We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Melissa Fino a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Melissa, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Are you happier as a business owner? Do you sometimes think about what it would be like to just have a regular job?
Entrepreneurship, or being a business owner is not for the faint of heart. I would be lying if I said that there weren’t days that my business hasn’t run me through the wringer, but there isn’t one thing that I would change. Not one thing. Over time, I’ve evolved and grown, and my business has shifted and changed with me. It’s the times when I don’t feel ALIGNED or as energized as I used to, that I know it’s time for my business model to change. It’s never a feeling to step out of my business or to go get a 9-5, but rather a strong desire to put more of ME within my business. When this happens, I’ll change my offerings, or add a new offering that is reflective of my own personal expansion.
This is why the work I do is so important. As a business owner, it’s easy to get stuck in the day-to-day, and when this happens it’s possible to fall out of alignment with your deeper purpose. Which then prompts you to lose your joy, as well as lose connection with the very reason you stepped into entrepreneurship in the first place – your why. This feeling can drain you, and leave you feeling energetically depleted.
But it’s possible to fall back in LOVE with your business again. To have a business that you are completely obsessed with! I mean head over heels, madly in love. One that fills you with expansive energy and gratitude for just how good life can be. It’s the desire we all crave, right?
So to answer that question… Being a business owner has been one of the best decisions I have ever made. Every day I have the opportunity to change someone else’s life, and that’s the best gift I could have ever received.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
Hi, I’m Melissa. I’m an Award-Winning Business Coach and Strategist, Host of The Income & Impact Podcast, and Best Selling Author of Little Miss Perfect. I help Women Business Owners feel confident, fulfilled, and create quantum leaps within their business that lead to multiple six-figures. I’m a high school dropout who went on to receive her Master’s in Social Work from the University of Southern California and I have continued to defy the odds in most areas of my life. I’m a suicide survivor, domestic violence survivor, and all-around resilient badass. I currently offer a high-level one-on-one program as well as a group coaching program for female business owners who are looking to unlock their voice and go bigger and bolder with their message. Graduates from this program have an incredible opportunity to become a published authors in an upcoming co-created book.
I’m currently on a mission to help over a million women push past their fears and build businesses that massively impact the world. Will you be one of them?
Can you tell us about what’s worked well for you in terms of growing your clientele?
Wowza! I always joke around that there isn’t a plug-and-play, copy-and-paste strategy that will work for everyone. When you’re searching for the (plug and play) that’s going to get you the success you’re only going to push it farther away. That’s why the work I do with my clients is unique in creating success way beyond a magic formula because I guide my clients through OWNERSHIP of what makes them and their business different from everyone else, how to shift their energy to magnetize ready-to-buy clients, as well as unlock the doors to an unlimited amount of opportunities.
Get your energy right and then set in place the strategy that works best for you. Another strategic tool that I share with my clients is understanding the marketing psychology behind why your clients buy. When you know this you’ll be able to create content that will attract your dreamy clients directly to you.
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
I LOVE this question. My friends often refer to me as the queen of resiliency. I’ve fallen on my hiney more times than one should, but every time I get back up I come back stronger and with more grit & determination. Isn’t that how life is meant to be lived?
I’m a high school dropout. I dropped out at the age of sixteen. From there, I had numerous jobs until I found one that was comfortable and safe. I kept it for over a decade. I always knew there was more for me, but I had yet to develop the courage to take any bold action towards achieving my desires. Until sixteen years later when my father passed away suddenly. It was my reminder of just how short life can be. It also left me with a strong desire to be more. To be everything that my father already saw me as. Right then and there I made the decision t that I was going back to school. I went to the local community college, and then to a state school where I graduated with honors.
I felt alive for the first time in years. At the time I was living in Connecticut. On a whim, I decided to apply to the University of Southern California for graduate school and I flipping got in. I couldn’t believe it. It felt like I was achieving the impossible. I packed my bags and the rest was history! I became a high-school dropout who graduated from the University of Southern Califonia with my Master’s.
I never could have imagined that. There’s something incredible about achieving your dreams… when you achieve them the floodgates to possibilities will open. You’ll be smacked with the realization that you can achieve anything, and you’ll have to start dreaming bigger. It’s an incredible feeling and one that I wish for so many of you.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.melissafino.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/iammelissafino/?hl=en
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/melissa.lynn.7165
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/loveyourlifecommunity/
- Other: Podcast: Income & Impact with Melissa Fino https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/income-and-impact-with-melissa-fino/id1590414743
Image Credits
Kiley Shai