EP 5. Corri McFadden

Ep. 5 Corri McFadden – “Drive your own ship”

Bio: Corri McFadden is the founder and owner of the premiere luxury consignment service, eDrop-Off.  Celebrating its 10th year in business this past October, eDrop-Off is one of the largest luxury consignors in the country and a Titanium seller on eBay!

Corri has also evolved herself as a Style Expert with her widely popular site, CorriMcFadden.com. She hosts a weekly fashion segment on WCIU’s “You and Me This Morning” and is a regular contributor on FOX News and online at Elizabeth Street and MSN.  Corri also starred in her own reality series on VH1 “House of Consignment” and has appeared on the Today Show, The Steve Harvey Show and Entertainment Tonight, among others.

Connect with Corri on Instagram and Twitter (@CorriMcFadden)

Follow eDrop-Off on Instagram and Twitter (@shopedropoff)

Getting Started: eDrop-Off was founded when Corri was a senior in college, working on her portfolio project for fashion design, and she saw an infomercial for eBay stores. // Back when people were scared to transact online and you had to explain what eBay was. // Back before Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook!

“It was one of those moments that was bigger than me, and it just clicked, resonated, and felt right.”

Dealing with the Doubters: Her professor telling her that she couldn’t make her business idea a reality :: It was the fuel she needed to light her on fire and go. She was out to show her [professor] that she had something good. She was going to prove her wrong and it was the perfect motivation for the situation.

“I believe I was a born entrepreneur, and I’ve always operated on my gut; my gut carries me where I am. I knew it was right.”

“The things that you go through, you can always take them out of the situation and relate them to something else. This is not reinventing the wheel – It’s life”

On Receiving Support: Sometimes you’re all that you have and it can be a lonely entrepreneurial world. When you are your own boss and everyone is asking and needs something from you and you wonder who to turn to – you turn to yourself. That’s why you have to believe in what you’re doing.

6-12 first months: When she first started it was intimidating and overwhelming, but more than anything she had set herself in a situation to where failure was not an option.

“It was extremely hard and it’s still hard; it doesn’t get any easier. As you get bigger, your problems get bigger, and they get more expensive.”

Ask yourself: ‘where am I going to scale this to?’ | ‘What is it that I want to do with this?’ | It’s a good idea to have somewhat of a roadmap and operating on a 6-month, a 2-year and a 5-year plan :: Something that is achievable.

“I never let the situation become bigger than me, but there are moments where you are extremely overwhelmed.”

Handling the overwhelming moments: Look for silver linings in things that you go through. You are not faced with anything you can’t overcome. It might be overwhelming and debilitating where you feel that you are paralyzed and you don’t think you can do it. But you’re being faced with these things for a reason and there are moments where you do realize what the reasons were. For each problem that seems detrimental in the moment, you have to take the tools that you learned from the problem before and apply them.

Biggest challenge: First lawsuit. It was so overwhelming and it was so expensive. But I had done nothing wrong and I had to defend myself.

If you’re fighting a problem and you know you’ve done everything right, there was no ill intent, and you didn’t do anything wrong; it’s easy to fight. It might be expensive, but you feel good fighting the fight because you know you’re right.

Habits/Routines: Being present in the office every day. Having balance with her family and breaking away from business. Having an outlet to let it go, whether it’s for 20 minutes or for 2 hours – break your mind so you can mentally recover.

On the social calendar: “You never have to be anywhere. I think people need to remember that”

Questions to ask yourself: Do you HAVE to be there? When you are there, are you present? If you’re not present then you’re not engaged and there’s no value in you being there.

“You don’t want to oversaturate yourself to where you go to everything. I want my name to hold some value and I want people to know that I support them and I support the cause and I want to be at their events.”

But Remember: There is nothing more valuable than networking yourself in person.

“You can find value in things that are so very simple”

Corri’s Passion:: Fashion | Crime in Chicago | Animal Adoption, Abuse, and Awareness.

“I love helping people and giving back. Not in a way that is big or made public, but in a way that is one-on-one and can truly make an impact and help someone […] That’s where a lot of my fulfillment comes through”

Inspiration: New York City and The People She Surrounds Herself With

“I love what I do and when you love what you do, it makes it easy!”

On dealing with burnout: It’s important to recognize and refuel. It’s okay to be tired.

We’re living in a very filtered world: “We get caught up in everything that’s going on around us because it is so accessible, but you have to realize that when you are shedding those tears because you’re overwhelmed, or you’re fighting with your boyfriend, or whatever it might be – no one is taking a selfie of that!”

SDIHW Tip: At the end of the day take care of yourself. Do what makes you happy. – That’s what life is about.

Advice: You are your own brand if you are an entrepreneur or not. You can open yourself up to opportunities and do things that are just related to you without being an entrepreneur. OR

If entrepreneurship is for you: It’s a lot of hard work. Be ready to take a beating, to hear people talk hate, to spend your money, to save what you make and reinvest in your business and yourself.

“If you are not passionate enough to invest in yourself, then don’t ever expect anyone else to invest in you.”

Book Rec: The Millionaire Mind – Thomas Stanley and Bringing Home the Birkin – Michael Tonello :: Made a magical journey out of finding a small niche. A great peak into what finding a niche can do for you.

“As you’re growing and you’re on your journey, if you find yourself extremely happy where you’re at, don’t feel like you always have to do and take on more. It’s okay sometimes to just live in the moment of where you’re at without taking more on.”

EP 4. Sidonia Swarm

EP. 4 SIDONIA SWARM

Delayed Gratification

Bio: Sidonia Swarm is the founder and CEO of REAL Dietitian, a #healthtech startup focused on empowering better health through better nutrition. REAL Dietitian is an online platform, accessible through your computer, tablet or smartphone, which provides simplified access to a dietitian via phone or video appointments.

Just 6 months out of college, Sidonia has become passionate about solving a critical problem in the healthcare industry and has put to use her education in nutrition, business management, and entrepreneurship to help tackle that problem, despite the doubts and criticism from others. Sidonia is passionate to teach others how food effects health and rightfully preaches “plants before pills” so that individuals may find different alternatives to medicine.

[Find Sidonia on SidoniaRoseSwarm.com, Instagram (@RackSiddy) Twitter (@SidoniaRose) and LinkedIn]

[Find REAL Dietitian on Instagram and Twitter (@REALDietitian), LinkedIn and Facebook]

So what’s the big problem? Low patient utilization of medical nutrition therapy; in other words, working with a dietitian.

Other than gym rats and green juicers, who might utilize a dietitian? The massive (and growing) pool of Americans who are suffering from diet-related diseases.

Need to see the numbers? 29 Million – Diabetes | 86 Million – Pre-Diabetic | 1/3 of Americans – Obesity | 67 Million – High Blood Pressure | 600,000 American Deaths – Heart Disease

Need some more stats? 34 Million Americans are eligible for medical nutrition therapy for FREE – That’s 3 hours out of the year that you can talk to a dietitian and insurance will reimburse you – Current Utilization of this: 4%

REAL Dietitian is solving the problem of low patient utilization through tele-medicine

On graduating and not going to corporate: “Some people love it, and some people are very unhappy just looking for the next step – If the world ends tomorrow, don’t you want to be doing something you love?”

“It’s amazing how much your travels and experiences can influence your career and business mindset – how you look at situations and challenges”

On handling the haters: “If no one is going to tackle the big problems then why do we wake up every morning? Why are we here to help people?”

You tell yourself, you’re doing this for a reason. If it was easy everyone would be doing it. Having that faith in yourself and your business and being optimistic to take risks and make the tough decisions. It requires a lot of self-confidence to have assurance that you’re doing the right thing, and if not, own your mistake and learn from it.

“Anything you do is like a mosaic, there are so many different pieces to it, and no one fully understands that mosaic as well as you do”

The REAL Dietitian Model: Currently, there is extreme leakage in the doctor referral process for patients that need to seek nutrition therapy. REAL Dietitian is a virtual private practice where they can seek out a dietitian through phone or video appointments – basically like a private practice but online. Educating doctors to know that REAL Dietitian is a valid referral option for patients. – REAL also works with telemedicine companies who offer their services to insurance clients or through their employers.

On Investors: When you’re accepting money you want people who understand your model, as well as people who will make those connections and will give you the distribution. Waiting for the right opportunity is okay to do.

“Understanding, there’s always something better waiting. Of course you need to take opportunities, but if you don’t feel right about something, don’t do it”

When you except investment, you are kind of married to them for life!

REAL’s current investment ‘sitch’: Recently just raised their seed round – moving to Baltimore to do a pilot with Hopkins. Next: Looking to raise a Series A by the end or middle of the year. Gathering quantitative data to back up their proofs on the ‘tele-health front’.

“Ask for advice, receive money. Ask for money and receive advice.” – Actually, it’s Pitbull ☺

Morning Routine: Tea/Coffee + Green Smoothie = Take on the world!

On staying focused: Move your body to reset when you’re stressed and things don’t go according to plan. Pick up the phone and call someone you love to get some sanity back in your life and talk to someone outside of the situation

SDIHW Tip: It’s underestimated how important it is to take the down time versus continuously burning yourself out

On the ‘turning point’ decisions: Choosing to rip herself from the life and energy and “dietitian path” in Miami and going to Chicago. “I might not be where I want to be for the next couple months, couple years, but we’re going to help a lot of people doing this.”

Immediate Happiness vs. Future Happiness.

“It would be very comfortable if I stayed in Miami, became a dietitian, got a clinical role and stayed there, but I think there would be a lot of emptiness with that as well because I knew there could be more of what we’re doing”

“What is comfortable? Come on, comfortable sounds boring!”

On Delaying Gratification for Long-Term Success: “The earlier the better. Think about it, the longer you wait, the more excuses there are – Just do it”

Advice: Stick to your gut. // You know what you’re doing more than anyone else. // Just go with it. // If there’s a problem, go solve it – there’s no one better to solve it than you, if you’re the one willing to do it. // Stick to it and solve the problems.

Book: “The Hard Thing About Hard Things” – Ben Horowitz Real talk, no sugar-coating.

[[Other books mentioned (that we LOVE!): “Four Hour Work Week” – Tim Ferriss]]

“People need to become problem solvers and just own it! If you’re a problem solver, in turn you’ll become a successful entrepreneur”

EP 3. Natalie Alexia

Ep. 3:  Natalie Alexia

Bio: Natalie is an author, speaker, blogger and life coach. She has been coaching on the side while working in her and her husband’s landscaping business for the past 9 years. She has lived in 6 different countries throughout her life and has recently sold the landscaping business and relocated with her family to sunny California. Their newest business endeavor is full-time business and life coaching via the website and future blogzine, LifeLetLoose.com. Natalie's coaching info is at NatalieAlexia.com and hop on over to Love's The New Black to learn about her newest photographic project!

Connect:: Twitter @LifeLetLoose || Facebook || Insta: @Natalie_LifeLetLoose

“My dad is an entrepreneur so it just kind of always seemed like a really logical choice.”

Breakthrough Goal: Selling their business in 2013 and moving to the states. :: More on why this is important, below

Insight into Coaching and Consulting: “some of us are just innately coaches, in life, in general. I’ve always been that go-to person within my circle of friends and family where if someone had an issue or something had come up in their business, I’ve always been the person that they called. I’m very level-headed, I’m very direct but without being very brutal. That was very much a part of my personality, always has been.”

Getting Started: Started as a passion project – Sending out emails to her network and do a certain amount of hours to fulfill her certification. Used referral strategies to build client base. “I maintained as many clients as I wanted because I didn’t want a full practice throughout those 6 years.”

“For me, I wanted it to be more than coaching. I love the one-to-one coaching, but I was looking around and seeing so many people in my life who were not really fully living or enjoying”

Enter:: LifeLetLoose

Coaching | Working with startups and entrepreneurs | Developing online products | Virtual coaching products coming out next year | Starting a podcast | Blog | Full-day workshops

Provides material that will help transform people’s lives in terms of feeling more confident and happier, increasing profitability in their businesses and being clear about what they want and obtaining some really massive goals.

“It was a slow build, little by little, creating the content, getting out there and building the audience”

SDIHW Advice Nugget: Having patience while still moving 100 MPH. To get things to move forward you have to execute faster.

The overwhelming commonality between all the women she coached around the dating issue was that they really weren’t very nice to themselves. Traits of a high-performing individual tend to be high-action, high-attachment. Reaching goals and moving in a very methodical, strategic way through things.

People who achieve tend to be pretty hard on themselves. Not wanting to move back into that space of vulnerability and a place where there was a lack of success in their lives, it was also that every time something didn’t go as they wanted, the self-depreciation was significant. 

“As a coach you’re pushing people outside of their comfort zones, asking them to work on the areas of their life that they find challenging, putting more strategy into it, but massively building confidence too and helping them to recognize [their worth]. Supporting them in owning that and being more strategic about their personal lives.”

Awareness Exercise: Bringing awareness to your self-talk. What is the voice in your head saying when something doesn’t go right? What is the tone of voice, language it’s using, does it sound like you, does it sound like someone else? Just bring awareness to how kind or unkind you are being to yourself.

“Awareness is the cornerstone to change”

Limiting Beliefs: A thought that comes from some kind of conditioning or something you have experienced in your life and it is now limiting to you. “They are things that we have that we’re probably not consciously aware of that are obstacles in achieving our outcomes or objectives.”

Limiting Beliefs in Business: People often have ceilings on finances. They only see themselves worth one certain amount or how successful they can be in any form. Limiting beliefs can be…

How successful you can be

How much money you can make

What kind of business you can have

Who you can partner with

etc.

“Inevitably, if someone isn’t achieving the results they want in their life it’s because something, usually themselves, is standing in their way.”

Pealing back the layers of an onion – What is stopping you from doing this thing that you want to achieve? A feeling or an emotion – where is it that that feeling or emotion comes from?

EFT: Emotional Freedom Technique. A therapy where you tap on all the acupressure points. Use it to work with limiting beliefs or blocks or things that you’re struggling with. :: Amanda has never heard of it before, but another one of us has! Here is a link to the EFT Tapping Solution Podcast (yes, there’s a podcast for that!) We highly suggest Episode 1 with Wayne Dyer, someone we like to quote as much as Kanye West likes to quote Kanye West.

Goal Advising: Working with a breakthrough goal -- There is one goal that if you achieve that one thing, so many of the other things would be ticked off by default. Look at it as a breakthrough goal. 

“Leaving yourself open to the possibility that something even better could happen.”

Crystalizing one objective into a breakthrough goal can help you become focused, take action, and quickly create momentum.

Maintain Focus: Have goals [always have a breakthrough goal] and keep the biggest thing very present in your mind. Have it on the wall, as a screensaver in your phone, and take consistent action every day to achieve that one thing. 

Work with a coach // Work with a mastermind // Have an accountability partner

To not have FOMO: “[the breakthrough goal] has to be something so exciting and a little bit scary that’s pulling you towards it”

Must Read(s): "The Success Principles" - Jack Canfield How to get from where you are to where you want to be.

“How to win Friends and Influence People” – Dale Carnegie “Everyone should have to read that book”

“For me, if we could all listen a bit more and talk a bit less, the world would be a happier place”

EP. 2 Farissa Knox

Ep. 2:  Farissa Knox

 Bio Farissa started her first company, RLM Media, 6 years ago. RLM is an advertising agency that does media planning and buying. One of the agencies that is resourceful in putting ads on TV, radio, or on billboards.

What R U Wearing came to Farissa when she thought, “wow, I really will be trying my best to work for myself for the rest of my life.” She decided that if she can fit more on her plate, why not make any really great idea a reality? [Touché!] The interactive source of fashion feedback and daily inspiration – the forum invites you to upload images of your personal style and ask for advice from fellow followers. // Currently working on a rebrand, keep up with the forum via Instagram (@whatruwearing), Facebook, and Twitter (@whatruwearing_).

Farissa’s Passion: fashion, style, and putting together looks for others

“Why isn’t there a place where we can go see women around the world what we’re wearing every day? […] It’s cool to see what Beyonce is wearing, but I can’t necessarily go buy and afford what celebrities wear every day.”

Entrepreneurship, When did she know?: The realization that there was damn near no way that she could go back and work for someone else again and have to tell her boss why she was 5 minutes late or just not be as fully in love and engaged with what she was doing everyday besides getting her paycheck. 

“As an entrepreneur … You’re excited about the opportunity to really prove to yourself that you’re as amazing as you think you are.”

How do you determine what you give your time to?: Never let go of what you want your results to be.

Motivation: “When I walk into my office every morning, and I see what I’ve been able to accomplish so far with the help of my team, and being around them every day is really what keeps me motivated – I don’t want to fail for me and I don’t want to fail for them”

Have to have a little bit of (inspiration and motivation) on your own. You can’t be looking for it in other places. Most days you’re hit with “no’s” and walls and obstacles.

Obstacle: WhatRUWearing website getting hacked -- $15,000-20,000 down the drain in a minute because of a lesson that I had to learn. To get back up – Start from square one all over again and justify re-investing all of those dollars was a very difficult decision that a lot of people would look at as a wall that’s just not climbable.

“Just keep going because it’s the people who stop who never achieve anything”

Entrepreneurs are the people who work really hard and come up with the strategy to maneuver the obstacles and to keep the rest of their team motivated. I’ve learned to learn from other business people and their decision making and how they operate.

Farissa’s Biggest Fear: Admitting to her team that she tried but she failed and now they are out of work

Handling Conflict: the feminine emotions of a woman – when inside the workplace, deal with outside-work conflict like a man would. Let go of those emotional things. HOWEVER, if someone is rude to you and you need to put them in their place, handle it the way a woman would. Especially in a leadership position, in front of a team, because you don’t want your team to think it is not okay for their leader to be spoken to like that.

Transition from an entrepreneur to a leader:: Real leaders have to be able to put up with difficult situations and not have it ruin anything beyond that minute that it happened in.

SDIHW Advice Nugget: Emotions Drive Action – Step back and understand what is worth getting emotional about

If you’re completely cut off from your emotions, you’re not going to be as good of a leader as you can be because at the end of the day you need people helping you execute the goals that you put in place.

Addressing the Haters: You don’t have to tell everyone what you’re doing. Just go do it and people will start to see. Everyone doesn’t have what it takes to take an idea from a thought to a reality. It’s not a wide-spread skill set. That’s why not everyone is owning their own company or creating their own music or are fashion designers because not everyone can do that. Just because someone is not happy for you doesn’t necessarily mean they honestly don’t think that you can do it. It’s their own fears and limitations that they’re putting on you.

Challenge: All the things that are the most non-sexy part of owning your business.

Accounting | Money Management | Taxes

“I want to come up with the ideas and the steps and people it will take me to get there and then there’s taxes… If I’m going to be the best business owner I can, it’s at least understanding the concept of the things even if I have someone else doing it for me.”

Challenge: Being able to see past the steps: so difficult to see the forest beyond the trees.

“Be okay taking about what (the business) could be 5-10 years from now and work at that. It doesn't need to take away from the steps that need to be executed on a daily basis.”

How do you stay centered: Focus on the task at hand and the people in front of her in that moment. Give 100% of your attention. You do a better job when you’re focused on what you’re doing in that moment versus trying to diversify your mind so much in every minute of every day.

“When I’m out to dinner with friends, my phone is in my purse, I’m not wondering what my other 500 friends are doing on Facebook”

Mantra: Excellence, Honesty, and Hard Work

What I would tell myself 10 years ago: Just keep doing what you’re doing. Start sooner not second guessing yourself. The fear of rejection can’t stop you from putting it out there in the first place.

Book Rec: “The Purple Cow” – Seth Godin How to train your mind to think outside the box. 

“When I get too afraid, I just open up a bottle of red wine and go ‘you know what? I’m trying’”

EP. 1 Shauna Mackenzie

 Ep. 1: 

Shauna Mackenzie

Bio Shauna owns Best Kept Self, an online platform for self-starting women. The company publishes content, daily, and offers online and one-on-one consulting programs. A lifestyle brand for women full of quality information on beauty, style, health; oh, and our favorite, the #bestkeptselfie campaign promoting positive self-talk <- we’ve signed the petition to stop the madness, have you?! 

The company began (when Shauna was 22 – get it girl!) as an image consulting agency, and it has since evolved into an all-inclusive resource for entrepreneurial women and their self-started businesses. Shauna and her collective of experts are total rockstars!

Shauna also founded and co-owns The Studio for Image Professionals, a training and certificate program to educate other individuals on becoming image consultants. 

Not to mention – her and her hubs owns a vacation rental company… umm what?! An airbnb houseboat(!!!)       – This girl knows business! [And we may be vacationing on a houseboat soon…]

“Once you discover what you really want to be doing, it makes your day job absolutely miserable.”

Getting Started Meeting with clients | blogging | networking | refining marketing verbiage | building the brand | keeping an eye on competitors | staying up to date with education 

Year 1: The perfect mixture of taking the risk to do something that you love blended with your skillsets and you’re work – things will just happen and it will be easy. I was all-in with this and so passionate about it that the things that I wanted were so easy to retain.

Year 2 and 3: The excitement wears off and it starts to not become easy because you have to face the reality of making money. 

I wish: I was thinking about scale from day one. Mapping out ideal numbers and starting the process of revenue goals and what it was going to take throughout the year for me to hit those goals.

Inspiration I celebrate every single tiny tiny win!

“Be gracious that your work is paying off - even if it doesn’t feel like it.”

Advice #1 Surround yourself with the right people - making sure you’re held accountable to get stuff done. The right kinds of people are going to make or break your business. Be extremely deliberate with your time and where you’re spending your time – including with whom.

SDIHW Advice Nugget: You are the average of your FIVE closest friends!

Advice #2 Take the initiative to solicit feedback – personally and professionally. You have to ask for it and be prepared to hear the positive and the negative.

Shauna’s Biggest Fear: “I get so close to myself, or so involved with myself, that I don’t have the ability to see outside of myself and make the changes I need to make.”

New Obsession: Morning Pages (we’ve googled it for you!) -- Theory of total stream of conscious thoughts in free-writing, every single morning when you wake up. Grab a notebook and write exactly three pages worth of notes. 

Phases of Entrepreneurship Excitement seeps into Stress which transitions into Fear and inevitably becomes Frustration. 

“And that’s where you’re going to change. That’s where you’re going to get the drive because you’re so frustrated that things aren’t coming together.” 

Mentality Shift: Celebrate and realize that it’s going to come together. // Don’t self-sabotage by not being grateful for everything you’re doing // Have complete trust in your work and yourself.

Book Rec: "Busting Loose from The Money Game" - Robert Scheinfeld The strategy and the 'way of doing' that will help bring abundance to your life.

“Execution: the more you start launching and putting things out there – You get over the fear of being judged or the fear of failure. Whatever it is that makes you hesitate before you launch something, you get over and it’s just exciting. You realize that it’s not that big of a deal if you fail.”