106: Turn Your Passion Project Into an Online Business, with Lifestyle Blogger Melissa Therrien

Kate Kordsmeier 0:00

Have you been wanting to start an online business, but you just have no idea where to where to start, maybe you're completely overwhelmed. You feel like you have a million different passions and ideas and you're not sure which direction to go, you've heard that you should pick a niche, you don't really know what that means or how to do it. And you just want to feel confident and get some clarity that you can actually do this thing. Well, I have some exciting news. And this is actually something we have never done before. On January 5 2023, we're going to be kicking off a 30 day sprint with anybody who is ready to make 2023 your best year yet. And finally, launch your website and your first offer out into the world setting you up for Success with Soul. We're going to give you select access inside the incubator to do your 30 day sprint. So you will be getting certain modules that will help you complete the checklist for what you need to do. There's going to be tons of accountability and support to make sure that you actually do the work. We know how isolating and lonely it can be sometimes when you're in this trying to figure things out by yourself. And so this is our solution to best serve you. The best part is you'll have guided support from our amazing program coordinator, Rachel who will meet with you once a week and there's more. You'll also have access to all of our coaching calls and support during this 30 day period. So you do not have to do this alone. Get all the details at Kate kordsmeier.com/sprint

Rachel Silves 1:42

Welcome back to the Success with Soul podcast. I'm your guest host Rachel with Team KK and today we are continuing our incubator client Spotlight. I'm so excited to introduce you to Melissa Therrien. Melissa is a creative entrepreneur, business and personal development coach who teaches busy motivated women to rediscover themselves so they can live the life they truly want. She specializes in coaching and leading women through a self discovery process to focus time, energy and commitment towards their most important life goals no matter how busy their life currently is. Melissa offers a program to teach ambitious women how to turn their passion into an online business. Melissa has an MBA and 22 years of business and leadership experience. She went through a self discovery process that allowed her to start the online business of her dreams. In 2021. She founded live each day a lifestyle blog and brand offering content and programs designed to explore life well lived. Her passions include writing, cooking, lifelong learning and coaching others to design a life they love. She loves to spend time in nature kayaking, gardening, camping and hiking. Melissa is a mother to three children, you'll find her on the bleachers of every court and field never missing a child's sporting event. She spent the first half of her life living on the left side of her brain and now plans to spend the next half of her life living on the more creative side of her brain and the wilder side of her heart. I'm so excited to dive into this episode with you all today. Let's do this. Hey, Melissa, we are so excited to have you on the Success with Soul podcast today. We're super excited. So why don't you tell us a little bit about yourself and your entrepreneurial journey to get us started.

Melissa Therrien 3:14

Great. Rachel, thanks so much for having me here. I'm thrilled to be on the podcast.

Sure. Yeah, I'm I'm Melissa. I am basically 40 Something executive turned creative entrepreneur. I am working on building my own passion led passion focused business is a dream and a vision that I've had for a very long time. In the last year I've taken action to launch my business. And I am doing so while continuing to work full time. I'm a mother of three. So it's certainly a busy and fast paced journey right now. But it's very exciting and looking forward to what this next chapter in my life holds with this business.

Rachel Silves 3:59

I love that, Melissa? So tell us a little bit more about your business and what you do specifically.

Unknown Speaker 4:05

Yeah, my business is called Live Each Day. It is an inspirational lifestyle brand focused on exploring life well lived. So what does that mean? There's three segments to my business. One is a lifestyle blog, featuring content, creative content on food, motherhood, and also personal growth mindset and self discovery. The second segment to my business is courses and coaching programs that are designed to help women you know, Rediscover themselves. A lot of women hold a lot of roles in their lives. They are mothers, they're caregivers, they're wives, they may be the primary earner in their household. They are professionals and they have careers. They hold a lot of roles. And oftentimes, you know over time in all those roles serving other people they can tend to start to lose pieces of themselves. And so my programs are designed to help busy motivated, passionate women rediscover themselves, you know, find what lights them up, and help them focus those passions on a way of life. So they can, you know, live each day in a meaningful way, as opposed to kind of just surviving each day. And so my courses and programs and coaching are built around self discovery and how to take those passions and turn them into an online business. The third segment of my business that's coming in 2023 is a lifestyle brand and products that are designed to for life well lived as well, apparel and home goods that will be featured in an online store.

Rachel Silves 5:48

I love that, Melissa, and just hearing you talk about that and reading your intro, it just it sounds like you've done that yourself. So can you talk a little bit about your own journey from corporate to pursuing this passion business and help coaching and mentoring other women? I'd love to hear a little bit more about your your own journey.

Melissa Therrien 6:06

Yeah, and you're exactly right. That's, you know how this all started, I have been in an executive professional career as a leader in health care for over 20 years. So about 22 years now, I've been a mother for 14 years, and my oldest child is 14. And so I have been focused on serving other people, you know, I really view leadership as a career of service, and a very servant oriented leader. And so in those roles of serving other people, as a mother, as an executive, and healthcare as a leader, over time, you can tend to just give so much of yourself away to other people, that you can begin to lose pieces of yourself. The other aspect of all of this is my day job, or my professional job involves a lot of analytical thinking involves kind of a lot of what I call left brained activity. And, you know, over time, I've realized and discovered, I have this whole creative side to myself, this sort of right brain side that was sort of fighting for its place in this world. You know, I love to write, I love to paint, I love to create. And I realized I'd sort of not really given much time and attention to all that aspect of myself. And you know, when I talk to too busy, ambitious, motivated women who've had a career for a very long time, if they're balancing that career with motherhood, other roles, other caregiving roles that they might hold on, I'll say the same thing to me, I have a lot of conversations with women who have this entire other aspects of themselves that they haven't explored. You know, an example is someone that I work with Currently, she's an attorney, highly professional woman has a great career. And in my conversations with her, I learned that she absolutely loves to bake and make cakes and cake decorating. She showed me pictures. And I was just blown away. I was mind blown, and how amazing these works of art and creation were and she just kept continued to say to me, I wish I had more time, more time and species and mother to three, she has been an attorney for a very long time. And this is a story that I tend to hear over and over again, it's certainly my story. And as I began to focus time and attention on my passions on things that light me up, and the more creative side of myself, I discovered that I really wanted to help other women go through the same journey so that they can truly live each day in a meaningful way. And that's you know, sort of holiday today was born.

Rachel Silves 8:50

I love that I love the story behind the name Melissa and I see the pillow in the background. You must have had that like custom made or something like that. I love it. Yeah. Um, so tell us Melissa, what led you to the incubator and like what factored into your decision to join the incubator.

Melissa Therrien 9:05

The incubator was such a wonderful, well timed decision for me, because there are multiple segments to my business. One is a blog, the blog, and the focus there is I love to write, I love to create, and I had followed Kate for a long time, and her blog, Rutan Rebel, and so is on her email list. I would read her blog. I'm also focused on food and nutrition and healthy living. And so I was very drawn to her content. Got to know her a little bit through that. Then, at the very point in time, I was trying to decide on potentially purchasing digital course Academy through Amy Porterfield. I was also considering Kate's programs, six figure blog Academy, six FBA, so it's quarter researching both of those. And it was extremely well timed because Kate was an affiliate for a digital course Academy. She was promoting that and she was also promoting six FBA within a new program. that she was offering at that time called the incubator. And so I joined her virtual conference, she had a free all day virtual conference with excellent speakers. And I tend to sign up for a lot of those things. I'm love, ongoing learning, growth and development. So I'm constantly seeking that. And I attended her virtual conference, it was excellent. And shortly thereafter, I purchased digital course Academy through K through her affiliate program, and then also signed up for the incubator and joined that coaching program.

Rachel Silves 10:30

Amazing, amazing, Melissa. So I also share with you a love for learning. And so I I just that's so great that you, you know, you were in in this world for a little while in Kate's community. And then it just also goes to show the power of like affiliate marketing and how you can use some other offers to draw people in. And then you became part of the Success with Soul incubator family, which is amazing. So can you talk a little bit, Melissa about the biggest risk, you've taken some stone in the incubator, or the biggest challenges that you've faced and overcame?

Melissa Therrien 10:59

Sure, the biggest risk, I would say is, you know, I tend actually to be a relatively private person. And so, putting myself out there and writing content that comes from my heart writing. And, you know, really just putting things out there into the world that I might have kept more private in the past is it felt like a risk to me, it felt like a risk to be online and to be more visible. But again, that sort of falls in line with what I was describing earlier, as I kind of feel that that was a piece to me, that was extremely sort of bottled up and not expressed. And I feel like creative expression is just such a way to focus on self discovery, your passions. So it was a risk to me to do that it was a leap, for sure. It was uncomfortable at first, the second part of your question, was that about the biggest challenge? Yeah, my biggest challenge, I would say is time and patience, growing anything that is sustainable and worthwhile and worth having takes time, it takes time and energy and commitment, and daily consistency. And we have to be patient through that journey. It's not really about just the end. It's about the process. It's about the growth, it's about the you know, enjoying the process. And so sometimes I get a little impatient, I want to sort of be there. And it is a process. So I would say that's a risk, and certainly managing time, you know, I'm still juggling a lot. I'm in my full time career. Still, I'm a mother to three very active kids who are involved in a lot of sports and activities. I also have a very long daily commute. So time management and juggling and managing time remains a challenge.

Rachel Silves 12:53

Well, I want to come back to something that you've said, because we hear this a lot inside the incubator where it's it can be uncomfortable putting yourself out there. So I guess I'm curious. This is a little off script, Melissa. But I'm a little curious, like you said it was difficult for you at the beginning. And how does it feel now just so we can talk to our readers a little bit about that, about that journey of going from something that you hold so privately, and maybe even a passion project to like actually putting it out into the world? Can you talk a little bit about how you feel then versus now?

Melissa Therrien 13:22

Yeah, I mean, I remember. And this is something that Kate helped me a lot with. Remember, initially, I had been working on the blog, I had been publishing, it was live, I was publishing content, I was focused on SEO, I was sort of growing it organically in a small way. But I hadn't really announced to anyone at first, I was doing that for about six months. And I hadn't really announced to anyone in my private circles, family, friends, you know, colleagues in my professional life, I hadn't really announced that I was even doing this. And it was such a mind block for me. I was kind of like, you know, talking to Kate and about about quote unquote, launching the blog. And she would say to me, Melissa, well, is it is it live? And I said it is it is live. And she said, Well, girl you've launched. And she got me over a mental hurdle of announcing kind of on my own social network, in my own social circles and on Facebook and otherwise, that I was doing this. And once I took that leap and just send to the world and doing this, it just was a mental block that it only took a minute. After I did that I sort of was able to to move on. And Kate was a big help and coaching me through that part of the process. I would say now it's very free. I don't worry as much about what other people might think I put it out there and it's been extremely well received so far. So now as opposed to feeling fearful and concerned about it. I'm more so completely freed. And so that's I would say it's quite a quite a transition in my own Thanks.

Rachel Silves 15:01

I love that, Melissa. Because oftentimes that is what happens is we get stuck with all the mind stuff up here. And it's not the problem that we have with like actually doing the task like you knew how to post you know how to write, you knew how to post blog posts, but it's like all of the mind stuff that gets in the way of that, which is what we work all the time with clients inside the incubator. So I love that story. And I love that you said that it's free. Now, it's not, it doesn't have to be something that you dread or something that you're afraid of. And just that consistent effort, putting yourself out there just goes to show like the journey from where you started to where you are now, so amazing. And congratulations to you. Because I know, that is a step that holds a lot of people back for a long time. And it's not always easy to like walk through that stage of discomfort. So mazing job.

Unknown Speaker 15:48

So you're thinking that 30 Day sprint may be right for you, but you're just not 100% Sure. Listen to what our client Rebecca had to say.

Unknown Speaker 15:57

Hi, it's Rebecca Huff with that organic mom. And before I joined the incubator and had my 30 Day sprint with Kate and Rachel, I was feeling really disconnected from my business and just not really sure what direction I wanted to go in. But I've put in so much time that I wasn't willing to give up on my project either. But after my 30 Day sprint, I came away with a clear plan and clear goals. For my future. I had tips and strategies for regaining that connection. So I could get back on track and figure out where I wanted to take my business and become profitable. We discussed things like my email marketing plan, my content plan, and how I would make money with my business. We clarified a lot of things, we nailed a lot of stuff down. And I felt like I really had a concrete strategy for getting where I needed to go with my business. And it's been a really fun ride, and I can't recommend it enough.

Unknown Speaker 17:00

There you have it. If you're ready to get results like Rebecca, then join us live in January as we kick off our 30 Day sprint, get all the details at Kate kordsmeier.com/sprint.

Rachel Silves 17:17

I'd love to hear a little bit about some of your wins since joining the incubator. So like what was like the immediate impact that joining the incubator had on your business?

Melissa Therrien 17:25

Yeah, the incubator was such a great decision for me. Again, Kate had a business model, that was something that you know, many components of which I wanted to emulate. She had, you know, had previously had a blog, she knew all about writing and publishing and creating content, she had a coaching business, she knew about developing courses and coaching and programs that were incredibly helpful to women. And so there were so many reasons why she was a great choice as a mentor, and a great choice as a coach. In terms of wins. I had so many I mean, she allows critiques every week, so you can turn your work in, and your own individual personalized work, your writing your blog posts, your email funnel, you know, email sequences, your funnel, your, your mission, vision values, everything from starting point of beginning of business, through scaling it. And so those critiques were incredible, incredibly helpful, wins that that I had, where a lot of times, there's so much to do, you don't know what sequence or order. And sometimes if there, people can get stuck, I can get stuck, you know, you're thinking of doing 100 things, and you really just need to pick one and move on. And she was really helpful in helping the sequence, you know, sort of what to do next. I've had great blog growth, she had huge components related to SEO, I kind of love to sort of geek out on SEO, if you want my honest thoughts about that I love I love learning about how to optimize for search. And so I learned a tremendous amount about that. I've had glad growth and preparing to launch my signature program. She really took me from having a lot of thoughts about my business, to much more clarity, helping me take action steps to the point where I have a blog live, it's growing traffic is growing. You know, I have a lot of first page articles on Google. And so I would say traffic growth, I would say clarity, I would say preparing to launch my program, you know, just a tremendous amount of growth, a lot of removal of mindset blocks. Yeah, a lot of wins that were directly attributable to her coaching.

Rachel Silves 19:39

Amazing, Melissa, and this is a slightly like similar question but a little bit different. I'm curious how your relationship with your business has changed since joining the incubator?

Melissa Therrien 19:49

Oh, that's a good question. I would say I was more stressed about my business before joining the incubator and I'm much more calm about my business. This now, meaning I feel calm and centered and focused, I know what steps to take, I understand the order of importance of things. I also understand it takes time. And I would say I was anxious and stressed before I sort of just wanted to be at this point in my journey, and I wasn't there yet. And so I was always frustrated and anxious about that, you know, through the incubator program. It just, you really understand everything's a journey, you're with this amazing community of women all going through very similar phases in their in their business journey. And you're learning from them, you're seeing that everyone has the same struggles, you're not, you know, no one is immune from immune to that. And so I would say my relationship with my business is just calm and centered and focused, have much more ease, I would say growing and growing my business after being in the program.

Rachel Silves 21:02

Yeah, some words that are coming up for me like as you're, as you're going through, that is just it's it just and I can see it on, I can see it on your on your face. And like within your body language, it just seems like that flow and alignment. And that ease is just what is like oozing out of you right now, instead of like you said, that anxiousness or that feeling of stress. So I think that that's so amazing in terms of like the journey from where you started to where you are now. So that's hard work. So congratulations to you on that front to Melissa.

Melissa Therrien 21:30

Yeah, thank you for that that word is perfect alignment, I would say I feel aligned in that piece. So that's a great description.

Rachel Silves 21:38

So before we move into the lightning round, the last kind of question here is this. If you had to use one word to describe your experience inside the incubator, what would it be? Oh, one word.

Melissa Therrien 21:49

Tough to narrow down to one word, but I would say supportive maybe both from Kate herself, of course, as well as the incredible community of women that are in the incubator, I remain close with many of those people, that you you create lifelong relationships, and their level of support is incredible. So I would say supportive.

Rachel Silves 22:12

I like that a lot. And I like that you, you know, specify that it's not just the support from Kate and the rest of the team, but also the support from the community. One thing that we talk about all the time inside the incubator is how valuable it is to have more than one brain working on your business. So it's not just like Kate's brain or my brain or the rest of the team K K. It's like all of the brains inside the incubator and this fabulous, inclusive community that we've manifested, I think just is so amazing. And so I love that you use the word supportive to really describe the incubator. Are you ready for the lightning round? Melissa, are you look like you had something else to say? Go ahead if you want.

Melissa Therrien 22:46

No, I just wanted to add one thing. I know that Kate has built quite a team, you know, over the last several months in the incubator, and I've continued to listen to her podcast, I love listening to Success with Soul. And I've heard all the interviews with the team members. And it's amazing, the team that she's grown, and I can see that the level of support just continues to grow. So I think that's great. Congratulations to Team K can?

Rachel Silves 23:11

Well I'll pass that along, for sure. Okay, so this is one of our favorite parts of the Success with Soul podcast. This is the lightning round. So don't overthink it, Melissa, just like the first thing that comes to mind. What is your favorite way to make time for self care while running your own business slash? Were you still working corporate being the mom of three? What's your favorite way to make time for self care?

Melissa Therrien 23:31

So important? I would say a couple things. So you know, I've always been very focused on healthy, nutritious eating, making sure I'm eating healthy foods that are sort of fueling my body keep me going through the busyness of life. I would also say, You know what, that's one of the great things about creating a passion focused business is you can spend your time on doing things that you love. And so self care to me is, you know, writing in painting and creating and doing some of the very things that I'm doing in my business. So it's, it's actually oftentimes feels like self care to work on my business because it's creative expression. Wow, that's

Rachel Silves 24:11

beautiful. I love that. Okay, lightning round. Question. Number two, what is one tool or strategy that you use to help with time management?

Melissa Therrien 24:19

Yeah, time management is always kind of one of the biggest challenges, but I would say, I do a lot of the things that a lot of people talk about kind of your time blocking Pomodoro method, things of that nature. But I would say the biggest time management technique or strategy for me is something that I learned in my MBA program. There's a book called The Power of full engagement. And it's really about managing energy, not time. And I would say that, you know, I have this big focus on discretionary energy. I tend to be very intentional about what I give my energy to, both in terms of my thoughts in terms of my mindset, trying to get my energy to Do positive relationships, positive thinking and positive mindset? And that really when you harness the power of positive energy, it really helps you manage your time kind of in combination with with other more practical strategies.

Rachel Silves 25:14

Cool. Well, where you tell us the name of that book again? Yeah, the book you read, we'll link it in the show notes as well.

Melissa Therrien 25:20

Okay. Yes. The power of full engagement, the power of full

Rachel Silves 25:23

engagement. Okay. Well, the next lightning round question is what is the most powerful business mindset or entrepreneurial book that you've ever read? The one that you reference again and again, that's made the biggest difference in your life in business?

Melissa Therrien 25:36

Yes, there's many I love to read. If I had to choose one, I would say I really love the book, the common path to uncommon success by John Lee Dumas. Enjoy that book a lot. I reference it quite a bit.

Rachel Silves 25:50

All right, well include that one in our show notes as well. You guys got a two for one with Melissa today on some book recommendations. Okay, Melissa, this is about mindset. What is your favorite quote, or your mantra or affirmation that you use when things get tough? And you feel like giving up?

Melissa Therrien 26:05

Yeah, I love affirmations and positive quotes, I would say, maybe offer to one that Are my own words. And one that is from is my favorite of all time, from late American poet Mary Oliver. And that is what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life. Love to do repeat that in my mind often because it's a great reminder to live each day. The other one that Are my own words that I think about frequently is when you're a goal oriented kind of high achieving person, you can always be trying to kind of reach that next level, get to that next place, whether it's in your business, your personal life, and words that I like to repeat myself is you will get there until then be here. Good reminder to be in the present moment.

Rachel Silves 26:57

Yeah, I really like both of those, Melissa, so I might have to adopt some of your, your affirmations and into my own personal ones. Okay, last lightning round question. What does Success with Soul mean to you? Yeah, I

Melissa Therrien 27:10

would say this is I think, probably why I felt very aligned with the incubator program. Because I would say that Success with Soul really means living each day. It really means working toward your goals and your dreams, while being thankful and grateful for what you have in the present moment. And if I can continue to create a business that allows for that, then I would say that that's successful. So I love that.

Rachel Silves 27:39

So as we wrap up here, I just want to say thank you so much for coming on the Success with Soul podcast today. I think our readers or listeners got so many good resources and insight into your business and insight into the incubator. Where can our listeners find out more about you, Melissa?

Melissa Therrien 27:55

Yeah, it'd be great. Go ahead and check out live each day.com. That's my website. If you are interested in self discovery programs, or how to turn your passion into an online business, you can find the learn button right and live each day.com or live each day.com/learn.

Rachel Silves 28:13

Amazing. Well, thank you so much for your time this morning, Melissa, we really appreciate it. And I'm so glad we got to hear your story and your wonderful experience inside the incubator on the Success with Soul podcast. So thank you so much for coming.

Melissa Therrien 28:24

Thank you so much for having me, Rachel. It's my pleasure.

Kate Kordsmeier 28:29

So for a long time, the internet marketing world has been full of consultants, ie mentors telling you what to do and how to do it. So when myself and others started talking about coaching, you may have been left wondering what that really means. Is it therapy? Is it strategy, is it mentorship? Well wonder no more because we are peeling back the curtain to show you exactly what it's like inside our group coaching program the Success with Soul incubator. And in addition to this podcast Success with Soul, we recently released a four part private podcast called inside the incubator which you can get exclusive access to at Kate kordsmeier.com /inside. You'll get to listen to real clients get real coaching and support as they work through roadblocks and take inspired action in their businesses. It's been on my heart to share this with you because I know there are so many of you out there doing this alone. And I want to show you what it's like to have a team behind you. I remember the frustration of struggling by myself. I had no tools no one to talk to. And now no matter how difficult things may seem. I have a fellowship and a way of life that helps me cope. I no longer feel alone and neither do the women in the incubator. All it takes is one coaching call to get you unstuck. That's what it's like to have a community that you can count on. So head over to Kate kordsmeier.com/inside to get the real real on what coaching is all about and the amazing transformation you can expect when you join us inside the incubator. That's Kate kordsmeier.com/inside

Transcribed by https://otter.ai