Welcome to the Anything but Average Podcast where I will teach you how to create a coaching business one step at a time. I’m Lindsey Mango, a life coach passionate about helping you create the life of your wildest dreams by creating a coaching business. Let’s get started.
Lindsey: Hello and welcome back to another week and another episode of Anything but Average. I want to welcome you guys back to this little series. I probably should have come up with a name for it, but this series of having the women from my mastermind on to talk about their journey, their story, and what it’s been like to be a part of the mastermind.
So today, I want to welcome Christie Ressel. She is a personal stylist, which I think is going to be so fun to talk about because her vantage point is a little bit different in coming into the mastermind for coaches. So I’m just excited for you guys to hear her journey, her story, and what she’s taken from our work together. So hello Christie.
Christie: Hello, hello. I’m the shopping addict of the group.
Lindsey: I’m always like, I need to text Christie and be like, where can find this purse? No, I’m kidding. I love it. Well, welcome.
Christie: Thank you.
Lindsey: I would love to start the conversation kind of talking about your journey and how you got into owning your own business and what that looked like. Let’s start at the beginning and then all the way up when we started working together. So you can pause if you want me to ask more questions. Totally fine. But yeah, start with that.
Christie: So jumping into a business was something I had never thought of honestly before in my life. Couldn’t have been further from my mind. And it was something I organically kind of fell into. And just had to learn to swim as I went along, which is probably the experience for a lot of entrepreneurs.
Both of my parents were entrepreneurs, but I was the lost child in my family and really didn’t have much direction, other than knowing that I liked to shop and I liked to socialize. And I wanted to help people, but I kind of felt like, okay, there’s no tradition school route that goes that way. So it again, just sort of left me feeling lost and frustrated, quite honestly.
And because I felt the pressure to go to school, I had taken various programs like psychology, and that didn’t feel like the right fit for me. And then I decided okay, I really need to hunker down with school, and I went to a fashion communications program. And it really didn’t feel like the right fit for me, but in that process, and obviously though divine timing, one of the things we were asked to do in a project was to research careers in the fashion industry.
I didn’t want to do the traditional roles of buyer, editor, all those things that you hear about in the fashion world. And at that time, while I was sort of searching around, Disney of all things released this movie that was called The Kid. And Bruce Willis played an image consultant in that where he basically – he’s a terrible mean character in that film.
But he tells everyone what to wear, how messed up they look, and how they should fix things. And something about that, I looked at that and thought, “Wow, that’s kind of cool. I could do that.” And I wrote a project on that after researching a local woman around the Toronto area and thought it was really inspiring and then sort of shelved the topic and never thought of it again.
And it was around that time that our family had actually helped my mom because she had struggled with cancer just shortly after we found out she had cancer. And so I moved home with my family to help take care of her at that time and through that process, she had lost a ton of weight and nothing fit her.
And her and I are – we’re very, very close and I thought, okay, I’m going to pick out some outfits for her because she had nothing to wear because of all the weight loss she had gone through and there was this Easter thing upcoming where we were going to get all dolled up and hang with the fam.
And anyway, so I grabbed a girlfriend of mine, we went and picked out some outfits for my mom and I was just kind of hoping and praying that these pieces would fit for her. And while she was talking to my dad about how she felt horrible about this upcoming Easter event that and she was feeling really down in the dumps because she just felt like skin and bone, didn’t feel like herself.
I got the inspired action to run upstairs and grab this gift that I got for her early, this outfit that I got for her early and I brought it downstairs as a surprise and oh my god, my mom just lit up like she was a brand-new person. And it was like one of those moments where I really connected to the power of style being more than just that.
It had the ability to lift people up and she looked in the mirror for the first time and felt like herself again, like she didn’t see a sick woman. She felt like her. And so when we went to that Easter gathering, it was something that was transformative because everyone was like, “Linda, you look so good,” she’s like, “Thanks, Christie picked it out for me.”
I was just so happy to see her glowing because it was the first time in months she had felt that way or even had the stamina to do anything like that. And anyway, long story short, she had passed away a month after that event, but it was something that changed my being.
And I knew that that was going to be my life’s work was to transform women through their clothing. And in the most divine timing, and I love law of attraction and trusting that the universe will have your back sort of vibe, but after she had passed, in the most divine timing, I got an email from that image consultant I interviewed years prior that she had training.
And I was just like, oh my god, this is for me, this is a calling. And it was a lot of training about how fashion was from the inside out. So anyway, I went through my training and I was the young entrepreneur who was like, let’s do this. And I was like, I’m just going to quit my job and start styling the world.
I took no – I threw all caution to the wind and just jumped into entrepreneurship. And I would be lying if I said I didn’t completely fall flat on my face. I had zero idea what I was doing. Like I said, I was sort of making it up as I went along. And I was the girl on the struggle bus. I didn’t know how you got more clients or how to connect your message to your people, or how to even find your people.
This was all pre-Twitter, pre-Facebook, pre everything. And yeah, I definitely had major highs and lows in my styling career and I just thought I was committed, as you say, I was all in to making this work. There was no other option in my mind. So I just started writing media outlets and doing free blog posts because that had just started.
Anything I could do to get someone to listen to me and make me – show that I was open for business, and I was going to help people, and that I could impact their lives, I was willing to do. So there was a lot of free work getting started.
Anyway, through that I’ve been fortunate having gone on television, I’ve been in print and media outlets and I’ve had a lot of growing pains over the years. And it’s all been wonderful experiences. You can always look back in hindsight and say it was a good growth that you were going through.
But I’ve been fortunate to put myself out there on YouTube and I’ve got a following there now, people that like to see my fashion advice that I provide weekly there, and I’ve got my own podcast now and that’s sort of grown into having courses and programs that I’ve taught women how to create their style or even other stylists that want to get into the industry.
It’s blossomed into such a really beautiful thing, but I was also the burnt-out entrepreneur that would work around the clock and had no boundaries and would cry at the end of the week because I had no time for myself. And there wasn’t any balance in my life.
And I had hired a business coach beforehand who had helped make me streamline what I was doing, that gave me a lot of clarity, but I still had no balance and that’s where through divine – I think it was through Instagram initially, I saw you. And I was like, oh.
And I know you talk about your morning coffee, like you joke that it inspires people, but I was one of those people. I was like, oh, look at her morning coffee, that’s so peaceful. And it was so wonderful to witness that you had balance in your life, but you had a successful, thriving business too.
And I loved watching your Instagram stories and hearing your nuggets of information with people and I thought, oh my god, I want that. That’s so cool. Balance, what a beautiful thing. And it never occurred to me that I could have that. I felt like that was kind of the dream.
People talked about that but behind the scenes it was really about the hustle. And the fact that you were a coach really appealed to me because I recognized that through all the styling that I’d done with women, recognizing that fashion and personal development really intersect, I didn’t feel equipped to talk about coaching with any sort of confidence that I was helping them outside of the styling realm. I was really hesitant with that.
So anyway, that’s where I started stalking you for, I’m not even sure how long, but I followed you and was so inspired by everything that you said and everything that you put out there. I’m like, oh my god, she’s in my brain and talking to me.
So that’s where I wanted to jump into your world in your mastermind as well. I know we worked privately together beforehand, but your mastermind as well. And that gave me so much more confidence, but more importantly, I got my life back with feeling like I have balance in my life, and I can actually spend time with my husband and my dog and family or friends or whatever and not feel tortured by it. Because I always felt guilty for having any time away from my business, thinking that I should do something else.
Lindsey: So good. I just got chills so many times hearing your whole story. And this is so fun too because I mean, I know you guys all so personally, but it’s just hearing even more about your whole journey is just – it is awesome. And I actually want to go back a little bit in your story and ask some questions about when you started. You said you fell on your face and then you kept going. What kept you going in those moments?
Christie: It was a combination honestly. I wish I could say it was pure determination, but I was driven a little bit by fear, which might be an unpopular answer. But it was both a commitment…
Lindsey: I think that sometimes.
Christie: Yeah. So it was both the fear of oh my god, what if this doesn’t work? But it really stemmed from the fact that there literally was no other option in my mind. Working for somebody else was non-negotiable. I’m far too opinionated for that. I’m not someone that can take the orders from someone else. It’s just not in my DNA.
And I really wanted to make this work because I knew that there was a need for it and like I said, after having gone through what I did with my mom, I knew this was just my calling. So I was just driven by the fact like, if it’s not going to happen now on those moments where I wasn’t getting the clients or I was spinning my wheels or I was crying on those times, in my mind, I had to just push harder.
But I knew I would figure it out eventually. And I’m like, if someone else can do this, if anyone else can style, I’m like, not only do I get to do that also but it’s just a matter of time before I figure it out. And that was always what led me forward as nuts as it looked to other people around me because everyone thought like, this is truly a hobby she’s doing. But I was like, no, this is the thing. This is where I’m going so get on the train and let’s just go.
Lindsey: That’s so good. And I think we’ve talked about this before, you got jobs at different points to make sure that you could keep your business going early on, right?
Christie: Yeah.
Lindsey: And I think that’s such a good example of – a lot of times people when they start a business or they start their coaching business, they get – they’ve very much in a rush. And I feel like one of the biggest assets for all of the women in the mastermind and based on your story is really seeing it as this is my baby. This isn’t optional, this is what I’m doing.
And realizing like, if I have to go get a part-time job to feed my baby, I’m willing to do it. If I have to fall on my face a billion times and reach out to 100 people, I’m willing to do that. I think your story is such a great description of it because I think so often people think, “Well, if I don’t get here by then, then I’m just done.”
And that actually just creates failure so much quicker. You’re not even committed for the long haul. So I think it’s so cool to look at how you were like, this is happening no matter what and your whole journey was just about continuing to feed your baby business and do whatever it took to keep it afloat until now, like, today, it’s this hugely amazing successful business. So I just think I wanted to reflect on that because you’re such a good example of that.
Christie: Thank you. Yeah, you know what, because I did, I went and got a part-time job. And I know some people would be embarrassed about that potentially, about needing to get a job after they struck out on their own because that was my case. But the embarrassment piece wasn’t a thing for me.
It was just like, okay, well, I’m obviously not as ready to be full-time as I thought, so what’s the big deal? If the job’s going to give me the stability to focus on my business when I could and not have me freak out and torture myself that I couldn’t pay bills or whatever was going to put me in this negative downward spiral, then that was my responsibility to do that, right?
And I also recognized that in that process of getting a part-time job, my thought was like, okay, well, at least now I can pick a part-time job where the hours work not only for me from a financial perspective, but also that I could pick a part-time job where the hours would still serve me so I could still see my clients as well.
And so I was really particular about what I picked so that I still had my off time to feed the baby if you will, and nurture my clients without feeling like I was burning the midnight oil 24/7 because that’s torturous as well too, right?
Lindsey: Yeah. I think sometimes people think you start a business partially to create freedom and then it’s so interesting how so many of us – I mean, we’ve all done this at some point – sacrifice the one thing that’s most important to us, freedom, try to keep the business going. And it’s like, wait a minute, this doesn’t work.
Christie: Well, that’s the one thing that you taught me that was so powerful was like, again, just watching your morning coffee or spending time with Chris or your dog. And I was thinking, oh, that’s what life is supposed to be like. And it was just little things like that that allowed me to give myself more permission to not, like you said, take the freedom piece out of your work and really think about your actions and why you’re doing the overkill, so to speak, sometimes.
Lindsey: Yeah. Well, and I kind of did a podcast before we launched into these interviews about how you can either create massive results in your business by action or you can change who you are and the way you think and the way you show up. They both can create results, but who you are continues to create exponential results that pay off even when you’re not working, even when you’re not taking action, even when you’re playing with your dog, drinking coffee, on vacation, right?
That is just the difference. And most of us as a society, I was this way too and I still have to keep tabs on it because I like to do this, we’re taught action only, grind, harder, harder, harder. And I think that’s a great description of what the mastermind is. It’s about continuing to build your business while living your life and enjoying your life. Because that’s why we all start businesses in the first place.
Christie: Oh totally. And that’s actually something I’ve kept in the back of my mind. Any time I’m launching something now or I’m going through anything in my daily grind, actually, I have you in the back of my mind saying like, are you creating more action because you don’t believe in your results? In which case, you need to think about your thought process a little bit more. Or are you doing it because you actually feel like it’s going to serve your people? Is it the intentional action piece, right? And that’s really gotten me to relax and not be such a spaz because I am such a spaz.
Lindsey: I’m a spaz too. It’s fine.
Christie: It made me relax a little bit more and I’m like, okay, let’s regroup here. It’s just really made me think twice about why I’m doing what I’m doing, which has been really eye-opening because it’s made me aware of a lot of my thought process behind things and why perhaps I was being such a hustler and not giving myself the freedom that I desired for such a long time and it’s – of course, it’s my own doing, but it’s been really clarifying in that process for sure.
Lindsey: Yes. So good. So I think your story is kind of unique in that you came to the mastermind, you came to me in a different place than a lot of the women. You have created a very successful business making lots of money, and I think your story is just unique in that you were able to get something different from a mastermind where a lot of the women in there, they’re just starting their businesses, learning how to sign their first clients. You’re fairly far past that. But I’d love to hear before you joined the mastermind what your business and life looked like and what your biggest transformations from working together have looked like.
Christie: So my business, I mean, it was wonderful in that – and still is wonderful in that I’m helping a lot of women, and I had transitioned actually from predominantly doing one-on-one to doing mostly course-oriented programs and I had a free Facebook group at the time.
Things were driving, but I was definitely, like I said, working all the time. I rarely took time off and even if Sean and I did go on vacation, I was still the girl checking her phone all the time. It was so annoying. I’m annoyed with myself thinking about that.
But I was really far too attached to my work. So although I enjoyed it and I felt like I had my sales process down, so to speak, it wasn’t as gratifying because I wasn’t enjoying life. And I couldn’t figure out why I felt so – even though now it’s so obvious, I couldn’t figure out why I felt so burnt out all the time and why I didn’t feel like I was having fun in my business anymore. Just stressed. Stressed to the max, so to speak.
And so for me, the biggest transformation has been feeling like I got my life back and being more intentional about what I’m doing in my business. I know you helped me let go of my free Facebook group that was a torture vibe for me for years because – not the people in it, they were all wonderful, but it just didn’t feel aligned with me anymore.
But I tortured myself by keeping that for years and years, thinking I should do that, rather than wanting to do that. And that’s such a different energy to be in and space to be in. And then just little things like okay, this is my cutoff time at the end of the day, I actually get to have time with my husband, and we can cook a meal together.
Well, I should say he because he cooks. I watch and sip wine. But I’ll have wine and relax with him and just enjoy the evening hour of my day and actually get to have a morning routine and like, you’re so great with your fitness. So again, even just seeing little things reminded me to get back into my running and all these things that I put off for such a long time.
And it just allowed me to feel human again. And take some off the weight off of feeling like – I feel like before I was in this rush to get everything done and hit these astronomical goals that I had for myself. And while I still want them, I feel less pressure to make it happen like yesterday.
And I feel like it’s okay to lean in and have a life and experience and be with my friends and family and husband and the mastermind and enjoy the women there too. Just live life and not feel like I’m behind because I’m not having multi-seven-figure years or whatever. Just again, enjoying life and what comes through that process. Yeah, gave me my life back. So good.
Lindsey: So good. And I feel like the other thing that’s important to point out is your business didn’t crash and burn. In fact, didn’t you make more money last year than you ever have?
Christie: Yes, it was my biggest year ever, which was amazing. Yeah, biggest year ever. And I mean, I felt…
Lindsey: 400K plus, right?
Christie: Yes, which feels surreal because that was far surpassed what I had – my initial goals were, which I know we’ve talked about before. But now I was like, oh, I guess I should set a bigger goal. It just never occurred to me that I would get there. So now it’s allowed me to think and dream about what I want next and what might be on the horizon for me, which is a really – I’m still trying to figure that part out but it’s a really cool feeling.
Lindsey: That is so good. I love it. So let me ask you this. You are a personal stylist and part of the thing – we’ve talked about this in the group actually that you’ve started implementing more coaching into what you’re doing. So I’d love to hear more about how the mastermind and our work together has helped you do that and what kind of impact that has made for you and your clients.
Christie: Well, number one, it’s given me more confidence in a couple of ways. Number one, the one thing that I actually really love is that you feel less crazy when you hear everyone else’s thoughts more intimately about what other people are experiencing. You’re like, oh, I’m not nuts for thinking that, that’s really comforting.
So some of that, the dynamic and hearing what some of the girls are experiencing in their businesses and what their clients might toss their way and knowing actually how common a lot of things are. There is some comfort in confidence in that. And it was really nice seeing everyone else coach one another because again, as someone that’s not a full-time coach, it was great to see how everyone else handled different things that arose for people.
And that for me was really powerful because again, I’m not in the industry the way you guys are, but I wanted to integrate that and I felt like it gave me more fuel and knowledge on how to better handle things with my clients when they bring up things like body image issues and confidence issues, or how their thoughts are tied to the clothing that they choose, whether it’s for their brand or their day-to-day life.
It’s been great because I’ve been able to really dive deep in what my clients’ thoughts are, and with a lot of the tools that I put together for them in their courses and workbooks and my membership that I have, I’m able to use a lot of coaching in my material to help them dive deeper into a lot of their habits and why they do the things they do or why they feel empowered in certain situations with clothing, and why they want to dress certain ways.
It’s just fascinating to see how intertwined coaching or personal development is with style, and it’s allowed me to feel more confident in talking to them about that. Because I’ve actually had several people say to me through my process, my clients, they’re like, “Were you ever a life coach as a background because I can really see a lot of that in your content that you provide now?”
And I was like, thanks. But it’s been nice because having someone else model as an example and seeing how people coach each other in the group that way has modeled a wealth of information for me and it’s been a wonderful tool to implement into my business. It’s been invaluable.
Lindsey: So fun. You brought up something that I haven’t really talked about. I’ve interviewed some of the other girls already and watching other people get coached and being coached by other people, that is so valuable. I just never thought about it from that way.
You learn so much about different perspectives and different styles of coaching and it’s just like, a collection of great minds and learning from them and gathering information from that. So I love that so much. So good.
Christie: It makes you feel less nutty too because at least for me anyway, and maybe this is because my background’s not in coaching, but looking at everyone coach one another, it’s nice to see everyone’s different style because it makes you feel less wrong for how you might navigate your own. Recognizing that there’s beauty in the difference that everyone provides that way, so yeah, I really, really love it.
Lindsey: So good. So tell me about your biggest doubt or fear joining the mastermind because we talked about this. You’re pretty far ahead in terms of your business and you were a little worried like, is this the right fit for me? So tell me a little bit more about that and how you got past that and how that growth alone has helped you.
Christie: So it was just mental work for me to go through and it was actually something that you said to me that had pivoted my thinking with it just because a lot of them were newly starting their businesses or again, we’re fairly new entrepreneurs. And I’ve been doing this for just over a decade with mine.
And you hear the mantra all the time of surround yourself with people that are further ahead than you are, so it really threw me through a loop initially to think that a lot of the women might be newer in their business. And I didn’t know that because of that mantra you hear all the time, if that was going to be the right fit for me based on that.
But you also had said to me when we were talking that we’re also responsible for the results that we pull out of a container and you had actually also brought to my attention like, it’s interesting to see how everyone will coach one another, how you will coach everybody.
I was sitting with that and I thought, you know what, that’s so freaking true, and I really marinaded on that and I thought, yeah, I am responsible for my results. And because I am, like I said, very new to integrating coaching into everything that I do, it would be really awesome to see how women are navigating their coaching businesses and how they coach and the struggles that they’re going through and all those beautiful things.
So it’s actually been a transformative experience because you realize – not that I was completely unaware of this, but it really solidified for me truly how alike all of us are. Because again, you hear objections that I’m going through my stage in my business but they’re also going through the beginning stages of theirs or wherever they might be in their business and we’re all going through this similar limiting beliefs or thoughts or behaviors that we are all working through, no matter what stage we’re in in our business, and there’s value that you can take from anybody’s conversation or challenge that they’re dealing with in their life.
And again, the way that they coach or go through, the way that they help their clients or how we’ve kind of talked to one another in the mastermind Facebook group, or even our Zoom calls, and it’s been super enlightening. Like, super enlightening, and it’s been such a gorgeous lesson for me that any situation that you go into, there is always value to be taken from that.
And I think sometimes the situation that you resist the most often can be the ones that provide the most value out of because that’s your room to grow. And that for me was awesome. The women in the group have been phenomenal and have definitely – in addition to you – but have been wonderful teachers through our time together. It’s been awesome.
Lindsey: So good. I love that. I think that’s such an example of when you believe you are a person who gets results no matter what room you’re in, it’s just such an empowering feeling, right? It’s like, it doesn’t matter if I’m in a room with people more, less successful than me.
Of course there’s value in being around more successful people, but there’s also value in being around people who aren’t as far as you and I just think that’s such a compliment and such a cool thing to see that you were able to get to that point of I create my results no matter what and I get value no matter what and that’s just such a powerful thing.
Christie: Yeah. Well, and all of them, I mean, they’re such amazing, incredible women and just listening to their conversations with you when you’re coaching with them, or again, the things that they were processing, there were so many times I’m nodding my head I’m like, yeah, I’m totally going through that too.
So it was really powerful recognizing that that mantra again that you hear all the time, it’s not necessarily true and there wasn’t, again, like you said, you create your own results. And I was still able to garner so much from the mastermind that served me and was able to connect with these amazing, incredible human beings. And again, see how similar we all are and that again, truly, you get to create whatever it is that you want. So if you decide that this is going to be the game-changer for your business, then that’s exactly what you’re going to get as your result.
Lindsey: So good. I love it. Okay, so one last question. What would you say to someone who – a woman who’s the right fit, just knows it in her bones, she wants to take her business to full-time, or maybe she’s even a little bit ahead like you who’s on the fence about joining, what would you say to her?
Christie: I think to trust yourself. If your gut is nudging you in that direction, then you leap for it. Those are the little universal nudges that are pulling you in the right direction. And maybe that sounds really woo-woo, but that’s what led me to you in the first place and it’s been so invaluable for me to learn the lessons that I have.
And I think as women, we don’t give ourselves enough credit to leaning into our internal knowing or knowledge or our innate being. And I think those little nudges are the things that guide us effortlessly in a path that will obviously not only help us grow but expand as human beings. And of course in this scenario, expand your business as well, which is incredible.
So I think if you’re having that knowing or that nudge or that inkling that you’re interested to join, then to follow that. Because anything else that’s telling you not is just the fear. Whether it’s a financial thing, a time commitment, whatever, all of that’s fear that you will work out. Everything will pave out but I think more importantly, you have to just follow your gut and that inner knowing and trust that things will pan out.
And I mean, it did for me and that was why I had reached out in the first place and it’s been a beautiful experience. It’s been amazing. So I trust that it would be for anyone that’s considering it as well.
Lindsey: So good. Thank you so much Christie.
Christie: No problem.
Lindsey: I want you to share where people can find you so they can follow you.
Christie: So I’m on all the social medias under my name so it’s…
Lindsey: You’re coaching them now. No, I’m kidding.
Christie: So it’s just @christieressel on everything, whether it’s YouTube, or you can find me on my podcast, Rise Through Style. But I hang out the most on YouTube and Instagram so if you want to come hang out with me on stories there I’d love to have you.
Lindsey: Awesome. Guys, go check her out. You inspire me all the time. I’m like, oh my gosh, this is so edgy, or I love this. It’s so good. You guys all have to go follow her. Well, thank you so much Christie. It was so fun to have you on.
Christie: It was so much fun talking. Thank you. I loved this.
Lindsey: Of course. Yeah, I’m excited to see what you do in the next two months.
Christie: Thank you so much.
Lindsey: We’ll talk to you again soon.
Christie: Okay, thank you so much. Bye
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Thanks for tuning in. Applications are now open for the Anything but Average Coach Mastermind. They opened February 10th and they close February 21st at midnight. If you are ready to create a full-time coaching business and do it simply and effectively to build a foundation of a business that will continue to grow exponentially, while living an even bigger life, make sure to join us. Again, lindseymangocoaching.com/abacoach.
If you’re ready to take this work deeper and create your own coaching business, join us in Anything but Average, where I will walk you through the step-by-step process to become a coach, start your coaching business, and start signing clients. Go to lindseymangocoaching.com/anythingbutaverage and I will see you on the inside.
