Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Elena Armijo. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Elena, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today The first dollar your business earns is always special and we’d love to hear how your brand made its first dollar of revenue.

I opened my business during my Coach Training Program, and through the program we were encouraged to start coaching at a training rate. The idea was that you were practicing in real time with people while learning, instead of waiting to have all the answers to start working with clients. This was terrifying for me, as I had always waited to be “ready” to start anything in my life. Part of my people pleasing and perfectionist contexts that I was working on! I decided in order to be in integrity with my level of excellence and what I wanted to be offering people in the world, $5 for a cup of coffee and coaching was where I would start. So I asked friends and family members if there was anyone who would want to be on the beginning stages of my journey as a coach, who could gain value from the work but also be with my fumbles along the way. I had five referrals in my inbox from this request, and that is where it all started.

Elena, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I was a professional opera singer for 22 years before I decided to pivot to becoming an Executive and Leadership Coach. I was working my way to a solid career in opera, and was finding myself burned out, lonely, and empty inside. I couldn’t wrap my mind around why I was so unhappy when I had created all the things I needed for a successful career. I hired a coach myself and soon learned that I had built and entire career from proving my worth to the world. After six months of work with this coach, I entered a coach training program as I thought this would be the quickest way to find out what I really wanted in the world and to fix myself! Little did I know I was in for a life long journey of learning and a new career that I deeply love. I opened my private practice in 2015 and have been coaching non stop since! About five years ago I had the idea to open up a startup that served clients through inclusion and belonging, while addressing cultural gaps. I had worked with many executives at this point and was seeing a pattern of people becoming stronger leaders, while their teams still needed more support. I launched The C-Suite Collective which is a community of coaches and healers that support people in vital conversations. We are on a mission to create a new paradigm of leadership that supports companies in inclusion, belonging holistic organizational growth through authenticity, vulnerability, inspiration and love. We just finished our second year and are celebrating how much has been created in a small amount of time.

Are there any books, videos or other content that you feel have meaningfully impacted your thinking?

Yes!

Maverick – Ricardo Semler
Love is a damn good business – Steve Farber
Traction – Gino Wickman
Dare to Lead – Brené Brown

Can you talk to us about how your funded your business?

I have been an entrepreneur since I was 17. The C-Suite Collective is the fourth business I have started and has been so much fun to start! The way I always think about businesses is how much are you willing to invest to grow it? TCC is funded from my private practice directly and was grown organically to a 500k in a year. The idea was that any money made from TCC would be reinvested right back in, so I have not taken a salary from this business in two years. We broke even in year two so are positioned to create profits in year 3. I wanted to stay away from investments at least in the first 5 years to build a foundation that would support the vision, values and ethos of the company before scaling. So the cost of that is building has been slow, and the payoff has been the foundation of trust, legacy, and the members of the Collective being truly excited to create what is next.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.thec-suitecollective.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thecsuitecollective/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/coachingwithelena
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elena-armijo/
• Other: Coaching with Elena website: https://elenaarmijo.com/ https://www.instagram.com/elena.armijo/?hl=en

Image Credits
Ilene Squires Ramon Antonio Frias Leah Huebner