I am a wife to a wonderful husband, mum to 2 gorgeous children and we currently live in our dream home in Shropshire, England.

I have been in business since 2004, starting out as a Marketing and Sales Consultant and helping business owners get more clients and make more money.

A year after I started my business I found myself embarking on a very deep, spiritual and transformational journey.

I was neither seeking “enlightenment” nor looking for “transformation”. In fact like everything in my life, beginning that journey seemed pretty random.

So random in fact that I knew it was Divinely Guided – although I only realised that years later.

Indeed on the face of it, it looks like my entire life has been defined by seemingly “random” events.

And I’d like to share some of these random events with you as they’ve proved to be pivotal in my evolution and growth and have brought me to where I am today.

I chose my degree because of a documentary I “happened” to see.

I watched a programme on Machu Picchu and decided to study Latin American Studies because you got to spend a year in Latin America.

Unfortunately Peru was too dangerous so I went to Ecuador instead. It was amazing:

I swam in the Amazon and later went fishing for piranhas.

I learnt Qucheua (well a tiny bit).

I got mugged at knifepoint (ok almost – the knife was real and pointed at my throat but a knight in shining armour heard me scream and chased the opportunists off).

I travelled atop buses and trains.

I learnt a lot about entrepreneurship from the indigenous people of Otavalo and I met some amazing people.

I now have an honours degree in Latin American Studies and speak fluent Spanish (ok it is a bit rusty now).

I also spent a year in Venezuela teaching English and being a tour guide (how I ended up as a tour guide was pretty random too).

The highlight of my year in Venezuela was seeing pink freshwater dolphins – and they were totally beautiful.

I “stumbled” into my business

I was employed as Sales and Marketing Manager for a company who made weather stations and scientific instruments and one Friday night I was clearing my desk (a rare occurrence) and came across a magazine which I nearly put in the bin un-opened. But then this little voice said “Melina, just take a quick look – you might miss something important and kick yourself” – although frankly how I would have found out about what I would have missed I don’t know!

But ever diligent I flicked through it.

And there was an advert for a business start-up show taking place that very weekend. My husband and I decided to go along with our 2 year old son in his buggy.

We had already been looking at starting a business but just didn’t know what. We’d spent several months researching opening a restaurant (fondue so we wouldn’t have to cook) but ditched the idea after doing some number crunching. We discovered that an extra 2 covers a week was the difference between a profit or loss at the end of the year – and that to me was just too risky a venture! It was great fun investigating it though!

Anyhow back to the start-up show – my husband and I took turns listening to the various seminars that were on.  One talk in particular blew me away because it introduced me to Robert Kiyosaki’s Cashflow Quadrant.

 

Instantly I knew I wanted to be a business owner.

So when I was invited to invest in a ready made, yet totally flexible, Marketing Consultancy Business, it was a no-brainer.

I took out a loan for the £15,000 investment and signed up.

Within 12 weeks I had taken on my first client – and my hourly rate jumped from £11 an hour to £119 an hour.  I quit my job.

I was introduced to “transformation”.

 

A few months later something rather bizarre was presented to me.  I was told about a course that looks at patterns playing out in your life.

The only pattern I could see at the time was working too hard (and frankly I LOVED my work – I’d just started my business – I wanted to work hard to make it successful).

However my curiosity was piqued enough to have a conversation to find out more.

And something magical occurred in that conversation.

I couldn’t really explain it – I just sensed there was something deeper going on for me and I wanted to take the 3 day course.

It was a pivotal point in my life.

It shifted everything for me.

I went on and have been training with them for the past 11 years (some years more intensively than others).

The work now under-pins everything I do and teach.

My next “random” event came after I signed up to a high level mentoring programme.

It kicked off with a one day face to face meeting where we each got a turn in the “hot seat”.

During my turn I shared how much I loved doing Strategy Sessions – I always got so excited about the potential in someone’s business and could see way bigger things for them than they could see for themselves.

The following week my mentor called me up.

My first reaction was “Shit, what have I done?”

Then I calmed myself down reassuring myself that I was a client, I couldn’t have “done” anything.

Indeed I hadn’t – instead I was being offered a massive opportunity.

To do Strategy Sessions on behalf of my mentor.

Wow!

I was terrified and excited in equal measure.

I said yes.

Within 3 months those strategy sessions generated £73,800 in sales.

It was another turning point in my life.

I had some truly magical conversations – and watched as many of the people I spoke to went on to totally transform their lives.

For some, that conversation with me was their turning point.

Crunch Time!

For the next few years I continued to invest in myself and my business, traveled to beautiful locations, met some amazing people, and had a lot of fun.

I tripled my turnover two years running, going from £13,512 (too ashamed to tell anyone how little I earned) to £111,533.

Yet despite all my success I could still see those familiar patterns playing out.

Constantly worrying about money (earning more meant bigger bills to pay).

And there was always a sense that life was hard – no matter what I did to make things easier.

Despite all the work I’d done, an internal battle  still played out in my head.

Worse I’d done so much inner work I felt “I shouldn’t be feeling like this”.

It was crunch time.  I couldn’t continue in this way.

I knew it wasn’t about money – because I could generate money when I needed to.

No, I knew I had to go even deeper within. 

I went on an adventure!

In September 2014 I embarked on another journey – this time to the States to attend a 5 day event that was radically different to everything else people were teaching.

From that moment all the puzzle pieces started falling into place.

Although at the time it  felt like I’d been thrown up in the air in a huge washing machine, spun round and round, and sent crashing down to earth.

I knew that what I had learnt was the Truth – and as I looked back on my life I could see every “random” event had been leading me to this place.

I came to experience at a very deep level that there is nothing random about anything that happens to us.

That every single event that happens in our lives makes us who we are today and impacts the world around us.

Without our experiences we wouldn’t be us.

Even if it doesn’t feel like it, everything that happens is a blessing.

All part of a Divine Plan – supporting us on our journey.

And  I wanted to share these key moments as opposed to my life history or a list of successes because they give an insight into my way of being.

A way of being that is Gifted by God and Guided by Life.

I don’t have a vision or a fixed destination (and I celebrate that).

 

At heart, I’m an explorer desiring as many adventures that life has to offer

Yet in a world of goal setting and declaring clear intentions my way of being doesn’t fit.

“Fail to plan, plan to fail”

“If you’re not growing, you’re dying”

“If you don’t know where you are going, you’ll end up someplace else.”

Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not opposed to setting goals or intentions – it gets things done.  But when we define ourselves by our goals and achievements – ultimately we’re headed down a path of frustration and despair.

I’d pretty much spent my entire life trying to fit in – contorting and conforming based on where I was and who I was with.

And although it’s a great skill to have it’s not one you want to live your life by.

Looking back “Shrink to Fit” pretty much sums it up.

I wasn’t aware of it until I started to unravel layer after layer – and discovered the central thread that was living my life – aswell as the Truth about who I really am.

You see deep down I love nothing better than stepping into the unknown with anticipation, excited about where it will lead.

Indeed everything I have done that has been successful has started out with me getting an inspired idea, or being offered an opportunity, and thinking “Ooh that sounds fun.  I’ve not done that before – let’s give it a go and see what happens”.

Because it’s in the unknown where magic happens.

Amazing experiences that I couldn’t possibly dream up.

Adventures that make my eyes sparkle and my heart sing.

I’ve stopped trying to fit in.

I’ve stopped doing things because I think I should.

I now live my life with excitement and delight and a gratitude for the journey I have been on (despite the many times I wanted to jump ship).

And it is this path I invite you to join me on.