BIO: Lois Koffi is a professional speaker, sales trainer, coach, and Ironman Triathlete who has coached thousands of people in business and healthy lifestyles for the last 22 years.
STORY: Lois got into real estate at 21 years and did pretty well for herself until she blindly got into a business partnership with her friend. They put everything in their mortgage business but soon enough lost everything to creditors.
LEARNING: Choose your partnerships carefully and understand the risks of debt.
“Discipline your disappointments and never give up.”
Lois Koffi
Guest profile
Lois Koffi is a professional speaker, sales trainer, coach, and Ironman Triathlete who has coached thousands of people in business and healthy lifestyles for the last 22 years.
She pivoted, like many in 2020, without having an email list or podcast or tribe online–having focused on face-to-face sales for over 20 years.
She went from 0 sales online to 5 figures a month in less than 6 months with permission-based lead generation online, and now coaches, affiliate marketers, and speakers hire her to do the same–pivoting in 6 months guaranteed to live their best life. She now is at multiple five figures a month in 9 months of starting at ground zero online.
She loves affiliate marketing as well and is really passionate about sharing her story and resources through her top 20 podcasts.
Lois has generously offered her Free Course (Promo Code: MASTERY) on permission-based lead generation to My Worst Investment Ever podcast listeners. Check it out.
Worst investment ever
Lois got into real estate at 21 years and quickly got to multiple six figures. This made her set the goal to be a millionaire by the time she turned 30.
Building up to her dream
Lois got serious about real estate and built a sales team to help her achieve her dream. She later started a mortgage company with a friend but didn’t put much thought into the partnership. She figured that because she was a friend, it was ok to partner with her. This was around 2005, and at this point, everyone was getting into the mortgage industry.
Putting all her eggs in one basket
After the partnership, Lois put all her efforts and investments into real estate. Then everything went south. Her business partner skipped town when things got bad. Everything in their business was guaranteed in Lois’s name, and so all the creditors came after her.
Instead of becoming a millionaire at 30, Lois found herself bankrupt and homeless. Her car got repossessed the day before her 30th birthday. This was the last possession in her name. Her cell phone had been turned off, her bank accounts cleaned out, and her credit was destroyed.
Going through trauma
The experience destroyed Lois’s self-worth and identity. Depression and anxiety set in, and she even had suicidal thoughts. She lived in fear and guilt because she could no longer pay her bills.
Luckily, Lois was able to rise above her woes and went on to build a successful business that she’s running to date.
Lessons learned
Choose your partnerships carefully
Before choosing a partner, slow down and ask yourself if this is truly in your best interest. Consider if they are the right partner. If you are not sure you can seek counsel from other people, make sure they are qualified to help you make this decision.
Don’t let your disappointments hold you back
Discipline your disappointments and never give up. Take every disappointment as a lesson and ask yourself what you can gain from that experience.
Andrew’s takeaways
When demand rises, prices rise
Be careful when entering a popular market because it may soon become oversaturated.
Understand the risks of debts
The number one risk that a company has is debt. If your business has no debt, then nobody can shut you down. That doesn’t mean that you should not have debt, but understand the risks to debt.
Work on your pain and shame
Be open about your pain and shame. If you can, find someone you can talk to about it to help you overcome it.
Actionable advice
Listen to intuition more and trust your gut.
No. 1 goal for the next 12 months
Lois’s number one goal for the next 12 months is to hold her Manifest and Monetize Summit to grow her permission-based message and movement. She hopes to have at least 10,000 people attend the summit and listen to 20+ speakers.
Parting words
“You matter; you have greatness inside of you; you’re here and still breathing. So don’t give up.”
Lois Koffi
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