March 27, 2025 • 28 mins
In this episode of the Beyond Fulfillment Podcast, join international business and life guide Mel McSherry as she shares her inspiring entrepreneurial journey.
Discover how Mel navigated the challenges of entrepreneurship, including managing a thriving business while balancing family life, and how she turned setbacks into plot twists. Learn about her unique approach to energy management, profitability, and sustainable success.
Mel also discusses the importance of aligning with your zone of genius and using your energy effectively to achieve your entrepreneurial goals.
[00:00:02] Introduction to Mel McSherry
[00:00:34] Mel’s journey into entrepreneurship
[00:04:26] Breakthrough in Beachbody
[00:05:02] Transition to full-time coaching
[00:11:51] The significance of mental and emotional profitability
[00:23:05] Guiding entrepreneurs through transitional phases
Gain actionable insights on avoiding burnout and prioritizing your mental and emotional wellness alongside financial success. Perfect for entrepreneurs, small business owners, and start-up founders eager to learn from successful entrepreneurs.
If you found value in this episode, please consider subscribing and hitting the notification bell to stay updated with our latest content. Join our community of driven entrepreneurs and transform your business journey!
Don't forget to check the links in the description for more ways to connect with Mel McSherry and explore her coaching services.
Connect with Mel on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/melmcsherry/
#InternationalBusiness #Entrepreneur #CertifiedPersonalTrainer #ChicagoCubs #PostpartumDepression #VirtualAdministrator #OnlineMedicalBilling #ProfitabilityBuckets #Beachbody #OnlineHealthAndFitnessCoach #TeamProductivity #BusinessCoaching #JohnCMaxwell #CoachingCertification #SpiritualTools #HumanDesign #EnergeticBlueprint #SustainableSuccess #MentalProfitability #EmotionalProfitability #BurnOut #InspiredEntrepreneurs #TransitionalSpots #CorporateEntrepreneurship #HallwaysOfOpportunity #SelfTrust #ArchitectOfSuccess
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Today we sit down with MelMcSherry, an international business
and life guide who's beenempowering entrepreneurs and inspiring
change for over a decade.
Mel got her start in thefitness industry with success in
personal training and buildinga name with her bridal boot camps
in Chicago.
Her journey took her throughtransition, including Beachbody,
(00:23):
where she became a mentor known.
For managing not just time,but energy.
Mel unveils her uniqueperspective on navigating navigating
the entrepreneurial journeywith sustainability, sharing personal
plot twists and her experiencewith the John C.
Maxwell's coaching program.
We'll dive into her innovativeapproach using human design to guide
(00:46):
clients the importance ofmental, emotional and financial profitability
and how to thrive in thoseuncertain hallway spaces between
life's newly opened doors.
Get ready to be inspired andequipped with insights to become
the architect of your very own success.
As always, if you found valuefrom this content, please like and
(01:09):
subscribe.
Hello everyone and welcome toanother episode of the Beyond Fulfillment
Podcast.
I'm your host Dave Goulas andthis week my guest is international
business and Life guide Mel McSherry.
Welcome Mel.
Thanks Dave.
So excited to be here.
Absolutely.
We appreciate you taking thetime if you could.
(01:32):
Mel, you've been anentrepreneur for the past decade
or so.
Can you just walk us throughhow you got into business and what
the journey's been like for you?
Absolutely, yeah.
I've been an entrepreneursince 2010 and I actually started
in the fitness industry.
I was a certified personal trainer.
I did in home training,outdoor boot camps.
(01:55):
Actually got really well knownin the Chicago area for my bridal
boot camps.
And when my son was born in2011, I was married to his father
at the time, who at the timewas part of the media relations department
for the Chicago Cubs, whichmeant he was gone two months straight
for spring training.
Worked every single home game,took every other away trip and Arcada
(02:16):
was born in the middle of thebaseball season.
So trying to figure out how togo to my clients homes, know, maintain
kind of the schedule that Ihad with this newborn son was becoming
pretty difficult.
Sprinkle in some undiagnosedpostpartum depression and we had
ourselves a party that first year.
So it had me kind of create orgo through what I kind of call my
(02:39):
first plot twist and that wasto put a pin in my business and actually
be a virtual administrator fora couple of IT companies as well
as do some online medicalbilling for my father's company remotely
that was located in Phoenix, Arizona.
And I always love to includethese pieces into my story Because
(03:00):
I, I'm sure you've heard manystories where there's been many plot
twists and I, I don't want toglaze over the fact that sometimes
us as entrepreneurs, we needto make decisions that aren't necessarily
in an alignment with our longterm goal as opposed, you know, in
regards to what we want tobuild as entrepreneurs.
But it does fulfill some sortof what I call profitability buckets.
(03:21):
So when I talk aboutprofitability, it's threefold, mentally,
emotionally and financially.
And so in order for me to workon my mental and emotional buckets,
I needed to fulfill thefinancial one.
And those kind of side hustlesof online medical billing and being
a VA was able to give me thatspace to do so and really reconfigure
what I wanted in regards to,you know, how I wanted to provide
(03:43):
for my family and how I wantedto create my business with this new
information.
So that actually turned intoconnecting with a network marketing
company called Beachbody.
I was an online health andfitness coach for them with the focus
of I just wanted to be anonline health and fitness coach.
I didn't want to do the heygirl messages.
I didn't really want to buildmy team.
I just wanted to be able tosupport people through their fitness
(04:05):
journeys.
And it turned out that I waspretty instantly successful in that
realm and I was consistently successful.
And that caught the attentionof my leader as again, I was what
I coined a married single momwith this now two to three year old.
And yet I was consistentlyheading, you know, my success club
(04:26):
goals and bringing inconsistent clients.
And so she asked me to createa training of like, okay, what is
the day in the life of Mel?
How are you able to beconsistent with all of this, you
know, stuff that's on your plate?
And the funny thing is Ididn't really think much about it.
I didn't think I was doinganything revolutionary.
But when I actually sat andthought about how I was scheduling
(04:46):
my day, I realized that whatwas the difference between me and
most was not only was Imanaging my time, I was also managing
my energy, which meant when Iwould wake up in the morning, I would
first check in on myself oflike, okay, how am I feeling?
How much energy do I have?
Then I would look at, okay,how much time do I have to work on
my business?
Then I would look at my to dolist and I would match the to dos
(05:09):
that matched not only myenergy, but my also my time.
And that allowed me to be morefluid inside of how I completed things.
But also was able to beconsistent because no matter what
energy level I was at, I wasstill working inside of my business.
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(05:52):
And so I created this kind ofquick tutorial of how I did that.
She put it in the new coachbootcamp and all of a sudden her
team's productivity exploded.
People just turned to me andwanted to be on my team.
So all of a sudden I foundmyself with a pretty big team and
we found ourselves in the top1% of the company that following
year.
So that got the attention ofother people inside of Beachbody.
(06:15):
So I started doing team callsand trainings for them.
That got the attention ofpeople in other network marketing
companies.
So I started doing team callsand trainings for them.
And then my next plot Twistcame in 2015 when I was in the middle
of my divorce and realized Ihad one foot in, quote unquote, business
coaching, the other foot infitness, and neither of them going
anywhere because I was tryingto, you know, create the sort of
(06:36):
balance.
And I realized if there was atime to maneuver and recreate myself,
it was, you know, a great time.
And so through Beachbody, Ihad a year long internship with John
C.
Maxwell, who is like thebusiness coaches of all business
coaches.
He's been around for decades.
And I really fell in love withthe, the aspect of coaching, of supporting
(07:00):
people, of not being theperson who necessarily has the answers
but has the space and theguidance to be able to help people
find their best answers andtheir best systems.
So I got my coachingcertification through him and his
international leadership team,left Beachbody 2016, started business
coaching, as I called it atthe time, in 2017.
(07:22):
And then that has just beenslowly and surely evolving from being
a very kind of traditionalpragmatical coach where I had my,
you know, my five steps, myframeworks, my, you know, my boundaries
to now introducing andimplementing more spiritual tools.
So I now use a tool calledhuman design that really helps me
(07:45):
understand my clientsblueprint, their energetic blueprint,
as well as how they make theirbest decisions, their why behind
their hows, so they can honortheir lives and be the true architect
of their success in their own way.
And it's Been an evolutionever since.
(08:05):
Wow.
Okay.
Appreciate the, the detail there.
Phenomenal story and so muchto get into there.
Okay, so let me start, too,because you.
You reference plot twists.
Yeah.
Right.
And I, I love that framingbecause, you know, some of these
(08:26):
events seem like you, youknow, you could label it as a setback
or a.
Yeah, you know, where you havea newborn and your husband's gone
with work all the time, andnow you have to get side hustles
and give up on your businessto be at home and take care of your
newborn and dealing with thepostpartum depression.
(08:46):
And someone could look at thatand just call it, you know, a setback
or whatever.
But a plot twist, like, wheredid you begin to, like, frame these
life events like that?
Actually, I believe it was ameme I saw on Pinterest eons ago
where it just said, you know,yell plot twist and move on.
(09:06):
And I've never been a believerin step backs.
I don't think you can everstep back.
I believe that you can step tothe side and you can get a different
perspective or a kind of apausing place for you to recollect
yourself.
Because one of my favoritequestions that I ask myself and my
clients often is, what do I want?
(09:26):
And I don't think a lot of usstart with that question.
We start with, what do I needto do?
What should I do?
Instead of what, you know,what we want internally as opposed
to externally.
And so I've always had thatframework, and I think it stemmed
from my father being an entrepreneur.
I grew up, you know, livingthrough several very unsuccessful
(09:51):
businesses and seen what thatcan do to him, what that can do to
us as a family and how wemoved through that together.
And he also always had thatenergy of, okay, this wasn't necessarily
a failure.
This was a learning point.
And he learned so much throughthose very unsuccessful businesses
(10:11):
that now at the age of, let'ssay, I'm going to probably flub this,
but I think he's going to bealmost 70, 70 this year.
He is retiring from creating amultimillion dollar company that
he started with just him and asecretary 30 years ago.
So it's been a reallybeautiful lens for me to grow up
(10:33):
in, and I think thatdefinitely has given me more and
more of a example of how toreframe things.
So they're not failures,they're just lessons learned, new
information that I can makenew decisions from.
Absolutely.
Okay.
And also, you talk so oftenabout energy, and we, we've all seen
(10:56):
this to where you Know, peoplethat are not in the right field and
they're not doing somethingthat's aligned with what, what they're
meant to do.
And yeah, you know, two hoursof, of work can, can drain them completely.
Where on the flip side, ifpeople are just passionate about
what they're doing and they'realigned and they're involved, they
(11:16):
could work 12 hours andthat'll energize them and they're
ready to go another 12.
Right.
So talk more about like the,this focus of, of energy and how
that came about in, in yourcoaching practice.
Yeah, so as I mentionedearlier, it was, it was just a natural
check in for me first of just,okay, how did I sleep last night?
(11:37):
What, you know, what's mykiddo up to?
And giving myself a lot of grace.
Though, to be fair, it wasgrace that I would also grumble with
every now and then because Iwould have a set idea of what I wanted
to do and that, you know, witha kiddo and things like that, things
can shift very quickly.
So learning how to give myselfgrace when those things happened,
but especially when I startedutilizing my human design, understanding
(12:01):
the starting and stoppingpoints of my energy, because, yes,
of when we are in something,every single one of us, when we are
inside of something that givesus, you know, passion and is in alignment
with our calling, we feel thatwe can do it all day.
And actually some of us shouldn't.
Some of us should really takethose breaks because we have certain
(12:23):
elements inside of our humandesign that need breaks, that need
rest.
And so by understanding howyour energy really is when you're
in that flow, helps you notonly be profitable mentally, emotionally,
financially, every single dayinside of your business, but also
doesn't take anything awayfrom your life.
You can transfer thatinformation or that energy and blend
(12:46):
it in your life as well.
So it's definitely becomesomething that I feel is important
because we do get tootraditional with that, too structured
with how to build a business.
And we have made it very stepby step, whereas we need to add back
in the fact that we are human,that we are experiencing things throughout
(13:09):
the day, and we areindividuals inside of our own processes.
So how can we connect to ourindividuality again, our why behind
our how so we can confidentlydo what we need to do without the
overextension and the overwhelm.
Okay.
And so often too, youmentioned the traditional structure
(13:30):
of business.
So often too we seeentrepreneurs where, you know, we
all know how challenging itcan be and they just want to grind
it out.
Right.
And it's you know, and you,you mentioned the three buckets of
profitability where it's notjust financial, but also your mental
profitability and youremotional profitability.
(13:51):
So yeah, for someone maybethat's not familiar with that and
they're very much in the.
Just, you know, I'm, I'm justgonna, I'm gonna hustle and I'm gonna
grind until I make this work.
Can you talk about how, howthey can look at those other two
buckets and potentially startto implement those.
Yeah, those two buckets arenon negotiable if you want to create
(14:13):
a sustainable success.
I think we get too caught upin just the word success.
Like as soon as we hitsuccess, we're going to feel X, Y,
Z, or then I can do ABCinstead of understanding that this
is a process, this is a journey.
And in order for you to trulycreate and be the architect of that
(14:34):
success, you need to find thatsustainability day in, day out.
Because as I'm sure you know,as an entrepreneur, not every day
is sunshine and roses andthere are cycles and seasons of,
you know, very quiet, scary,unknown times.
And we can't rely ontraditional ROIs to motivate us to
(14:57):
continue on.
We need to find those mentaland emotional profitability points
to continue to help us lookfor those glimmers and therefore
continue to use that energytowards that successful, that financial
success.
So I think it's just, it's,it's one of those points where it
is going to bite you in thebutt if you don't take the time to
(15:20):
take care of yourself as wellas take care of your business.
I know.
Bit me in the butt.
In 2023, I actually took, Iput my business on autopilot to recover
from, you know, from COVID I had.
I'm in the city of Chicago, sowe were in lockdown for a pretty
long while.
My kiddo, who is autistic, wasdoing virtual learning for a year
(15:43):
and a half.
So I had to be his general edteacher, his special ed teacher,
his occupational therapist,his speech therapist, plus be a business
owner.
And though I maintained it inthat time period pretty well, we
all survived.
I had an after effect that Ineeded to go back to those mental
and emotional buckets and likeI said, put my business on, on hold,
(16:06):
on autopilot so I could takethe time and energy to get back to
me.
So when you get too focused onthe goals or too focused on the actions
and don't check in onyourself, that's when burnout happens.
That's when overextension,overwhelm, exhaustion happens, and
it can feel like it comes outof nowhere.
(16:27):
But I'm pretty sure if youlooked back at that timeline, you
would see that all thosespaces that you said yes to out of
scarcity or just out of thatmomentum of saying yes, you should
have said no and waited for abetter one.
For a better yes.
Ah, okay.
A better yes.
(16:49):
So in terms of too, when likenot chasing every opportunity, really
taking time to evaluate and,and check in with yourself, rather
than just maybe a pure ROI interms of, is that, is that fair to
say?
Yeah, because you're, you'remore than just an roi.
This is something you startedyour business because you were passionate
about something because youwant to create some sort of change.
(17:12):
And changes don't happenovernight for yourself or for, you
know, the community or for the collect.
It takes time.
And in order for us to beinside of that change, we need to
create that sustainability.
John Maxwell actually has aquote that I absolutely love, and
he says sometimes you have tosay no to the good so you can say
(17:34):
yes to the best.
And it is that quantifier ofor qualifier of.
Okay, I'm being asked to do this.
Let me take a pause, a step tothe side, right?
And go, okay, this is what'son my plate.
Is this in alignment with my goal?
Is this something that Ireally need to do right now?
Or is this something that Inow know is available and therefore,
(17:55):
when I do have the time,energy, capacity, I can go back and
look for that same opportunity.
So it really helps usprioritize where we spend our time
and energy, which thennaturally affects our mental and
emotional and financial profitability.
Okay.
All right.
And so you mentioned withinthe story too, where it seemed like
(18:16):
you had an innate ability tobe a leader, be a coach, kind of
help people thrive.
And you started doing thatjust on your own via.
Via Beachbody and some of theother stuff.
Then later on, when youtransitioned full time into coaching,
you mentioned the John Maxwell program.
So how did that help you takeyour business to another level?
(18:39):
First, just helping meunderstand what business coaching
is.
Again, I kind of had this.
Now I just had this assumptionthat in order to be a business coach,
you had to have all theanswers, right?
You had to know everything andjust know all the funnels, all the
processes, just the, you know,the streamlined way of how you can
(18:59):
help everybody get what they want.
And what I really appreciatedabout spending time with, with John
as well as inside of his teamis the intersectionality inside of
it all the fact that you arenot here to hand them everything
on a silver platter.
You can't.
You're human.
You only know so much.
You have your areas of, youknow, you have your, your special
(19:20):
areas, your zone of genius.
And to share that as well asbe open to having more education
and be open to flowing with,with inside that evolution for yourself
as well.
The other part I reallyappreciated was how he introduced
to me the power of speakingand what a beautiful resource that
(19:42):
is, not only as a leadgenerator, but also so I can be accessible
and a resource to those whomay not be able to afford my guidance
or just didn't even know thatguidance like myself and the type
that I provide exists.
So it really opened my eyesto, to the profitability of coaching
as well as what not to do.
(20:04):
It's not about, like I said,it's not about.
I have the one thing that youneed to create xyz.
It is.
I am here.
Here is my tools, my zone of genius.
This is how I love to support.
How can I support you?
Okay.
All right.
And so you mentioned the zoneof genius and clearly that's something
(20:24):
everyone has.
And so often we see justthroughout the workforce and life
that so many people are notoperating within their zone of genius
professionally.
Right.
And we see that a common issuein terms of just careers that aren't
maybe the right fit or thepeople aren't happy with.
(20:45):
So what are some things thatyou'd recommend people where if they
know they're in a career or ina situation that they're not happy
with and they really havegenius somewhere else, but they don't
know how to transition.
What are, what are some waysthat you would recommend they start
to look at that?
That's a great question.
You know, I would again goback to that question that I love
(21:06):
to ask, which is, what do you want?
What do I want?
How do I want my day to look?
How do I want to feel?
What is it in my day, day today right now that I look forward
to?
Are there elements inside ofthe spaces that you are in that you
just really, really love?
Love and which are the spacesthat you don't want?
I think understanding what youdon't want is just as important because
(21:29):
then you can start to filterout those, I don't want to say negative
spaces, but definitely thosenot so much spaces and kind of gives
you those red flags fasterwhen you are looking to transition
because it is easy to stay ina routine.
It is easy to stay withsomething because it's familiar.
And moving out of that can bereally scary and jarring because
(21:53):
there is a lot of unknowns.
But when it is something thatis truly connected to who you are
and what you want, findingthose resources that you already
have, whether that isconversations through, you know,
mentors, networking, or evenjust spending more time in those
spaces that really energizeyou and light you up, you will find
(22:15):
those things to respond to.
You will find that informationfor those next steps.
So I think it's.
It's trusting what you alreadyknow to be true, utilizing the resources
that you already have, and beopen to how that could look.
Don't get too caught up in the.
I already have 15 steps done.
Great things might pivot atstep two.
(22:37):
So understanding where that,again, that core belief and that
core direction comes from willhelp you navigate those plot twists
as well as really justgrinding into your passions, who
you are, what you want tocreate, and how you want to feel
every single day as you create it.
(22:57):
Okay, and it sounds likeusing, like, the feeling almost as
guidance and feedback in termsof, like, I'm on the right path here
and being open to where ittakes you.
Absolutely.
Yeah.
Your.
Your.
Your system is naturallyattuned to your design.
So I've mentioned human designa couple of times, and human design
(23:18):
is a tool that is acombination of Kabbalah, I Ching,
astrology, chakras, andquantum physics.
And it's your energetic blueprint.
And the beautiful thing is, isthat we naturally work inside of
it every single day.
It's what we were born with.
It's what we will die with.
It never changes.
It never shifts.
What tends to happen, though,is we go too far because we've been
(23:39):
conditioned by, again, what wethink we need to do or what we should
do.
And when you do come back tonow this feels right.
That is your natural true north.
That is your guiding light.
And I.
I believe by taking time tounderstand your human design a little
bit deeper, you get thatvalidation and confirmation as well
(24:01):
as that vernacular.
So you can advocate for howyou want to create what you want,
as well as help you understandwhat rooms are the best rooms to
be in again, what you want,and also what rooms not to be in,
what you don't want sooner.
So that path just becomes alittle bit more fluid and that awareness
(24:21):
becomes just more upfront andon point.
Okay.
All right.
And so, Mel, with your.
With your coaching business,who are the clients that you know
that are your ideal clients that.
That you.
You help in terms of the thedifferent entrepreneurs.
Yeah, I always like to say Ilike to help and inspired yet overwhelmed
(24:44):
entrepreneurs who aretypically in a transitional spot
or as I like to call in a hallway.
We always talk about the doorsof opportunity, but rarely do we
talk about the hallways in between.
And I love to guide peoplethrough those hallways.
So it, and that can be in anyideation throughout your journey
as an entrepreneur.
That could be shifting fromcorporate to entrepreneurship.
(25:06):
It could be shifting from, youknow, one career to another.
But anytime that we are movingthrough a plot twist, it's time for
us to gather new information.
So for us to reevaluate whatagain, what we want, what we don't
want, what do we want to makesure that we try or what we don't
do the next time.
And so any, any entrepreneur,especially I love entrepreneurs,
(25:29):
but I do work with, withcorporate as well.
Anytime that any, an inspiredhuman is finding themselves in that
transitional spot, that's whenI love to step in and, and guide
them and help them reallyconnect to that self trust and that
self confidence as, as well ashelp them create a plan of action
that is profitable mentally,emotionally and financially as they
(25:53):
build what they want and againhonor their lives and be the architect
of their success.
Okay, and the hallwayreference, that's not something that
we hear about a whole lot.
You typically the, the clicheterm is when one door closes, another
one open.
Yeah.
But you reference thatsometimes there can be a long hallway
filled with uncertainty rightbefore you get to that next door.
(26:17):
So I guess is that somethingin terms of you specialize in helping
people move through that uncertainty?
Absolutely.
Yeah, absolutely.
And help them not rush to thatnext door and make decisions out
of fear or out of scarcity,but to learn their pace.
Because again, this is aboutsustainability, a sustainable success.
(26:40):
And I don't know about you,but I can only run so far, so long
before I get exhausted.
And we want that stability inour lives.
And so by taking our timethroughout these hallways, it gives
us that, it builds thatconfidence and that trust again,
not only in ourselves, but inour process.
So when that next hallwaycomes, because there will always
(27:01):
be another hallway, we neverdo the same thing every day.
The environment, as we areseeing around us, shifts all the
time.
We then have the, theoperations manual and the capability
to move with it and continueto be sustainably successful as we
continue to evolve and move.
(27:23):
Well said.
All right.
And Mel, if people want to getin touch with you and learn more
about your coaching anddifferent ways that they can work
with you, what's the best waypeople can reach out to you.
Yeah.
So I absolutely love to get toknow people.
So I do offer a complimentary30 minute virtual coffees, safe space,
no sales, no pressure.
If you would like to spend alittle bit of time with me, you can
(27:44):
book that at virtual coffeewith Mel.com or feel free to connect
with me on LinkedIn,MelMcSherry on Instagram, Mel_McSherry
or check out myservices@melmcsherry.com all right.
And we'll link all that in theshow notes for everyone.
All right.
Well, Mel, thank you so muchfor taking the time to be here, sharing
these valuable lessons fromyour journey and all the incredible
(28:08):
things that you're doing tohelp others.
We greatly appreciate it.
Thank you so much, David.
It was an honor to be here.
All right.
And that's all the time wehave for now.
We will see you next time.
Today we sit down with MelMcSherry, an international business
and life guide who's beenempowering entrepreneurs and inspiring
change for over a decade.
Mel got her start in thefitness industry with success in
personal training and buildinga name with her bridal boot camps
in Chicago.
Her journey took her throughtransition, including Beachbody,
(00:23):
where she became a mentor known.
For managing not just time,but energy.
Mel unveils her uniqueperspective on navigating navigating
the entrepreneurial journeywith sustainability, sharing personal
plot twists and her experiencewith the John C.
Maxwell's coaching program.
We'll dive into her innovativeapproach using human design to guide
(00:46):
clients the importance ofmental, emotional and financial profitability
and how to thrive in thoseuncertain hallway spaces between
life's newly opened doors.
Get ready to be inspired andequipped with insights to become
the architect of your very own success.
As always, if you found valuefrom this content, please like and
(01:09):
subscribe.
Hello everyone and welcome toanother episode of the Beyond Fulfillment
Podcast.
I'm your host Dave Goulas andthis week my guest is international
business and Life guide Mel McSherry.
Welcome Mel.
Thanks Dave.
So excited to be here.
Absolutely.
We appreciate you taking thetime if you could.
(01:32):
Mel, you've been anentrepreneur for the past decade
or so.
Can you just walk us throughhow you got into business and what
the journey's been like for you?
Absolutely, yeah.
I've been an entrepreneursince 2010 and I actually started
in the fitness industry.
I was a certified personal trainer.
I did in home training,outdoor boot camps.
(01:55):
Actually got really well knownin the Chicago area for my bridal
boot camps.
And when my son was born in2011, I was married to his father
at the time, who at the timewas part of the media relations department
for the Chicago Cubs, whichmeant he was gone two months straight
for spring training.
Worked every single home game,took every other away trip and Arcada
(02:16):
was born in the middle of thebaseball season.
So trying to figure out how togo to my clients homes, know, maintain
kind of the schedule that Ihad with this newborn son was becoming
pretty difficult.
Sprinkle in some undiagnosedpostpartum depression and we had
ourselves a party that first year.
So it had me kind of create orgo through what I kind of call my
(02:39):
first plot twist and that wasto put a pin in my business and actually
be a virtual administrator fora couple of IT companies as well
as do some online medicalbilling for my father's company remotely
that was located in Phoenix, Arizona.
And I always love to includethese pieces into my story Because
(03:00):
I, I'm sure you've heard manystories where there's been many plot
twists and I, I don't want toglaze over the fact that sometimes
us as entrepreneurs, we needto make decisions that aren't necessarily
in an alignment with our longterm goal as opposed, you know, in
regards to what we want tobuild as entrepreneurs.
But it does fulfill some sortof what I call profitability buckets.
(03:21):
So when I talk aboutprofitability, it's threefold, mentally,
emotionally and financially.
And so in order for me to workon my mental and emotional buckets,
I needed to fulfill thefinancial one.
And those kind of side hustlesof online medical billing and being
a VA was able to give me thatspace to do so and really reconfigure
what I wanted in regards to,you know, how I wanted to provide
(03:43):
for my family and how I wantedto create my business with this new
information.
So that actually turned intoconnecting with a network marketing
company called Beachbody.
I was an online health andfitness coach for them with the focus
of I just wanted to be anonline health and fitness coach.
I didn't want to do the heygirl messages.
I didn't really want to buildmy team.
I just wanted to be able tosupport people through their fitness
(04:05):
journeys.
And it turned out that I waspretty instantly successful in that
realm and I was consistently successful.
And that caught the attentionof my leader as again, I was what
I coined a married single momwith this now two to three year old.
And yet I was consistentlyheading, you know, my success club
(04:26):
goals and bringing inconsistent clients.
And so she asked me to createa training of like, okay, what is
the day in the life of Mel?
How are you able to beconsistent with all of this, you
know, stuff that's on your plate?
And the funny thing is Ididn't really think much about it.
I didn't think I was doinganything revolutionary.
But when I actually sat andthought about how I was scheduling
(04:46):
my day, I realized that whatwas the difference between me and
most was not only was Imanaging my time, I was also managing
my energy, which meant when Iwould wake up in the morning, I would
first check in on myself oflike, okay, how am I feeling?
How much energy do I have?
Then I would look at, okay,how much time do I have to work on
my business?
Then I would look at my to dolist and I would match the to dos
(05:09):
that matched not only myenergy, but my also my time.
And that allowed me to be morefluid inside of how I completed things.
But also was able to beconsistent because no matter what
energy level I was at, I wasstill working inside of my business.
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(05:52):
And so I created this kind ofquick tutorial of how I did that.
She put it in the new coachbootcamp and all of a sudden her
team's productivity exploded.
People just turned to me andwanted to be on my team.
So all of a sudden I foundmyself with a pretty big team and
we found ourselves in the top1% of the company that following
year.
So that got the attention ofother people inside of Beachbody.
(06:15):
So I started doing team callsand trainings for them.
That got the attention ofpeople in other network marketing
companies.
So I started doing team callsand trainings for them.
And then my next plot Twistcame in 2015 when I was in the middle
of my divorce and realized Ihad one foot in, quote unquote, business
coaching, the other foot infitness, and neither of them going
anywhere because I was tryingto, you know, create the sort of
(06:36):
balance.
And I realized if there was atime to maneuver and recreate myself,
it was, you know, a great time.
And so through Beachbody, Ihad a year long internship with John
C.
Maxwell, who is like thebusiness coaches of all business
coaches.
He's been around for decades.
And I really fell in love withthe, the aspect of coaching, of supporting
(07:00):
people, of not being theperson who necessarily has the answers
but has the space and theguidance to be able to help people
find their best answers andtheir best systems.
So I got my coachingcertification through him and his
international leadership team,left Beachbody 2016, started business
coaching, as I called it atthe time, in 2017.
(07:22):
And then that has just beenslowly and surely evolving from being
a very kind of traditionalpragmatical coach where I had my,
you know, my five steps, myframeworks, my, you know, my boundaries
to now introducing andimplementing more spiritual tools.
So I now use a tool calledhuman design that really helps me
(07:45):
understand my clientsblueprint, their energetic blueprint,
as well as how they make theirbest decisions, their why behind
their hows, so they can honortheir lives and be the true architect
of their success in their own way.
And it's Been an evolutionever since.
(08:05):
Wow.
Okay.
Appreciate the, the detail there.
Phenomenal story and so muchto get into there.
Okay, so let me start, too,because you.
You reference plot twists.
Yeah.
Right.
And I, I love that framingbecause, you know, some of these
(08:26):
events seem like you, youknow, you could label it as a setback
or a.
Yeah, you know, where you havea newborn and your husband's gone
with work all the time, andnow you have to get side hustles
and give up on your businessto be at home and take care of your
newborn and dealing with thepostpartum depression.
(08:46):
And someone could look at thatand just call it, you know, a setback
or whatever.
But a plot twist, like, wheredid you begin to, like, frame these
life events like that?
Actually, I believe it was ameme I saw on Pinterest eons ago
where it just said, you know,yell plot twist and move on.
(09:06):
And I've never been a believerin step backs.
I don't think you can everstep back.
I believe that you can step tothe side and you can get a different
perspective or a kind of apausing place for you to recollect
yourself.
Because one of my favoritequestions that I ask myself and my
clients often is, what do I want?
(09:26):
And I don't think a lot of usstart with that question.
We start with, what do I needto do?
What should I do?
Instead of what, you know,what we want internally as opposed
to externally.
And so I've always had thatframework, and I think it stemmed
from my father being an entrepreneur.
I grew up, you know, livingthrough several very unsuccessful
(09:51):
businesses and seen what thatcan do to him, what that can do to
us as a family and how wemoved through that together.
And he also always had thatenergy of, okay, this wasn't necessarily
a failure.
This was a learning point.
And he learned so much throughthose very unsuccessful businesses
(10:11):
that now at the age of, let'ssay, I'm going to probably flub this,
but I think he's going to bealmost 70, 70 this year.
He is retiring from creating amultimillion dollar company that
he started with just him and asecretary 30 years ago.
So it's been a reallybeautiful lens for me to grow up
(10:33):
in, and I think thatdefinitely has given me more and
more of a example of how toreframe things.
So they're not failures,they're just lessons learned, new
information that I can makenew decisions from.
Absolutely.
Okay.
And also, you talk so oftenabout energy, and we, we've all seen
(10:56):
this to where you Know, peoplethat are not in the right field and
they're not doing somethingthat's aligned with what, what they're
meant to do.
And yeah, you know, two hoursof, of work can, can drain them completely.
Where on the flip side, ifpeople are just passionate about
what they're doing and they'realigned and they're involved, they
(11:16):
could work 12 hours andthat'll energize them and they're
ready to go another 12.
Right.
So talk more about like the,this focus of, of energy and how
that came about in, in yourcoaching practice.
Yeah, so as I mentionedearlier, it was, it was just a natural
check in for me first of just,okay, how did I sleep last night?
(11:37):
What, you know, what's mykiddo up to?
And giving myself a lot of grace.
Though, to be fair, it wasgrace that I would also grumble with
every now and then because Iwould have a set idea of what I wanted
to do and that, you know, witha kiddo and things like that, things
can shift very quickly.
So learning how to give myselfgrace when those things happened,
but especially when I startedutilizing my human design, understanding
(12:01):
the starting and stoppingpoints of my energy, because, yes,
of when we are in something,every single one of us, when we are
inside of something that givesus, you know, passion and is in alignment
with our calling, we feel thatwe can do it all day.
And actually some of us shouldn't.
Some of us should really takethose breaks because we have certain
(12:23):
elements inside of our humandesign that need breaks, that need
rest.
And so by understanding howyour energy really is when you're
in that flow, helps you notonly be profitable mentally, emotionally,
financially, every single dayinside of your business, but also
doesn't take anything awayfrom your life.
You can transfer thatinformation or that energy and blend
(12:46):
it in your life as well.
So it's definitely becomesomething that I feel is important
because we do get tootraditional with that, too structured
with how to build a business.
And we have made it very stepby step, whereas we need to add back
in the fact that we are human,that we are experiencing things throughout
(13:09):
the day, and we areindividuals inside of our own processes.
So how can we connect to ourindividuality again, our why behind
our how so we can confidentlydo what we need to do without the
overextension and the overwhelm.
Okay.
And so often too, youmentioned the traditional structure
(13:30):
of business.
So often too we seeentrepreneurs where, you know, we
all know how challenging itcan be and they just want to grind
it out.
Right.
And it's you know, and you,you mentioned the three buckets of
profitability where it's notjust financial, but also your mental
profitability and youremotional profitability.
(13:51):
So yeah, for someone maybethat's not familiar with that and
they're very much in the.
Just, you know, I'm, I'm justgonna, I'm gonna hustle and I'm gonna
grind until I make this work.
Can you talk about how, howthey can look at those other two
buckets and potentially startto implement those.
Yeah, those two buckets arenon negotiable if you want to create
(14:13):
a sustainable success.
I think we get too caught upin just the word success.
Like as soon as we hitsuccess, we're going to feel X, Y,
Z, or then I can do ABCinstead of understanding that this
is a process, this is a journey.
And in order for you to trulycreate and be the architect of that
(14:34):
success, you need to find thatsustainability day in, day out.
Because as I'm sure you know,as an entrepreneur, not every day
is sunshine and roses andthere are cycles and seasons of,
you know, very quiet, scary,unknown times.
And we can't rely ontraditional ROIs to motivate us to
(14:57):
continue on.
We need to find those mentaland emotional profitability points
to continue to help us lookfor those glimmers and therefore
continue to use that energytowards that successful, that financial
success.
So I think it's just, it's,it's one of those points where it
is going to bite you in thebutt if you don't take the time to
(15:20):
take care of yourself as wellas take care of your business.
I know.
Bit me in the butt.
In 2023, I actually took, Iput my business on autopilot to recover
from, you know, from COVID I had.
I'm in the city of Chicago, sowe were in lockdown for a pretty
long while.
My kiddo, who is autistic, wasdoing virtual learning for a year
(15:43):
and a half.
So I had to be his general edteacher, his special ed teacher,
his occupational therapist,his speech therapist, plus be a business
owner.
And though I maintained it inthat time period pretty well, we
all survived.
I had an after effect that Ineeded to go back to those mental
and emotional buckets and likeI said, put my business on, on hold,
(16:06):
on autopilot so I could takethe time and energy to get back to
me.
So when you get too focused onthe goals or too focused on the actions
and don't check in onyourself, that's when burnout happens.
That's when overextension,overwhelm, exhaustion happens, and
it can feel like it comes outof nowhere.
(16:27):
But I'm pretty sure if youlooked back at that timeline, you
would see that all thosespaces that you said yes to out of
scarcity or just out of thatmomentum of saying yes, you should
have said no and waited for abetter one.
For a better yes.
Ah, okay.
A better yes.
(16:49):
So in terms of too, when likenot chasing every opportunity, really
taking time to evaluate and,and check in with yourself, rather
than just maybe a pure ROI interms of, is that, is that fair to
say?
Yeah, because you're, you'remore than just an roi.
This is something you startedyour business because you were passionate
about something because youwant to create some sort of change.
(17:12):
And changes don't happenovernight for yourself or for, you
know, the community or for the collect.
It takes time.
And in order for us to beinside of that change, we need to
create that sustainability.
John Maxwell actually has aquote that I absolutely love, and
he says sometimes you have tosay no to the good so you can say
(17:34):
yes to the best.
And it is that quantifier ofor qualifier of.
Okay, I'm being asked to do this.
Let me take a pause, a step tothe side, right?
And go, okay, this is what'son my plate.
Is this in alignment with my goal?
Is this something that Ireally need to do right now?
Or is this something that Inow know is available and therefore,
(17:55):
when I do have the time,energy, capacity, I can go back and
look for that same opportunity.
So it really helps usprioritize where we spend our time
and energy, which thennaturally affects our mental and
emotional and financial profitability.
Okay.
All right.
And so you mentioned withinthe story too, where it seemed like
(18:16):
you had an innate ability tobe a leader, be a coach, kind of
help people thrive.
And you started doing thatjust on your own via.
Via Beachbody and some of theother stuff.
Then later on, when youtransitioned full time into coaching,
you mentioned the John Maxwell program.
So how did that help you takeyour business to another level?
(18:39):
First, just helping meunderstand what business coaching
is.
Again, I kind of had this.
Now I just had this assumptionthat in order to be a business coach,
you had to have all theanswers, right?
You had to know everything andjust know all the funnels, all the
processes, just the, you know,the streamlined way of how you can
(18:59):
help everybody get what they want.
And what I really appreciatedabout spending time with, with John
as well as inside of his teamis the intersectionality inside of
it all the fact that you arenot here to hand them everything
on a silver platter.
You can't.
You're human.
You only know so much.
You have your areas of, youknow, you have your, your special
(19:20):
areas, your zone of genius.
And to share that as well asbe open to having more education
and be open to flowing with,with inside that evolution for yourself
as well.
The other part I reallyappreciated was how he introduced
to me the power of speakingand what a beautiful resource that
(19:42):
is, not only as a leadgenerator, but also so I can be accessible
and a resource to those whomay not be able to afford my guidance
or just didn't even know thatguidance like myself and the type
that I provide exists.
So it really opened my eyesto, to the profitability of coaching
as well as what not to do.
(20:04):
It's not about, like I said,it's not about.
I have the one thing that youneed to create xyz.
It is.
I am here.
Here is my tools, my zone of genius.
This is how I love to support.
How can I support you?
Okay.
All right.
And so you mentioned the zoneof genius and clearly that's something
(20:24):
everyone has.
And so often we see justthroughout the workforce and life
that so many people are notoperating within their zone of genius
professionally.
Right.
And we see that a common issuein terms of just careers that aren't
maybe the right fit or thepeople aren't happy with.
(20:45):
So what are some things thatyou'd recommend people where if they
know they're in a career or ina situation that they're not happy
with and they really havegenius somewhere else, but they don't
know how to transition.
What are, what are some waysthat you would recommend they start
to look at that?
That's a great question.
You know, I would again goback to that question that I love
(21:06):
to ask, which is, what do you want?
What do I want?
How do I want my day to look?
How do I want to feel?
What is it in my day, day today right now that I look forward
to?
Are there elements inside ofthe spaces that you are in that you
just really, really love?
Love and which are the spacesthat you don't want?
I think understanding what youdon't want is just as important because
(21:29):
then you can start to filterout those, I don't want to say negative
spaces, but definitely thosenot so much spaces and kind of gives
you those red flags fasterwhen you are looking to transition
because it is easy to stay ina routine.
It is easy to stay withsomething because it's familiar.
And moving out of that can bereally scary and jarring because
(21:53):
there is a lot of unknowns.
But when it is something thatis truly connected to who you are
and what you want, findingthose resources that you already
have, whether that isconversations through, you know,
mentors, networking, or evenjust spending more time in those
spaces that really energizeyou and light you up, you will find
(22:15):
those things to respond to.
You will find that informationfor those next steps.
So I think it's.
It's trusting what you alreadyknow to be true, utilizing the resources
that you already have, and beopen to how that could look.
Don't get too caught up in the.
I already have 15 steps done.
Great things might pivot atstep two.
(22:37):
So understanding where that,again, that core belief and that
core direction comes from willhelp you navigate those plot twists
as well as really justgrinding into your passions, who
you are, what you want tocreate, and how you want to feel
every single day as you create it.
(22:57):
Okay, and it sounds likeusing, like, the feeling almost as
guidance and feedback in termsof, like, I'm on the right path here
and being open to where ittakes you.
Absolutely.
Yeah.
Your.
Your.
Your system is naturallyattuned to your design.
So I've mentioned human designa couple of times, and human design
(23:18):
is a tool that is acombination of Kabbalah, I Ching,
astrology, chakras, andquantum physics.
And it's your energetic blueprint.
And the beautiful thing is, isthat we naturally work inside of
it every single day.
It's what we were born with.
It's what we will die with.
It never changes.
It never shifts.
What tends to happen, though,is we go too far because we've been
(23:39):
conditioned by, again, what wethink we need to do or what we should
do.
And when you do come back tonow this feels right.
That is your natural true north.
That is your guiding light.
And I.
I believe by taking time tounderstand your human design a little
bit deeper, you get thatvalidation and confirmation as well
(24:01):
as that vernacular.
So you can advocate for howyou want to create what you want,
as well as help you understandwhat rooms are the best rooms to
be in again, what you want,and also what rooms not to be in,
what you don't want sooner.
So that path just becomes alittle bit more fluid and that awareness
(24:21):
becomes just more upfront andon point.
Okay.
All right.
And so, Mel, with your.
With your coaching business,who are the clients that you know
that are your ideal clients that.
That you.
You help in terms of the thedifferent entrepreneurs.
Yeah, I always like to say Ilike to help and inspired yet overwhelmed
(24:44):
entrepreneurs who aretypically in a transitional spot
or as I like to call in a hallway.
We always talk about the doorsof opportunity, but rarely do we
talk about the hallways in between.
And I love to guide peoplethrough those hallways.
So it, and that can be in anyideation throughout your journey
as an entrepreneur.
That could be shifting fromcorporate to entrepreneurship.
(25:06):
It could be shifting from, youknow, one career to another.
But anytime that we are movingthrough a plot twist, it's time for
us to gather new information.
So for us to reevaluate whatagain, what we want, what we don't
want, what do we want to makesure that we try or what we don't
do the next time.
And so any, any entrepreneur,especially I love entrepreneurs,
(25:29):
but I do work with, withcorporate as well.
Anytime that any, an inspiredhuman is finding themselves in that
transitional spot, that's whenI love to step in and, and guide
them and help them reallyconnect to that self trust and that
self confidence as, as well ashelp them create a plan of action
that is profitable mentally,emotionally and financially as they
(25:53):
build what they want and againhonor their lives and be the architect
of their success.
Okay, and the hallwayreference, that's not something that
we hear about a whole lot.
You typically the, the clicheterm is when one door closes, another
one open.
Yeah.
But you reference thatsometimes there can be a long hallway
filled with uncertainty rightbefore you get to that next door.
(26:17):
So I guess is that somethingin terms of you specialize in helping
people move through that uncertainty?
Absolutely.
Yeah, absolutely.
And help them not rush to thatnext door and make decisions out
of fear or out of scarcity,but to learn their pace.
Because again, this is aboutsustainability, a sustainable success.
(26:40):
And I don't know about you,but I can only run so far, so long
before I get exhausted.
And we want that stability inour lives.
And so by taking our timethroughout these hallways, it gives
us that, it builds thatconfidence and that trust again,
not only in ourselves, but inour process.
So when that next hallwaycomes, because there will always
(27:01):
be another hallway, we neverdo the same thing every day.
The environment, as we areseeing around us, shifts all the
time.
We then have the, theoperations manual and the capability
to move with it and continueto be sustainably successful as we
continue to evolve and move.
(27:23):
Well said.
All right.
And Mel, if people want to getin touch with you and learn more
about your coaching anddifferent ways that they can work
with you, what's the best waypeople can reach out to you.
Yeah.
So I absolutely love to get toknow people.
So I do offer a complimentary30 minute virtual coffees, safe space,
no sales, no pressure.
If you would like to spend alittle bit of time with me, you can
(27:44):
book that at virtual coffeewith Mel.com or feel free to connect
with me on LinkedIn,MelMcSherry on Instagram, Mel_McSherry
or check out myservices@melmcsherry.com all right.
And we'll link all that in theshow notes for everyone.
All right.
Well, Mel, thank you so muchfor taking the time to be here, sharing
these valuable lessons fromyour journey and all the incredible
(28:08):
things that you're doing tohelp others.
We greatly appreciate it.
Thank you so much, David.
It was an honor to be here.
All right.
And that's all the time wehave for now.
We will see you next time.
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