In this episode, we sit down with Michelle Labrosse, Founder and CEO of Cheetah Learning and a pioneer in project management. Michelle shares her insights on achieving your goals Cheetah fast, the impact of habits on project delays, and her journey from Aerospace Engineer to CEO. Learn practical tips to master project management and boost your business growth. We also dive into our impressions of Taylor Swift's project management and entrepreneurial expertise.
Episode Highlights:
Connect with Michelle:
🥳Don't miss The Good Enough Mompreneur Podcast's 100th episode celebration the week of March 12, 2024! Join my list so you don't miss the giveaways, special guests, merch and more!
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In this episode, we sit down with Michelle Labrosse, Founder and CEO of Cheetah Learning and a pioneer in project management. Michelle shares her insights on achieving your goals Cheetah fast, the impact of habits on project delays, and her journey from Aerospace Engineer to CEO. Learn practical tips to master project management and boost your business growth. We also dive into our impressions of Taylor Swift's project management and entrepreneurial expertise.
Episode Highlights:
Connect with Michelle:
🥳Don't miss The Good Enough Mompreneur Podcast's 100th episode celebration the week of March 12, 2024! Join my list so you don't miss the giveaways, special guests, merch and more!
💖 If you enjoy The Good Enough Mompreneur Podcast, subscribe, follow, share and
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐Leave a Review on Apple podcasts or wherever you listen! 🎧
Thank you for listening and keep up the great work, mama!
Interview with Michelle Labrosse Video
[00:00:00] Angela: I am delighted to welcome Michelle Labros to the podcast today, you're A-P-M-P-A-C V-L-A-C-A-C-A-P-M-I-A-C-P-R-Y-T. You're an accomplished author. You are the CEO of Cheeto Learning and an inspiring figure in project management. You have a background in aerospace engineering, and you've had a rich career as an Air Force officer, and you bring this unique perspective to leadership and innovation.
[00:00:41] You've had achievements that include. Ranking is the 25 most influential women in project management. It's like amazing globally by PMI. And your mission is to enable exceptional outcomes [00:01:00] through accessible and enjoyable project management education. So welcome to the podcast. That is quite a list of accolades.
[00:01:11] And so I can't wait to hear all that you have to share with us.
[00:01:15] Michelle: But Angela, you forgot the most important one is I was also a mompreneur. Yes,
[00:01:22] Angela: no, you're totally accurate. Yeah, during this whole time. And
[00:01:29] Michelle: yeah, I don't think I can still claim it because my children are in their 30s. Absolutely. I was a self employed mompreneur for their entire childhood.
[00:01:42] And they joke that they didn't have a childhood, they had an internship. I think that's great.
[00:01:51] Angela: That's wonderful. So thank you so much for adding that because it is so important and being
[00:01:58] Michelle: on the podcast. [00:02:00] Yeah, so yeah, I'm so excited you're doing a podcast for mompreneurs because I really did not have any role models. Yeah, I was a trailblazer. Yeah. And it was so interesting. I could never find my tribe.
[00:02:14] I was always trying to create my tribe. When my first baby was born, I needed to make friends. And so I joined the La Leche League, which was this breastfeeding support group. And this I really lasted for a couple of weeks in the breastfeeding support group. And this woman that was there was really upset because she had to go back to work and her baby was little and nobody was giving her any support.
[00:02:41] And so I walked over and I said, so what is it you do? And she said that she was an accountant. I said, you could do accounting at home. This is in 1989, right? This is before anybody thought of remote work. I said, you could do accounting at home. I need QuickBooks person for my company.
[00:02:58] And so I got her going or their [00:03:00] own QuickBooks company. And then we set up our own little baby play group. And so we can, we busted out a Lala H. A. League and she was one of my first mompreneur friends and I helped her get her business going. And then she brought in a couple of other self employed oriented moms.
[00:03:18] And so we are during our baby play group, it was like this support mompreneur support group, supporting each other's stay at home business activities. And yeah, that was a lot of fun. Yeah, we had to support each other. We didn't have any podcasts to lean on. And we were just odd ducks getting together for baby play group.
[00:03:40] That's
[00:03:40] Angela: a great story. Oh my gosh. You're way ahead of your time and I'm so grateful that we now realize we can share our gifts wherever we are.
[00:03:51] Michelle: Yeah. I, it's so funny because in 1995, this was, my kids were, I had two little kids by then. I think they were like three and five. [00:04:00] I wanted to create a virtual company that was 100 percent virtual because I had a pretty successful consulting practice, but it took me out of the house and I didn't really like that.
[00:04:09] I wanted to be on more. And so I created this company called Wired for Success. And I had started it, got it. I was in aerospace and I was doing a lot of corporate training for engineers. And I started getting into accelerated learning and I knew that we could be much more effective with how we were teaching adults.
[00:04:26] And so I created a whole series of accelerated learning online programs in 1995 and I had 300 colleges selling them, but they weren't getting any sales. It was my first big failure as a, as an entrepreneur. And it wasn't until COVID that I was able to take my company 100 percent virtual, but believe me, I was ready.
[00:04:51] I had created a lot of online content and a lot of online systems. And the whole business was always run [00:05:00] virtually. I had people teaching in classes all over the world for me. I was still working at home because I was a mom and I wanted to be at home with the kids. I wanted to go to their games, their soccer games.
[00:05:11] And, I wanted to be a part of their life. And I had other people when the company took off that were teaching me in person and I set the systems up to do that so that I could stay at home because it was important to me. I didn't want to outsource my parenting. Yeah.
[00:05:28] Angela: No, I think that's still a very large motivation for.
[00:05:33] Any mom considering becoming an entrepreneur, it's we realize we don't have to be on somebody else's schedule anymore. And so conversations like these, I hope empower and give people permission to take that leap. If
[00:05:51] Michelle: I don't want to say I was solo mom. Okay. I was a single mom. I became a single mom in 95.
[00:05:57] And I moved closer to my parents after that [00:06:00] happened. So I live three miles away from my parents and one mile away from my sister and I set up a network of people to help me. And so if I had to go out of town, my parents helped and I also. I found all these college kids that were great with my daughters and they were older.
[00:06:17] My kids were in middle school and high school. I had a whole network of people who would help me. So it's not like I just was home all the time, but I got to decide my schedule. So if there was something important and I wanted to be there, I didn't have to negotiate with them. I didn't have to negotiate with the boss to get out early.
[00:06:36] Go to the games or, make sure I was there for the play or I could be a part of their life, right? Which is important. Like even my company took off. We had 200 people in the company at one point in time and I was still able to be present with the kids.
[00:06:56] Angela: Yeah, that's so important.
[00:06:58] It's they have [00:07:00] one childhood.
[00:07:00] Michelle: Yeah. Yep. Yeah, that's what I realized with when the first one was born. I was so delusional when the first one, I've been running my company for two years when I had the first one. I was like, Oh, I'm going to get a nanny. And, it'll just be life as usual. Oh my God, I was in shock.
[00:07:17] There was no way I wanted to leave that new baby with the nanny. And I just didn't want to travel anymore. And yeah. As part of the reason I think I got divorced is that my husband had married an aerospace hard charging businesswoman and I became mom and I did not want, and then I had the second baby two years later and there was no way I was going to be outsourcing this experience to somebody else.
[00:07:41] A woman, everybody has a choice in how they live their life, right? We get to choose and I don't want to put down women who want to, stay in their fast track job, but I just seen this time and time again. I had my children when I was in my late 20s. And I had both kids before I turned 30, and I was happy I did that.
[00:07:59] [00:08:00] I've seen women who've waited to their 40s, and it doesn't seem to matter. You're on the mommy track for 10 years, no matter when you have them. If you have them in your 20s, you're on the mommy track for 10 years, and it isn't until the kids get into late elementary school that you're really, you can really start to see your way off of the mommy track.
[00:08:19] And I'm not saying that in a derogatory sense, but there's a bond. With children that is, it transcends. It's like we can't transcend our biology. No matter how accomplished you are. And I was just in New York City visiting my oldest daughter, and she's the New York Times. And it was so cool. We went into the New York Times office and here I am, mom, And she's showing me the newsroom and what she does and she had the day off the following day and we were in the botanical gardens at the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens and I saw lots of nannies with the children.
[00:08:58] And I only [00:09:00] saw you could tell there were nannies very different ethnicities and, a lot older and it was definitely not the moms and I only saw one mom and her mom with their kid in the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens, and it was like, wow as interesting existence. I'm glad I didn't have that.
[00:09:18] I'm glad I was, I'm glad I was the mom at the botanical gardens with my own kids and I'm glad that I was afforded the luxury of doing that because I was an entrepreneur.
[00:09:32] Angela: Yeah, and I think women are only just beginning to see that's really a trade off they don't necessarily have to make anymore.
[00:09:41] Michelle: And yeah, and I was the mom with my kids doing that, and I'm really glad. That I did not outsource my mom, this to a nanny. I had nannies. I've had, I had nannies and I'm not going to deny that. I couldn't, I stopped having nannies when the second one came along.
[00:09:58] It was just like, I am [00:10:00] never going down this path again. And I'm going to be doing it differently, and I made a conscious choice that I wanted to be the mom.
[00:10:09] Angela: Yeah, and I think it begins with that, just making that choice. And when you decide that's what you want, if that's what you want, there are absolutely so many options to thrive in that space.
[00:10:24] Depending on how much time you have to dedicate to your business. You don't have to work all day and 24 seven. And, there are definitely systems and processes and all of those good things that you can put in place, which I'm sure you're well acquainted with.
[00:10:42] Michelle: Yeah. I had so many interesting setups arrangements.
[00:10:46] I moved into this one neighborhood and we called it Tricycle City. And everybody there had little kids, which was really fantastic. And this couple across the street, they had kids about the same age. And the mom worked Friday, Saturday, Sunday, [00:11:00] Monday. And then she had Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday off.
[00:11:02] So I watched all the kids, all four kids. I watched them Friday and Monday. So neither one of us had to pay for daycare. Her husband had the kids Saturday, Sunday, and she watched my kids Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday. So I could. Do my business and go out of town if I needed to those three days and I could be on call, but it was a fantastic arrangement because all four kids entertain each other.
[00:11:28] They play it was much easier. Yeah. And it was a really fantastic mom sharing arrangement and, because it was where it was location where you live. Matters so much.
[00:11:41] Angela: Yeah. And finding that network matters so much. Yeah. You can't just go, okay, I've got a business and do it, still do it on your own.
[00:11:50] You still have to have a really good network, whether you live near family or have good friends or,
[00:11:57] Michelle: yeah. And the universe puts [00:12:00] things in place for you. It was because this couple was called Laura and Ron and Laura and Ron moved in after us, but I have a feeling because we met them when they were looking at the house and we were chit chatting and our kids were playing and, they knew that we could leverage each other's.
[00:12:18] Availability. It worked out well. But that was, I had to be in that neighborhood, right? Yeah. I had to be living in Tricycle City to have that opportunity, right? I've since I was definitely a lot smarter when I was younger, because I haven't lived in some, I've lived in nice places, but they weren't like as awesome as that from a, Community perspective, they were too isolated or whatever.
[00:12:45] So I'm just saying, there's a time and place for everything and. When you got little kids, it's not the time and place to go by the McMansion out in the middle of nowhere. Yeah. Get the house in Tricycle City. Yep. And make friends with [00:13:00] all your neighbors who are also in the same boat as you.
[00:13:05] Angela: No, yep. I totally agree with that for sure. Yeah, so let's talk about Your cheetah brand, which I love. I told you that I think it's so clever and it's something that's so identifiable with you. And I know that you have project management insight, of course, but I'm also interested, like when this podcast episode airs.
[00:13:32] People are going to be developing like where they want to go in 2024 and still formulating that. So do you have some insight for us on how we can create and accomplish our goals better as mompreneurs?
[00:13:49] Michelle: Yes. And necessity is the mother of invention. Okay. Like every mompreneur, I had to get stuff done really quick in a very short period of time, but you have to focus.
[00:13:58] You have. You might have 15 [00:14:00] minutes here that you can squeak out. You have to make that 15 minutes count. So you have to get very focused. And it started well before I was a mompreneur because I had a full scholarship to go to college with the Air Force and it was in aerospace engineering, which is not an easy major by any stretch of the imagination.
[00:14:21] And I had to get my degree in four years. A lot of aerospace engineers take five, six years to get their degree, but no, if I was going to take that long, I would be enlisted and there was no way that was going to happen. So I had to become super efficient in college. And I was taking seven engineering courses at a time at the time to get my degree done in four years.
[00:14:44] So I became super efficient and I had all of these massive studying hacks. And so when I got out of the air force and I started teaching engineers. And I realized that most of what was [00:15:00] passing is corporate education was a lesson in boredom tolerance because as engineers, we're used to moving quick.
[00:15:07] We have to, most of the, all of my classmates who were in the Air Force had, were in the same bind as me. We had to get our degrees done in four years. We had to stick to the program. And you were. I'm a, I came from a lower middle class family. I had a full ride to college. I wasn't going to blow it.
[00:15:25] And so I started getting into accelerated learning and I realized these were a lot of the things I had been doing anyways in undergrad to get through that program. And so I started creating courses using accelerated learning concepts, but it was 10 years later when I was doing a gig as a research scientist.
[00:15:47] And we had really smart people there who kept bombing their projects. And I was doing a lot of project disaster recovery. And I'm like, these guys need a really simple way to do projects. And I came up with a way to [00:16:00] teach them how to do good project management in one day. And so I wrote a book on that and I started my class from that, my Cheetah project management class.
[00:16:08] But my very first book, I needed to get PMP certified, which is project management professional certified. Now that certification had been around for four, for 20 years, when I got certified, I was number 37, 800 person certified, I needed that after my name to be taken credible as a project management author.
[00:16:29] And so I got it and I looked at how people were studying and I'm like, what a waste of time. So I created a way to do it in four days before people were spending almost two years studying and 60 percent of them were failing. It was insane. So I created a way to do it in four days and 98 percent of my students pass.
[00:16:47] And I took over the market really quick. Luckily I had been running my own business for about 12 years and I had all the backend systems to support really rapid growth and we grew very [00:17:00] fast. And so now 22 years later, there's over a million people certified. So we went from. 40, 000 people 20 years ago to over a million certified now as because I specifically came up with a way to do it in four days.
[00:17:16] We had a lot of copycats in 2019. I took back over the program and redesigned it for focus and distraction issues. And now our pass rate is even higher and then COVID hit and we pivoted it to do it all virtual live, which is great because our pass rate is even higher virtual live. And so we made it very hard to copy this time.
[00:17:42] It was too hard to copy last time, too easy to copy. So now it's almost impossible to copy and nobody else is doing it in four days anymore and getting people to pass the next day except for us. So it's been amazing, but in 2021, I started thinking [00:18:00] about what makes the way I do things so much different than what, how other people are running projects, because I get my projects done in two weeks, right?
[00:18:12] So in 2018 at Christmas time, I took two weeks off. That's if you're an entrepreneur, you should never take two weeks off. It's very dangerous. All right. I've heard Elon Musk talk about this and I have to agree. So I took two weeks off at Christmas. And at the beginning of the two weeks, I was making presents for people of spice blends and tea blends that had been making for years.
[00:18:39] Along the way, when the kids went to college, I went to cooking school in France and Italy, okay? Because I was worried about, suffering from the empty nest. So they went to school, so I went to school. So I've been making spice and tea blends for friends and stuff. And I was building a house in 2018 and I've been made, I was testing out this flying pig pork rub and I gave [00:19:00] some to the workers and this one guy goes, this is really great.
[00:19:02] This is a lot better than what my friend makes in Arizona and he's selling them. So I'm like, Oh, that's an interesting idea. I have two weeks off.
[00:19:13] So I was able to get alaskaspiceshop. com. And in two weeks, I had the entire business set up. I had the whole website done. I had all the packaging done. I had the blends done. And I called a friend who ran a little gift shop. I was living in Alaska and asked her, told her what I was doing, what was the price point.
[00:19:31] And she goes, Are you going to the Alaska gift show next week? I should. No, I didn't know anything about it. So I called up the Alaska gift show and I got a booth. So two weeks into my business, I'm at a trade show. I had all the packaging and I'd done trade shows before. And luckily, Alaska Spice Company didn't show up and I got all of their business.
[00:19:53] So I have to package all these spices and I was designed I designed it what they call the fill Meister to do all the [00:20:00] packaging, which was really fun. So it was a nice blend between my engineering and my chef world. And it was really fun. The business took off. And that crashed during COVID because we were selling to the gift shops and the cruise ship industry crashed.
[00:20:15] And I was thinking in 2021, I really should teach how I got that business going in two weeks. Because this is something a lot of entrepreneurs could use. It's like, how did I get a business up to taking over that little tiny niche market in Alaska in two weeks? And so that's what Cheetah Agile Projects is about, is how to finish significant projects in two weeks.
[00:20:37] And it's not just for something that big, like I just started a two week sprint this morning with my sales and marketing team. And our goal for the next two weeks is to create a repeatable system that's going to double our revenue in two weeks. Because I have these new sales guys on the staff [00:21:00] that are really good at closing and I have good, some good marketing teams and I'm bringing 'em together and they're gonna work, learn.
[00:21:06] Basically, we're gonna learn how to work better together. . And in the next two weeks, when we work, learn how to work better together, I think we're gonna be able to pretty easily hit the double revenue goal, but we're gonna do it in two weeks. And it's not too hard. It's just focusing our attention in a little bit more organized and coordinated way.
[00:21:24] And that's what Cheetah Agile Projects is about. And so, one of the things that happens in entrepreneurs is you have so many different ideas going off here, there, everywhere. And it's you have to focus. And you have to bring it in and make things happen in a way that's going to move your needle.
[00:21:43] Whatever that happens to be, if you're going to upgrade a process, let's say you're, your accounting system isn't very good and you want to upgrade that, you could spend a couple of weeks just focusing on that. And that's all you focus on. So the next two weeks is, I have lots of ideas, but all I'm focusing on the next two weeks is [00:22:00] how are we going to double our revenue with sales and marketing.
[00:22:04] In this business line in the cheetah business line, they still have the spice shop going and but the spice shop is a slow season for the spice shop right now. I, my big season is during the summer for the spice business. But you can get into, you can get your hands into all different types of things and then you don't get anything done.
[00:22:22] So that's what Cheetah Agile Projects is about, is how to just focus intently for two weeks and move the needle in a significant way on some part of your business. I
[00:22:34] Angela: love that. And I, yeah, I think you're totally right. Not only do entrepreneurs have the focus problem on they have all of these ideas, but I think they also have shiny object problem too.
[00:22:51] Where. I, what I hear you saying is you don't necessarily need that new shiny object, [00:23:00] but you double down on your processes and you double down on, how you work together with your team to accomplish more. It
[00:23:09] Michelle: is, and the thing is it is saying no. It is saying no to shiny object because. It's so funny.
[00:23:15] Every once in a while, I'll go through and just kill a bunch of domain names. I am the queen of buying domain names. I come up with a new idea and I buy the domain name and and then I'll, I'll let it ride for a little bit and see if it has any legs, but I don't want to spend a whole lot of time in it.
[00:23:31] But you have to really focus on where you're making your money. And not lose sight of that because sometimes it can get a little repetitive and boring. If you're really good at it, because, I've been talking about the same thing with project management for 23 years, but it is my passion.
[00:23:49] It is. And I also call it metacognition programming. I listened to a lot of train your mind in order to achieve different results type of thinking. Very big [00:24:00] into neuro linguistic programming and how we talk to ourselves. So, how you get from point A to point B in the most efficient and logical way, you can learn that and you can train your brain on how to do that.
[00:24:16] I think that we all suffer from Taylor Swift, Kelsey, Travis, Kelsey distraction attractions, whatever, whatever is the attraction distraction of the moment and we can spend hours and hours on that. Yeah. No, isn't it funny? I had to throw that in there. And we're doing this March 4th, so who knows what's going to be going on?
[00:24:37] Angela: I have a teenage daughter and a tween daughter who are obsessed with Taylor Swift, so I get all the
[00:24:41] Michelle: updates. I know, it's so funny, isn't it? Yes, I have two 30 year old daughters who are totally obsessed with Taylor Swift And actually for Christmas last year, we all gave each other this Taylor Swift concert present.
[00:24:54] We all went to see her in Las Vegas. To see her? Oh, awesome. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And I even [00:25:00] got a new hairdo. I had my hair spiked and I had the bright red lipstick on. I was totally dressed up for the Taylor Swift concert. It was a lifetime. That's a lifetime experience. What's so funny is I've tried to join some Taylor Swift groups and they asked for my birth year and they haven't been accepting me.
[00:25:18] I'm feeling a little rejected by the Swifties. We need like a
[00:25:22] Angela: Swift mom group.
[00:25:23] Michelle: We need an older Swifty group. I like her. I think she's a fantastic entrepreneur and a great role model. And yeah, I am. And I think Swifty's and just to call out to Swifty's here are fantastic project managers.
[00:25:39] If you look at the amount of time they put into the logistics and the bracelets and getting to the show, oh my God, that's a lot of project management involved in being a Swifty. Yes. I love it. It's really funny, isn't it? But you know what? I do [00:26:00] think that's fantastic. I really think it's fantastic because kids are learning so much about how to get things done.
[00:26:08] She's such a fantastic role model. So I'm a huge Swifty fan as a. As an older mother,
[00:26:18] Angela: me too. I just was there just soaking it all in. And it was our second concert together. She is an incredible, and I tell them like, this has never been done before. You don't understand, like she's doing all the things we dreamed about.
[00:26:35] Yeah. From movies to, re recording to all of it. Yeah,
[00:26:40] Michelle: she is. So well at monetizing her brand.
[00:26:43] Angela: Yeah and protecting it and marketing
[00:26:47] Michelle: And yes, and look at the crew she manages too she is really a phenomenal business person,
[00:26:55] Angela: for her age too.
[00:26:56] Michelle: I'm just like yeah.
[00:26:58] So she has a lot of [00:27:00] emotional intelligence. She's a fantastic leader. She doesn't get, I think she did get pretty beat up when she was younger. And I think she really learned how to rein in her reactivity, which didn't even seem like even watching her younger. She didn't have, she was upset, but she didn't lash out, which was impressive.
[00:27:17] Yeah. Yeah, so overall I think she's a fantastic project management role model, because that's a great model
[00:27:23] Angela: of how she really knows her audience and she's very protective of, yeah, the people who follow her and, yeah, so I totally agree. It's just seeing her being in her space.
[00:27:38] I was just like observing everything and it's just phenomenal from the merchandise to just everything. But
[00:27:46] Michelle: Yeah, she is really a great role model for so many different things. Project management being one of them, even though she doesn't really take in that moniker, but, I was it was so funny.
[00:27:56] I have a little survey related to Cheetah Alger projects is [00:28:00] it's a rip off of one called. Are you a swifty or a pokey?
[00:28:06] Because it's true, do you get things done swiftly or do you poke around and do the, oh, I'm not sure I'm going to do that, so it's the same thing. Make a decision and, one of the things I like about the two week projects is you can see, do I really want to do this?
[00:28:21] With this, with the Spice Company, it was like, do I really want to do this? And that trade show we went to was so much fun. We had such a great reception. I'm Spice Mama now, I'm Spice Mama at SpiceMama. com and I moved my spice business to a different state after COVID. Because I did not want to be set it up in Alaska because it's like a go big or go home type thing.
[00:28:45] And it was like a lot of work to support only 21 shops. And I'm like, if I'm going to do that much work, I might as well get bigger and do less work. So I went to a, I moved to a state with five times as many gift shops. Oh, wow. And everybody [00:29:00] in the state, I used my SpiceMama at SpiceMama. com email to engage with everybody in the state.
[00:29:07] Cause I built a new, I built a new facility. I had to build a commercial kitchen. I did cheetah agile projects to do it. And in a year I got my whole new commercial kitchen, my new space done. I'm actually recording this from my new podcast studio in my new space. And even though I was talking about my two week project.
[00:29:26] I did last week learn, land my first vice business project with a company in town, which is pretty cool. So it's, when you're conscious of what it is you want to create, it does change decisions because being in Alaska, it was just too hard to grow that business. And I said, if I want to keep going with this business, I need to move somewhere different.
[00:29:48] So I started in 2021 researching where that was going to be, put my spec sheet together and it had to have a pool close by, it had to be good environment. For [00:30:00] me personally, and as I get older, there's a hospital five minutes away that I hope I never visit, but a lot of walking, big dog park for the dog, yeah, it's been fun.
[00:30:10] Angela: I can't help but notice something very unique about you. And not only do you have this great system in place that is like this two week increment to help you know whether you want to keep doing something and to help you get good fitting on a project, but you have a really unique mindset.
[00:30:34] You seem like Very positive, very open minded, willing to take risk, and, even just a few of the things that you've mentioned, I have worked with people that would, in a heartbeat, let that become an obstacle to starting or growing their business. Do you have some tips [00:31:00] on how you look at things and how you keep that mindset?
[00:31:04] Michelle: It's interesting that you say that because I challenged my negative beliefs. Okay. So I always said, because we are products of our thoughts. So whatever you think repetitively is what you're creating repetitively and It was so interesting. I had this interesting experience over the weekend, and I'm sure a lot of women have this experience.
[00:31:28] So my daughter goes to graduate school in New York city, and we went to this door where she went to graduate school and I was a little cold, so I got a sweater to wear and it was from her school. And so we're in front of the school and I'm standing there with her and we took a picture, me with my sweater on in front of her school and she posted up on Instagram and it said, this was after we visited the school bookstore.
[00:31:53] There I am. And the first thought I had when I saw that picture of myself, what is the first thing most people think [00:32:00] when they see a picture of themselves? Oh, I don't like how I look in that picture. Exactly. Self loathing. Self loathing. And you know what the thing is, it's so crazy, is everybody sees me like this all day long and they don't hate me.
[00:32:17] They don't hate on me. I wouldn't hang around with them. And so why am I doing that to myself? When the first thing I look at instead of saying, wow, I was in New York City visiting my daughter who's going to the New York University Stern School of Management MBA program. How flippin impressive is that?
[00:32:36] Not only that, she's paying for it on her own because she makes enough money to do that, which is even more impressive, right? And she's living in New York rockin it. And instead of looking at, wow, what a flipping proud accomplishment this is. I make some disparaging remark about how round I look.
[00:32:58] And I'm like, [00:33:00] this is the negative mindset that I need to change it. I'm doing a lot about. Not self loathing I'm, it's just radical acceptance of who I am. I rocked it in New York City, we walked 19, 000 steps on Friday, up and down all these subway stairs. I didn't drop dead of a heart attack.
[00:33:24] I had a great time, I didn't have to, I only took ibuprofen once and I rocked the whole New York city scene and you know what, this is just the way I look. And if people don't like the way I look good bully on them. Who cares? Who cares? I think the big thing is challenging your negative self talk.
[00:33:46] All right. And that's For anything, get used to looking at yourself in videos. Get used to looking at yourself in pictures, listening to your own voice. And when you have negative self talk [00:34:00] Oh I'm never going to be smart enough to do that. Oh, wait a minute, in here, we call it in our class.
[00:34:07] We teach people about the crazy roommate. We all have this crazy roommate that lives inside our head. And that if. And if we ever had anybody talk to us like the crazy roommate did, we would not be friends with them. I love that. So I know, I think that all of us have to embrace and love the crazy roommate, challenge our negative self concepts and get over ourselves, it's hey, you don't know. Even failure is learning, right? Even failure like in 1995 when I had, I worked hard to get those affiliates and colleges. I learned a ton and I parlayed it into some massive gains. I was able to set up cheetah [00:35:00] on my own because of all that I learned of doing that and you just cannot look at things that you've tried that haven't worked out the way you thought they would.
[00:35:09] That's just life. That's just life. It's an, it's, you learn from it, you change, you pivot, you let it run its course for a little bit. Like how could I get upset about losing all my cruise ship business? When COVID happened, I had nothing to do with that, right? With that business line, I pivoted to making freeze dried food for the Iditarod.
[00:35:32] Because I like to work, right? And I, my kids are not at home anymore. And so I would work at Cheetah until five. And then from five to 10, I would work Spice Shop. And so I started making freeze dried meals for the Iditarod, because the head Iditarod guy, the leader that won 14 Iditarods approached me in a random event, and he wanted to know if I'd make freeze dried food for him, and I [00:36:00] said I didn't tell him I didn't do that.
[00:36:02] I just said, sure, and he had throat cancer. So my daughter, there is a registered dietician and we created meals for him that would be easily digested and good for him on the Iditarod. And we dropped the weight of his food from 300 pounds to 30 pounds. Wow. So that was fascinating, but I wouldn't have even been in the position to have gotten that opportunity and that massive life experience if I hadn't have started the spice shop and I hadn't, and I wouldn't have even had the time if COVID hadn't happened.
[00:36:45] And so that was a really fantastic life experience.
[00:36:49] Angela: No, that's a wonderful story. And I think that, you're your mindset is infectious. So I hope listeners feel that and [00:37:00] because so often they just it's very easy to just get caught up with the roommate.
[00:37:06] Michelle: Crazy. It's that crazy roommate.
[00:37:09] It's just, let's go have a cocktail with the crazy roommate. And it's hard to, it's easy to give up and to give in and, to not, you know what you're supposed to do. So it's not easy being a mom printer. I don't want to sugar coat it. Okay. By yourself a lot. And you buy yourself or with your children.
[00:37:28] And one of the things I did when I was getting cheetah going, As I set up the sales and marketing accelerator system and I, this is, and you guys might even be doing this and it was just a color coded calendar and like I had all the different marketing activities I had to do color coded and I made sure I did one a day.
[00:37:47] Because sometimes that's all you can do, but I integrated it. So it was the sales and marketing accelerator system. So they were all integrated. It grew, it became our main, how we organize things, [00:38:00] but it really helped me just to focus on one activity a day. Like I'm going to focus on public relations.
[00:38:07] Now another thing I think that is so important to do as a mompreneur and it's so hard is you have to make 10 prospecting calls a day. Which is very hard to do because it's not easy to make prospecting calls and especially not easy now because nobody answers the phone, right? You can at least get them on text or you can go connect with them on LinkedIn or just have to reach out.
[00:38:30] You have to do something unique with 10 new people every day to try to get on your radar screens. And I don't care how busy you are. If you do it the very first thing in the morning, I'm going to reach out to 10 new people today and just on LinkedIn or whatever. And hey, can I pick your brain about X, Y, Z, or, whatever your business is.
[00:38:53] It does wonders for your bottom line. Not, I'm not going to sugar coat it. It's not [00:39:00] easy. Yeah. But once you do it and you get it, make it a pattern, it becomes easier.
[00:39:06] Angela: Yeah. And I think that's a really hard pattern, especially as an online entrepreneur, you can feel isolated. And so that's a really good reminder that you still need to consistently be making those real life connections.
[00:39:20] Yeah. And that does really have a big outcome on your bottom line is it's really business is all about connections, honestly,
[00:39:29] Michelle: it's all about connections and it's about getting to know people, and not just seeing them as a revenue stream. Yeah, and think about it so let's just go back to Taylor Swift, we all feel like she loves us.
[00:39:42] Yeah. All right. You know us, but she has a level of authenticity, right? Honestly, we've had 80, 000 students at Cheetah. I love all of them because they've really made big leaps in their career. I'm proud of them. It's especially the ones who passed this test after four days, which is just [00:40:00] insane.
[00:40:01] Plus they put their trust in me. And I truly love them. I'm so proud of them. I meet them all over the place. It's so funny. I run into people at airports and stuff. Oh my God, my uncle took your class or, I know some of you took your class and that is so much fun. Yeah. First of all, to do that.
[00:40:18] And it's funny cause I've, I was in a restaurant and I used my cheetah card and she's Oh my God, I know who you are. I'm like. Really? But it's, if you have a lot of passion and enthusiasm, I think that's another thing is you really have to be passionate and enthusiastic. So, it's one of my, one of my taglines is I'm a registered yoga teacher, right?
[00:40:40] Which is interesting. Okay. But we do yoga as part of accelerated learning. So it's a very important part of keeping your brain healthy. And I was doing these yoga retreats and I don't do them anymore, but part of my yoga retreat was teaching how to do cooking and how to make healthy food for [00:41:00] yourself because it's bringing body connection in.
[00:41:02] And one of the people is yoga treats like you're so much more to this cooking than you are to the yoga. And I'm like. Yep. That's true. And that's, why I'm still spice mama and not like my yoga name. So you gotta stick with what you're passionate about. Yeah, I like yoga, but you look at me, I'm like, okay, she's going to teach me Winnie the Pooh yoga.
[00:41:27] I am sure
[00:41:27] Angela: there would be demand for that.
[00:41:30] Michelle: Yeah, there is a demand for that, but I am so much happier being Spice Mama and the Cheat Cheetah than my yoga name is Marjananda, which was given to me at yoga teacher training. It was a joke. But I'm much happier being spice mama and the chief cheetah and you have to live your brand.
[00:41:49] That's right. That's another thing is I am so authentically a cheetah and I'm very much spice mama. And I, you know what, that's [00:42:00] another thing is I've been the chief cheetah for 23 years, right? How does an entrepreneur do something for 23 years? Yeah. You have to get it. Go ahead.
[00:42:13] You guys,
[00:42:14] Angela: yeah, right? Yeah. No, I love that. I know we're already running short on time. I've loved this conversation. It's lifted me up. It's been, it's been a Monday. We're recording this on Monday and it's been a Monday for me already. But I don't want to lose the opportunity to one, give you a chance to share what you would like.
[00:42:39] Listeners to take away from this conversation.
[00:42:44] Michelle: This is a number one is to focus and finish. Okay. Nobody remembers the projects that you start. Remember the projects that you finish. And if you have a lot of unfinished projects, [00:43:00] they drain your life. She they drain your life force. Get rid of them, get rid of them.
[00:43:07] And I had this business called Bismarck mother of the internet and it didn't go anywhere. And I had a thousand videos from the Bismarck mother of the internet. And I had an organizer come over to my house. She was, what are these doing here? I said, I don't know. She goes. You're a reminder of a failure.
[00:43:23] Get rid of it. She was dead on and that's what happens when you don't finish your projects. It just reminds you like if you have a closet filled with craft projects that you might get to someday, go give it to Goodwill. Get it out of your closet. You're never going to finish them. And if you are, go start up again and, watch some new YouTubes and get into it then.
[00:43:47] But if it's sat around for six months and you haven't done anything with it, get rid of it, focus and finish, create. You're not going to create any value with your undone projects. [00:44:00] And they say the same thing with business ideas that didn't take off, get rid of them. It wasn't that you were a failure.
[00:44:07] Maybe it wasn't the right time or you didn't have the right team or the market wasn't ready or whatever. It's just, who cares? Move on next. I like what Scott Adams says, even though he's could be somewhat of a, I don't know, he's not popular right now, but he did do Dilbert and he said, I don't have a great love of being a cartoonist, but it pays the bills.
[00:44:28] So it's amazing how much more passionate you can become on business ideas that really work. Yeah. Okay. When I used to, would I have been so excited about the spice business if I hadn't have been big in the first two weeks of the business? It would have, it's Oh yeah, I make spice blends and teas and stuff, but no, it took off.
[00:44:49] And yes, I was very excited about it. And Cheetah, I the book and the course took off and oh, I'm, I'm all in on Cheetah because it pays the bills. It does great. It helps a [00:45:00] lot of people. Yeah. The more value you bring to others, typically the more the business will grow.
[00:45:05] So I think that's my biggest thing is focus and finish. Be willing to quit the things that aren't working, throw them away, move on. It doesn't, it's just not being an entrepreneur. All right. Everybody thinks I'm super successful. I am the queen of failure. For every one fantastic idea, there's a thousand that are just stupid that haven't worked and I've gotten rid of them and I don't even remember all of them.
[00:45:31] And it's every photographer. They have to take a thousand pictures before they get the best one. So it's not failure to say, Hey, this isn't working. I'm busting out of this one. Next. Let's go try something new. Give it a fair shot. Give it two weeks, give it a cheetah agile project. Try give it the good cheetah agile project.
[00:45:47] Try. And if it doesn't appear to be going anywhere in two weeks, then you've got to do something different. And especially if you don't have the passion to do it for two weeks. Yeah.
[00:45:57] Angela: If you don't have the passion to do it for two weeks. [00:46:00] Yeah.
[00:46:00] Michelle: Yeah. It needs to go. It needs to go into the circular file and just.
[00:46:04] Let it go. It's if you had to go to a party with all of your ex boyfriends.
[00:46:17] No,
[00:46:17] Angela: thanks.
[00:46:19] Michelle: Thank you. That's what these bad business ideas are. Just let them go. Oh,
[00:46:28] Angela: my goodness. I think this is like probably one of the most fun interviews I've ever had. So thank you for that. I love it. All right. I so look forward to sharing our conversation and I'm sure listeners are going to want to know where they can connect with you and learn more about Cheetah Agile projects and all that you have going on and
[00:46:50] Michelle: for Cheetah.
[00:46:50] You can go to cheetahlearning. com. That's where the whole world universe starts is cheetahlearning. com, but I also have cheetahagile. com. And I'm also, I've just created a landing page [00:47:00] for you with your podcast. So if you, I'll give you the link, if you want to put it in your podcast. And it has a little survey, like what's causing your project delay.
[00:47:08] So you can figure out where are you, your own worst enemy here. And it has a link to like, Hey, we can, you can even chat with me one on one with this little link and a little place to set up meetings with me and you can get my book. The book is actually free if you have Kindle unlimited. And and I have a little free quick start guide.
[00:47:26] That you can get on that page. There's lots of resources. To help you get your projects done cheetah fast and and see what's really worth keeping and what isn't worth keeping and, just keep at, keep having a good time. And, I always, my biggest goal every day is to have five belly laughs.
[00:47:43] Yeah. We accomplished that. To do something so fun and so outrageous that you just crack yourself up, no matter what it is, cause you are the one who decides what's funny to you. So if you can have five really good belly laps a day, then [00:48:00] you're successful. That's what I say. Wonderful.
[00:48:04] Angela: It's a, yeah, no, it definitely, it's great advice.
[00:48:08] It's been wonderful talking to you and thank you so much for being on the podcast.
[00:48:14] Michelle: Angela, thank you so much for doing this podcast because mompreneurs need positive, inspiring role models. Oh,
[00:48:22] Angela: I so much. I I definitely aspire to be that because I needed that role
[00:48:29] Michelle: model. I think you do a great job because I've been listening to some of your podcasts and you have some great people on the show and I'm definitely going to be listening to more of them because they inspire me.
[00:48:39] Oh,
[00:48:39] Angela: that's wonderful to hear. Thank you so much. All right. Take care.
[00:48:45] Michelle: Thank you.