This Engineer Quit Her 13-Year Career & Built a $20K Coaching Business | Ep. 2 Client Success Story

I was actually being betrayed because I have no following. I was invisible. I cannot make it in the business. Because of this program, I now can dream bigger and step into that person who chase after the dream.

Tell me a little bit more about like who you were before we met.

Before that, I was an engineer, full-time engineer for 13 years. I've always been that person who is a very high achiever. My parents expect me to do the best, straight A's, all of that, being very academic, and I was expected to get into a professional job after I graduate. And that's exactly what I did. Before even I graduate, I get a job, right? And that is, that's the job that I stick with for 13 years. And along that line, I have become unhealthy. And that is where I started learning about getting healthy, lifting weights, eating well. And I invested myself in all of the health and fitness education for myself. And so I got started on my business. It was a partnership that was during COVID when things shut down. and people needed help with staying active and getting healthy. So I started business with a friend as a part-time. As things progressed, I noticed that things weren't right. The value didn't align, and I find that I was actually being betrayed. I was lost, I was angry, and I walked out of the business. Despite all I did for the business, I was told that because I was an introvert, because I'm shy, because I have no following, I was invisible, I cannot make it in the business. It's not for me. That came from a friend who I thought I can trust. So I walked out. I walked out feeling like something is very wrong with me. So then I walked out with a couple of clients still in my hand, right? And I needed to still serve them. So I started a brand new business in my own name. I started from scratch with nothing at all. My social media was basically like crap, zero, nothing. I do not know how to post, I do not know how to do content, I do not know how to get things out. I have a couple of clients that was still with me that carried forward while still working a full-time job. Cool, right?

What was the dream that you had?

I want to change people's lives, to help people to get out of their own— out of being stuck and overwhelmed of trying to get healthy. It's for people who are, you know, stuck in body shaming, you know, the image issues, all of that, right? To get out of that, to finally take control of their lives and prioritizing themselves through getting healthy. You know, and because I believe that health is the foundation of life. If you're not healthy, you can only have one dream, like Tony Robbins said, right? Yeah. So yeah, a lot of people are stuck because of a lot of things that hold them back, right? One of it could be being body shamed into that, and they have tried a lot of things and nothing work, and they do not know the way. And I want to help them get out of that.

Yeah, I get that. And you focus on the little changes that they can make in order to make that, you know, the huge shift in their health, right? Health is the foundation of everything. Without health, there's no wealth, right? You can't even have the energy to pursue wealth even if you want to. So what you're doing is really, really of paramount importance to especially entrepreneurs. Like me, and I believe to everyone as well, okay? If they want to be able to have a really good life, right, and if they want to pursue excellence and you want to be able to, you know, be top of top form, right, a really high performer, right, then health is something that you definitely have to— health and fitness, which is what you specialize in. One or two results that your clients have achieved, right, that you are tremendously proud of?

So one of my clients came to me overweight and she has hormonal issues as well, PCOS. Her period didn't come for 2 years. And the thing is that doctors told her is that she doesn't even need to worry about it as long as you don't want to have kids, it doesn't matter. But she knew that this is something wrong. So I educated her about that. And the thing that we need, we work on is losing the weight first because to facilitate the period regularity, we need to lose the weight. Right. So we are working on that and she has been able to lose the weight and getting stronger by the days. She has been keeping off the weight and progressing. And she lost 8 kilos so far.

Wow, that's amazing.

8 kilos is a lot for someone who has never lost weight before and keep putting on weight. And she can fit into her clothes again and she's so confident right now. She's getting healthier and stronger. Nice. She has autoimmune disease. She has a fear of food as well. She has history of bulimia and she does not eat, right? And also that means she does not eat enough for herself. She wanted to get healthy, to build muscle and lose the weight. And she is in a condition where her legs are so swollen that she cannot wear shoes and she can barely walk as well. And she is in a lot of pain. Doctors told her that the only options for her to lose the water weight is by hooking up with machines and pump the water away. She came to me for help and within 3 months she went back to the doctors. She got undiagnosed with autoimmune disease. Wow. After 3 months, she no longer has the autoimmune disease, down to 3 medicines. And now today she's only down to 1.

And that's amazing.

That's huge win.

I'm curious, how does that— how does she feel and how do you feel?

She feels— she's amazing, right? And I feel so happy to be able to witness this kind of transformation, right? And I believe that a lot of diseases, a lot of things, health issues is because of our lifestyle, what we put in our body, and also how we think.

I'm curious, right, how do you actually feel before you started, before you joined Earnest? What were some of the struggles that you had or some of the fears that you faced before doing all of this?

I wasn't convinced that I have enough to help people to get their results, right? And a lot of fears around that. Yeah.

Do you think that was your biggest challenge before you got to know me and join our programs? What do you think was your biggest struggle?

I was told that I'm not meant to do this. I would just fail. Not meant for business. Yeah. Something along the line. Also, you're a woman. You should just know your place and stay at home, serve your husband.

No way! Is that still happening like in our times?

You're surprised, man.

I mean, you're young, right? I'm surprised that someone around you actually said that. Or maybe because it's like still in the culture to—

Yeah, it is.

To do that.

It is. Yeah. Yeah. What I was really looking for is somebody who has been through the journey and who has similar experience, who has similar struggles. And you showed me that you were broke before and you went through the path, and I knew that if you can do it, I can do it. So I have two choices: either I keep doing what I do and stay stuck, or do something different, because I know that doing the same thing over and over again just try to figure things out. I might eventually get there, but I will take longer time. I will struggle and I will give up. Or just follow somebody who has done it. It's either I do this or I just give up. It's either I give up and stay in my full-time business or just go all in and see where this leads. And I'm really curious where I can take my business.

Let's just talk about your inside the program, right? So what are like the breakthrough moments that you have, um, inside The Elite or the Plus?

The Elite program really helped me with my Facebook profile, which was really non-existent. Get started with posting content that matters. And this is exactly what I do because I know that I have nothing, but I need to get started and getting over the fear and procrastination of posting regularly because I don't even have that rhythm of posting content before. And not knowing how to do my contents. So in the Elite, it's a lot about building that trust, building that authority, writing the content, and getting over myself, you know, whether the content is good enough. Just post, nobody is gonna remember. Just do, and as I do it, I get noticed, and I got invited to podcast twice because of the Elite, and then I Then again, I get more confidence and I started getting pro bonos and I started working on that. This is, this is, uh, then I, I know that the next step is joining PLETS to get more momentum to doing more and achieve more.

Was there like a conversation or a moment where, you know, inside the, the PLETS where it changed it for you?

KATS is a different environment. I see people stepping up despite their circumstances. You know, like Christian is sick and he's still showing up in his challenge. There's a standard there. There's a standard there. So as I watch my peers doing the work, I know I have to keep to my standard as well. That got me going, getting over myself and running my challenges. Doing my challenges. If I don't do anything, Meaning I have you to hold me accountable, right?

I don't want to explain to you why I don't do my work.

Yeah, you told me that not everybody can get into PLEX and they have to be chosen. And I believe that you see something even though I don't see it. So I just have to believe that and keep doing the work.

Yeah. What are some of the things that you felt you learned in the Platinum program that allowed you to show up the way you're showing up now?

Proximity is number one, right? Every single week I show up to the call, and the sales call with Mike as well helps a lot in how we handle objections and how we listen and how we hold the conversations. And you sharing with us your insights, how we run our challenge and how do we even show up in our challenge, things that you told us to do, like holding the room, demand, demand response. All of that, right? And the accountability groups that we have, like, really, we're just challenging each other to step up. Like, we are not letting anyone slack.

So since then, how— what has been like the result that you got from your business?

I've crossed 20K so far. Wow.

So how does it feel to be able to have— I know you've got international clients. Yeah, and they charge in USD. How does it feel to have to step out of Malaysia market and to be able to have like international clients? Have you ever thought that it's possible?

Right, like if you tell me, uh, if even last year, then I'll tell you crazy. I can barely get local clients, and if I can get it, those are the entitled ones not willing to pay, you know, and I really doubt doubt the pricing that I have in the past. But even in Malaysia, it was really small. And when I think back, right, it's so embarrassing.

But for anyone who might be watching this, right, they might be wondering, so Thean, how much do you charge for your coaching now? What's your current offer?

Uh, $3.5K USD for 3 months.

Amazing. And you're not just charging them based on sessions, right? You're charging them based on like a transformation or a result that you want to get them to.

Yes.

And that's why you can charge this amount, right?

Yes. Yeah. So good.

So what's the win that you're most proud of, whether it's a small win or the big win?

To be able to get out of the mindset of this is not for me. Get out of the mindset that I'm Malaysian, my English sounds like Malaysian. This is one of the things that I was really struggle with. And because of that, I don't dare to speak, you know, I get through that, force myself to speak, posting the contents and then running the challenges, even though I don't feel ready yet. So I got through that, the perfectionism, knowing that I don't feel ready, I do it anyways, put out the deadlines to force me to do it. And I keep doing it and tweaking.

You're a rock star. I don't know what else to say about you, but oh man, you have been showing up like badass that you are. So yeah, so let's say if you can describe your transformation in one sentence, what do you think would be that one sentence?

I think my transformation has been life-changing.

In what way?

In ways that I don't play small anymore, in ways that I take up space, I speak up. And I become more of myself. Like, yeah, what would you—

what would you say to someone who's still hesitating about whether or not they can do this?

You can keep hesitating, you can keep doubting, you can, you can, you can stay stuck, or you can, you can do something different. Because insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. It's not about working harder, it's not about grinding more. It's about doing success with people who have been through the path and know how to show the way.

If I were to ask you to complete this sentence, right? During this journey, I am now able to—

because of this program, I now can take actions despite being uncomfortable. I now can dream bigger and step into that that person who chase after the dream rather than just, you know, daydreaming and become the person who do whatever it takes. People who dare to dig deep, to throw away all of the things that don't serve, that don't serve me anymore, you know, really extract the lessons really, because in this program is a lot about extracting the lesson from the things that are happening to us is, you know, really finding the reasons and the reasons that drives us in our business to keep taking actions.

This has been amazing talking to you and to be able to just hear from you, your stories, what you went through before and how you are now, the transformation and the person that you are, the amazing person person that you are right now and stepping into leadership, stepping into that visionary role that you are doing right now. I think, uh, you're going to be able to impact a lot of people from now on and even more, even more. I mean, you're already doing that, right? But this path is going to expand and it's gonna, um, put you on the trajectory to really be able to impact a lot more people. And I'm stoked I'm really, really excited to see what your journey ahead is. I think it's, it's very, very—

it's going to be very fascinating to watch, and it's going to be very exciting as well.

So appreciate you. Thanks a lot.