Kathi
Hey, my friend What's up and welcome back to another episode of Do Life Big today, I am so excited that you are here listening to Do Life Big because I have such a special guest here with me today. I have Miss Melanie Mitro. And she is going to be here on the show with you today, you are going to learn so, so much. I met Melanie way back nine years ago when I first started my first health and fitness business. And I just remember like looking up and Googling like the top leaders in the company. And I'm like, Who is this? Melanie Mitro, she's really got it together, I have to follow her and do what she is doing. And so she teaches people how to build six-figure businesses she can introduce herself. But Melanie, welcome to the show.
Melanie
Well, thank you so much for having me. I'm excited to be here.
Kathi
Yes, I am so excited that you're here to Why don't you let our listeners know just who you are a little bit about yourself? And then we'll dive in.
Melanie
Okay, let's do it. All right. Well, hi, everybody. I am Melanie Mitro. And like Kathi said, I have lived in the health and fitness world for about 12 years. So I am like the grandmother to a lot of people in the network. So I've been in the network marketing industry. And I didn't originally start there. So my career really started with an undergrad in psychology, I have a master's in special ed. And whenever my husband and I had our second little boy, we really had been planning for me to step out of my role in my corporate position and be a stay-at-home mom, I was very passionate about that dream and really making that come true. And so we had worked hard to rearrange our finances and really kind of scale things back in our life. And we got to the point where we could make that a reality. I really did not understand what it was gonna be like to truly be a stay-at-home mom and it really I love my children. I love being a mom, but I very much so in the kind of person who says I'm just a better mom when I work. And I went on this search to find a way to be able to stay home with my kids and also create some additional income at the same time, I was also navigating my own postpartum journey. And so I found a company called Beachbody and partnered with them first for the fitness and then really fell in love with the method of support that they provided and all the tools that I was able to use in my life. And I thought to myself, Oh my gosh, women don't know how to properly fuel their body. They don't know how to actually exercise to get results. And so I thought I'll start a blog and I'll start blogging my journey as a mom who's on this postpartum weight loss and it blew up. My blog blew up my, my journey blew up, I started really growing customers and just loving the journey of supporting women on their health and fitness. And then I started to go, Okay, well, if I can help people on their journey, and I'm making money, I bet I can help other women build a business too. And so I started to grow and scale my downline, my organization. And so I went from just being an average mom from Mars, Pennsylvania to the number one in the company, and really fell in love with leadership and creating a systematic approach to building a business. And I've just truly found my passion and five years ago, I'll kind of wrap it up with this five years ago, I started a company called Chic Influencer. So now I actually help other network marketers grow and scale six and seven-figure businesses so lots of stuff has happened in 12 years, but it's been a fun, wild challenging ride and I wouldn't change it for the world.
Kathi
Oh my gosh, I love it. And you know, it's like, every time I would listen to you speak at one of our live events and hear you in the trainings. You can just see like the passion you know, like when you watch someone in your like, they're totally meant to be doing this right now. That is what I see whenever I look at you have so happy for you. You're amazing. And you also have a podcast as well, too. Right? What's the name of your podcast?
Melanie
So we actually have two podcasts. So I have no I mean, no, it's up. Yeah. So I have the Women Inspiring Women podcast, which is mine, and that I started seven, eight years ago. And it used to be just a Tuesday, Monday or was Business Tip Tuesday. I used to do it every Tuesday at 10 am on social media, and then I turned it into a podcast. So I have that. And then when we started our other company, we started a podcast called Direct Sales Done Right, which is all geared towards network marketers.
Kathi
Oh, wow. That's amazing. Yeah. I didn't realize you had two podcasts. That's so great. Yeah. So now it's so funny. Because when you're talking about your background, with a master's in special education, I'm like, Oh, my gosh, I have the Master's in special education. It's so funny. Now, when you first started this journey, and this new path, this whole entrepreneurial journey, did you have any roadblocks are anything in the way that would typically or could typically, you know, maybe prevent someone else from actually going after what they really wanted? Like, was there anything difficult there that kind of got in your way? Any roadblock?
Melanie
Well, the first, the very first initial roadblock that I faced was that I, my husband was incredibly unsupportive of my business. So you know, and I know, you probably know this story, because we've, we've, you know, worked together for so many years. But he, when I approached him and said, I'm going to sign up for this business, he looked at me, like I had lost my mind. And he has in his mind, he's going, Okay, if I look at the numbers, and I look at the bank account, there is no money for you to purchase these products. And so in his mind, he was like, all he could see was money going out. And he had no social proof. There was nobody in our inner circle that had ever done a network marketing business. So we had no proof to say these are valid, and these are actual viable business opportunity. So and he's a, he's a very black and white person. He's not a risk-taker. So his official, like his first gut reaction was no. And I went behind his back and signed up anyways, I'd taken some money from my family who had given me birthday money that year, and I signed up. And so I really was like, I'll prove you wrong. And he really went out of his way to make it difficult for me to build my business initially. And I really do feel like most women would quit, you know, with something, especially when it's like your spouse and somebody love you respect. You want to honor them, you know, so to kind of go against that grain. Most women don't do that.
Kathi
No, they don't, they definitely would just crumble. That's a big deal. I mean, what advice would you have? Because that is such a common thing. I mean, I hear all the time to the people that I work with that it's just, I know that I would have more success in this business if I had the support from my spouse. So what would you say to that person?
Melanie
Yeah. Well, that's, that's a story you're telling yourself about, and that you're allowing to be the reason that you don't go all in your business, because maybe you're really afraid of judgment, or you're afraid of failure, you're afraid of making a mistake publicly. And so what I would say to people who are just don't have the support, number one, you have to be willing to bet on yourself. And if it's not your spouse, right, if that isn't what it is, right? Now, it's going to be somebody else, it's going to be a family member, it's going to be a really good girlfriend that you've had a lifelong relationship with. And usually, people's lack of support really comes down to a lack of understanding. So they don't really understand. So when I looked at Matt, he did not understand. He didn't understand the potential of the business. He didn't understand what was possible. all he saw was how it was taking away from our current family, it was time that I was taking away from him and the kids, it was time, it was money taken out of our bank account that we didn't have. And so the more I stayed consistent in my vision, so I had to remind myself that it's okay, sometimes people don't see your vision at first. And I was listening to a lot of podcasts and personal development, and I would seek out people who maybe didn't have support or went through a lot of obstacles. And then I would find these commonalities. And I would say to myself, like if he can do it, or she can do it, so can I. And so I just really focused on being mindful of the fact that he didn't understand teaching him what the business opportunity could provide for our family and then showing through my actions and making money that this was something that he should and could support me in. So it had to be a little bit of me being courageous in my action steps and not letting his opinion sway me to pursue my dreams.
Kathi
Oh my gosh, that's so good. It's so good. And so many similarities there. I remember my husband was very are very similar, okay? And it's almost like they want to, they are uneducated, they don't understand what they're getting what you're getting involved in. And it was almost like he was doing it because he wanted to try to protect me. He didn't want me to get hurt or fail at it or have it not worked out. But it's like you said, you just have to keep the blinders on and keep the vision and keep going and look at what you did.
Melanie
Yeah, and I sometimes look back. And now just because I've had so many obstacles in my life, I just repeat the mantra that yeah, this is for me. This is not to me, this is how okay, what what, how am I going to use this life lesson to actually mentor another woman on down the line? And constantly women either find me because I share that story. And they use me as their inspiration to get through it, or I can coach another person through something like that. So it just when you look at your obstacles as opportunities, it shifts the perspective it makes it a little easier to navigate through.
Kathi
Hmm, yes, so good. I know. It's it's so hard sometimes when you're in it to remember that it's happening for you. What's the lesson I need to learn here? Oh, my gosh, I love it. So good. So then you started on your journey? Yep. And you completely kicked ass and blew it up? Like so many ways possible? Yeah. So let's talk about that. Because, you know, there's a big difference where you were able to grow your business to and where some people, they have that dream, and they have that vision and they see it, they so badly want it to happen. And you made it happen, you had to overcome so many different, I'm sure mindset hurdles or things like that, that could have stood in the way what? What were some of your biggest mindset, roadblocks that you faced on that journey to six figures and beyond?
Melanie
Yeah, oh, my gosh, so many of them. I mean, ego is a big one, as you're growing and scaling. You know, I look at a few things like when you're starting your business, and you're getting it off the ground, everything is you. You know, at the beginning, you're you are customer service, you are sales, you are marketing, you are the admin, you're the creative. And so I built that whole business with me doing it all. And it got to a point where if I wanted to scale to the next level, I had to learn to I had to learn to delegate, I had to learn to let go of control, I had to elevate other people. And it was just it's a different way of using your brain. And so for me, I fumbled through that process a lot, I really was like, I wore that busy as a badge of honor. You know, I, I'm an entrepreneur, you work 24/7, you never take time off. And so that was really hard for me to unwire that, to create a healthy balance in my life, I would say that was a really big challenge. I also felt like I had to run everything. And I created an organization that was very dependent upon me showing up and being there and paving the way versus empowering them to take more ownership or be more independent. So there were all these different phases where I would, I would get stuck. And I'd have to take a step back and say, Okay, what habits and routines actually aren't serving me? What narratives am I telling myself over and over as truth that are not allowing me to get to the next level, and then I'd have to unpack it. And it was painful, and it sucked. And I had to deal with negativity and maybe what leaders were saying to me, and I had to remind myself like, okay, new level, it's so cliche like new level new devil, but that is really true. It's not like it gets easier as you grow your business. It's you It's more challenging. They're more people, they're more hands in the bucket, and they knew I wanted to scale it. So I was willing to kind of embrace that, you know, in so many different ways.
Kathi
Oh my gosh, so did you eventually just hit a point where it just kind of all came to a head one day were you Did you hit like a level of like burnout or anything like that where you were like, Oh my gosh, something has to change. Like what have I done?
Melanie
Yeah, yeah. Yeah, there. So I feel like there were a couple of times where that happened, you know, and one specific, you always when you have a level of burnout, you actually know you can remember it so vividly in your life. So I'll never forget, I knew that I needed to, I knew I needed to hire people because I was just, again, working 24/7 I would be so exhausted by the time I got to the weekend that I would sleep for two or three hours. And I just felt like I was irritable and agitated all the time. And it was just because I was constantly working. And I was standing in the doorway just right outside of my office. And I just remember crying and to Matt and saying like, I cannot handle this. The pressure is just too much. And he was like I told you to hire somebody six months ago. You know what he was like I told you to do it. But in my mind, I was like, I don't want to stop because if I stop Everything's gonna fall apart. If I stop, I'm gonna get behind if I stop and train somebody if I stop. And then I would also say like, nobody else can do it as good as me. And so all these narratives were sort of coming up in my mind. And so I had to, I had to stop. And it was very hard for me to do, I had to take the leap of faith, and I had to hire somebody that could eventually step into the person that kind of ran, that's now my operations manager and runs my business. But that was hard for me to give up control to say, Okay, I want you to do the graphics, or I want you to write these emails, or I want you to help manage the inbox and to be able to take a step back and say, Okay, we'll meet weekly and have a meeting, but I'm going to give up this control. And ultimately, what happened is, I was able to scale faster because I was focusing on the right action steps versus all of these things that I could do, but they just weren't the best use of my time.
Kathi
Hmm. I know, because there's so many different, you know, aspects of a business, there's so many different little things. It's like a thousand jobs that you can do, and you don't want to be doing them all. You must feel, do you feel so much better now, right now that everything's..
Melanie
Oh, I do, I feel better. And it's not something that like, once you pass it off and delegate that you never have to look at it again. You know, that's the one thing with people that I work with, too, they will always say, I tried that in the past, like I hired an assistant and it didn't work out or they didn't do what I want. And so it's like, but you have to be you have to be persistent with it. Like we meet every single week, we created a task manager, we had a system for communication, we talk about goals, like we really and I didn't just shift all the work to her at one time, I just slowly as she got up to speed, pass it off. And what I find a lot of people will do is they'll just say, oh, Kathi, you have an assistant, let me just take your person, and they don't interview them. They don't spend the time to make sure they're the right fit. And so that's why people weren't why it doesn't work for a lot of people as you've got to take the time to really find the right person. But it does. I don't feel like I'm in the weeds at all. I know my business. Yeah.
Kathi
So much better. I know what I do. I feel like people make that mistake to that once they start hiring people. They're like, Oh, great. I don't need to do this anymore. Thank God. And then it's like, they never look at it against it. Well, you still have to look at it and be completely involved. In the process. You don't want to shoot yourself in the foot here. Right? Oh, so good. So good. So now you are this is the queen of systems. We know this. We love this about Melanie. So could you give the listeners maybe some like specific action steps that they could take that you took that could help them build the six figures quicker?
Melanie
Build to six figures quicker? Wow. Yeah, some of my best advice, I think, honestly, it's not necessarily working harder. And that's sometimes is what people think their initial reaction is, I just have to work harder if I want to get there. Now, yes, you do have to work harder. But you really have to start being systematic in your thinking. So number one, then you can do this. Now, if you're only making $100 a week, or you know, a couple $100 total for the month, your calendar is everything. If you want to scale your business, you have to look at the way you spend your days and your minutes. And for me, and this is something I have taught for years and years. It's just the power of time blocking and sometimes people just glaze right over it. But I will tell you getting really clear on number one, what is the one thing that I'm working towards? Right? A lot of times we're working towards 10 goals at the same time. We're spending our time just responding to everybody else's demands. And we can get through an entire week and look back and have been so busy. But we didn't move the needle at all in our own businesses. So for me, it was really number one saying okay, what are my priorities? And how do I make sure those tasks are getting done? And I'm creating very clear space for that. And part of that systematic approach was radically eliminating things that didn't serve that bigger goal. So we always have people coming to us asking for requests, can you run this group? Can you do this call? Can you create this, you know, freemium, can you speak at my event? And I just always have to go back and say, Is this the right use of my time right now? And so I say no to a lot more things than I ever say yes to. So I would say your calendar is definitely number one. I would say the second thing when it comes to systematic approach to things is that you want to build the system as you scale instead of saying when I reach six figures, then I will have an email marketing system then I will have an onboarding system then I will hire an assistant. And so if you can start while you're small, so for example, I knew that to scale I had to get outside of my warm market. I started an E No marketing system from day one, it started with any email, one email that was in there and a weekly newsletter. And then it continued to grow on that. And so what happened is I wasn't relying on social media, I wasn't having to just rely on my private messages to build my business, I was able to grow this list that I was nurturing. And that was another systematic approach, how many emails I send, what my campaigns are, what my premiums are. And so just that business sense really helped me to get there as well. I will say the third thing that really helped me was also my social media approach, having a very systematic approach to the way I do social as a business owner. And I know you work with a lot of people that are in the mindset space, that are growing courses, and, you know, are doing coaching programs and your social media, whether it's Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, wherever you are at, it can't be I just need, you know, the Guru's and the experts say I've got a post once a day or twice a day. And we're just throwing randomness out there, I do the same thing with my time blocking, I do that with my social media, I'll sit down and say, these, these are the quotes that I'm putting up, or these are the reels that are going up, or the carousels, and here is why this is a sales post. This is an engagement post, this is a brand awareness. And I'm super intentional about working ahead a lot of times, and so then that makes my funnel, stay full. I've got this consistent content that's going out there. And it's helping me to continue to grow and scale. And then I would say the last thing and there's a lot we could go into is really your personal development. And the way that I will say you can, we said this right before we started recording, you can have all of the systems in the world. But if you have these negative thoughts, if you don't believe that you can make money, if you don't believe you're worthy of success, if you feel like you know, you're not good enough, compared to the person that has 100,000 followers on social media, if you feel like you're not well spoken, I mean, if you have these self limiting beliefs, you will sabotage your success at every single level, you can be so gifted, but you will actually sabotage yourself. So I probably work harder on my personal development and my mindset now than I did, even when I began and every single day within my routine are just these checks and balances that I do to make sure that I'm positioned for abundance and opportunity. And it's hard work. Because the more successful you are you put yourself in bigger rooms and the more intimidating it can be. And you always have to remind yourself that you have a gift and you're unique, and you have something to bring to the table. So I would say those are some of my personal favorites that I feel like would benefit your listeners.
Kathi
Oh, yeah, definitely. Thank you so much. That was really good, really good. Now, I have one more question here for you about this. What would you say to the person because we have a lot of listeners right now who they're working full-time job, but maybe they have the side business, they would love to be able to turn it into a full-time business. But they feel like they don't have enough time in the day to be able to create or build a six-figure business. Is it possible, in your opinion, to build a six-figure business on part-time hours?
Melanie
Yes, 100% 100%. It is. But you okay, but there are a lot of things you're not going to spend time on, you're gonna get really laser-focused on and I'm reading if you read the book, 10x is easier than to X have, you know, okay, this probably would be perfect for your listeners too. So you've got to get it. It's actually sitting on my desk. So this is the book. It's by Dan Sullivan and Dr. Benjamin Hardy. And so this will really help your listeners too. It talks about in this book about, you know, we spend a lot of time doing these little services. So maybe you're you're a course creator, and you have a 1999 course, right that you're selling. And so you do these launches for these small ticket items. And it's just a little bit of money dropping into the jar every single month. But what is like the if you were to 10x your business, right? What would be the one thing you would do, it'd be the high ticket item, the high ticket coaching. And so many of us just try to do these little things every single month to try to make a little bit of money. But if you really went all in and said on part-time hours, I'm going to build a high ticket coaching program that's going to make me six figures in a year and you only worked on that. And when somebody else came in and said I have this great idea or you should do you should do this Freemium or you should sign up for this system or you know when in so you have to keep yourself so laser-focused on this is the path to six figures and this is the program that's going to get me there and what are all the things that I need to do. And when you dial it down to being that laser focus, it eliminates everything else from your calendar. And if you just start paying attention, ask yourself, Does this task get me closer to six figures does this task right spending my time, and you'll just start to go, none of the things that I'm spending my time on are helping me get there. So and I feel like I built my business, while Landon and Bryce were at home. So even though that's not a full-time job, I still, I couldn't just leave them in the living room for eight hours while I worked at the kitchen table, you know, so I did the same kind of thing. And there were a lot of times where I would come up with an idea and go, that's a great idea, but not right now. And there were a lot of ideas that never got executed because they weren't helping me get to that one big thing that was going to explode my business.
Kathi
Oh, I know such a difference when you're home, raising the little ones and trying to build a business. But I love it because you're just another example of you don't have to choose you don't have to go back to work or just stay home you can stay at home and build the kick-ass business, which clearly you did. Now, can you tell me a little bit so your your Shiite community? Do you teach in there any of these tips that you're sharing a strategic tips that you share at all? Or what exactly does that entail?
Melanie
Yeah, so we have a membership community. It's called the direct sales done right collective. So it's Women in Network Marketing, specifically, who want to grow a six-figure and beyond business. And so we launched the collective in January, actually, of this year, brand new. Yeah, we've been open for five years, we've had a community, we've launched a lot of courses. It's funny because I was telling you about this 10x is easier than 2x. So we were doing that, right, we were launching a lot of little things, a lot of courses, a lot of, you know many programs, and we decided to put it all together in one place and give women in network marketing a hub, a home base where they could actually go to understand how to create a six-figure and beyond business. So everything from you know organizational basic, setting up your business hours to how to approach your social media from a professional systematic standpoint, too. I love that Yeah, to your conversations. And you can go in and each member kind of picks their own path of you know, where they need to start based on if you're new, or you actually are getting close to six figures, and you need to scale your downline. And then instead of people having to pay for new courses that we dropped throughout the year, we just add every single month, a new course, masterclasses, we have other six and seven-figure earners in other network marketing companies that speak in there every month. So yeah,
Kathi
I love that that is so cool.
Melanie
It's super cool. I love it. It is it is just beautiful. And it's such a great resource. And I just envision this being in the hands of every network marketer as like a place to go to build a just very successful, but a business that feels good, that does lead to burnout, and really makes you feel empowered.
Kathi
Oh my gosh, I love it. I know. Because I think that's so important. Like, at the end of the day, you just want to have fun doing it too.
Melanie
Yeah, you do. You do. And so many people and we just watch so many business owners do it the wrong way. And then they resent their business, they resent the company. And I'm like, it doesn't have to be that way. If we just shift your thinking if we shift your action steps you it can be very fulfilling. And that's what I love seeing our clients and our students just have a lot of success with it too. So you know, if you want you can you can give your listeners I can give you a great Oh, yeah, we can get in the show notes. That would be amazing. They want to check out the collective. It's definitely something we can give your listeners we have a monthly option, but also an annual that gives them our time block or social media planner and our book too.
Kathi
So amazing. Yes, yeah. Yeah, that's awesome. We'll put all that in the show notes so that way they can, they can connect with you on that, because that will be so helpful. If you're going to learn from anyone you're going to want to learn from Melanie, trust me so much, my gosh. Well, thank you so much. Now, did you have any last thing words that you wanted to say to the listeners, anything that's kind of been on your heart that you feel they need to hear that you want to share?
Melanie
Anything lasting, you know, business ownership, entrepreneurship, going after your dreams is not for the faint of heart, and I commend you for being here for listening to the podcast for investing in yourself. And the most important thing that I just tell the clients I work with too is fall in love with the journey of becoming the very best version of yourself. We all have these goals. Maybe it is to make six figures to walk away from a full-time job to be home with your kiddos. And if that's the big vision of where you want to go and you're so fixated on that and that you're going to be happy when you get there. You're going to be fulfilled once you get there. We Slightly missed the mark. And I want to just challenge you today to actually embrace the journey. So wherever you're at, if it's right now managing working full time and building your side hustle, just embrace it just constantly say like, I'm enjoying the process of figuring it out, I'm enjoying the process of gaining my first couple of clients, I'm enjoying the process of unpacking my own self-limiting beliefs, because I know that one day this is going to serve somebody else. And when you start to just be grateful for the challenges that you're facing and embrace those, it actually builds such a better business and just a better all-over feeling to the whole process. Because it's not it's not easy, and it never will be no matter what level you get to. So I just hope that that sticks with you as you're building your business too.
Kathi
Oh my gosh, so good. So good. I love it. Now where can people connect with you? Do you have a website? Instagram? What's the best place? We can put it all in the show notes?
Melanie
Okay, yeah, super, very active on Instagram. You can find me it's just at Melanie Mitro. I am on there every single day sharing lots of advice and tips. You can check out our website. It's chicinfluencer.com. C-H-I-C-influencer.com. And if you want you guys can check out the podcast I have the Women Inspiring Women podcast and the Direct Sales Done Right podcast too. So we're everywhere and we love it. And we're so fun. And so come hang out with us and check us out.
Kathi
Gosh, definitely check her out. Thank you so much, Melanie, for being here today. You are incredible. I know that my listeners are going to absolutely love this episode. So thanks again for being here. And thanks for listening to Do Life Big today. You know, I love you. I think you're awesome. And I'll see you next time.
