Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Erica Carrico. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Erica, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. So, let’s start with a hypothetical – what would you change about the educational system?
So much is taught in schools that aren’t relevant later in life. I think our entire world would change if our education system taught students 2 things: 1.) how to create money for themselves rather than relying on a “job” for a paycheck, and 2.) a fulfilling career is one that is aligned with our purpose and that the perfect career is a combination of what we absolutely love, and what we’re naturally good at. These 2 things would completely change the course of young people’s lives in incredible ways.
I had no idea what I wanted to do when I left college, so I decided to travel and take casual jobs for a few years. I somehow landed in corporate recruitment at 26 years old, because “it was time for me to grow up and get a real job”. It only took me 5 years in corporate to become completely burnt out, anxiety ridden, and so depressed I could hardly even get out of bed.
After working with a life coach, quitting corporate, and spending a year backpacking around the world, I knew I wanted to be a coach as well. I felt that desire in every single cell of my body. It was literally the perfect combination of all my gifts, and what I was super passionate about: helping people.
When I was coming back from my world tour, I was newly engaged and getting ready to start a family. The pressure from everyone was based on societal conditioning. “You are getting ready to start a family, you can’t start your own business. You need money, and a real job. Stop being so selfish and put your future family first.” I remember rationalizing their opinions to myself by my own beliefs, “It’s so hard to earn money in your own business. I just need a real job. They’re right, following my heart is irresponsible.” So instead, I invested $40,000 in a master’s degree and moved into the non-profit industry, which felt like the “safe option” at the time, because someone was giving me a paycheck. I took coaching off of my list. And for a little while, working as the executive director of a nonprofit felt really good to me. It felt like I was making a difference in the world.
Ultimately though, I was still building someone else’s dream. I was still doing someone else’s work. I was still not sharing my purpose with the world. It was all still trapped inside me. On top of that, I was working 9-5 again with two small kiddos and hardly able to support my family with an annual salary of $29,000! Yes, you read that right.
I ended up completely losing myself once again through choosing the “safe route”. I lost myself through the lack of freedom, adventure, and even though I was making a difference in the world, being tied down and trapped, and building someone else’s vision wasn’t allowing me to follow my heart. Once again, I was not living my purpose.
And also, I was thinking small. I didn’t realize at the time that I could start my own business, which is the ultimate financial security. Once you know how to make money for yourself, nothing can stop you. I’ve since gone on and created a multi-million dollar company and money is no longer an issue. It’s funny how society deems “holding down a job” as financial security, even though “that job” wasn’t even paying me enough to support our basic needs. See where societal programming comes in? We make way too many life decisions based on what society deems correct.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
I’m an Award-Winning Business Mentor for women who are ready to transform their lives by creating 6 & 7 Figure Soul-Aligned Businesses, while lucratively expressing their own soul purpose.
Through online programs and speaking, I help people discover their life purpose, build & scale their businesses to global empires, quit their 9-5’s, and make fabulous money on their spiritual path so they can finally earn a living doing what they absolutely love… what they were put on earth to do.
I have a BS in Psychology, a Masters in Business Management, and 12+ years in international business leadership experience. I built a Multi-Million Dollar Coaching Business (with two kids in tow!) in just over 4 years and is obsessed with helping my clients all around the world transform their lives by creating soulful, global businesses, while lucratively expressing their own soul purpose.
After spending a decade trapped in the wrong career, I received a kidney cancer diagnosis at the age of 36. I was still breastfeeding my baby, and had a toddler in tow as well. At this point, I knew that not living my purpose, was literally killing me. I made a commitment to myself, to my kids, and to God, that no matter how long I have left on this beautiful earth, I will live in 100% alignment with my soul. I was going to be 100% me. I claimed my purpose in that moment. I was going to live my life of service, whatever life I had left was going to be 100% me, 100% soul aligned, 100% purpose driven.
Today my life is completely different. I started my own business, left my marriage, and now spend my life helping others to discover what their life purpose is, and how can they express that in the form of a business, so they can earn a living doing what they love, while having an impact as well. I also teach how to build and scale their soulful businesses to 7 Figures. Once a women is earning this kind of money, the game completely changes for them on so many levels. They have opportunity. They have influence. They have options. They have impact.
Can you tell us about what’s worked well for you in terms of growing your clientele?
I’ve worked with thousands of entrepreneurs at this point, and I teach them the strategy I used to grow and scale my company to millions. It’s called External Marketing. So many people are 100% focused on social media, which is challenging for so many reasons. One, it’s a rat race and you’re competing with thousands of other people in your industry, with no way of standing out in front of the others. Two, social media is what I call a form of “Internal Marketing” which is designed to keep in touch with, and create value for, your existing followers. Typically only 1% of your followers will ever actually buy from you, so if all you’re doing is selling on social media, you’re not going to get very far because you’re trying to sell to the same people over and over again.
By bringing in External Marketing, you are implementing tactics that will get you in front of new audiences every single month. These are things like Speaking, Workshops, getting on podcasts, or getting published in the media. Not only does this get you in front of thousands of potential clients each month, but it also boosts your credibility so if you do show up on social media, you have new followers every single month to make offers to, but also you now have a way to stand out amongst your competition with all of your “as seen in’s”.
Can you talk to us about how your funded your business?
We have consultations every day with budding entrepreneurs about joining our program and one of the things we hear most is “I’ll have to save the money,” which is a total “employee mindset” way of thinking. Within our programs, we work with our clients to build their entrepreneurial muscle so they can start thinking a different way. If you’re going to be an entrepreneur, you have to get used to investing money to make money. Even earning millions now, my company still invests money every single month before we make any money. We invest in paying our team of 12, we invest in systems, we invest in advertising. And we then do the work to make that money back, and then some.
When I first started my business, I knew it was going to take money to make money, and as the executive director of a non-profit organization earning $29,000/year, spare change was not something I had, but I wasn’t going to let that hold me back. I put $20,000 on a 0% interest credit card and told myself there was no option to quit until I had at least made that money back. It took me 6 months to pay that off, and then everything afterwards went into my own pocket, and back into the business to help us grow and scale!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.ericacarrico.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ericalynncarrico/
- Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/ericalcarrico
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ericacarrico/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/EricaCarrico
Image Credits
Reed Photography in Cedar Rapids, Iowa Shannon McTighe Photography in Fort Collins, CO