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What if you stopped thinking of challenges as roadblocks to success and started seeing them as necessary steps to finding your purpose in life? Although that mindset switch can be hard to make, it can be life-changing for your business AND your personal life…
That’s why this week on the #PrettyAwkward Entrepreneur Podcast, I’m chatting with Emily Dorrien Flynn – a very good friend of mine and an AMAZING holistic health coach – about how experiencing challenges can actually help with finding your purpose and achieving your long-term goals.
But before we dive on in, let me introduce myself. My name is Megan Yelaney, and I have built two six-figure businesses and one multi-six-figure business by fully embracing my authentic self and not trying to hide the quirks that make me, ME. Meanwhile, Emily Dorrien Flynn helps high-performing women increase their energy, productivity and confidence and is SUPER knowledgeable about everything related to health and wellness.
So if you’re a female entrepreneur looking to learn, grow your business strategies and mindset, and scale your biz to multiple six figures while having fun doing it…you’re in the right place, girl! Because I made this podcast exactly for YOU!
And today, we’re talking ALL about finding your purpose through life’s challenges! And for even more deets on everything outlined below, be sure to tune in to episode 52 on your fave streaming platform.
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As usual, I wanted to start this podcast with Emily sharing her story of becoming a holistic health coach. Emily has always felt like she should be an entrepreneur and at first, she found her passion in photography and thought she would do that for the rest of her life. She even moved to New York to take a job in Manhattan as a photographer with a wedding company. It was Emily’s dream job and she thought that if she could make it in New York, she could make it anywhere. But Emily felt lost and out-of-place, and she was struggling with a lot of the same body issues she’d had in her teens: body dysmorphia, eating disorders, depression, anxiety, etc. She just never felt good, physically or emotionally.
So she moved to Maine for an internship and for time to find herself…and she threw herself into a community of people that were all new to her. That happened to be the best thing that Emily had ever done for herself at that time. And as she moved her body more and took care of herself physically, she realized she could take care of her headspace, too. She could be a better human, more enjoyable to be around. She decided to pursue becoming a personal trainer and traveling the world, and she ended up meeting her husband during that time.
So they moved back to California together, and Emily went to school for personal training and nutrition. She worked in-person full-time for many, many years and loved being able to help people overcome a lot of what was happening internally by just feeling better in their bodies. And now, she works mainly with driven, hardworking women who will do all of the things and try to be all of the people but don’t necessarily understand how to support their bodies fully. A small percentage of her clients are also dealing with a lot of chronic pain, which ties into another part of Emily’s story.
This podcast was created with YOU in mind. The female entrepreneur looking to learn, and grow your business strategies and mindset, to get your business off the ground and scale to multiple six figures and have fun doing it. To inspire and empower you to take the required action you’ve been putting off to create products and make sales.
Each week we will be covering topics that will help you start, grow and scale your business. Some topics that you can expect to be covered include:
I can’t wait to hear about what you learn, what makes you laugh, and what tips allow you to grow your business and brand as your authentic self.
Stay #prettyawkward
Emily was an in-person trainer for about a decade, fully booked and working like crazy. And during this process, she ended up getting in a pretty bad car accident, causing a head injury, neck injury, back injury and knee contusions. She ended up having to be on disability for eight months, and she found herself asking, “Why me? Like, why?” But now, she’s grateful because the experience has helped her help so many women going through similar experiences. She wouldn’t be the health coach that she is now or able to make the same impact without going through that challenging accident and recovery.
At the time, though, let’s be real – it sucked. Especially when Emily still didn’t feel great after about a year of healing, and she was diagnosed with fibromyalgia. And in case you don’t know, fibromyalgia is an autoimmune disease where people essentially perceive pain all the time, as well as symptoms like brain fog, insomnia and chronic fatigue.
In some ways, Emily’s diagnosis was a relief because it at least gave her an answer. But it also made her ask, “What does that mean, for me and my future?” Emily has had to separate herself from a lot of fibromyalgia online forums because they are so negative, and she focuses on finding a way to still have control of her own life. She decided she didn’t want to give up her fitness training job like a renowned doctor said she would have to. And that’s a good reminder for anyone who knows they’re meant to do or be something different than what other people are telling them. Because it is YOUR future. So if you feel passionate about carving a different life for yourself than what you’re told, you can make it happen.
So Emily went to different specialists and submerged herself in reading books and listening to a lot of different things about fibromyalgia. And after a lot of trial-and-error with nutrition, lifestyle habits, mindset habits, etc., Emily is now medication-free and only has a few fibro flare-ups a month. Plus, she’s brought all of her experience with chronic pain into her coaching and that has had a profound effect.
Emily’s chronic pain journey helped her relate to an idea she heard on a podcast once: that anytime you go through a challenge, it’s an opportunity to add another tool to your mental toolbelt. So the next time something happens, you can navigate your way through it a lot more quickly. And so now, Emily has a mindset that is in some ways like, “Bring it on, I’m ready.” This mindset can also be applied to growing your business because you will always be learning along the way. And both life and business are full of obstacles, but your response to those obstacles is what creates your world and reality.
Emily has also experienced obstacles in her business life. She hit rock bottom with her finances in December, and often compared herself to the other women in her Mastermind (with me, Meg!) and felt inadequate. She also had this constant underlying fear that she was going to go through her entire family’s savings because of her business expenses…and that’s what exactly happened.
And that experience humbled Emily and helped her realize that even though they lost a lot of money and had to go live with family for a bit, at the end of the day, Emily had everything she really needed. And she also had everything she needed inside of herself.
The way it unfolded, the universe literally forced Emily to stop running from her family and accept their help. She’d been running because she didn’t want to deal with all of this stuff from her past, but her business’s expenses and the Coronavirus quarantine gave Emily space to not only heal and mend some things that she was avoiding but also to work on her mindset around her business and what she really wanted in life.
For so long, she had been obsessed with hitting 10K a month, just like some of her clients sometimes got obsessed with losing a certain amount of weight and then didn’t feel any different when they hit that goal. And Emily realized that what truly matters when it comes to health and business is not hitting a certain number but achieving a certain feeling in oneself and impact on others’ lives.
Three Rock- Solid, Step – By- Step Plans for Confidently Launching Your Programs And Cashing In Big Time
Your 12-Week Fast Track For Getting More Clients
Who Love Ya, Pay Ya, And Keep Coming Back For More
(Um, FINALLY!)
Connect, grow, and scale your business to 6-Figures. Awkwardly.
For Emily, the biggest lesson she’s learned and what she hopes other listeners learn too, is that when you’re facing obstacles, you need to work on seeing them as opportunities. Ask yourself, “OK, what can this teach me? What other doors are out there?” Because there’s always something to be learned from or gained from every experience, as long as you look for it. And when Emily thinks back to the moments in life where she intentionally made herself uncomfortable, that’s when she and her business grew the most. So follow your heart and see what happens.
Also, realize that you can’t do everything alone and be willing to ask for or accept help. Not only will help give you support but it will also allow you to be even more intentional with what you’re doing with your life, your purpose, your business and your vision. So if there is an aspect of your business that’s not your speciality, team up with someone who is a master at it because joining forces will allow you to accomplish more so much more quickly. And the sooner you accomplish what you want in life, the more you can enjoy it.
I respect the hell out of Emily for not only all she has been through but also for all of the wisdom, knowledge and guidance she has to share. So if you’re going through a hard time or if you face an obstacle in the near future, I hope you remember the advice Emily gives in this episode about emerging from challenges stronger, smarter and more intentional about living out of your life’s purpose.
I can’t wait to hear which of Emily’s tips vibe with each of you the most, so be sure to listen to this episode on your fave podcasting platform while it’s hot and then let Emily and I know what you think on your Instagram stories!
And as always, stay safe, stay healthy and stay #PrettyAwkward!
Thank you so much for taking the time to check out the #PrettyAwkward Entrepreneur Podcast. I would LOVE to have the opportunity to connect with you, check out my #prettyawkward Female Entrepreneurs Create Impactful Passive Income free group on Facebook!
You can also check out my 6 Figure Level Up Mastermind, and the two IGTVs I mention here and here.
To connect with Emily, check out her Instagram and her Facebook Page.
If you like what you saw and heard here, head on over to iTunes to subscribe, rate and review the podcast. And don’t forget to come follow me on Instagram and Facebook!
I have helped HUNDREDS of women get their unique coaching voice and find their soulmate (clients that is!)
Because I’ve been there too. I went from wanting to be a health and fitness coach...trying to take awkward booty pooping selfies, to embracing my #prettyawkward style and scaling my coaching business past six figures.