Secrets for Soul-Led Success — Transform Your Business with Camille Miller
Camille Miller is a transformational leader and celebrated influencer in the field of entrepreneurship. Her mission is simple, to inspire and support others in bringing their gifts to the world. Camille was inspired to help visionaries bring their gifts to the world and recently opened her SOUL Professional School, a global interactive learning center and mentorship program for SOUL-led entrepreneurs who are great at what they do, but need the business acumen and mentorship to succeed in their business. Camille is a three-time bestselling author in entrepreneurship with her latest book, Leaving Your Legacy.
Listen to the full episode HERE.
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ON THIS EPISODE
[00:01:20] Camille Miller on what she’s most passionate about
[00:03:21] Camille Miller on her childhood
[00:07:55] Camille Miller on her path from lcollege through her early career
[00:11:23] Camille Miller on her nonprofit work
[00:15:31] Camille Miller on Natural Life Business Partnership
[00:24:27] Camille Miller on the type of person she works with
[00:28:29] Camille Miller on Soul Professional Society
[00:31:30] Camille Miller on Soul Professionals Manifesto
[00:32:08] Camille Miller on the zone of genius
[00:35:50] Camille Miller on tips to start letting go
[00:41:28] Camille Miller on how fear based marketing negatively impacts your business
[00:46:32] Camille Miller on Soul Professional Business School
[00:52:15] Camille Miller on Leaving Your Legacy
[00:55:15] Camille Miller on her dream for herself and her dream for women
FULL TRANSCRIPT
Passionistas: Hi, we're sisters, Amy and Nancy Harrington, the founders of The Passionistas Project. We've created an inclusive sisterhood where passion driven women come to get support, find their purpose, and feel empowered to transform their lives and change the world. On every episode, we discuss the unique ways in which each woman is following her passions, talk about how she defines success, and explore her path to breaking down the barriers that women too often face.
Today, we're talking with Camille Miller, a transformational leader and celebrated influencer in the field of entrepreneurship. Her mission is simple, to inspire and support others in bringing their gifts to the world. Camille was inspired to help visionaries bring their gifts to the world and recently opened her SOUL Professional School, a global interactive learning center and mentorship program for SOUL led entrepreneurs with Who are great at what they do, but need the business acumen and mentorship to succeed in their business.
Camille is a three time best selling author in entrepreneurship with her latest book, Leaving Your Legacy. Now, please welcome Camille Miller. We're so happy to have you here.
Camille: Thank you so much.
Passionistas: Camille, what are you most passionate about?
Camille: Soul aligned entrepreneurship. Helping other people bring their gifts to the world. I feel like everyone has a unique ability, but they just don't know how to share it in the world. They stay quiet and play small and I want to help get their stuff out there and tell them that they need to do it. You know, people think they need to stay small because they're different, they walk to a different drumbeat.
But I think those are the people who are creators in the world and need to get the word out there. There's lots of them.
Passionistas: Why is that so important to you?
Camille: Um, because I think for so long, when you walk to a different drum beat or a little unique, you stayed quiet, like you were told, like you were non conforming.
And I knew I grew up in that world, a very, like, I knew I was very different, um, but it was never really squashed. I was always creative and it's, it's really the backbone of who I am, but it took me, It's been years, like 50 years, to be able just to be authentic. And I think now, especially since the pandemic, that it's authenticity that's going to bring us each forward.
It's the authenticity and our feminine energy and all of these things that make us so unique that is bringing that power together. It's bringing community together. It's how it's allowing us to collaborate and be better as a group. Right. I appreciate it. In the world itself. It just, we need it and we need the creatives.
We need those that walk to a different drumbeat that stop conforming. And I think they have a bigger minds and bigger power and a uniqueness about us that makes us collaborative and pretty awesome together. Right? It's like it's our frequency that's that's exponential. When we come together, we are greater.
Passionistas: Yeah. Love that. So you mentioned your childhood. Tell us a little bit more about it and how was your creativity encouraged?
Camille: So um, I had a great childhood. I knew everyone always has these rags to riches story. I was brought up pretty damn well. I had a pretty damn good life. I didn't know it though, until I went off to college and met other people.
And I was like, Oh. I had a really good life. Um, but I, I didn't know it because I was one of five. I'm the oldest girl in the family. I have, um, three younger sisters and an older brother. Uh, we were very, very close, an Italian family. We had traditions. We were always together. We did everything together as a family.
It was very important to my father. Um, But it was really my dad that always taught us that you, you look, you look to help, you're generous with your time, you always give back because that's how you move up in the world, and you do it quietly. No one needs to know how you give your time and how you help others.
And to just be generous. He also taught me to be an entrepreneur, never worked for anyone else. Uh, and the biggest gift he gave me, well, he gave me lots of gifts, right? But the biggest one I think is, and he probably doesn't even know, well, he probably knows because he read it in my book, but, but, um, that he always said, make sure whatever you choose to do in this world, That if you won the lottery, you would still get up and do it tomorrow, right?
So it's really like, follow your joy and your passion always, and you be you, no matter how crazy or everyone else might think you are, you be you, right? And he always said, when people are talking bad about you, it's because they're jealous. And he said, there is no better way to get back at people that have done something to you, other than telling them how successful you are in life.
He's like, you show your worth by you just being you. You never have to talk about it. You never have to be anything else, right? You just show up being you. And that was a great gift because it allowed me to be me. Even when I went off to college and he didn't really agree with all of my choices. He always allowed me to make my own choices.
Right. He might say, well, that's stupid, but, but it was always like, even at times, like if I picked a poor partner, right. And the relationship didn't work out, I'm like, why didn't you tell me? And he's like, it's none of my business who you marry or what you do. It's none of my business. And so it kind of gave me that independence.
But it also allowed us to fall. And he did us the kind of, he was, he was probably more strict with me cause I was his oldest daughter, probably than any of the ones that followed me. Um, even, um, the one, two under me, um, gave me a toast at her wedding that thank God I broke down all of those barriers so they didn't have to go through them.
It's great to be the youngest of five. I'll tell you that. Oh my God. The youngest is probably one of my closest friends right now. And I was like, she's, she didn't have anything that I went through. And it's funny because we're the most alike without. But she didn't have any of the barriers that I had.
Like, like, I had a fight to go to school. She just was like, oh, you're going to go to school? Like, it was, you know, I had curfews. I was punished every minute I was late. I don't think she's ever had a curfew, like, it was a very different, very, very different.
Passionistas: Yeah, it's funny, we've had very, very, very similar trajectories in childhoods. We, uh, five children, one boy, he's, ours is in the middle, uh, Italian family, Italian Irish family, but very, very focused on the Italian side. Yeah. We did everything together. And our, uh, our parents really encouraged us to be creative and be ourselves. And so it's a, it is a great way to grow up. It really is.
It really is. Yeah. So tell us a little bit about the path you mentioned college and, and some choices that your dad didn't agree with. Tell us a little bit about your path from like college through your early career.
Camille: So, um, I went, I went to private school my entire life. So college, I went to a state school in the SUNY system and that, that was eye opening just there.
Like, I was like, wow. Um, but I literally found my college because my father and I were actually driving home from skiing one weekend and he went, I think there's a college here. We drove off, found the college. I was like, okay, I think I'll go here. Like, this is no big thing. Um, I, I don't, I wasn't really encouraged to be educated coming from an Italian family.
Um, in fact, I was probably encouraged more to be married than I was to be educated. They didn't really see the point in it. Um, so that was absolutely a struggle. Um, um, when I decided to go, that was a little bit of a problem in our family. Um, and then I, my, my degree was in psychology, which my father thought was the stupidest thing I could have ever done in my life.
Like if you're going to go, why would you ever study psychology? Um, I came out of school hating, like, I loved the science of psychology, but, um, I, I counseled for four years and I hated it, which, but I do believe that it's a, it's a lot of who I am today because I understand the psychology and human behavior and, um, You know, my second degree, my MBA was in marketing and human behavior is a lot around marketing and why we do things and why we hit green buttons more than red buttons or blue buttons or, right?
I just found that so fascinating. Like the science of the human brain is very, very fascinating to me. So, yeah. Yeah, so I ended up, my first career though, was in the not for profit world because I loved giving back. I always volunteered my time and someone said, you know, you can get paid for this. I was like, you have got to be shitting me.
And that's how I got into my first career, which I was in for decades. And I loved the nonprofit world. Um, and I was doing that before I created this, but it was in, it was in those years. That I loved just acknowledging and honoring who people actually are. Like, I think authenticity and being a mentor is this golden thread through my entire life.
Um, you know, and just trying to get people to be more of who they actually are and not who they're told to be. Like, I think a lot of growing up in the eighties was like, who you're supposed to be, right? And especially as a woman, um, my mom didn't work. I didn't know moms that worked. Um, so, you know, that was really hard, you know, having kids and being a working mom and I had no role models and I was always being told that was a really bad choice for me.
So there were some tough years there.
Passionistas: I bet. Yeah. So what kind of nonprofit work were you doing? What types of organizations were you drawn to?
Camille: So my first one, I worked for a hospital, um, a very large hospital in New Jersey, which is still around today. Um, that was my first one. And then I worked for a homeless shelter.
And then, um, what'd I do after that? I worked at a college for NJIT in, um, I did all their alumni campaigns for a while. So I've done a lot. And then, um, Um, I worked, um, as a, uh, I, I actually, I broke away from fundraising for a while, went into real estate, became a broker, opened up my own firm, did all of this stuff.
And then when the market switched, I got bored and someone said, Hey, will you come back to nonprofit work? And I was like, yeah, no. And, um, they're like, well, just help me with a strategy for this. Um, it was a special needs school and I was like, okay. And it was in town and I ended up doing a whole strategy report for them.
And then I presented it to the board and they went, yeah, we have no idea how to implement this. Can we hire you to implement it? And I was like, okay, I'll do that too. So then I got really back into nonprofit work because I've actually have always loved strategy work. And nonprofit, like I love strategy work, which is what I do today.
Right. But, um, and then from there, um, I got a call from someone, uh, one board member talked to another board member. This is what happens when you're in not for profit. And I used to get calls of, wait, I heard you're coming back. And I'm like, I'm not coming back. I'm not, I'm not, I'm not doing this again. Um, And I got a call from someone who was looking for an executive director, CEO position, and I was like, no, I'm really not interested.
I'm in a different field now. I was just doing this as a favor. And they're like, well, just interview. So I interviewed and it was for an agricultural firm. It was called the Northeast Organic Farming Association. And this is for the New Jersey chapter. And I was like, I knew nothing about agriculture, although I always lived a very spiritual life and a very healthy life.
I ate organically, like I lived that lifestyle, but I just did. I didn't know why. Um, And I got offered the job. So I was, I took that for four years. And that put me in Washington working on our organic label. I later became the acting president of the entire Northeast. So I worked in Washington, I worked, I worked on our organic caucus with our senators, I worked Um, the, the farm bill, I protested, I worked on GMO and I became an international speaker and did all this fun stuff, but it was really there that I met these spiritual beings that were hiding themselves.
You know, they worked on Wall Street, they were attorneys, they were CPAs, they were doing all this other stuff and they were hiding the spiritual side of them. And it was actually in that job that I got to bring my whole self to work. It was for the first time I let my hair go curly. Right. I didn't have to wear suits anymore.
Like it was like this whole different world. And I was like, I like, I like it here. I like this world. I like these people. Um, my job ended up getting defunded in 2015. And then I found myself kind of like, Oh gosh, what is next? Um, I had some very lucrative offers come in, but I realized that I don't want to sell my soul anymore and work for things that I don't believe in.
After doing such great work, you know, in things I did believe in, but I also felt it was universe nudging me to go do something bigger. Like, like I was supposed to be back in this world because I was supposed to do something bigger. I was supposed to make a community. So, um, so that's what I did.
Passionistas: So how did you figure out that next step?
Camille: So, um, it, it, it kind of just flowed naturally, to be honest with you. From there, um, that was 2015. It was like September of 2015. I lost my job. Um, by December I was kind of floating around going, okay, what's next for me? I went back into strategy work and consulting for a little while. Um, and I ended up going to this.
Um, this pharmacy, but it's like an alternative medicine pharmacy. And they had like a get together and I was like, well, let me go here. I'm just looking for clues. And I met like all of these really holistic people and none of them knew each other. And I was like, how do you guys not know each other? Like, why doesn't a farmer know a herbalist?
Like, why does an herbalist know, like, it just made no sense to me. And I was like, And I literally left that meeting going, I know what I'll do. I'll just create a community and I'll help them understand how to run their businesses, how to network, how to build alliances, how to joint venture. And that's where it all started.
And that's where I created the Natural Life Business Partnership. That's where that came from. And, um, that's where it all grew. I launched in 2016. About a month later, I put the whole business plan together that, that night, um, sent it out to a few people that I knew around the world and they're like, yeah, this is really cool.
So we did that in person for, um, months, years actually. And then in 2017, I heard of this thing called Zoom and We went to an all Zoom, no chapter model in 2018 because I knew that I, I should say I'm also claircognizant. So I have these like knowings in life and I knew that this was going to be big. I also knew that that's the community needed to happen and I needed to keep on that path.
I didn't know why. I just knew that I needed to. So I self funded the whole thing for years. Um, And then I heard about Zoom. We all went on Zoom. I trained everyone on Zoom. I said that this is gonna, like, life is gonna go global. Like, we are going to all have global, and this is a very big, important piece of it.
So, we went international because then we were on Zoom, and then, I mean, national. That year, by 2019, we went international. Because we've opened and then 2020, I went high end. And then three months later, there was this global pandemic. We might all remember, but I didn't have to pivot. I didn't have to change.
I didn't do anything. And we actually grew so fast that I couldn't keep up. I was literally drowning that year because I was so busy. And I just didn't know what to do. But in 2021, um, I relaunched with the Soul Professional brand and trademarked all of that. And now we have the Soul Professional Society and the Soul Professional School and the books.
Passionistas: We'll get to all that, but how did you go from Connecting the farmers and the herbalists and local conversations to go global. Like how did, how did the word spread and how were you able to expand on such a level?
Camille: Just like today, a hundred percent of my business is word of mouth. So I call them raving fans, right from the Kenneth Blanchard book, um, that everyone just kept saying, oh my God, I met people like these people are like me.
Right. And that's how frequency duplicates, right? And everyone was like, Oh my God, the best thing I ever heard. I still hear today. Oh my God. I didn't know there were people like me in the world. Right. And then we started to just grow and it was New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania. And we just started to grow.
And it was actually the end of 17, uh, 17 where I got a call from California and they're like, Oh my God, I've been watching you. I can't wait for you to come out here. And I knew in that moment as a single mom of three kids, there was no way in hell this model was working. So I had to rethink how am I doing it?
And I did try a couple of different models, like having regional leaders. We went through that thing. And then I was like, but they don't know me. Right. They don't know my words. So, so that's how I started like Coffee with Camille on Zoom. And then everyone, no matter where you were, would come. And still today, I still hold Coffee with Camille with my members and I have coffee with them every month.
Then we talk about business and topics and I help them out. Um, yeah, so it's for everyone listening, like it's, it's not an overnight success. It is slow. And there are so many days I woke up and go, what the hell am I doing? I am in so much debt, but I just had this unbelievable knowing of, you got to keep going.
You got to keep going. Right. And, um, It really was last year. And I wrote all of these stages are in my books, by the way, this whole story is in my first book. And then the second book was about getting successful. And the third book is about leaving my legacy, which started last year when I when I moved suddenly, unknowingly.
I didn't think I needed to move. And I realized that once I got out of my, what I now call my survival house, the house I was in after divorce, that I was still living in survival mode. And in this mentality of, I just have to make it, I just have to make it, I just have to make it right. And support my kids and get them to college and all of that.
Um, but once I decided not to be there anymore, everything changed in my life. So it's really in this last year. That I, like, I just propelled to this whole different level, just this whole different level. Um, but the change was in me, right? I, like, more and more people that I work with, I know that it's a decision that they make.
Right? To be successful. And people might say, I tell myself I'm going to be successful all the time. That is not the same thing. That is not the same thing. Manifesting is not wishing the hell out of stuff, right? It's actually doing the things. And I was having a conversation this morning. I was like, I get up for work every day and get dressed.
I go to an office, even though it's in my house, right? When I leave, I close my office. And I go in the next room and put on sweatpants, just like I was coming home from work, right? It is a job that I show up to every single day, and it's an important piece of all of it. And it's very hard for people that work at home, right?
But I've, I've done it for years and years and years, more because I had to. I was raising three kids that had crazy schedules. And you know, they're, they go to school at six and they come home and they only had me. So. And you learn to survive, which what I was in survival mode for a very, very, very long time.
And I know now that I had to put these kids through college and I didn't know how that was going to happen. Um, and there was a piece of me that said, like, if I just stay poor, they will get scholarships. So every year I was like, how poor do I have to be to keep their scholarships? Because we had to keep requalifying.
Right. And I had three kids going through. Right. And I remember that last year I had no more qualification. Like I filled out the last form to qualify. Cause they, they look, they do a two year look back. Right. And my kids were going to be in their senior year. I finished my two year look back and I was like, now I can be successful.
And it was more unconscious than you think. Like I didn't know it until it was happening and like, And the move and I was like, Oh my freaking God, I had no idea. Right. And then it just propelled. It was like, I'm done now. So it's really interesting. It's interesting, but you subconsciously don't know so many things that are happening behind the scenes.
And I, I, I had to step up. I'm still the exact same person I was 10 years ago. Nothing has changed. My mission hasn't changed. Right. My, my business actually hasn't changed. I just, I charge a lot more now, right? But I still do the same stuff and I help the same people, um, basically, right?
Passionistas: Yeah. So who are those people that you help? What type of person works with you?
Camille: So I say I use very logically brained, but soul led. Right. They dovetail science and soul. They, they absolutely understand who they are, where they're going, and they have had success. It's some place in their lives. It doesn't have to be where they are right now, but they understand what success looks like for them.
Right. They know that feeling in their body of what success is. Um, and they're usually in a place that is not fulfilling, but they're really, really good at it. Right. And sometimes I'm hired as a thought partner just to really think about what is their next step in life? What does that look like? You know, I've been hired by CEOs and deans of colleges and people that are making a million just to go, I got to step down and no one's going to know, like, what am I doing?
Right. Um, in that respect, it's a thought partner. Um, but for some it's, you know, how do I, lots of doctors and scientists, CPAs, lawyers. Um, uh, I've been working with a lot of people who are, you know, engineers, those types of people. Um, uh, lots of teachers recently, and, um, nurses recently, um, just going, I'm really good at this, but it no longer makes my heart sing, like I don't want to work for people anymore.
Right? So it's like, okay. And we always start with, tell me your dreams. If you won the lottery today, what would tomorrow look like for you? Right? And in those moments, they're telling me, Okay. Exactly what they want their life to look like, who they want to help. Um, and it all becomes part of their business plan, right?
Cause that's, I, I'm a designer. So I help those types of people really create a lifestyle business that they can live with for the rest of their life. I always say, if you're, if you're an introvert, we don't pretend you're an extrovert, right? When I model people, I was looking at models of great people and I'm like, I don't really want to do that, right?
I don't want these big, like, I can look at like a Tony Robbins or a Bill Walsh or a Mary Morrissey, or I don't want to sit in stadiums and talk to people. Like, I love the one on one. I love the small groups, right? My membership is small. It was big at one point, but I brought it all the way down and increased the price because I really want to know and work with every single person that, that pays to be with me.
They, they get me right. But it took me a long time to figure that out, that my model looked a little different. Right? So I help people, you know, create those models and there are no two that look alike. There is no, this is the way it should be. Right? Uh, in the business school, we do teach business fundamentals.
You have to understand cashflow and income and taxes and how to read a P&L statement and your mission, your vision, your mission, your client funnels. Like we teach all of that because it's important. You need to know all of that. And, um, You know, for all of those that say like I'm either too woo or not woo enough, or I don't want to tell about the woo.
I always say like, I am that person and it shows up because I'm authentic, but, um, I still have to show up and do stuff. I don't just wait at home saying I'm going to be in flow now. There are action steps that have to take. You have to take, you have to have a plan and a strategy. You don't have to have a huge strategy, right?
But you have to be able to like turn it on when you need more money and turn it back when you feel like taking the summer off. That's what I do. When I need more money, I turn it on. When I feel like resting, I turn it back. Um, but all of us have to understand how that works, right? And if you're not showing up every day, then it's really not going to work. As an entrepreneur, it's just not going to work.
Passionistas: So tell us more about this Soul Professional Society and how people get involved and how it works when they do get involved.
Camille: Yeah, so anyone can, um, come join. It is, there's a whole free section. We represent about 23 countries right now. Um, and that's at soulprofessional.com. That's S O U L. Um, and we do free networking and I do free masterclasses because I really was torn with how do I not help everyone? When my mission is to help others bring their gifts to the world. So what used to be my basic membership is now absolutely free. People paid 40 a month for it. I decided I didn't want to be in that crowd.
There's a lot of good stuff for 40 a month. I didn't want to be there. Um, so people can go and get that for free. And I do show up and teach master classes. Um, so, um, there's that whole side and you can hang there forever. No one's put, there's no, there's no force converting in what I do. You're either a hell yes, or you don't work with me.
Um, and then there's the premium level, which is really the cheapest way to be. You know, to work with me and be in my masterminds, um, but I know every single person there and I am helping you work in a group with every single person there. So you're networking, you're meeting people, you're working on your business, we're strategizing, we're having coffee with Camille, that's only for my premium members, um, and we talk about whatever's coming up.
I usually have like a theme for a month. Um, I don't even know what I talked about this month. Oh, seeding. How do you seed your audience? Um, and those are all recorded. And when you become a member, you have access to everything I've recorded since 2018, since we were on Zoom. Um, so there's like, I don't know, 150 hours in a library that you can literally just put in a keyword and see everything that I've talked about.
Um. And that's all part of the premium level. So that's the society. Yeah. And I make sure we have something called Next Level Leads where I'm making those introductions for you. You tell me who you need to know and I make those introductions for you. So it's a, it's a pretty high level society. It's small, it's boutique.
It was big at one time and now I keep it small, um, because it's very, very important to me that I know who you are and what you're trying to achieve. And we've had people, you know, we've had people hit a million dollars in our group, you know, so, and, and to stay in alignment. And there's very few people that are running big companies that are staying in alignment.
They, they kind of shift out of it. And I'm all about, you got to stay there. You got to stay there.
Passionistas: That's amazing. Um, so what's the Soul Professionals Manifesto?
Camille: So the short one is we live in a higher vibration. We have an alternative approach to business and we're here to help repair the world. Yeah. So that resonates with a lot.
Yeah. Just sit with that for a moment, everybody. We, um, we did a mastermind with you, uh, and Julie DeLuca Collins a week ago, which was amazing. Oh, great. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And you talked a lot about the zone of genius.
Passionistas: So talk about that. What does that mean? And, and how do people tap into their zone of genius?
Camille: Yeah, so there's like a zone. So this really, this really comes from the book. Um, I think it's Gay Hendricks, The Big Leap. I'm pretty sure he spoke about it there. Uh, although I see it in a lot of other books, like I, like here's one of my favorites. I'm a, I'm a book crazy person. 10x is easier than 2x.
Great book. Um, and it's really all about staying in almost like your highest frequency where you make money. Like what is so unique about you. And we actually do this in the business school. We take three weeks of drilling down unique uniqueness. Um. Because it's so, so, so important. Um, but it's about drilling down what makes you so unique, you have no competition, right?
That's why we say you're either a hell yes to work with me, or I don't force convert. When you're ready, you're ready. I got enough clients. You know what I mean? Like, because I'm uniquely different. It's not like I'm, you're comparing me with other people. If you are, and they win, go work with them. A lot of times they come back, right?
So, uh, it's not for me to convince you, but, um, your zone of genius. All of this is only for you. You are the only one that can solve a certain problem, right? But how do you talk about it and promote it and message around it? So everyone knows, Oh my gosh, that's what you need. Like if you want to design a business and you're soulful and you're my person, everyone tells, that's why a hundred percent of my business is word of mouth.
You got to, you got to go meet Camille. That's where you got to go. That's where you got to start, right? If we have a conversation and I'm not your person, that's okay. And I'll even introduce you to other people. If I say, I don't think you're for me, but let me tell you about this great strategist. You, you might be a better fit for them.
Right? Um, that's your zone of genius when you know it. I want to make sure that every single person that spends a dollar on me comes out a superstar, right? And if I'm talking to you and I don't think you're going to be a superstar, you're not working with me. Right? So it's kind of that energy. It's not a, it's not a kind of store.
It's not like, I don't need your money. Right? I'm not creating things just to fill them. It's, it's a much different thing when you are just so unique. You can talk on it. Like I talk about authentic success all the time. I can show up and without a script, talk about it. Right? That's my unique genius. All right.
My unique genius. I always say my unique genius is seeing what others can't. And that's why I can design businesses around people because you're literally telling me, but you can't hear it. I can hear it. I also have like spirit helping me out and stuff, but you know, he's like my secret weapon, but you know, but a lot of people stay in their zone of excellence.
They're really good at it and they make a lot of money. Like I'm, I'm really good at writing books. I'm really good. I had a podcast that I just finished. Right. But I have to let go of what no longer serves me to keep moving forward. Right. I I'm really good at a lot of things. But it's not my zone of genius.
It's not what gives me my high, my joy. I'm just good at it. I make a lot of money at it, right? But sometimes you have to let that go. And boy, that can be very scary. But if you want to go higher and hang with a different crowd, you have to let it go. That little stuff you got to let go.
Passionistas: So what tips do you have for people who want to do that? How do you, how do you start letting go?
Camille: Well, um, a great thing to do is write down what you do every day, right? That's, I write down here. I'll even, I'll even show you, I'm a writer. I write everything down. I have little notebooks for everything. And this is like all the shit that's supposed to get off of my plate.
Um, but like I wrote down like all this stuff that I do, That I need to hire someone else to do. And I went down for like a week or so. And I teach this in my scale, um, scaling with soul class of how do you start to hire people to take stuff away from you and showing them the value in doing that. It's scary.
Cause people are like, I don't make enough money to pay other people. And I totally get that. And we talk about all of that and that's true in many cases, but there are things that you're not supposed to be doing. Right. And if you just start with the little stuff, I do a lot of little stuff still that I should not be doing, but, um, um, and it's okay once in a while to tinker or do things.
Cause I create a lot of my landing pages. Cause I think it's fun. Um, I know it's a waste of my time. And I just called one of my designers. Like I need like three more pages and I know I should not be doing this any longer. Like one I can tinker with, but I know there's three. No. Um, you know, just getting rid of the little things, making, um, uh, processes and systems that make things go faster.
Um, and getting rid of things that aren't fun for you. Like, if it doesn't, if it's not bringing joy anymore, don't do it. Like, like, I knew that this third book was my last book. It was always going to be a three book series. Um, but I will no longer ever do a collaborative book ever. It's never happening in my life again.
Right. I will do a solo book. I already have the cover and the outline and everything that's coming. Um, but I will never do this again. That was a phase and I'm so glad I went through that phase and I met amazing people and I've become a really good writer and it was something I needed to do, but I'm done now, right?
Does it bring me money? Yes. Do I need to do it? No, right? Get rid of it. My podcast, I just let go. Um, I did nine seasons. I loved it. It was so much fun, but it really wasn't monetized. It wasn't really serving me. It never brought me any clients. I could be on other people's podcasts. Why, why, why spend the time and money creating and producing my own?
So I let that go, right? Um, things like that. Like I used to have a lot of levels of membership and brought in a lot more money and I let them all go. And I merged it all into one. And that's exactly the way we started 10 years ago. I merged it all back into one. I didn't want to deal with it. I didn't want people there that I didn't know.
I really wanted to help people individually. So it's things like that that make you greater. Right? If it makes you greater, then do it. But if you do it just because you make money doing it, that's not a really good reason because if you let it go, you'll probably make more money doing something else.
Right? I'm creating space right now because I'm not actually sure what's going to happen next, but I'm creating the space to allow it to happen. Right? Because it's in that space that my genius can come out and I'll be like, you know, what? Maybe I'll call Oprah this week. Like, we don't know, right?
Something like that. Or like before I was on here, I was like, I think I'd like to go back to stage. I think I'm ready now. I haven't been to stage in God knows how many, I did like, I did like a TEDx, it wasn't called TEDx, like a TEDx talk in Colorado, not too long ago, and I loved it, but I never done anything after that.
Right? So I'm like, maybe I'll go back to stage. Maybe I'll start doing retreats for people. I don't know what I'm going to do, but it's whatever it is, it'll be next level. Right? So that's. You have to go back with my own clients. I was like, let's go back through the year. What are you still doing that you don't need to do?
Right? And sometimes just writing down what you do every single day will get rid of the little stuff, but then you've got to start hitting the big stuff. Even if you're bringing in a lot of money, doing it, just go, does it bring me joy anymore? Is this really where I'm at? Because for you to uplevel, you have to let go of the stuff that brought you there.
And sometimes it's friends. Sometimes it's networking groups, it's acquaintances. All sorts of stuff. You've got to let go to get to the next level.
I've never talked so much on someone else's podcast.
Passionistas: This is great. No, it's great. It's, uh, I, I feel bad because I feel like we're getting a free session. I was like, Oh, you, you just came here to speak directly to us. I don't know if anybody else is listening, but this is kind of getting weird today. What we needed to be doing.
Um, one of the things that you talked about last week in Julie's Mastermind too, that I loved was this concept of how fear based marketing is actually negatively impacting your business. And I think we're all taught, like you need to tell people what their problem is, how you're going to solve it. And, uh, and so can you talk about that? Cause I thought what you said.
Camille: And I'll give you a great example of something else I let go because of that. Um, I used to do this financial bootcamp called, um, it was part of, uh, Barbara Stanny's book. Hold on. Got this here too. Overcoming Under Earning. And I literally did a 12 week class with this. It was eight, it was 10, I did all sorts of masterminds around money.
Um, And this really is better when you do it with a group than when you read it on your own, but that's why I created a class around it. And what it did was brought a lot of people that couldn't afford anything. And, um, I loved teaching it. I taught it since 2020. I started to teach it in the pandemic to give people faith.
In their finances and to keep them going. Um, I did my last one last year. Um, and I realized as much as I enjoy it, these are not my people anymore. They are not the people that are going to invest in my services, the ones I'm putting out there now. Right. So I had, even though I like it, I had to let it go.
Right. Because they're not my people, but it also is, is, is. I mean, the words overcoming under earning, right? Those are people that don't have money, right? And I used in the marketing, it was all about, um, I forget the exact words, but, um, you know, financial scarcity. And, and everyone would come and be like, I want to take your class, but I can't afford it.
Right. And there's a point where it's just not worth it for me anymore, because I get paid so highly for my one on one work that I always have to figure out for a group, is it still worth my time? Right. And I came to that point and I was like, it cannot be priced where it's worth my time and those people that need it aren't going to pay for my time.
At that same level, right? So, so that's part of it. But, um, so now I market towards people that are already, and I say, You are already successful. You want a lifestyle business, right? It's not about fear. It's about hope. It's like, I want that. I want to work with you, right? Because you're putting out the hopes and the dreams.
Like if you say, if you see yourself being on a stage with 600 people in the audience and everyone wants your autograph, and there's a line when you get done and you set this beautiful scene, everyone's like, yep, that's what I want, right? They're going to buy your speaking thing, right? It's that. It's, it's, it's showing them where they're, will be when they're finished with your program, but you better get those results, right?
There's a lot of people promising results that are not happening out there and people are getting very skittish about putting the money into it, right? And that's why I say, I'm only letting you in my programs if I really feel like you're going to get these results or you're not even invited. And I do turn people away.
Because I know they're not going to do the work. And that's a reflection on them, not me. But trust me, it'll be on me if people come out of my program and they don't have the work. And that'll be the bad apple that's saying all the bad things about you. Right? I don't have that yet. So, so that's, that's what it is.
I mean, that's about getting rid of things that don't serve you and marketing towards the people Of where you're taking them, like adding your value, showing them the transformation that that's going to happen with you, but you have to also make it happen, right? Cause then all your testimonials say, Oh my God, I worked with her.
That's amazing. Or she brought me here. I raised my prices and my business excelled or whatever. Right. If that's what you want, that's the results you have to do. Um, you know, and that's where your marketing and your messaging has to come from. I always say that your real message comes from the people in their testimonials.
Right. In my, in my school, we, um, I have people bring testimonials to class. And that's where we get the wording for things, right? We're called the business incubator because one of my members called it that. And I was like, oh, I didn't know that's what you guys called it. And that's what we call it now, right?
It's usually from other people. A lot of people call me a business designer. So I'm like, I better start doing that because strategist isn't hitting them because they keep redefining me when they introduce me as this other thing. So now I have to use that word, right? Because that's someone else defining how they hear me. And that's the word.
Passionistas: You mentioned the school and we haven't talked about that yet. So tell us about the school and it. Yeah.
Camille: So, um, I was an adjunct professor. I teach MBA students global business strategy, and it was in that work that I realized, um, you know, the entrepreneurial programs that are out there in the schools are really product based, not service based.
So when you come out with a degree in medicine or law or CPA, you're always taught to go work for a big firm, not work for yourself. Right? And that's why a lot of people come out and go, I don't know what to do. I have this passion and I know I can provide the service, but I don't know how to do it. And there's really no education out there for purpose driven entrepreneurs that are something around whatever their dream or lifestyle is, but also their uniqueness, right?
There's nothing out there. Like if I had to learn, I was lucky enough to go to business school, but There's a lot of people that are, you know, 40, 50 years old reinventing their lives going, I have no idea how to do this. Right. And they're really brilliant. They have a great idea. They just don't know how to tell people that they exist in the world.
And they're usually fabulous at what they do, but they can't get the word out. Right. Um, that's what my school's for and that's why I created it. I beta tested it over the summer just to make sure it works. I mean, I have worked with thousands of entrepreneurs in so many diverse in, in, in industries , right?
That I wanted to make sure that there was a class that I could teach. For all of them. So the way I designed, um, this, my, my business accelerate, accelerate, Oh my God, I'm losing my words today. My business accelerator is the business fundamentals. That's my first level class, right? It's a 14 week class. And I'm teaching what you would learn in business school, your cash flows, your, you know, finance, marketing, branding, um, you know, your vision statement, your vision statement, your unique, Selling proposition, like all of that stuff that you need.
Um, but I'm also mentoring you. So not only are we teaching it in the classroom, but then I'm meeting with you and we're applying it to your specific business, because I found a lot of people are listening, but not actually doing and applying, like they're going to all of these things, but they're not actually doing the work.
And that's why I don't like big lecture halls or anything, because you're not going to apply it. Unless I'm sitting right over you saying, nope, let's do it now. Um, so I do that in the school. There are no videos that you're watching. You're literally showing up with me in a classroom. With people all over the world.
We're going through it, where your, you have homework, you bring it back, we're talking about it. And my cohorts right now are very small. They're under five people, because I'm meeting with you individually and building things. So it's a very different school. It's interactive. It's hands on. It's a mentorship program as well.
Um, all of my programs are all that, are, are like that and the faculty that I am, I will eventually bring in faculty and experts in all different areas. I'm kind of figuring that part out right now because I can't teach it all. I'm not even smart enough to teach it all, right? There's brilliant people in different areas that need to be brought in, um, but it will always be interactive.
It'll always be like a classroom with homework and everything else. Because I do believe that that's the best way to be teaching and learning from other people's experiences. It's how people learn best. Um, and I think a lot of this online learning and online classes and people are just tired of it and they're not really learning, right?
They're getting certifications and CE credits and they're not learning a goddamn thing. I'm watching MBA students take classes that way and they're like, because I had a capstone where we integrated other, and I was like, didn't you learn this in this class? And I'm like, yeah, that was an online class. I don't actually know that.
So I had to start to teach differently and we had to start to solve problems right there, right? And kids love phones. So I'm always like, okay, on your phones, this is what you got to look up right now. Like let's look up the Nike mission statement. Right. And I would give everyone different companies because otherwise it would never get done.
They would never actually learn. So, um, so this school came out of all of that. And I also teach adult learners, right? So most of them are my age. So we all learn differently in the eighties, right? Um, but it makes sense and it makes sense even to younger people. Cause, um, now, you know, I've 30 year olds saying I'm never working for a corporation, but I have no idea how to run a business.
You know, lots of creatives. right? That were somehow told that they are not valuable in this world. And I'm like, yeah, yeah, yeah. Come to my school. Come on, let's, let's figure out what you can do. Yeah. So, um, it's definitely an alternative business school, but you get the same education, but you get mentorship, right.
It's just like, if you went into a trade, you work under someone until you can kind of go off on your own. So it's done that in that same spirit of entrepreneurship. It's beautiful.
Passionistas: Um, you mentioned your trilogy of books, but you just released Leaving Your Legacy. So tell us about that book and why Leaving Your Legacy is so important to you.
Camille: So it was always going to be a trilogy. And I always knew the steps. So, um, the first one, it's called The Ultimate Guide Series. So the first one was The Ultimate Guide to Creating Your Soul Aligned Business, because that was just creation. How you, the thought process and some of the things I actually do in my school are the lessons in there.
Um, because it was each story we leave a lesson. Um, The second book was, um, The Ultimate Guide to Becoming a Successful Sole Professional. Cause so many people created businesses and then they stayed as this little hobby they did or didn't tell anyone. Like they, it was not success, right? And success can be defined as anything you want.
For me, it's six figures or above, cause that's like minimum wage in this country. So, um, it talked about scaling. How are we scaling? How are we getting to that next level? And most of it's about mindset. If you believe you can, you can, right? Make the decision. I think that's what my chapter is called, like the decision to be, I don't know what it's called, right?
And the third one is called Leaving Your Legacy because, um, it's your why you do what you do, why you show up every single day, right? And if you won the lottery, would you still show up and do it, right? And then, How many people and hearts are you touching along the way? Because it's really the ripple effect.
It's not like your name in lights. That's, that's not always your legacy. There's people that you know in the world, um, but there's people that touched your life that no one will ever know. Like your coaches, your teachers, your lunch aid, you know, your bus driver. It could be so many people that are imprinting all of these other people and that have imprinted you along the way, but they don't get recognition.
So the book is really about that. It's about intentionally leaving your imprints on the world and it doesn't have to be big. It could just be with every single client you had because I know that every single client I help build a business helps all of these other people. So I have this millions over millions ripple effect, right?
I could just talk here with you guys on a podcast. 10 people can hear it and make a change in their life and then have a hundred more clients. Right. And then those clients have a hundred more and it just keeps rippling from this one conversation. So that's, that's what Legacy is about. It's about showing up authentically and you being you. So when people know your name or hear you, they were like, I remember her. So I can't believe the hour has,
Passionistas: We have one last two part question, which is what's your dream for yourself? And what's your dream for women?
Camille: Um, for myself, it's really just to keep doing what I'm doing, but on a much bigger scale, much bigger scale. Um, I want to start traveling. Um, my definition of success is not really money as much as the ability to do and have experiences in the world.
Like I was just looking at this nonprofit that's doing this turtle release and I think Ghana, and I was like, Can I go? And they're like, well, you help you build the village for the week. And I'm like, I think I might want to do that. Like, it's those kinds of things that I can just go. Can I just go? Can I just go help there?
Um, and my definition of success has always been being able to send my three kids plane tickets to meet me anywhere in the world. So if I'm traveling, I could be like, Hey, it's Christmas weekend. Why don't you just come out for Saturday and Sunday, meet me in Paris, or let's go over here to the Bahamas for Thanksgiving.
Cause I don't like Turkey and you know, something like that. That's my definition of success and what I look like, because it's about having a lifestyle, but I will continue to do this. And for women, um, it's all a part of this, right? It's stepping into your power. Because I do believe that we are the future.
I do. In in so many ways. I believe that we are the future. And we are the energy that this, the whole world needs. Not just our country, the whole world needs. Um, because we are about collaboration and community and those finer things, you know. Um, we we don't lead with ego. We were taught to lead with lead with ego, but naturally we do not lead with ego.
We lead with compassion. Um, and we have to be okay with that. So I think this is a part of what I do is for women, but I don't only work with women. I actually work with a lot of men. Um, but it's about being in that feminine energy. Which we both have. We both have both energies. So, and you do need both, right?
Even to have a successful business, you have to be in masculine energy. But I try to lead with my feminine, right? And be in receiving mode because there's a difference, right?
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