November 24, 2025 • 25 mins
Have you found yourself in dire circumstances and wondered what might come out of it? Our guest today is Michelle Campbell, who shares how her resilience and perseverance can forge a new direction to help others through similar challenges.
TODAY'S WIN-WIN:
It is never too late to choose a better path.
LINKS FROM THE EPISODE:
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https://bigskyfranchiseteam.com/franchisesalestraining/ - You can visit our guest's website at:
- Connect with our guest on social:
- https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61561259970143
- https://www.instagram.com/bluebirdmemoir/
- https://www.tiktok.com/@taxshell
- https://x.com/tax_shell
- https://www.youtube.com/@taxshell6072
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/michelle-c-1a697b318
ABOUT OUR GUEST:
Michelle Campbell was born and raised in Omaha, Nebraska, and began her educational journey in South Dakota before relocating to Atlanta, Georgia, to continue her studies. During her academic pursuits, she launched a real estate investment firm, marking the beginning of her entrepreneurial path. Over the years, Michelle expanded her ventures into various industries, including horticulture, where she founded an interiorscape company, and logistics, where she established a commercial trucking business. Drawing on the insights and expertise gained across these diverse fields, she transitioned into a career in the financial services industry. Michelle is also the author of Bluebird, a memoir that candidly explores themes of trauma, heartbreak, and the resilience found in life’s struggles.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_00 (00:01):
Welcome to the Multiply Your Success podcast,
where each week we helpgrowth-minded entrepreneurs and
franchise leaders take the nextstep in their expansion journey.
I'm your host, Tom Dufour, CEOof Big Sky franchise team.
And as we open today, I'mwondering have you ever found
yourself in dire circumstancesand wondered what might come of
it?
(00:21):
What might be the outcome?
And during those situations,finding maybe the opportunity or
a way to be thankful orgrateful.
And with Thanksgiving fast uponus, it's my favorite holiday and
a way to find and give thanks.
And our guest today is MichelleCampbell, and she shares with us
(00:42):
how her resilience andperseverance through really
difficult situations helped herforge a new direction to help
others through similar kinds ofchallenges.
Now, Michelle was born andraised in Omaha, Nebraska, and
began her journey in SouthDakota before relocating to
Atlanta.
During her academic pursuits,she launched a real estate
(01:02):
investment firm and otherentrepreneurial journeys,
including businesses inhorticulture, interiorscape, and
logistics companies, and evencommercial trucking.
She's the author of the bookBluebird, a memoir that candidly
explores themes of trauma,heartbreak, and resilience found
in life's struggles.
You're going to love thisinterview, so let's go ahead and
(01:24):
jump right into it.
SPEAKER_01 (01:26):
Thank you so much, Tom, for having me.
My name is Michelle Campbell.
Professionally, I am an enrolledagent credentialed with the IRS.
And so I am that tax nerd thatwill not shut up.
I am all over this big,beautiful bill.
I cannot wait to educate it toeveryone.
But I also have a nonprofit,hashtag stability, and we
(01:48):
empower through financialstability.
And so merging my tax knowledgeand financial background with
just wanting to give back andeducate, that's me in a
nutshell.
SPEAKER_00 (02:01):
That's fantastic.
Well, thank you for sharingthat.
And I love your nonprofit andthe work you're doing there.
And that's one of the reasons Iwanted to have you on the show
is to talk a little bit aboutthis.
And how'd you end up startingthis nonprofit?
What led you to get into this?
SPEAKER_01 (02:16):
I recently wrote and published a book, and it's
titled Bluebird.
And the book pretty much is thestory behind the cause.
And so this book, I I put 21years of journal entries in a
book for the whole world tojudge, but it's it seriously is
what set me free.
And then that's when I like justtook off.
I was like, oh, this is exactlywhat I'm supposed to be doing.
(02:38):
Everything made sense.
But so I just in the book, Italk about experiencing five
evictions, four repossessions,three bankruptcies, a sexual
assault, and$500,000 in debt.
But by the end of the book, Idiscovered how all of that was
purposed to get me to where I amtoday.
(03:01):
And really what it was was aboutbeing able to connect with other
people.
And so I take people along thejourney.
And the nonprofit, it kind ofjust fell in my lap.
I started doing this on my ownin 2017, just, you know, my own
money, my own efforts, randomacts of kindness, helping
(03:23):
complete strangers, like kind ofbeing the angel that I wish that
I would have had.
And I always promised myselfthat when I got everything
together in my life, that I wasgoing to do it on a larger
level.
And I just had no idea that itwas going to come together like
this.
And I mean, I am indeed a serialentrepreneur.
I started my first business whenI was 21.
(03:45):
And that was in real estatedevelopment, investments, and
development.
And then had a bunch of littlesmall businesses, then moved on
to commercial trucking, and thenfinally landed in the financial
services industry.
And it's funny how sometimeswhen you're going through it,
you don't think about thethings, the path that you're on,
(04:08):
the journey that you're on, andhow they're all going to work
together.
You're just like thinking, oh,it's just a job, or I'm doing
this, or this is fun for themoment.
But then I was able to see that,first of all, what I went to
school for was not what I endedup doing.
How being an entrepreneur andnot having the money and the
means to hire somebody like me,not having the money to hire an
(04:32):
attorney or a tax professionalor accountant that being
self-taught and teaching methose things would eventually
start earning me certificationsand then credentials, and then
now preaching to the world,whoever will listen to me about
US tax law.
SPEAKER_00 (04:49):
Oh, wow.
Well, one of the things we weretalking about was how you help
folks with financial literacyand kind of helping work through
that and having lived through onone side of it and then kind of
coming around now to the otherside, the different things
you've learned.
And the one phrase you use thatstood out was this idea of just
(05:10):
life transparency or presentlife transparency.
So I'd love for you just to talkabout that.
What do you mean by that and howdoes it work?
SPEAKER_01 (05:18):
One of my aha moments, there's been, of
course, several.
And now I purposely look for ahamoments, like I'm like addicted
to it.
But one of the biggest ahamoments was when I put
everything together, you know,because the question always was
like, why is this happening tome?
Why, you know, I wasn't alwaysbeing reckless with money.
(05:39):
And I, you know, I know how tobudget.
I had a budget, and I had fourand five jobs sometimes.
It just did not make sense.
But when I put everythingtogether and I had just that aha
moment, I felt like I need totell people this because during
all that, I felt so alone.
I mean, the one thing thatconnects us to me the most is
(06:00):
the one thing that we don't talkabout.
We don't talk about money.
You're not sitting at lunch withyour friends saying, so what's
your credit score?
But I feel like we shouldbecause it's nothing to be
embarrassed about and shamefulabout.
And who knows?
I mean, if if you both have lowcredit scores, then you can do
the journey together.
If one has a higher score thanthe other, then you can help.
(06:22):
You know, it's it's it's reallife transparency that we need
to be the most transparentabout, not this mask that we put
on for the world.
I last week, I think I justexplained how we're all wearing
a mask all day with what youwear and where you go and what
you're interested in.
(06:43):
But what about the internalinsecurities and things that
you're kind of like embarrassedand shameful about?
Like, what about those?
So once I had that aha momentand brought it all together, I'm
just like, I have to tell theworld.
And then, and that was veryhard.
It's not hard or it's not easybeing that honest.
(07:04):
But once I put it out there, Ifelt like years and years of
like just stress, weight, shamelift off of me.
And so I just decided, I thinkthat's what I'm gonna do.
I'm gonna, you know, everybody'ssaying that they're keeping it
100 and they're really not.
But so I'm gonna do my best totry to really keep it 100 and in
(07:24):
present life, let people knowjust because I got through this
doesn't mean that I'm never evergonna have any problems with
anything ever again.
I mean, that's just life.
And I feel like it should, andand it does connect us because
then whoever's on the other endlistening is like, oh, well, I
don't feel so alone becauseshe's, you know, openly
(07:45):
admitting it.
I mean, we're on the world wideweb.
We don't know who's gonna listento this.
But, you know, she's openlyadmitting these things.
So I don't feel so bad.
I don't feel so alone.
You know, it's not something tobe so shameful and embarrassed
about.
SPEAKER_00 (07:59):
It makes me think as well, not only just feeling that
you're not alone, but thatperson you may be sharing that
with, they might have a solutionpotentially that you hadn't
thought about or a connection tosomeone, for example, like you.
They hear someone's story say,you know, you got to talk to
Michelle and see what hercompany might be able to assist
you with.
It's just these connectionpoints.
(08:20):
So I think that's very, verywell said.
SPEAKER_01 (08:22):
Absolutely.
And I've somehow always been aconnector of people.
I used to get really offendedbecause, you know, I would have
different friends that didn'tknow each other, but I would
introduce everybody and somehowI get kicked out of the clip.
But, you know, maybe that wasjust, you know, where my journey
(08:42):
with them was supposed to stop.
I was supposed to introduce themfor whatever reason.
And so, I mean, we're all hereto share something that we have,
if only compassion, honestly.
SPEAKER_00 (08:54):
And one of these things you were talking about,
and we had spoken about earlier,was this idea of people's
general relationship with money.
And I'd love for you maybe toexpand on that.
SPEAKER_01 (09:06):
Sure.
So, like I said, I mean, I hadso first of all, I did not pay
$500,000 in debt.
By the time I went througheverything and called places,
some places had written it offas bad debt, and you know, I
only ended up paying like aroundlike$100,000.
But I wanted to hold myselfaccountable for everything that
I had accumulated in this21-year period that I wrote
(09:30):
about.
So when I had to face it,because I always say that that's
the first step, you know, youjust get out of denial, get your
head out of the sand, and faceit.
That's when I just basically waslike, wow.
So it wasn't necessarily that Iwasn't earning enough or that my
budget wasn't working.
(09:51):
It was my relationship withmoney that stemmed all the way
back to being a littlefour-year-old preschooler that
couldn't make a friend on thefirst day of school.
And all of my mistakes, all ofmy habits, good and bad, all
related to her.
And that was that connection.
(10:11):
It was almost like I was tryingto buy friendships and buy
relationships and show money.
That was my relationship withmoney.
So it was sliding through myfingers when I'm thinking that
I'm doing something reallyproductive or something that I
needed to do.
Whereas, like, no.
And so when I when I saw thatconnection and worked on fixing
(10:35):
my relationship with money, mywhole financial situation
changed.
Because then I wasn't going tolunch when I couldn't afford it
and maxing out a credit card.
And I wasn't going on a tripthat I really couldn't afford to
impress somebody that I probablydon't even talk to anymore.
SPEAKER_00 (10:53):
As you help people start going through this process
of understanding their ownrelationship and developing this
transparency to kind of say,what is my situation for real?
What is this thing look like?
Can you share a few steps or afew things you go through to
help someone start down thatpathway?
SPEAKER_01 (11:13):
First is just that moment of honesty, you know,
look in your face or yoursituation in the face and just
being honest, admitting that youneed help, that you're in
trouble, that you don't know itall, and that that's all okay.
For me, my first step, that stepof honesty, meant opening mail
that I hadn't opened in yearsbecause it was a credit card
(11:36):
bill that I knew I couldn't pay.
And I'm thinking, you know, I'mtrying to, I'm barely surviving.
So everything that I'm payingfor is survival related.
You know, it's shelter, food,gas, utilities.
I didn't have time to pay acredit card that was already
turned off or, you know, didn'thave access to.
So that was my moment ofhonesty, just, you know, knowing
(11:59):
that there was a problem,opening all that mail, making a
spreadsheet.
And I mean, that's the hardeststep, honestly, because it's a
step that sometimes we're notwilling to take.
It's easier to not check yourfinances on a weekly basis and
see where you are, not write abudget and just try to do it in
your head, not think aboutemergency savings.
(12:20):
So when you get honest, you haveto face those things.
And I mean, the numbers don'tlie.
That's why I love numbers somuch, is you know, it's it's
black and white.
SPEAKER_00 (12:30):
That makes a ton of sense.
And it's funny that you say,like, the numbers don't lie.
It always reminds me of my wife,her favorite subject has always
been math, because you can getto an answer.
There's a solution, and thenumbers add up, and either it's
right or wrong, and you canfigure it out.
You had mentioned writing a bookthat you've put together.
So I'd love for you to share.
How can someone get a copy ofyour book?
(12:51):
How can they reach out to you ifthey say, Well, I like what
she's saying?
I'd like to learn more.
Get on your newsletter for thisuh new news you're gonna be
sharing about what in theworld's in the the big beautiful
bill.
SPEAKER_01 (13:02):
I have a personal website that is by Michelle
Campbell.com, and that's BY,Michelle with two L's and
Campbell spiltlickthe suit.com,and everything is on there.
My financial services company,Tax Shell, and the nonprofit,
hashtag stability, access to thebook link Bluebird, which can
also be bought on Barnes andNoble and Amazon site, but that
(13:25):
is on there.
In addition to everything elsethat I'm working on, I mean, I
have my hands in lots ofdifferent things.
SPEAKER_00 (13:32):
Perfect.
Well, we'll make sure we includethat in the show notes here for
people to connect with and learna little bit more about what
you're doing as well.
This is a great time in theshow, Michelle.
We make a transition.
We ask every guest the same fourquestions before they go.
And the first question we ask ishave you had a miss or two on
your journey and something youlearned from it?
SPEAKER_01 (13:51):
So to me, the miss was believing other people's
opinions at an early age thatchanged how I thought about
everything.
I wish that I would have knownthat I had a voice and that I
could speak up.
I wish I could talk tofour-year-old me and tell her
never silence yourself foranybody.
(14:13):
If you believe in it, you canachieve it.
And who cares what anybody elsethinks?
You know, do what you got to do,do what you want to do, and live
for yourself and not for theapproval of others.
So to me, that was the miss.
But, you know, when when you'represented with the question,
(14:33):
like, do you have any regrets?
Was there anything that youwould do differently?
Part of me wants to say yes, butthen part of me wants to say no
because I wouldn't be here, or Imight have been.
It just might have been like adifferent route.
But I don't really have anyregrets.
And I don't really feel likethose are misses.
I just wish that I would havehad more self-love and
(14:55):
self-awareness while I was goingthrough everything that I was
going through, because that wasthe hardest part.
And I think that that's whatmade me feel more alone than the
actual devastation of some ofthe circumstances that I was in.
SPEAKER_00 (15:11):
Thank you for sharing that.
And I agree, that's why I alwayslove asking the miss question
because we all have misses.
We learn from those lessons, ofcourse.
Which leads to the nextquestion, which is the other
side of this, a make or ahighlight or two you'd like to
share.
SPEAKER_01 (15:24):
So the highlight was when I was able to, I literally,
so this is the morning of myfourth repossession.
I was on my way to work.
Like I knew that they werecoming to get the car
eventually.
I didn't know they were whichday they were coming.
They don't tell you.
But I was literally on my wayout the door, and I'm like,
(15:46):
okay, my car's gone.
And so I was like forced to stayat home.
I could not go anywhere.
And I immediately, cold turkey,put myself on this spiritual
fast because I just didn't knowwhat else to do.
I'm like, I, you know, I've beentrying to manifest, I've been
saying prayers, I've been, youknow, writing positive
(16:06):
statements.
I had post-it notes all over myhouse, mirrors, like I'm trying
to do anything, get inspirationfrom, but you know, I was just
like, okay, this has to stopbecause I was on this hamster
well of ups and downs,constantly in and out of this
cycle of deck.
So put myself on this fast, andfor the first 13 days, and so I
(16:31):
started making this timeline.
And for the first 13 days, justwith making that timeline,
trying to figure out where didthis start?
How did I really get here?
And writing down dates and timesand what I was doing, that's
when it kind of all startedstarted coming together.
And by the last day is when Iwas like, oh, I was supposed to
(16:54):
go through this for a reason,because the thing that I really
want to do is help other people.
And what's more transparent thanhaving experienced the same
thing that the very people thatI want to help may be
experiencing or will experienceor, you know, trying to get out
of.
So it all came together.
(17:15):
And I mean, it felt like I wentto sleep, and when I woke up,
everything was different.
It was almost like a bad dreamfor 21 years.
So I think that to sum that up,the highlight is just really
defining my purpose.
I feel very fortunate for myage.
I'm 45, which I'm young, butit's not that old.
(17:36):
But I feel really blessed that Iknow that I am doing what I'm
purposed to do.
I would hate to be, you know,way older and have not figured
it out.
And it would have been great ifI could have figured it out
earlier, because then, you know,I'd be a lot further ahead in
wanting to successfully helpeverybody.
(17:56):
But you know, everything happenswhen it's supposed to.
Apparently, there were thingsthat I needed to experience
first.
Probably had a lot to do withmaturity.
So, but that's my highlight isjust knowing that I'm living and
doing what I know that I'mpurpose to do, and that I found
that out in the midst of like myrock bottom.
SPEAKER_00 (18:18):
Thank you for sharing that.
And let's talk about amultiplier you've used to
multiply yourself personally,professionally, or organizations
you've been a part of.
SPEAKER_01 (18:28):
I'm part of a ton of organizations.
I don't want to individuallyname them because I don't want
to forget anybody.
But what I do to multiply myselfis or to duplicate myself is I
like to teach.
And I feel like when I startedcollege, I was diagnosed with
dyslexia, which explained my badgrades, you know, elementary
(18:50):
school through high school.
But then all of a sudden I'mearning A's.
And the way that I'm forced tolearn has me understand even the
most complex things like hellotax law, to where the average
person can understand them.
And so that's how I'mduplicating myself by implanting
(19:11):
my knowledge into somebody elsethat I know is repeating it.
And it's, you know, it's almostlike I'm creating my own chain
reaction from the conversationsthat I have.
And I'm putting everything inwriting.
I have a blog, but I am in themiddle of creating newsletters
(19:31):
and ebooks.
And I always say, you know, I'madding people to the team.
And when I was talking to thisrecruiter that's helping hire
with the hiring process, I said,I don't care what skills
somebody has.
I can teach them what they needto know.
So that is my multiplier, isjust being able to, you know,
(19:51):
every most things, especiallyfinance, I think that that's why
we shy away from it, seem socomplex and they're so
intimidating.
And they use all these big wordsthat no one understands, and
it's not that hard, a lot of it.
And so I think that, like Isaid, the way that I learn has
given me the advantage of beingable to explain it in a simpler
(20:15):
context.
And I know that the way that I'mexplaining things, other people
are repeating because it'ssticking in your head.
It's almost like that song thatyou can't get out of your head.
SPEAKER_00 (20:25):
Thank you for sharing.
And the final question we askevery guest is what does success
mean to you?
SPEAKER_01 (20:31):
So I always talk about stay in your lane.
You know, we we hear thatconstantly.
And I know that a lot of us arehave fallen in at one point or
another with keeping up with theJoneses, but stay in your lane,
whatever that is.
Find out what it is that youlike and what you love on your
(20:53):
level.
You know, why would you want amillion dollars if you really
didn't need a million dollarstype of mindset?
So, what makes you happy andhaving stability around it?
I really feel like financialstability is everybody's
foundation, no matter if youmake, you know,$10 a year,$10
million a year,$100 million ayear.
(21:14):
If you aren't financiallyliterate, you do not have that
financial stability.
And that can make or break you.
I mean, if when when you don'tfeel like you can pay your bills
or that you're earning enough tolive the life that makes you
happy, where you're notcompeting with anybody, I mean,
that causes depression.
And you don't talk to anybodyabout it because you don't want
(21:35):
anybody to know.
So I really feel like that'swhat success is, is living your
life on your level that makesyou happy and being financially
stable within it.
SPEAKER_00 (21:47):
Michelle, as we bring this to a close, is there
anything you were hoping toshare or get across that you
haven't had a chance to yet?
SPEAKER_01 (21:53):
So I am super excited about our new tax law.
It intimidates a lot of people,but I find it absolutely
fascinating.
And so if anything that you'veheard on the news seems too
complex or you do not understandit, my financial services
company, we are in the processof putting out newsletters and
(22:15):
ebooks that totally understandor explain everything.
And consultations with me fornow are free.
So they won't be like thatforever.
But to talk to me for 30minutes, you know, even if you
don't know what you want to talkabout, that is financial
(22:36):
related, finance related, it'sfree on my website on
taxshell.com.
So I would be happy to talk toanybody, especially about the
new tax bill.
But what I'm more excited aboutis explaining the comparison.
And I've been educating mybefore getting credentialed and
getting all the certificationsthat I have, I was
(22:57):
self-educating myself.
So I am able to follow tax lawsback for 20 years and compare.
Remember in 1998 when we weredoing this, and then it changed
in 2000, and then it changed.
So I am a wealth of knowledge totalk to if that is of interest
of anyone, and we would probablyexceed my free 30-minute
(23:20):
consultation because, like, ifif we're talking about tax, I
don't care how long it takes.
So that's just one thing that Iwant to throw in.
We're a really small community,but we're out there.
And if you find somebody thatloves tax, even if they're not
the ones that help you duringthe tax season, be their friend.
SPEAKER_00 (23:40):
Michelle, thank you so much for a fantastic
interview.
And let's go ahead and jump intotoday's three key takeaways.
So, takeaway number one is whenshe talked about being more than
$500,000 in debt that she hadaccumulated over 20 plus years
and found a way to pay it allback or work out an arrangement.
And she said the thing that shehad to do was just face it.
(24:03):
And even though it was theharder way to approach it, it
was still the right thing to do.
So I love how she chose toapproach that.
Takeaway number two is nowthrough those struggles, she is
able to help others withfinancial literacy.
So I thought that was great.
Takeaway number three is whenshe said she learned to stay in
(24:25):
your lane.
And so she said, find out whatyou like, what you don't like,
what makes you happy, what areyou interested in.
And so she found that forherself and has pursued that.
And now it's time for today'swin-win.
So today's win-win is a lessonthat I took from the interview
(24:46):
with Michelle.
And it's really that it's nevertoo late to choose a better
path.
I mean, that's really what Itake from that.
It's never too late to choose abetter path, to learn from
decisions that you've made inthe past, and to really think
about how your struggles and theperseverance that you have to go
through is really a greatlearning lesson and things that
(25:09):
you can take from that.
So I thought that was a greatlesson.
And so that's the episode today,folks.
Please make sure you subscribeto the podcast and give us a
review.
And remember, if you or anyoneyou know might be ready to
franchise your business or taketheir franchise company to the
next level, please connect withus at BigSkyFranchise Team.com
where you can schedule your freeno obligation consultation.
Thanks for tuning in, and welook forward to having you back
(25:31):
next week.
Welcome to the Multiply Your Success podcast,
where each week we helpgrowth-minded entrepreneurs and
franchise leaders take the nextstep in their expansion journey.
I'm your host, Tom Dufour, CEOof Big Sky franchise team.
And as we open today, I'mwondering have you ever found
yourself in dire circumstancesand wondered what might come of
it?
(00:21):
What might be the outcome?
And during those situations,finding maybe the opportunity or
a way to be thankful orgrateful.
And with Thanksgiving fast uponus, it's my favorite holiday and
a way to find and give thanks.
And our guest today is MichelleCampbell, and she shares with us
(00:42):
how her resilience andperseverance through really
difficult situations helped herforge a new direction to help
others through similar kinds ofchallenges.
Now, Michelle was born andraised in Omaha, Nebraska, and
began her journey in SouthDakota before relocating to
Atlanta.
During her academic pursuits,she launched a real estate
(01:02):
investment firm and otherentrepreneurial journeys,
including businesses inhorticulture, interiorscape, and
logistics companies, and evencommercial trucking.
She's the author of the bookBluebird, a memoir that candidly
explores themes of trauma,heartbreak, and resilience found
in life's struggles.
You're going to love thisinterview, so let's go ahead and
(01:24):
jump right into it.
SPEAKER_01 (01:26):
Thank you so much, Tom, for having me.
My name is Michelle Campbell.
Professionally, I am an enrolledagent credentialed with the IRS.
And so I am that tax nerd thatwill not shut up.
I am all over this big,beautiful bill.
I cannot wait to educate it toeveryone.
But I also have a nonprofit,hashtag stability, and we
(01:48):
empower through financialstability.
And so merging my tax knowledgeand financial background with
just wanting to give back andeducate, that's me in a
nutshell.
SPEAKER_00 (02:01):
That's fantastic.
Well, thank you for sharingthat.
And I love your nonprofit andthe work you're doing there.
And that's one of the reasons Iwanted to have you on the show
is to talk a little bit aboutthis.
And how'd you end up startingthis nonprofit?
What led you to get into this?
SPEAKER_01 (02:16):
I recently wrote and published a book, and it's
titled Bluebird.
And the book pretty much is thestory behind the cause.
And so this book, I I put 21years of journal entries in a
book for the whole world tojudge, but it's it seriously is
what set me free.
And then that's when I like justtook off.
I was like, oh, this is exactlywhat I'm supposed to be doing.
(02:38):
Everything made sense.
But so I just in the book, Italk about experiencing five
evictions, four repossessions,three bankruptcies, a sexual
assault, and$500,000 in debt.
But by the end of the book, Idiscovered how all of that was
purposed to get me to where I amtoday.
(03:01):
And really what it was was aboutbeing able to connect with other
people.
And so I take people along thejourney.
And the nonprofit, it kind ofjust fell in my lap.
I started doing this on my ownin 2017, just, you know, my own
money, my own efforts, randomacts of kindness, helping
(03:23):
complete strangers, like kind ofbeing the angel that I wish that
I would have had.
And I always promised myselfthat when I got everything
together in my life, that I wasgoing to do it on a larger
level.
And I just had no idea that itwas going to come together like
this.
And I mean, I am indeed a serialentrepreneur.
I started my first business whenI was 21.
(03:45):
And that was in real estatedevelopment, investments, and
development.
And then had a bunch of littlesmall businesses, then moved on
to commercial trucking, and thenfinally landed in the financial
services industry.
And it's funny how sometimeswhen you're going through it,
you don't think about thethings, the path that you're on,
(04:08):
the journey that you're on, andhow they're all going to work
together.
You're just like thinking, oh,it's just a job, or I'm doing
this, or this is fun for themoment.
But then I was able to see that,first of all, what I went to
school for was not what I endedup doing.
How being an entrepreneur andnot having the money and the
means to hire somebody like me,not having the money to hire an
(04:32):
attorney or a tax professionalor accountant that being
self-taught and teaching methose things would eventually
start earning me certificationsand then credentials, and then
now preaching to the world,whoever will listen to me about
US tax law.
SPEAKER_00 (04:49):
Oh, wow.
Well, one of the things we weretalking about was how you help
folks with financial literacyand kind of helping work through
that and having lived through onone side of it and then kind of
coming around now to the otherside, the different things
you've learned.
And the one phrase you use thatstood out was this idea of just
(05:10):
life transparency or presentlife transparency.
So I'd love for you just to talkabout that.
What do you mean by that and howdoes it work?
SPEAKER_01 (05:18):
One of my aha moments, there's been, of
course, several.
And now I purposely look for ahamoments, like I'm like addicted
to it.
But one of the biggest ahamoments was when I put
everything together, you know,because the question always was
like, why is this happening tome?
Why, you know, I wasn't alwaysbeing reckless with money.
(05:39):
And I, you know, I know how tobudget.
I had a budget, and I had fourand five jobs sometimes.
It just did not make sense.
But when I put everythingtogether and I had just that aha
moment, I felt like I need totell people this because during
all that, I felt so alone.
I mean, the one thing thatconnects us to me the most is
(06:00):
the one thing that we don't talkabout.
We don't talk about money.
You're not sitting at lunch withyour friends saying, so what's
your credit score?
But I feel like we shouldbecause it's nothing to be
embarrassed about and shamefulabout.
And who knows?
I mean, if if you both have lowcredit scores, then you can do
the journey together.
If one has a higher score thanthe other, then you can help.
(06:22):
You know, it's it's it's reallife transparency that we need
to be the most transparentabout, not this mask that we put
on for the world.
I last week, I think I justexplained how we're all wearing
a mask all day with what youwear and where you go and what
you're interested in.
(06:43):
But what about the internalinsecurities and things that
you're kind of like embarrassedand shameful about?
Like, what about those?
So once I had that aha momentand brought it all together, I'm
just like, I have to tell theworld.
And then, and that was veryhard.
It's not hard or it's not easybeing that honest.
(07:04):
But once I put it out there, Ifelt like years and years of
like just stress, weight, shamelift off of me.
And so I just decided, I thinkthat's what I'm gonna do.
I'm gonna, you know, everybody'ssaying that they're keeping it
100 and they're really not.
But so I'm gonna do my best totry to really keep it 100 and in
(07:24):
present life, let people knowjust because I got through this
doesn't mean that I'm never evergonna have any problems with
anything ever again.
I mean, that's just life.
And I feel like it should, andand it does connect us because
then whoever's on the other endlistening is like, oh, well, I
don't feel so alone becauseshe's, you know, openly
(07:45):
admitting it.
I mean, we're on the world wideweb.
We don't know who's gonna listento this.
But, you know, she's openlyadmitting these things.
So I don't feel so bad.
I don't feel so alone.
You know, it's not something tobe so shameful and embarrassed
about.
SPEAKER_00 (07:59):
It makes me think as well, not only just feeling that
you're not alone, but thatperson you may be sharing that
with, they might have a solutionpotentially that you hadn't
thought about or a connection tosomeone, for example, like you.
They hear someone's story say,you know, you got to talk to
Michelle and see what hercompany might be able to assist
you with.
It's just these connectionpoints.
(08:20):
So I think that's very, verywell said.
SPEAKER_01 (08:22):
Absolutely.
And I've somehow always been aconnector of people.
I used to get really offendedbecause, you know, I would have
different friends that didn'tknow each other, but I would
introduce everybody and somehowI get kicked out of the clip.
But, you know, maybe that wasjust, you know, where my journey
(08:42):
with them was supposed to stop.
I was supposed to introduce themfor whatever reason.
And so, I mean, we're all hereto share something that we have,
if only compassion, honestly.
SPEAKER_00 (08:54):
And one of these things you were talking about,
and we had spoken about earlier,was this idea of people's
general relationship with money.
And I'd love for you maybe toexpand on that.
SPEAKER_01 (09:06):
Sure.
So, like I said, I mean, I hadso first of all, I did not pay
$500,000 in debt.
By the time I went througheverything and called places,
some places had written it offas bad debt, and you know, I
only ended up paying like aroundlike$100,000.
But I wanted to hold myselfaccountable for everything that
I had accumulated in this21-year period that I wrote
(09:30):
about.
So when I had to face it,because I always say that that's
the first step, you know, youjust get out of denial, get your
head out of the sand, and faceit.
That's when I just basically waslike, wow.
So it wasn't necessarily that Iwasn't earning enough or that my
budget wasn't working.
(09:51):
It was my relationship withmoney that stemmed all the way
back to being a littlefour-year-old preschooler that
couldn't make a friend on thefirst day of school.
And all of my mistakes, all ofmy habits, good and bad, all
related to her.
And that was that connection.
(10:11):
It was almost like I was tryingto buy friendships and buy
relationships and show money.
That was my relationship withmoney.
So it was sliding through myfingers when I'm thinking that
I'm doing something reallyproductive or something that I
needed to do.
Whereas, like, no.
And so when I when I saw thatconnection and worked on fixing
(10:35):
my relationship with money, mywhole financial situation
changed.
Because then I wasn't going tolunch when I couldn't afford it
and maxing out a credit card.
And I wasn't going on a tripthat I really couldn't afford to
impress somebody that I probablydon't even talk to anymore.
SPEAKER_00 (10:53):
As you help people start going through this process
of understanding their ownrelationship and developing this
transparency to kind of say,what is my situation for real?
What is this thing look like?
Can you share a few steps or afew things you go through to
help someone start down thatpathway?
SPEAKER_01 (11:13):
First is just that moment of honesty, you know,
look in your face or yoursituation in the face and just
being honest, admitting that youneed help, that you're in
trouble, that you don't know itall, and that that's all okay.
For me, my first step, that stepof honesty, meant opening mail
that I hadn't opened in yearsbecause it was a credit card
(11:36):
bill that I knew I couldn't pay.
And I'm thinking, you know, I'mtrying to, I'm barely surviving.
So everything that I'm payingfor is survival related.
You know, it's shelter, food,gas, utilities.
I didn't have time to pay acredit card that was already
turned off or, you know, didn'thave access to.
So that was my moment ofhonesty, just, you know, knowing
(11:59):
that there was a problem,opening all that mail, making a
spreadsheet.
And I mean, that's the hardeststep, honestly, because it's a
step that sometimes we're notwilling to take.
It's easier to not check yourfinances on a weekly basis and
see where you are, not write abudget and just try to do it in
your head, not think aboutemergency savings.
(12:20):
So when you get honest, you haveto face those things.
And I mean, the numbers don'tlie.
That's why I love numbers somuch, is you know, it's it's
black and white.
SPEAKER_00 (12:30):
That makes a ton of sense.
And it's funny that you say,like, the numbers don't lie.
It always reminds me of my wife,her favorite subject has always
been math, because you can getto an answer.
There's a solution, and thenumbers add up, and either it's
right or wrong, and you canfigure it out.
You had mentioned writing a bookthat you've put together.
So I'd love for you to share.
How can someone get a copy ofyour book?
(12:51):
How can they reach out to you ifthey say, Well, I like what
she's saying?
I'd like to learn more.
Get on your newsletter for thisuh new news you're gonna be
sharing about what in theworld's in the the big beautiful
bill.
SPEAKER_01 (13:02):
I have a personal website that is by Michelle
Campbell.com, and that's BY,Michelle with two L's and
Campbell spiltlickthe suit.com,and everything is on there.
My financial services company,Tax Shell, and the nonprofit,
hashtag stability, access to thebook link Bluebird, which can
also be bought on Barnes andNoble and Amazon site, but that
(13:25):
is on there.
In addition to everything elsethat I'm working on, I mean, I
have my hands in lots ofdifferent things.
SPEAKER_00 (13:32):
Perfect.
Well, we'll make sure we includethat in the show notes here for
people to connect with and learna little bit more about what
you're doing as well.
This is a great time in theshow, Michelle.
We make a transition.
We ask every guest the same fourquestions before they go.
And the first question we ask ishave you had a miss or two on
your journey and something youlearned from it?
SPEAKER_01 (13:51):
So to me, the miss was believing other people's
opinions at an early age thatchanged how I thought about
everything.
I wish that I would have knownthat I had a voice and that I
could speak up.
I wish I could talk tofour-year-old me and tell her
never silence yourself foranybody.
(14:13):
If you believe in it, you canachieve it.
And who cares what anybody elsethinks?
You know, do what you got to do,do what you want to do, and live
for yourself and not for theapproval of others.
So to me, that was the miss.
But, you know, when when you'represented with the question,
(14:33):
like, do you have any regrets?
Was there anything that youwould do differently?
Part of me wants to say yes, butthen part of me wants to say no
because I wouldn't be here, or Imight have been.
It just might have been like adifferent route.
But I don't really have anyregrets.
And I don't really feel likethose are misses.
I just wish that I would havehad more self-love and
(14:55):
self-awareness while I was goingthrough everything that I was
going through, because that wasthe hardest part.
And I think that that's whatmade me feel more alone than the
actual devastation of some ofthe circumstances that I was in.
SPEAKER_00 (15:11):
Thank you for sharing that.
And I agree, that's why I alwayslove asking the miss question
because we all have misses.
We learn from those lessons, ofcourse.
Which leads to the nextquestion, which is the other
side of this, a make or ahighlight or two you'd like to
share.
SPEAKER_01 (15:24):
So the highlight was when I was able to, I literally,
so this is the morning of myfourth repossession.
I was on my way to work.
Like I knew that they werecoming to get the car
eventually.
I didn't know they were whichday they were coming.
They don't tell you.
But I was literally on my wayout the door, and I'm like,
(15:46):
okay, my car's gone.
And so I was like forced to stayat home.
I could not go anywhere.
And I immediately, cold turkey,put myself on this spiritual
fast because I just didn't knowwhat else to do.
I'm like, I, you know, I've beentrying to manifest, I've been
saying prayers, I've been, youknow, writing positive
(16:06):
statements.
I had post-it notes all over myhouse, mirrors, like I'm trying
to do anything, get inspirationfrom, but you know, I was just
like, okay, this has to stopbecause I was on this hamster
well of ups and downs,constantly in and out of this
cycle of deck.
So put myself on this fast, andfor the first 13 days, and so I
(16:31):
started making this timeline.
And for the first 13 days, justwith making that timeline,
trying to figure out where didthis start?
How did I really get here?
And writing down dates and timesand what I was doing, that's
when it kind of all startedstarted coming together.
And by the last day is when Iwas like, oh, I was supposed to
(16:54):
go through this for a reason,because the thing that I really
want to do is help other people.
And what's more transparent thanhaving experienced the same
thing that the very people thatI want to help may be
experiencing or will experienceor, you know, trying to get out
of.
So it all came together.
(17:15):
And I mean, it felt like I wentto sleep, and when I woke up,
everything was different.
It was almost like a bad dreamfor 21 years.
So I think that to sum that up,the highlight is just really
defining my purpose.
I feel very fortunate for myage.
I'm 45, which I'm young, butit's not that old.
(17:36):
But I feel really blessed that Iknow that I am doing what I'm
purposed to do.
I would hate to be, you know,way older and have not figured
it out.
And it would have been great ifI could have figured it out
earlier, because then, you know,I'd be a lot further ahead in
wanting to successfully helpeverybody.
(17:56):
But you know, everything happenswhen it's supposed to.
Apparently, there were thingsthat I needed to experience
first.
Probably had a lot to do withmaturity.
So, but that's my highlight isjust knowing that I'm living and
doing what I know that I'mpurpose to do, and that I found
that out in the midst of like myrock bottom.
SPEAKER_00 (18:18):
Thank you for sharing that.
And let's talk about amultiplier you've used to
multiply yourself personally,professionally, or organizations
you've been a part of.
SPEAKER_01 (18:28):
I'm part of a ton of organizations.
I don't want to individuallyname them because I don't want
to forget anybody.
But what I do to multiply myselfis or to duplicate myself is I
like to teach.
And I feel like when I startedcollege, I was diagnosed with
dyslexia, which explained my badgrades, you know, elementary
(18:50):
school through high school.
But then all of a sudden I'mearning A's.
And the way that I'm forced tolearn has me understand even the
most complex things like hellotax law, to where the average
person can understand them.
And so that's how I'mduplicating myself by implanting
(19:11):
my knowledge into somebody elsethat I know is repeating it.
And it's, you know, it's almostlike I'm creating my own chain
reaction from the conversationsthat I have.
And I'm putting everything inwriting.
I have a blog, but I am in themiddle of creating newsletters
(19:31):
and ebooks.
And I always say, you know, I'madding people to the team.
And when I was talking to thisrecruiter that's helping hire
with the hiring process, I said,I don't care what skills
somebody has.
I can teach them what they needto know.
So that is my multiplier, isjust being able to, you know,
(19:51):
every most things, especiallyfinance, I think that that's why
we shy away from it, seem socomplex and they're so
intimidating.
And they use all these big wordsthat no one understands, and
it's not that hard, a lot of it.
And so I think that, like Isaid, the way that I learn has
given me the advantage of beingable to explain it in a simpler
(20:15):
context.
And I know that the way that I'mexplaining things, other people
are repeating because it'ssticking in your head.
It's almost like that song thatyou can't get out of your head.
SPEAKER_00 (20:25):
Thank you for sharing.
And the final question we askevery guest is what does success
mean to you?
SPEAKER_01 (20:31):
So I always talk about stay in your lane.
You know, we we hear thatconstantly.
And I know that a lot of us arehave fallen in at one point or
another with keeping up with theJoneses, but stay in your lane,
whatever that is.
Find out what it is that youlike and what you love on your
(20:53):
level.
You know, why would you want amillion dollars if you really
didn't need a million dollarstype of mindset?
So, what makes you happy andhaving stability around it?
I really feel like financialstability is everybody's
foundation, no matter if youmake, you know,$10 a year,$10
million a year,$100 million ayear.
(21:14):
If you aren't financiallyliterate, you do not have that
financial stability.
And that can make or break you.
I mean, if when when you don'tfeel like you can pay your bills
or that you're earning enough tolive the life that makes you
happy, where you're notcompeting with anybody, I mean,
that causes depression.
And you don't talk to anybodyabout it because you don't want
(21:35):
anybody to know.
So I really feel like that'swhat success is, is living your
life on your level that makesyou happy and being financially
stable within it.
SPEAKER_00 (21:47):
Michelle, as we bring this to a close, is there
anything you were hoping toshare or get across that you
haven't had a chance to yet?
SPEAKER_01 (21:53):
So I am super excited about our new tax law.
It intimidates a lot of people,but I find it absolutely
fascinating.
And so if anything that you'veheard on the news seems too
complex or you do not understandit, my financial services
company, we are in the processof putting out newsletters and
(22:15):
ebooks that totally understandor explain everything.
And consultations with me fornow are free.
So they won't be like thatforever.
But to talk to me for 30minutes, you know, even if you
don't know what you want to talkabout, that is financial
(22:36):
related, finance related, it'sfree on my website on
taxshell.com.
So I would be happy to talk toanybody, especially about the
new tax bill.
But what I'm more excited aboutis explaining the comparison.
And I've been educating mybefore getting credentialed and
getting all the certificationsthat I have, I was
(22:57):
self-educating myself.
So I am able to follow tax lawsback for 20 years and compare.
Remember in 1998 when we weredoing this, and then it changed
in 2000, and then it changed.
So I am a wealth of knowledge totalk to if that is of interest
of anyone, and we would probablyexceed my free 30-minute
(23:20):
consultation because, like, ifif we're talking about tax, I
don't care how long it takes.
So that's just one thing that Iwant to throw in.
We're a really small community,but we're out there.
And if you find somebody thatloves tax, even if they're not
the ones that help you duringthe tax season, be their friend.
SPEAKER_00 (23:40):
Michelle, thank you so much for a fantastic
interview.
And let's go ahead and jump intotoday's three key takeaways.
So, takeaway number one is whenshe talked about being more than
$500,000 in debt that she hadaccumulated over 20 plus years
and found a way to pay it allback or work out an arrangement.
And she said the thing that shehad to do was just face it.
(24:03):
And even though it was theharder way to approach it, it
was still the right thing to do.
So I love how she chose toapproach that.
Takeaway number two is nowthrough those struggles, she is
able to help others withfinancial literacy.
So I thought that was great.
Takeaway number three is whenshe said she learned to stay in
(24:25):
your lane.
And so she said, find out whatyou like, what you don't like,
what makes you happy, what areyou interested in.
And so she found that forherself and has pursued that.
And now it's time for today'swin-win.
So today's win-win is a lessonthat I took from the interview
(24:46):
with Michelle.
And it's really that it's nevertoo late to choose a better
path.
I mean, that's really what Itake from that.
It's never too late to choose abetter path, to learn from
decisions that you've made inthe past, and to really think
about how your struggles and theperseverance that you have to go
through is really a greatlearning lesson and things that
(25:09):
you can take from that.
So I thought that was a greatlesson.
And so that's the episode today,folks.
Please make sure you subscribeto the podcast and give us a
review.
And remember, if you or anyoneyou know might be ready to
franchise your business or taketheir franchise company to the
next level, please connect withus at BigSkyFranchise Team.com
where you can schedule your freeno obligation consultation.
Thanks for tuning in, and welook forward to having you back
(25:31):
next week.
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