TUNE INTO YOUR INTUITION AND OPEN THE GATES FOR RECEIVING AND ENVISIONING EMPOWERMENT | MICHELLE DEMAREE

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CAMILLE WALKER [0:02]

Welcome back everyone to another episode of Call Me CEO. This episode is a good one. If you are looking for ways to stand out in a saturated market and also hit those big million-dollar goals, my guest today on this show says it's not what you might think and it's a lot about tuning into your intuition and really opening up the gates for receiving and envisioning empowerment. It's pretty powerful stuff.

My guest today is Michelle Demaree. She is Miss Diamond herself who has built her very own diamond ring business, which has been featured in magazines all over the world. She is known for being not only in the know, but for having passion for being an ambassador of love and smart purchase luxury. She has established herself as the engagement ring expert and has been featured in The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Page Six Style, Yahoo, Us Weekly, Entertainment Tonight, Life & Style, The American Dream, and several others.

She is the leading female entrepreneur in the self-love movement with her intention diamonds for women by women and in support of women. Michelle's Beverly Hill-based boutique service offers unprecedented global diamond searches and bespoke diamond luxury rings designed around each couple's love story along with travel and proposal planning services. A pretty cool gig, huh? What is also really neat about Michelle is that she didn't get there easily. And she is one of the most graceful, humble, willing to share her knowledge people I've ever met. She also happens to be a single mom and doesn't shy away from sharing the hard parts either.

I hope that you will cozy in tight wherever it is that you are, listen really closely because I really love what Michelle has to say about the relationship that sales takes in your business. It's not so much about selling something as it is about creating relationships and helping someone in need with the service or the product that you have to offer. So, let's dive in. This is going to be a good one. Let's go.

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CAMILLE [2:27]

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 [2:47]

Welcome back everyone. I am so excited to be here today with Michelle Demaree who is Miss Diamond herself, built a business from the ground up without a freaking business plan and has a million-dollar business as a single mom. So much about this story, I can't wait to unpack with you, Michelle. Thank you for being here today.

MICHELLE DEMAREE [3:06]

Of course. Thank you for having me, Camille. It's such a pleasure.

CAMILLE [3:10]

I appreciate it. I want to hear from the beginning. Tell our audience a little bit about who you are, a little bit about your family, and where this idea came from to build a diamond business.

MICHELLE [3:21]

Oh gosh. Well, the funny thing is I tripped and fell into the diamond industry 15 years ago and I had no knowledge of jewelry, of diamonds. I came from a very simple working-class family in San Diego. They're from the Midwest and my mom never got her nails done. And so, funny enough I ended up in the world of luxury like high jewelry, selling million-dollar homes, everything I've ever done has been luxury. So, clearly it was my destiny.

But I was in Chicago. I had moved there for a relationship and I ended up meeting the director of a store called Van Cleef & Arpels. Some of you may know it. Some of you may not. I thought it was a law firm at the time. It was a Parisian high jewelry house. And I had a very strong background in sales, so this was 15 years ago. I ended up working at Van Cleef & Arpels. And if you know people, if you can connect with people, you can sell anything because you're really not selling. You're just helping someone out. So, it started 15 years ago there and then I was home sick.

And so, I came back to L.A. and worked for a Tiffany's on Rodeo Drive and then also Harry Winston on Rodeo Drive. So, I had the great honor and privilege of working for these esteemed jewelry houses, training in Paris, seeing how all these beautiful jewels are sourced and crafted. And then when I met my now ex-husband, we got married. I had my daughter Charlotte and I was ready to just take a bite of retail and be a stay-at-home mom and that was okay. This is my new life. And yeah, it didn't really go that way.

So, I would say, when Charlotte was one year old and deep down in my gut, I knew things weren't right with the relationship and I had a feeling that it wouldn't work out long-term and I knew that I couldn't go back to retail hours because I would never see my daughter. So, I had the idea to start my own business. I knew nothing about how to run a business, how to start a business, but my dear friend, Rebecca Cafiero, who we had sold real estate together in Vegas many years prior, she was a budding entrepreneur. And so, she offered B school to me which was Marie Forleo's How to Do a Business and invited me to a weekend in Orange Country called The Bliss Project.

CAMILLE [6:02]

I've heard of it.

MICHELLE {6:03]

Yeah. So, that was the weekend. I was like, "I'm going to do this. I'm going to create my own business." And it started with one client. One client who was looking for a very nice ring that I was able to source better and. of course, a better value and a better experience. And it was that one client and that one weekend and that one woman who planted the seed like, "You can do this." And that was six years ago.

CAMILLE [6:30]

Wow. Okay. I want to back up because right there, I feel like I love what you said about sales is about people and helping them because so many times I have people that I talk to as well as friends of mine that may have a product or a course or any of those things and they'll say, "Gosh, but it's so hard to market for myself" and I get that. I have moments like that too. And I think so much of that is in my mind shift change of thinking that you're helping someone and providing a service. So, I love that you said that. I feel like that is so true.

MICHELLE [7:04]

It really is. I've shifted from being an, "Always be closing A, B, C. Hit the numbers. Make the sale" and when I shifted to the other side of, "It's not always be closing. It's always be connecting." You can still use the same ABC, but it's like how do you connect to someone on the highest level which is truly it's how do they want to feel? How do they want to feel? Why are they buying this thing? Well, it's because they want to lose weight, so they can feel attractive around their partner or they want to buy this jewelry for their lover, so that she will feel it up and he can feel connected to her. At the end of the day, everything we do, why do we aspire to get this car or this house? It's so we can feel a certain way.

So, if you can tap into that feeling and connect with that first with your client and truly come at it from a how can you help them achieve this end goal? Nothing else matters. It pushes away all the chaos and you're really going to come at it from like a how can I add value to this end experience that they want and how can I create an experience that makes them feel even better while they're trying to achieve this end feeling?

So, my goal and my mission has been like how can I create an experience for my clients that is truly unforgettable that makes them feel so valued and their love story is so special and so sacred and then how do I create ring that every time they look at it, it continues to honor that feeling and create that excitement, that dopamine hitting the brain, which we're all after, right?

CAMILLE [8:50]

For sure.

MICHELLE [8:51]

It's like we're all after the glass of wine. Why? So, we can chill back and relax. Or the chocolate or whatever, so yeah, it's really about connecting. One thing that was really a game changer for me on how to connect with clients was to never start with business ever, ever, ever. You never start with business. You always start with a personal connection and you come at it from a place of true authentic genuinely caring about them as a person and good will because everything is energy. Everything, our heart picks up on everything. That feeling that you get when someone feels disingenuous, that's your heart picking up on it. So, we think that our words will cloud over how we feel and that's just not the case. You have to really get in a place where you want to help people, you want to connect with them and then it all just flows.

CAMILLE [9:49]

For those that are listening right now and thinking, how do I create those moments of connection? Perhaps specifically for businesses online and I know that we discussed earlier that you sell product online, but then you do consulting in-person, so you do a mix. And I feel like in-person it's so much easier to feel that energy and that love and that vibe, what advice would you give to someone who is perhaps creating connections online and really trying to figure out how to do that?

MICHELLE [10:18]

Yes. Well, what I will is 75% of my business is done virtually. So, you can overcome that and it really comes down to the experience people have with any introduction to who you are. The best thing you could ever do is a face-to-face Zoom call or a phone call where you are connecting with a person. Now, everyone's busy. Everyone's texting and everything's transactional. And so, with the drive toward digital, people internally are craving more connection.

So, on your digital presence, how are people feeling? What's the feeling that they get when they first go to your website? Above the fold, what are they seeing? Are they seeing a quote that's going to tap into their heart and go, "Oh, whoa. What's that?" Or is it going to be, "Subscribe to our newsletter" like I'm trying to take. I'm trying to take. How can you give immediately when they go to your website? So, what kind of colors are on there that you evoke the feeling that your client is after? What kind of imagery are you using? When I ship out my boxes because, yeah, you have the digitally they purchase, but then I ship them a box, I spray it with my favorite perfume. That's a sensory. Or I put my favorite chocolate in there. How are the ways that you can tap into all of the senses of your clients? What kind of music is playing? If you're doing a presentation, is your presentation evoking a feeling?

Really at the end of the day, this is all we are after. People do business who make them feel good. It's not about, "Do you have the solution? Here I have the solution. I have the solution." Yeah, but do you care about me as a person? That is really all it comes down to. So, digitally really I would say go to your favorite website and I know this is probably we've all done this, but it's not about are they driving good sales? How does it make you feel when you go there? Does it make you feel good? Do you keep coming back for more? Because the brain only comes back for more when it feels good. We're all after that dopamine hit, so what do you creating digitally? Are you giving first? Are you giving more value than you're taking?

If you want to make a lot of money, you have to add more value than you're taking back. It's just how it works and then it just overflows. So, I would say think of your presence online if you can add a video or some personable branding. The whole point is not like, "Look at me. Look at me." It's really about like, "This is who I am." The greatest value you can offer is your own authenticity, who you are. And all of us, we're all snowflakes. We all have a really beautiful special story to give to the world and whatever niche you're in, whether it's selling flowers, selling makeup, selling diamonds, who you are is what people are going to connect with more than your product.

So, if you can create that experience and that feeling and you can find a way to connect with a video, a video call. My presentations are super high level. I was doing Zoom for a while and then I was like, "How can I up level this?" There's a platform called Prezi, P-R-E-Z-I, and it's just this beautiful flowy way to present and connect. You just want to think about all those things.

CAMILLE [13:55]

I love it. This is all just such good stuff here. One question about Prezi, would you say it's like a presentation or is this just a call? How do people utilize that? Tell us a little bit about Prezi.

MICHELLE [14:11]

Yeah. So, you can use it any which way. You can do a pre-recorded presentation that's just the presentation. You can do the presentation and then your face is on the side, so they can see you. But it's just got this beautiful fluidity that you can brand and color. So, if I present a diamond, it's me talking to them, so they can see me. It's almost like we're at Harry Winston and I'm showing them the diamond. I show it to them on my hand.

I'm selling six figure diamonds this way. I've never met them in person. They've never seen this stone in person, but I build such deep trust and connection and I genuinely want them to be happy. I would never sell them something they aren't going to freaking love and be over with the moon with. So, it's like I’m so confident in what I'm doing because I know they're going to be happy. I know it's so valued. So, anyway, yes. I connect with the Zoom calls through Prezi. And yeah, you can do it live or pre-recorded. You can email it. You can record it with a video view talking like, "Hey. Here are the things you need to know." And then, you save it and then you send it to them.

CAMILLE [15:15]

That's pretty cool. Let me check that out. That's such a good resource. Thank you.

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CAMILLE [15:20]

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CAMILLE [15:57]

All right. Well, we need to back up because my girlfriend, you started with one client and shout out to that program and course that got you going. I really believe in women entrepreneurs and in what we can teach and give each other. So, take us back to that weekend. We need to backpedal a little bit. I love hearing your heart. I know that everyone listening right now is like, "Yes, yes, yes. Tell me more." Let's hear a little bit more about your journey and how you got to this incredible place with such a heartfelt intuition and guiding you where you ended up.

MICHELLE [16:31]

Well, what I can say is I always used visual imagery. It's like a tree growing and I started with a little seed. And then, I grew, grew and it's just been one branch and then another branch and then another branch with every next evolution. So, I wasn't here six years ago. I was just like, "Oh my god. I'm in this marriage that I don't think is going to work out." I was really scared. I don't have the funds to buy a ton of diamond inventory and create a brick-and-mortar store. I have a little girl that I want to be with all the time and I feel stuck. I feel scared. That was where I started.

And then I went to this weekend. No one starts up here and it's like it never ends. You're always growing, always evolving. So, I went to this weekend which again my friend Rebecca invited me to and it was a lifechanging weekend for me. And that was the first seed that was planted. Lori Harder hosts the weekend. It's called The Bliss Project and it was about finding your bliss and your gifts and then bringing it to the world. And we're all here to do that. And I knew that with my experience and it had never occurred to me that, "Oh my god. I worked for all these luxury brands." I even worked for Bentley and Lamborghini and I worked in high real estate. I was like, "Oh, wow. I think I got enough credibility to do this thing" or even if I hadn't worked for those places, I could still do this and walk on this path. So, it started with the idea. And then, it started with the client, the one client. He bought like a $300,000 ring which was very, very lucky.

CAMILLE [18:20]

Was that a family friend?

MICHELLE [18:23]

It was a personal connection through Harry Winston.

CAMILLE [18:26]

Okay. You'd work with before.

MICHELLE [18:30]

It was just through a contact, yeah. So, that was the first sale, so it made me believe, "Wow. I could do this" because we all need social proof. We all need to. It's like an expander like, "Well, she did, so I can do it." I have that one sale. And so, it grew in my belief that I could step into this space. Now, after that, the next year, I was hustling really hard to get clients and they were like clients spending $10,000, $15,000. I was working really, really hard. The sales were okay. They were coming in here and there, but I felt like I was hustling really, really hard. I wasn't getting the margin I wanted. I wasn't attracting the clients I wanted.

And so, that was where the next branch grew, where I was like, "How can I shift this?" And I started working with a coach, Kristin Brabant, who is incredible. It's like women have helped me grow a new branch every level. This is what we do. We support and empower each other. And I hope anything, something that I say will help do that for all of you women. But she helped me grow into the concept of what is it that I want? Who is my dream client and how can I attract my dream client? Am I coming from a place of abundance or a place of lack?

I was afraid to pass on any clients even if they were not loyal. They were not treating me well or this or that. We always experience that and it was happening in my personal life too. I had a problem with boundaries. I was a people pleaser, so I didn't know how to draw a healthy boundary in my personal or professional life. And so, that's where I learned how to gate my offer and to say, "Okay. You know what? If you want to work with me, you have to spend minimum of $20,000." And that was a scary thing that I did, but it actually literally opened the door.

And all of a sudden, all of my sales were $50,000 and above and that happened over a span of years. And now, it's like going to the next level and the next level. And now, I'm creating a new gated offer, but the point is I only have so much time and I want to work because I'm a single mom. I have a seven-year-old daughter that I want to be with. I value balance more than anything. Balance, that's where you're really rich. It's not about being a billionaire or a millionaire. A millionaire's great, but it's like are you able to enjoy it? Are you still freaking stressed out that you can't even enjoy time with the park with your daughter because you're on your phone or taking calls? It's like how do I create the balance?

So, I was like, well, I would rather work with clients who appreciate what I do, who their time is their most valuable asset and resource, so they want me to take this on. They're not going to work with me and then do all the work and then not buy from me because we've all experienced that where you do the work, you put in the time, and then they phase out or they ghost you. That feels awful. That happens to all of us.

So, I gated my offer and then I also created a commitment. If you want to work with me, you do have to put a percentage deposit upfront because I value myself and my time so much that I'm not going to give it away for free. So, that was another branch that grew for me. And this was maybe year two, year three of my business and then my friend Rebecca Cafiero, I keep bringing her up because she's really been a catalyst for me, she had this weekend retreat called Brand Camp and Brand Camp in Sonoma was this weekend for all women to come together and do a mastermind like, "Here are our entrepreneur ideas. Here's what we want to do." And we all mastermind it together to figure out how can I make it better? What will work? We workshopped it.

And it was that weekend because I was again raising a little girl in conflict with my husband. We were in therapy. We were talking about getting a divorce. You have a lot of chaotic energy, a lot of fragmentation, so it's hard to stay focused and I wasn't in the flow in my business yet. So, this weekend, being in a very safe container of women who completely validated and supported my business because I was starting to doubt it. They were like, "Just go for it. This is it. You need to go for it." And it was just those soft whispers of the feminine in a beautiful supportive environment that made me just go, "Okay. I am going to go for it."

And it was just a few months later that year and I had done a lot of meditation and I really believe in the subconscious being the gamechanger, working on my subconscious and that year, The New York Times reached out and did a whole article on me. And that was a gamechanger for my business like a gamechanger. I can't even tell you the doors that opened for me, but that was it. And again, that's another branch. And that was another expander for me to step into just continuing stepping into the fullness of who we can become and who we're meant to be. And it wasn’t about being famous or being this or that. It was like almost stepping into owning who I am like my worth, my value, which we're all on our journey. I could talk about that for a long time.

But yeah, this has been like a soulful business for me because when you run your own business, you are dealing with self-doubt. You are dealing with all of these little voices in your head that are reflecting back to you where you need to do your own inner work which is generally self-love. When you love yourself, when you believe in yourself, everything flows and then you can love other people more. You can add more value, so we think it's all about business, but it's all flowing into the wholeness of who we are. So, yeah, that was the next branch, The New York Times.

CAMILLE [24:54]

I know we're going to talk about manifestation here in a second, but do you have any inkling as to where that came from?

MICHELLE [25:06]

Yes. Well, yes, okay. So, I'm a Capricorn. So, when I decide I'm going to do something, I go for it. I really go for it. So, another thing I should share is that in being an entrepreneur, sometimes it takes a few times to hire different people. I was looking for a PR person. I was looking for an advertising person and it took me four bad advertising hires to find a good one and he is gold. It took me three bad PR hires. It's so painful because it's your money and then I found three separate amazing freelance well-priced PR women who are all pitching me and pitches had gone out and I was just like, "Well, nothing's coming back. I guess it is what it is." I just kept doing my thing. I was doing these meditations and boom, out of nowhere, my girl Danielle goes, "The New York Times wants to do a whole writeup on you." I was like, "What? I couldn’t believe it."

CAMILLE [26:17]

Key factors there. First, you were manifesting, loving yourself, giving yourself space and energy to believe this could happen, but you also did the work to find good people to bring them into your life, to allow the opportunity to happen and to be ready to accept it and they're all such important lessons.

MICHELLE [26:35]

Yes. You can lay in bed and meditate all day, but if you don't also take action, I don't know, it's probably not going to happen as quickly as you want. I think there's some magic in the universe. But I'm now in receiving mode where I'm like, "Okay. I'm letting everything flow to me, but I've spent years doing, doing, doing." Now, I do believe there needs to be a healthy balance between doing and receiving. That's the flow of the masculine and the feminine energy that we all embody. But yes, we pitched like crazy. I just had my PR women pitch like crazy. Everyone, all these different ways, I was writing articles and then it was Modern Luxury, then it was the LA times, then it was Yahoo Finance and then again the branches grow.

And then reality show, I was offered a reality show. I almost meditated on getting a reality show and the funny thing is when I got it, I was so excited. We were talking to the producers. I was talking to the lawyer. We had a sizzle reel made and I was like, "This is it. This is going to help me make more money because that will keep me safe and make me happy." But something inside of me and it was truly my intuition which after my divorce, my biggest lesson was to always listen to my intuition, business, personal and it was just tugging at me. When you feel a resistance, when you feel an energetic resistance and a heaviness to something, you have to listen to it.

And so, I was just praying for a sign because I was like, "How could I pass on something so obviously amazing?" But I actually ended up with two things that happened during the time to pass on this. Okay. Yes, I might make money and fame and all the stuff from this, but I would have a lack of privacy and I would have less time with my daughter. It would create more business and more chaos in my life and if balance is one of my biggest values above everything, balance. If you can make the money, but you can't enjoy it, what's the point?

So, I was sitting on that while then the lawyer who did all The Housewives. Yeah, he was the lawyer for every reality TV show you know. He said, "Michelle, I know you're a single mom." He's like, "Yes. I make money doing this with you, but I don’t need the money and I just want to say this." He said, "I've seen these shows ruin more lives than ever make anybody rich." And he's like, "If I were you, I'd really think twice about this." And I was like, "Oh." This was our first phone call. And then, a couple of days later, I had a security scare where all these hackers were breaking. Through Instagram, they had found me. They had broken into my WhatsApp and my email and it was a security thing. He also said, "You need to consider your security. Everywhere you go, you're going to be the diamond girl." And I was like, "That's true." And then, I had this happen right after that.

So, to me, what's more important than your safety as a human being, feeling safe? So, that was it. So, I passed on that and I felt really good at the time. And then, a month later, I was like, "Well, I just made a huge mistake. I shouldn't have passed on that." But I was stuck with that. I was like, "No, no. This was the right thing to do." And I kept meditating on what I wanted to create, what I wanted to keep manifesting and doing and stepping into that feeling. And that was when randomly Rolls-Royce reached out to me on LinkedIn.

CAMILLE [30:36]

No big deal.

MICHELLE [30:38]

No big deal at all.

CAMILLE [30:41]

No big deal, oh my gosh. Okay. Rolls-Royce reaches out to you.

MICHELLE [30:45]

The e-mail in the spam, yeah. And so, that's another branch on my tree which is the stepping into this demographic that I've worked with some of them, but this is just a completely different level. So, I'll be showcasing at their event in the UK and I'll be in one of the best and the best in the world and making a ring for the queen. So, yeah, she doesn't know it. I'm launching something called Love Legacy which is the highest level bespoke which is a truly an heirloom piece to honor your love story with your partner. And so, we're sourcing stones from around the world to honor her actual love story with her husband.

But yeah, so again, the beauty is you don't always have to know what it's going to be because I could never have predicted that. You just have to know and stay aligned with what you value and what your goals are and do the work. And I kept putting myself out there. I want to be a high-level luxury concierge. I don’t want to be snooty. I want to be myself. I want to be authentic. I want to be connected, but I want to add the most value and I want to work with people who have the money to spend, but who are also kind and value what I bring to the table.

So, it's like this very hybrid thing because the luxury industry isn't always like me. There are different categories of luxury, but what I believe is people who can buy anything, if they can buy anything, a product isn't what they're after. They want to feel a certain way. They want to feel valuable. They want to feel great. They want to feel honored. They want to feel love. At the end of the day, it's love. So, yeah, that's my story.

CAMILLE [32:37]

That's incredible.

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CAMILLE [32:38]

Have you been thinking about trying to discover your why and maybe defining your purpose a little more clearly? Well, I created a free five-day email sequence that helps you do just that. It helps you dive into who you are, what your special talents are and even pushes you a little bit out of your comfort zone with asking questions of people that are close to you. So, go to callmeceopodcast.com to access that. And I have a little sneak peek of something up and coming about how to become a virtual assistant. So, if that is something that you would think you might want to do in the future, stay tuned, get subscribed to the newsletter, so you can hear about all the details because we will have special discounts for those who are subscribed to our email list. You can go there and find more information at callmeceopodcast.com or camillewalker.co.

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CAMILLE [33:27]

I am so inspired by not only your ambition and your grit and all of that, but your heart that it really comes through that that's what drives you. And I think that's what's made you so successful because people will feel that and that's such a good example to us. Do you feel like you've always been that aligned with wanting and knowing who you are and what you're after and your brand or do you feel like that's something that you've grown into?

MICHELLE [33:56]

I've really grown into it. Yeah. The divorce and then there some health issues with my daughter, going through the darkest time of my life and stepping into the unknown, the irony, that's how diamonds are formed. How are they formed? It's like incredible pressure, incredible heat, polishing, rubbing, uncomfortableness and that's how you form the most beautiful, wise, on fire, sparkling, radiant soul diamond. I think we're all diamonds taking shape, taking formation.

And when something bad happens to us, it's really happening for us. I know that sounds crazy because some really bad stuff can happen, but there's a lesson out of all of it is the point. It's everything that happens to you if it's bad or good, it's a reflection back to you of where you need to do some work. I've learned that in relationships. If you're attracting someone emotionally unavailable, if your partner is emotionally unavailable, it's actually crazy enough a reflection back to you and the work you have to do on some emotional unavailability in your own heart which I've realized in my dating the past few years.

So, it's like constantly, "Okay, what is this saying to me? What does this mean?" If I attracted this client who treated me this way, where am I out of alignment? And if I'm in a bad zone energy wise, I hide from the world because I know I'm going to attract some bad stuff. I just really believe that. But I haven't always been this Michelle. I've been in process and I've sought out so many resources to continually grow. I cannot even tell you. I cannot stress the importance of investing in yourself whether it's taking courses, doing meditation, doing hypnotherapy. I've really rewired my subconscious. And by the way, I have bad days. I have good days. I have bad days. But for the most part, I do feel very much in alignment with who I was meant to be and the more this tree grows and the branches unfold.

And some of the branches don't work out. Some of the branches are like, "That's a bad idea." That's a dead branch. That didn't grow any leaves. That's okay. I tried it. You learned from all of it, but yeah. What's the best way to put it? I'm here for love. Not just romantic love, I'm here to unfold and understand love at the highest level because that's actually been my own journey of self-love like being in the some of the most painful situations relationship wise have reflected back to me. I didn't really love myself. I thought I did. My parents were great, but there were just some things that can imprint in childhood that shift your belief of yourself of your value like, "Oh, you're only valuable if you earn straight A's and you're the MVP or whatever."

So, I've learned to tap into my own love which has now that I've learned all these lessons, all I want to do is share it. All I want to do is share it. And so, even in my business now, even though it's a diamond business, I'm always thinking of, how can I help my couples feel more love in their relationship and have that lifelong love affair where they don't fall into that 50% divorce rate? And so, I have all these resources that I want to bring into the fold of my business that I do rings. But my industry is all about relationships, so how can I create that experience for them and add more value?

So, that's unfolding. Those are some new branches that are growing. Yeah, it just never ends. The unfolding and the blossoming and the growing and the learning and the making mistakes and having some wins, it never ends. So, I'm just six years into my journey as an entrepreneur and I'm three years into my journey as I'd say the best version of myself I've ever been because I feel like I finally know who I am. Yeah.

CAMILLE [38:27]

Can you share with us one experience where you made a wrong turn and you learned a lesson that you could share with us about pivoting and readjusting that?

MICHELLE [38:43]

Yeah. Business or personal? Business, okay.

CAMILLE [38:52]

Either way.

MICHELLE [38:52]

Well, it's always intertwined. Let me think about this. Yes, okay. There are two examples I want to give. One is this past year during the pandemic, I was really trying to do a push with influencers and I had no experience with that. And I'm a self-funded business, so what comes in goes back into the business for the most part. And so, to work with influencers was interesting because you have an influencer with 10 million followers and you think like, "Okay. To give them this piece of jewelry it was like thousands of dollars and then I'm going to see this return." And I did it with quite a few influencers.

And what was interesting to me and it was a financially painful lesson, but oh my god, did I extract the juice and the wisdom and the learning out of it was, so none of the influencers who had the millions of followers, nothing came from most of those. And actually, there were two where the return was astronomical. One was an influencer who had the lowest following, but the biggest engagement and she was a business owner. So, she wasn't five seconds of fame beautiful personable, but not a lot of substance. She was all substance and she knew how to sell because she was a business woman. So, I found that again sometimes we want to partner with something that is shiny and pretty and exciting, but the lesson there for me was, well, do they really know how to run their own business? And they don't.

So, for me and for this partnership with the diamonds, the diamonds was the Soul Collection and again so the diamonds was Soul Collection was the collection that was born coming out of my divorce and stepping into who I am as a woman and they're all intention diamonds. You set intentions on them and as you look at them, you are reminded of your highest calling and your goal and there's some meditation that goes with them. And so, the woman that I partnered that had the most incredible amount of sales, she was living that life and walking that walk. So, there was alignment there even though on paper, it might not have seemed like the person I should partner with. And that also happened with a celebrity who is also in alignment and living that life and walking that walk. Yeah. It's just interesting how the lesson there. And so, now moving forward, I've been offered, "Oh, do you want to work with this person?" I've been tempted to do it again and that would be a lot of financial output. But I'm like, "No. I'm just going to wait and see what flows onto my path."

What I will say is one of the big lessons that I'm learning right now in my life, the branches that are growing now and I'm learning this in my dating life and I'm bringing it in my business life because they go hand in hand, it's the energy of the masculine and the feminine. And I've always been doing, doing, doing, going, going, going, doing, doing, doing because that's what I know. That's how I was as a child. That's what I watched my mom do. My mom was the breadwinner. She was at school during the day and working at night. She was going, going, going and she was always stressed out. Bless her heart. And an amazing mom. And so, I had imprinted that and I was doing that go, go, go, do, do, do. Well, it never occurred to me and that's masculine energy and it's not bad. We have to embody both masculine and feminine in our personal and in our business.

But if you're constantly doing, you actually are not in the energy of receiving. You're really not. Everything is energy, so you're not stepping back and trusting and surrounding that things could just come to you really. That's really hard for me to do because nothing has been handed to me. I've always had to work hard. And so, I'm in that right now and I'm noticing that it's hard for me, but if I do it, things are starting to unfold in ways that it's not of my own doing. It's being placed onto my path. Now, I've done a lot of the heavy lifting, a lot of the work upfront, but sometimes the energy of doing, doing can be repelling also. It can be too much.

And so, I'm sitting in this energy that is new for me. Also in relationships because if you're constantly pursuing, you can't be the pursuer as a woman. You have to be the receiver. Not have to, but it's just the way it works in a relationship. Everything is all about polarity. People are attracted to the opposite. The masculine is attracted to the feminine whether it's a hetero or homosexual couple. And so, what I will say just a little tip for all relationships out there for all the women listening is be in your masculine, but don't be afraid to be in your feminine too because your femininity is powerful.

It's actually the most powerful energy in the universe. We literally create life. We literally create life inside of us. We grow, we nurture it. Our softness is what attracts men. Softness in business is not weak. It's actually going to create harmony and it's going to create bridges. I worked in such a predominantly male industry and when I shift out of my masculine and into my feminine and my like, "Hey, how are you kids doing? I brought you guys some cookies," that is so powerful.

It is so powerful and they call me back first. They send me the best stones because they're attracted to that in general. Everyone needs that feminine nurturing. So, anyway, just wanted to say that in general that from the influencers story, I was doing, doing, doing and I realized I needed to be in alignment and right now, in my personal and my professional life, I'm going to step more into the feminine energy and it's beautiful to have a balance of both.

CAMILLE [46:04]

I love that. I've never heard it put quite that way and I really love that because I think a lot of times as women, we feel like we have to prove ourselves. And in many cases, that can be the case and we have to do that. However, there is so much strength that comes from what it is to be a woman and I'm so glad that you really highlighted that. And this conversation has been so wonderful. Please tell our audience where they can find you and connect with you more.

MICHELLE [46:31]

Oh, sure. Yeah. I'm on social media. In Instagram, you can find me @missdiamondring. And you can find me online, on my website at missdiamondring.com and I also have a Shopify website. So, if you're interested in looking at diamonds, buying an engagement ring, you can go to diamondswithsoul.com. Yeah.

CAMILLE [47:01]

Awesome. Well, thank you so, so much for spending this time with us today and we actually have a special code that we can share today for those who are interested. Do you want to share what that is?

MICHELLE [47:12]

Yes. It is ceofive for 5% off any of the Diamonds with Soul pieces. And what's cool about those pieces like I mentioned is they're truly intention diamonds. So, you set an intention on these diamonds and you do the meditation. That was created by Ryan Haddon, who is a friend of mine. She's Kourtney Kardashian's hypnosis coach and Poosh's in-house guru. She's an amazing soul. You're going to align with your intention and every time you look at this piece of jewelry, it's going to ping back. It's going to build a neuropathway of your brain of like, "Yes. I'm going to hit that number. I'm going to hit that goal" or "I'm going to draw in my soulmate," whatever it is.

So, yeah. That is where you can find me. And yeah, so ceofive. And yeah, reach out anytime. I love being in the community of other female entrepreneurs. I think we all are here to support each other and be a mirror to one another of truth of where we can support each other and also like, "Hey. You're better than this" or "You can do this. We're all here to grow together." So, thank you so much for having me.

CAMILLE [48:30]

Oh my gosh. It's been my pleasure. Thank you so much.

[MUSIC]

CAMILLE [48:34]

Oh my goodness, you guys. Wasn't that an incredible episode? I feel so connected to Michelle after having that conversation. And one of the things that really stuck out to me the most was taking time to tap into who you are. And if that's something that you're feeling like you need a little bit more direction with, I have created a free five-day approach to discovering your purpose and your why in defining yourself and your brand.

So, if that's something that you think you would like a little more help with, you can head to camillewalker.co to check out that great resource and also make sure that you are listening to my Fearless Friday episodes as those are specifically geared towards checking in with yourself, in your motherhood, in your business, and approaching your life without fear and really embracing abundance. I hope you have a wonderful day. Please connect with me on Instagram @camillewalker.co and @callmeceopodcast and I will see you next time.

[MUSIC]

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