“There are two kinds of people: Those who think, “I don’t want anyone to suffer as I did.” and those who think, “I suffered, so why shouldn’t they?”
Randy Cassingham
I am the former.
Hi, I’m Michelle Wolff, and I help overwhelmed people stop procrastinating and start getting tasks done so they can share their creations and offerings with the world.
When I stopped being a therapist and social worker I switched to doing coaching and teaching online. To say I had no idea what I was doing is an understatement. There were many things to know (and some I didn’t even know I needed to know!)
I didn’t know that I would have to motivate myself and break projects down into very small steps in order to accomplish them. I didn’t know how to form online relationships through social media. And I sure didn’t know anything about marketing.
The biggest things I didn’t know?
I was completely blind to the fact that building a business would require so much personal development! I had to do my shadow work, face my fears of being seen as the whole enchilada me, sit with shame storms when I launched something that didn’t fly, fears of being criticized and/or rejected, and even harder – training my nervous system to tolerate this whole coaching-teaching-entrepreneur pathway.
Looking back I can’t even believe how many things I tried along the way to success.
To be honest, I judged myself harshly for all the money and time that I thought I’d wasted while I was learning all that I didn’t know.
Books, courses, coaches, more donut binges, more books, more courses, more coaches, more empty pizza boxes.
Seriously I think I could have bought my own private island for what I spent. I was getting good information from truly good people but I just couldn’t seem to pull it all together and implement it with any consistency.
I knew what I did helped people but even though I was working so damn hard it felt like I was invisible or just shouting into the wind because referrals weren’t becoming clients and my business wasn’t growing.
I cried. A lot.
The problem wasn’t a lack of knowledge or skills or work ethic or some weird character flaw I couldn’t ferret out.
It was an energetic misalignment, which I know sounds ridiculously woo but just roll with it.
I wasn’t listening to my body (which was feeling nauseous every time I posted). I kept getting headaches and feeling symptoms of burnout like irritation and exhaustion but I still thought I should work harder. Also, at this point, I didn’t know that there was any other way to run a business.
I took business marketing courses and followed instructions to the letter. I read, practiced, wrote, and cried but still, sales decreased. Why?! WHY?! Whywhywhywhywhy?!
Everything changed in 2018 when I discovered Human Design and recognized I wasn’t as embodied physically as I’d thought. When we’re embodied we feel emotional responses in our bodies but we don’t run from them or try to numb out. We allow ourselves to be aware of the electric sensation of a tight throat, pinch in the stomach, or fidgetiness or sleepiness, for example and learn to look for the underlying cause of those reactions.
I noticed that when I was happy and things were going well, my body became agitated by the unusual sensations and I would shut them down with, “yeah, but…” thoughts, addictive behaviors of overeating, or procrastination/confusion. That’s right — I wasn’t used to happiness or things going right! So I subconsciously fought against them.
When I took the training to become a Certified Human Design Specialist I realized that although it’s not presented this way, HD is an incredible tool for developing deeper embodiment through mindful awareness of thoughts-feelings-behaviors.
I began training my nervous system to handle receiving more attention and therefore more income and happiness.
Every day, life was getting even better.
But… I realized all the business classes I’d taken, and the traditional marketing methods I’d been using, were actually making me disappear from people’s radar. I was working so hard, trying to do everything “right”, but drowning in debt and misery.
My daily mantra was fast becoming, “WTF?!”
When I found Human Design, literally weeks before I was about to close the whole shitshow down, I saw that I was marketing my business in ways that were in direct opposition to my Human Design Type, Strategy, and Authority!
For the record, I am a Projector which means I’m here to guide others.
I need to employ my Strategy which is to have as much fun as I can while I wait for the invitation. The invitation comes in many ways but often it’s from other people in the form of a question, requesting more information, or asking to book a call.
And most importantly before making decisions I need to use my Authority (Mental) to talk through options with a trusted sounding board (often one of my cats) until I feel an inner “click” or knowing of what to do next.
See the problems? The best method for me to generate a thriving business runs completely counter to the prevailing ‘wisdom’ of most business coaches, books, and programs. They tell you, especially those “bro marketers, to “ask for the sale” (ie. push for the sale), they tell you to hustle (rather than have fun), they tell you to do what they did rather than trust your inner knowing. They tell you to ignore and push through that tension in your gut telling you this path is all wrong!
Our bodies are designed to decide the next steps on the best course of action NOT our minds. When we get this and honor it life starts to flow so smoothly it feels like pure magic!
Being a born skeptic I grabbed all the information I could on HD and started applying it. In 2019 my income went up. In 2020 my income was 5X higher than 2019! I was still producing scads of content but now people began seeing me, offering me contract work, and coming to me for coaching and Forest Reiki™ services. Wondering what Forest Reiki is? Learn more here.
No more crying jags.
No more confusion.
No more superficial Law of Attraction
And no more feeling like a loser because the “Law” wasn’t working for me
My work became fun and easy, and every single day that becomes more true. I create what feels good to me and put it out in the world. I’ve stopped worrying about how, or even if, it will be what our culture calls successful. It feels very good to accomplish all my life goals this way!
Bottom line: I’ve proven to myself, and my clients are proving to themselves, that implementing Human Design and training our nervous systems to tolerate new levels of happiness and success is paramount. Once we do, everything changes.
The more we allow ourselves to have guilt-free fun creating and communicating our multiple passions the more money we make and the greater love we experience as we make our dreams come true.
My motto now is Less Hustle More Human Design (also the name of my signature business course)
What can Human Design help you with in your life and business? Start with an in-depth Human Design Foundations session to find out.
And if you just want to dip a toe in, for now, that’s fine! You might love Practical Human Design, or my podcast: Sovereign Storytellers.
About Michelle Wolff
The non-businessy me spends a lot of time with cats and trees and my wild twin granddaughters (oh and their parents, too!). When I don’t have my nose in other people’s businesses, I’ve got it in a sci-fi, philosophy, or other random non-fiction book or movie/TV series. Lockdown viewings include Hamilton, The Expanse, Lord of the Rings, Schitt’s Creek, and all the Star Trek series – among other nerdy things.
Weird things about me –
- I dropped out of high school but now have a Master’s degree
- I cuss a lot
- Can’t buy the first product on the shelf
- Can’t sleep if the sheets are crooked
- I absolutely detest raspberries!
- If I could live anywhere, I would have an address in Paris and be living on a diet of baguettes avec beurre (it’s so much more than bread and butter — you’ve got to try it)
I’m 100% a multi-passionate person so I’ll stop here because really I could write pages about what I love doing!
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