Dare to Change Life Coaching & Mentoring

Tag: thriving

  • Story #9: My New Beginning

    Story #9: My New Beginning

    Before I met my coach, I had never looked at my life from the inside out.

    And frankly, I never realized how important that was for creating true Success, Personal Freedom, and Financial Independence.

    For years I believed hard work was all I needed.

    But I was wrong.

    Learning how my brain worked let me, for the first time, understand how I have been creating my future.

    I realized that for years I was living in the F.O.G. – in the inner state of Fear, Obligations, and Guilt.

    And so, I had personal CLARITY for the first time in my life, and it felt liberating!

    I realized that I had to do some deep inner work. I must admit – it was a little uncomfortable at first…but the results speak for themselves.

    So, in 2009, when most people were still in a state of shock from crumbled markets…I made incredible investment decisions in both – real estate and stock markets.

    My business improved.

    I became financially independent…the personal dream I had for years.

    Then I married my soulmate – my magical Frenchman.

    My husband and I bought a villa in the South of France that has been providing us additional income for over a decade now.

    Since that time, I’ve invested more in real estate and built a beautiful home by the beach in South Florida.

    My husband and I spend six months in Florida and six months in France.

    And I’ve written and self-published two bestselling books in their category:
    “A Shift Towards Purpose” in 2015, and
    “A Shift Towards Abundance” in 2016.

    My New Direction:
    Becoming a Financial Independence Mentor
    For Professional Women

    As the years passed, more and more busy professional women who knew my incredible “rising from the ashes” story started asking me, “HOW DID YOU DO IT?”

    The wanted to know HOW did I become Financially Independent? Confident? Content? Happily married?

    I was asked if I would be willing to share my systems and my “secrets” so other women could achieve their personal freedom and financial independence.

    And even though I never thought of myself as a teacher or a mentor, I jumped in.

    I BELIEVE that
    Clarity + Knowledge + Determination + Action + Faith
    lead to Freedom.

    And when you can model success, it always shortens the journey.

    So, I started putting my learnings, insights, mistakes, and successes into a systematized personalized training back in 2017.

    Eventually, after spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on training, numerous research, creation hours, and a few iterations of testing, I came up with the MILLENaire Method – a step-by-step system for creating Personal Freedom and Financial Independence so that women can live their lives on their terms.

    My system has four pillars (like a stable table has four legs).

    I believe that to create LASTING Wealth and Financial Independence, you’ve got to

    • Develop Your Wealth Mindset – think and act like a strategic Wealth Creator and a Wealth Amplifier instead of a Wealth Chaser and a Wealth Consumer
    • Learn Strategies to Be Financially Savvy – manage your money intentionally; think and act strategically, and determine YOUR Financial Freedom Number.
    • Learn How to Invest Strategically – grow your assets and create Lasting Wealth with strategic planning and strategic investing, so you develop Multiple Sources of Income and make your money work for you.
    • Activate Your Abundance Accelerator – leverage your inner power to accelerate all your efforts, so you FEEL abundant and LIVE an abundant and purposeful life.

    Once I conceptualized my system, I created LIVE pieces of training that support all of these pillars.

    And so, if you are on a journey to creating Financial Independence, I’d love to share my systems with you, so it may help you shorten your journey.

    What are your success stories?

    What accomplishments in your life make you feel proud?

    And what are you aspired to achieve in your life now?

    To Your Health, Wealth, and Freedom!

    P.S. Want to read other stories? Click HERE to download the “BECOMING: Stories About My Journey From Surviving To Thriving.”

  • Story #8: My First Business – The Good, The Bad, and the SHIFT that Changed Everything

    Story #8: My First Business – The Good, The Bad, and the SHIFT that Changed Everything

    In 2004 I started my real estate investment company called Grand Values LLC.
    I wanted to offer grand values for everybody – for my partners, for myself, for society.

    So, I invited people who knew and trusted me, who believed in my business acumen and integrity to be my business partners at my new investment company.

    I was putting sweat equity. They were passive investors.

    I want to make an admission right now.

    I knew how to invest in the stock market, and I had my retirement funds invested in the stock market.

    But real estate investing was very new to me.

    I read a lot, I studied, and I even worked as a real estate agent briefly…but I made one critical mistake. I didn’t have a coach who knew the pros and cons of real estate investing.

    NOT having an experienced mentor turned out to be a big mistake.

    So, in 2004, my partners and I bought properties in Florida and New Jersey on the premise we would flip them as the market continued to go up.

    I also got involved in negotiating with banks on behalf of people who couldn’t pay their mortgages and were facing foreclosures.

    It was hard work but very rewarding – I was using my business and negotiation skills to help people get out of a financial predicament.

    And my company was bringing in additional revenue.

    However, in February 2007, home sales peaked, and by the spring, the housing bubble burst with financial markets.
    In August 2007, The Fed had recognized that banks did not have enough liquidity to function….

    In 2008 Leman Brothers declared bankruptcy, and the markets just fell apart.

    The banks needed a bailout, and congress was not letting it happen.

    On Sept 29, 2008, the stock market had its biggest single-day loss in history.

    My business was falling apart with the markets.
    I had to let go of my entire team.

    The values of the properties we acquired were crushing… My business partners were VERY concerned about their investments.

    So, in brief, my real estate business was melting away.

    And I was alone, ashamed, anxious, and depressed.

    Yes, I was failing big time, and it felt devastating. I wasn’t used to failing.

    In spring 2008, my divorce became final.

    During this time, I was completely focused on what was NOT working in my business (and life), and it was driving me nuts.

    I didn’t think things could get worse, but then…it happened.

    The Accident

    I was on my way to see a client on a cold rainy, gloomy day…

    As I was traveling on the highway in the pouring rain, my car lost traction and started spinning.

    It was terrible …and my neck got damaged severely.

    I was in incredible pain every day, but that wasn’t the worst part.

    Since I was working alone, trying to conserve money for my business – I never bought health insurance!

    I was living off my savings and now had to take money away from the business to pay for my medical care….

    I WAS DEVASTATED, FEARFUL, AND ALONE.

    The pain and business problems took me to a place I had never been to before.

    I became severely depressed.

    My days were filled with PAIN, and I spent most of my time thinking about what was NOT working in my business and my life.

    The depression became so bad. I started considering ways to end my suffering by ending my life…

    My daughter was in college and doing fine, and my x-husband didn’t care.

    It would have been an easy way out.

    I Was Stuck in a Self-fulfilling Prophecy.

    The more I focused on what was not working – the worse things got.

    The worse things got – the more I focused on them.

    I was ALONE in PAIN. STUCK in a downward spiral that I couldn’t get out of.

    For the first time in my life, I realized that I NEEDED HELP.

    Then someone told me about a coach who could help me….

    It was my first experience with coaching, and the questions this man asked me and the lessons he taught me changed my life.

    He helped me see the world through a different lens – find a different perspective out of my depression and pain.

    He introduced me to the idea of living my life from the inside out instead of from a place of survival.

    Up to this point, I had spent my entire life living from a survival perspective.

    I was always doing what I had to…

    Doing what I had to do for my daughter,
    Doing what I had to do for my family,
    Doing what I had to do for my job.

    He pointed out to me that it was just a race to nowhere! I needed a different perspective.

    He DARED ME TO CHANGE MY LIFE, from the inside out.

    I had never lived as a religious or spiritual person.

    My family had never lived that way.
    But as he asked me some deep questions, I realized I only had myself and God to talk to, and that literally brought me to my knees.

    I accepted the challenge to change my life and started working on the “inner me.”

    I was learning how to plan my life based on what I really wanted on the inside, instead of only focusing on the outside.

    And so, I learned

    • about the brain and why it prefers to stay stuck in survival thinking
    • how to talk to the inner me, to determine what I really wanted, instead of concentrating on what was not working
    • the precise ways to change my thinking so that success would become inevitable and natural.

    Once I stopped trying to control what was not in my control, and started living from the inside out, everything shifted for the better.

    Have you ever had high aspirations about being an entrepreneur and had a horrible experience due to pure bad luck or lack of knowledge and guidance?

    Have you experienced being knocked down in your endeavors despite your best efforts?

    What adversities have you experienced and overcame in your life?

    What were your turning points in life?

    What helped you to turn your life around?

    To Your Health, Wealth, and Freedom!

    P.S. Want to read other stories? Click HERE to download the “BECOMING: Stories About My Journey From Surviving To Thriving.”

  • Story #6: Surviving in Corporate America in the 90’s

    Story #6: Surviving in Corporate America in the 90’s

    In 1992 my parents re-united with us in the States…. My father had liver cancer and died four days after his arrival….

    Before he died, for the first time in my life, he said, “I love you, and I’m sorry for the way I treated you as a child… I just wanted you to know how to SURVIVE.”

    I didn’t realize it then, but SURVIVAL would become a major theme in my life for the next ten years.

    And the more I worked in the corporate environment, the less satisfied I became.

    We would work on projects for months, I would inspire my team to do their best work, and then…someone from the “higher up” would cancel our project.

    And most of the time, we didn’t even know “why”…

    It was all so superficial, so meaningless for me. My work became just a way to survive, to pay the bills.

    My ultimate reminder of this came in 1994!

    I was working in the World Trade Center (WTC), Tower 2, on the 56th floor, when the first WTC bombing happened.

    The explosion blew up the parking garage and filled the building with smoke.
    At first, we were not allowed to leave, and it was terrifying.

    In moments like that, you often start thinking about what’s really important in your life….

    When they finally let us go – we had to walk down the staircases in the dark, 1000’s of people, holding hands and trying to help one another survive.

    When I reached the ground floor, I was still in shock and covered in smoke. It took hours to walk home… and let my family know I was OK (there were no mobile phones at that time).

    On that day, I learned TWO life lessons:

    – Your life can change in an instant, and
    – It’s vital to appreciate what you have before it’s gone.

    Many of my coworkers decided not to come back to the company after this scary experience. I chose to stay and to appreciate what I had, putting my dreams on hold again.

    Throughout the ’90s, my husband and I continued to work in the World Trade Center, commute 3 hours a day, while raising our daughter.

    It all looked great on the outside – comfort, parties, beautiful house – but the stress of conformity was getting to me.

    For my entire life, it has always been very important to me to feel that what I do, what I spend my life on, is something that creates a difference in the world.

    My corporate job didn’t do that….

    My work became so meaningless to me—just a way to pay the bills.

    Being comfortable financially but feeling “empty inside” was NOT enough for me anymore!!

    And so, to cover my pain and disappointment with myself, I developed some bad habits… I became a shopaholic.
    Instead of dealing with the pain in my heart and soul, I was avoiding FEELING numb inside by spending money on “stuff.”

    I knew I wanted more than Survival, and somehow I knew I could be more!

    But I felt STUCK!

    My daughter was doing great, but like all young girls in their late teens, she was thinking about her friends and going off to college.

    In addition to working 50+ hours a week, my husband had decided to pursue his dream and started a software consulting company with several of his friends.

    Because he was working another 50+ hours a week on his new business…we hardly talked to each other, except for an occasional long commute home, when we were both too exhausted to even talk.

    I ended up doing everything at home because he was never there….

    Instead of a husband, I had a roommate. Instead of raising our daughter together, I felt like I was a single parent, raising an unhappy teenage daughter because she had an absentee father.

    I was 42, I WAS ALONE, UNHAPPY AND UNFULFILLED, facing an empty house and a meaningless life.

    And so, I became angry and frustrated.

    Not so much with my life situation, but with myself…
    I felt disappointed in myself for not having a clear plan, and for ignoring my dreams for so long.

    My daughter was leaving for college, and my “inner compass” tapped me on the shoulder again and kept asking,

    “What’s next?” “How much time do you think you have left?”
    “If not now, when?”

    I remember the moment it all came bursting out of me, like a giant firehose of emotions:

    • all those feelings I had stuffed inside for years…and tried to forget about
    • all those times I had compromised and conformed to survive
    • all those meaningless projects at work
    • all the emptiness and loneliness I felt at home, that I tried to fill up with shopping to numb the true feelings inside.

    It all burst out of me…and I recall screaming at the top of my lungs:

    “If I have to conform for the rest of my life – what’s the point?”
    “I have to do something NOW because I’m wasting my life.”

    This was a pivotal moment in my life!

    That admission, that personal confession that I finally put into words, fired me up, and moved me forward.

    I was ready to Dare and Change My Life.

    The first thing I did…applied and was accepted to The Wharton Business School of the University of Pennsylvania, executive M.B.A. program.

    Do you have a plan for when “unexpected stuff” happens in your life?

    Have you ever had a job that was meaningless to you – just the means to survive, pay the bills?

    Have you ever felt “stuck”? At your work? In your relationship?

    Have you had this feeling, “I am wasting my life…I’ve got to change!”?

    To Your Health, Wealth, and Freedom!

    P.S. Want to read other stories? Click HERE to download the “BECOMING: Stories About My Journey From Surviving To Thriving.”