If you’ve been following me on social media for some time now, you’re probably a little familiar with the story I’m about to tell. But this time, I’m not packaging it up into a neat Hero’s Journey that everybody can commend me on. I’m sharing the ugly details.

And if you’re new to me and have no idea what I’m talking about, hi! I’m Isabel, but you can call me Bel.

In 2020 I started an online business as a virtual assistant. At the time, I was a recent college graduate with no real drive or ambition. The thought of having a “normal job” gave me the ick…and nobody was hiring because of COVID-19. So when I first learned about the entire world of online service providers and coaches, I was quick to dive in headfirst, offering up whatever skills I could think of to online business owners who looked like they could use help.

The truth is, it was a completely different time in the industry — a time before many people had been burned, or betrayed, or let down. And so it didn’t take long for me to begin booking clients, even with my limited knowledge of selling services online.

(Keep in mind, I was hustling to book said clients. I spent hours a day cold pitching people via voice note in the DMs, creating content, and offering “free trials” in the hopes that I could wow somebody into signing a longer contract. Nowadays, the only one of these tactics I would recommend is creating content, but at the time…this was a goldmine!)

Soon, I was averaging $5-6K months as a virtual assistant. I hired a 1:1 coach for $5000 to help me take the business even further — and at the time, it was the most money I’d ever spent on something for myself. (I had no idea that just a year and a half later I’d invest four times that amount into a Mastermind!)

With the guidance of my coach, I honed in on copywriting and content creation as my main offering. And it changed everything for my business! 5K months quickly doubled into 10K months, in what felt like the blink of an eye. (In actuality, this all went down from January to March of 2021.)

For a few months, everything was peachy. I was making money, booking clients, and taking a lot of vacations. But there was something nagging at me.

Even though my business was doing well, I still felt like an employee — paid to create around somebody else’s dream instead of my own. I knew that so much of the energy that could have gone towards my own marketing and brand-building was being directed into the constant output of content and copy being created for my clients.

I had also been receiving DMs from aspiring online business owners, asking me to share more about how I’d built my business so quickly.

The answer seemed obvious. It was time to start teaching on my favorite topics: copy, content, and brand identity. It was time to become a coach!

So you wanna know what I did?

I created a course about sales.

And here’s a fun fact for you all…I kind of hate Sales with a capital-S. I find a lot of what is taught about Sales to be cringy, aggressive, and not my cup of tea. Because to me, you don’t need Sales skills to sell. You just need to provide value in the way that your ideal client needs — but that’s a newsletter for another time.

Why did I create the sales course? Because it was what everybody else was doing. Sales was hot-button topic at the time. I was IN a sales program, taught by a very popular and successful coach. And hers had sold out.

Anyways, I created this sales course and nobody bought it, because for the last year and a half I wouldn’t shut up about copy and content and brand identity. Nobody thought of me as a sales expert. Of course they weren’t going to spend $1000 on a course about sales…taught by a copywriter.

And thus marked the beginning of my coaching odyssey. I didn’t know it, but this would become the recurring theme of my experience as a coach.

Following trends blindly.
Going against my gut and heart.
Never feeling satisfied or truly aligned.
Copying the industry Cool Girls.

Even after scaling to 10K, then 15K, then 20K months between October 2021 and October 2023…it always felt like something was missing. Naively, I thought that not having a boss meant I was in charge. I didn’t expect that the coaching industry would rule me instead.

So I was miserable a lot of the time…all while marketing my programs on the premise of “having fun” and “doing business your way”…two things I was decidedly not doing.

When I finally decided to take a break from my business, I was so exhausted from essentially lying to my audience, that it felt good to step back and focus on other passions. (Let me know if you want a breakdown about working in real estate in NYC. It’s pretty juicy.)

I even archived all of my posts on Instagram — I didn’t want them associated with my brand anymore.

But after a few months, the strangest thing started happening.

I began to have ideas.

And for the first time in a long time, they were my OWN ideas about things I could be doing in my business that had taken a backseat to what I thought I was supposed to do. (Like starting this newsletter, or offering completely customizable coaching experiences.)

I let the ideas build up while daydreaming about my new brand. And then one day, I decided I was ready to come back. On my first day back in business, I sold a 10K coaching package and the rest was history!

…you didn’t actually believe that, right?

What really happened is that one day, I decided I was ready to come back. And instead of making my comeback, I said “maybe tomorrow.”

Repeat that every single day, for three months.

Which brings me to now. The real comeback.

I could lie (again) and feed you a bunch of bullshit about why it took me so long, and why NOW is the time, but I honestly don’t know. I’m assuming a combination of fear, shame, and ego is what has been holding me back. And a good old-fashioned dose of my BFF procrastination.

What I DO know is that this time away has given me more clarity than ever before about why I’m meant to be doing this work, and where it all went wrong in the first place.

Here are my top two takeaways:

1. I stopped doing what I actually LOVE. Content, copy, and brand identity are my jam, with a sprinkle of mindset and lifestyle coaching where you need it. Focusing on these topics is what allows my expertise to shine and brings me a lot of happiness. I also love writing and behind-the-scenes creating and intimate interactions, more than I love being on video or leading big live groups. I want to explore marketing and selling in a way that allows me to lean into these strengths (like this newsletter).

2. My business isn’t over just because I burnt it to the ground. Sometimes, a little business arson is a GOOD thing, because it allows you to build from the ground up and address all of the gaps and issues that were present before. For me, it means that I get to come back with newfound inspiration and a “why” that is stronger than ever before. I get to build the business that I want to run this time around, and it’s exciting! For you, this may mean making a brand or niche pivot, starting “over” with all-new everything, taking some time away from the online space, or restructuring your current brand and business model. If you’re truly unhappy with the way things are going, light the match and see what happens.

When I announced my return on Instagram, I was flooded with a number of comments and messages from people who also felt similarly. Somewhere along the way, we had all “lost the plot” when it came to running our businesses in a way that sparked joy, felt ethical, and felt true to our skillsets. So if you’ve been feeling this way, too, keep reading…I’m here to diagnose your symptoms 🩺