The Melea Show: Blogging, Youtube, and Prioritizing Your Health

MELEA [00:00]

And so I realized that I needed to step back and be okay with good money working part time, still being a full mom, still taking care of me and putting me first so I could be happy too, and it's honestly a constant, constant balance.

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CAMILLE [00:23]

So, you want to make an impact. You're thinking about starting a business sharing your voice? How do women do it that handle motherhood, family, and still chase after those dreams. We'll listen each week as we dive into the stories of women who know. This is Call Me CEO.

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CAMILLE [00:43]

How do you measure success with today's guest? You will in no doubt wonder if this person has been successful and yet it's so interesting to me to hear her talk about taking steps back from the amount that she was pushing herself so that she could have the kind of success that means the most to her as a wife and a mother. Now with that being said, her list of accolades has no shortstop nor will they be stopping.

I know that she'll continue to do incredible things. Melea has been featured in and on a variety of media outlets, shows, including the Rachel Ray show today. Forbes, Yahoo, Daily Finance, Women's First Magazine, Working Mother Magazine, Wall Street Journal, Consumer Digest, US News, The Food Network, Hallmark's Home and Family to name a few. But what really matters to me, Melea Johnson, is to helping others save money and create financial freedom so that you can live the life that you want.

She started her blog Freebies2Deals in 2009 and was able to sell it for a good chunk of money in 2016 where she then started her own YouTube channel where she continues to share money saving tips and ways to help you live financially free. On today's episode, we're talking about how to save money and Melea's own journey of creating her business and what she learned along the way and how to take care of herself as a woman, a mother and a wife and ultimately deciding that she needed to scale back to create a balance. That was really true to what her goals were.

Now, on top of that, I want to make sure that you know that as well as sharing The Melea Show and what Melea is doing there. We also have a second episode right after this to tell you about what you need to know about Black Friday today and how you can save the most money right now.

So please binge these episodes and you can take notes in figuring out what's a good balance for you, your family, your life. And also episode, the next episode where we'll be talking exclusively about freebies and deals freebies to deals with Melea, which you can now find at the meleashow.com, both online and on Youtube. So let's dive in.

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CAMILLE [2:58]

Welcome back everyone to another episode of Call Me CEO. This one is a little different because it is a timely episode, you're going to want to listen to right away, grab a notebook and pen because we're talking with Melea of The Melea Show, who is the queen of all things, saving money and has a very fun approach to making Christmas more fun by getting the confusion out of it.

And Melea is also a very dear friend of mine, we go back years and years, so we're going to dive into a little bit about her story how she started out with blogging and then transformed it into a very successful business and I can do the bragging about her later in my intro, but Melea, thank you for squeezing us in. I can't believe we're filming this the week of the Black Friday craziness that seems to be happening earlier and earlier every year.

MELEA [3:45]

I know, thank you for having me on, I'm excited to talk to you guys about this. I mean Black Friday really right now is, I mean it really does get every year I just I'm always surprised, I don't know why, I'm not surprised that I'm surprised, but I just always surprised about how early it starts and brands will fight over you. The stores fight over you but helping families save money and stretch their money and help them just save time is my whole goal.

So that's why I work so hard in November every year so families can have time to actually celebrate thanksgiving because all of their shopping will be done before real Black Friday. And then they can enjoy December, you know, instead of running around and trying to get all these last-minute shopping done. I mean a lot of my followers are actually already done with all of our Christmas, shopping with the deals we've shared so far, so I think that's awesome and it just makes the holiday season just so much more simple, simpler I guess, is the best way to put it.

CAMILLE [4:38]

Yeah, and I think that there is, I appreciate that it isn't the day after thanksgiving anymore, that big push or even the day of thanksgiving because I feel like a lot of people were missing out on that time with their families because they were so anxious to get to the store physically where now you can do so much more online and I feel like that is so helpful because I love shopping online and I feel like if I can do that instead of fighting the crowds, sign me up every day like that, that's the game plan for me.

MELEA [5:06]

Yeah, totally, I agree, and the funny thing is I know a lot of people really like that in store experience and like to do the whole like standing outside in the freezing cold and you know, stay up really late, that sounds horrible to me, absolutely horrible. Um and the crazy thing is, is that when you're in store there's only so many items per store versus shopping online, you get a better deal, you get it earlier than black friday and there's more stock so you're not fighting. Like just, you know, all these people in the store trying to get something physically, it's just, it's just easier. Let's just make life easy. Right?

CAMILLE [5:40]

Yes. Yes. Well let's start back. I mean rewinding the clock a little bit. I think that you as a deal blogger as far as I know Are the first one that I knew of because it was, I don't know back in, I would guess this is me guessing was it 2008 or 2009 that you started your deal blog and you started sharing ways that you were saving money, was it with groceries first? Or take us back into the steps of how you started and how you started sharing your passion for saving?

MELA [6:08]

Yeah. Okay. So just for all of us out there who don't know, I stumbled into my success in my business by complete mistake or God given direction. I'm not really quite sure, I'm sure it's probably more on the God side. So I was pregnant with my first child. Um and this was 2008 and I really wanted to be a stay at home mom while I was raising her with a newborn and I thought.

Man, what am I going to do for a job because I knew it was gonna be hard to try to juggle a job and then have a newborn, I wasn't sure we were going to do, my husband at the time was in mortgages and so everything he was getting was commissioned, so we never knew what kind of money we're having come in and it was really hard to budget, you know, so much, it will be great and other months, you know, wouldn't be, I know you've been in mortgages before in the past and so like, you know how it is, it's just commission and you don't know.

And so finally I got to this point, I was super pregnant, it was like, man, you know what, I'm just going to have to be super smart with the money that I do have and whatever my husband Brady brings in, I'm just going to have to be really smart with it.

And so I started learning about coupon e, I started learning about how to save money and I started realizing that there were so many ways, so many ways to get deals um that I could actually get free groceries at the grocery store, which blew my mind and I was like, does anyone even know this because I didn't know it. And so back then it was 2009, I ended up having postpartum depression really bad.

I didn't know it at the time, I don't think people talk about it enough to even, you know, recognize the signs or it's kind of almost like a faux pas to talk about it, but I had postpartum really bad and the only way I could really connect with people was through a blog and that was back when the blogs or diaries and everyone had their family blogs meetings forever ago, if people remember that and I just started sharing the ways I was saving money and I was like, have you guys, did you guys go get this coupon, you can print it off here and you can go get this food goes straight for free.

And so I had families that you know, obviously I knew that were following me and then all of a sudden it was uh strangers from all different states across the country because I could see like, you know where the hits were coming from on the website and was like uh I don't know anyone in new york and I don't know anyone in Montana and pretty soon I had like a few 1000 people visiting my blog every day to see What new money-saving tip or grocery tip or whatever I was sharing and then it kind of just blew up out of control.

TV stations wanted me on to come talk about it, the recession started hitting people really badly and that was in 2009 and everyone was looking to save money and so it kind of grew into this monster of a beast where I changed it out of my family blog because I didn't want people, I mean it needed to be branded at that point. And so I was like, okay, well let's create a real blog. And I called it previous to deals and then it kind of just exploded from there and it ended up becoming one of the largest money-saving blogs in the country.

I never would have thought it would have ended up like that or I mean it was just I was learning as I was going, no one knew anything about blogging. No one knew you could make money blogging back then you couldn't make money blogging. It was right when I started as when people started realizing that they could monetize blogging. So I was there from the ground floor up and I've learned a lot over the last gosh, 12 years. So I ended up selling that blog in do you want to keep talking. I feel like I'm just talking.

CAMILLE [9:24]

Yeah, No, this is great. Do it.

MELEA [9:27]

Okay. I ended up selling my blog in 2016. I have seven years of blogging. And when I say blogging, I know some people are like, Oh you put up a blog like every few days. No, I was posting anywhere from 40 to 60 blog posts a day. And you know all of these had pictures, they had information about the deal. They had the links to the point where I had up to eight different women working for me at the same time, helping me get these deals up.

And as much as I loved what I did, and you know, I have a passion for saving money, and who doesn't get excited about getting a crazy deal on something you've wanted for a long time or saving a few $100 at the grocery store. I mean that's just awesome. I got to a burnout point and I was burned out for about a year and a half and I was like, I can't keep doing this.

Not only did I have two young kids at the time that needed my attention and I knew that I wasn't giving them all of me. I knew that I was missing out on a lot of their milestones because I was so busy to give you guys an idea. I was working 40 to 60 hours, we'll know that's more than that, 60 to 80 hours a week plus all of my employees. And I felt such a loyalty to my followers that I didn't want to leave them hanging. I didn't want to have the miss a deal.

That was super good. So I always felt like this panic and this anxiety over making sure that I got the deal at first that a lot of people could get it. It was just really, really trying on my health and I will tell you back then, I was not the healthiest, you know, I wasn't taking care of me, I wasn't putting myself first. I was putting everything else first and as great as the money was from all the work that I was doing. I got to a point where I said this isn't worth it.

And it's funny now because I will watch other newbie bloggers or other newbie Instagrammers are Youtubers and I see their posts and I'm like, oh, young one, oh no young one, you do not know what you are doing because they haven't gotten to that point of burnout or haven't realized what they're sacrificing in order to get that level of fame or in order to get that level of money that they're searching for. And while it's all great and I, you know, I think every woman should be out there like hustling and doing what they need to do.

There is a work-life balance that, that moms and women just in general, they have to figure out and you know, watching some of these friends of mine that I have, I'm just, I watched them, I'm like, man, are you dying yet, are you there yet?

Because they just haven't gotten to that point and I feel like I may be a little bit ahead of the curve on that because I've been through that. And to me it's just not worth it. It's not worth losing my family over. It's not worth losing my, my marriage over. Um it's not worth, I don't know, it's not worth my time religious, it's not worth my Children's upbringing and their belief in God and me teaching them about that.

So I had to get to a point where I was like, you know what, we've got to reevaluate life here. There's gotta be a way for me to still be able to make good money doing what I do without killing myself. We have amazing money, you know, like crazy amazing money and then we have really good money and the levels of work that go along with those are drastically different evaluate life here. There's gotta be a way for me to still be able to make good money doing what I do without killing myself. We have amazing money, you know, like crazy, amazing money and then we have really good money and their levels of work that go along with those are drastically different.

And so I realized that I needed to step back and be okay with good money, working part-time, still being a full mom, still taking care of me and putting me first so I could be happy to and it's honestly a constant, constant balance. There's never, I don't know if I can tell women out there, don't think you're ever going to get to a perfect balance. It's always, there is constantly ebbing and flowing. You always have to check yourself because one thing is always going to be weighted heavier than the others. There's no such thing as perfect balance. It can't happen, you might have perfect balance for like an hour, you know? But like after that, like there's, it doesn't, it doesn't happen.

There's always one thing you're getting more time to and that's okay, as long as it's constantly changing. So, you know, you are giving your family and your kids enough time, you are giving your business enough time and you are giving yourself enough time. So let me keep talking. I feel like I'm just just rambling and going on and on.

CAMILLE [13:54]

No, this is great. I thought you guys can't see me on the other end, but I've just been nodding and nodding and nodding because I feel like I've had those moments of burnout, I feel like and I haven't even worked that many hours, like you have and I feel like I've had those same thoughts of balance is something that it looks different for everyone and it's constantly in flux, you know, where one might be getting more attention than the other and you as the director of that ship, just need to decide day today, what that looks like and there is no perfect formula.

So, what I'm curious to know is when you did make the transition of saying, okay, I'm at a burnout point, what was it that you gave up and replaced with something different that made that transition and a better balance for you, Like what was it that you did was that when you sold your blog and started the Youtube channel? Was it after the Youtube channel? Like what was that spot for you?

MELEA [14:49 ]

So I would think that was, that was probably about a two-year transition period. So in 2016, I ended up selling my blog. Now when I say that people are like, what do you mean you sold your blog? I didn't know if it was possible. I didn't know if it was a thing. It's not really a thing to be honest. Um, luckily enough, I had branded my blog as a business and not on my own name. So that when another investor wanted to come in and buy me out. Um, and still, I mean to this day for us to deal is is still up and running. I don't know how well it's doing. I have no idea.

But I was bought out by an investor who wanted to take it over and they took over all my employees as well and continue to pay them to posts and everything. And they still post deals there. We went through a broker, I guess they have websites selling brokers, just like a real estate broker. I mean, I had to do a lot of research and I was like, it was more that I felt like in my soul, that's what I was supposed to do. And it just laid out so perfectly that I felt like it was God directed for sure. And I was like, all right, I'm selling my blog into the same people like I can't believe you did that. Like that's a thing.

And I'm like, you know what it was And I got really lucky and I made good money selling that blog and I was able to take like a good, I wish I could say like I took years off, but I didn't because that's not my personality. I think it was about a six month thing where I'm like, okay now on board, you know, I had about a six months of, you know, kind of just relaxing and reevaluating, and then I was like, I can't, I got to do something else. So yeah, in that meantime where I was selling my blog before that I had sold that I had been talking with ABC to do my own tv show and it had been something I always wanted to do, a major in broadcast journalism.

I would love to have a TV show because I wanted to be able to show people how to do the deals. Having a blog was great being able to type it all out. But I kind of saw the curve coming and this was in 2016 where I figured video was going to become more important than blogs. I kind of felt like the writing on the wall before it happened. And so I was like, you know, I need to do more video content, showing people how to do things because they just don't have time to read blogs like they used to.

And so I was in talks with ABC for a year and a half and it came down to the fact that we could not agree on money. They wanted all the money and I was like, I know I'm doing all the work and I have all the content and I'm the on air talent and I'm bringing in the advertisers know. So finally, I just got to a point where, you know what, like this isn't don't work. So why don't I just do my own Youtube channel? So I decided to create my own Youtube Channel created them only a show.

I don't know how I feel about the name to be honest, but my followers really liked it because they're like, oh, it's just like Oprah is just like, Rachel Ray or whatever, like, you're the show, you're the one who shares all the deals and the information.

So just name it that, So I started a YouTube channel and within six months we had over 100,000 subscribers and then in about, oh gosh, a year and a half, we had over 300,000 subscribers on that channel and the same thing happened again, the same thing happened, which I guess tells you a lot about my personality.

I got so sucked into success and to building it and making sure it was the most successful and bringing in the money and I wanted the most subscribers and I wanted most likes, comments and I wanted to be, you know, I wanted, I wanted a successful business, right? And I got there and then I had to re-evaluate again and that's where I'm at right now. I mean it's kind of funny. I mean I shouldn't do that twice in a row, right? But at least I'm learning from it.

I, yeah, I kind of, I had another aha moment where I was like, okay, I've gone to this level of success on Youtube and if you know social media platforms and it's great. But after you've done this for 12 years now that I've shared things online, I mean over a decade, it's insane.

Once you get to that point you, you start thinking what it's worth and then you realize what needs to be done in order to be successful. So after building the blog and then building a second business, I was like, man, I know in order to grow my Youtube following, I have to do this, this, this, this and this like super easy formula. I know what I need to do the same thing with Instagram.

If I want to get to this many followers, I don't know, I have to do this, this, this, this, this and this and it came down to me not feeling not being willing to do that anymore because I knew how much time it sucked out of my life you know because these platforms you know they all they all want you to be on the platform all the time. They want you to be creating content for the platform all the time And they reward people who do that right?

So I knew how much video, how many videos I needed to put up in order to grow. I mean I had to put up at least 2-3 videos a week and my videos aren't like log-style videos. They're an informational shopping deals.

Like they're very instructional and they aren't something you can just put up super quick. So I was killing myself just trying to get up to a week and I thought man, shoot I know what I need to do but it's just I just not worth it. I keep saying that because I know a lot of people in my position would be like yeah it's worth it. I just think after doing it for a long time, like I said earlier, you've got to find that balance. You just do So now. Yes. Do I still have a Youtube channel?

Yes. Do I post on it all the time. No, I only post things on it now that I know that are going to get a lot of views that are gonna be highly searchable S. C. O. I. S. Um And they're gonna be very helpful. So you know that might be like a video every like two or three months, which does that help the Youtube channel grow?

No, but I get a lot of use on those videos and you know, I still have a presence there and Instagram is the same way that I know what I need to do to grow on Instagram, but I'm not willing to do it because man, I need to have time to take care of my followers, which is important to me by answering questions, finding things that help them or make their lives easier.

And then the other time I need is for my family and for myself and before, before I got to this point my health was horrible. I was I can't even tell you like so sick, I was overweight. I didn't eat properly. My I mean I've had so many issues like just medical issues that I've had to deal with over the over of the last few years and I am in better shape than I've ever been before in my life now, I'm healthier than I've ever been, I'm happier than I've ever been.

And so while I may not be as successful as I would like to be, like, I'm okay with where I'm at right now because I need you need the balance, you need to have all like cups full in the different aspects of your life. So that's where I'm at right now. Did that answer all of your questions? I feel like I'm talking a lot, but.

CAMILLE [21:44]

Well I, I appreciate everything, it's interesting because I do know you're very much a driver, you're a type a you know it needs to get done and you'll make it happen and it's fascinating for me to watch because I do know that you know that formula and you'll get there.

But one thing that you just said that I think I want to just hold up a mirror to a little bit is where you said I'm not as successful as I want to be, but my health and my life is better than ever and if that's not success, what is success?

MELEA [22:15]

Right? Well and I think that's the thing, everyone views success differently, right? A success be having them followers, if success having the most money is, you know, what is your, everyone's vision of success or thought about that is completely different for me. If I could have anything in the world it would be to have like the most amazing most followers most money, like super important, you know, Forbes list whatever company, but I know that's not possible unless I'm willing to sacrifice my time, my health and my family.

I thought about this so many times in so many ways, I mean people would think my mind is crazy, I know there's no way to do it right and people like, oh we'll hire people and I'm like no, no, no, I've done that to what happens when you hire people with my type of personality is that you just find more things for yourself to do.

So you like outsource all of the stuff you don't want to do and then you're like, oh I have a great idea, let's do this, to grow the signal, the following her, let's do this, this will grow this, or let's add this new concept or lets you know, it just frees up your mind to do new things. It doesn't take time off weight. It just it just makes it that

CAMILLE [23:21]

You are, you want to do more.

MELEA [23:22]

You want to just literally as you do more. So I've tried really hard to not have employees the second time around because of that, because I know that's what happens when you have employees, maybe I'll change my mind later. But right now I'm good with where I'm at and I figure if I don't have enough time to do it on my own then it's too much. So that's kind of been like my little, you know what, what am I looking for uh marker, you know, like I don't have time.

CAMILLE [23:48]

Yeah, your gauge.

MELEA [23:50]

Yeah, my gauge,thank you, that's my gauge if I don't have, if I don't have time to do it, then it's probably too much, you know? So that's where I'm at and I realized that a lot of people might not be there or might think I'm crazy, but people only think I'm crazy until they get there and then they're like, ah, now I get it now, I get what you're talking about. They just might be a few years behind me, right? They haven't gotten to that point where they just feel like they're drowning and suffocating and it's just not worth it.

CAMILLE [24:21]

So yeah, well I'm proud of you. I think it's been really, I've been a fan of yours from the beginning before I even knew before we were friends. I was a fan and I watching you go through this growth, both in your success financially and with your business and also in your family and where you are right now individually. I think that you are so successful in every single way. So I'm just so happy for you. I think it's amazing.

MELEA [24:48]

Oh, thank you. You're sweet. We really have known each other. I mean, I remember when you came up and talked to me, Gosh, that was literally like, I think 11 years ago, nothing years ago. I don't remember. It was, but we met a long time ago, so we've known each other for a really long time. But yeah, and that means a lot. Thank you.

CAMILLE [25:05]

You're welcome. Okay. So I'm going to, I want to talk to you about your health, but I do, I think we do need to switch some gears, but if you could sum up just in a couple of minutes before we switch gears to helping our listeners say for black friday, what would you say has been your number one? Help with getting your health in check. Like what have you done? Because you look so good, you look so good Melea and you look so healthy and happy. Like what have you done to transition that for you?

MELEA [25:35]

I would just say to all the women out there, if something feels off or wrong, it is mm don't second guess yourself. Don't say, oh, I'm just tired. Oh, I, you know, I've been working with the kids. Oh, I don't know if you feel like there's something not working right in your body or you feel like something's off or something is wrong, 100% something's wrong.

And I feel like sometimes as women, we don't listen to those cues our bodies give us, but we're very intuitive by nature the way God made us so listen to those thoughts of those feelings that you have about your own body because more than likely you're right. So for me, I was so tired all the time, all the time.

And when I started getting really serious about my health and you know, losing the weight and just being healthier-looking right, I wasn't looking to be like some super skinny supermodel, it was more about being happy in my own skin, being healthy. I still wasn't back to pre-baby weight. You know, I put 65 £65 on with my first child, 45 with my second, you know, and it was just so hard to lose the weight and I'm like, why is this so hard?

I'm literally doing everything I'm supposed to be doing, I am working out five days a week with crazy workout plans, killing myself, right? I'm doing, I'm eating perfectly and when I say perfectly, I mean, no sugars, not a single cheat, completely clean and like nothing. And I was, I was even, I even paid to work with like a nutritionist that works with celebrities and all these other people that, you know, obviously knew what he was doing with macros and everything.

And finally, we got to a point where he's like, I've never worked with a client that is so perfect in doing everything they're supposed to do and has such horrible results. I'm like, thank you for the compliment. And he goes, something is wrong with you and you need to go fix it.

He's like, I'm pretty sure that your hormones are out of work. And I was like, okay, he's like, you need to go get your hormones checked and I was like, okay, whatever. So I ended up going to get my hormones checked and when you get your hormones checked, you need to be very aggressive because most doctors think you're fine and they will fight you on it unless you're going to go to like a hormone specialist or something like that.

So they tested my testosterone progesterone and estrogen, I get a call like a week later and the doctor is like, I know what's wrong with you. And I was like, okay, what? He goes, you have zero testosterone. And I was like, what? What? He's like, like literally didn't even show up on the blood test. Like you had so little, like, we couldn't even read it on the blood test. And I was like, what? He goes, yeah, he's like, that's why you're so tired all the time.

That's why you feel like you're on death store because you're just like so tired. You said that's why you can't lose weight. That's why you have low sex drive, that's why all of these things are happening to you and it's all because of the test testosterone. And I was like, okay, crazy. Right? So and anyway, I ended up getting my testosterone supplemented life-changing.

I mean, I can't even say that enough life-changing. And the funny thing is when I've shared about that on my Instagram with my followers, I can't tell you how many women have had those same issues. And a message me, like saying, oh my gosh, thank you so much for saying something about this because I had no testosterone or my testosterone is super low, I've never felt better or whatever.

And the funny thing is after doing research about this and talking with my doctor who does the testosterone pellets inserts and supplements and stuff. He was like at first when I heard about this, I thought it was hogwash. I thought it was the dumbest thing ever because he's a O B G Y N. Very popular one here in Utah and he's like, but finally I went to a seminar and I learned about it and what I realized after all my research is that most women are misdiagnosed with postpartum depression and it's actually low testosterone.

CAMILLE [29:37]

Oh, wow.

MELEA [29:38]

And how crazy is that? Especially with all of these women who have multiple children, right? Some of them very quickly back to back, they think that they are having postpartum depression when really it's a hormone issue, We already know our hormones are out of whack right? When we have babies, we all have the ups and downs and the crazy, the crazy moments we all have, but it's low testosterone and so for whatever reason my body just didn't ever really start making it after my babies. So that's my little tip.

That's the thing that's literally changed my life. My relationship with my husband is better. I have energy, which I mean I'm not like energizer bunny, I still have friends like that, but I look at them and I think what do you take? How do you dream and I have what you have, but I don't feel, I mean I don't have to take a nap every day. Like I used to before that I literally would have to, I couldn't make it until I couldn't make it through the day without falling asleep.

Like that's how tired I was. And then once I started getting my testosterone, testosterone pellets. Um, and I have level, like regular levels of where women should be testosterone wise, the weight started dropping off. Um, I've done other things as well, like other programs that I swear by like the mommy tummy fix I think is by far the best workout program ever invented actually made by someone here in Utah. It's amazing. So that along with the testosterone absolutely great.

CAMILLE[31:01]

It's amazing.

MELEA [31:02]

That’s what you say. Tell women or I'll tell women since they're listening.

CAMILLE [31:06]

Yes.

MELEA [31:07]

Yes. If something feels off, get it checked, and then second of all, get your hormones checked. I can't tell you. Like hundreds of women have messaged me saying, oh my gosh, mine was low, Mine was low, like, it's just from having babies.

CAMILLE [31:22]

Do you think that that's something that you have to go to a specialist to do or because like you say, most of the time your family physician, for example, might not dig into the weeds or do you think most physicians, you could say, hey, I want to do a hormone test and you could just get it taken care of, What would you say?

MELEA [31:40]

Well, the responses I'm getting from my followers. It's kind of half and half. So they had their regular doctor, some say yes. Some say no. Um you have to specifically say when you're doing a blood test, you have to say you want those three polls because they will not randomly just pull those, I don't know if it's an insurance issue.

I don't know why they don't do that. Honestly. I feel like that's something they should do for every woman, especially those who are delivering babies, right? So I think you need to ask your regular petitioner first, but then even if they pulled it, they wouldn't be able to treat it unless they knew how to do it. So that's when you need to find someone who does the testosterone pellets. And I know a lot of men do that, but a lot of women are doing it now to like myself.

And so I think you need to either ask around Facebook, Facebook friends, or whatever because I think more women are doing it than you realize because it's becoming more and more of a topic people talk about. So you might have to go find a specialist to actually put in the supplement for you or the pellets for you. But yeah, there are plenty of places out there that will do it.

CAMILLE [32:45]

And you get them prescribed. So it's like a, like a, like a prescription or

MELEA [32:51]

No actually. So there's a few different types of testosterone, you might hear like creams or you just rub it into your skin and there's also, you know, liquid shots that you could shoot in and that would be a prescription. I get pellets inserted into my hip.

So I go into a doctor's office, they numb my hip, they cut me open, they put in the pellets and I don't need like, need stitches or anything like that. It's totally fine. It just heals up within a couple days and then having those pellets inside my body, they look like little pills you would swallow, but your body pulls from them when it needs it. And so it's a steady stream of testosterone versus the shots. I personally don't recommend the shots. I know a lot of other people don't either because it gives you up and down mood swings unless you are absolutely perfect.

Never missed a shot. Never forget, same time every day, you know what I mean? And so I like the pellets being put in and you go in every three or four months and get them put in again. So your body just pulls from them in a steady stream and you don't have to think about it. So it's super easy and I know it sounds kind of, kind of weird, but once you do it you're gonna be like, best thing ever. I don't think it's great.

CAMILLE [34:03]

That's fascinating. I do have a friend who does the shots and she loves them. I have not heard of the pellets. Like I'm super interested. We're going to have to talk more about that and look into that a little bit more. That's fascinating.

MELEA [34:15]

The pellets I feel like or something that you might hear about more with men, right? Because men, men testosterone as they get older, it just naturally depletes, right? So my husband has gotten pellets for a long time. I'm just because this is already low, but I think it's becoming more and more talked about and for women, it's just like, just like as well, we have so much going on so much to remember, so much to do that. Like if you were to forget one morning it would mess things up so badly for you. I don't want like manic depressive cycles in my day, you know, from not getting the testosterone even. So that way, it's just like hands off for me where I don't have to think about it again.

CAMILLE [34:50]

Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. Well, this is what I'm thinking is this episode has been so incredible. I'm going to end this episode right now. We're going to start a new one just talking about Black Friday deals. So Melea, thank you for sharing everything about your balance and your life and your journey. I cannot wait to see what you do next.

It's only going to be good things and something I try to remember in my own journey and for those of us who have been doing things for a long time, whatever feel that it is that you choose is that you have so much life ahead ahead of you and we have such a short time with our kids, you know, and so if you're in that phase of life right now listening to this and thinking, oh I feel this burnout or I really need to take a pause in my, in my story here and change gears do it because you can always continue to grow and morph and change as we age.

We're, we really have so much left, right and so I'm just so excited to see what that looks like for you because you are a doer you have done incredible things, tell everyone listening to this episode where they can find you online.

MELEA [35:54]

Oh, it can find me the Melea Show on Instagram I share the most, they're the most constantly and stories, honestly, is where I should probably the most in the bulk of my content, especially, you know, deals of money, same things because I can give people a direct link to whatever it is.

I'm talking about the deal to sale the product I reviewed whatever, but Instagram is probably the best place I do have the Youtube channel, there's a lot of really solid awesome videos over there, especially for travel um, or Costco tips and things like that that people can watch, but for everyday content in real-time content, Instagram is probably the best place for people to go.

CAMILLE [36:29]

Perfect, okay, well we're gonna pause right here. If you love this episode, please join us in the next one. We're just going to be talking Black Friday Deals and you can hear more about what you need to know today.

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CAMILLE [36:42]

Wasn't that an incredible episode? I loved so much what Melea had to say about taking your health into consideration when you're setting goals for yourself as a woman, an entrepreneur and mother, really taking time for yourself to create success.

That matters to you. And I cannot tell you how much I loved this episode and I had to pause it because I knew we were going to be shifting gears into talking about Black Friday exclusively and how it is such a unique Black Friday this year with the pandemic and shortages and everything else. So listen to the next episode to hear what you need to do to save money today.

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