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You’re listening to the Transform your Life from the Inside Out podcast. Now this is not the typical type of podcasts that I do. This is an interview and I’ve not done an interview in a long time, but it’s me interviewing one of my students. Her name is Michelle. She’s been in my Transformational Coaching Programs for quite some time now. And in our time together, Michelle is going to share with you. How she went from many, many, many years of struggle and lack and worry. And negative and counterproductive beliefs regarding abundance, manifestation and money. And after working with me now, on a matter of one year, She has gone from the worry and everything else to over six figures per year in her side business. And she’s going to share her story with you about that. And then I’m obviously going to visit with her about how she did it and how you can do it as well. So if you’re a person that has in any way, struggled with money or money challenges or money worries. Which 90% of you have money worries, then you’re going to want to listen to this episode. It’s very simple wisdom, but as you’ll hear Michelle tell you what I taught her and what I teach a lot of you guys, but many times it takes a while to soak in. It works. So listen and enjoy.
Hi, I’m Jim Fortin, and you’re about to start Transforming your Life from the Inside Out with this podcast. I’m widely considered the leader in Subconscious Transformation. And I’ve coached super achievers all around the world for over 25 years. Here, you’re going to find no rah rah motivation, and no hype. Because this podcast is a combination of Brain Science, Transformational Psychology, and Ancient Wisdom, all rolled into one to take your life to levels, you’ve never thought possible. If you’re wanting a lot more in life, to feel better, to heal, to have peace of mind, to feel powerful and alive, and to bring more abundance and prosperity into your life and this podcast is for you. Because you’re going to start learning how to master your mind and evolve your consciousness. And when you do that, anything you want, then becomes possible for you. I’m glad you’re here.
Jim Fortin: So I’m talking with Michelle today. This is my first interview in a long time. This is her first with somebody you normally, I do the podcast myself. This is her first time being on a podcast ever. So we’ll be gentle with you. So anyway, thank you for being here.
Michele: Of course, thanks for having me.
Jim Fortin: Yeah, absolutely. Well, I, I know your story. I know you and Todd and both of you guys are, and Todd is, and you’ve been in TCP as well, Transformational Coaching Program. And what I want to talk about is some of the significant life transformations you’ve had, where you were with them when we started, where you are now. And then what I really want us for people listening to understand how they can do what you did. By the way off topic, if you hear my microphone clicking, let me know. Okay. So just point out, say, Hey Jim, your mic is clicking. So in reading your story, I know that you submitted something it’s just it was in the Facebook group you post, you would talk about the way let’s go here first. You were talking about the stories you had about money, and before we go there, everyone listening, if you’ve listened to any of the older episodes, it’s a recurrent theme. My stories were and all the other episodes, you know, a year ago when I did interviews, the same thing, my stories, my stories, my stories, and I didn’t realize I had all these stories. So as I read your post in the group. I’m like, okay that’s somebody I want to visit with because people listening can relate. So how are we,excuse me? How about we start here? And a lot of people have challenges with this stories around money. So why don’t we just dig in and see where it goes? What were your stories about money? When we met.
Michele: Sure.So I’ll kind of start back with the history of my job and everything. So I am a teacher and I have known that.
Jim Fortin: You earned $75,000 a year, right?
Michele: Yeah. Don’t we wish of a teacher, but, I am a teacher and I’ve wanted to be a teacher ever since I was like four or five years old. That’s actually one of my first vivid memories was, being in Disney world and Cinderella asking me what I wanted to be when I grew up. And I looked at her and I said, I want to be two things, a mommy and a teacher. And it just stuck with me. My mom was a teacher. We have other teachers in the family and it was just, that was just my passion. I just knew that was what I wanted to do. But then with that, You think about, okay, everyone knows teachers don’t really make a lot of money. So I always had that story in my head that if I’m going to be a teacher, I’m either not going to have a lot of money or I would need to marry into marry someone who makes a lot of money. If I wanted to live the lifestyle that I wanted to.
Jim Fortin: Hang on, the only reason I interrupt is to pull things out of this. Let’s go back here a little bit. So when you were in college, you were studying to be a teacher, right. And you knew that you’re getting your degree and teaching, et cetera. What was your thoughts then about what was going through your head, things you would say to yourself about the earning capacity of a teacher?
Michele: Well, it’s funny because I went to Syracuse University, which is not a cheap school.
Jim Fortin: No it’s pricey,Yeah
Michele: So, you know, just thinking about like, there’s so many stories in my head where I knew I wanted to go there, so I didn’t let money hold me back, but I also knew that being a teacher, I would have student loans for a very long time. And I just, there was something about it that I just knew that it didn’t matter because some way or another, I knew that it would all just work out. I always had, um, even though I knew that I wouldn’t make a lot of money as a teacher, I kind of in the back of my head, just knew that it was, it would be fine, but a lot of it, I thought I would probably marry someone that had money. I never really thought about myself being the person that would. Earn the money myself, because I knew my story was I’m going to be a teacher on maxed out at, you know, a hundred thousand dollars after 30 years of teaching.
Jim Fortin: Right? Okay. So everyone listening, we’re going to get there because she is a whole different story today, but you’re going into the profession. Number one is I want to give you a big hug and that you’re doing what you love or we’re doing what you love to do. This is my Dharma. You’ve heard me say,this is my calling. This is what I do. I’m a teacher. You also knew that, you know what, it’s not gonna pay me a whole lot of money doing this. So I’ve got to do it because I love it. Okay. So what were stories after you became a teacher? What was your first apartment like or where you lived at? I mean, let’s go there for a second.
Michele: So, I kind of lived above my means. I live in, I live in North Bergen, Northern New Jersey. So now we’re in Bergen County, but I was living in Hoboken right outside New York city. And, I was able to, I had roommates, so it made it more affordable. But every weekend when we went out, I was racking up credit card bills. I was going to the bars and, but I also had side jobs. So I was working in a boutique on the weekends. I was babysitting and I was doing, I was just working so hard to try to just keep my head afloat in and make sure that I could live the life that I wanted to. And the one thing, even though I knew that being a teacher didn’t really bring in a lot of money. I always knew that, That it was possible to live the life I wanted to, even though at the time I was racking up a little bit of credit card debt. I didn’t lose sight of that. And I think that’s kind of important as to how it got me to where I am now. Just because I didn’t, now I know that I wasn’t living by circumstance, that I was still doing the things that I wanted to do. Even though financially at the time, it didn’t seem plausible, I guess.
Jim Fortin: Right, right. Let’s go there for a moment. So the way that you were living is you were living in the model of time for money. When I work, then I get money when I’m not working, which is why I’m doing other jobs and multiple jobs. Then I will make money for those to sustain and support the way that I want to live. But you were also recking up debt, right? So your entire model of money was, is when I work and I’m paid for my work, I make money. So therefore I go work more to make more money.
Michele: Exactly And it’s funny because that kind of always like sustained me until I had children. So I was able to have three extra jobs babysitting. I taught swimming lessons in the summer. I was able to work at, I worked at a store, selling women’s clothing, but then when it came around to having kids, I didn’t have time to have,three extra jobs being a teacher.
Jim Fortin: Well, you did, you had the job of being a mom being a job to take care of Todd right? So you had two extra jobs.
Michele: That’s true.
Jim Fortin: So you didn’t have time and we’re going to go somewhere with these a little later in our time together today. But I think the paradigm you’re saying that you learned to work from is I’ve got to work hard for my money and if I want more money, I just have to work harder, work more. Right. Okay. So bring us back over the last couple of years before we met. Where, what was your relationship with money? What was going on with you regarding money?
Michele: So I would say, well, I started listening to you and then joined your program, a little over a year ago. So the Summer of 2020. And, we were doing okay. Todd’s business is doing well, but I still personally didn’t have that financial freedom that I wanted. I felt like every time I went to the supermarket, I had to worry about, am I going to over, overdraft my account or, any time that I had a little bit of savings saved up, I really clenched to it and I didn’t want to let it go. And I had this story that. You know, I have to be, so attached to my money and make sure that I am, you know, not giving it, giving it away and holding it and saving it. And then every time I had something saved up, I feel like I would get like a bill in the mail that I needed to pay or, you know, somehow our saving, we paid for our wedding or our savings just somehow magically that we work so hard to make. Just kind of, we’re starting from zero again. So that’s kind of where I was when, before I met you. And then when I started listening to you, I realized I had a couple months prior or a couple, maybe six months prior, I had started to transition, to, instead of having all the side jobs that I had, I started selling my teaching resources online and before that I was selling, I told you I had a million jobs. I was selling physical products on Etsy, and I just didn’t have the time to sustain it. So then I thought about it and I started doing digital stuff. And when I was selling my digital stuff, I was able to reach more people and I was able to continuously sell it instead of working harder. So I had the ,I did work hard to make the products originally, but then I could kind of sell them, more possibly. And I started listening to you and realize that, you know, I don’t need to basically hold onto my money as tightly. And I don’t need to work super hard for my money all the time 24/ 7.
Jim Fortin: Right.
Michele: And that was kind of my trigger that made me want to dig in and find out more.
Jim Fortin: Yeah, let’s talk, let’s, let’s dig into that in just a moment where I want to go here is, I read your post in the group and you said that you used to have money stories that you didn’t even recognize what would be an example of that?
Michele: So I think one of the big ones, um, now, well, one of the big stories was that anytime I had money, I had to, I kind of mentioned this before, but I had to hold on tight to it and I just didn’t ever give where I thought if I was giving away money, or if I was buying things. not necessarily buying things, but now I donate and tithe a lot. I didn’t use to do that. And I was thinking that was kind of like, I need to take care of myself first, before I take care of other people. And, it was just a backward strategy for me because I wasn’t really ever taking care of myself. So that was a big money story that I had.
Jim Fortin: You were probably digging a deeper hole for yourself because you were trying to take care of yourself, hoarding your money, and then trying to make more of it or whatever you’re trying to do. But in the long run, that’s a broken strategy as you now know, but yet we’re, I don’t know what you were taught growing up, but we don’t have to go there. But I kind of know based upon what you’re sharing with me, that we’re all taught the same thing. You got to struggle. You have to work hard. You have to save everything, a penny, what is it? A penny saved a penny earned and all these kind of things. And we spend our lifetime struggling with money. Not recognizing money can be really, which we’ll talk about really, really easy to attract. Before we go on a couple of the bullet points you had, I have a question for you here just for people listening, tell them what a money story is. What’s a story.
Michele: It’s just basically a belief that you have about money. So I believe that because I was a teacher, I would never be able to earn money myself. That was a big thing that I thought that I just wouldn’t have money or I would need to get money from other people that it wasn’t possible for me to have the quantity or the, the amount that you see certain people making. And that was a huge limiting belief for me, because I knew that I wanted to be a teacher. I knew that that was my Dharma that I wanted to, I couldn’t imagine doing anything different and I just thought that was it. So if that’s what I want to do, I’m kind of limited in what I can make for myself.
Jim Fortin: So, yeah. So you saw everything through which we do. You saw everything through that filter. I want X, Y, Z in life, but I can’t because I’m a teacher and teachers don’t make a lot of money. Therefore, things that you’re thinking about now in life, or doing, or you’re earning or not even in your reality back then, because of that limiting belief, that was like a blanket on you and you didn’t even really know that you had it. Is that fair enough to say?
Michele: Yeah, absolutely.
Jim Fortin: Perfect. Okay. So you also said here’s a big one and you know, you’ve been in TCP, the Transformational Coaching Program. I think three rounds now?
Michele: Yeah I just finished my third round.
Jim Fortin: And you know, it’s probably 60% women, maybe 70% women. And you see this all the time is that you see you. And what I mean by that is the, the I’m going to just use generic words, the wife, the woman. So she has the kids, the husband goes out and makes money. And then what happens is she becomes conditioned to being a housewife, which is a heck of a lot of work, but that’s what she does for 5, 8, 10, 15, 20 years. Then what happens? And you’ve seen this in a lot of cases, a lot of cases. The merits, the marriage comes apart. It’s not working anymore. And then she’s trapped in that marriage because she never created financial, you know, independence for herself, which you’ve heard me talk about. I don’t care who you’re married to or what you have. You should, every one of us should have financial independence for ourself. Now you had mentioned that. How, how can you help people listening understand? How can you expand upon that.
Michele: Yeah, well, I was just sick and tired of always being dependent on people. Where when I, I did take off a year or two to stay home with my kids when I had them I’m back in the classroom now. But during that time, I would need to ask my husband, like basically for an allowance, if I wanted to buy things for myself. And, you know, I just didn’t want to buy his Christmas presents with money that he was giving me, you know what I mean? So I knew that I needed to, I needed, I knew that I needed to have a way, that I can make money and not, you know, have to go out and, and work hard and long hours and sacrifice that time with my kids and my family. And I thought it was really important that I build up that financial independence, like you mentioned. And it was, it was just something that I found, to be really important because you don’t want to be in that situation where. You know, you have to depend on people. I love my husband and, I, I say now that I’m so grateful that I don’t need him, but I love having him by my side, you know? So it’s, it’s nice that we can do it together and we can both be financially independent and share, obviously share our income for our family and our house and everything, but we don’t, we don’t need each other. And that I think is we want each other, but we don’t need each other. And I think that is a huge thing that I learned in the last couple of months, really.
Jim Fortin: Yeah. And you you’ve heard me say before that when we need the other person, meaning I need you and I can’t survive a value. We have no power in the relationship your the power player. And if they say, you’re not going to do this, you’re not going to do that. You’re not going to travel. You’re not going there. You can then guess what, you’re at their mercy because you have no power. And that’s why it’s so vital that, that women and men too, I know both ways. Men also have financial stability so that, you know, what, if the relationship is not working, their partner changes in a dramatic way, their partners, not who it turned out, they were, they were going to be, or something changed with them. They don’t have to staybecause there’s nothing more miserable as I understand, staying in a relationship out of survival and for money.
Michele: Right?
Jim Fortin: So let me add here.
Michele: I was going to say, I think that it, takes the strain off of a relationship too when two people are financially independent because then, you know, he’s not feeling the pressure, I’m not feeling the pressure of the other person constantly needing from the other one as well. So I think both of us having our own income, that is a healthy income is really beneficial to just taking that stress and stress and pressure off of the relationship.
Jim Fortin: That’s a wonderful point in that. Now I’ve worked with you both for some time and I’ve watched him also go through his money progression as well, to where he is today. And he’s doing very, very well. You’re doing very well, which we’ll talk about in a minute. And have you noticed which I’m guessing you have. I kind know what you just said when you’re both doing well, and you’re both contributing and it puts you at least financially on an equal footing, providing you’re with the right partner. Everything just opens up even more and expands even more for you.
Michele: Yeah, definitely. I think, we’ve always had a very positive relationship. Even when I met him when he just started his business and I was a teacher, so we really didn’t have money in the beginning and we we were stressed, but we had that foundation. And, just now the fact that we’ve turned our financial situation around, it just makes everything else so much easier. And it really heightened and build our built our relationship to be so much stronger.
Jim Fortin: That’s that’s what I was talking to a friend of mine about you might, I think, you know, James Wedmore, a good friend of mine, we were talking about money and he and I were like, you know, at a certain point, how many millions do you need? He does really well. I did really well in a certain point. It’s just money.
Michele: Right?
Jim Fortin: But I think we came in our conversation. We came to the point that money’s not going to make your life any better, because if it’s already a wreck, because of your thinking than having more money, it’s going to make your life more of a wreck. But yet when you use it as a tool, it makes your life a lot easier. And who doesn’t want that?
Michele: Right. I would definitely say that that’s our case that we already had a strong foundation, but money just has made it so much easier.
Jim Fortin: Yeah, absolutely. When even little things happen, your flight gets canceled. Your rental car gets whatever. You’re like not a big deal, not a big deal because it’s just money. And I, we attract a lot of money.
Jim Fortin: Okay. I want to segue away from the episode for just one minute. Now, I don’t know where you are in life when it comes to money, but I know that you fall into one of three categories. So as I’m sharing these with you, which category do you fall into? Number one, is, are you living paycheck to paycheck? Barely getting by? The second category is the category that I call just enough. You’ve got just enough coming in and it goes out, you’re kind of doing okay, but you’re not getting ahead. And the third category is that you’re doing well financially and you want to do even better. Now, I don’t know where you are, but I do know you’re in one of those three categories.
Jim Fortin: Basically, you want to bring more wealth, abundance, and prosperity into your life. That being said on February 1st , I’m going to be doing a workshop. And it’s titled How The Law Of Attraction Repels The Money And Abundance You Want And How To Become Rich. In this workshop, I’m going to cover six pillars of things that I’ve learned over the years that have quite literally, they’re very practical, very empirical that have quite literally taken me from almost being homeless, living on a fraternity fraternity brothers couch, having very little money, eating macaroni and cheese for dinner and tuna to the life that I live today. Which is one of affluence and being very comfortable financially. I’m going to share these principles in this workshop, and I’m going to break it all down for you to show you how you can literally transform your life around money and wealth and prosperity. And now you can transform your relationships with money.
Jim Fortin: Now you can go to jimfortin.com/money. You can find more details there and you can get registered for this training. What I want to share with you also, My podcast. I mean, we have a lot of listeners and we have people promoting this. What I’m telling you right now is that this workshop will fill up. There’s only 1000 lines available and I’m telling you, I’m certain that this workshop will fill up very very quickly. So if you’re interested in transforming your life around money and easily bringing a lot more money into your life and learning how I did it because I grew up poor and I’m wealthy today, and you want to know how I did it step by step then, whatever you do right now, as soon as you’re done with this episode, go to jimfortin.com/money. There’s a whole page there on it, all the details. Get registered. Okay. I’ll see you over in that training. And then I’ll catch you obviously back on the episode.
Jim Fortin: Well, let’s touch it. Let’s go here for a moment. Let’s touch on this. You had mentioned hoarding money now, after being with me for a couple of years, what’s your what did you use? How did you use to hoard? And what’s your perspective on hoarding now?
Michele: So I was always because I didn’t have a lot of money in my savings in my checking account all the time. Anytime I did have money, I hoard I exactly what you said. I hoarded it. I, wanted to, anytime there was like a donation or something or a tip, I would try to, give what I needed to, but I would never give extra. I wanted to make sure that I had everything that I needed. And through listening to you and other, people and being through in TCP, tithing became a big thing and giving openly with an open heart. And, just realizing that the more you give, the more you release your money and let it flow the more it flows back to you.
Jim Fortin: Hang on before we go any further interrupt. Have you found that to be okay? There’s a lot of people listening are going, you know what? I, this sounds really good, but I’m going to hoard my money and hang on to have you found that to be true emotionally and financially when you put it out there with an open heart to serve other people, you put it out smartly what happens?
Michele: Honestly, it comes right back to you. There’s been so many instances where, we’ve, I’ve just randomly, like, I’ll give you an example around the holiday season. I think it was new year’s day, new year’s Eve. The day of New Year’s Eve. I was at the supermarket and there were so many people there. The cashier was really, really stressed out. I can tell, and she didn’t want to work. And I gave her just a $20 bill at the end. And I said, here, this is for you. Thank you for working tonight. And she was the gratitude just from getting a $20 bill. She just felt so appreciated and it made me feel good by the time I got home, I had like, I opened the door and had, a check from. Believe it or not the IRS for $40 of all people. Right. So it was just already back to me, by the time I got home and it was doubled than what I had given, and I feel like those situations constantly are happening. And it’s just amazing to see that, the more you give it, just, I just have this blind trust that it will just come back to me now. And I’ve seen it happen time and time again, whether it’s from my business or a random check or, better than if someone just gives me a gift, maybe an unexpected gift from my in-laws or something. It’s just been kind of crazy. It’s kind of like a game now that we play with. Okay, I’m going to give this money away and we’ll see how it can come back to us and, and how, and in what quantity. So it’s kind of like a fun, cool game that we play now.
Jim Fortin: I played that game also for many years, but a different game and the game was hoard money, hoard money, hoard money. And I don’t know about you, but people listening. I think we can both vouch for this hoarding money is exhausting. Yeah. I mean, it’s just, it’s so much work and drains so much energy to manage and to hoard every penny and to check your bank account. And you’re always counting your dollars all the time. What do I have? What do I have? That is exhausting. And it’s so liberating when you give, and that’s one of the things I’ve wanted people to, not just listen to, but until you start tithing, you’re not going to start tithing. And then when you start tithing with an open heart, it starts coming back and you start proving to yourself. Wow. This might work. The guy might know what he’s talking about a little bit. But to your point, we went to dinner recently with my brother-in-law Don Xavier and another couple,in the check was $900 and we’re six, six of us, in a restaurant in town called Mariposa in Sedona. And I was chatting with the waiter I always pay the bill. That’s what I like to do. And the waiter said, I, you know, my wife and I just had a baby and I tipped him $450 on top of the check. He was over the moon elated. And whether it’s 20 bucks for some people or 450, when people have money come into their life, unexpected, it lights them up. It does, it does something to them. And my hope is that when I do that, people are like, I’ll pay it forward. Also, he paid it forward, I’ll pay it forward. And we create this kind of Daisy chain, this, you know, the same we’re, we’re always, we’re helping always, we’re trying to help people live better lives. So you would say that when you tithe you do help other people live better lives, which in turn helps you live a better life.
Michele: Absolutely. And I just like to think, I think you had given us an example once where you just picture like the flow going through, where it’s going from one person and the ripple effect of how it’s affecting people down the line. Something’s such a small gesture, really makes a big wave in. In reality and to see how, how it just keeps flowing in this big circle. It’s just amazing. It just, yeah, it is amazing.
Jim Fortin: And you know, if I want people to get many things out of our time, because we’re going to flip gears here in a minute, but I used to be so afraid to tithe because I need the money for me. I’ll take the worst mindset I had, which is what most people have. Let me take care of myself first, and then I will take care of other people. But what happens is you never get used or never get to helping other people because you’re so busy, hoarding taking care of yourself and nothing ever changes year one, year two,year five. You know, it never changes. We have to open up and give to be able to receive. Now, speaking of receiving, where are you today do not be modest, whatever you want to share, where are you today with your money situation?
Michele: So I, in my business. It’s funny. I’ll share where I was a year ago and see how it changed. I remember when I first started listening to your podcasts, we were sitting on the beach, down the shore in New Jersey, and I told Todd ,I told my, yeah, I told Todd and I said, my husband, wouldn’t it be awesome. If in my business, I could just make $50 a day. And we thought that we were like, yeah, that would be so amazing. That would be so great. And that was a little over a year ago, less than a year and a half ago. And, looking back over for 2020, I made multiple six figures in my side business, and it was just so crazy to see how in such a short amount of time, like my goal was $50 a day, and I can’t even believe how. How that happen I still it’s. It’s really incredible. And unbelievable to me about how that, that happens in just a year. .
Jim Fortin: Let’s break it down for listeners, because we can do this. If you had to put it on a piece of paper and explain to me how it happened, tell me things that changed in you because that’s how it happened. So what things changed in you and let’s, let’s go behaviorally. What did you start doing differently?
Michele: So I think I, I definitely changed my habits and I focused on what would I had very limited time. So I was home with my two kids trying to work. And then also, now going back to teaching. So I really did not have a lot of time. So I started a habit of waking up, getting a couple hours of work done before the kids got up. And just, just focusing on what I knew would be something that could be a good seller to teachers. And I. I know as a teacher, that teachers can’t afford a lot of extra out of their pocket. So I want to make high quality resources at an affordable price and make it so that it has an impact on their classroom. So my highest value is joy and fun. Okay.
Jim Fortin: Hang on. I’m writing. I wrote that down. I wrote down values. I want to talk about that. What I want people listening to know is your price points are not, oh, at $5 to $10. You know, how many, how many people it takes it to $5 to $10 ahead,
Michele: $3 to $10.
Jim Fortin: It’s not even $5. You know how many people it takes to get to the income you’re at, which means look at the impact you’ve had in one year with people. So a couple of takeaways, one, it can happen quickly. Right, secondly, so you got up a little earlier and we’re not talking about what anyone should do or shouldn’t do. We’re just talking about what you did. So you got up a little earlier, but then you went into values and that’s something I wrote down because we cover that in our training together our time together. How did your value shift before, when you met me and then afterwards, and how do they shift to help you generate that kind of revenue?
Michele: Sure. So I guess I didn’t even really think about what my values were before TCP. Yeah. And then going through TCP helps me really narrow down, like what I want to focus on, what is most important to me. And I came out with joy, joy /fun. I say, those are my, those are my top values and…
Jim Fortin: joy/ what?
Michele: Fun. And cause my whole philosophy on it is if it’s not fun or if it doesn’t bring you joy, what’s the point.
Jim Fortin: Right?
Michele: So, and I bring that into my classroom too where every activity or every resource I make, I want the kids to feel joy and have fun. And I, if they’re having fun, they’re more engaged. It’s less stressful for the teachers. The teachers are enjoying it. They’re going to want more. And at an affordable price, they’re able to, continue to get resources or reuse them. You can buy a $5 product and reuse it every year or multiple times throughout the year, too. So that’s really important to me that teachers, I don’t want to take advantage of teachers. They, I want them to get a good value, and make it have a huge impact on them. I also started, giving away some resources to teachers also to see, is this something that would bring joy to you? Is this something that
Jim Fortin: Wait have you have done that in the past, giving away something like giving away?
Michele: No, definitely not. But now what I do is every time I create a new resource, I have an opportunity where I give it away to a handful of teachers before they even have an opportunity to buy it. So I want them to my followers. I have, I’ve built like this little community and they love . It’s so amazing if you just get. You know, one resource to use in your classroom. It makes their whole year. Sometimes I know for me as a teacher, it would as well. So that’s something that I wanted to really make sure that I did that. I, am giving away not only financial stuff, but also things that will help them as well. And making sure that they are high quality and aligned to my values. And I think that that has really just made a difference. I, I stopped doing things in my life that didn’t bring me joy and that I didn’t find fun. And I, and it’s funny because having a side business, when you’re working, a lot of people it’s really stressful or hard and it can be, but I feel like I’m, I know that this is my Dharma and I love it. And it doesn’t feel like work to me. Like when the kids go to bed, I can’t wait to grab my computer and create something. So for me
Jim Fortin: Hang on.Loving what you do, which I talk about a lot if you don’t love so many people listening now, you loved what you did, being a teacher and you still love it. But so many people don’t their work is what they don’t love doing, but they do it for money and they struggle year after year after year. And if you don’t love what you do, number one, what energy are you putting out? You’re repelling money by doing what you don’t love to do.
Michele: Right. I just love creating. And the thing that’s cool is I get to use it in my own classroom with my students as well. So I’m doing some of the planning for my own classroom and I am creating and sharing it with other teachers. So it’s kind of using my Dharma for teaching and to share and help other teachers as well. So I think that that has been, a huge thing. I think in the past, when I had so many other side jobs, I didn’t, I just had them because I wanted them to make me money. It wasn’t, thats something that I was passionate about, but I think the big thing was I found something that I was good at and passionate about and brought me joy and that aligned to my values. And that is really why I think it took off so well
Jim Fortin: Today now you’ve not been to Sedona, right?
Michele: No, I haven’t.
Jim Fortin: There’s crystal shops all over. It’s a very spiritual community here in town. And the biggest shop in town is known as called Crystal Magic. And the owner came over today to drop something off. And I met his son a couple of days ago. His son’s probably 24, 25, something like that. And. The owner of the store, his name is Larry. And he goes, I taught my son, and this is so hard. I couldn’t relate when I was in my twenties and thirties, he goes, I taught my son never to do anything because of the money you do it because you love to do it. And I look at you, I look at him the most successful store in town. And he goes, when we started my family, there were 40 stores. Now there’s a couple of big ones and we’re a family owned store. We’re the largest in town. And I look at what I’ve done with TCP and how big it is. You’ve been around for two years. And you’ve seen how it’s grown is I, of course I have to work, but it’s not a lot of work anymore, but I do it because I love what I do and what I love, what I do. I don’t, it’s not work. Number one, it’s not stressful. It’s not straining. I don’t need to fight myself to go to work. I don’t have to fight myself to do what I need to do, and guess what I get to go to work every day and do what I love to do. And so many people will work for money and do it for decades. Not recognizing, they’re just putting themselves in the ground is all they’re doing and they’re just making life a whole lot harder. So okay. So we talked about that, but you, you touched upon something here. Do you ever remember the first time I said a way to become wealthy is to create expansion for other people. Do you remember the first time you heard me say that?
Michele: I don’t remember exactly the first time, but that, that has something that has always stuck in my mind that I live by now that I
Jim Fortin: That’s where I’m going. Exactly. So let’s go here. So you heard it, that it goes, a lot of people that goes right over their head, they don’t hear it I didn’t get it. So the first time you heard it, do you remember thinking, well, that’s interesting. He’s full of crap. That could be real. What were you thinking the first time you heard it?
Michele: I think, well, being a teacher, it’s also that I, you know, you, you create a lot of expansion just by the nature of the job, but I didn’t really necessarily in the beginning get money from that. So, so that was kind of difficult for me to comprehend, but then taking it and kind of working around it and making it seem.
Jim Fortin: Do you put the business what we did, You put it on wheels, you charge for it. But notice what you did is you said, or what I wrote down here is when you, you said even a $5 product can make a teacher’s life better throughout the year. Right? Your exact word. We can rewind it just like in the movie years ago, I kind of have to play it backward. You said it, but here’s the thing when you’re making their life better. That’s creating expansion for them,
Michele: Right?
Jim Fortin: And when you create expansion for other people, people will pay you. If they have a product or service you want, if they want more expansion, that is how to become wealthy. And the second way is to value your value. When you heard, you want to explain what that means, value your value,
Michele: Right? So just know that your gift is, is valuable, that you need to, if you just give away everything, that’s not valuing yourself. And then you are basically saying that you you’re not worth it. And, I did deal with that a lot in the beginning with, self-esteem issues and thinking, oh, no one should I should just give this away or no one should pay me for this and, and things like that, but I wasn’t valuing my value. And by charging.First of all, I feel like, but you get people who it’s funny because I’ve done promotions where we give a lot of freebies. And so many people I’ve that I have given the freebies too have downloaded them and told me they’ve never even used them in their classroom before, but the ones, the $5, $10 products that they do buy, they use them because they paid for it. They have skin in the game. So it really. It’s beneficial to give people a freebie sometimes, but it doesn’t actually help them because they’re not usually using them the way that they would, if they paid for it.
Jim Fortin: You heard me say that a lot and that’s, that’s the thing. That’s why for example, TCP is at the investment point it is, I want serious results with people. And if I made that seriously for you, if it were a hundred dollars to be in the 14 weeks, would you have even shown up for everything? Would you have valued? It would you have? That’s a hundred bucks. I’m too busy right now. I’ve got the kids. I got no time for that. But when you invest in what you did, you’re like, I’m going to get my money’s worth out of this. I’m I’m going to dig into this and look where we are today. Yeah. So how do you feel now when you ask people for my, how do you feel? That’s the operative word? How do you feel when you ask people for money?
Michele: It’s a different feeling. I used to feel really guilty about it. And, I don’t feel that way as much anymore, especially my prices are. I make sure that I am not taking advantage of anyone and I’m making sure that, I’m pricing my resources at something that I think is fair. So, I would happily pay other teachers. I do pay other teachers for their resources as well, even though make them myself, I, it just makes teacher’s lives or anyone’s lives easier and better. And I think that anytime you’re making a product for someone to make their lives easier and better in some way, then I don’t think that you should feel bad charging for that because
Jim Fortin: Yeah it came through you, you deserve to get paid for the value that you created in the world. I used to be just like you when I was younger too, is, oh, don’t pay me for that. Don’t worry about it. It’s free, et cetera. People don’t value it. But I used to be afraid to ask for money, because I grew up without money. And if you grew up without money and you don’t have money, then you’re afraid to ask for money. I used to be afraid to ask for money. And when I started asking for money, I’m like, I’m worth this because working with me, I mean, I used to charge a little bit like 500 bucks a month to coach. Now. I wouldn’t even, I went coach one to one. And if I did, I did just bill a lot of money. It wouldn’t be 500 bucks, but you know what, when I create transformation to people’s lives, I deserve to get paid for that because I help create it. And that’s valuing myself. So you’ve learned that also because you used to worry about money
Michele: Yeah all the time.
Jim Fortin: Say that again, used to worry what.
Michele: I said all the time.
Jim Fortin: Where are you today with the worry.
Michele: I really don’t, it’s kind of crazy. I really just don’t worry about money at all anymore. I just have this trust that I know that money is always flowing to me. And I think that over the last year, that’s just been something that I’ve ingrained in my head and I’ve seen it come true. So I know that anytime I want something, the money will flow and I, and I have it. And, it’s just been kind of an amazing transformation to see the difference within that year.
Jim Fortin: So, okay. So we know, yes, I hear you. And we know that you’ve attracted multiple six-figures where’s this going for you?
Michele: Well I think I’m just going to still keep doing what I’m doing, you know, keep giving, keep receiving. That was a big thing. I had a really hard time receiving. And, I almost felt guilty taking money, but I realized that I’m putting in the work and the effort and I, I now value my value. So,
Jim Fortin: Okay. You didn’t answer my question because you have probably thought about where is this going to go, but let’s go here for a moment. You said I felt guilty taking the money. What’s that about?
Michele: I think that’s a self-worth issue where I had low self-esteem and I didn’t think that I didn’t value myself as I should. And, one of the things that I learned, one of the many things I learned in TCP was that really, to transform your life, it has to be, you have love yourself first. And you have to put yourself first and, and believe in yourself. And those are things that I didn’t necessarily do. So that was why I felt guilty that I didn’t deserve the money that was coming to me.
Jim Fortin: Yeah. You said something which you rarely hear me say if you’ve ever heard me say this at all. I even have a podcast episode on this, but you said, believe in yourself. And I don’t really think I’ve ever even uttered those words in TCP. You have to believe in yourself the way that I approach it. And you can confirm this the more skills that people get and they use, whether it be knowing values, that’s a skill you’re learning. The belief in self comes automatically as a result of just checking this stuff out and playing with it and tweaking it and living with it, the belief comes automatically because nowhere along the line did you say, oh, I believe in myself, 7% more this week than I did last week, because this is what I learned. Right. But, but believing in yourself comes as a result of acquiring more skills. But I also tell people, you’ve heard me say, you don’t even have to believe in yourself. Just go help people because there’s someone who needs your help somewhere. And for people listening, listen to Michelle, that’s where she’s working from. You get joy from helping people. Right.
Michele: Right.
Jim Fortin: And now you’re not hoarding money. You’re not worrying about money. You’re not struggling with money, all the things that you had a couple of years ago in terms of challenges with money, you have none of that, none in your life. And as a matter of fact, that your earning capacity you’re in the top, a couple of percentage points of income earners in the United States. Would you have thought that about yourself five years ago?
Michele: No.
Jim Fortin: Think about that. You’re literally in the top with what you’re making and attracting your on top. I think 3% of income earners in the U S .
Michele: It’s crazy.
Jim Fortin: Never thought about that, right? Never thought you could be that person and now you’re doing it, which also proves if I can do it, anybody can do it you’ve done it. Anybody can do it. So it’s just a matter of, I don’t want it. This is your interview. I want you to, I don’t want to take over here, but I think it’s a matter of opening up and sharing because what we give to the world is what we get back from the world.
Michele: Absolutely.
Jim Fortin: How about this? I’m not a mom, this lifetime, you’re a mom. What would you say to a single mother? Because you said earlier, I don’t depend on Todd anymore. You know? I mean, I want to be with him, but I don’t depend on him. What would you say to a single mother that has two or three kids and she’s listening to you right now about money. What would, how would you help them out of that situation from being dependent? I’m just struggling for money.
Michele: Yeah. Yeah. I think, I would tell them, find something that you love and, and figure out how to, how, how you can use it to help make other people’s lives better and use it for expansion for others. So I love teaching, I love creating resources for my classroom, and I was able to share that with other people who need that. So maybe they’re not a teacher, but find something that you’re passionate about, because that was what really did it for me. I found something I was passionate about. And then I figured out a way to make money from that.
Jim Fortin: You’ve nailed that a hundred percent. What about this? What if maybe 5, 7, 10 years ago you heard somebody say money does not come from hard work. It comes from the universe. What, what would you maybe have thought about that years ago as opposed to, what do you think now?
Michele: Yeah, I probably would’ve laughed about.
Jim Fortin: Who’s that whack job, right? What the heck is he talking about? Are you kidding me? You got to work hard to pay your bills.
Michele: Exactly. That was always, that was my biggest story that you have to work hard or, you just have to do something other, well, not that you’d have to do something you don’t love, but I knew that what I wanted to do didn’t bring in money or wasn’t going to get me to where I wanted to be. So for me, it would have been, I had to have multiple jobs and work hard and not have time to spend with my family and my friends. And I probably still wouldn’t have what I wanted to have. So I think that I didn’t, I didn’t even know that what the whole universe and all that stuff was all about and how you can get money from just changing your mindset and changing your values and, and creating expansion. Like that was not, that was so foreign to me back then.
Jim Fortin: Exactly. Now it’s first nature to you, right? Let me ask you this. I know you’re a good mom. How has creating the abundance you created, how was that contributed to you being a different mother? I don’t know what word to use just be a better mother, a more you know where I’m going with this, so
Michele: It’s funny. Our kids are two and a half and five and a half. And, being that Todd and I are both in TCP and we both, are open about our practices, both entrepreneurs, things like that. The girls see everything, they pick up on everything. they, it’s just so awesome to see. We do our affirmations. We have that positive self-talk and we model it for our kids so they can see that too. Last night, Taylor, my daughter wrote me a note that had all her affirmations on it in her five-year-old handwriting. It was so awesome. She wrote, I am healthy. I am happy. I am strong. And then these are my, I am, she called them at the ends and it’s just, and she repeats that to herself every night before she goes to bed. And it’s just so amazing to see that at five years old, she has that positive self-talk and I’m so grateful that we learned about all of this and can pass that onto our children. So they’re in such a better spot at such a young age than we ever were.
Jim Fortin: Absolutely. And I guarantee you a hundred percent that your daughters will grow up good money stories because they have good models, teaching them the money stories because so many mothers and I’m not taking anything out on anyone. I mean, they’re struggling to get by Maria Shriver did a documentary probably 10 years ago called paycheck to paycheck. How something like 30 million women. And it’s probably it’s, I’m sure it’s more now literally work two or three jobs just to live paycheck to paycheck. So you think about. What does that teach their kids, watching mom work paycheck to paycheck. You know, that’s what they’re learning. That’s what the next generation is going to be. This is the first generation in America where actually kids aren’t living as well as their parents. So can you financially, can you imagine the next generation and when we learn good money stories early on, we carry those on because we learn them. They become unconscious beliefs. So you’ve taught your daughters how to, and you’re teaching how to have a prosperous life with a good relationship with money. And it’s so vital that you’ve changed this because what would have happened or could have happened. Todd could have had better money stories and you didn’t have any. And it’s like a tug of war with the kids. Once hearing something from mommy, once hearing something from daddy. And now both of you are excellent role models for financial prosperity and creating what you want in life for both of your kids.
Michele: Thank you for trying.
Jim Fortin: How about this? Let’s wrap up with this. What are, and I’m putting you on the spot because we didn’t talk about what we’re going to talk about. What are things that you want, mothers or people like you that were struggling with that mindset you had? What do you want them to know?
Michele: I think really just find some, like I said before, find something that brings you joy and figure out a way to create that joy and not expansion for others. And the rest will just kind of fall into place.
Jim Fortin: Well, okay. We already kidding. We cover that twice? No, I’m kidding. You know, what’s funny. Let me ask you this. Have you heard something that I’ve said before? And you’re like, oh, that’s nice. And you don’t get it. Till much later, like you’ve been around with me for a while. A year later. You’re like, I didn’t get that last year now I get it. Now I know what it means. Oh my gosh, I miss that. But that’s like the key right there. So people listening can say, come on it can’t be that simple as doing what you love and valuing yourself, but it really is that simple, right?
Michele: Yeah. I really believe it is. I feel like it just. Once it clicks, it clicks and then it just kind of takes off. I think the big thing for me was just really focusing on the expansion for others, which I, that was something that I never really focused on. I was always thinking about me, me, me, how can I make more money for me? How can I do this for me? And then I think TCP really opened my eyes to, well, it’s not all about me in order to make my life better. I have to create expansion for others. And I think that was a game changer for me.
Jim Fortin: And that’s given you a very comfortable life on the way to becoming a very wealthy life financially curious. How does that feel to be wealthy?
Michele: It feels good. It’s it’s still, like I said, a little over a year ago, my goal was to make $50 a day. So I feel like it’s been a whirlwind. Honestly, a little unbelievable at this point. So it’s, it’s just something that’s, it feels surreal to be honest, so.
Jim Fortin: Yeah, no, I, I appreciate that. And I think it’s always good as you’re saying things, of course, because you learn them and heard them from me, but you’re walking your talk, you’re demonstrating it. And hopefully to people listening to the podcast and particular men too, because it applies to them the same thing you said applies to them. We have so many women that listen. And so many of them that are in trapped relationships, which you were not, but hopefully there’s some part of them that can see that truth in you, because I can sit here as a guy all day long. I’m not going to hear me. Like they hear you being a woman and being the school teacher. And we know that that industry doesn’t make a lot of money and you’ve got a couple of kids because as you know, you’ll always get a lot of excuses. I can’t, because I have kids, I can’t because of this. I can’t because of that. And it really comes down to finding something you love to do that people will pay you for go do it and charge money for it. And it doesn’t get any more challenging than that. But people love to make it challenging.
Michele: Yeah.
Jim Fortin: Thank you. Any, any final thoughts? Any final, final thoughts?
Michele: I think, I think that’s it. Thank you for having me.
Jim Fortin: I’m proud of you. I’m very, very proud of you. It’s just, for me, the greatest joy is not the financial rewards that I get, but it’s when I see the expansion because I’ve impacted. Your granddaughters and your Grandkids wait on them yet, but you will. I impacted their lives because I impacted yours and you impacted your kids and they’re going to impact their kids. And we don’t recognize we can make generational differences by making a difference in people’s lives. So for me, what I’m joyful about, I’m glad to help you, but I’m glad to really assist what it does for your family down the road. And then all they, all the people we impact or they impact. Sorry, because
Michele: We’re so grateful for that.
Jim Fortin: I mean, you guys are amazing. I love you guys tell Patty can stop watching the kids now wrap up. And by the way, i just gonna ask you when you got up at five in the morning, where’s Todd.
Michele: He was usually up too and believe it or not,
Jim Fortin: I see a lot of Dad ,I’m like, where’s the husband here.
Michele: Actually, he he’s been, he was like a hero. He got up with the kids and let me work for a little bit. And then I, we, switched off once, um, hit once 7:30, 8 o’clock. We tag teamed out so then I would go with the kids and he would, he would start his day.
Jim Fortin: I’ve got friends that are husband. Well, of course they are husband and wife, but they have kids and they tag team when they get to sleep late. So one gets to sleep till 8:00 AM, like one day a week. And the other one has to watch the kids till 8:00 AM because the kids are always, always up at 5:30 in the morning, you know,
Michele: My kids may fully sleep late. So we have that going for us.
Jim Fortin: You lucked out on that one. You got to hear so many stories of kids are up like, like the Duracell bunny at 4:30 in the morning, you know? Thank you, Michelle. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
Michele: Thank you
Jim Fortin: For sharing your story, sharing the possibilities for other people. I’m very grateful and I appreciate it. I’ll talk to you later. Okay.
Michele: Alright Bye.
Jim Fortin: Bye-bye.
Jim Fortin: Wait wait one second Before you go, So the fact that you’re here listening to the podcast it means that some part of you is interested in Transforming your Life But if you’re like most people you try different things you do different things. You hope you wish you want and you pray and things don’t change. That being said if you’re serious and I mean serious about creating long-term permanent change subconsciously and transforming your life. Then whatever you do get on the wait list for my Transformational Coaching Program It’s a 14 week program I only do it twice a year live and the doors will be opening pretty soon. So get on the wait list and you can do that at www.jimfortin.com/waitlist
Jim Fortin: Thank you for listening to this entire podcast. If you’re the kind of person who likes to help others, then share this with your friends and family. You know, if you found value, they will too, so please share via your social media channels. Also, if you have questions, I’m here to assist. You can email me questions to support@jimfortin.com. And I may even use your question for a future podcast episode. Also, if you want transformational content like this daily, connect with me on Instagram, my instagram name is @iamjimfortin. Finally I do have a personal request. I believe that we’re all here to help others and to grow and evolve ourselves. Together, you and I, let’shelp more people. If you would, please leave a review on iTunes and a good one by the way. I’d be grateful and through your assistance together, we can transform more lives. Thanks for listening.