Success Unfiltered

Latest Episodes:

112 | Christa Orecchio Shares How You Can Eliminate Entrepreneurial PTSD Jul 17, 2019

Show notes

112 | Christa Orecchio Shares How You Can Eliminate Entrepreneurial PTSD

Do you ever feel like you have PTSD and trauma from your entrepreneurial journey?

Christa Orecchio, founder of The Whole Journey is a clinical and holistic nutritionist with a passion for helping as many people as possible to heal and achieve vibrant health. Christa combines her holistic and scientific knowledge to help people heal from the root cause using food as their medicine with a mind, body, spirit approach to wholeness.

She has 10 years of private practice experience, is a local and national health TV show host, bestselling author of How to Conceive Naturally and the creator of three revolutionary online health programs to help people recover their digestive, hormone, and emotional health. She served over 1,000 private clients and 20,000 customers online.

How do you recover from the stress of being a full-time entrepreneur? Sometimes, we go through so much stress with this 24/7 sales career that it feels like we have PTSD.

For many of us, it's all about finding those "stress triggers" and proactively taking care of them before they cause damaging stress.

I'm almost two years into this business, and I've found that for me, having systems in place helps everything run smoothly, and avoids that stress and burnout before it even starts.

My team uses Dropbox and GDrive - Google Drive - and that keeps us organized. Internal processes, whether you're a one-entrepreneur show, or have a team that helps you get everything done, helps control the overwhelm.

Everyone of my team of five members can access anything that they need. Even The Pitch Queen interns are taken care of!

There are so many targets of stress that we don't have control of, like our investors, or how a product launch goes, or if someone says YES or NO!

However, there are some things that we can control, and these help us to stop those stress triggers before they start!

This week's guest on Success Unfiltered, Christa Orecchio, launched her gut health program, expecting only a few hundred to join. When thousands of people tried to join, her problems began.

Are you ready to see how organization and handling what you can control helps lead to a more peaceful and less-stressed business? You'll find that this episode of Success Unfiltered is a MUST LISTEN!

Enjoy, and thank you for listening and tuning into Success Unfiltered!

To share your thoughts:

Email The Pitch Queen @ hello@thepitchqueen.com
Ask a question over at www.ThePitchQueen.com
Share Success Unfiltered on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, & LinkedIn

To help the show out:

Please leave an honest review on iTunes. Your ratings and reviews really help and I read each one.
Subscribe to the show on iTunes.

Special thanks goes out to Christa Orecchio for taking the time to chat with Michelle. Be sure to join us next week for our next new episode!

Are You an Overwhelmed Solopreneur? It's time to start bringing in the help you need and stop your business from running YOU. But where do you start? How do you know who you need to hire, and how do you hire someone with confidence and trust? I've got your back! Learn how to put together the DREAM team for your business with my FREE guide "Building Your All-Star Team: A Guide To Hiring The RIGHT People To Skyrocket Your Business". Click HERE and get your sanity back!

Here are a few key secrets we talked about in this episode:

Michelle introduces Christa Orecchio.
Christa shares about her business and transformation from private practice to creating courses online so that she could help even more people: she went from helping 1,000 people over 8 years, to being able to help 20,000 people over 4 years!
Her first crisis came when she launched a gut health course: Christa expected a few hundred to join the program, and had thousands purchase. They actually crashed the sales page.
Christa's problems multiplied when her customer service team told her they were working and charged her, but didn't actually do any of the work. Her supplement supplier also couldn't meet the demand, and just gave up!
To fix the problems, Christa offered extra webinars for her purchasers, and was transparent with them about what was going on.
For their next launch, Christa decided to be proactive. She hired a new customer service team, and prepared a million dollars worth of supplements in inventory.
Then, a business partner approached Christa and asked her to lower the price of the program. She said NO, because the price was just right to be able to provide excellent care. When she said NO, he emailed her entire waitlist and said that he was NO longer supporting the program!
Christa was able to revamp and find new partners, but in the end had to break apart the supplement kits and sell them separately to recoup the million dollar investment.
"It's really how you show up in the moment, and you've got to be resourceful as an entrepreneur; you've got to feel failure, anxiety, overwhelm; like, cry it out for a minute, and then pull yourself together and move forward with emotional detachment and keep your eyes focused on the goal and on end solutions." ~ Christa Orecchio
How to avoid this kind of situation? Clear communication is everything!
Help everyone on your team take radical personal responsibility for their role: this helps the whole business run better!
Find the right people with the right skill set, and teach them how to work with you! Don't be a people pleaser, and if they can't work with you, then they aren't a good fit.
Your partners are a conduit of trust: they have a tribe of people who know, like, and trust them, and when they partner with you, they transfer that trust to you! Be picky about your partners, and only find those who are serving their tribe the way you want to serve.
"As an entrepreneur, you're either managing overwhelm or isolation." ~ Christa Orecchio
To avoid some of the overwhelm, get organized! Know where everything is that you need; use tools like Google Drive or Dropbox.
"I'm going to die someday, so I have to get everything that's inside me out into the world just in case." ~ Christa Orecchio
Christa shares what she would tell her younger self.

Connect with Christa Orecchio:

Music produced by Deejay-O www.iamdeejayo.com

Does College Matter? | Success Shortcuts Jul 13, 2019

Show notes

Did you go to college and get a formal education, or is it something you're thinking about for your future?

Especially after the recent college admissions scandal, the importance of a college education is a hot topic. In this Success Shortcut, Michelle talks a little bit about what we really learn in college and how much it factors into entrepreneurial success. The most important thing to remember is that whether you went to college or not, at the end of the day it will be the hustle, grit, determination and discipline you have that creates results and gets you major success.

Enjoy today's Success Shortcut and thank you for listening! Join me every Saturday for a new insight that will boost your confidence, take the stress out of selling, and help you level up your business and your life.

To share your thoughts:

Email The Pitch Queen @ hello@thepitchqueen.com
Ask a question over at www.ThePitchQueen.com
Share Success Unfiltered on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, & LinkedIn

To help the show out:

Please leave an honest written review on iTunes. Your ratings and reviews really help and I read each one.
Subscribe to the show on iTunes.
Share the show with a friend, family member, or another entrepreneur!

Are you ready to take your life and business to the next level? If you have big dreams of success, I have something for you. I've put together a special program to help you develop the mindset of some of the most successful people on the planet. It's called Success Unfiltered Online: How to Think and Act like an 8-figure Entrepreneur.

This is the real world stuff I've learned from 20+ years of entrepreneurship and from having deep conversations with many other 8-figure entrepreneurs on this podcast, Success Unfiltered.

Regardless of where you are today, even if you are struggling as an entrepreneur, this will help you take your business to the next level! These insights are what the most successful people on the planet rely on to grow their business to 8-figures and beyond and make all their dreams come true.

If you're ready to start acting and thinking like an 8-figure entrepreneur, head over to 8figuretips.com to learn more.

111 | Will Smelko Shares How to Find Investors that Lead to Strategic Moves Jul 10, 2019

Show notes

111 | Will Smelko Shares How to Find Investors that Lead to Strategic Moves

What value do investors add to your business relationship? And what value do you add?

Will Smelko is the visionary and CEO behind Ora Organic as well as a fervent foodie. Upon graduating from UC Berkeley, he dove headfirst into the world of strategy consulting for Fortune 500 healthcare and pharmaceutical companies but soon realized his calling was elsewhere. Understanding that the most promising solution to climate change involved food, Will began exploring plant-based nutrition. Ora is changing the status-quo by creating nutritional products made directly from food without artificial additives. Ora reflects the values of its co-founders, which is why the company prioritizes organic farming, sustainable harvesting practices, and delicious, plant-based nutrition.

When you're starting out, it can be very tempting to just accept money from anyone who is offering it, and figure things out after. But, vetting our investors can help us strategically grow our business.

You started your business because you were passionate about the product you manufacture, or the service that you provide - not solely for the money. That means you want investors who are going to be able to help that business move forward: you know what your business needs, who has the connections and the ability to meet those needs? That's who you want as an investor.

I know how tempting it is to take money from any investor when you have none. When I started FITzee Foods, I accepted money from any investor who was willing to give. But if I had taken the time and interviewed potential investors to see what value they could bring, and if I had figured out what value I brought to them, it would have completely changed how I approached investors in my business.

This week's guest on Success Unfiltered, Will Smelko, started his plant-based nutrition company, and instead of accepting any investor interested in his business, he faced his fears and asked the hard questions.

Are you ready to see how vetting investors strategically can lead to success? You'll find all that AND MORE in this episode of Success Unfiltered!

Enjoy, and thank you for listening and tuning into Success Unfiltered!

To share your thoughts:

Email The Pitch Queen @ hello@thepitchqueen.com
Ask a question over at www.ThePitchQueen.com
Share Success Unfiltered on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, & LinkedIn

To help the show out:

Please leave an honest review on iTunes. Your ratings and reviews really help and I read each one.
Subscribe to the show on iTunes.

Special thanks goes out to Will Smelko for taking the time to chat with Michelle. Be sure to join us next week for our next new episode!

If You Don't Believe In Yourself, Nobody Else Will. But why is doing it so hard? Most entrepreneurs can learn strategies. But the strategies are useless if your mind is stacked against you. What do you do to stop the negative self-talk and become your own biggest cheerleader? Start by investing in the most vital asset your business has: YOU. Grab my FREE guide Believing In Yourself (For REAL This Time) and let me show you how!

Here are a few key secrets we talked about in this episode:

Michelle introduces Will Smelko.
Will, the Shark Tank veteran of the month, created a plant-based supplement, named Ora Organics to avoid additives in food and supplements.
The most NOs that Will heard were in the early days, from investors: there was a long string of NOs!
In the beginning, a lot of people said NO because it was a product that had a negative connotation: many people were not interested in supplements.
One of the earliest NO's was overcoming objections through education; helping people see that their supplements weren't "artificial"; that they were made from plant-based products.
Working with investors can be hard because they ask the tough questions: some of which you don't have answers! Prepare as much as possible, and embrace that you won't have all of the answers in the end.
Learn what numbers and metrics are important, and focus on those. Make sure that you are working with the data that is most important to you and your company.
When investors don't give money, sales will keep you afloat!
"When we are out there talking to investors, you can figure out pretty quickly (in the first 5 or 10 minutes) what investors care about." ~ Will Smelko
Instead of catering to all of your different audiences, go back to the core of who you are and what your company is all about. That will naturally attract the right kind of investors and help vet out the ones that aren't the best fit.
Shark Tank was especially defeating because most of the Sharks said NO so quickly, and they critiqued the packaging. Ora Organics was able to turn it into a conversation on social media, and have conversations with their consumers.
Ora Organics had to go to a completely new manufacturer, and risk selling out of stock on hand. When it came to making that decision, it came down to staying true to their core values.
Will and his team vetted potential investors to see if they'd actually be a good fit for the company and the culture. It was scary to do that, for fear of investors feeling like they weren't trusted, but Will and his team would follow up with references.
The key thing that they looked for was value for both parties: "If you can't sit down and write out clearly on paper exactly where this, "value add" investment fund is actually going to add value, then they're not a value add."
It took Will a while to grow into being the kind of entrepreneur who would vet investors. "The 2015 Will would have just been like 'Oh my God I'm so grateful that these people are talking to me! Maybe we'll get an investment! I don't know if I should even call - if I call the references, are they going to think that I'm like doubting them?' I lacked that self-confidence at an early stage. I was just happy to be talking to someone and that they hadn't told me NO yet." ~Will Smelko
Will and his team knew that even if the company failed, they would still be committed to creating the product, and would somehow be involved in something like it. That kept them going through the hard times.
Will shares what he would tell his younger self.

Connect with Will Smelko:

Music produced by Deejay-O www.iamdeejayo.com

How to Detach from the Outcome in Sales | Success Shortcuts Jul 06, 2019

Show notes

Do you get overly attached to the outcome of a sales conversation or business meeting?

If you're focusing too much on yourself or living in scarcity when it comes to your business (and your life), making the sale is going to be way more difficult than it has to be. Any sales conversation is NOT about you. In this shortcut, Michelle shares how to detach from the outcome and move into problem solving mode so you can show up in a different way with your clients and customers so that you get a YES.

To share your thoughts:

Email The Pitch Queen @ hello@thepitchqueen.com
Ask a question over at www.ThePitchQueen.com
Share Success Unfiltered on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, & LinkedIn

To help the show out:

Please leave an honest written review on iTunes. Your ratings and reviews really help and I read each one.
Subscribe to the show on iTunes.
Share the show with a friend, family member, or another entrepreneur!

This is the real world stuff I've learned from 20+ years of entrepreneurship and from having deep conversations with many other 8-figure entrepreneurs on this podcast, Success Unfiltered.

If you're ready to start acting and thinking like an 8-figure entrepreneur, head over to 8figuretips.com to learn more.

110 | Luna Shimada Teaches Us How to Discover Our Superpower Jul 03, 2019

Show notes

110 | Luna Shimada Teaches Us How to Discover Our Superpower

What is your business superpower?

It's what makes you unique and special; and when you use that superpower, you stand out from the crowd.

Luna Shimada has been performing in top venues across the world from Europe to Japan to America, and the showrooms of Las Vegas. Luna is a philosopher and a teacher of magic and her many talents encompass writing, dance, & performance art spoken word.

Luna began her career on stage early at the age of 12 and has spent the last 30 years honing her craft and is now recognized in the world of magic today as one of the best female magicians of our time. Luna has paved the way for many woman to follow in a profession that has primarily been a male dominated field. Luna has created her own distinctive style of performance magic that is unique, dramatic, sensual and thought provoking. She is the quintessential renaissance woman of our day.

In the face of rejection, having practices that help us align and find our superpower is so important! It may be yoga, meditation, or spiritual practices, but these help us to refocus, not become bitter, and to keep our eye on the prize.

When I had to close FITzee Foods, it was hard, but it helped me to find and tap into my superpower: helping entrepreneurs learn about sales, and helping you through this podcast, & learning the stories of others who are going through the same things as you.

This way, you can learn from the success and mistakes of others, and find an easier road to success!

This week's guest on Success Unfiltered, Luna Shimada is a second generation magician who struggled to find her superpower after feeling suppressed and not good enough for years. When she leaned into what made her special and unique in her industry, she unlocked her superpower and began to see amazing success!

Are you ready to see how knowing your superpower can change your business? You'll find that this episode of Success Unfiltered is a MUST LISTEN!

Enjoy, and thank you for listening and tuning into Success Unfiltered!

To share your thoughts:

Email The Pitch Queen @ hello@thepitchqueen.com
Ask a question over at www.ThePitchQueen.com
Share Success Unfiltered on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, & LinkedIn

To help the show out:

Please leave an honest review on iTunes. Your ratings and reviews really help and I read each one.
Subscribe to the show on iTunes.

Special thanks goes out to Luna Shimada for taking the time to chat with Michelle. Be sure to join us next week for our next new episode!

Business Rejection: It's NOT About YOU...BUT it Can Help You! Does a customer rejection mean you aren't good at what you do? Not at all. Is there a gift in the sting of rejection? You bet there is! Click here and learn 3 reasons why a NO is actually a future YES (and how to start seeing it that way right NOW)!

Here are a few key secrets we talked about in this episode:

Michelle introduces Luna Shimada.
Most people join an entertainment career later in life: Luna was literally born into the world of magic.
At the age of 8, her father told her she didn't have what it took to be successful like him, and started her down a path of doubting herself and standing in the shadows.
She married a fellow magician and became his assistant, but when the time came for her to step out of the shadows and perform, he suppressed that.
Luna decided that it was time to chase her dreams and her passion, and that meant that she had to walk away from that marriage.
"I don't think that there is a cookie cutter mold that everyone can fit into, especially when you're promoting something like yourself. And you're selling yourself as a product. It's about cultivating a relationship with your audience." ~ Luna Shimada
"I think that you can't overcome anything unless you first really take the time to take some personal inventory and learn who you are and what it is that you want. If you don't know what you want then you don't know what your direction is." ~ Luna Shimada
When setting off on her own, Luna quickly realized that she didn't want to be like regular magicians, using tricks and illusions to entertain. She wanted to evoke good feelings in her audience.
Instead of finding what she had in common with others, Luna focused on what made her unique.
"Everyone I believe comes into this world with a particular superpower, a talent, a gift that only they excel in better than anyone else." ~ Luna Shimada
Luna found herself in a place where she had to reinvent herself: after her divorce, she lost the business she had spent 15 years developing, and had to find something new.
Everyday, Luna faces rejection. As a woman in a male-dominated world, she has to constantly keep pushing against stereotypes.
"Be true to yourself. First of all believe in your vision. Don't get derailed or influenced into becoming something that you're not. Don't compromise your integrity. Because there's a lot of temptation for that. A lot. And I have always stuck to my guns. I have always been true to my vision; true to myself." ~ Luna Shimada
When it comes to facing rejection, Luna has sage advice: "Don't waste any time or energy being angry with the people that oppress you or suppress you because that's a waste of energy. It isn't about that. In the end the biggest obstacle that lies before us is ourselves."
Luna shares what she would tell her younger self.

Connect with Luna Shimada:

Music produced by Deejay-O www.iamdeejayo.com

What Does It Take to Be Successful? | Success Shortcuts Jun 29, 2019

Show notes

What does it take to be successful?

In this shortcut, Michelle talks about what it really takes to be successful and what it means to "pay the success tax." Being successful is truly a result facing NO's and rejections head on, putting in the work, and doing whatever it takes to make your dreams a reality. Ask yourself…are you willing to pay success tax?

To share your thoughts:

Email The Pitch Queen @ hello@thepitchqueen.com
Ask a question over at www.ThePitchQueen.com
Share Success Unfiltered on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, & LinkedIn

To help the show out:

Please leave an honest written review on iTunes. Your ratings and reviews really help and I read each one.
Subscribe to the show on iTunes.
Share the show with a friend, family member, or another entrepreneur!

This is the real world stuff I've learned from 20+ years of entrepreneurship and from having deep conversations with many other 8-figure entrepreneurs on this podcast, Success Unfiltered.

If you're ready to start acting and thinking like an 8-figure entrepreneur, head over to 8figuretips.com to learn more.

109 | Iain Grae - When Was the Last Time You Took the Pulse of Your Prospect? Jun 26, 2019

Show notes

109 | Iain Grae - When Was the Last Time You Took the Pulse of Your Prospect?

Do you perform pulse checks with your prospects?

Iain has spoken and worked in groups as small as six and spoken to groups of over 10,000 people. His passion for human potential radiates from his presence. The only thing he enjoys more than making personal improvements is helping others to reach new heights.

Iain Grae is a serial entrepreneur who lives life with a passion for creating inspirational experiences. He started his first small business in his teens and continues to build his portfolio. His first major success came in his mid-twenties when he founded Innovation Ads, Inc. – a New York based advertising agency which grew from just himself to over 150 employees in just three short years at which point he sold it. Iain currently owns San Antonio Raceway & Cycle Ranch MX Park which allows him to build family friendly events that enable people to pursue their childhood dreams. He uses a unique management style to empower his employees & customers alike to make the experience all that they want it to be.

Iain regularly attends and participates in conscious raising experiences and events. He holds a Masters in Organizational Leadership from Mercy College in New York and a Bachelors in Marketing from Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton. He sees life as a quest for continuous education and firmly believes in the Law of Attraction and the power of positive belief. He attributes his success to surrounding himself with great people and always being ready to learn something new.

Iain is happily married to Gabrielle Grae and they currently split their time between San Antonio, TX, Miami, FL & traveling the globe attending or creating consciousness raising events.

When you get to the end of a presentation, and you're about to close the sale, you can get information that you need to mitigate the impact of a NO, or even change the answer! These pulse checks can be the key to a closed sale!

I teach accountants how to have confidence in closing sales, and there was one accountant who I recently had an enrollment call with, who I knew was a great fit for my program. But when I did a pulse check, he was interested... however it wasn't the right time for him. By asking the right questions, I was able to find out this useful information.

This week's guest on Success Unfiltered, Iain Grae, is a serial entrepreneur with multiple 7 figure businesses. His goal is to help one thousand people become millionaires by 2023 - and he knows just how to leverage a pulse check in business to close a sale!

Are you ready to see how passion, a pulse check, and asking the right questions can help you get to 7 figures? You'll find that this episode of Success Unfiltered is a MUST LISTEN!

Enjoy, and thank you for listening and tuning into Success Unfiltered!

To share your thoughts:

Email The Pitch Queen @ hello@thepitchqueen.com
Ask a question over at www.ThePitchQueen.com
Share Success Unfiltered on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, & LinkedIn

To help the show out:

Please leave an honest review on iTunes. Your ratings and reviews really help and I read each one.
Subscribe to the show on iTunes.

Special thanks goes out to Iain Grae for taking the time to chat with Michelle. Be sure to join us next week for our next new episode!

Why Clients Say NO...And Why It's NOT The End Of The World. So you made your pitch. And the client said NO. Does that mean NO forever...or just "not right now?" Let me show you 3 reasons why being rejected today doesn't mean you won't make the sale tomorrow. Don't lose heart! Grab my FREE guide "3 Ways To Turn a NO Into a YES" right HERE!

Here are a few key secrets we talked about in this episode:

Michelle introduces Iain Grae.
Iain shares about his businesses, including his advertising agency in New York, and the San Antonio raceway.
Iain started his career working for an agency at low pay rates, making outbound calls trying to get as many decision makers on the phone as possible!
When Iain was making those calls, he heard more than a hundred NO's each day, and learned to see those as a blessing so that he could learn from each NO!
He took the time to get introspective and look into why people said NO to the products and services that he was selling, and learn from that.
There is a reason behind every NO!
Start your pitches with an intention that everyone can agree with. Help your clients and leads see that you are there to serve them.
Sales are everywhere.
Learn to take a "pulse check" to learn if your client is ready to buy. Ask, "on a scale of 1 to 10, how do you feel about this?" They will tell you!
When you speak to a company in a way that they can connect with you, they will want to buy from you.
Iain started his agency in New York with NO support: he was turned away from a young entrepreneur's group because he hadn't made enough money yet.
When he was rejected from that group, he decided that he was going to create a place where people just getting started could find the support that he didn't have.
Big risks bring big rewards: Iain started his agency with credit card funding, and used the credit cards to create cash flow.
There was no option but success for Iain - he "burned his boats" so he couldn't go back to the life he had led in the past!
His entrepreneurial journey started from a NO! When he asked his dad for a motocross bike, his dad said NO, because they didn't have money. Iain found a way to make money, and bought his own motocross bike.
"I'm going to look at possibilities as opportunities." ~ Iain Grae
NO can often come from misaligned intentions and perspective. Do everything that you can to align yourself as a YES!
A change in Iain's perspective aligns him better with a YES.
Iain shares what he would tell his younger self.

Connect with Iain Grae:

Music produced by Deejay-O www.iamdeejayo.com

How to Stop Thinking of Sales as Pushy | Success Shortcuts Jun 22, 2019

Show notes

In this week's Success Shortcut, Michelle gives you a new way to think about selling. In the end, selling is truly all about problem solving. If you can get to the root cause of someone's problem, the sale becomes something your potential client or buyer needs and now wants from you. If you want a new perspective on sales to help your client and also help you, then this success shortcut is for you.

To share your thoughts:

Email The Pitch Queen @ hello@thepitchqueen.com
Ask a question over at www.ThePitchQueen.com
Share Success Unfiltered on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, & LinkedIn

To help the show out:

Please leave an honest written review on iTunes. Your ratings and reviews really help and I read each one.
Subscribe to the show on iTunes.
Share the show with a friend, family member, or another entrepreneur!

This is the real world stuff I've learned from 20+ years of entrepreneurship and from having deep conversations with many other 8-figure entrepreneurs on this podcast, Success Unfiltered.

If you're ready to start acting and thinking like an 8-figure entrepreneur, head over to 8figuretips.com to learn more.

108 | Angelia Trinidad Shares How To Live Your Passion & Make Millions Jun 19, 2019

Show notes

108 | Angelia Trinidad Shares How To Live Your Passion & Make Millions

Do you work alone, or do you have a team?

Angelia Trinidad is the CEO and founder of Passion Planner. Her parents both immigrated to the United States from the Philippines hoping to give their children a better life. Angelia is one of four children and was born and raised in San Diego. She was admitted to UCLA with the intention of studying medicine, but after realizing that it wasn't something that she was passionate about, she switched over to studying art despite her parent's disapproval. After graduating from UCLA in 2012 with a degree in Arts Education, she was caught in a period of directionless floating.

That's when she created Passion Planner, a tool that would help people create the life they've always wanted. Passion Planner is now a thriving multimillion dollar company that challenges the norms and boundaries of a traditional business. Her persistence and ambition have evolved Passion Planner not only into a company but a lifestyle and a family.

Now, Angelia aims to give back to her community and to help those who also feel stuck in directionless floating. She does so by giving out free Passion Planners to students, non-profit organizations, and other individuals who cannot afford it and offers the PDF download for free on the Passion Planner website. Angelia hopes that with the help of Passion Planner, she'll be able to encourage and empower individuals to create the life they've always wanted.

This week's guest on Success Unfiltered, Angelia Trinidad, decided that she hated her baking business she once had.

When she sat down to figure out what her passion actually was, and what she needed to do to achieve it, she found that her process of finding her passion was the plan! She designed a planner around it, posted it on Kickstarter, and went from $60 in her bank account to $2.5 million in the bank.

Are you ready to see how passion, and working with a passionate team can change your business and put millions in the bank? You'll find that this episode of Success Unfiltered is a MUST LISTEN!

Enjoy, and thank you for listening and tuning into Success Unfiltered!

To share your thoughts:

Email The Pitch Queen @ hello@thepitchqueen.com
Ask a question over at www.ThePitchQueen.com
Share Success Unfiltered on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, & LinkedIn

To help the show out:

Please leave an honest review on iTunes. Your ratings and reviews really help and I read each one.
Subscribe to the show on iTunes.

Special thanks goes out to Angelia Trinidad for taking the time to chat with Michelle. Be sure to join us next week for our next new episode!

You Love What You Do. So How Do You SELL It? If you love what you do but you choke up on the pitch, you're not alone! How do you share what you do so it's clear, intriguing, and memorable? Learn how to ROCK your sales pitch (without feeling like a fake!) with my FREE guide, "3 Steps To ROCK Your Pitch (And Get More Sales)"

Here are a few key secrets we talked about in this episode:

Michelle introduces Angelia Trinidad.
Angelia talks about the Passion Planner, and how it's a "paper life coach."
"It pretty much asks you what you want out of life and helps to create it step by step action plan to get there." ~ Angelia Trinidad
The Passion Planner Kickstarter campaign went viral, but then a ship port strike caused the planners to be delayed during shipping to the customers who purchased them on the Kickstarter campaign.
The team had to order new planners, and keep Kickstarter backers updated every step of the way: transparency was key!
It wasn't difficult for Angelia because of the money; issues like this are part of the business!
Angelia is pretty spontaneous and has had to learn to work ahead, especially in making planners!
"I think that a lot of people really connected with me as a person, as well as my company to really show like there's really a human person that's just trying to do good and trying to do their best." ~ Angelia Trinidad
Angelia's biggest NO came from when she came out as gay and had to learn to grow a thick skin in the face of rejection.
Before Passion Planner, Angelia had created a macaroon business, but hated it!
She was burnt out, and ready to quit, but she was stubborn and stuck with it.
When you do something you hate, that can lead to depression and frustration and burn out.
On vacation, she realized she needed to change, and do something she loved instead. So she sat down to figure it out, and realized that making the plan on finding her passion WAS THE plan!
Through Kickstarter and the Passion Planner website, they raised more than $2.5 million dollars. Angelia went from $60 in her bank account to $2.5 million!
When it comes to saying YES to something, Angelia has advice: "I don't think that you should do it unless it's a HELL YES from you." Business owners get burnt out when they say YES or NO to the wrong things!
It's your responsibility to be responsible for your emotions in business. You think you have to say YES - but what if they needed to hear a NO from you to light their spark of passion?
Angelia told Michelle NO many times to appearing on this podcast, and finally said YES! But it was about the right timing for her: she took a sabbatical, rested, and didn't break that for anyone and their expectations on her.
As the Passion Planner company stabilized and leveled off, Angelia had to lay off nearly half of their workforce.
Establishing expectations in business is key, along with transparency.
Empower leaders on your team to make decisions that you would make. Turn them into an extension of your brain, because you cannot do everything!
Angelia shares what she would tell her younger self.

Connect with Angelia Trinidad:

Music produced by Deejay-O www.iamdeejayo.com

Focus on What You Want | Success Shortcuts Jun 15, 2019

Show notes

Have you ever stressed about paying the bills or wondered where your next paycheck is coming from, or do you struggle with "positive thinking"?

In today's Success Shortcut I'm talking about the importance of focusing on the right things. What you focus on is what you want attract and a simple shift in what you focus on can change the results you get in your business and your life. I also share how living by the motto "Be, Do, Have" will put you on the path to success.

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This is the real world stuff I've learned from 20+ years of entrepreneurship and from having deep conversations with many other 8-figure entrepreneurs on this podcast, Success Unfiltered.

If you're ready to start acting and thinking like an 8-figure entrepreneur, head over to 8figuretips.com to learn more.

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