From Wounded Healer to Empowered Entrepreneur: $3 Million and Counting From Empathy Driven Stories
I was a reluctant entrepreneur, a “wounded healer” at best. Never did I think I would end up in advertising and generate millions of dollars for my clients online using story, love and truth.
I didn’t even consider it a possibility really, I thought all business and marketing were janky.
Responsible for the pain I saw in the world. Deforestation. Ocean acidification. Marginalization of women and anyone other than white male corporate leaders who made all the global decisions, none of which benefited me or this precious planet.
So I struggled along as a massage therapist, barely making $50 an hour, thinking I was doing my best to heal the world by placing my hands on one precious body at a time.
I could barely afford my office rent. I could barely afford to eat organic. And all the festivals and gatherings and conferences I wanted to attend, well, I would put them on credit cards then freak out because I couldn’t pay for it.
One fateful day, all that changed with a single phone call.
My spiritual teacher, a Cherokee Medicine Woman who I only spoke to once a year said:
“Kylie, you are here to be an entrepreneur at a pretty big level. If you refuse to do so you are holding your soul back a grade in school!”
“A grade in school! How can my soul and money and business even be discussed in the same sentence,” I spit. “I waited all year for this?” My heart and soul sunk down, down, down. “This can’t be true.”
But something in my soul knew it was.
The next day I went to the bookstore and a book popped out at me and it lit up on the shelf and I think it slid a little towards me. That book was called Success Secrets of the Online Marketing Superstars by Mitch Meyerson.
I read it. I became obsessed. WHOA, I thought. If I can reach as many people as these guys are and use it for good, I can REALLY heal this world!
I took a ton of courses and thought that if I passed it on to healers and visionaries I could help more people through helping THEM reach more people.
But at that time they didn’t seem to want it all that much. Dismayed, I started writing online for $4 an hour and could barely afford my rent but I kept devouring online marketing trainings as much as I could.
One day I had a major breakthrough getting hired as a content manager for Max Simon, the son of Deepak Chopra’s silent business partner Dr. David Simon. Max mentored me and I was exposed to big vision entrepreneurs like John Assaraf, Mark Victor Hansen, Arielle Ford and more.
After a few years I ended up being asked to write Facebook Ads for a launch which I had no idea how to do. I taught myself in 3 days and within 12 weeks the campaign my client and I put together generated $2.5 million dollars in sales. I was shocked. How did this happen? I really am still new at all this and I cry when tasked with resizing ad photos!
Well, I didn’t know how to write copy so I just told stories in those ads and when I asked all the women who purchased from the ads why they did…
9 out of 10 said “I saw that story and I wanted to be part of it!”
I saw the power of the written word and the power of story and I decided, this is what I was born for. I am going to change the world and the landscape of digital marketing and advertising through story. I am going to inspire and uplift people instead of bombard them with fear and inadequacy and so many people are online that it will change everything! I had an English Degree and spent years as a performance poet so I was naïve and crazy enough to believe in this new plan.
I launched a company called Success Stories and I started working with visionaries and healers and coaches globally to launch their visions and change the world through story.
Every person I worked with saw an increase in results ranging from just getting more engagement on social media to making a $30,000 sale for the first time to helping their client get $72,000 of new business for a yoga studio in just one weekend!
I was hooked. I was obsessed. I could write about this all day but I bet by now you are asking…
“How can I share my story?”
That’s a fantastic question that I answer in detail on this podcast episode.
But if you are one of those “I want to know now!” types like I are, here’s a few steps to get you started.
1. Identify who your most ideal client is.
2. Make a list of everything they truly want. Include what core emotional experience they want to have and what transformation they are desiring from working with you.
3. Look at the struggles and obstacles they are having in getting there.
4. Think of times when you shared those struggles and how you overcame it.
5. Think about what life looks like now emotionally, spiritually, mentally, financially, health and relationships wise and write all that down!
Look at the arc of experience you’ve just created and tune into how this person is feeling and what they WANT to feel.
Then write write write! Share share share!
Do it often. Rinse repeat.
Never give up.
Stories will heal the world and they can give you a ton of income, impact and influence, too.
Movements form around great stories; go move someone and something.
