007: Breaking Away From the 9-5: A Look Back at Our 10-Year Entrepreneurial Journey

Drake said it best: “Started from the bottom, now we’re here.”   For the last decade since graduating from college in 2012, we have been building the life we’ve always dreamed of, and we want to share the business and life lessons we’ve learned along the way.   Throughout this time, our entrepreneurial journeys have always been intertwined. There is no “Erika’s journey” and “Kyle’s journey”… we were truly starting businesses and making it work together.   Of course, we all have many different seasons and chapters in our lives, and not all of them will be picture-perfect. In this episode, we’re happy to break down each of the chapters of our entrepreneurial journeys to share how we got to where we are today!   Picture this: It’s 2011, and Erika and Kyle are at the University of Lynchburg. Erika walks into a TJ Maxx and sees a coffee mug that says “Future Millionaire” and she instantly purchases it. At the time, we were completely broke, but we were determined to change our lives.   Erika was studying fashion, and Kyle was studying sports management. We had the foresight that we didn’t want to work for anyone else, and we were determined to make it happen.   We believed in ourselves and spent hours and hours visualizing our future together, and the “Future Millionaire” mug was the perfect reminder. Friends, this is a tangible action you can take right away: visualize it, work for it, and you’ll make it happen!  

Chapter 2: Starting Multiple Businesses

While in college, Erika saw bloggers who were making money, traveling, and sharing their stories. She wanted to be creative and work for herself, so she started taking photos of her outfits, emailing PR teams, and sending out business cards to secure brand deals.   A few months later, Erika started a consulting business with some of our friends. We worked with brands to help them connect with bloggers. We didn’t make any money from it, but it was an invaluable experience and taught us so much about networking and marketing.    Throughout our journey, we always had the “Future Millionaire” mug on our desk. In fact, we still have it! It serves as a reminder to both of us to keep believing in ourselves and to  never give up. It’ s a reminder to never let anyone else define our success and to keep pushing forward, no matter what.  

Chapter 3: Moving from our Hometown

It would have been easy to stay in our hometown after graduation. It was comfortable because it was where our families and friends were… but we knew that if we wanted to change our lives post-college, we needed to get out of our comfort zones.   After a brief stint in Florida, we moved to Charlotte, North Carolina with no family or job prospects. We didn’t know anyone but each other, and we had to start from scratch building a network, creating relationships, and finding mentors who could guide us. Years later, we did the same thing in Nashville, where we live now.   Are you willing to get out of your comfort zone to another state where you have no family, no job prospects, and no plans to get the life you want?   

Chapter 4: Building Our Businesses

While in Charlotte (around 2016), Kyle worked in fitness and his career took off. He was working with NFL players, collegiate athletes, and elite high school athletes. It was a dream job and it was very satisfying. But eventually, his passion started to burn out because the days were long and he wasn’t getting to where he wanted to be.   Meanwhile, Erika was working with small business owners to help them with their branding and marketing. She was helping them with their websites, social media plans, and content creation. She was also helping them strategize for their sales, and it was very satisfying to see their businesses grow. However, the overhead was so high and we had a lot of financial debt, so we could never get ahead.   That was when we knew that we had to find a way to make a residual income. Erika started hosting group coaching programs and experimented with ways to make a subscription-based income. Finally, we started to make traction and people were wanting to work with us. We were finally seeing success, but our lifestyle didn’t match up yet. We still didn’t have the time together and we were both tied down to our jobs.  

Chapter 5: Generating Residual Income

In 2017, an online friend of Erika’s approached her with the opportunity to join Monat: a luxury hair and skincare direct sales company. Because she was open-minded to this opportunity and took a risk by saying “yes” to affiliate marketing, it paid off ten-fold.   5 years later, we’re now able to travel and spend every day together and be present with our son. We are building our dream home on 12 acres outside Nashville and don’t have to report to a boss or drive to an office every day. None of this would have been possible if we didn’t believe in ourselves and take risks to generate residual income.   Friend, don’t be afraid to try something new or explore different options. Invest in yourself and your future and you will be rewarded with breaking generational patterns. With the right mindset, determination, and communication, you can create the life and future you (and your partner) desire. We’d love to hear about YOUR entrepreneurial journey next! Head to @trustissuespodcast on Instagram and comment on one of our recent posts with the biggest lesson you’ve learned from your business and life experiences. We love connecting with you!

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