Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey in personal development but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Michelle Mehta, a TEDx speaker, confidence expert, and international bestselling author based in Irvine, CA, USA.
What's your business, and who are your customers?
I speak to teens all over the country about overcoming peer pressure, bullying, and low self-worth by increasing their confidence to live a life they fully love and admire themselves every single day.
Tell us about yourself
I had the opportunity to do a presentation at a middle school in front of a hundred kids. These were between the ages of 11 to 14, sixth, seventh, and eighth graders. I asked them this very question, "How many of you have evil voices inside of your head?" Every single hand went up. This room was filled with 100 kids. When you say every single hand, that is 100 hands going up at the same time. And I asked them a follow-up question, "What are these voices telling you?" And their response was, "I am not loved. I am not smart. I am overweight."
My focus is on building confidence in teenagers, and I absolutely love what I do. These kids are the brightest. I am a confidence expert, and I started to see the pattern of these teenagers not feeling they are confident enough. They are bright and can graduate, yet they still have doubts about whether they are going to graduate or not. I wanted to give them hope and have the opportunity to rewrite these negative thoughts into positive thoughts allowing them to feel stronger internally and externally.
What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?
I had the opportunity to coach a high school senior who was struggling with epilepsy, let’s call her Tiffany. Coaching Tiffany, I realized that she has the potential to graduate even when the odds are against her. Tiffany has a physical disability where her body would always shake uncontrollably, and she was homeschooled until her senior year of high school. She was having trouble paying attention in class as she suffered from short-term memory loss. Her family was not sure if Tiffany was actually going to graduate high school with all of her health issues. Working with me for six months, we as a team helped her with her own confidence and improved her adversity to do her best no matter what. She used to have a hard time enjoying writing, and to overcome that belief, what we did together was write out statements affirming that she could do it confidently. She had a hard time maintaining composure, and she needed to be in a wheelchair and was embarrassed about it, especially in social gatherings. I told her to be in a state of gratitude and to be grateful for the many resources she had at her disposal to tackle her issue. She always knew that in the back of her mind and in her heart that she was going to graduate high school despite all the odds against her, mentally, physically, and emotionally, and we identified that it was the lack of faith and confidence in herself that prevented her from reaching that goal. June comes around, and I receive text messages and phone calls from her parents, screaming out loud, "Tiffany did it! She graduated from high school! Thank you for believing in her when we all had lost hope!"
This story has inspired me to become a TEDx Speaker and a six-time International Bestselling Author since 2020. Having client stories like this helped me get featured on Yahoo Finance and named as one of “The top 11 female coaches to follow in 2021.”
What's one of the hardest things that comes with being a business owner?
There is still a stigma around investing in personal development and having this fear of what people will say if I work with a therapist, counselor, psychiatrist, coach, and/or mentor. Many would rather dream about their goals and would never take any action to make them a reality. Investing in yourself is the best gift you can give to yourself, and yet many would shy away from it with fear. As a confidence expert, I would like to inspire people to continue to invest in themselves and work with professionals who can support them in accomplishing their goals at a much faster rate. Do not be shy about investing in yourself. The struggle comes from people not believing in the services that can be offered to them and create a scarcity mindset with the lack of committed clients wanting a better life.
What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?
The journey of being an entrepreneur is ever so evolving, and one must have patience and faith to continue to move forward. As I invested more time, energy, and money into knowing myself and building my business, I created three pillars to help me move forward no matter what.\
- Decide What You Want: In deciding what you want, you must be specific about the details. I knew that I wanted to build a sustainable coaching business and wanted to create a lifestyle where I could have an immense amount of flexibility. I also wanted to have a foundation where it was based on heart-centered leadership, focusing solely on the client's needs. I knew that my strengths were aligned in this business, and the tools I learned in my coaching program were in perfect alignment with what I believed in for the services I wanted to offer.
- Believe You Can Achieve: In achieving any goal, the most significant obstacle is our lack of belief that we can do it. Once the goal is defined, make sure it is slightly bigger than you know without a doubt that you can achieve it. Then stretch your belief in yourself. Once I discovered I could empower someone to do anything, I realized that I could support clients to achieve more than they thought they could if they just believed. I knew deep down that this was the path less traveled amongst my peers and at the same time it gave me an immense amount of joy as I kept moving forward learning more about myself and the clients I was working with. I knew that this was going to be my dream career, and it came to life sooner than later.
- Create Positive Self-Talk: We all have a devil and an angel on our shoulders, supporting and destroying our thoughts. It is important to neutralize your devil and only allow your angel to talk to you. The angel will support you in having positive self-talk. When you start statements with I AM, it shapes your reality, allowing your soul to be open. I needed to create positive I am statements to be the best coach that I could be. I AM confident, I AM strong, I AM powerful, were my statements. They helped me stay true to what I wanted rather than what the naysayers around me thought. It gave me hope and inspiration to feel that if anybody else could do it, then I could do it too. The positive self-talk kept me going and allowed me to share my vision with many more people who gave me the confidence that I could go out and build an immense amount of credibility.
I am extremely blessed to have been on the road less traveled, gotten a chance to know and understand my strengths in my 20s, and have the mindset to keep going and never give up. Life is a journey filled with twists and turns, and we never know where it is going to take us. Have faith and trust as you embark on your journey. Keep learning more about who you are, and don't be afraid to invest time, energy, or money in being the best version of yourself. There is always room to learn and expand.
Where can people find you and your business?
Website: https://www.michellemehta.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/iammichellemehta
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/iammichellemehta/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/michellesmehta
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/iammichellemehta/
If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solo or small business entrepreneur that you'd like to share, then please answer these interview questions. We'd love to feature your journey on these pages.
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