Elissa Giwner had a creative career working for various companies her whole adult life. She caught the entrepreneurial spirit prior to finding me. When she was referred, she had left her corporate career (relief!) and was looking for a business coach to help her materialize her dream of having her own professional organizing business.
She knew it was a smart choice to be guided to shorten her learning curve and be shown how to monetize her love of transformation and being “tidy” and organized. She needed the right coach.
That was April 2019. A month later after several conversations and her attending my Creative Roundtable, she enrolled in my business accelerator program for emerging entrepreneurs to bring her “Ethereal Edits” business idea to life.
I remember 11 years ago when I hired my first coach to help me begin this new venture and career. At any given moment, I was excited, scared, uncertain, passionate, and deeply driven to succeed. Ditto for Elissa.
She was in for a beautifully rich experience of personal transformation because she chose to invest in herself and her desires to build a business of her dreams.
That’s how confidence, empowerment, and belief happen; taking the leap of faith in favor of your dreams.
I believe when we monetize our talents to serve and better humanity, that is the ultimate spiritual demonstration. I find it a noble act to serve our passion and genius talents in order to better lives. And so, the journey began for Elissa.
As I took her through the early stages of building a business, the first and foremost transformation was habits, behaviors and mindset. I use the clearing concept of identifying tolerations in order to eliminate the drains in your life. This makes way for an expansive space of clear environmental energy for creativity and emotional strength. Then we move to money.
I examine the condition of your relationship with money as a catalyst for change in all parts of your life. Elissa was so diligent in her transformational coaching. See if you relate to her profound mindset changes in how they affected her decision-making abilities:
“I choose to appreciate everything I have. I choose love. I respect and celebrate money! I write in my gratitude journal, meditate in the morning, meditate in the evening daily and use mantras to refocus my thoughts when negativity sneaks in.
The list of things I would not tolerate anymore was super fun. Listing all the things I wouldn’t tolerate felt freeing and so good especially when I crossed them off the list!” says Elissa.
We come into this world with no opinions or judgments about money. We are then imprinted by parents, society and others, no fault of anyone’s, to carry a heavy burden of fear, worry, doubt and judgment around money.
Her transformation in her money relationship was life altering. Money equated to pain in Elissa’s life on several levels. That will stop anyone from attracting consistent money into their life.
“My relationship with money was worry, doubt and pain. Growing up there was never enough and I was taught I had to work hard, sometimes work several jobs to make ends meet. When I was making great money, I would then spend great amounts which led to thinking I wasn’t making enough. It was money drama. This is what I practiced my entire life until I completed Marla’s Money Legacy Program.
Marla taught me how to respect and love money. Money is abundant and I have a birthright to that abundance. Her program shifted my mindset and changed my behaviors about money where I’m not associating money with pain anymore; only love and abundance,” explains Elissa.
As an entrepreneur, we must master the game of sales by breaking through any limiting thoughts about our worth and turn it into empowering conversations for conversion. In my programs, I teach a qualifying sales system that saves time and focuses in on only those who are applicable for your services and can afford you. Elissa became rock-solid in her money conversations after having the old money story of pain.
“The sales system Marla created gave me the confidence and feeling of worth I needed. I do not hesitate when discussing my rates. Through the exercises she gave me, I now know with confidence the value I bring to my clients,” said Elissa.
Tools and strategies that can potentially make the biggest difference in your business and revenues come in many forms. For Elissa, she felt the business set up checklist I provided her was a huge help in prioritizing her focus.
And, she explains how vital it was to clarify who would be her ideal client fit for her tidying up and organizing service (and could afford her!).
“Working through the exercises of the ideal client really helped me to hone in on who my ideal client is, what they need and how I can help them live a better life through my services.”
A key strategy I mentor entrepreneurs and professionals is identifying their genius zone of talents. These talents are typically what brings them the most joy, highest revenues (or income) and comes most natural among other metrics. Without these, we tend to live and work from a place of duty and not true joy. Elissa did beautifully identifying her genius,
“The Big Leap was groundbreaking for me. I figured out my genius zone and how it aligned with what I was doing in my business. By acknowledging the many ways I was self-sabotaging myself, I learned how to handle those moments and it put myself on a path of joy filled with gratitude. Living in my genius zone is the best place to be.”
During the coaching program, she also enrolled in Marie Kondo’s course to become a certified KonMari consultant. She loved the whole platform of helping people transform their lives through finding the joy in their lives by clearing their clutter. This became her brand messaging as we continued to set up structures and systems for her Ethereal Edits business.
Today she is a KonMari Consultant Trainee and NAPO Trained Home Organizer. Her love of helping people and guiding them from a place of chaos to calm is what brings her joy.
Why the love of tidying up? It was a defining moment a year ago when Elissa realized she was organizing her things repeatedly over the years, yet only giving her temporary feelings of clarity and calm. It was the profound effect after completing Marie Kondo’s tidying marathon following the steps in “The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up” that changed her life.
My philosophy is building a business around your lifestyle; not the other way around. Integrated into that formula is self-care. I am not of the “massive action” mindset where burnout happens much too often. Self-care is vital to productivity and with that boundaries are required. Elissa was a superstar in that category. Read her feedback.
“Learning self-care and balancing work was huge for me. I have always been one to work for longs periods of time to get as much done as possible in a day and I still do however; I schedule time daily to take care of myself and celebrate my accomplishments weekly. These practices prepare me for my day and allow me to show up for my clients.”
After six months of two back-to-back coaching programs, Elissa was more than ready for 2020.
Her excitement and drive moved her immediately into action by focusing on building a new book of business just as I coached her to focus on attracting clients and the revenues first; then the website and other items.
As she began to meet other project organizers and dive into the world of tidying up with joy, she found she was further along in her business structure, sales system and wealth consciousness than her colleagues who were in business a few years and those who just began.
“Completing Marla’s program, I have the foundation for starting my business successfully, the confidence to grow my business and being grateful everyday doing what I love to do.
The books that I have read that were recommended along the way were extremely helpful. They aligned perfectly with the different areas of her program we were working on,” comments Elissa.
Her dream became a reality in November 2019. Now, new clients, projects from other organizers, joining networking groups and Chamber of Commerce memberships fill her calendar. I say this woman is on her way to changing lives while feeling empowered, confident and full of verve!
Do you have a dream business idea not started yet? Let’s see what is possible. Intro call is where it starts! Email support@marladiann.com to schedule a call. And let’s connect on IG and FB.
Gratitude and abundance,
