There's it feels like there's
all this. Just pressure all the time.
There doesn't have to be this level of pressure and so that's
really it for you to decide how you want to maneuver that.
But I think I answered your question.
I got a little bit of change it there but analysis for house?
No, no, I think you did. Yeah, and I think that what
you're saying is you've got to look and see what life looks
like for you that you can't judge.
Is that based on other people and what they decide looks like
success. So you said something and I
again the last part of the interview is the rapid fire
questions and so I want to ask you, maybe rapid-fire Ali, you
know, I do my weapon, fire questions.
Question, let's do the echo. Part has to be dramatic, but I
want to ask you, what does success look like you?
Because you just said that word. You said, you know, now that I'm
successful but like what does that?
How do you define that? Just if you can just spit out
like What it looks like. Is it a number for you?
Is it a lifestyle for you? Is it a, what is it?
What does success look like to Sarah?
Michelle. Always thought success.
That's right. Other fire which is sorry now
you're good. Sorry, sorry.
Sorry. Sorry I'm quite always thought.
Success was a member, always, always always.
I'm like, when I hit this, when I had this success is not a
number success is for me, personally, Tom, freedom, and
Tom flexibility and gain to do the things that I want to do
with my time and setting my own day.
So like, Speak when the tornado hit, I took a couple of days off
and that was okay to do because I had the flexibility to do so
and so working in that grand and having two full-time jobs doing
all that stuff, I never had any freedom of time and it drove me
nuts and it made me insane. And so I think that's what I was
craving so badly. And I think it's part of why I
love business so much. Guys that I know that was a
heavy rapid fire, but I really wanted to hear that because I
was like she, yeah, that was a heavy rapid fire so that
couldn't be rapid but it was perfect and so rapid-fire.
Here we go. What is your favorite animal?
Who favorite animal? I was saying, buy it right now
is probably my baby chick. Oh, your baby chicks right now
and okay, what are you watching on Netflix and chill?
Like do you Netflix and chill? And if you do, what are you
watching? We're watching Steel Magnolias
right now and we go Rotate through, we also did love his
blond, I like things, I don't really have to think about to
wash. I got like fun things to wash.
So we watched a lot of love as blotches.
Yeah. Because that that one show where
they like get married. They start dating behind the
door or something like that and then they like meat.
Yeah. Yeah, the pods.
Yeah. Yeah.
That's such a crazy show. Think there was one Epic there
was one season where like the girl was so horrible that like
people made means about. Oh yeah, that she was like these
and I remember yes yes. Yeah, I can totally see why you
watch that and then you don't have to think it literally, it's
just brightness. You just sit there and you're
like, okay, this is great very entertaining.
Well, thank you for your time today.
Sarah, this has been you dropped so many nuggets, so many truth
bombs. I know people are going to get
something out of everything you said today.
Do you want to do a Shameless plug?
Let people know where to find you, where they can get your
content? All the things that you're
involved in? Well, thank you so much for
listening to me and all My caffeine tanja's this morning so
you can follow me at Sarah, Michelle NP on Instagram.
That's probably my favorite spot for you to follow me because I
feel like that's where I get to connect the most through stories
and stuff. You can also check out our
student Facebook group, which is literally called, like, Sarah
Michelle study group. So you can find out really
easily. And you can also connect through
my website, which is www.hyken.com reviews with an
s.com, not a review in Peru, reviews.com plural, but those
are all the ways. Again, the contact for me
perfect. And it was a website made by
someone who is not a misogynist. Just kidding, I might take that
out. I don't know.
I might leave it. I don't know.
Who knows? I am so much.
Fun, Sarah, thank you for your time today and guys don't forget
to enjoy the journey of your career.
Thanks for hanging out. Thank you.
So that's a wrap. Be sure to subscribe to the show
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