Michelle shares how a car accident that left her with crushed legs became a turning point. After running an unfulfilling business, she used her recovery to rebuild her life and eventually hit seven figures by focusing on what actually mattered to her.
Your own personal experience. You had alluded to something earlier in the conversation about how you had your own turning point. And, you know, I think we've all been there where we're just stuck in negative thinking and doubt and worry. And even I know for myself, you know, you and I, in our work together, I counted that for myself pretty significantly. And even though I feel like I really have these concepts down, I understand the principle of my vibration and how that's the echo. And as long as I'm shouting that out, that's what I'm getting back. And yet I had a real difficult time shifting. And I imagine you had your own experience where you got kind of stuck in places. And I'm curious, what's your method for getting yourself out? Because for a lot of people, they're trying to get themselves out, they don't all have the advantage of a partner like you.
Right.
So how do you get yourself unstuck from places like that, assuming you've ever had.
I mean, do you want me to tell you that story?
Sure, yeah.
Well, let's see. In my 20s, I started an advertising PR agency called the Barali Group. And it was very successful and it just kind of grew by leaps and bounds. And, you know, we had a lot of national accounts and it was a career that I was very good at. But what I realized over time was it just was not my passion. So that was a real challenge for me. It's like, well, you know, it's so successful and everybody's telling me, wow, you're such a success at a young age. And inside I'm going, I'm miserable, you know, And I was at the same time in a marriage that I was very unhappy. And so the more unhappy that I was at home in my relationship, the more that I would drive myself into this unhappy business that I had. And at the same time, my daughter was very young. She was about three years old. And so I was kind of running myself into the ground. And I was working night and day, sometimes up until three in the morning, doing ad campaigns, then getting up early with my daughter, getting her to daycare. And it was just this, you know, this hamster wheel that I was on that I thought I just didn't know how I was ever going to get off of it. In fact, I was so out of it, which I call kind of an out of body experience, that it was really automatic. I didn't even know what I was doing anymore. And one particular day, stressful day, I was running from the ad agency to Pick up my daughter from daycare. I was like going to be the last mom there.
Racked with guilt and a lousy mom.
Yeah, lousy mom. Oh, it went from bad to worse. And I pulled up in the driveway of the daycare. I jumped out of the car and the car started rolling backwards and so I jumped in to stop the car and the door from the car is very heavy and it came back and pulled me underneath the car and ran me out into the street.
Oh my goodness.
So I had a 400 pound car rolled over my legs and pulled me out into the middle of the street. And luckily there was an incline in the street and so right as it came up to my face, it stopped and started rolling back. And so I'm lying underneath this car wondering if I'm ever even going to walk again. At that point I'm somewhat in shock and I jump out from underneath the car and went running into the daycare screaming. And she rushed me to the hospital. Luckily I had only broken my collarbone. It was really a miracle. Absolutely. I did have tire tracks on my legs for about a year.
Really.
I did.
Kind of a whole new kind of tattoo. Yeah, most people don't go for that legend.
Exactly. And it was a big reminder. I'd look at my legs going, you know, something's not going right here in my life, you know. So as I'm back at my desk, recovered a little longer, I sat there and I had struggled for so long, what do I do? What if I can't find another business? What if I leave this relationship and I'm alone forever? All of those things. But all of a sudden this voice came to me and it said, what if you're going to be at the same place in, in your life 10 years from now? What if you don't make any changes and you are at the same place in your life 10 years from now? How will you feel? And I'm telling you, Michelle, that just lit a fire under my feet because I knew that was intolerable. Yeah, because I just deep inside I really was this passionate, joyful person and I had just gotten off track. And so I faced my fear. I was terrified to leave it all and I did and went on my own path of searching and self development. That's where I discovered homeopathy, which was phenomenal for me. But I went from having a lot of money to absolutely having no money whatsoever and began then raising my daughter as a single mom. And even to the point where I one day I had no money. I think I had. I was pouring out money from all of my purses to find enough coins to go get a cup of coffee. And one day, that day I was doing that. I think the coffee was like, I don't remember the exact amount, like $1.67 or something like that. And I poured out the exact amount that I needed, and I just cried because it was this realization to me that all I ever needed, it was a reminder, was always going to be there for me. Goosebumps. Yeah, I have goosebumps all over.
