93 - An Evolution From Travel Agent to Business Coach With Carmen Perez
Never did anyone ever say it would be easy to try to make a life of your own. The journey that Carmen set out on was nothing short of easy. She went from starting a travel business in a world where many did not even believe that they existed to growing it to a profitable business that has allowed her to help others be a success in their own business. She incorporates the reason for being and your purpose in life with travel to help create a sense of peace and understanding in oneself. Allowing others to really understand that with time you can do anything but allowing yourself to slow down and take it all in will make you a success.
Can you share with us the journey about your business and how you started? In 2011, Effortless Living Online was born as a travel agent business and has grown from there. However many people did not even know that travel agents still existed. So in the beginning she had to dig in her heals, feeling completely lost she removed the negative thoughts and moved on. But walking away from a very lucrative career as a commercial real estate paralegal she really felt there was something to what she was starting and the healing benefits of travel. Not everything was perfect when she first started but she believed that she would find a way to what she wanted to succeed. The growth of the business happened when she started focusing on girlfriend getaways and a greater mission came out of it and it was also helping people heal. A personal experience hit her in 2008 and it caused her to break down and took about two years to get back up to speed. She thought she was dying and as one is going through these feelings you think about all the things that she did and didn’t do. But during the recovery period she started thinking about the things that she wanted to do, the places she wanted to see with those that she loved. This is where the concept was born in brining girlfriends together and creating a place along with an adventure for them to help each other come out of their darkest days. Many milestones in people’s lives do not get events or celebrations created around them because they are dark life events and so the whole purpose for these getaways was to get them together. As she nurtures her clients through the steps of getting ready for their trip she talks about a persons' well-being and that is how she is known as the “Well-being Messenger”. Fast forwarding a couple of years and she is only doing retreats for people with a greater message to share.
Can you talk about your transition points in your business? Speaking was the first transition point from the girlfriend getaways. Basically 90 days prior to departure she was nurturing her clients and getting them ready for their getaway. It was all about organizing your life so you could detach from life without feeling disconnected or guilty when you left. In getting the information out to her clients with the necessities to getting ready she started getting invitations to share her story in public and speak. This was identified as the opportunity to share her message in a bigger way to those people who needed to hear to slow down. As the speaking career continued she felt called to write a book and she has been blogging since the inception of Effortless Living and Girlfriend getaways and it was just one more way for her to share her story and helping people see what the bigger message was. From the speaking part she found herself falling into Business Coaching because people were attracted to being able to grow their brand and their followers in the way that Carmen has grown her business. Even though there are many directions in her business the message stays the same, “Reclaim your time, Calm your chaos, Transform the way you experience the world”.
What has kept you in tack with a purpose with your business? With a strong belief that it is all about being 100% dedicated to the mission of her business. Mindset is one of those tools that you absolutely need to have and master to be successful in business. But believe that is not always that way, you will have those voices in your head that put you to the test and question your actions in business. You have to be resolute in your mission and really understand what an expert is and find a way to continue working on yourself. When you live the way you teach and know what the results are you can fully execute to success.
What are some things that you wished you would have known getting started? Realizing how critical mindset really is and when we work in our business and do not have the emotional stamina to go along with the knocks that we get first starting out. As your business continues to grow then the attacks sometimes become more frequent and you have to be able to stand strong when those attacks come, so mindset is so important. Also, another key is having a team of like-minded people around you that are there in it with you and really understand you. Not everyone wants to be their best highest self but as an entrepreneur you take that title on that you want to be your best highest self and so having people of like mind around you allows you to continue having that mindset.
Can you give a couple of tips on how you helped your business grow with your marketing in the beginning? Carmen’s biggest marketing drive has been with her blog articles, it is truly her favorite way to spread the word and market her products. And all her posts are on her own site but it is really what you do with the blog and how you build it. She couples her blog with Facebook when doing her posts. Choosing a topic that is interesting to her audience of lifestyle entrepreneurs and creating an opt-in at the bottom of the post with a link back to her website. She then shares it on her Facebook page and boosts the post, spending in the area of five dollars a boost, which in turn increases her list. Since the beginning of her business this has been her primary way that she has built her e-mail list, which in turn has grown her Facebook, page likes organically. In her speaking she creates a value page for the group that she is speaking to and directs them to her website to get the free resource that she creates for that event with the opt-in on that page so they have to provide their name and e-mail address so that the resources are provided to them.
What is next for you? She will be launching a membership website on June 1st. There is a “Get Noticed” e-course that is a five-week program that is due to come out the end of March. And toward the end of the year there will be another book released, title to come. Also, in 2016 Effortless Living will be hosting their own events for entrepreneurs as well as boot camps.
You can find more about Carmen Perez: www.effortlesslivingonline.com or by e-mail at [email protected].
More about Carmen Perez:
Carmen M. Perez, also known as the Well-being Messenger, is a Lifestyle Expert and Business Strategist for Entrepreneurs and the creator of Get Noticed Online Now, a 5 week e-course for entrepreneurs who want to build their business online by sharing their passions to grow their abundance; www.EffortlessLivingOnline.com, an award-winning lifestyle e-zine for entrepreneurs who understand there is no separation between their professional and personal life and who desire true success; and High Achievers’ Calm Academy, a membership community to support entrepreneurs who want to share their passions, personality and purpose while achieving true success without sacrificing their health, hope and happiness.
Because of the lack of passion, purpose and play Carmen experienced and shares with millions of others who suffer from the stress of success, she not only shares with her clients what they can do to FEEL more of the successes they have achieved, she teach them step-by-step, how to do it, so they can be of service, share their message in a BIGGER way and achieve the financial abundance they deserve while living a life they love.