Life as a digital nomad mum and business owner

Episode #20 – Interview with Chanel Morales

 

Chanel is an online business coach. Her inspirational real-life story is the story of a single mum who after being laid off from her full-time job decided to take charge of her life and start building the life she truly dreamed of: becoming a full-time world-traveler and successful online business owner who home-schools her young daughter while on the road. Now, she is helping other women achieve their dreams of independence and self-sufficiency, too.

 

How Chanel got started as an online entrepreneur

She had her daughter when she was 19 years old and knew that she still wanted to live her life and travel the world. She went to university and got her first full-time job when she was 25, which was a big shock to her. After having a different life and routine for so long, she hated the 9-to-5 life. She tried to find a way to work online but it took her a while to find the right thing. Because of her background in marketing, she started to look into social media management and became a freelancer. But she was still not happy in the UK and wanted to find a way to travel and spend the winter in a warmer country. She did a lot of research and even though she still hadn’t figured everything out yet, Chanel just took the leap and booked a flight.

While she was traveling, she realized that freelancing was very time consuming, so she started her own marketing agency which gave her a lot more freedom. The more she posted about her new life as a traveling mum, the more women asked her how she did it. That was the reason why Chanel decided to write it all down and it was the start of her coaching business.

 

The process of transitioning between freelancer and agency owner

She always did a lot of research and she liked the idea of having an agency. She enjoys the role of a leader rather than doing all the tasks herself. She got to the point of social media management when she realized that she needed to do more, but she didn’t want to learn all the technical details herself, so she got help in the areas that she needed it.  

 

What was it like to team up with someone else?

So many people worry about handing over tasks to someone else because they might not be done as well as if they did it themselves. It is a learning experience but Chanel tends to be a trusting person. With some people that worked out well for her but she also worked with people who made mistakes and needed someone else to fix them. But she believes that outsourcing is the way to grow your business and it can become addictive once you realize how much it can help you. It can be a huge relief not having to do the things you don’t enjoy and being able to focus on the tasks you are actually good at.

 

How do you find the right person to help you?

Chanel likes to use Facebook groups to find people. She posted what she needed in those groups and had a Zoom call with some of the people. The most important factor for her is that she connects with the person and they are easy to work with. It’s also good to look at past work and their experience. But it’s also important to find the right tasks to outsource. Those should be things you don’t enjoy doing yourself or things you are not good at. That can help you a lot to enjoy your business and get better results. If you know your strengths you can focus on them.

 

How she transformed her business into a coaching business

Chanel didn’t plan at all to become a coach. The coaching started because of the huge demand for help from a lot of women. Chanel knew a few different online business models and was confident in coaching others to build those types of businesses. Most of her clients didn’t know what business they wanted to start, so being able to find the right type of business was a huge help to them. It depends a lot on people’s personalities and what they feel comfortable with. So it’s important to guide them in the right direction and help them to enjoy it in the end.

Chanel also realized that she was much happier in her role as a coach, so she decided to only promote her coaching business and not her agency anymore. Now, she enjoys being able to help people start their own online businesses from scratch and change their lives.

 

Any issues when she started

She knew nothing about the money mindset when she started. She thought that she would be more successful offering cheaper services and targeting small business owners, but she learned that she needed to adapt her strategy in order to build a successful business. Small businesses couldn’t afford her services because they didn’t have the budget. It’s much easier to sell expensive services to people who have money, which is also what Chanel teaches her clients. She also didn’t know how much time the work would take her and that she should be paid more for her work.

Another issue that she sees her clients struggling with in the beginning is the lack of confidence. It’s common that they don’t believe in themselves or they are really shy and not sure how to get started.

 

How to find the time to travel, work and care for your child?

Outsourcing work is probably the most important step you can take in your business, so you don’t have to work all the time. Chanel only works on certain days and blocks other days off to spend time with her daughter. It was also easier for her because her daughter was already 8 years old when they started traveling. She also set up online schooling for her daughter, so she can do that on her own without needing Chanel’s help.

Chanel also keeps a strict calendar and only opens up certain days for calls. I do that myself and can highly recommend it in order to be more productive during the other days. It’s important to set boundaries for yourself and your clients to not get caught up in work all the time.

 

Tips on setting boundaries

She recommends setting up your calendar in a certain way and only open up specific times to your clients. It’s also important to work on your mindset and move away from the 9-to-5 behavior. Chanel always tells her clients that they need to decide how much they want to work and how much money they want to make, and then build a business that supports that. If you sell a cheap product you will likely have to work all day every day to make enough money. It’s important to be strict with what you want and find the right business model for you. Especially as an entrepreneur, it can be beneficial to work less and keep your energy to be creative and grow your business.

 

About Chanel’s program

She has a free 5-day challenge coming up in August which is called “Discover Your Perfect Online Business”. It takes place in her Facebook group (link below) and helps people to find their passions and work out how much money they need and how much time they want to spend. This will help you discover which online business is the right one for you. For anyone who decides to launch their online business, you can then do that with the help of Chanel’s 12-week program afterward, if you decide that you like her and her work.

3 final questions

Favorite book or podcast:

–    She recommends “Get Rich, Lucky Bitch!” and “Chillpreneur” by Denise Duffield-Thomas.

Quote Chanel is living by or feels inspired by:

–     She has a few quotes that she likes but the main saying she follows is “Live your life the way you want to live it and don’t worry about what anyone else says.” We can be influenced a lot by our family and friends and get discouraged, but if you really want to do something you just have to go for it.

Magic wand with a gift to people:

–    She would like to change the way that mums are able to work and the lack of flexibility they have. The reason that mums don’t go back to work full-time after having children is that it’s not convenient for them and the workplaces often don’t offer any help. She is hoping for a change and that workplaces provide more support and flexibility for parents. She also wants to raise awareness that it’s not necessary to follow along with those requirements and that it’s possible to build your own freedom.

 

Links

Link to Chanel’s website:
www.digitalnomadmums.com

Links to Chanel’s social media:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/digitalnomadmums/
http://www.instagram.com/mumbiztravel
https://www.facebook.com/mumbiztravel/

 

Freebies

If you are ready to rock your life and business get your complimentary coaching call with Lisa! Schedule your free coaching call now.
https://go.lisa-evoluer.com/call

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