The SIGRUN Show

Elena Herdieckerhoff is an award-winning serial entrepreneur and acclaimed Consciousness Coach. She began her life in entrepreneurship with a career coaching business. Later, after selling a skincare company she founded, Elena found her calling as a business mentor for entrepreneurs with the HSP—or highly sensitive person—personality trait. Her TEDx Talk, 'The Gentle Power of Highly Sensitive People,' has garnered over 2 million views on YouTube and inspired Elena to establish Red Dot Stage, a TEDx Speaker Coaching services for entrepreneurs and thought leaders.

Elena joins me to discuss running and shifting your business direction through "love-consciousness". We talk about her experience with starting her first company and how she transitioned into selling skincare products. She also reveals how love-consciousness impacts our society and underscores how self-love can impact our business and clientele.

In this episode, Elena shared about an upcoming webinar where you can learn how to use love consciousness to build a better business that is more in alignment with you.

This is a brand new training that Elena hasn't shared anywhere else before so don't miss this chance to join her live and learn how you can use love consciousness in life and business.

Sign up for the free webinar: Align Your Business With Love

"If you filter business through the lens of love, you are on your way to shifting things." - Elena Herdieckerhoff

In This Episode of The Sigrun Show:

• How Elena left her career as a 'headhunter' in HR to start a coaching business
• The difference between running a service-based and product-based business
• Why she decided to sell her skincare company
• How her TEDx Talk, 'The Gentle Power of Highly Sensitive People' pivoted her career to a new direction
• Why some people use being a Highly Sensitive Person as an excuse
• How Elena used simple methods to market her new business
• The definition of love-consciousness and how it impacts society
• How self-love affects the way we run our businesses and the clients we attract
• How to market using love-consciousness and intuition

Connect with Elena Herdieckerhoff:

• Align Your Business With Love - Free Webinar
• Red Dot Stage
• Elena Herdieckerhoff
• Elena Herdieckerhoff on Twitter
• Elena Herdieckerhoff on Facebook
• Elena Herdieckerhoff on Instagram
• Elena Herdieckerhoff on LinkedIn

Resources Mentioned:

• The Gentle Power of Highly Sensitive People
• How to Get 1 Million Views on Your TEDx Talk
• Align Your Business With Love Webinar

Come to Iceland in 2020 for the Selfmade Summit 2020

Join us for 2 transformational days of online business strategy, mindset breakthroughs and meaningful networking guaranteed to propel your business forward…. In one of the most exceptionally beautiful places in the world.

Early bird tickets are now available for the premier international conference for women entrepreneurs - The Selfmade Summit 2020!

Buy your tickets at www.sigrun.com/selfmadesummit today!

Please share, subscribe and review

Thank you for joining me on this episode of the Sigrun Show. If you enjoyed this episode, please share, subscribe and review on Apple Podcasts or Google Play Music so more people can enjoy the show. Don't forget to follow and connect with me on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram!

Click here to learn how to leave a review, then head over to Apple Podcasts for your chance to win a special thank you gift!

As an entrepreneur, attending conferences is a great way to expand your network and learn new skills. In fact, they can literally change your life and business. When I started my business, the first conference I attended was Denise Duffield-Thomas' Money Bootcamp. This event completely transformed my life and business as well as my mindset and perspective around money. Since then, I have attended dozens of conferences, seminars, and workshops around the world and I highly encourage you to attend multiple events each year to expand your network and invest in yourself and your skills.

Today, I explain the benefits of attending conferences and events and how attending multiple events each year has impacted my business. I explain how attending live events and conferences can help you gain inspiration and motivation to start your next big project. I also share 17 of the best business conferences for female entrepreneurs that are taking place around the world this year, including my inaugural Self-Made Summit as well as the SIGRUN LIVE event.

"When you see a conference that speaks to you, then make it a priority to go there." - Sigrun

In This Episode of The Sigrun Show:

• The benefits of attending conferences, workshops, and seminars
• How Nathalie Lussier's Off the Charts conference inspired me to start hosting live events for my business
• Why you should consider attending the Social Media Marketing World conference this year
• How the Alt Summit helps influencers and female entrepreneurs start and grow their communities
• How Andrew's & Pete's conference, Atomicon can help you improve your content creation and content marketing strategy
• How attending the Unfair Advantage conference can help you get clear on your message and learn more about PR and media
• What you can expect when attending the Selfmade Summit
• What you will learn from attending Podcast Movement in August
• What to expect from the inaugural Impacting Millions Live event
• My experiences with attending the Nordic Business Forum conference
• Who should attend the next SIGRUN LIVE event and how to claim your tickets
• Why you should consider attending Amy Porterfield's Entrepreneur Experience conference and what you can expect to learn
• Why I highly recommend new entrepreneurs to attend the YouPreneur Summit by Chris Ducker

Resources Mentioned:

• Social Media Marketing World 2020 - March 1-3, 2020
• Alt Summit - March 1-6, 2020
• Traffic & Conversions Summit - March 31 - April 2, 2020
• Atomicon - April 20, 2020
• 196 - How to Make Your Content Stand Out in a Crowded Marketplace with Andrew & Pete
• Unfair Advantage Live - May 12-14, 2020
• Selfmade Summit - June 18-19, 2020 (Inaugural year!)
• World Domination Summit 2020 - June 23-29, 2020 (Final year!)
• Podcast Movement - August 5-8, 2020
• Archangel Summit 2020 - September 19, 2020
• Impacting Millions Live Event 2020 with Selena Soo - September 18-20, 2020 (Inaugural year!)
• Nordic Business Forum - September 23-24, 2020
• SIGRUN LIVE - October 8-10, 2020 (Exclusively for SOMBA students and Mastermind members)
• A-Fest by Mindvalley - October 15-18, 2020
• Entrepreneur Experience by Amy Porterfield - October 2020
• YouPreneur Summit by Chris Ducker - November 2020
• Women's Entrepreneurship Day - November 29, 2020
• FunnelHacking 2021 - January 29 - February 1, 2021

Come to Iceland in 2020 for the Selfmade Summit 2020

Join us for 2 transformational days of online business strategy, mindset breakthroughs and meaningful networking guaranteed to propel your business forward…. In one of the most exceptionally beautiful places in the world.

Early bird tickets are now available for the largest international conference for women entrepreneurs - The Selfmade Summit 2020!

Buy your tickets at www.sigrun.com/selfmadesummit today!

Please share, subscribe and review on iTunes

Thank you for joining me on this episode of the Sigrun Show. If you enjoyed this episode, please share, subscribe and review on Apple Podcasts or Google Play Music so more people can enjoy the show. Don't forget to follow and connect with me on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram!

Click here to learn how to leave a review, then head over to Apple Podcasts for your chance to win a special thank you gift!

Dr. Janna Scharfenberg is a practicing holistic doctor who is on a mission to teach health experts the ancient tradition of holistic medicine and how they can be applied to modern health practices. She is passionate about making the world a better, healthier place by empowering the healthcare community with holistic tools, techniques, and strategies that will provide better health care and happier, healthier patients. Janna is a bestselling author of two holistic health books, including Ayurveda for Life, a comprehensive guide on the millennia-old science and art of Ayurveda.

Janna joins me today to share her passion for creating a healthier world by educating others on the benefits of holistic practices like Ayurveda. She explains the concept of the health revolution and her mission to help health experts and coaches teach and implement holistic health practices in their lives as well as their patients'. She explains why she believes improving your health starts with evaluating your mindset and how shifting your mindset around your personal health can impact your results. She also shares her thoughts on today's health 'gadgets' and apps that are designed to help you improve your health as well as why she believes it's critical to provide more education around health and prevention to children at an earlier age.

"When it comes to really changing something, you need that mind-shift for yourself." - Janna Scharfenberg

In This Episode of The Sigrun Show:

• Janna's journey into practicing holistic medicine and how her career evolved over the years
• Her mission to help health experts understand the health revolution concept
• Why getting healthy is more than simply choosing between diet and exercise routines
• The process Janna uses to help her clients create lasting, sustainable health results
• Why she believes the first step to improving your health is to evaluate your mindset
• The type of clients that benefit the most from her online health program
• The three key criteria involved in Janna's online health program
• What Janna wishes - and predicts - for the future of the health revolution
• Why she believes it's critical to provide more health education and prevention to children at a younger age
• Her opinion on the health 'gadgets' and technology currently available in today's digital society
• Using daily walks as a tool for meditation and recharging your energy
• Her vision for her business and the health revolution for the next five years

Connect with Dr. Janna Scharfenberg:

• Website
• Facebook
• Instagram
• YouTube

Come to Iceland in 2020 for the Selfmade Summit 2020

Join us for 2 transformational days of online business strategy, mindset breakthroughs and meaningful networking guaranteed to propel your business forward…. In one of the most exceptionally beautiful places in the world.

Early bird tickets are now available for the largest international conference for women entrepreneurs - The Selfmade Summit 2020!

Buy your tickets at www.sigrun.com/selfmadesummit today!

Please share, subscribe and review on iTunes

Thank you for joining me on this episode of the Sigrun Show. If you enjoyed this episode, please share, subscribe and review on Apple Podcasts or Google Play Music so more people can enjoy the show. Don't forget to follow and connect with me on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram!

Click here to learn how to leave a review, then head over to Apple Podcasts for your chance to win a special thank you gift!

When he's not binge-watching reality TV shows or buying everything in Target's Dollar Spot, Tyler J. McCall is busy teaching online entrepreneurs how to grow their businesses through Instagram. He is an Instagram and social media marketer, strategist, and Real Housewives fan. He draws from his marketing experience of over ten years - in both businesses and non-profit organizations such as the YMCA - to teach his students how to grow and cultivate an Instagram community through genuine connections and intentional conversations.

In this episode, Tyler shares his ideas on connecting with Instagram followers to convert them into customers. He explains how his experiences of working with nonprofits helped him understand how to use Instagram genuinely and intentionally. He reveals the reason he always recommends his clients approach their Instagram audience with a "people-always" mentality. He also illustrates how to use your Instagram Stories and feed to build a connection.

"You need to connect with your followers that goes beyond monetizing that relationship." - Tyler J. McCall

In This Episode of The Sigrun Show:

• What working at YMCA taught Tyler about using Instagram for business
• Why Tyler's connection with his Instagram followers makes him a better marketing affiliate
• How to get your Instagram followers to buy your products
• Approaching your Instagram audience with a "people-always" mentality
• Get clear on who you want to follow you on Instagram
• How consistency can grow your business on Instagram
• Leveraging Instagram Stories
• How to get more people to follow you on Instagram through proactive follower growth
• Why you should avoid sending cold direct messages
• Ways to leverage other Instagram users' audience to build your own
• Why you should create Instagram content that isn't just about your product or service
• How to spark and sustain conversations on Instagram

Connect with Tyler J. McCall:

• Follower to Fan Society
• TylerJMcCall.com
• Tyler J. McCall on Instagram
• Tyler J. McCall on Twitter
• Tyler J. McCall on Facebook
• Tyler J. McCall on LinkedIn

Come to Iceland in 2020 for the Selfmade Summit 2020

Join us for 2 transformational days of online business strategy, mindset breakthroughs and meaningful networking guaranteed to propel your business forward…. In one of the most exceptionally beautiful places in the world.

Early bird tickets are now available for the largest international conference for women entrepreneurs - The Selfmade Summit 2020!

Buy your tickets at www.sigrun.com/selfmadesummit today!

Please share, subscribe and review on iTunes

Thank you for joining me on this episode of the Sigrun Show. If you enjoyed this episode, please share, subscribe and review on Apple Podcasts or Google Play Music so more people can enjoy the show. Don't forget to follow and connect with me on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram!

Click here to learn how to leave a review, then head over to Apple Podcasts for your chance to win a special thank you gift!

I'm very proud of my Mastermind and SOMBA members who have achieved many breakthroughs in 2019. I asked them to share their 'Year in Review' posts within our community and in turn, I want to share these with you. Below you will find a roundup of their inspiring achievements this past year.

Lifestyle coach Michaela Schächner created an online course during SOMBA Kickstart and with her upsell, made back the money she invested after only three months, becoming one of three women who got awarded for their success. Read her full review in German.

Personal stylist Ingrid Angehrn Dewulf decided to invest in herself and signed up for SOMBA. After having worked with her clients one-on-one, she developed her first online course. SOMBA gave her the community she needed to exchange ideas, advice and support. She ended up working with 1030 women in 2019. Read her full review in zGerman.

Life coach Daniela Persike moved back to Germany after six years in Barcelona, learned how to deal with stress, worked on her mindset and drew strength from the SOMBA community. Read her full review in German.

Michelle Petit decided that 2019 was going to be the year in which she put herself out there and started her online business in interior design. SOMBA helped her overcome her negative beliefs and follow a new dream: Quitting her corporate job and fully living of her online business. Read her full review in English.

During SOMBA Summer School, content coach Judith Peters made her online course about sending out the best newsletters and had 200 sign ups. It was such a success that she went on to use the course to complete her signature program. Read her full review in German.

2019 was a year of masterminding for hypnotherapist and art life coach Jenne Ragazzo-Chase. She learned to become more visible, to invest in herself and even became a SOMBA mentor! Read her full review in English.

Personal brand specialist Anne Retter became a SOMBA mentor, ran her first VIP group coaching program and created a new program that combines masterminding and coworking. She came second out of 400 participants for an award celebrating self-employment and small businesses. Read her full review in German.

First official SOMBA coach Anke Beeren doubled her revenue as mastermind mentor in 2019, took part in three SOMBA launches as affiliate and sold out three of her own group programs. Read her full review in German.

Lucy Eckley, personal brand story expert, announced in front of 450 people that she will start her own podcast by March 2020. She ran her first group workshop and online course with over 20 active participants. Read her full review in English.

Transformation coach Viola Heller ran two online courses, wrote her first blog post and learned how to come out of her comfort zone. She found a new home and took up her old passion: dancing. Read her full review in German.

Style coach Elke Puls helped 25 women find their ideal colours, had 200 participants in her online course, recorded 33 episodes of her podcast and grew her team to four people. Read her full review in German.

In 2019, clarity coach Dolores Andrew-Gavin was searching for her own clarity. SOMBA Summer School helped her to focus and create her best ever online course. Read her full review in English.

Janna Scharfenberg travelled through Europe with her husband and daughter for six months while growing her online business around healthy living. She published her first book in May, ranking on two bestseller lists of Amazon and tripled her revenue – all while expecting her second child. Read her full review in German.

Artist Heather Matthew travelled to Iceland to undertake an artist residency and created her first online course. She got clear on her mission to take creativity to a larger audience and overcame her insecurities. Read her full review in English.

Lena Busch reached six figures helping mothers realize their businesses, retired her husband and recorded 20 episodes for her new podcast. Read her full review in German.

"Mama – be wild!" is Julia Mack-Amanatidis motto, by which she fully lived in 2019. She became a mother for the fourth time, learned all about setting up a newsletter and using social media to promote her mother coaching business in SOMBA Summer School and created her own online course with 78 participants. Read her full review in German.

Content coach Ina Mewes launched her podcast and did a makeover of her website. One of her blog posts ranked on first position on Google. She decided to invest in herself and learn how to say no. Read her full review in German.

Want 2020 to be your year of breakthroughs? Then join SOMBA. The deadline to join is Thursday 10 pm CET.

Music coach Maria Busqué learned how to get more visibility through social media and sold out her three-day retreat for musicians. Read her full review in German.

Business coach Jo Bendle signed up for a 12 month mastermind for the first time and went through a big mind shift. She spoke on two international stages, hosted workshops and VIP days around the world and ran a retreat herself. Read her full review in English.

Eva Peters helps her clients take their business ideas online. She turned her online workshop into a group program and is running it for the 10th time this January. She launched her podcast, started a Facebook group and gave 13 webinars. Read her full review in German.

Dance professor Gudrun Mahlberg made an effort to gain visibility through social media and was found by clients through Instagram and YouTube, got her first VIP client and performed on stage for the first time after 12 years. Read her full review in English.

2019 was all about public speaking for coach and mediator Leyla Okhai. She was a podcast guest on two key podcasts which inspired her to create her own podcast. She also got invited as a guest speaker for ASOS and keynote speaker for the University College London and won two awards. Read her full review in English.

Communication coach Manuela Festl created her first online course and because of the positive feedback, went on to offer a group program. Read her full review in German.

Life coach Gudrun Otten created her first online course with 21 subscribers, became a grandmother to a second grandchild and figured out the perfect name for her podcast and launched it with 17 episodes. Read her full review in German.

Jane Schmidt created an online course, went live on Facebook, held a webinar and got great feedback from her 70 course participants. August became the first month in which she could fully live off her online business as content and SEO coach. Read her full review in German.

Martin Meitza ran his online coaching business while being on a road trip from Dubai to Germany and planning his family's move back to Germany. He grew his email list from 0 to over 600 and created four online courses with over 100 video tutorials. Read her full review in English.

SOMBA Summer School Winner Lena Küssner went from 0 subscribers to over $10K in revenue in only 8 weeks. She started selling her coaching packages helping people to brand their business, was able to quit her job and got invited as a speaker for an online summit. Read her full review in German.

Martina Fuchs wrote a pocket guide on expert branding, found inspiration for her passion project and decided to take her business to an international level in 2020. Read her full review in German.

Marketing project leader Angelique Dujic decided to build up her own online coaching business around teambuilding from zero, created her first online course and started blogging. Read her full review in German.

Empowerment coach Olga Homering joined a speaker workshop, overcame her fear of public speaking and spoke to 1000 people from a stage. She contributed chapters to two different books and will publish her own in 2020. Read her full review in German.

Carola Epple decided to take her start-up business online and started offering behavioral therapists virtual reality videos to treat their patients. She launched her first online course during SOMBA Kickstart, held a webinar and got 15 clients. Read her full review in German.

Sunray Dollase helps her clients clean up and organize their lives, developed an online course and helped 94 subscribers to manage their time differently. She published her own bestselling ebook and created a brand new sales page. Read her full review in German.

Web design expert Daniela Retzl launched her ebook, overcame her fear of live videos and got invited as a guest in a podcast. She developed a brand new online course with 90 participants. Read her full review in German.

Tanja Francisco was working as a teacher but didn't feel fulfilled. Through SOMBA Summer School, she started her own online business, created her first online course with 19 participants and realized her lifelong dream of buying a motorcycle. Read her full review in German.

Birgit Nora Schäfer quit her job and suffered the loss of her mother, but kept believing in her dream of accompanying people affected by a heart attack on a psychological level. She found great support in the SOMBA community and turned her online course into 1-1 coaching. Read her full review in German.

Nutritionist Claudia Nichterl opened up the doors to her own online academy for nutrition and health and immediately sold out her main program, a 12-month course. Today, she says she has finally arrived where she always wanted to be. Read her full review in German.

Journalist and communications coach Christina Teuthorn-Mohr decided to help women realize their dreams online. She found her first one-on-one clients and is planning her first online conference. Read her full review in German.

Iris Seng helps women find their story and use storytelling for their business. She switched from just providing content in her Facebook Lives to doing interviews, had five launches and made five times more revenue compared to the previous year. Read her full review in German.

Agnieszka Gaczkowska learned that taking off with her online crocheting business and having time to spend with her family was due to one important skill she learned in 2019: delegate tasks. She also became a mother for the third time. Read her full review in Polish.

Want 2020 to be your year of breakthroughs? Then join SOMBA. The deadline to join is Thursday 10 pm CET.

A decade in review is supposed to start with the year 2010 but in order to fully explain the changes in my life in the last decade we need to start with the year 2008.

In 2008 I had moved to London from Iceland to finish my Executive MBA at London Business School. There I attended a life-changing seminar with Tony Robbins called Unleash The Power Within. I sat down on the second day of the seminar next to a man, called Martin, who first became a friend but after meeting again at another Tony Robbins seminar we became more than friends. Instead of becoming the CEO of Nissan in Sweden I took a leap of faith and moved with one suitcase to Switzerland to live with a man that I barely knew. It was not an easy decision and the first months together were difficult as we were getting to know each other. But the more time we spent together the more we fell in love and I started to think, maybe this is the love of my life.

In 2009 after looking for a job for six months in Switzerland where I now lived, I finally found a job and became a managing director at a medical technology company. Everything was new to me, I was still getting used to being in a relationship, living in a little village and now a new job in a field that I knew nothing about. I also had become a stepmother of two little boys, age 3 and 4, and this was a role I never expected to have as I wasn't planning to have children of my own. Turns out that I am a good stepmom, enjoyed the role, and have over the years given my boys guidance on many things that will help them become good grownups. Martin and I loved spending time together, playing golf and traveling.

In 2010 I started to get sick. Pain was not unfamiliar to me, I had sometimes had back pain and headaches, but this was different. I started to get a strong pain in my shoulder. I felt it most strongly after driving for an hour so my conclusion was to drive less. But after a while I also got the pain without driving. The pain started to pop up in my neck, a pinching ear pain and very strong headaches. I started to wonder if this had something to do with my job. My employer got me a special chair but then my table was even higher and I had to hold my hand up to be able to work on the computer. I took a 3-week summer vacation and decided not to touch a computer in the hope the pain would go away. When I got back the pain was even stronger and by November it was so bad that I couldn't work anymore and went on medical leave.

In 2011 I continued being sick and in total my medical leave was 7 months. My employer at the medical technology company fired me for being sick but as luck will have it, I was offered a job the day before I got fired. I was excited about the new job but had to wait to start until I recovered which wasn't until the summer. I became the country manager of an Icelandic software company and my boss was only an hour away, also living in Switzerland. The best thing about the job was that I could work from home, the worst part was that many of my clients were an hour-drive away. The pinching pain in my shoulder always came back after every drive. I enjoyed my new job in many ways as it was a startup but acquiring clients through cold-calling was not my cup of tea. I also started to wonder if it was really worth having a country manager in Switzerland.

In 2012 Martin and I got married after being together for 4 years. The relationship was now tried and tested and I had almost fully recovered from the repetitive strain injury. We invited friends and family from Switzerland, Germany, UK and Iceland and 80 people came to our wedding. It was a beautiful ceremony in an Icelandic independent church with a red-haired priest who said "you may now kiss the groom" followed by celebrations in downtown Reykjavik, Iceland. I had wanted a June wedding because then the sun doesn't go down. A month after the wedding we traveled to Greenland for our honeymoon. It was an unforgettable 5-day experience where we saw beautiful arctic sunset every night, lots of icebergs and wildlife. Just before the honeymoon I had lost my job so I was unemployed again, the second time in two years. I saw this as a clear sign that I should now start my own business.

In 2013 I was looking for the perfect business idea. I did a couple of online courses but they were only a few weeks long and then the support was gone and I was lost. I had hoped by doing these courses I would figure out my business idea but I didn't. I had all kinds of ideas, writing travel books, becoming a professional photographer, setting up an online shop with Icelandic design. None of the ideas sounded great so I was running in circles and overthinking every step. In the end I got so frustrated with my lack of progress that I set myself a deadline of getting my website up and running in 2 days. I did and I published my first blog post "Why 'Start before you are ready' is the only way". What followed were a series of blog posts on how to find your passion and a profitable business idea. By the end of the year I still didn't have a clear business idea but I could feel that it was just around the corner.

In 2014 I finally started my business. It was like in the Alchemist, the business idea had always been there, right in front of me but I just hadn't seen it. Of course I was supposed to be a business coach, after being a successful CEO for 10 years and having an MBA from one of the best business schools in the world. And I wanted to help women overcome their doubts, start to believe in themselves and turn their passion into profits. I put a button on my website for one hour business coaching and on March 26th, 2014, the first person bought. That's when I knew that this would work out although I wasn't sure yet how. In the middle of the year I started with weekly webinars and by the fall I had over 1500 email addresses on my list. I bit the bullet and hired a business coach to get over my fear of selling. And even before we started to work together I had the first breakthrough and sold a six week coaching package. I learned to launch and by the end of the year I had made $72K, there of $55K in the last three months of the year.

In 2015 I started attending conferences and events. My first event was Money Bootcamp with Denise Duffield-Thomas in London where I met a lot of women who I only knew from the internet. Suddenly the world was so small and everything felt so doable, and many of them knew me from my weekly webinars, I was starting to become known. - As a side note, Denise Duffield-Thomas is a keynote speaker at the Selfmade Summit in Reykjavik, Iceland in June this year! - My second event was a big conference in San Diego called Social Media Marketing World and even without knowing anyone there, I had a great time and made an effort to get to know some of the speakers. - As a side note, the event organiser of Social Media Marketing World Phil Merson is one of my advisors for the Selfmade Summit. In spring I attended Off The Charts by Nathalie Lussier and it was there that a light bulb went off. I was in a room with 300 female online entrepreneurs and I realised that I wanted to create something like this in Europe, a conference and community. In May 2015 I gave my TEDx talk after months of preparations and still today I am proud of my talk and the message. In October I got my first international speaking engagement when I spoke at Lisa Larter's One Day event Money Mindset and Marketing. There another seed was planted, I wanted to do more speaking and definitely have my own event sooner than later. By the end of the year I had doubled my revenue to $164K.

In 2016 I joined my first mastermind that included 3 in-person retreats in US and Canada and I went on my first cruise, an Abraham Hicks cruise in Alaska. I was traveling a lot and mostly alone but I got great support and encouragement from Martin, my husband, super fan and biggest critique. He even started to suggest that I could retire him since I was doing so well in my business. I thought he was joking but he wasn't. The signs were there that his job was not as secure as we thought it was and after 10 years with the same company he lost his job in the fall of 2016. This gave me an extra boost to ramp up the business and have my biggest launch so far, $230K. By the end of the year I had again doubled my revenue, now to $340K.

In 2017 I created SOMBA, Sigrun's Online MBA, a 12-month program for women who want to build a profitable online business based on their passion. I was no longer offering 1-1 coaching, I had replaced all my income with group coaching since two years. Martin joined the business as a COO and this allowed us to spend a lot more time together. We joined a mastermind in California with 4 in-person retreats and even brought the boys with us to one of the retreats. My dad was diagnosed with bone cancer in May 2017 and that was a huge shock to me and my family. I changed my travel plans and managed to stay 50% of the year in Iceland, including 5 weeks summer holiday with the boys, like we do every year. By the end of the year I had tripled my revenue and finally crossed the magical million dollar mark.

In 2018 I also spent 50% of the year in Iceland, mostly alone, so I could see my parents. After the fast growth of the year before I was struggling with growing pains. I knew I needed to expand my team but I somehow wasn't ready yet. Martin and I were still in the California Mastermind and for the second year in a row we took the boys with us to one of the retreats, this time in San Diego. My dad was feeling a bit better which was a relief, although we know it is a temporary condition. I was running 4 mastermind groups and building out SOMBA while I also started to create a new group coaching program called Momentum. I got the courage to book the venue for my upcoming conference The Selfmade Summit and started to see how my vision of a worldwide impact was coming to life. In November I attended Iconic with Ali Brown and decided on the spot that she would be my next business coach. By the end of the year I had made $1.5M in revenue.

In 2019 I took advantage of the fact that my dad was feeling a lot better and spent only 3 months in Iceland and ramped up my travel. Overall I was 165 days on the road and mostly business trips to the USA, Canada and other European countries. Martin traveled with me on many of the trips but he also always made sure to go regularly back to Switzerland to take care of the boys. I was in two masterminds in 2019. That wasn't the original plan but when my previous business coach offered a special 7 Figure Mastermind I couldn't resist. This was the year where I finally got over my resistance and expanded my team which now counts 10 people in my core team and 20 people in my expanded team. In November, Martin and I, went on an 18-day cruise over the Atlantic ocean as preparation for our dream cruise which will be on our 10 year anniversary. Then we plan to go to Antarctica. By the end of the year I had made $2.2M in revenue.

This was a 10 or actually a 12 year review. It is truly amazing what is possible in 10-12 years. In 2008 I wasn't planning to have my own business or change the world but a seed was planted at a Tony Robbins event. There I wrote down a vision of having my own business and making a million dollars plus achieving gender equality.

Today I have my own business, I am making multiple million dollars and I am accelerating gender equality through my work. By helping women start and scale their businesses to six and seven figures I am ensuring that women will become financially independent and create their own wealth. And that's how we truly will achieve gender equality.

"We tend to overestimate what we can do in a week or a month.But we underestimate what can be achieved in a year or a decade." - Sigrun

Come to Iceland in 2020 for the Selfmade Summit 2020

Join us for 2 transformational days of online business strategy, mindset breakthroughs and meaningful networking guaranteed to propel your business forward…. In one of the most exceptionally beautiful places in the world.

Early bird tickets are now available for the largest international conference for women entrepreneurs - The Selfmade Summit 2020!

Buy your tickets at www.sigrun.com/selfmadesummit today!

Please share, subscribe and review

Thank you for joining me on this episode of the Sigrun Show. If you enjoyed this episode, please share, subscribe and review on Apple Podcasts or Google Play Music so more people can enjoy the show. Don't forget to follow and connect with me on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram!

Click here to learn how to leave a review, then head over to Apple Podcasts for your chance to win a special thank you gift!

Jen Lehner is an extraordinary woman who founded the Front Row Mastermind - a group that has been labeled as one of the Top 10 Facebook Groups to Join Before Quitting Your Day Job by Fast Company. Her expertise includes digital marketing and systems strategy. She also spends her days as an adjunct professor of Digital Marketing at Cleveland State University. Jen lived in many different places as a child, from North Carolina, Georgia, Texas, Boston, and South Carolina to the Philippines and Africa - and currently enjoys life in Ohio with her husband and three children.

Jen shares how she helps solopreneurs and entrepreneurs avoid the overwhelm of running a business by hiring virtual assistants (VAs) from the Philippines that are a perfect match for their clients. She discusses the hiring system she created when vetting virtual assistants and how to offer more value to your VAs in addition to pay, so they can grow with you and your business. Jen also shares how the front-row mindset impacts your business and the way you lead your team.

"If your VA has a sense of ownership in your business, then you have something so much more than a contractor." - Jen Lehner

In This Episode of The Sigrun Show:

• What "Front Row" means to Jen and why she chose it as the name for her business and podcast
• The different mindsets of people who sit in the front row versus the back row
• What persuaded her to start a local consulting job and how it led her to create online courses for entrepreneurs
• The problems and apprehensions most entrepreneurs have with hiring a virtual assistant
• One of Jen's favorite parts in the hiring process
• A crucial value to instill in your VA and how you can achieve this goal
• The minimum hourly rate to offer a Filipino VA and why you shouldn't go lower
• How she determines whether to hire locally or overseas
• What a "Wish List" means to Jen's business
• How to determine the status of your VA's employment

Resources Mentioned:

• Jen's Flowchart
• Onlinejobs.ph
• Loom
• Google Sheets
• Skype

Connect with Jen Lehner:

• JenLehner.com
• TheFrontRowCEO.com
• Jen Lehner on YouTube
• Jen Lehner on Instagram
• Jen Lehner on Facebook

Come to Iceland in 2020 for the Selfmade Summit 2020

Join us for 2 transformational days of online business strategy, mindset breakthroughs and meaningful networking guaranteed to propel your business forward…. In one of the most exceptionally beautiful places in the world.

Early bird tickets are now available for the largest international conference for women entrepreneurs - The Selfmade Summit 2020!

Buy your tickets at www.sigrun.com/selfmadesummit today!

Please share, subscribe and review

Thank you for joining me on this episode of the Sigrun Show. If you enjoyed this episode, please share, subscribe and review on Apple Podcasts or Google Play Music so more people can enjoy the show. Don't forget to follow and connect with me on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram!

Click here to learn how to leave a review, then head over to Apple Podcasts for your chance to win a special thank you gift!

My word for 2019 was BOLD and it has definitely been a BOLD year, although completely different from what I anticipated. I expected myself to be more BOLD on the outside - externally and visibly - but instead this year has been more about catching up with the fast growth of the previous two years and having a BOLDER mindset. It all makes sense in hindsight but there were definitely times where I felt as if I was not living up to my word for the year. As I am writing this review, I feel immensely grateful for everything that has happened this year and I can absolutely see how it is helping me to become ready for a new and BOLD decade.

$2.2M in revenue12 team members158 travel days1 new eye

2019 was a big travel year and I loved every minute of it! I spent 122 days at home in Switzerland, 83 days at my second home in Iceland and 158 days on the road. What may sound exhausting to some, is exciting to me. I love traveling and it is one of the reasons I wanted to build an online business. I don't want to have a local team or a local office. I want to be able to work whenever and wherever and that's what I am doing - and I love it.

Below is my travel schedule for the year, month by month.

January: 5 days Reykjavik → 20 days Zurich → 4 days Toronto → 3 days Phoenix

February: → 4 days Laguna Beach → 7 days Reykjavik→ 3 days Zurich → 7 days Nendaz (Switzerland) → 6 days Zurich

March: → 3 days Amsterdam → 4 days Zurich → 10 days Reykjavik → 4 days Phoenix → 2 days San Diego → 3 days London → 4 days Reykjavik → 1 day Zurich

April: 2 days Zurich → 12 days Dubai → 2 days Zurich → 1 day Amsterdam → 5 days Alicante → 4 days Zurich → 2 days Ascona → 1 day Zurich → 1 days Phoenix

May: 2 days Phoenix → 13 days Zurich → 4 days Valencia → 6 days Reykjavik → 6 days Brand (Austria)

June: → 3 days Chicago → 4 days Zurich → 7 days Nendaz (Switzerland) → 12 days Zurich → 4 days Brand (Austria)

July:→ 6 days Zurich → 25 days Reykjavik

August:13 days Reykjavik → 9 days Zurich → 3 days Reykjavik → 6 days South of Iceland → 1 day Reykjavik

September:1 day Reykjavik → 3 days Phoenix → 25 days New York → 1 day Phoenix

October:→ 46 days New York → 26 days Zurich

November:→ 4 days San Diego → 3 days Phoenix → 9 days Los Angeles → 4 days Zurich → 10 days Transatlantic Cruise(Genova, Marseille, Barcelona, Malaga)

December: 8 days Transatlantic cruise (Barbados, Antigua, St. Maarten, Martinique, Guadeloupe) → 5 days Zurich → 2 days Stuttgart → 4 days Zurich → 4 days Alicante → 8 days Reykjavik

The biggest traveling highlight of the year was going on a transatlantic cruise. I had been on a cruise once before when I went on an Abraham Hicks cruise to Alaska in 2016 but Martin, my husband, had never been on a cruise before. Since we are planning to go on a 3-week Antarctica cruise in 2022 to celebrate our 10 year wedding anniversary, Martin wanted to go on a cruise once before to see if he liked it. Turns out that we both loved it, especially the days at sea. On my previous cruise there were 2 separate days at sea but on this transatlantic cruise there were 5 consecutive days at sea.

There was something magical about crossing the Atlantic, the soft movement of the ship and the endless sea with not a single ship in sight. Martin and I were both able to completely relax and recharge which was so needed after a busy year. We are now even more excited about our dream cruise in 2022 to Antarctica where I'll make my dream of seeing penguins in their natural habitat a reality.

Let's rewind back to the end of 2018. I was feeling tired. In August 2018 I started a brand new group coaching and accountability program called SOMBA Momentum and I was also running 4 mastermind groups; 2 Momentum Masterminds, 1 Accelerator Mastermind and 1 VIP Mastermind. The plan was to retire the 2 Momentum Masterminds in favour of the new SOMBA Momentum program but for 4 months I was running 5 group programs instead of ideally only 3. I was running too many programs and I was running out of energy and I realised it. The year was coming to an end so I knew I could pull through but I began to wonder about 2019.

In October 2018, I started to think about merging two of my higher level masterminds, Accelerator and VIP, into one. I wanted to have more space and time in my calendar to be creative, create more content and finally write a book. Instead of taking a swift decision I went back and forth on whether I should merge Accelerator and VIP into one program or wait and see how many signups I got. To say that I agonized over this is an understatement. Since I was so indecisive on what to do, I also didn't do my best at marketing both programs. And suddenly it was almost Christmas and I realised that I had to make a decision.

On December 23, after one more sleepless night over this decision, I finally sent an email to those who had signed up for these two programs and announced to them that I was merging the two programs and upgrading all of those who had signed up for Accelerator to VIP. Of course Accelerator members were ecstatic about the change but I didn't feel so good for those who had already signed up for VIP so I gave them an extra bonus too. I felt relieved after the decision like I do after every big decision I make in my business. And then I thought to myself, why didn't I make this decision right away in October?

Besides merging two programs, I also had to take a hard look and see if there was anything that I could stop doing or at least pause for a while. Already in October I had stopped recording new episodes for Sigrun Sparks which is a 90 sec daily audio experience. Still today my team is running the 100 episodes that I created from May to September 2018. In my mind I have just paused the production of new episodes and when the time is right I will start again.

At the end of December 2018 I didn't have the energy to record any new episodes for my podcast The Sigrun Show so we re-ran older episodes that I felt were good but hadn't received the downloads they deserved - and this turned out to be a good idea. I didn't have to record 10 new episodes and these episodes got a new life.

The decisions to stop something, merge something or pause something are not easy but through this experience I believe I am much more willing to make a decision like that and make that decision faster than I was before.

I had more growing pains to go through in 2019. It had been clear since I tripled my revenue from $340K to $1M in 2017 that I needed to grow my team but still hadn't.

There was something holding me back and I couldn't pinpoint what it was. Was I worried about the investment? Not really but maybe a tiny bit. Was I worried about not finding the right people? Partly yes as I had hired and fired a lot of contractors over the years. Was I worried about the time it takes to train them? A little bit. Was I worried about changing the team dynamic? Somewhat I guess. But overall I didn't have a clear answer on why I wasn't growing my team when we so obviously needed more help to achieve all the goals that I wanted to achieve.

As I stood in front of my mastermind group in February 2019 explaining to them my vision and listing all my goals for 2019, I realised that the biggest thing holding me back was my resistance to growing my team.

My mastermind buddies were amazed how far I have grown my business with such a small team but it was crystal clear to everyone in the room that the only way I was going to achieve my goals was to build a bigger team. Then one of my mastermind buddies, who rarely speaks up unless she has something important to say, said: "Sigrun, I think the reason you are not growing your team, is that you want to prove to the world, to women, that you, as a woman, can do it all on your own." Boom! That hit me.

Yes, I want to prove to myself and prove to other women that they can do it. And my mastermind buddy continued: "Sigrun, you've proven that you can do it, you've already built a million dollar business". Boom! Yes, I have. "Now build a dream team to achieve your vision". She hit the nail on the head and I felt something being released, the resistance was less.

The day before that memorable hot seat I had written and published three job descriptions. We took our time with the hiring, the ad was up for over a month, we got over 300 applications and then my team interviewed potential candidates and we gave them tests to complete. We ended up hiring 4 employees instead of 3, although a few months later we had to let one of them go.

Overall I added 5 members to my team in 2019, plus I hired an event manager as a contractor and 4 new coaches for my programs. Today I feel no resistance to growing the team, actually I feel the opposite, I am constantly thinking about what role I want to hire next and if I know someone I could hire. I am really enjoying building a dream team.

In February I said to my husband: "I would love to live in New York for a month.""Let's do it", he said.

A few hours later we found the perfect studio apartment in the middle of Manhattan.

The dream of living somewhere else for a month was no longer a dream.

It was going to happen and it happened in September 2019.

We moved to New York for a month without big plans. Interestingly, I got several invitations to events even if I didn't tell anyone that I was going to be in New York. Somehow the Universe sent me people and/or events that happened exactly during the time I was in New York. And of course I took advantage of that.

The first thing we did was to set up our office space. As luck would have it, there were two tables in our studio and two monitors! We had to get a few things, like a stand for my microphone and keyboards as we had not thought everything through when we packed for the trip. Martin didn't mind going shopping because all the things we needed were in our favourite shop in New York - B&H. I think Martin went there at least 4 times during our stay if not more often.

We quickly established a routine in our new home-for-a-month. Martin would go to Starbucks in the morning and get a Latte Macchiato for himself and a Chai Tea Latte with almond milk for me. We would work in the morning from 9am to 12pm and then go to lunch at one of the many restaurants around our area.

We would then work in the afternoon from 1pm to 6pm and then go out for dinner. Our studio apartment had a decent kitchen but neither of us like to cook and New York just has so many great restaurants.

The view from the apartment was amazing so I took a picture every morning and every evening. I also used the opportunity to have a photoshoot in New York, right after I arrived. We did one inside the apartment and another one outdoors just before we left New York.

September turned out to be a great month to go to events and meet people. The first event I went to was Marie Forleo's book launch in New York were I met a few fellow B-Schoolers (I did B-School in 2013) and fans.

I met up with Jon Briggs who does trailers for people like Mark Schaefer and Gary Vee and he introduced me Steve Cohen, the most connected man in the world and producer for the Altucher Show. Steve then invited me to attend two events with James Altucher, one was were he did stand-up comedy and the second one was with Ryan Holiday where they were discussing his new book. At that event I met Derek Halpern, who sat down at my table.

And then I was invited to Selena Soo's VIP Networking Dinner with 30 other entrepreneurs and media people. You may or may not know the people I have mentioned. My point isn't the name dropping but the fact that you can meet so many people in New York is amazing. No wonder a lot of entrepreneurs live in New York!

2019 was the year that I finally had an eye operation. Since 6 years I've known that I have a cataract in my right eye. I didn't see it coming, it happened gradually. I was having all kinds of issues in the right side of my body which were not all explainable so I thought about going to the eye doctor. The eye doctor didn't see anything wrong with my right eye, so I asked him to look again. And then he shouted: You have a cataract! I was in shock. Isn't that something that 70-80 year old people get?

Obviously there are exceptions and I am one of them. The eye doctor wanted to operate right away but I didn't trust him. I believed him when he said I had a cataract but I didn't think operating so fast was a good idea and also not by a local eye doctor that rarely does eye operations. I got a second and a third opinion, both eye doctors agreed with me to wait. This was six years ago.

What nobody told me back then is that you shouldn't wait too long. Earlier this year I had lost all sight on my right. I see a bit of colour but that's it. It is like looking through a white paper bag. Check what you see, it's not much I can tell you. My husband noticed that my right eye had started to wander off and didn't look straight. We even started to see this in pictures of me. It was time to have that eye operation. There were two reasons why I waited so long, one was that the more experienced eye doctors recommended it and second, I wanted the latest and best technology. I had done my research and found out that there is a multifocal lens you can get as a replacement when they move your own lens. And I decided that was what I wanted. I wanted to be able to walk around and use my computer and read a book without glasses.

In July I had an appointment at an eye clinic in Zurich. They did all kinds of test on my right eye but it was very hard to measure anything because my right eye is like a white paper bag where I don't even see what I am supposed to be looking at. The results were devastating, even more shocking than having the cataract in the first place. You cannot have the multifocal lens, the eye doctor said. I was in shock ... and cried when I got outside the eye clinic. I had waited too long…

But I had been waiting too long to get the right treatment and was not willing to take no for an answer so I asked for a second appointment with the head doctor of the clinic. An appointment was set up for August and I flew especially from Iceland to Switzerland. At the clinic I was first sent to a different doctor who told me all about a test that we had to do to simulate the eye operation. I asked again to see the head doctor and after a bit of back and forth I could finally see her - and she agreed to the multifocal lens that I originally wanted. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

A date for the eye surgery was set - Tuesday October 8, 2019. According to the eye doctors all went well but it took me a few days to recover. Within 2 days I could see 100% with my right eye and it was amazing to be able to read a book and sit at computer without needing glasses.

A few days later though, my eye sight dropped to 60%, I noticed as we were driving that I couldn't read the motorway signs anymore. The eye doctors had warned me that because my cataract was so strong, that I would most definitely have to have a post-cataract eye laser operation about 3 months after the first operation.

Instead of waiting 3 months the eye doctors decided to do the second operation only 3 weeks after the first operation to improve my eyesight. The date for the 2nd operation was November 18, 2019. I felt an immediate improvement and in the eye test that I did right afterwards I guessed that my eyesight was at 80%.

Just before Christmas 2019 I was invited for a final check and my eyesight had improved even more. Now I have 100% eyesight in my right eye! What a relief after everything. I just need to have the left eye operated at some point but probably not until 2021.

When I read other people's year in review blog posts, I am naturally always curious about their numbers because I am a business coach and I help women make money. It would be weird if I wasn't interested in numbers. This is why I'm including this detailed section with my revenue and costs because I know you're curious, too.

The 2019 results are a $500K revenue increase from 2018 which is over 30% growth. I started the year aiming to double the revenue from $1.5M in 2018 to $3M in 2019 but already by the end of January I adjusted the projection to $2.5M, so I am pretty happy with our results, especially considering all the issues we had with Facebook ads in all of our launches. The revenue for SOMBA in 2019 was similar to our SOMBA revenue in 2018 and the key growth area was my new group coaching and accountability program, SOMBA Momentum.

SOMBA revenue was $1.1M in 2019

Although it wasn't our original plan, my team and I did three SOMBA launches in 2019.

The original plan was to do two launches, like in 2018, but in January and June, instead of January and September. Our reasoning was that it would be good to have people start just before we run a 60-day summer challenge inside SOMBA called SOMBA Summer School. But our June launch didn't work out the way we wanted, partly due to Facebook ads and partly due to the heat wave that went over Europe in the week of our launch. That's why we added a September launch and were able to close off with over a $1M in SOMBA revenue.

Our Facebook ad troubles started already in September 2018 when we hit an invisible daily ad spending limit and couldn't spend our ad budget. Despite talking to three Facebook ad experts, none of them could figure out what was happening.

It was actually Martin, my husband, who knows nothing about Facebook ads that figured out that there was a limit on our daily ad spend. Our Facebook ad manager was sceptical that this was the reason but after checking with Facebook, turns out that Martin was right and Facebook was willing to increase our invisible daily ad spend limit. Unfortunately this was already on our open cart day so it was too late.

In the three launches in 2019 our Facebook ads issues were around ad disapprovals. We've had to completely change the language of our ad copy and also our landing pages and sales pages to get through the eagle eye of Facebook. Getting a lot of ads disapproved increased costs so overall lead cost went up in all three launches.

A lot of time was also spent on writing ad copy, much more than in previous years, which is something we have to factor in now. In our latest launch we feel we have finally got the hang of getting our ads approved and currently our Facebook ads are running smoothly - fingers crossed!

Mastermind groups revenue was $1M

In 2019 we ran two group programs; SOMBA Momentum, a group coaching and accountability program, and VIP Mastermind, a true mastermind program. Both are 12 month programs but the sales process is very different. VIP Mastermind starts once a year, in January, Momentum on the other hand starts at any time. Most of our Mastermind group clients come from SOMBA and therefore we don't need to run any ads or launch these two programs. In January 2020 starts a new program, RED CIRCLE, which is for women who are already making $500K or more.

Other revenue streams were over $100K

Under other revenue streams falls the Selfmade Summit, my biggest and boldest project to date, happening in June 2020 in Reykjavik, Iceland. We soft-launched our super early bird tickets during SIGRUN LIVE in October and they sold out in 48 hrs.

Net Profit was 10% or $220K

When most online entrepreneurs talk about profit, they actually mean salary, they sometimes even call it take-home-profit. They run their businesses as sole proprietorships and any profit they make is actually their salary.

I've always run my business as a limited liability company and therefore any profit my company makes is not my salary but a profit that belongs to the company. In some countries it makes sense to pay yourself dividends from your company profit but in Switzerland that doesn't make sense because the tax dividends double. First you pay tax on your company profit before you can pay yourself dividends and then you pay income tax on the dividends. The best way to pay myself is through a salary.

When I talk about profit, I mean company profit, after salary, company taxes, depreciation of company assets and currency losses or gains. And that's a very different profit than the one most online entrepreneurs talk about. I actually don't want a lot of profit in my business, a 5% profit is more than enough for a business that I never plan to sell.

Instead I want to invest any potential profit into the growth of my business before the end of the year. This investment can be in the form of a new project like a venue for a conference, larger ad budget, expanding my team, creating an investment fund etc.

Next time you hear someone talk about profit, ask them what kind of profit they are talking about.

If I would calculate profit like most online entrepreneurs do I could easily have a 50% profit in my business but that would not be smart business- and tax-wise and that's why I don't do it.

Employees & contractors $700KThe biggest expense in my business is paying people. This includes me and my husband, all employees, all contractors, and all outsourced tasks. My team now consists of 4 full-time employees, 8 part-time employees/contractors, a 2-people podcasting team, 3 external coaches, and I regularly work with photographers and videographers. In addition we have several tasks that we outsource e.g. transcription services. It gives me great joy to be able to employ people and now that I have gotten over my resistance of growing my team, I love building a dream team and paying good salaries.

I pay myself a six figure salary since 2017. For the first three years of my business I didn't pay myself any salary so I am making up for that now.

Live Event Cost $120K

Once a year my team and I hold a live event in Zurich, Switzerland called SIGRUN LIVE for our SOMBA students and Mastermind members. This year I invested over six figures to fly in my team for a whole week and create an amazing 2-day event for our community. In 2020, Sigrun Live will be an even bigger investment as we are making it a 3-day event, 2 days for SOMBAs and 1 Mastermind day for Mastermind members. My team is already excited and I hope you are excited, too - get on the waitlist for SOMBA if you are not already a student.

Facebook Ads $200K

When my clients ask me which amount they should invest into Facebook ads, I tell them that investing 10% of the revenue you want to have in your launch is pretty normal. If you want to have a million dollar launch, you need to be willing to invest $100K into paid ads. In 2019 we spent 10% of our total revenue on Facebook ads and that was too much. The reason why we spent so much was that we had a lot of issues with ads in 2019.

Affiliates $200K

We work with affiliates to sell our SOMBA program. All our affiliates are former and current SOMBA students or Mastermind members and know the SOMBA program in and out. Their success stories are the best proof of the effectiveness of the program. Affiliates get a 40% commission for every SOMBA sale.

Coaching $90K

I believe in investing forward. I invest a lot of money in masterminds and coaches every year. In 2019, I invested in two masterminds, one was $40K and the other one $50K. If you want to add $500K to your revenue then you need to be willing to invest $50K in coaching. Besides masterminds I also invest in coaching and consulting when the need arrives.

Travel $150K

Travel is a big part of my life and business. This is one of the reasons I started my business in the first place. I wanted to be able to live in two countries and travel the world. 90% of my travel is for business and therefore my travel costs are probably higher than in most online businesses.

Both of my masterminds in 2019 were in the US so I did 6 trips there to attend retreats and other events. A part of the travel costs is travel that my team has taken. I have always had a virtual team but 2019 was the first year where I brought my team together and more than once. In February I flew to Toronto to work with my launch manager and in June I flew my launch manager and my new executive assistant to Zurich. Then for my live event in October I flew in team members to Switzerland from the US, Canada, Italy, and the UK. Under travel costs falls also accommodations and meals.

I cannot end a year in review without speaking about the Selfmade Summit.

The seeds had been set for a while. I knew that one day I would do a conference but I didn't know when or what it would be about.

October 2018 I started to feel ready. My VIP Mastermind clients were in Iceland with me and I decided to show them Harpa, the Icelandic concert hall. If you haven't heard of Harpa, imagine the Sydney Opera house and then a more modern version with a glass facade at the harbour of Reykjavik. That's Harpa.

Harpa was built between 2007 and 2011. I originally studied architecture and was fascinated by Harpa from day one. I love how the outer structure of a glass facade changes with the seasons, sunlight and artificial light. It is a building that has been praised in magazines around the world, not just for its looks but also because of its sound.

Harpa was designed as a concert center but equally works as a conference center. It has many multifunctional event spaces plus the main concert hall called Eldborg which translates to fire city.

When I saw Eldborg for the first time, I had to catch my breath, it was so beautiful and fiercely red. I instantly knew it: this was my event space. So when my VIP Mastermind clients came to Iceland last October I decided to show them my dream event space. I booked us a tour of the building and then we came into the red room called Eldborg. They fell in love just like me and then asked me: Sigrun, when are you going to book it?

"Now," I said. I opened up my laptop and booked the venue.

I put a date on my dream, the rest is just logistics.

The last 12 months have been quite a journey. It's been scary, frustrating, annoying but also so exciting which makes up for everything else.

I came up with the concept of the conference, decided on a name, worked with three different event consultants to plan the best conference experience, hired an event planner after offers and negotiations from 5 different event agencies, booked speakers and sold out super early bird tickets….

My team and I have been busy creating a one-of-a-kind conference.

And I cannot wait to see you in Iceland June 18-19, 2020.

Tickets are on sale now for The Selfmade Summit in Reykjavik, Iceland.

I wish you a Happy New Year and all the best for 2020.

Jenny Shih is a strong-willed business coach who loves helping service-based female online entrepreneurs build the business and the lives they want by working 30 hours a week or less. With her training under Martha Beck and Byron Katie partnered with her corporate and project management skills as a virtual assistant, Jenny found her sweet spot and has impacted the lives of over 35,000 women with her expertise in business, strategizing, and management. Even while she recovers from a chronic illness, Jenny has been the household breadwinner for years and has earned multiple six figures while working only a few hours a day.

Today, Jenny shares how she runs a successful online business as the breadwinner of her family despite being chronically sick. She discusses how she left her six-figure corporate job to pursue a highly profitable business that makes her feel excited, alive, and grateful each day. Jenny also shares why she chooses not to share what was going on behind the scenes during her health struggle and what allowed her to continue making creative, awesome things to happen despite her battle with Lyme Disease.

"What is the next thing that feels exciting? What is the next thing that lights me up? Where do I feel a little bit of fire and passion? Follow that thread." - Jenny Shih

In This Episode of The Sigrun Show:

• Why she believes it was easier to get into online business in 2009 than today
• Why she quit her career coaching business
• Why she stopped building her online presence when she was recovering from her illness
• How she copes with getting better and still keeps the momentum of her business going
• The non-negotiables that she prioritized to stay on top of her business
• What to do to hit your top goals and priorities
• How she keeps a constant six-month waiting list
• The ripple effect that her business creates and the people who benefit from this effect

Connect with Jenny Shih:

• Jenny Shih Website
• Make It Work Online Workshop
• Jenny Shih on Instagram
• Jenny Shih on Facebook

Come to Iceland in 2020 for the Selfmade Summit 2020

Join us for 2 transformational days of online business strategy, mindset breakthroughs and meaningful networking guaranteed to propel your business forward…. In one of the most exceptionally beautiful places in the world.

Early bird tickets are now available for the largest international conference for women entrepreneurs - The Selfmade Summit 2020!

Buy your tickets at www.sigrun.com/selfmadesummit today!

Please share, subscribe and review

Thank you for joining me on this episode of the Sigrun Show. If you enjoyed this episode, please share, subscribe and review on Apple Podcasts or Google Play Music so more people can enjoy the show. Don't forget to follow and connect with me on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram!

Click here to learn how to leave a review, then head over to Apple Podcasts for your chance to win a special thank you gift!

It took me 6 years to grow a business that makes over $2M in annual revenue. Today I want to share with you my 8 key lessons on how to grow a multiple million dollar business.

Lesson 1

Stop thinking and start doing.

This is lesson is true, no matter if you are just starting out or already making a million dollars. Overthinking can kill any business and we women are prone to overthinking. I see overthinking as a form of procrastination and self-sabotage.

I wasted about 18 months overthinking my business idea before I was ready to put myself out there and tell people what I do. Of course you need to think things through in life and business and make a plan but then you get to work and take action. I spend 2 days a year planning my multiple million dollar business, that's all it takes.

Still today, I sometimes go into overthinking mode but I don't stay there for long because I realise that I am doing it and I quickly snap myself out of it again. And if I cannot do it alone, I ask for help. And if I feel I am starting to get stuck, I ask for even more help. Key is stop thinking and start doing, at every level.

Lesson 2

Invest forward.

This lesson applies at any stage of your business. If you want to grow then you need to invest. If your business is not growing, it is dying. Investing forward is a sign to your subconscious that you are serious about growing your business.

I doubted the need to invest in myself. I had already bought 2 online courses in my first year of business and I thought to myself that I first needed to see a return on those courses before I invested more. But I struggled to figure out how to grow my business without more help. I had been a CEO for 10 years and had an MBA and I had to admit to myself that I needed more help.

My first year in business I invested $5K into a business coach who taught me how to launch. I was a good student and made $55K in 3 months. 10x return in only 90 days! Overall I made $74K in my first year of business.

My second year in business I did not work with a coach or join a mastermind but I had a client who was already making $600K and by being her business coach I learned a lot. Overall I doubled my business and made $164K in my second year of business.

My third year in business I decided to hire my client, the one who was already making $600K. I joined her mastermind for $20K and by the end of the year I had added another $200K to my revenue, a 10x return! Overall I doubled my business and made $340K in my third year of business.

My fourth year in business I was aiming for my first million and decided to join another mastermind. The investment was $25K and by the end of the year I had added $660K to my revenue, a 26x return! Overall I tripled my business and made exactly $1M in my fourth year of business.

My fifth year in business I wanted to double my revenue and continued in the same mastermind. The investment was $30K and by the end of the year I had added $500K to my revenue, a 16x return. I did not double or triple my business as I had a lot of catching up to do from the fast growth from the previous year. Overall I made $1.5M in my fifth year of business.

My sixth year in business I wanted to work with a new coach but then my previous coach surprised me with a new 7 figure mastermind so I ended up joining two masterminds which is not something I recommend you do (unless they are very different). Instead of investing $50K I ended up investing $90K into the two masterminds and by the end of the year (now) I've added over $500K to my revenue, a 5.5x return. If I had only been in one mastermind the return would have been over 10x. Overall I will make $2.2M in my sixth year of business.

Return on investment is a concept you need to take into account when you invest into yourself and your business. When I look back at my six years in business there were times where I had a bigger return because I could execute faster and there are times where I had a lower return because I had some catching up to do in my business. Overall I always had a good return on my investments also after the year was over.

So here's my rule of thumb for investing:

Invest 10% of whatever number you are aiming to achieve.

If you want to add $500K to your revenue you need to invest $50K.

That's why RED CIRCLE is a $50K investment.

RED CIRCLE is a brand new program I am offering in 2020.

RED CIRCLE is for women who are already making $500K or more in revenue and wand to cross the million dollar mark in 2020, and add another $500K or more to their revenue next year.

RED CIRCLE is more than a mastermind where you make a million, it's for women on a mission who want to create a movement.

Book a call with my team about RED CIRCLE.

Lesson 3

Have a mission

This lesson is more important once you make multiple six figures. When you start your business it is about achieving a certain lifestyle, whether it is being able to work from home and take care of your family or to live in two countries. But once you can cover your lifestyle, you need a mission. Building a business just to make more and more money is not a mission.

In my first 2 business years my biggest goal was to replace my previous income. Once I achieved that my husband suggested that he could retire, since I was on the fast track to replace his income too. I thought he was joking but he wasn't.

In my third business year the Universe provided and my husband lost his job. I got extremely motivated to replace both our incomes and have a freedom lifestyle together where we could live in two countries and travel together. I started to set a goal of making a million dollars.

In my fourth business year as I was aiming for the million, I realised I had already achieved all our lifestyle goals and this million wasn't about me. It was about my why. I had been clear on my why from the start but I hadn't tied to a money goal until in year 4. I wanted to show women what is possible. I wanted to be a role model for women who want more in life.

In my fifth business year I got even clearer about my mission. I realised that my mission was so big that I couldn't achieve it with online business alone. I needed to create a movement and start with an international conference for female online entrepreneurs who are all self made. The idea for the Selfmade Summit was born.

In my sixth business year I shared my mission with the world and found a much larger resonance that I would have ever expected. Talking about my upcoming conference in Reykjavik, Iceland has opened up doors to more publicity than my business story ever would. People care more when you have a big mission - and it has a positive impact on your business too.

But with a big mission you need the next lesson.

Book a call with my team about VIP.

Lesson 4

Grow a team

This lesson is for any stage of business, even if you feel you are not ready to hire and grow a team.

I hired my first virtual assistant long before I felt I was ready. I was in my first year of business and didn't have consistent income yet. Still, I knew that I had to hire help so that I wouldn't have to do all the repetitive tasks that had emerged in my business.

In year 2 to 4 I had many virtual assistants come and go but one person stayed on my team the whole time and is still with me today. I wasn't really thinking of building a team but just thinking of outsourcing all the different tasks that needed to get done.

Outsourcing and hiring a team are two different things. It isn't until you really commit to building a dream team that you can start to feel the true power of having help in your business. This started to happen end of year 5 for me but really became true this year, in year 6 of my business. The earlier you focus on building your dream team the better, I waited almost too long to build my dream team because I thought I could or should do it all on my own. Start today if you haven't already.

Lesson 5

Create a process

This lesson is for any stage of business, even if you are not making any money yet. It's all about taking something you do in your business more than once and create a process for it. When you do something for the first time it is a project, when you do it for the second time it should be a process.

When I did my first webinar in 2014 I had to do a lot of different tasks. The second time I did a webinar I started to write down all the tasks and the order in which they had to be done. By the time I did the third webinar I had a process of 60 steps! My process included everything from coming up with the topic of the webinar to sending out the replay. Today, webinars are easier to do but still I have a process with all the steps.

Creating a process can only be done after you do it once as a project - and successfully. Ideally you do it the first time yourself so that you know all the steps but then you can outsource it to someone else or if possible, automate it. Once you have a process you are going to be faster, you are going to make less mistakes, and you can eventually hire almost anyone to execute your process.

Do give you a few examples of what is a process in my business, here's a short list for you:

• Hiring and firing
• Launching
• Live events
• Podcasting
• Retreats
• Masterminds

Instead of trying to create processes for everything in your business, look at the key areas of your business; your marketing, your sales, your operation, your team and content creation and start with 5 key processes that help you grow your business every single day.

Lesson 6

Network

This lesson is for any stage of business, the networks will change but not the need for networking. Online business is great but nothing replaces meeting people face to face. Networking is the fastest way to more clients and partnerships.

I was a year into my business when I went to my first live event in London where I met over 200 like-minded women. I was immediately hooked and the same year I went to two more live events in the USA. It was a big investment in terms of time and money but still today I benefit from connecting with the people I met 5 years ago!

Attending live events I have built relationships with people who have become my clients, others became mastermind buddies and yet others have been guests on my podcast. Without meeting those people face to face I would not have built these relationships.

As you and your business grow you want to evaluate what type of networking events you go to, whether they are conferences, seminars or workshops. Today I don't go to the same events that I went to a few years ago as they don't serve me in the same way anymore.

The Selfmade Summit is for women who want to make good money and change the world at the same time. It's a conference for self made women who want to take their life and business to the next level. The speakers are all self made women who are bold and have done brilliant things - and will share exactly how they did it so that you can do it too.

Tickets for Selfmade Summit go up on January 1, 2020. If you haven't secured your ticket, then get your Early Bird Ticket now.

Lesson 7

Vision

This lesson is for any stage of business. Creating a vision is the first thing any entrepreneur should do for their life and business. Without a vision, you have no idea where you will end up. With a vision, you know what you need to do - and more importantly who you need to become.

I've created visions since a was a child. My preferred way to create a vision is to physically be in the place that I want to be once the vision becomes true - if that is at all possible. Then I visualize myself being the person that has already achieved all the things I want to achieve.

Already 11 years old I decided to become an architect, I visualized studying in Germany by actually being in Germany. For the next 9 years all my decisions where focused around this vision. And despite being discouraged by family and boyfriend I made it happen. In my mind I was already there and it was done, I just needed to execute it.

The same goes for the Selfmade Summit. I decided to become the person who holds a conference for 1000 women in Iceland. I decided it as I stood inside the concert hall where the conference will take place. I put a date on my dream, the rest is just logistics.

Have you put a date on your dream?

Lesson 8

Focus

This lesson is for any stage of business. It's so easy to get distracted when you are building an online business but the key to success is to become a focused entrepreneur.

I was all over the place in my first year of business. It wasn't until after I had worked with a coach for 6 weeks that I got clarity and started to focus on one thing. And within weeks I was fully booked with 1-1 clients. Over the years I have added new programs and stopped other ones.

When you are in the first years of your business and don't yet have a strong team to keep you focused then you definitely need outside accountability that helps you stay on track.

That's what we do in the Momentum group coaching program.

Momentum is for women who have started their online business, have an online program and are making some money but are not at six figures yet. This is where many entrepreneurs are prone to get distracted, create too many programs and making too few sales. Momentum solves that.

Book a call with my team about Momentum.

These were my 8 key lessons:

1. Stop thinking and start doing
2. Invest forward
3. Have a mission
4. Grow a team
5. Create a process
6. Network
7. Vision
8. Focus

What is your biggest takeaway from my 8 key lesson of building a business that makes $2M in annual revenue?

Let me know by tagging me in your Instastory or Instagram post, using my handle @sigruncom and the hashtag #sigrunshow.

Come to Iceland in 2020 for the Selfmade Summit 2020

Join us for 2 transformational days of online business strategy, mindset breakthroughs and meaningful networking guaranteed to propel your business forward…. In one of the most exceptionally beautiful places in the world.

Early bird tickets are now available for the largest international conference for women entrepreneurs - The Selfmade Summit 2020!

Buy your tickets at www.sigrun.com/selfmadesummit today!

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