How I Grew My Business To 5-Figures/Month
This is a follow up story for Elva Li Luxury Branding. If you're interested in reading how they got started, published about 5 years ago, check it out here.
Hello again! Remind us who you are and what business you started.
I am a Brand Creative Director, Coach, and Speaker. From growing up as a "good girl” in Shanghai to moving to Melbourne and “making it" in the corporate world, I left the 9-5 and founded Elva Li Branding and Lifestyle Studio, co-founded Impact the Future Giving Circle, and continues creating and evolving into my next level. I have been featured on LadyBoss Asia, This Women Can, and have been seen on ABC, CBS, Fox, and more.
With a 10 year background in business advisory and a qualified personal stylist, coach, and, NLP practitioner, I have combined my creative flair with my business savviness to help visionary female coaches and founders elevate their brand and step into their next level through my unique FemmeBrand system. I integrate holistic brand strategy, creative direction, and mindset work to translate the soul of a person onto the screen — so that they can elegantly increase their perceived value, expand their influence, and create more impact. My branding and lifestyle studio has been evolving and up-leveling and having 5 figure months this year.
Tell us about what you’ve been up to! Has the business been growing?
As mentioned in my first interview, after leaving my hometown Shanghai, and moving to Australia by myself, I eventually quit the 9-5, growing my Elva Li branding and lifestyle studio piece by piece, with heart and soul. I wasn’t done there: I continued growing the business to 5 figure months; I wanted to give back and co-founded the Impact the Future Giving Circle charity fund, and I am in the process of launching a social enterprise.
True success and abundance is never an accident: it always leaves clues. And those clues are already contained within you.
Over the years, I have been continuing peeling back the layers of conditioning, the idea that I was to be a pleasant, proper, professional, to look a certain way, act a certain way, and do my business in a certain way.
Everything looks “perfect” from the outside, but I was feeling like a fraud on the inside. The essence of my soul was locked up tight under layers and layers of who I thought I “should” be.
I have evolved. Now I only create and give in the ways that are truly aligned for me. I do the work, charge the rates, and receive in the ways that feel true for me. Now my signature Femme Brand Experience is $20,000 and I work with my soul sister clients who are soul-hearted and have amazing high frequency.
And, I am still evolving – as we always do. There's beauty in becoming. Life is lovingly guiding you towards all of the areas that need to be released, removed, and healed... for you to step into your highest vision and mission. Some of these lessons will come up again; and I believe that they do when we need to deepen our relationship ourselves and to embody the “next level” – a philosophy that now guides my whole business.
There are still times I feel my business and brand no longer align with who I’ve become; like I know I am meant for more but have no idea what “more” looks like. But now I know how to bring myself back to alignment and constantly step into my “next level”. Now I know that the only way to receive what I desire is to be who I truly am.
If you are on this journey of evolving and stepping into your next level, I see you. I am on this journey with you.
What have been your biggest lessons learned in the last year?
My biggest learning in the last year is to do my business in an aligned feminine way, to use a holistic framework, and infuse feminine ritual to my soul-centered business. I have been working with my business mentor on a mental, material, emotional and spiritual level, allowing me to find alignment between myself and my business and tap into my natural state of flow: where I found the opportunities, material successes, and a deeper sense of fulfillment. I have learned how to balance the masculine (“go” or ”Yang”) and the feminine (“flow” or ”Yin”) essence in my business. I now allow more “flow” into my business and let go of a business model that is based on extreme effort, people-pleasing, and burnout. I set my boundaries and choose what I am available for and what I am not available for.
One of my favorite rituals I use is my “Goddess Hour” every morning. I learned it from my business mentor Victoria Fox and now I do it every day. I start my mornings for 1 hour to myself each day, just for me. It is a time to feel my vision coming to life, to move, create, go inwards, and connect with the magic of my body. This hour sets the energy for my entire day and is a devotional practice. I do whatever creative and feminine practices I like in this time: art, meditation, yoga, dance, writing, walking, time in nature. It’s not a time for consuming content from the outside world such as the internet, social media messages, or books — it's a time to express what is in me. I dance to at least one song every morning to allow my body to move me. Embodiment (being in our body and particularly our womb space) is an important part of feminine-led living.
What’s in the plans for the upcoming year, and the next 5 years?
Besides continuing to add more value to my 1:1 high-end Femme Brand Experience, next year I will launch my group program to serve more of my soul sister clients and create a high-frequency circle to support them. I am excited about sharing my gifts with the world by helping my soul sister clients not only create but to live their brand with soulful femme alignment, shine bright as who they really are, and create real impact, income, and freedom! The world is a better place because you are in it!
As I consistently step into my next level, I invite my soul sisters along the way. To transform my own life and their lives at the same time and receive love, abundance, joy along the way. Next is the creation of my fashion and lifestyle brand, watch this space!
Have you read any good books in the last year?
The Wild Woman’s Way by Micaela Boehm: great book to learn to switch effortlessly between the masculine “go-mode” and the feminine “flow-mode”.
PurposeFULL: 10 Steps to Overcoming Fear & Living Your Dream Life by Melissa Ambrosini: a manual book to help you infuse meaning and purpose into everything you do and rediscover your joy
Advice for other entrepreneurs who might be struggling to grow their business?
When I come back to my alignment, I find my power. If there’s one thing that I’d like to share with other female entrepreneurs who might be struggling to grow their business, it’s that you have in you the power to create something incredible. There’s nothing wrong with you, and all of the investment you make in yourself is not wasted. You just need to step into that alignment and figure out your next level brand, one that is true to you, feeds your desires, and allows you to make the changes you want to see in the world.
The Universe is never "testing" you. If you are feeling out of alignment right now, it’s the Universe showing you the "vibrational gap" between where you are now and where you want to be. It's showing you the contrast, for a reason. Because the contrast contains all of the clues to bringing your vision to life. Life is lovingly guiding you towards all of the areas that need to be released, removed, and healed, for you to step into your highest vision and mission. True success and abundance is never an accident: it always leaves clues. And those clues are already contained within you.
Finally, I would love to leave you with these three questions:
- How can you honor your true desires and show up as who you are so that you can inspire your audience to be who they are?
- How can you channel your best self through everything you do so EVERYONE you meet can feel your passion and your inspiration?
- How can you live your brand and model your work in the world so that your audience can see the possibilities for themselves when they say yes to working with the one and only YOU?
The way and the only way to receive what you desire is to be aligned with who you truly are!
Are you looking to hire for certain positions right now?
I am looking for talented brand designers to join my team to assist with the design and production of branding, website, and social media projects.
Where can we go to learn more?
If you are a female coach or founder and want to step into your next level brand that gives you clarity, confidence, and alignment, I am inviting you to take the Femme Brand Quiz to find out your Femme Brand Essence first.
If you have any questions or comments, drop a comment below!
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Download the report and join our email newsletter packed with business ideas and money-making opportunities, backed by real-life case studies.
Download the report and join our email newsletter packed with business ideas and money-making opportunities, backed by real-life case studies.
Download the report and join our email newsletter packed with business ideas and money-making opportunities, backed by real-life case studies.
Download the report and join our email newsletter packed with business ideas and money-making opportunities, backed by real-life case studies.
Download the report and join our email newsletter packed with business ideas and money-making opportunities, backed by real-life case studies.
Download the report and join our email newsletter packed with business ideas and money-making opportunities, backed by real-life case studies.
