The Courage to Build a Purpose Driven 7-Figure Business With Erica Carrico

Welcome to Find you'd Clarity. I'm your coach and your show host, Megan Johnston. For over a decade I've helped women move from burnout, pressure and overthinking to clarity, confidence and ease. If you've been stuck in a cycle of self doubt or fear, this is your space to come back to you. Each episode will blend real life coaching, grounded tools and intuitive insight to help you trust yourself more, lead with your energy and take your next aligned step now. Now let's find your clarity and the life that's been waiting for you on the other side. Hello friend. I'm so glad you're here. Today we have a conversation with one of my dear friends, Erica Carico. She's one of my longest time friends in the coaching field and I'm so thrilled to bring this conversation with her. If you're someone who is either looking for how to express your purpose through the lens of a business or the work that you do, or you're someone who is already running a six seven figure business and maybe you're facing some life circumstances or you're just feeling at capacity or burnt out, you're going to love this conversation. You know, Erica and I talk everything from her personal journey and how it led her to where she is today to then the evolution in that through navigating divorce and being a mom of two while running a really successful business and what that looked like. Erica is a manifesting generator in human design and I think you'll hear so many little elements of that energy type throughout this conversation as well. You know she talks about early in her journey just like doing this and that and just picking up little things here and there and just following the threads and that's so much of the manifesting generator energy. And I think even all the way through building her, you know, seven figure business now you can still feel that energy coming through of the quick pivots, the hard turns, hard not being hard, contrast easy but hard like skirt we're turning and that is so much of the manifesting generator energy. I think there's so many lessons throughout this conversation that are just little permission slips to allow us to pivot or change course as as needed. We also chat through Erica's very surprising non negotiable in her life and the thing that really supported what she has built today and continues to build. As always I and we would love to hear from you after the conversation. So give us a little note on Instagram or tag us in listening to this episode to spread the love and share the message with everyone that they are so worthy of doing work that feels like it lights up your soul. That feels like it's the work you came on this earth to do. Which is what Erika is all about and what her newest book is about as well, which we get into at the end of the episode. So make sure to stay tuned for that. I'll see you on the other side, friend. Okay. Hello, my beautiful friend. Erica, I'm so thrilled you're here.

I am so glad to be here. I cannot wait to have this conversation.

With you that might turn into a two parter. We were already talking before we recorded, like, who knows what'll come up in this.

Yeah, I think we might need two episodes.

Yeah. It has been just such a personal joy to get to know you and to see your journey, like, over the last. Gosh, how many years? I should have counted that before.

Well, I was thinking that because 2016 was when we went through beautiful you. So, like nine years.

Yeah. That's wild. Okay. What is life and like, everything that you've moved through in the last nine years. Yeah. I mean, such is life, right? But take us all before for 2016.

Yeah. Well, I think I was always one of those people that I did not want to have a traditional life. And I know you're that person too. I just. Yeah, I wanted to, like, love everything about my life. And I was, you know, I just, I wanted to travel and I wanted to explore and I never saw myself having a real job. But then it's like, well, what am I going to do with my life? You know, I. I don't know. I worked a lot of different jobs after college and I traveled quite a lot and I never really settled down until I think I was like 27. And finally everybody, you know, the societal expectations started kicking in of like, okay, Erica, you're getting older now. You know, when are you going to settle down? And my friends were climbing the corporate ladder and they were getting married and having babies. And here I am, like, working a ski season and then going over to Europe and then moving to Australia and, you know, whatever. So I did. I. I always was playing this tug of war with my heart and my brain of like, you should be settling down and being responsible and getting the job and having the benefits and all the things. But, like, I don't want to. I don't want my life to be like that. I feel like a life like that would kill me, you know? So I sort of compromised and I ended up moving down to Australia. But I did Take a corporate job. And that was in corporate recruitment. So I kind of figured, you know, if I can't help, if I can't figure out what I want to do with my life, I'm going to help other people figure out what they want to do with their lives. So it worked until it didn't. And you know, like, I just was, I guess, similar to so many people in corporate. Completely burned out, you know, working 10 hour days. I was depressed, I was totally anxious and I just was like, what is the point of my life right now? I'm earning millions of dollars for this company that has millions of dollars and my life has no point. Like, I'm not making a difference anywhere. You know, I'm just a number, a suit in the city. And I had a really hard time. And that was actually when someone suggested to see a life coach. And that was the first time I ever worked with a life coach. And this was back in 2009.

Wow.

Yeah. And I fell in love with. I fell in love with her process. I was like, oh my gosh, this is kind of what I think I have been looking for. You know, I majored in psychology. I always planned on going into being a counselor or a therapist, and a few things talked me out of that. But anyway, on the back end of that life coach, I quit my job and, and left Australia where I was living and traveled the world for a year, spent a year backpacking. And I had to make a choice. You know, I knew when I came back to Australia, I was never going to go back to corporate. And I was, you know, really wanted to find something more in alignment with my purpose. And again, I could have. I knew I wanted to start my own business at that time and I knew I wanted to go into coaching. But everybody was like, you're never going to earn any money as a coach. There's no way you should start your own business. You're engaged, you're getting married, you're wanting to have kids. And it was like, okay, you're right. So I did what quote unquote, the safe thing was, and I took out a $60,000 loan. I went to graduate school, got my master's degree in nonprofit management, and then became the executive director of a not for profit, earning $29,000 a year. That was like the safe thing to do.

Like what? Wow. I don't actually know that I've ever heard like that specific part of your story where, where it's like, oh, yeah. I just like did the safe thing. I was supposed to do, like, check the did the thing. Like, this is what everyone's telling me makes sense. And then you get to the other side and you're like.

And like, great. Now I'm earning $29,000 a year, which can't even pay for rent. I'm a mom of two kids. I have a marriage that's falling apart. There's no way I could ever take care of my kids or leave this marriage because I can't pay for myself. And, you know, I was still working for someone else and building somebody else's dream, and someone was still telling me where to be every day, punching a clock. So that was, I mean, obviously my turning point. I was diagnosed cancer. And that was my turning point. That's when you and I met. That's when I enrolled in the beautiful you life coaching program. And I was like, I. The life that I'm living is literally killing me. And if I don't make a change, if I don't figure out what I really want to do in all areas of my life, like, this toxicity is just going to continue to build and build and build and build in my body. And it finally manifested as kidney cancer when I was 36, you know, and I had a toddler and I was breastfeeding a baby. And there I was.

Yeah, yeah. I was gonna ask if you've. And I feel like I feel most comfortable asking you a question. Like, this is like. Yeah. Do you feel like your body was trying to tell you something?

Yeah. I mean, I was so afraid. And I was asking the doctors. Like, I remember even stalking the doctors and trying to find their personal email addresses. And I was literally emailing them personally and messaging them on Facebook. Cause I was like, I need you to tell me why my body created this. Why did my body create this? And they all were so wonderful. And they all said the same thing. They were like, there's no reason why your body created this. It makes zero sense whatsoever. It was just a random fluke. And I was like, that does not help me. Because if my body created this, unless I figure out why it created this, it's going to do it again. So I really started diving down the work of Louise Hay and looking into what areas of the body are holding onto what emotions and causing what sort of dis. Ease in the body. Body and cancer was all about resentful, like, resentment and guilt and negativity. And there was so much of holding everything in. I couldn't talk out in my marriage. I couldn't speak out in my Career. I couldn't do the work that I was here to do. It was like I felt so suppressed that, you know, the kidneys, like, that's what it's all about, is the toxicity. Right. So for me, I think it was so much a part of why that hit me, and from a physical sense and also a spiritual sense. I think I was really afraid of getting cancer. And it was like that was going to be the one thing that would wake me up and make me change, and that was the one thing that happened to me.

Yeah. I'm curious, like, now that you said, like, that was the thing that was going to wake me up and change. Like, would you change any part of your journey? Like, looking back now?

No, not now. I mean, I don't think that people should have to go through that kind of a scary scenario, but I think if that wouldn't have. I mean, it's like everything in my life now is so here because it's intentionally placed here and because I want it to be here, you know? So, though, I mean, I just. Yeah, it is night and day, and I've honestly never been just more happy and alive than I am now. So, yeah.

Oh, my gosh. Well, I personally love hearing that as just a friend of yours, but I think, like, people listening to this, maybe they're in that dark night, maybe it's not cancer. Maybe they're just feeling like their soul is slowly dying. Though you wouldn't change anything. Is there anything you would say to someone who's going through that or that you would tell that past version of you even?

I think just listen to it. It's like these desires in our heart are planted there for a reason, and we have them for a reason. And if we have a dream, I really, truly think it's because it's meant to come true, and we're meant to work towards that, you know, And I think so many of us, myself included, we get comfortable and we're afraid, and, you know, the unknown is scary. And, I mean, you know, this. You used to teach outside of your comfort zone, or you might even still teach that. But it's like we're so used to living in that space that doing what we feel, you know, following our heart or our soul just feels too scary and too unknown and too uncertain. So I wish I would have just listened to that a lot sooner and started taking those baby steps towards my dreams and what I really wanted to do.

Yeah. Do you think there's, like, signs that you see come up within your clients that you work with of like before it becomes like this big. Like everything in life is. And you have to like burn it all to the ground. Like, are there little signs that people can even notice now?

I mean, for me and for so many of my clients, I think it's the depression. It's the anxiety and the depression, and it's the unsettledness, you know, And I think I see so many women who are, you know, moms, and it's like they're trying to drink wine every night or they're trying to. They're over exercising or they're over shopping or. I mean, they're just. They're feeling the uncomfortableness. You know, they're feeling discontent. They're taking the antidepressants, they're taking the anti anxiety medicines. And I mean, I've done it all, so I'm not even judging. But, um, it's like you feel. So you feel really off, but you're trying to cover it up with all these other things, you know, instead of trying to figure out the root cause of what's going on.

Yeah, it's like something's not working in the external, so then I probably should fix it in the external. Right?

Exactly. Right.

Yeah. And so it's like if there. I love that word you used of like, unsettledness. Like, I feel like probably people can really relate to that. Of. Yeah, something just feels unsettled. Like I'm walking on unstable ground. So then we can start to like, walk back and fix the foundation. So you mentioned, like, let me listen to the nudge. Like, let me hear that voice. What else can people do? Like, what are some tangible steps that people can do to even start, like, finding their purpose, especially if it feels so out of reach?

Yeah, well, yeah, for sure. I think there's. I mean, I spent like 10 years, you know, trying to find my purpose. And that's, I think, right where so much of the traveling came into play. And I just was moving all time and doing all these really cool things with my life. And I think there was so much of that that I was trying to find purpose outside of me. But obviously we all know now that it's. You can only find that kind of a purpose or that kind of a meaning or that kind of a mission within yourself. And they always say that you teach what you needed to learn. And that was definitely something that I needed to learn. So, yeah, that's what I really started coaching around in 2016 was, what am I here for? What are my divine gifts? And really Helping people to reconnect, not even find themselves, but it's more like you're starting to peel away the layers of societal conditioning, and you're really, you know, just more remembering who you are and becoming more of who you are and learning how to tap into that, what your divine gifts are, you know, what is it that you really love to do? And then I think our purpose is a combination of those two things. So what we're naturally good at and what we really love to do and how we can combine those two things to then create value or impact in the world. And that's really what I work with my clients to figure out is what is that combination? And kind of get them on their path.

Yeah, I love that. And so that brings us to the work you do today. So, of course, you still help people with purpose. And I know you just recently launched your book, which is super exciting. We'll talk about that soon. Before we go into that, though, how do you help your clients today? What is the work you do now? Because I feel like that's just evolved over the years, too.

It has, yeah. It really has. I guess, you know, what happened was I started getting a lot of, I don't know, media publications and some attention and some awards back in 2020. And naturally, a lot of people started coming to me like, hey, can you help me build my business and build my business? And how are you doing this? And how is this happening? So the natural transition over that sort of 2020-2022 is coming into business coaching. And so that's really what I've been doing for the last five years, is helping, you know, healers and coaches and alternative therapists and health and wellness practitioners to start and build their business or their practice. And, yeah, I guess that's the majority of the work I do today.

Yeah. And, like, incredibly successfully.

Thank you. Yes. It's been a long ride.

Yeah. I want to say, like, how are you doing it? Because not only are you doing the incredible work, like, running a successful business, I think, I mean, you can correct me if I'm wrong, but both, like, tangibly successful, but also it feels like success. Like, it's all of the layers of success, and in the midst of all of that, you've gone through a divorce. You have two littles. Like, how are you? How are you really?

How are you, girl? Well, I can. Well, so, yeah, full transparency. I. This time last year, I started almost falling apart. So, like, I think I had my business grow. Grew so quickly. It grew so fast. I was Going through a divorce. My kids were really struggling with it, and I was a mess. We were kind of in and out of the courts doing this whole custody situation, and I was honestly falling apart. So my business was really a lot kind of running itself, right? So I had a big team. I think there was like 15 at the time. And, yeah, we got to the point where we were earning, like, 150, 200,000amonth. But my problem was I became the CEO, and all I felt like I was doing was managing my team, and I was managing the war between my sales team and my marketing team. And they were just constantly fighting with each other. And it was like, I don't even know the women's names in my program anymore. And after, like, a year, it was like, here I've built this company that I said I really wanted, but I'm feeling really out of alignment. And I think I finally had the opportunity to kind of look up, you know, because things from the divorce started to settle. My kids started to finally settle back in, and I was like, wow, this is not why I started my business. I want to be working with my clients. I want to be creating courses and content and teaching my clients and writing books and doing all the things and not being a CEO and managing a team. So what? I literally, like, burnt everything to the ground for the most part. I stopped everything. I think it was like, maybe February of this year. I fired almost the majority of my team, and there was nothing happening for probably two to three months. I mean, I still had, you know, women in the program. All the coaching was still happening. We had enough, you know, like, we had enough coming in to cover payroll and all that. And so I was kind of just cruising. And it took me a few months to. To really get to the point of, how do I want this to look now? So I think no matter how I think, no matter where you are in your business, I think this is a perfect example. You can really get out of alignment even in your own business, not just if you're in a job. And it's constantly coming back and realigning. So, okay, I grew so fast. I don't love that. So what now? So now what do I have? I have people in place that are managing the sales and the marketing. And I don't have to touch it. I don't have to look at the numbers. I don't have to. You know what? It's not even my responsibility. So now I'm so much more free to do fun things like this. And you Know, we relaunched and we're scaling back up, but, yeah, it was there. It became too much, and I had to. I had to shift and change a lot.

Yeah. So you made the shifts and change. Like, is there anything you've put in place now that maybe would support. If someone is listening to this and they're like, I feel like I'm, like, barely keeping my head above water. Like, what do I do? Like, are there things you've put into place or is it more just like, okay, I just have the intention now, and, like, I have the awareness of, like, what works and what doesn't.

I think if you're a business owner, hiring and making sure that they're an A player. Right. Like, they're a cultural fit and they're a skill set fit. I think for me, I had people that had the right skill sets and weren't the right cultural fit, and then I had people that were the right cultural fit but didn't have the right skill sets. So as I've built things back up, everybody that I've put in place now has both of those, and I think that's really important. But also exactly what you said, creating an intention of what you want. Right. So I knew I don't want to be working. I need to be at home for my kids before school. I need to be at home for them after school. So I have a certain time window in which I work, and the rest of the time I don't, you know? And I think the intention also was. I know I got really clear in what I wanted to be doing in my business and what I didn't and I hired so that all the things I didn't were covered. And I think that was a really huge shift for me. And I had a limiting belief around that. I thought, like, you already have. This is all so good. This is what you wanted. You know, you should just be happy with what you have. And it's like, here I was tolerating so much, though, and it started really taking a toll on me. So it's, again, it's a constant course correction and realignment, I think, in business and in life, you know?

Yeah. Yeah. I was just having this conversation earlier today of, like, I feel like a rule I really had to break is, like, the idea that there's somewhere to get and there's like, a end result. There's, like, a finish line. I'm just like, okay, I've made it. Like, everything's great now. But, like, I feel like just your entire journey is this testament of like, life doesn't stop. Life thing never.

Never stops.

Life never stops. Life thing. Like I remember like when I hit my first success where I was like, oh my gosh, I've made it. Like everything's amazing. That's, that's when Kirk got really sick and.

Exactly.

And it's just like you have to re shift your intentions and you have to reshift what matters. And I can imagine like as you were navigating like custody battles, there was a lot of that of just like what actually needed your attention maybe wasn't what you thought would need your attention when you started and scaled your business.

Yeah, completely. Yeah. It's so true.

How did you stay like. Or did you stay connected to yourself through all of that? Because I feel like that's something I hear from like a lot of people in this space is like there's so much going on and it's so overwhelming and, and self kind of gets lost in the process.

Yeah, I think I did get. I think there was a lot of disconnection from myself. You know, I think as a mom, you're always putting your kids first. And I know people say put your oxygen mask on first, but it's like, yeah, but I, you know, my kids need me and I can't take time for myself. So I definitely got out of my like self care bubble that I was so good at after cancer for so many years and I've now come back to it. But I think, you know, really scheduling time, we've. Even if it's just like 30 minutes or 45 minutes a day where you can, you know, do do yoga or go for a walk or whatever. Even if it's like you can't do the big things or the vacations or the weekends away or whatever, you're finding those little chunks of time throughout the day just to reconnect and it's so important. I think it's just so important. So, you know, always having an intention of where you want to go and what you want your life to look like and then taking some time throughout the day to visualize and, and start to. Yeah. Call that in.

Yeah. Do you have any non negotiables that you put in place now that life feels like it's in a stable season? Stable. Ish.

That's such a good question, girl. I mean nobody, nobody likes to hear this, but I think for me one was leaving my marriage. Right. I am so much happier alone than with the wrong person. And yeah, I think staying single for four years. I dated a lot for four years. I do have a partner now, but I think that's a non negotiable for me is like my primary relationship has to be someone that I am growing and expanding with and bringing a lot of like, positivity and love into my life as opposed to just taking things from me or adding pressure or adding drama. That became a huge non negotiable. And nobody wants to hear that. You know, I left my marriage because it really was never going to support my life or the business that I wanted to have, but I could never have done this with that person, you know.

Wow.

Yeah, that's a hard one to. I didn't even want to look at that when I, you know, me, I was not wanting to get divorced. Like, it's like, that's not something you want to do.

Yeah. I mean, it doesn't seem like I've ever heard a divorce story of just like. And it was the easiest decision of just like. And it was just done like next day. I mean, that's not how you enter into a marriage. Right. So it's facing something. But I love what you said there of like, I'd rather be alone than with the wrong person. And I think that, like, that's the shift. That's. If someone listening is in that spot in their relationship, like, that's. That's the piece to look at right there.

Yeah, that's a really big piece. And if you're not in a relationship, friendships too. You know, I really let go of so many people in my life that were acquaintances for, you know, decades. And I just felt like we didn't. All of a sudden we just didn't have a lot in common. We didn't have, you know, things to talk about and we didn't have. Our activities that we enjoyed were very different. And I really felt like I needed to surround myself with people who were going to be like friends of the future version that I wanted to be too. And they say you are the five people that you surround yourself with. And so I really stopped wanting to have a lot of friends. And really now again, it's about quality. I'd rather have very few close friends and have them be the right people in my life than a ton of friends that are just kind of like acquaintances or they're, you know, or whatever. I'm trying to make small talk or, I don't know, just. Yeah, I think friendships and the relationship's really important.

Yeah. Yeah, I love that. So I'm curious, before we talk about the book, how would you say your purpose has. I mean, you've kind of covered it just like in your journey. But I'm just curious how you would say your purpose has evolved since that, like, 2008, 2009 version of you to now.

Oh, my gosh. That's such a good question. Do you know, it's so interesting. I was actually looking back through my old journals from when we were going through our coaching program and. Yeah. What I've kind of. I mean, over the last. After getting the book written and getting the book out in April and I was doing the audio recording of the book, I almost had, like, I had written that book over the course of three years, and it was of the work that I had done in the past, but it was almost like, I need to be reading this and doing this work myself. So it was really interesting, right, that I, you know, I read that and then I wrote out my new purpose statement and I went back to my old journals just one night randomly. And the purpose statement that I wrote a couple of months ago is exactly what it was when I started in 2016.

Wow. Yeah.

But I had, like, gotten off track and I had done other things and whatever, but once I reconnected going through my own book, it was the exact same thing that I knew after cancer, which was really crazy.

Wow. That has given me like full body goosebumps.

I totally got him.

Yeah. Like, what a testament to just like, no matter what's happening, like, no matter what season of life you're in, I always say you're the only constant coming with you. Like, every season, you're going to be the one thing that's always there. And like, maybe it gets lost in the noise and the external and life being lifey and you always come back to you. Yeah.

It is so true. And everywhere you try and run to, you will always be there as well. I think that was another thing that I really learned was like, you can't outrun yourself either.

Yeah. Yeah. Wow. Okay, tell us about the book. We obviously all need to go through it now.

It's such a fun. I'm so proud of it. I was just doing a group call and one of my students was like, at the end, she was just, I'm. I've listened to your book a thousand times. And she. I mean, it's just. It's been so great hearing people's feedback. And my whole thing was I needed that work to get out into the world, you know, like, before I die, because I just feel like I needed it to be a thing for people. So it's really for anyone who is struggling, who knows that they're meant for more. They're kind of just living the routine of life. They're trapped in a job they don't love. They're maybe in a relationship they're not obsessed with. They're just kind of going through the motions. And the book is really for people who are just ready to wake up and they're ready to figure out, why am I here? How can I set my life on a different course? How can I actually create a life that I love, that I. That's fun, that's joyful, that's in alignment with my purpose? And that's. Yeah, that's what it's all about, is really reconnecting with yourself and getting really clear on who you are at soul level and then figuring out, you know, how do I want to express this in the world? Is it through business? Is it through a new career? Is it through volunteer work? And if it is a business, what is it? If it is a career, what is it? So it's taking people through that process of healing, getting clarity, and then figuring out what they're doing next and taking those first steps forward.

Yay. Well, I'm so excited to get my copy, and it's called Awaken youn Purpose. Yeah.

Yes. Awaken your purpose.

Yeah. We'll have it all linked up in the show notes, and I'm sure everyone is so thrilled to go through the exercises in it, too, and just get to know themselves. What a gift that is to get to know themselves.

It's like, why we're here. Right? Why are we here if we don't know ourselves or we don't take time to get to know ourselves? Like, we're missing out on so much.

Yeah. So much goodness in that. Is there anything we haven't talked about or anything that you feel like people just need to hear today?

I would say, I think just knowing that if you're here, you do have a purpose and that whatever you're going through is part of your story, and it is part of, you know, it's trying to make you who you're meant to become. And so I think, one, just knowing that you know you are enough, that you do have a purpose, that you do have a voice, you do have gifts that you're here to share with the world. And two, if that desire is in your heart, it's there for a reason, and it's meant to be followed.

Yes. Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. Yes. Erica. Thank you. So much, my friend.

Thank you for having me.

Of course.