To follow the last blog post Is Passion for Business Affecting Your Marriage?, I’ve captured an audio interview that you’re really going to relate to. Whether you’re already an entrepreneur or still dreaming of that freedom while you work your corporate job, you’ll be inspired.
I had the privilege of interviewing Sarah McVanel, a fellow speaker in my industry . She built a six-figure income, and a “family first” business within her second year of transitioning from a corporate job to entrepreneurship.
Sarah McVanel
Unleash the power of F.R.O.G.
Forever Recognize Others’ Greatness™
There were family challenges to overcome, but she worked through them very creatively, and shares her journey.
This short audio interview contains many golden nuggets including advice for building a business that you’re passionate about, getting through the startup phase of having little money, and juggling the new responsibilities and changes that the whole family must endure while Mom launches a business.
You can also read the transcript below:
Penny: I am super excited today, because I have a great colleague on the line, Sarah McVanel. We met at the CAPS convention, (Canadian Association of Professional Speakers), and then I had the privilege of spending a weekend with her at a mastermind for wealthy speakers. Sarah is a six-figure income earner with her new business, and it’s a family-first business. For International Women’s Day, last week, I wrote an article called, “Is Passion for your Business Killing your Marriage?”
Penny: And so Sarah, I love your story, and I just would like to know if you could tell our audience a little bit about your transition from corporate to entrepreneurship.
Sarah McVanel: Awesome. Thank you, Penny.
Sarah McVanel: Well, you know what really sparked it was a family crisis. One of my kids had a mental health crisis, and despite the fact that I had been considering a career shift, I knew entrepreneurship was going to be part of my path. I kind of always assumed it would be once I retired. But as we all probably experience those moments in our life where you question every decision you’ve ever made, and no matter how happy you are with your title and your paycheck and the person you work for, you realize that there’s something more important. So ultimately, that’s what helped me make the leap.
Sarah McVanel: And I’ve since heard other entrepreneurs talk about it, which helps you to get clear, because you don’t have a plan B. And it’s true, right, when you don’t have a second option, it just becomes… you’ve got to find a way to make it work! As I’m a professional certified coach, as well as a speaker, I put myself through the paces of every assignment I’d ever given another client. Man, did I give a lot of assignments. I had a lot of homework to do. And I realized, actually, that I would be a lot happier following my passion as an entrepreneur by speaking and helping people through the speaking profession, coaching, leadership development, and building up my brand which is F.R.O.G. Forever Recognize Others’ Greatness™.
Sarah McVanel: My transition was we sold everything. We sold our house. We sold our cottage. We sold everything but the two cars because we kind of needed those and we were pretty attached to our kids so we kept them too! And everything else pretty much was gone including debt. We moved to a beautiful community where I used to live – Niagara in Ontario, Canada. The kids started afresh in school; we got help for our kids and we got them in activities that they were super passionate about. I started a business I love and my husband commuted a little bit farther to work but were all happier so we managed to find a way to make it work. Within a year and a half, I’d grown it to six figures. Now I pay myself what I made in my last job. Fairytales don’t have to be glass slippers. They can be things that you hustle and you make happen for yourself.
Penny: Right. I would imagine that in all of that fairytale story which is a great inspiring story for so many women who are working in jobs that they might want to get out of and be entrepreneurs. Tell me about some of the challenges that you had as a family or as a wife when you made this transition.
Sarah McVanel: Thank you so much for asking that because we hardly ever talk about it. We talk about the success. We don’t talk about the failures. We don’t talk about the lessons learned and that’s all good stuff. One of the biggest things that was a challenging adjustment was, even though we’re all on board and we knew this needed to happen, nobody really understands what I do. It seems like mom … well you know … her commute is walking downstairs or occasionally getting in the car or on an airplane and going somewhere. It’s a very invisible contribution that you’re making to the house. Because a lot of us define a successful working career and what, “work” is; is something that you have to go and slog away at for somebody else.
Sarah McVanel: Some of the challenges were people in my family understanding; if I had to work late why didn’t you do it earlier in your day? Your hours are a little bit different and more magically available to you if you work for yourself. And leaving, my family didn’t like me leaving. If you’re a speaker and you need to be at a conference that’s on the other side of the country, you have to get there the day before so that you’re really able to be present and again, they didn’t like me leaving. Especially given the reason why I started my business to be more family centred.
Sarah McVanel: My kids are in a lot of competitive activities so they’ve got competitions and they’ve got lots of training and sometimes it’s super early mornings and sometimes it’s weekends. As much as I try to work my schedule so that it works for all of us; there are times when an international conference will not renegotiate when they’re going to hold their organizational delegation around my kids’ gymnastic competition; as much as I would love to ask that question! That’s sometimes difficult and it is still challenging. One of the pivotal moments was when my kids saw my speaker demo reel for the first time. Because it really had been all invisible for them at this point.
Sarah McVanel: It’s only a 90 second video but within 30 seconds my teenage son was watching it and he got very choked up. He looked at me with this huge smile on his face and he kept watching the video and about 10 seconds after that he kept looking at me. When the video was done, he just wrapped his arms around me and he just launched himself at me so I fell back on the bed. We were watching it in my bedroom. He said, “Mom I am so proud of you. You are so good at what you do”. That was kind of like the first moment where the kids had an, “Aha” about how this is important because you’re really impacting people. They were really proud of me.
Sarah McVanel: That’s one of the things I think about being family centred. Share it as much as you can; the invisible stuff with your family, so they can be super proud and onboard with you.
Penny: Right and you have to be talking about these things right? Would you be willing to share a little bit about your husband in this whole thing?
Sarah McVanel: Yeah whether he wants me to or not. Absolutely. Honestly he finds it harder than the kids do when I leave now. He misses me. I’m the one who organizes things and makes sure things run smoothly. We call it the invisible work of women, right? He’s got more on his plate. He works full-time but what he finds very therapeutic is coming home and doing renovations. He can’t do as many without losing some sleep if he’s also doing all of the house things. He finds it challenging but at the same time when you’re able to charge what you’re worth, entrepreneurs listen to this, and your business becomes more and more successful. You are making as much if not more as what you made in your last role and you’re happier and you’re able to contribute. It’s a lot easier for your spouse to go, “Okay, I can see how this works for all of us.”
Sarah McVanel: Sometimes what we do as women is we live small. We don’t charge enough. We think that it’s going to take us a long time to be able to get back to where we were earning before. We are hesitant to ask for a full fee or even really to put a stake in the sand and say, “This is my area of expertise and experts get paid more”. We gotta do that because that’s what helps our spouses or significant others benefit from our jobs. Even though I hadn’t earned very much in my first three months of my business, I incorporated right away. A lot of people don’t do that. If you’re going to be successful to the point where you need to be incorporated just do it right away so that you tell yourself you’re going to be successful.
Sarah McVanel: Then you have to earn it right? That’s how you live into that potential. My husband and my kids are shareholders in my business. My husband is a primary shareholder so he and I were able to have all of expenses in our business paid by the corporation and the kids, you have to pay for the kids’ airfare, and things like that. We all went on a really nice vacation. We booked a conference room and we had a shareholder meeting and all of the things that are legitimate by CA standards. Also, it allowed us to not only enjoy time with each other but also mom had a plan. We were going to talk about this and that.
Sarah McVanel: It gave all of the opportunity to see mom’s serious about her business and then they also got to benefit the rest of the week from what I had already made in my business which wasn’t a ton. Every penny of it pretty much went to starting my business and having this business trip. That makes a pretty strong statement to your husband and your children, which allows them to get behind it. It might be not something you would’ve done had you been trying to work pay check to pay check.
Penny: Yeah. That is such a great idea to get them all involved. I’m just envisioning myself having a shareholder meeting in Las Vegas with Ryan and Sierra. Or somewhere nice and hot and sunny would be great.
Sarah McVanel: We do that once a year Penny. We’ve been to the East coast. I also checked out conference facilities to have events because I now do my own live events. Yes, there’s a little bit of business but you don’t have to have your entire day of business to be a legitimate expense. There’s a benefit here. I’m planning an even bigger event in Florida next year. The place where we stayed because I wanted them to experience it too. The whole focus of the event will be how, as an entrepreneur, you can grow your business and bring your family into it.
Sarah McVanel: Not only are we going to be doing business planning and helping get clear on so many important things we need to as entrepreneurs. Like your target market and building up your revenue streams and so forth. The topic is also going to be about having a family first business that you love and how it profits. The family is going to be there with us. Not necessarily in all the sessions but they’re going to be experiencing the benefits.
Penny: I love the idea of family first. If I could just ask you one last question? If we think a little bit smaller or a little bit newer for a woman listening to this maybe who is either thinking about or just into business and is not really making a lot of money yet but has put a lot of risk on the line. Maybe has quit her job or has decided not to go back to work with her young kids and she’s investing a lot. She’s got a passionate love affair with her business and she’s not bringing in the money. She’s not yet there where you know she’s not at six figures. Because it’s easy for the husband to say, “Well I know I have an extra whole bunch of things to do on my plate now that you’re having this passionate love affair with a business but where’s the money?” What advice or tips would you have for somebody who’s building a business, not having the money right there yet, and struggling with this balance?
Sarah McVanel: I didn’t have a six-figure business for the first year and a half. So that first shareholder meeting; I just spent all of my profits on it. But this is a perfect example bringing it down to the reality is pay yourself first. I needed my family and frankly myself to benefit from my business before anybody else. Yes, I paid my webmaster who built my website. I paid all my expenses and before anything else I needed my family and I needed personally to benefit from this. Even if you’re not bringing in lots and lots of money, there’s ways that your family can benefit.
Sarah McVanel: Frankly I’ve written myself a paycheck every single month and a shareholder dividend even when I just break even. It reminds me and it reminds my family that I deserve to get paid. Now you can decide that that’s a small amount but pay yourself first before you pay other people. What it does is it gets you hungry to be able to bring in more money. When you come from a place of lacking, deficit and scarcity, then you find that shows up in your world. When you come from a place of abundance, where there will be more money that will replace the paycheck that I’m going to pay myself; there will be a bigger paycheck down the road because there will be more clients who are there to hire me.
Sarah McVanel: I’m not saying it’s all, “woo woo.” You work hard and you hustle. Get really clear on what your revenue streams are and how you can hustle in one of them to be able to generate more money. I haven’t even met the people who are going to be listening to this. I absolutely believe that they can make more money. It’s not out of greed. It’s not out of trying to get something that somebody doesn’t have. It is that the world needs your genius. Show up in a way that they need it and that you’re here to deliver it and it is amazing how people that you met in school or you worked with once … they hire you. Because you show up in a different way when you absolutely, 100 percent believe what you have. The product, the service, the methodology that you have is absolutely essential and the clearer you can get about who is essential too; the more you see your target market, your avatar, walking around everywhere.
Sarah McVanel: I have one really super practical tip. Get your family busy in your business. My daughter, every time she wants money, she can tie F.R.O.G. charms, F.R.O.G. being my brand, Forever Recognize Others’ Greatness™. I’ve got these little charms. She can tie them and put together my handout packages. If I’ve got some big orders through my website, she can package it up for me. I’ve taught her how to use my shipping site. The more you can make your business work for your family and also work for you of course; the better it is for everyone.
Sarah McVanel: Did that answer your question Penny?
Penny: Got it. Those are such great tips to get people involved and to get really clear and to believe that you can make more money and to pay yourself first. Even just hearing that your first year and a half, you weren’t a six-figure earner yet. Sarah I want to thank you so much. I know you’re busy and, on a schedule, and so am I and this has been an awesome interview. We’ll put it out there and we’ll get your contact information if people want to find out a little bit more about who you are and what you do.
Sarah McVanel: Awesome. Thanks so much Penny. It was a privilege.
Penny: Thanks so much.
I want to thank Sarah for taking the time to share her insights and the story of her family with all of us. If you want to learn more on how to balance your family/work life, contact me.
Remember, your greatest leadership day is with Penny Tremblay!