“My money relationship has finally stood out!”
Buon Giorno! One of the many beautiful gifts I came home with after my month-long living/working trip to gorgeous Florence, Italy last summer was my first Italian client, Donatella D’Anniballe of Donatella Wedding Italy.
Dona was in the early stages of building her new “green” wedding planning business when we met in August 2017.
Thanks to our mutual friend and colleague Anna Maria Nardi from Rome, Italy, also a wedding planner and personal stylist, Dona and I found a nice synergy between us that lit us both up!
Ready to go – it was dream come true to come back from my most beloved place in the world and coach a bright, driven, beautiful young Italian woman in her early stages of building her business! I had my work cut out for me given the cultural differences and the Italian way of life and business, but it was an outstanding experience with Bella Dona.
Dona and I set up her fall season coaching program via Zoom video October 2017 – January 2018. Thanks to laptop lifestyle/location independent business models, I had the luxury of mentoring her from the comfort of my home-based business in Redondo Beach. I loved having the Italian influence in my coaching business given Italy is now my second home! We both looked forward every two weeks to connect.
Let’s see what this smart, eager young entrepreneur learned in her three-month program with an American coach. I must add what a pure delight it was to mentor Dona! Between her vibrant personality and drive to succeed, I had plenty of my own takeaways from the program!
Direct from her lovely wedding website, www.donatellaweddingitaly.it. “I am Donatella, but everybody calls me Dona. I love planning, living in creativity and being respectful. My biggest dream is to let you live the most beautiful day of your life in the most wonderful country in the world.”
Imagine being a young entrepreneur with dreams helping women manifest their dream wedding in the hills of Tuscany or a stunning villa in outskirts of Rome or Positano? Incredible.
Dona’s passion for the environment led her to focus on “Green Weddings” as her brand platform. During the coaching, she took a week course in getting “green” certified which she was very proud of as I was of her.
I begin with all my clients forming new success habits, mindset, and relationship with money. That’s where she has her biggest transformation.
“I felt very unsure of my relationship with money prior to coaching with Marla. My parents were financing my destination wedding planner business and I thought I had to do what they were expecting of me. In that were inherent challenges given it was my parents!
Then Marla helped me reframe this problem and solve it my working with my mindset, habits, and behaviors with money. I had to act on my own and be more responsible in my approach to business. I needed to own my power in my choices and decisions around money. I learned that money is an abundant energy flow initially before it shows up in our bank account. Money must be invested to grow; rather than live in fear of scarcity. I always miss her coaching because it was so useful and positive for me and my business!”
Dona learned quickly that success is 80% mindset and 20% mechanics. Super proud of her changed mindset. Her most profound shifts were –
- I can fulfill my goal of becoming a successful wedding planner.
- I must create free time to focus on myself (self-care) to make my business more profitable.
- I learned to trust my instinct and delegate to reliable people.
I aspire for my clients to transform their focus to living and working more often in their Genius Zone, which is not an easy feat. A required resource I use in my curriculum is Gay Hendricks’ “The Big Leap” – to help discover what exactly is their zone of genius and how to be more consistent with this powerful habit. Dona was astounded at the life lessons presented:
“It helped me so much! I loved that reading, it’s just amazing! I often think about those words: if I let myself down out of habit, I’m avoiding taking the big leap into my genius zone!”
Bellissimo! She began to transform her old “negative” self-talk habits into a more empowered woman.
At the time of writing the blog, Dona is working an internship for a destination wedding business, www.wineweddingitaly.com, to build her luxury bride experience. She will be meeting her first foreign couple in May in the beautiful Umbria region! She shared, “I love working with them – tremenda! It’s such a cool agency! All strong and committed women! So grateful of that!”
Let’s congratulate Dona for her courage, belief, and vision to make her dream come true!
Hiring a coach is one of the best investments you can make in yourself and your business. Why? Personal growth always precedes business growth. A good, solid coach shortens your learning curve and saves you an abundance of time, money and emotions given she has gone the path before you and has plenty of wisdom to pass on.
Imagine an athlete without a coach? Same goes for you, the high achieving entrepreneur who needs higher performance and results.
You are invited to fill out an application and schedule a clarity call to see if you and I are a fit for success mentoring and business strategizing. Click here to begin. I have several options – VIP Day, 4-month entrepreneurial success program, and a 90-minute zoom intensive.
