If you're a business owner in today's ever-changing landscape, it's crucial to both scale your business and grow your authority. Join Hilary and Growth Architect, Beate Chelette, as they discuss key strategies such as up-leveling your teams and aligning business systems, and the fastest way to grow your authority. You won't want to miss this impactful conversation.

About our Guest:

Beate Chelette is the Growth Architect and Founder of The Women’s Code and provides visionaries and leaders with strategies that grow your authority so that they can scale their impact.

Beate bootstrapped her passion for photography into a global business and eventually sold it to Bill Gates in a multimillion-dollar deal.

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Welcome, everyone. And what a show I have for you today. Have you ever really thought about what it takes to have true success? And could you actually architect your way to success? And the answer is 100%. Yes. And today my guest is going to help us all understand what it takes to sell your business, start another business and relaunch yourself to success. And yeah, I'm so along the way, certainly. But it's also how you pick yourself back up, that truly matters. Today I've got Beate Chelette. She is a growth architect, founder of the women's code, and provides visionaries and leaders with strict strategies that grow their authority so that they can scale their impact. So important to be thinking about that these days because that's what lights people up. And she's bootstrapped her passion for photography into a global business, and that she eventually sold it to none other than Mr. Bill Gates himself and a multi million dollar deal.

You're listening to the ReLaunch podcast and I'm your host, Hilary DeCesare, best selling author, speaker and transformational coach widely recognized in the worlds of neuro psychology and business launches, which cultivated the one and only three HQ method, helping midlife women. Yep, that's me to rebuild a life of purpose, possibility and inspiring business ventures. Each week, we'll be diving into the stories that brought upon the most inspirational relaunches while sharing the methods and the secrets that they learned along the way, so that you too, can have not just an ordinary relaunch, but an extraordinary relaunch.

So good, I love the idea. And I am so excited Beatte about you being here sharing this because for so many women, we don't think about the what's next about the sale about the follow up to where we ultimately are going with our business and you've done it. You've been there, you've like you're standing before us right now. And so welcome to the show.

Thank you, Hillary, I think I'm gonna have to take this introduction, and I'm just going to like, play it everywhere I go.

I gotta tell you. So you know, I was a Silicon Valley Girl. And I have seen more men sell their businesses, more men end up coming to me after they've sold their businesses, trying to figure out what is next for them doing a massive relaunch. And when I saw that we were talking today, it like lit me up, because we need to be sharing more of the women's journey, the relaunches that have taken place. And yeah, you know what struggles, women are known for our struggles. We were you know, we were born into this perception of struggle, right. But it doesn't have to be that way. So, I love to hear about your biggest relaunch, and where you are, how that's come to play now, as you're moving into and relaunching your yourself in yet. The next the next big adventure.

Yeah, I think that the real I must be on relaunched number 10 or something like that. I think that one of the things that is so interesting about relaunching, and which is why I just love the theme of your show. And the way you go about it is that people are very attached to the way they do things. And I compare this is sometimes running a business is like being on the Titanic, and then you hit the ice. Some people drew some people you know, go and rearrange the chairs on the deck just to make it look all good. Some people want to hear the band play until the very last song well you know what that means? And so I think that relaunching isn't just specifically after an exit or an equity event, but we be launching also sometimes is about do I really want to do this? Is this still aligned with what I do? And I want to give you an example. So you know what I'm talking about. I spoke before we went into COVID. I did a lot of women, leadership, women, career development, I was keynoting. I talked about diversity, equity, equal pay. And I mean, I was I was, I was traveling, I was, I was doing great. And then COVID came. And I knew that women leadership was completely irrelevant, completely irrelevant. And if we're really, really honest, nobody really talks about women leadership to this day, not in the same urgency as it was back then why as the markets changed, the objective has have changed and the problems that people are facing have changed. Now I

gotta I gotta stop. Because it's an interesting word choice a relevant, right? Why? Why do you feel it is irrelevant.

Excellent. So I love that you picked up on this irrelevant in the sense of the urgency that people have, for us as business owners to give us their money to fix a problem. It is relevant for us as women to claim our position, it is relevant for us as women to fight for our rights and equality, diversity, equity, I'm looking at this strictly from a perspective of relaunching your professional career, or your business or your direction. So when you are picking a model, it doesn't mean that it is not important. It doesn't mean that it is not relevant. The question is, is it relevant to someone else? And that,

that's okay. I was just on a call this morning. And we were discussing just this. And it's, you know, we come up with these ideas, these concepts for businesses, and we're so excited. And you you run through the adrenaline of like, Yeah, this is so good. And what happens, as we both know, is that reality then hits, right? It's like, Alright, how am I going to make this? You know, how am I going to have profit margins? I'm sure you have this happen as well, you're you're talking to someone, you're working with someone. And on the outside, it appears that they're super successful. But when you drill in to the balance sheet, there's no profit margins, there's no bonuses, there's no sometimes there's not even a paycheck. And that to me, I have such great knowledge around this. How do you let's just like we are early in the show, I'm going to ask you just point blank. Is there a time when you know that it is over that the as you said the Titanic is going down? The band is playing that last song? And that you really have to say fait accompli? Or do you? Is there a process that you help people with as they're gaining the authority because there's huge authority in that right? Trust, being able to say, I gotta stop? How help help us understand, based on what you've seen, how do you even go about doing this?

I love that, let's let's just go right and take the band aid off and take a look. Yes, so there, there, there are so many factors that go into it. So number one, it is your passion and your belief system into is this what you really feel called to do? Sometimes, you know, just to give another example, every so often I talk to somebody who is faith based. And then they call me and they say, you know, I'm doing this, but I heard the voice of God. And they, and God told me that I really need to bring my my belief in my religion in it, but I am worried about that. Because, you know, people might be turned off by by the religion. And I and then I just say something like this. Are you telling me that you're at the voice of God talking to you directly? I said, Who are you to not listen? So I mean,

isn't that that's so great. You're right. If you're really hearing the voice of God, and it's like talking to you that loudly? Why are we ignoring it? Why are we

ignoring it? So so that's the one thing is like, what are you? What are you? What are you really truly believe in? What is your actual call? Because if you then come to me and say, Well, I really feel I should be doing this, but I'd rather not do that. Then. Then we were boarding the Titanic, right? I think that people are going to be more passionate, more committed, more successful if they do what they're really passionate about. I mean, there's other things they have to figure out you know, their relationship with money and, and charging and value and impostor syndrome and all These other things, but let him get let's get back to this. So when people come to me, they typically come to me because they say, I have this idea. I know I'm good. I know I can provide something, but I feel like I sound like a rambling idiot. It takes me four minutes to explain what I do. And then I get the blank stare. And somebody says, Well, it sounds interesting, or

Don't you hate that word? It's like, that's really interesting. That might when my dad or my mom would say that. I knew I had to reverse. We got to try something. Anytime there was an interesting, that's really interesting, man. No, it's not you've just hit the wall. Yes, yes. 100%?

You're absolutely right. So you look for these kinds of things. Where? Where the question is, is the idea. feasible? Is it a good idea? Is there demand for it? Like we develop the five star success blueprint? And we help, you know, in this five star success blueprint is it's very simple to understand what where you are at, right? So number one, in the first star is? Who is your avatar? Who's your client? What do they need? What are their problems? Number two is the offer, once you figure out who your avatar is, and what the problems are that they're having, you can move to the second step. And then and only then can you do the offer, that's already where 90% of our business owners get it wrong, because they make the offer before they even know who is going to be the buyer. And then they try to, to create somebody called it yesterday, a phantom avatar. That's good. They agreed phantom person that needs this, even though this person doesn't even exist, that's just arbiter first offer next, then you build the systems because then you know what you need to, you know, produce the offer and deliver it to the person that has the problem, then you create the team, because only then do you know who you need to manage the systems that manage the offer that handle the client's problems. And then you need to look at yourself, the fifth star is you as a leader, what kind of leader do you need to be to manage the people that run the systems that handle the offer that solves the problem?

You know, what I love about what you just said, is that it's actually it goes against what we normally think your process is amazing, super simple. We all think that we know it. But it's the you know, the devils in the detail, and what you said with number four team, it's kind of like everyone thinks it's Wait, I gotta have the team first. Then I need to do you know what's next. And I love how you're like, hey, get clear on what exactly who you're selling to what they need. Let me ask you a question here. From a bi perspective. Are you now working with clients to help them because sometimes, we think I know what my client needs, because I'm my avatar. But then you start to really think about it that we put blinders up. When we think I'm the avatar, I met, I got it. Whereas if you go out, you talk to people who you think are their avatars? It's amazing what they say, what they'll convey to you. How do you feel now about going into AI? And asking, you know, here's my avatar, here's the parameters, what are their needs? What are their? You know, what are the things that are keeping them up at night? Have you had success with that? Or what's your what's your overall thought around that?

So number one, I love AI. I think that the research ideas for prompts that are ideas for, for shows, ideas for videos, ideas for what people are talking about keywords, things like that. It is absolutely amazing. I believe that the one thing and I'm not sure, it's actually a good idea to test out AI in that sense on what the AI responses are to current challenges that our potential clients might be having. Which you'll know me I'll do right after this interview.

Of course, because now people are like God, that's so just just double check in more information comes up. It's

yeah, I think it's brilliant. So, so I think here's the you talked about a key piece, if I can see what the challenge is in the market, and how it's changing because That's what's happened in the last since ever since COVID. Started. We are in what I call a business whiplash. You think, you know, first it's like, versus like, first we talked about, we never had home, we never have time to have dinner with our families. We have these beautiful homes. We're never here. Well, the world got what we asked for we, we were at home for two years, we never left until we get sick and tired of our home cooked meals. And we were begging people to please, you know, open the kitchen, so we could take takeout, then it was like, well, everybody got laid off right away. And I was like, Oh, we made a mistake. Now we really need people. Because when people aren't home, they are consuming things. Alright, so now we need to hire people. But now we can find people. And so now we pay a ton of stuff to people. And we give them everything that they want, then this recession starts or, or everything starts to change. And now everybody goes like, Oh, just kidding. Now we're going to lay off all the people that we overpaid, and that we over incentivize, because they're too expensive anyway. And we're going to get rid of all of that. So the demands of your clients are changing so quickly, that in order for you to run a business successfully, it's exactly right. It's like you almost have to be in AI every day, or you always have to check, is this even relevant? And this goes back to what I said. I knew that as a speaker about women leadership and equity for women, that during and after COVID in the recovery, because it's the fourth recession I'm going through would not be relevant to anybody who want to give me money. They want to talk about it. But they will they pay me to do this? No, because they have a different problem.

Or will they pay me? Will they pay me? And I want to I want to say I love business whiplash, because it is and it's almost like it's the whiplash that every time you're getting in the car, you're somehow being hit again, right? Multiple multiple. Here we go. Here we go. It's not just that one big jolt. We call it the global relaunch, the professional relaunch and the personal relaunches on the first time in history, all three are happening at the same time, multiple times. And so as we go to break right now, I am fascinated when you start to talk about again, will somebody pay will kill you? Yes, great idea. Great idea. And how many great ideas have people maxed out on their credit cards maxed out, you know, with the small business loans maxed out with, you know, trying to raise capital, and that there isn't that end result of success, of being able to say, you know, from a lifestyle of success, I'm doing what I ultimately really want. It's been such a grind. I want when we come back, I want you to share your story, as a female executive, founder, being able to sell your business to somebody like Bill Gates what it took to get there, so don't go anywhere. We'll be right back. This episode is brought to you by my very own labor of love my most recent book relaunch. This book is a collection of my stories, other stories and is a motivational guide to living a new three h q lifestyle, sparking your heart to ignite your life. It's available for purchase via Amazon, get ready to try on the three HQ method that I've been using for years throughout my entire life. Reaching the next level in all areas, both professionally and personally. Get your copy today at www dot the relaunch book.com Welcome back, everybody. And I've got BRT Chevette shalach with me and we are kind of stirring it up. I have to say, we have put out there the Titanic we put out there as you said business whiplash. We have discussed really this whole idea of women being irrelevant until you're relevant with actually putting something out there that people want to buy. And I have to say, and I said this over the break. This is so good. Because what you do is thought provoking. And you said that somebody has you know said you want to be liked this was over the break everyone I know a lot of times I wish we could just keep rolling this said do you want to be liked or do you want to make money and let's not forget everyone, we are doing the business being the business to have a successful business. And what does that mean? Impact, which means the more you can impact people, the more revenues you will be creating. So don't don't think making money is a bad thing. And I know you talked about money stories. It's not, because the more you can make means you're impacting. So I have to ask you BRT, what is it when you heard? Do you want to be liked or make money? And, you know, how do you help your clients understand that this isn't a bad thing? And it's kind of been we've been brought up that Oh, don't be the bitch. Don't be the, you know, the bad, you know, don't be the bad guy. But you have a you have a different attitude about that. Yeah, I

mean, the minute I heard that, I saw myself in my room as a child with my mother banging on the door, open the blank door, and I knew what was happening if I would have opened the door. And my mother has mental issues, which, you know, we've known for a long time. But she thinks that everybody else is the problem never heard. And so, which is a sure sign of people that either don't have self awareness, or they have, you know, mental challenges. And I think what it does for all of us who have trauma, and I have yet to meet any woman, or any man out there, who does not have trauma, I think in my entire life, I've only met one person says I had a really good childhood, like you did,

I bet. A bet last month, one person who I can personally say, I could truly say, Wow, I think you actually did have like the storybook. Otherwise, everyone else you're like us, it's okay. We're all we're all not. In that that storybook fairy tale image of what we thought we 100%

And, and so you're in this trauma, and then you get triggered? And so he says, Do you want to be liked? Or do you want to make money, and I'm seeing the scenario of how desperate I did all these things that I felt I needed to do to be liked by my own mother. And then I thought to myself, Hillary, wait a minute, am I still doing this? You know, and then I'm feel like almost shame and embarrassment. And I know, women all over the world have told me this, they feel the same way. They always feel like, well, but I have to give more so that I can prove my value that then somebody somewhere out there can say she's worth it, and then says, Wow, she's so amazing. Let me let me let me let me force my money on you. Unfortunately, it doesn't work like that. It works the other way around. You have to come up with this yourself. So and this wasn't that long ago. Because you know, as as we are. We went out of COVID. And we you know, we have two good years. And then you know, everybody's worried about the recession. And now what I'm hearing is, let's wait, let's wait, let's wait, let's wait. I'm waiting. And I'm always gonna, like, what are you? What are you waiting for?

I was gonna say, Come on, what do you do? As you said, the ship's gonna sink? We are

on the Titanic. I mean, yes, the band is playing very nicely. But there's a little bit of a scenario going on that you need to be paying attention to. And then I was listening to something this morning on a mindset podcast. And the host said that there is a certain fear around looking at the reality of things because it triggers our our trauma response. And if we're in a trauma response, we can think clearly, and we can see the opportunities. When we are stepping into this fear moment, we shut down. And so that's what happened when this guy said that to me. I mean, like, within, like, five minutes, I had this whole massive reaction to it.

Probably not even five, probably 30 seconds. You I

don't really know. Yeah, because it's a subconscious trauma response is a trigger response. Yes. Right.

So what's interesting about what you said is that many of the people listening to this show are that high achiever. Somehow we had you know, mom, dad, teacher that, you know, pushed us that we're like, you know, but wasn't totally like giving us what we needed. Right? So you had to keep doing more, keep doing more and that's the only way that you're going to really stand out. Just keep so we just keep grinding and grinding and grinding. And there are many people that are high achievers, and they feel like they have to be the the pleaser. And you put those two together. It's exhausting.

It's exhausting you yes, you're absolutely correct, it is exhausting. And then what it does it models with our boundaries between our personal life and our business life, because then we need the business to work and do certain things, to give us a satisfaction that we now can no longer find in our personal lives because we put all this expectation of love and care and value on our business instead of our relationships in our family, because that's where we supposed to get the love the value and the appreciation from the business is about respect, problem solving, providing value, and solutions for real problems that people are having. So those are kind of like two different things, because that's the thing you cannot do in your family. Because the last time I bet that when you spoke to your husband, and you said to him, Hey, let me fix that for you. He probably looked at you and goes like, Honey, you don't need to fix anything for me. I just need you to listen. In business. That's not the way it works. So there's

so you you have had, you know, you're almost like that the unicorn that we talk often about Valley, where you are able to build a company and sell it. Did you have to compromise? No. How did you? How did you set up yourself so that you could find love at home, and you could find the strength that you needed? When you were creating this business? That would end up being you know, something that I you know, most most people never get that opportunity to be able to do?

Well, I was a single mom, I was broke, it was $135,000 in debt. I'm an immigrant, I had nobody to help me my ex husband thought when I filed for sole custody because he's an alcoholic and had a bit of a temper that that meant that I wanted to take care of my daughter entirely by myself and pay for everything until you know had to get the courts involved. So I had some real you

before you continue. You mentioned at the beginning, right? Multiple relaunches multiple. Yeah, you just heard everyone. You said you're broke. You're an immigrant, your husband that you're going through, you know, divorce, divorce alcoholic, you're a single mom, you want to support your daughter. I mean, that in itself, right? Multiple multiple multiple relaunches. And before you start to continue, is it was it just innate in you that you are going to your survivor, that's what I when I hear you talking about this, you have something that is ingrained in you that you're gonna get knocked down, you're gonna get up again. But what how do you what do you? What do you lean into to be able to do that? Is it your faith? Is it spirituality? Is it like, what is it for you?

I will not drown in a puddle.

How good is that I will not drown in a puddle.

So there's three things I asked myself is what I'm trying to do possible? Well, if somebody else does it, it's possible. And my second question is, if it's possible, then is it possible for me? Well, I mean, obviously, it's possible for somebody else, it should be possible for me to so that's a yes. And then I then my next question is, how can I make it happen for myself? Like, what do they do? That I'm not doing? And these are really tough questions to ask, you know, especially right now. So a lot of people are now in this, what do I do? What do I do? What do I do? Clients are, you know, putting jobs on hold, things are canceled. I am not making the money I was making, even last year everybody's talking about the recession, the media, you know, when it'll when it bleeds, it leads. So it's all negative, negative, negative. And it's like almost like, you know, everybody's going like, I'm gonna just wait one more time. What do you do? And so you have to now go and say, is what I'm doing working? That's a yes or no question. Because it either is or it is not. I had to ask myself this question, literally, about two months ago. And I said, Something is not working. And I am going to have to force myself to look at this. And I did. And so I realized that I needed to get, you know, my my q4 goal was leads my q1 goal was sales for this year and to get the sales process figured out because it's the It's not working, not the way I want it to work. Okay, now,

you know what, let's be honest, everybody. I mean, I'm raising my hand as well. You know, we all things are changing so fast that you're, you're calling us out on the table.

Yeah, but but that's, that's what it needs. I mean, we said we were going to rip the band aid off. So let's just rip it off all the way with the hair and everything attached to it, and of whatever the

trail just got laid, we all just winced.

And so so then you look at this, and you say, Okay, now, if I really were to look at my cash flow, add my numbers, and what's on the book, it's what's in the pipeline, where the leads are coming from how my conversion rates are. And then you go, you know, in the gym this morning, when I was listening to my music, I was doing my workout, I felt really great. And now that I'm looking at these numbers, I'm not feeling so great anymore, because I feel that there's something looming here. And that is, I'm going to have to make a change or something will happen. The ship is sinking. So now what are the options the options are? And this is what you asked me? What do you hold on to when other people back off? I doubled down.

But I gotta ask, though, because I understand take those rose colored glasses off, really look at it with a magnifying glass. That's when the scary stuff became very large. Right? That right? It's right there. You can't avoid that. But when you're talking about this, I'm really curious, because you're saying that's when you double down. But is there a point that you double down to your own detriment? I need you. Yes, let's understand.

I did. I have I have I have a I have an example of that. That's probably the most painful example I can think of. And that was when I'm, you know, doing all this women leadership stuff. Now COVID starts, I knew this was going to change, I get in the line of fire of a movement of the insults, the involuntary celibacy, you know, men that haven't had intimacy or connection with women. And I can tell you why. Because with stone damn fault. You mean, you wouldn't touch anybody like that with a with a with a? I mean, I mean, it was crazy. And so what happened is I woke up one day, and I had, whatever, 10,000 views on a video, hundreds and hundreds of comments, and they were all of the B word. And we're all like, you know, you are the reason you've poisoned, you know, all the women. And, and literally, like people would go and they make these YouTube videos of me talking about equal pay and showing the numbers and single moms statistics. And you know, that the children of single moms are really actually performing extremely well and get higher positions make more money along the road. And, and next thing I know, I get death threats and, and Daxing threats, and it just absolutely escalated. And I had there was this moment where my partner Gary said to me, is it worth it? They weren't going to pay me any money, because they're not my clients. They were a bunch of angry men that needed a feminist to blame the me to movement on and I showed up. And I had to completely walk away from that, because I was not going to risk my life for or standing up for something that I cannot change by myself. That was crazy. Crazy. So yes, there is a point sometimes where you have to make a hard decision and say, Is this worth it? If it threatens your life? You need to be very, you want to be very thoughtful about that, because that may not be worth it. But some people, you know, like a Greta Thornburg or, or the the woman that was heard the Indian woman that now speaks all over the world, on women prosecution. You know, for them, that's their calling, but that was my call. I'm a business consultant. I'm a strategic business consultant. I have people, I've helped women to come up with strategies to kick butt. You know,

that is not what I go. I'm going to ask you because I really want to hear your perspective on this so that you had to leave that specific business and move into something else but for some it may not be an actual death threat, but it is financial despair. It's I've maxed out everything I don't have, you know, how do I keep? How do I keep doubling down when no more money, I believe in what I'm doing. But I've kind of tapped it I've tapped out. That's a different than my life is being threatened. But in your subconscious, many times that feels like because your belief system will lead you into what you do as actions, it can feel like it's a death sentence. It can be something very similar in your subconscious. So how do you help people figure out when it's kind of like you got it, it's time to time to especially these days where people are really struggling to financially get to that next level in their business, we know that only 1% of women entrepreneurs hit the seven figure number. And I'd say, you know, what's your take on that? And how do you? How do you really help people in your line of business with us?

Yeah, I think we'll dive into this after the next break a little bit deeper. But there are a lot of factors you need to look at. One of it is the law of polarity. Meaning that if you need the money, it is there, you just have to figure out what the opportunity is to find it. And it most likely means get on the phone.

So right now we're going to take a quick break. And when we come back, we're going to dig more into how can we get to be that CEO, that entrepreneur that can sell a company and make that impact. We'll be right back. This episode is brought to you by my very own labor of love my most recent book relaunch. This book is a collection of my stories, other stories and as a motivational guide to living a new three h q lifestyle, sparking your heart to ignite your life. It's available for purchase via Amazon, get ready to try on the three HQ method that I've been using for years throughout my entire life. Reaching the next level in all areas, both professionally and personally. Get your copy today at www dot the relaunch book.com I hear share screaming in my ear. If I could turn back time I feel like this conversation I have so much more I want to talk to you about and we are like zipping through this so fast I am again here with br de shallot and I am I want to go in and discuss want you know to a little bit further degree because break again we were talking about this concept. Women are not getting to that seven figure. It's a very challenging, it's very rare to hear, as we said you're the unicorn, what could we be doing differently so that that glass ceiling that literally is a figment in our imagination can be shattered? What do you think?

Yeah, so I'm going to tell you a little bit more about my story. I think this is a good good time to really demonstrate that concept because my story is a story of I could have given up and with good reason at multiple points. So we've established I'm originally from Germany. I was a photo editor at Elle magazine, I have a photography degree. That's my only degree I don't have a business degree. I didn't go to UCLA. I didn't go to any fancy college. That's it. I know how to take photos. And I realized I'm better at the business naturally than I am at at being an artist really. And so I you know, I was photographer, I realized what it needed to be in the business side, went to in the magazine business, and then decided that I wanted to have an adventure. I emigrated to the United States. I was a photographer, representative. I was a you know, I did that I was a photography print producer. So I you know people like Levi Strauss, Mercedes Benz, they all came to the United States to have me produce their shoots. And I ran about a million dollar business. But in order to get to this million dollar business, it was overcoming riots, fires, floods, a big earthquake. I started my business right after the earthquake because I was laid off because we were in a massive recession. As tsunami where I lost a key vendor in the tsunami, I mean, who does this even happen to? It happened to me. And so the hits kept coming. So every time I went ahead, right Hillary, somebody stood there with a big fat frying pan, not the light, the light kind but with the with the cast iron,

cast iron, I have wanted to read

it and it just like whacked me over the head, and then it fell back. And and then finally, after all this time, you know, I'm going I finally have it figured out. I you know, I get the massages, yeah, whatever million dollar business. And then I had a really bad feeling about my employee. And she had gotten too close to my key vendor, they had a great idea for their own business, which was my business without me. Next thing I know, I fired her and she it and invoices that I wrote a paid to them. So this entire photography, business, photography, representation business, is now in the toilet. Because that was the key guy that made the most money. We had a couple other people and they go like, Well, if the ship's going down, we're not staying on the Titanic when it's sinking. And so, you know, people jumped ship, right there. And I go, and I sued them because I'm German. And I figured that the justice system is about being right boy was I in for a lesson. And I am you know, I sued them. And little did I know what a lawsuit cost. So now I'm falling into really bad dad, up to the tune of $130,000. And then I'm thinking well, you know, production season is rolling around. It's September, it's getting cold in Europe, everybody's flying to United States and they come here. And they September 11 happens in one day, in one day was over in one day, I went to zero, absolute, absolute zero. So now I'm already in dead. I thought that what was going to happen wasn't going to happen. And I I'm out cold. So I could have stopped when the photographer representation blew up. I could have stopped now it's September 11, which a lot of people did. And there was nothing to rebuild because it was debt. So the lawsuit settles, I have this great idea and building up the stock photography syndication. For images around the home living well design, which at the time wasn't you know, was just starting to be very trendy. But I had no money. And then the lawsuit settles, thank God and I walked out with zero, literally zero. I mean, I think I spent the last $100 and flowers for my attorney thanking them for that for the brave fight they put up for me. Lesson learned don't ever find a large insurance company and and then I start from zero again. And now I'm back in debt 1020 30 You know, and it goes $235,000. And now it's getting pretty bad because I have to borrow money to pay interest on borrowed money. So I could have stopped, right declared bankruptcy would have been over. But I double down I flew to Germany to see my dad and drum up some business enter conference. My father has a stroke. My father didn't have a stroke. My father had pancreatic cancer, he dies later. Now we are at the funeral that I have to pay for in money I don't have and the phone rings and it's my office in Los Angeles, we've just been served a notice. So now I'm being thrown out of the house that I work and live in because something you know, the home office wasn't in the lease, which the previous owner had not put in and then sold it and then the new owner, you know when he wanted to get me out. So this was the moment where it anybody's book, right? Everybody would have said, Okay, girl, pack it up. It's okay. You You gave it your very best. It's over, I fell to my knees, I raised my hand I yelled at God. And I said if you have a plan, this would be a really good time to fill me in like immediately because I I kind of don't get it anymore. And then I surrendered full on surrender because I literally had done everything that I possibly could including writing a letter to the White House to the President of the United States that says please help me pure desperation. I get a letter from the White House Hillary. This is good. And it says the president said I sent he sent his very best wishes. And I said the president never saw this letter, of course that you know, but it's irrelevant, because they put me in touch with a small business administration, the SBA, not with anybody else but the second in command because it was a letter from the White House that they also got. So I walk into the SBA with my portfolio and a full on business plan. I was ready I had prepared, I had written I've done everything I possibly could. I walk in, and he says, I'll put in what you put in. Three months later, they found me a bank that took my $135,000 restructured it in a 10 year fixed loan that I still didn't know I was going to pay for it. But it freed up my line of credit, which was $45,000. I remember all these numbers to this day. Now, three months after I am break, even 18 months after the worst moment of my life, I am the world leader in my category. That's when the Bill Gates company came in says, How are you doing this? And I said, like any decent woman, you want this, you pay for it? Ha ha, that's so good. And then they made me they asked me how much I wanted. And I said I want a couple million. And they say, all right. And that's how I got to sell my business for millions of dollars to a privately held company by Bill Gates 18 months after the worst moment of my life. And I could have given up in there. How many times Hillary? justifiably given up? Yeah, yeah. But let me ask

you, because you kept going. So when you're deep into it, a lot of times, it's fairly difficult to see any silver linings yet, even the letter to the White House. And some other time we'll talk about the letter I wrote to Michelle Obama in the club, right? Yeah. And it's so interesting that you kept just taking one more step one more just putting it out there. And when you said you threw your hands up and said, You know, I surrender? Do you believe there's a moment that people have to be willing to say, all right, all odds are against me, I surrender. Yes, because

that the misconception is that we know the path, we don't know the path, we have control over two pieces. And I write about this in my book, happy woman happy world. The one piece is where you are right now your starting point. And where you want to go is like in a subway station, where we go to New York, we want to go to the Empire State Building, we go in the subway, we look for the Empire State Building, we look where we are, and then we map out the way and there's a couple different ways to get there. Right. But we are not responsible for how we get there. We are just responsible for starting and ending. We're not driving the subway, somebody else does. And so that's what we have to remember that when we so clear that and you're in this in this dark, dark dark tunnel is like a tunnel in Europe, right? And you know, it's a kilometer or two kilometres long. And you you in and you have the scenarios of things exploding. And and you don't know if it's shorter this way or that way, if something would happen in there just around the corner light.

Isn't that true? I mean, right there. We've all been in that dark tunnel. And sometimes we just have to, you know, have that faith, and it's not religious, it's just that unwavering. Knowing that you are moving forward, that that that Subway that train, it's going to come out the other side. I guess I Well, wow, this has just been so such an incredible conversation. And I love your story about you know, through against all odds, right? And where you are, what do you want, hey, this is what I want. And they're like, Okay, so as far as now what you're doing and where people can get in touch with you? What's the best way besides obviously getting your book and we'll make sure to share that within the notes. But what else? How else can they stay connected to you?

Yeah, I mean, I'll be I'll be I'd be delighted to actually anybody who's listened to this and said, I need to speak to her. Reach out to us at uncovering session.com schedule a call with one of our business growth advisors. I mean, we we really have in this environment. We sat down a couple of weeks ago and we said what can we do to help people to really figure this out so they don't, they don't get paralyzed in fear. The first thing is talk to somebody who does this. And then figure out you know, what can we help you with? Where are you at, to even figure out and open up you know, the possibilities because if you're home alone in your room is not going to change you got to get yourself out the door. So I invite anybody to go to uncover session.com and just book book a session My compliments. And the other thing is just reach out via social, social media or are on LinkedIn. And while we're at it, you know, please make sure that you follow the show, and subscribe to it wherever you pick up your podcast. So you watch live market in your calendar, it is a labor of love, give Hillary a five star review, and share this particular episode with one other person who needs to hear what we talked about today.

Ah, you know what, thank you, thank you for saying that. I've enjoyed this so much, I am going to even spread this even more than I usually do. Because I think it was it's so relevant and so important for people to hear. So thank you so much for being here. And should everyone out there want to continue and have they feel like you know what, I need something right now, check out the relaunch, retreat, the relaunch retreat.com. And we are bringing together some of the most incredible women that you want to be in the room with, to have that, that, you know, lift us all up, have us be able to take whatever you're working on right now to the next level, with not only that, you know, getting out of your head tapping into your heart tapping into that higher self. But that's when it happens when you come together and you give yourself space, and we're having it in the beautiful Boulder, Colorado area. And if you haven't, it's May 18 to the 21st get yourself signed up. We've got a few more spots, and I just know your name is on one of those spots. So again, I have to say Yachty What a pleasure. It's been so great. Again, if you have enjoyed listening to this episode, make sure that you're subscribing so that you get notices. Whenever we come out with brand new people next week. I'm excited to be talking to Dr. Amy Robbins, we're gonna go into She's a psychologist but also a medium, and how this can impact how you're going to view your business going forward. So again, everyone have a great week. Take care. Thanks again for being here.