Reframing Setbacks and Mastering the Hallways to Success with Mel McSherry

Today we sit down with Mel McSherry, an international business and life guide who's been empowering entrepreneurs and inspiring change for over a decade. Mel got her start in the fitness industry with success in personal training and building a name with her bridal boot camps in Chicago. Her journey took her through transition, including Beachbody, where she became a mentor known. For managing not just time, but energy.

Mel unveils her unique perspective on navigating navigating the entrepreneurial journey with sustainability, sharing personal plot twists and her experience with the John C. Maxwell's coaching program. We'll dive into her innovative approach using human design to guide clients the importance of mental, emotional and financial profitability and how to thrive in those uncertain hallway spaces between life's newly opened doors.

Get ready to be inspired and equipped with insights to become the architect of your very own success. As always, if you found value from this content, please like and subscribe. Hello everyone and welcome to another episode of the Beyond Fulfillment Podcast. I'm your host Dave Goulas and this week my guest is international business and Life guide Mel McSherry. Welcome Mel. Thanks Dave. So excited to be here. Absolutely. We appreciate you taking the time if you could.

Mel, you've been an entrepreneur for the past decade or so. Can you just walk us through how you got into business and what the journey's been like for you? Absolutely, yeah. I've been an entrepreneur since 2010 and I actually started in the fitness industry. I was a certified personal trainer. I did in home training, outdoor boot camps. Actually got really well known in the Chicago area for my bridal boot camps.

And when my son was born in 2011, I was married to his father at the time, who at the time was part of the media relations department for the Chicago Cubs, which meant he was gone two months straight for spring training. Worked every single home game, took every other away trip and Arcada was born in the middle of the baseball season. So trying to figure out how to go to my clients homes, know, maintain kind of the schedule that I had with this newborn son was becoming pretty difficult.

Sprinkle in some undiagnosed postpartum depression and we had ourselves a party that first year. So it had me kind of create or go through what I kind of call my first plot twist and that was to put a pin in my business and actually be a virtual administrator for a couple of IT companies as well as do some online medical billing for my father's company remotely that was located in Phoenix, Arizona.

And I always love to include these pieces into my story Because I, I'm sure you've heard many stories where there's been many plot twists and I, I don't want to glaze over the fact that sometimes us as entrepreneurs, we need to make decisions that aren't necessarily in an alignment with our long term goal as opposed, you know, in regards to what we want to build as entrepreneurs. But it does fulfill some sort of what I call profitability buckets.

So when I talk about profitability, it's threefold, mentally, emotionally and financially. And so in order for me to work on my mental and emotional buckets, I needed to fulfill the financial one. And those kind of side hustles of online medical billing and being a VA was able to give me that space to do so and really reconfigure what I wanted in regards to, you know, how I wanted to provide for my family and how I wanted to create my business with this new information.

So that actually turned into connecting with a network marketing company called Beachbody. I was an online health and fitness coach for them with the focus of I just wanted to be an online health and fitness coach. I didn't want to do the hey girl messages. I didn't really want to build my team. I just wanted to be able to support people through their fitness journeys. And it turned out that I was pretty instantly successful in that realm and I was consistently successful.

And that caught the attention of my leader as again, I was what I coined a married single mom with this now two to three year old. And yet I was consistently heading, you know, my success club goals and bringing in consistent clients. And so she asked me to create a training of like, okay, what is the day in the life of Mel? How are you able to be consistent with all of this, you know, stuff that's on your plate? And the funny thing is I didn't really think much about it.

I didn't think I was doing anything revolutionary. But when I actually sat and thought about how I was scheduling my day, I realized that what was the difference between me and most was not only was I managing my time, I was also managing my energy, which meant when I would wake up in the morning, I would first check in on myself of like, okay, how am I feeling? How much energy do I have? Then I would look at, okay, how much time do I have to work on my business?

Then I would look at my to do list and I would match the to dos that matched not only my energy, but my also my time. And that allowed me to be more fluid inside of how I completed things. But also was able to be consistent because no matter what energy level I was at, I was still working inside of my business. Attention E commerce sellers. Is fulfillment a headache for you?

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People just turned to me and wanted to be on my team. So all of a sudden I found myself with a pretty big team and we found ourselves in the top 1% of the company that following year. So that got the attention of other people inside of Beachbody. So I started doing team calls and trainings for them. That got the attention of people in other network marketing companies. So I started doing team calls and trainings for them.

And then my next plot Twist came in 2015 when I was in the middle of my divorce and realized I had one foot in, quote unquote, business coaching, the other foot in fitness, and neither of them going anywhere because I was trying to, you know, create the sort of balance. And I realized if there was a time to maneuver and recreate myself, it was, you know, a great time.

And so through Beachbody, I had a year long internship with John C. Maxwell, who is like the business coaches of all business coaches. He's been around for decades. And I really fell in love with the, the aspect of coaching, of supporting people, of not being the person who necessarily has the answers but has the space and the guidance to be able to help people find their best answers and their best systems.

So I got my coaching certification through him and his international leadership team, left Beachbody 2016, started business coaching, as I called it at the time, in 2017. And then that has just been slowly and surely evolving from being a very kind of traditional pragmatical coach where I had my, you know, my five steps, my frameworks, my, you know, my boundaries to now introducing and implementing more spiritual tools.

So I now use a tool called human design that really helps me understand my clients blueprint, their energetic blueprint, as well as how they make their best decisions, their why behind their hows, so they can honor their lives and be the true architect of their success in their own way. And it's Been an evolution ever since. Wow. Okay. Appreciate the, the detail there. Phenomenal story and so much to get into there. Okay, so let me start, too, because you. You reference plot twists. Yeah. Right.

And I, I love that framing because, you know, some of these events seem like you, you know, you could label it as a setback or a. Yeah, you know, where you have a newborn and your husband's gone with work all the time, and now you have to get side hustles and give up on your business to be at home and take care of your newborn and dealing with the postpartum depression. And someone could look at that and just call it, you know, a setback or whatever.

But a plot twist, like, where did you begin to, like, frame these life events like that? Actually, I believe it was a meme I saw on Pinterest eons ago where it just said, you know, yell plot twist and move on. And I've never been a believer in step backs. I don't think you can ever step back. I believe that you can step to the side and you can get a different perspective or a kind of a pausing place for you to recollect yourself.

Because one of my favorite questions that I ask myself and my clients often is, what do I want? And I don't think a lot of us start with that question. We start with, what do I need to do? What should I do? Instead of what, you know, what we want internally as opposed to externally. And so I've always had that framework, and I think it stemmed from my father being an entrepreneur.

I grew up, you know, living through several very unsuccessful businesses and seen what that can do to him, what that can do to us as a family and how we moved through that together. And he also always had that energy of, okay, this wasn't necessarily a failure. This was a learning point. And he learned so much through those very unsuccessful businesses that now at the age of, let's say, I'm going to probably flub this, but I think he's going to be almost 70, 70 this year.

He is retiring from creating a multimillion dollar company that he started with just him and a secretary 30 years ago. So it's been a really beautiful lens for me to grow up in, and I think that definitely has given me more and more of a example of how to reframe things. So they're not failures, they're just lessons learned, new information that I can make new decisions from. Absolutely.

Okay. And also, you talk so often about energy, and we, we've all seen this to where you Know, people that are not in the right field and they're not doing something that's aligned with what, what they're meant to do. And yeah, you know, two hours of, of work can, can drain them completely. Where on the flip side, if people are just passionate about what they're doing and they're aligned and they're involved, they could work 12 hours and that'll energize them and they're ready to go another 12.

Right. So talk more about like the, this focus of, of energy and how that came about in, in your coaching practice. Yeah, so as I mentioned earlier, it was, it was just a natural check in for me first of just, okay, how did I sleep last night? What, you know, what's my kiddo up to? And giving myself a lot of grace.

Though, to be fair, it was grace that I would also grumble with every now and then because I would have a set idea of what I wanted to do and that, you know, with a kiddo and things like that, things can shift very quickly.

So learning how to give myself grace when those things happened, but especially when I started utilizing my human design, understanding the starting and stopping points of my energy, because, yes, of when we are in something, every single one of us, when we are inside of something that gives us, you know, passion and is in alignment with our calling, we feel that we can do it all day. And actually some of us shouldn't.

Some of us should really take those breaks because we have certain elements inside of our human design that need breaks, that need rest. And so by understanding how your energy really is when you're in that flow, helps you not only be profitable mentally, emotionally, financially, every single day inside of your business, but also doesn't take anything away from your life. You can transfer that information or that energy and blend it in your life as well.

So it's definitely become something that I feel is important because we do get too traditional with that, too structured with how to build a business. And we have made it very step by step, whereas we need to add back in the fact that we are human, that we are experiencing things throughout the day, and we are individuals inside of our own processes.

So how can we connect to our individuality again, our why behind our how so we can confidently do what we need to do without the overextension and the overwhelm. Okay. And so often too, you mentioned the traditional structure of business. So often too we see entrepreneurs where, you know, we all know how challenging it can be and they just want to grind it out. Right.

And it's you know, and you, you mentioned the three buckets of profitability where it's not just financial, but also your mental profitability and your emotional profitability. So yeah, for someone maybe that's not familiar with that and they're very much in the. Just, you know, I'm, I'm just gonna, I'm gonna hustle and I'm gonna grind until I make this work. Can you talk about how, how they can look at those other two buckets and potentially start to implement those.

Yeah, those two buckets are non negotiable if you want to create a sustainable success. I think we get too caught up in just the word success. Like as soon as we hit success, we're going to feel X, Y, Z, or then I can do ABC instead of understanding that this is a process, this is a journey. And in order for you to truly create and be the architect of that success, you need to find that sustainability day in, day out.

Because as I'm sure you know, as an entrepreneur, not every day is sunshine and roses and there are cycles and seasons of, you know, very quiet, scary, unknown times. And we can't rely on traditional ROIs to motivate us to continue on. We need to find those mental and emotional profitability points to continue to help us look for those glimmers and therefore continue to use that energy towards that successful, that financial success.

So I think it's just, it's, it's one of those points where it is going to bite you in the butt if you don't take the time to take care of yourself as well as take care of your business. I know. Bit me in the butt. In 2023, I actually took, I put my business on autopilot to recover from, you know, from COVID I had. I'm in the city of Chicago, so we were in lockdown for a pretty long while. My kiddo, who is autistic, was doing virtual learning for a year and a half.

So I had to be his general ed teacher, his special ed teacher, his occupational therapist, his speech therapist, plus be a business owner. And though I maintained it in that time period pretty well, we all survived. I had an after effect that I needed to go back to those mental and emotional buckets and like I said, put my business on, on hold, on autopilot so I could take the time and energy to get back to me.

So when you get too focused on the goals or too focused on the actions and don't check in on yourself, that's when burnout happens. That's when overextension, overwhelm, exhaustion happens, and it can feel like it comes out of nowhere. But I'm pretty sure if you looked back at that timeline, you would see that all those spaces that you said yes to out of scarcity or just out of that momentum of saying yes, you should have said no and waited for a better one. For a better yes. Ah, okay.

A better yes. So in terms of too, when like not chasing every opportunity, really taking time to evaluate and, and check in with yourself, rather than just maybe a pure ROI in terms of, is that, is that fair to say? Yeah, because you're, you're more than just an roi. This is something you started your business because you were passionate about something because you want to create some sort of change.

And changes don't happen overnight for yourself or for, you know, the community or for the collect. It takes time. And in order for us to be inside of that change, we need to create that sustainability. John Maxwell actually has a quote that I absolutely love, and he says sometimes you have to say no to the good so you can say yes to the best. And it is that quantifier of or qualifier of. Okay, I'm being asked to do this. Let me take a pause, a step to the side, right?

And go, okay, this is what's on my plate. Is this in alignment with my goal? Is this something that I really need to do right now? Or is this something that I now know is available and therefore, when I do have the time, energy, capacity, I can go back and look for that same opportunity. So it really helps us prioritize where we spend our time and energy, which then naturally affects our mental and emotional and financial profitability. Okay. All right.

And so you mentioned within the story too, where it seemed like you had an innate ability to be a leader, be a coach, kind of help people thrive. And you started doing that just on your own via. Via Beachbody and some of the other stuff. Then later on, when you transitioned full time into coaching, you mentioned the John Maxwell program. So how did that help you take your business to another level? First, just helping me understand what business coaching is. Again, I kind of had this.

Now I just had this assumption that in order to be a business coach, you had to have all the answers, right? You had to know everything and just know all the funnels, all the processes, just the, you know, the streamlined way of how you can help everybody get what they want. And what I really appreciated about spending time with, with John as well as inside of his team is the intersectionality inside of it all the fact that you are not here to hand them everything on a silver platter. You can't.

You're human. You only know so much. You have your areas of, you know, you have your, your special areas, your zone of genius. And to share that as well as be open to having more education and be open to flowing with, with inside that evolution for yourself as well.

The other part I really appreciated was how he introduced to me the power of speaking and what a beautiful resource that is, not only as a lead generator, but also so I can be accessible and a resource to those who may not be able to afford my guidance or just didn't even know that guidance like myself and the type that I provide exists. So it really opened my eyes to, to the profitability of coaching as well as what not to do. It's not about, like I said, it's not about.

I have the one thing that you need to create xyz.

It is. I am here. Here is my tools, my zone of genius. This is how I love to support. How can I support you? Okay. All right. And so you mentioned the zone of genius and clearly that's something everyone has. And so often we see just throughout the workforce and life that so many people are not operating within their zone of genius professionally. Right. And we see that a common issue in terms of just careers that aren't maybe the right fit or the people aren't happy with.

So what are some things that you'd recommend people where if they know they're in a career or in a situation that they're not happy with and they really have genius somewhere else, but they don't know how to transition. What are, what are some ways that you would recommend they start to look at that? That's a great question. You know, I would again go back to that question that I love to ask, which is, what do you want? What do I want? How do I want my day to look? How do I want to feel?

What is it in my day, day to day right now that I look forward to? Are there elements inside of the spaces that you are in that you just really, really love? Love and which are the spaces that you don't want?

I think understanding what you don't want is just as important because then you can start to filter out those, I don't want to say negative spaces, but definitely those not so much spaces and kind of gives you those red flags faster when you are looking to transition because it is easy to stay in a routine. It is easy to stay with something because it's familiar. And moving out of that can be really scary and jarring because there is a lot of unknowns.

But when it is something that is truly connected to who you are and what you want, finding those resources that you already have, whether that is conversations through, you know, mentors, networking, or even just spending more time in those spaces that really energize you and light you up, you will find those things to respond to. You will find that information for those next steps. So I think it's.

It's trusting what you already know to be true, utilizing the resources that you already have, and be open to how that could look. Don't get too caught up in the. I already have 15 steps done. Great things might pivot at step two.

So understanding where that, again, that core belief and that core direction comes from will help you navigate those plot twists as well as really just grinding into your passions, who you are, what you want to create, and how you want to feel every single day as you create it. Okay, and it sounds like using, like, the feeling almost as guidance and feedback in terms of, like, I'm on the right path here and being open to where it takes you. Absolutely.

Yeah. Your. Your. Your system is naturally attuned to your design. So I've mentioned human design a couple of times, and human design is a tool that is a combination of Kabbalah, I Ching, astrology, chakras, and quantum physics. And it's your energetic blueprint. And the beautiful thing is, is that we naturally work inside of it every single day. It's what we were born with. It's what we will die with. It never changes. It never shifts.

What tends to happen, though, is we go too far because we've been conditioned by, again, what we think we need to do or what we should do. And when you do come back to now this feels right. That is your natural true north. That is your guiding light. And I. I believe by taking time to understand your human design a little bit deeper, you get that validation and confirmation as well as that vernacular.

So you can advocate for how you want to create what you want, as well as help you understand what rooms are the best rooms to be in again, what you want, and also what rooms not to be in, what you don't want sooner. So that path just becomes a little bit more fluid and that awareness becomes just more upfront and on point. Okay. All right. And so, Mel, with your. With your coaching business, who are the clients that you know that are your ideal clients that. That you.

You help in terms of the the different entrepreneurs.

Yeah, I always like to say I like to help and inspired yet overwhelmed entrepreneurs who are typically in a transitional spot or as I like to call in a hallway. We always talk about the doors of opportunity, but rarely do we talk about the hallways in between. And I love to guide people through those hallways. So it, and that can be in any ideation throughout your journey as an entrepreneur. That could be shifting from corporate to entrepreneurship.

It could be shifting from, you know, one career to another. But anytime that we are moving through a plot twist, it's time for us to gather new information. So for us to reevaluate what again, what we want, what we don't want, what do we want to make sure that we try or what we don't do the next time. And so any, any entrepreneur, especially I love entrepreneurs, but I do work with, with corporate as well.

Anytime that any, an inspired human is finding themselves in that transitional spot, that's when I love to step in and, and guide them and help them really connect to that self trust and that self confidence as, as well as help them create a plan of action that is profitable mentally, emotionally and financially as they build what they want and again honor their lives and be the architect of their success. Okay, and the hallway reference, that's not something that we hear about a whole lot.

You typically the, the cliche term is when one door closes, another one open. Yeah. But you reference that sometimes there can be a long hallway filled with uncertainty right before you get to that next door. So I guess is that something in terms of you specialize in helping people move through that uncertainty? Absolutely. Yeah, absolutely. And help them not rush to that next door and make decisions out of fear or out of scarcity, but to learn their pace.

Because again, this is about sustainability, a sustainable success. And I don't know about you, but I can only run so far, so long before I get exhausted. And we want that stability in our lives. And so by taking our time throughout these hallways, it gives us that, it builds that confidence and that trust again, not only in ourselves, but in our process. So when that next hallway comes, because there will always be another hallway, we never do the same thing every day.

The environment, as we are seeing around us, shifts all the time. We then have the, the operations manual and the capability to move with it and continue to be sustainably successful as we continue to evolve and move. Well said. All right. And Mel, if people want to get in touch with you and learn more about your coaching and different ways that they can work with you, what's the best way people can reach out to you. Yeah. So I absolutely love to get to know people.

So I do offer a complimentary 30 minute virtual coffees, safe space, no sales, no pressure. If you would like to spend a little bit of time with me, you can book that at virtual coffee with Mel.com or feel free to connect with me on LinkedIn, MelMcSherry on Instagram, Mel_McSherry or check out my services@melmcsherry.com all right. And we'll link all that in the show notes for everyone. All right.

Well, Mel, thank you so much for taking the time to be here, sharing these valuable lessons from your journey and all the incredible things that you're doing to help others. We greatly appreciate it. Thank you so much, David. It was an honor to be here. All right. And that's all the time we have for now. We will see you next time.