lifestyle with an online income, she’s able to live anywhere she wants to. Lately, Michelle
has been hopping around Europe and the U.S. and different islands attending conferences
and retreats, visiting family and business friends.
“My life is not perfect or free of challenges, but it feels good knowing that I’ve
created freedom and choices for myself – which makes everything better.”
YOU ARE THE CREATOR OF THE SECRET OWL SOCIETY AND THE ULTIMATE LIFE BINDER.
WHAT EXACTLY IS IT AND WHY DID YOU CREATE IT?
The Secret O.W.L. Society is a blog that I started over 5 years ago to share how I am
taking 100% responsibility for my life.
The Ultimate Life Binder was born out of needing some sort of physical way to track my
improvement across all the different areas of my life.
It’s a binder full of printables that I created to track my goals and progress in my
business, health, finances – anything and everything going on in my life.
A little over 2 years ago, I turned the Life Binder into a downloadable product that other
people could purchase and over 2,000 people are using this system now. 🙂
CAN YOU GIVE US YOUR FIVE BEST TIPS FOR SOMEONE WHO WANTS TO START A
BUSINESS SELLING PRINTABLES OR OTHER ITEMS ON ETSY?
1. Create something that you believe in and use in your own life.
2. Set your prices just outside of your comfort zone.
3. Observe what other successful Etsy stores are doing. How are they displaying their products? How detailed are their descriptions? How are they marketing?
4. Keep tweaking until it works.
5. Check out Marmalead.com – it will help you see what you can improve to be successful on Etsy.
WHAT ACTION STEP, TIP OR PROGRAM HAS HELPED YOU THE MOST WHEN IT COMES TO GROWING YOUR BUSINESS?
Keep putting energy into what it is that you want.
I love planning, but plans are always changing because life (and energy levels!) can be
unpredictable.
So what I do to move forward is to keep putting energy into my goal.
This means I’ll do one thing every day that relates to what I want to achieve.
This always creates success for me in the end.
WHAT WAS THE BIGGEST CHALLENGE YOU FACED IN YOUR BUSINESS?
At one point, I had a lot of personal challenges occur one after the other in my life and it
was affecting my ability to focus on my business.
I overcame it by deciding to see every challenge as an opportunity or benefit.
I chose to believe that no matter what was happening, everything was working out for
my highest good.
This attitude helped me to have some of the most successful months I’ve ever had in my
business even though “times were tough.”
IF YOU HAD TO START FROM ZERO AGAIN WHAT WOULD YOU DO DIFFERENTLY TO GROW YOUR BUSINESS?
I was using my Life Binder system personally for a couple years before I finally decided to
turn it into a product that other people could buy.
We take for granted the things that come naturally to us and I remember my thinking was
that anyone could just create their own Life Binder.
Turns out that people prefer buying one ready-made.
If I could do something differently in the beginning, I probably would have started selling
my Life Binder sooner.
WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE PLACE ON EARTH?
My most favorite place on earth is Paris and my number one tip is to spend every day
walking the streets and getting lost.
Also, I believe that you have to stay there for at least 3 weeks because once I got past
the 2 week mark during my stay in Paris, it was like a whole new experience.
I went from being on vacation in Paris to really feeling what it might be like to LIVE there
and that feeling created a space in my heart and mind that has made me a different and
better person.
HOW LONG DID YOUR „OVERNIGHT SUCCESS“ TAKE?
I had been blogging for several years before I could quit my more traditional streams of
income and just focus on my online career.
However, I would say that from the point of taking my business seriously and believing in
its potential, it took 18 months to get to a point where I could walk away from jobs I
didn’t like.
ANY ADVICE FOR OTHER FEMALE TRAVELPRENEURS?
Figure out what you value.
Simplicity? Adventure? Simple pleasures? Tropical living?
Come up with 5 solid values that are true for you. Continually check to see if you are
living in alignment with your values.
WHAT IS THE BEST THING ABOUT RUNNING A LOCATION INDEPENDENT BUSINESS?
Freedom. I get to make decisions based on my values and desires.
WHICH BOOK IMPACTED YOUR LIFE THE MOST AND WHY SHOULD WE READ IT TOO?
As a Man Thinketh and you should read it too because it helps you realize that
EVERYTHING in your life is a manifestation of what we think.
I find it exciting that we have 100% control over what we think.
I believe we need to keep reminding ourselves of this power we possess and learn how
to use it to create a better life for ourselves and a better world for others.
WHERE CAN WE LEARN MORE ABOUT YOU?
You can find me at my website SecretOwlSociety.
