Simone Fortier on Scaling a Business Without Burning Out

In this episode of Success Leaves Clues Podcast, host Pedro welcomes Simone Fortier, a business and mindset coach with over 30 years of experience helping entrepreneurs, healthcare professionals, and business owners unlock peak performance through neuroscience, brain health, and leadership. Simone shares her journey from entrepreneur to coach, explains how ADHD can impact business growth, and reveals practical strategies for overcoming self-sabotage, building high-performing teams, and scaling without burnout. She also discusses the power of AI, why relationships outperform hard selling, and the importance of creating systems that build businesses capable of long-term success.

Connect with

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/simonefortier/
Website: https://www.simonefortier.com/

Transcript

Simone Fortier 0:00

What's really cool, Pedro, as a MetSpa owner, you are also a founder, an entrepreneur, and that is heavily ingrained there. So I'm coaching them at a different level because they're founding their business, they're starting it up, they're they're so particularly you've taken so many courses yourself, and you're hiring out your own team and then doing your own marketing. And but how they find me is really the old school. So going, showing up, being a speaker, going to events, and then when you work with one, that leads to another. And so working with med spas, which is interesting, natural paths are also doing the those med spa kind of things in their clinics. And so, because here's here's an interesting fact. So I support people in not a glamorous way, you know, talking about pain, talking about concussion, talking about brain injury. And I even worked with a quarterback, he was a demo in one of my courses, and he's like, I want that protocol because it makes me look younger.

Davis Nguyen 0:52

Welcome to Success Leaves Clues, the podcast where we interview business owners on how they built their businesses and the hard lessons they learned along the way. My name is David Swain, and I'm a business coach and the founder of Purple Circle, where we help business owners achieve their first six-figure, seven-figure, and eight-figure year, all without sacrificing their quality of life. Before becoming a business coach, before founding Purple Circle, I started and scaled several seven and eight-figure coaching businesses and have been a consultant at several businesses doing over $100 million each, including some that are publicly listed and doing over a billion dollars each. In every episode of the podcast, you're gonna learn lessons that took our guest years to learn. You'll be able to learn that in minutes. No matter if you're a new business owner or an established business owner, every episode is gonna give you the clues in order to elevate your business.

Pedro Stein 1:36

Welcome to Success Leaves Clues Podcast. I'm Pedro, and today I'm joined by Simone Fortier, whose business and mindset coach, specializing in neuroscience back performance training for entrepreneurs, has drawn more than 30 years of experience in brain health, a DHD performance and fascia science to help clients scale without burning now. She's also recognized as a premier success coach with eWomen Network. 30 years in the game plus, Simone. Welcome to the show.

Simone Fortier 2:05

Well, thank you for having me. I'm excited to be here today.

Pedro Stein 2:08

Great to have you. Okay. And uh I'd love for us to rewind a bit because every coach has that moment where they look at their life and say, Yeah, I guess this is what I'm doing now, right? So when was that for you, Simone?

Simone Fortier 2:20

Wow, there's been a lot of those moments along the way. Uh but be particularly becoming a coach, I think really 30 years ago, I fell forward into that after really be doing a lot of like coaching programs myself, doing the NLP training and doing behavior modification, doing I'm a language expert, and just really being in the health industry. A lot of people were coming in and it wasn't just a physical issue. There was also a mindset or a mental, you know, um, yeah, the mindset, the thinking, the overthinking, and really stopping like all those thoughts. So I I just developed those skills and also too, I did programs in counseling. So that helped with really developing strategies or systems to support people, but it was out of a need. So I think I was born a teacher. And so a teacher and a coach are very different. So a coach is really there to mentor support and give guidance, and the teaching part is a where kind of a platform that I fall back on is uh so a lot of what I do in supporting people is very direct, yes. But again, teaching people how to fish instead of giving them the fish is really important.

Pedro Stein 3:33

You have more than one business, right? So you're a business owner, you you you wear the CEO hat, definitely. It's not just a coaching hat, right? But eventually coaching ended up in your plate. You started coaching, so not just a business owner, but eventually a coach business owner. So, what I would love for you to to tell me here and walk us through is almost it it's just like the the identity shift, you know? You're a teacher, and then you start advice giving, you start helping people, testing waters in the coaching in the early days, and then you realize, okay, this is actually a coaching business. I'm building around this, you know? It's almost like an identity shift in a way. So can you walk us through like uh how that felt like? Like, is it like the first paying client for the coaching side? Is it the first invoice when you realize, okay, this is actually a business in coaching?

Simone Fortier 4:23

Wow. That's I'm gonna have to think about that. But it's it's what I think really that was always my passion to really support people in that way. And I think, yeah, re the first moment was really getting that first big ticket, I guess, three months, six months package and transforming people. And so it's like doing beta testing, what is the really system? What works? And finding out that that I did have that naturally, but solidifying it, I think in that moment it's like, okay, yeah, this is what I do. And it's it's a coaching system that works for people. So yeah, I think getting those first big, I guess, paychecks really were that instant in because before that I did give a lot of that coaching expertise away for free. Especially for, yeah, I did. I've been in service like really my whole life and supporting because I teach primarily practitioners, people in the healthcare industry, doctors, chiropractors, physical therapists, that sort of thing. And they were all struggling in their businesses because though they got into it to really be in service too. But the money side and the really developing and running a business wasn't there. They didn't have the skills. And so going back a little bit in my history of why I thought, well, everyone should know this, because my parents, my dad was an entrepreneur. He was always driven, you know, also to in in corporate real estate and real estate. But I worked for, and my mom was in the oil industry and I worked for them both. So, you know, I was, I now realize at 10 years old, I was probably at nine years old, I was an entrepreneur because I always wanted to make my own money. So I worked really for my parents, and I would empty garbage, I was doing the cleaning. And like in so my mom was a manager, and so in that oil company, and so I started off delivering whatever. I was their delivery person. And at 12, I was making really $250 a week delivering. And that's a few years ago, and that was pretty good money. And so I went all the way up to really doing stuff in human resources, and this was all during school. So I worked multiple jobs at the same time, learned a lot, and had a lot of business experience for a 10-year-old and realized that a lot of people don't have that innately, and they have to learn it either the hard way or they don't learn it at all. And so that's what I realized with my practitioners and the people that prime and the entrepreneurial women I'm working with. You can come from the corporate world, but you really may not know how to run a business. Yes. And so it's like, okay, I basically graduated university and I've been working for myself ever since.

Pedro Stein 7:04

Love it. So before a coach, you're a business owner. That is important because I see a lot of people pivoting and coming from, like you said, the corporate world, and they're going to coaching, but they're newbies at like being a business owner, right? They don't understand what business development entails and and marketing sales and and all that, right? And uh, it's interesting that you're first a business owner, so that transition for you is easier to just like, okay, the coaching is the coaching is what I'm doing now, but I'm a business owner, I have that identity already. You know what I mean?

Simone Fortier 7:36

Absolutely. And I think the really thing so part of part of my journey when I graduated university, I had a couple people who wanted to work for me and them wanting to work for me in my clinic. So before, you know, wellness centers were popular and all that sort of stuff, I created one at 22, 23 years old. And what I learned through that is that people really need to be told what to do. They're not entrepreneurs like me. So I ended up creating systems and all these manuals went from one page to a hundred pages. And so that whole journey of looking at really what are people, what's the capacity that they have? What do they need, and how can they produce? And so I also too created a show in that time called Health Talk. This is would be now the version of the doctors. But back then, so I was on cable for a year, hosted, produced, no idea, just doing it. And um, but what was really interesting is the audience wasn't really ready for it yet. And so it wasn't really till 10, 15 years later that these shows started popping up on the TV or social media. So I've also been always a pioneer in that. So again, creating things or creating systems that really haven't been invented yet. So that's a whole other kind of like knowledge base of looking for reliable solutions for people as a coach.

Pedro Stein 9:01

Love it. Okay. So we're talking about at least 30 years in the game, okay, in the coaching space. You already established it's mainly healthcare industry, right? The people you serve today, as it sounds like. But uh, in 30 years, we're talking about an evolution, right? From the early days until who you serve now. So can you walk us through that evolution? Because at least on my end, I'm a coach as well. In the early days, it's helping everyone, right? Just to make ends meet, just to see if this is gonna land. And eventually we sharpen the blade, uh, we attract a certain type of people. So basically, the evolution of who did you serve for around those 30 years and who do you serve now?

Simone Fortier 9:39

Yeah, so in the beginning, really serving those directly, really with them within my circle. And so, like direct referrals and that sort of thing, and then it transitioned into really supporting again the practitioners, healthcare professionals, and now it's the practitioners as well as entrepreneurs because all of these languaging, when you're building a business, like when I started 30 years ago building a business, I'm like, okay, I'm just doing it. I didn't realize I was an entrepreneur until the language caught up to what I was doing. So it's like I was always in the doing mode, and then people would just come to me and they'd want a solution, and I'm a solution provider. And so that was really the coach that I was in the beginning, really helping people find a solution to a problem, whether it was a health issue or whatever. So I would be coaching them through that. So now it's transitioned into the business development because I've developed my business in two different countries, in different cities, and then looking at because being young and going, okay, you know, I'm just like having fun, building businesses, working with kings and queens and athletes, and I'm doing all this sort of stuff. But what I learned really the hard way as a coach, because I didn't have mentors back then, was the scaling. So scaling a business. So honestly, within six months and the first year I developed my first clinic, I was making six figures. So that was just sheer determination, reaching out, no fear, just doing. I didn't have a safety net. So I was just like, I gotta do this, I gotta make it work, and I did it. And then looking at okay, the transitions of that, sometimes the more you know, the more questions you have, and then getting back into that. But I want to share this really kind of fun story. It's fun for me. But when I first started, I love technology. I was in university downloading stuff when you weren't supposed to, and you know, just doing a lot of like really kind of fun stuff. I download music and movies and watch all those things and and you know, build out, build out stuff on the computer. I'm that's not my area of expertise, but I love it. So I built my website for the first time, really, when I started my business. And, you know, it was a journey, a learning curve. And then now, all these years later, I've hired so many people to build my vision and no one could do it. It always turned out off like my website right now is really not great. So I it's not. And so what I've been doing the last week using AI, which now AI, because I love AI, I'm using a platform that actually can build it out in my website platform on WordPress. The first one, it's it's not perfect. I'm going back and forth. I'm actually helping train it to do it because it says it can. So it's actually now going into WordPress, into Divi, doing the JSON code, which is HTML, but it's a special type. And it's making a whole bunch of errors. But now, all these years later, AI can put my vision to life on my on my website. So in the next two weeks, for this is for the Fascia Training Institute brand, for the teaching, for concussion, brain injury piece. And so then I'll be doing the Simone Porche one in a couple of weeks. But so it's like, are you a CEO? That's a question. Are you a coach? Are you this? But sometimes as an entrepreneur, a pioneer, an innovator, which I am, I'm going in there. Okay, I want to make it look the way I want. And so AI is opening up a whole bunch of opportunities to create this. But I just want to share this here is that using AI can make smart people smarter. I'm sure you've heard that. And AI can make people who are not so smart, not less smarter. So I'm not gonna use the word dumb, but it's what people are saying that is the coining. So if you use AI and you instruct it to enhance what you know, it's an asset. But if you use it to think for you, then you lose the capacity, and that's a brain thing, to actually think. And I actually having that happen with one of my coaching people right now. She's brilliant, she's 30, and she has used AI so much now she can't even answer questions because she doesn't know the content. So as a coach, it's also supporting people to to help understand that it's not, it doesn't take over your business. But just the the fun story is I'm recreating it because one, I can, and it's doing my vision and it's actually coming out. And I'm like, oh my gosh, I was just thinking 30 years later, and I'm doing HTML. And but it's now with AI, and instead of two weeks or two months, it's it's a day or two, and which is so amazing that I am for the first time, because I seriously I've hired so many web people and um marketing people, and this is actually getting it done and seeing what I see and hear to be on the page, but that takes hours. So, this is also to supporting people to understand that even with AI, it's not instant, you have to do the the back end to make it work properly. So that's just my little tech story there.

Pedro Stein 14:44

Okay, got it. Now let's pretend. I know you have different people you serve, right? You mentioned healthcare professionals, entrepreneurs, and all of that. I would love for us to pretend that I'm one of them. Okay, so which one would you say is your bread and butter that you're or even more focused on, right? So I can pretend to be one of your uh one of the the ideal client profiles you're serving right now.

Simone Fortier 15:05

Okay, so so mostly uh traditionally it's been chiropractors, physical therapists, and whatnot, but I have some new people that are are owning med spas. Hmm, med spa so which yes.

Pedro Stein 15:18

Okay, can I be an owner of a med spa? Yes, you can. Okay. I am an owner of a med spa. I'm Pedro, the mad spa owner, and I'm like, first of all, your avatar, right? You're at your client profile. How would I be able to find you marketing-wise, Smell?

Simone Fortier 15:35

So marketing, how these people have found me were actually in-person, in-person groups and membership groups. So going to luncheons and speaking. So I speak at different clubs and organizations, and from that, they're reaching out to me because it's what I'm talking about is the brain, but brain really connects to beauty, and then that connects to business. So they're finding that. And what's really cool, Pedro, as a MedSpa owner, you are also a founder, an entrepreneur, and that is heavily ingrained there. So I'm coaching them at a different level because they're founding their business, they're starting it up, they're they're so particularly you've taken so many courses yourself, and you're hiring out your own team and then doing your own marketing. And but how they find me is really the old school. So going, showing up, being a speaker, going to events, and then when you work with one, that leads to another. And so working with med spas, which is interesting, natural paths are also doing the those med spa kind of things in their clinics. And so, because here's here's an interesting fact. So I support people in not a glamorous way, you know, talk about pain, talk about concussion, talk about brain injury. And I even worked with a quarterback, he was a demo in one of my courses, and he's like, I want that protocol because it makes me look younger, not because it makes my brain better. And it's like when you're dealing with aesthetics, it's really uh something that people really want. And so learning that in your business is providing what they want and then maybe what they need.

Pedro Stein 17:21

Got it. Yeah, okay. I'm still that guy, okay, the Mads power owner, still in that scenario. So, what I'd love for you to do, let's say I I went in one in one of those in-person events groups, right? The the old school way you you told me. And I'm like, okay, Simone seems like a nice gal. I want to talk with her. I do the outreach, right? How does it look like to work with you? What I would love to understand is like, how does it look like behind the curtain, right? How does it look like to work with you in your business? And what are the outcomes I can expect, right? Like, I'm let's pretend I'm being boarded here.

Simone Fortier 17:54

Okay. So I will start with the sales process because honestly, uh, what I've discovered is relationship building. So I have several conversations. So particularly for you, Pedro, we met at least four different events because we belonged to the same organization. You were at the same meeting, and it took those four really relationship-building connections and just having conversation with, and I think that is the secret. I wasn't selling her because I'm not really selling people to do it. I do it on my website, but in person, it's really about, you know, talking just about life and business. And so with this, too, I belong to this top doctor's group here in Scottsdale. And we do a 30-second speed date information thing, and I tap beside a physical therapist who manages 150 physical therapists. And it was about three, three or four weeks later, she reached out. But this is an AD, I'm gonna put the ADHD in there. So a lot of practitioners and entrepreneurs have ADHD. So part of that is also to the reach out, they fall away, they reach out, they fall away. So she wanted to meet with me, and I have no idea why. And then I say, okay, let's meet. And it would fall away. And then I just kept, you know, every couple weeks reaching out to her and then finally met for lunch. And she goes, I've had the opportunity to work with other coaches, but she said, the way you handle your business, the way you speak, and how you have actually, in such a balanced way, you know, are doing and reaching other people, and you never sold me, you just had a conversation. And uh she hired me as her coach through that. So that's the journey I find is really finding potentially really solid or longer-term coaching people. So now that you're working with me, so what would be your biggest question or pain point for me to support you with?

Pedro Stein 19:55

Love dad. Okay, first of all, let's say my pain point is like I hit a ceiling in my mad spa. It sounds like everything relies on me. My team is, I don't want to blame them, but it sounds like I need to do everything or stuff won't simply happen. That's my pain point. Hitting the ceiling, the founder's trap, classic one. Now, that's one thing. What I would love to understand is whenever someone tells tells me about a coaching practice, and I'm trying to put my shoes in the side of the the ICP, I'm thinking, okay, what does that look like? Is it like one-on-one coaching? Is it like group setting? Is there an online component? How is the engagement the structure, right? So those are my two, like founder ceiling, the founder strap, and uh, how does it look like structure-wise to work with your business?

Simone Fortier 20:44

So, structure-wise, I have I've had the growth, the group kind of mentorship program, and then I have the one-on-ones. And what I find with working with the demographic of people with ADHD, each person has a different speed. And if there's someone in the group that slows them down, they don't want to be part of the group. So then they ask out and they want to work with me individually. So with that, most of the people I work with are one-on-one. And then I do have groups, but again, again, the ADHD person wants to be different because they are and they have different needs. So I'm developing with that kind of an online program that people can work with me in a group setting, but then they have support of individual modules for what they need. So it's just a different thing because people with ADHD have different brains and needs. But I so for that, how I support them is actually find helping them find solutions to either hire the right people, get the right team on board. I I do strategy because I'm very much that way. I have an autistic ADHD brain, which means I have to finish. And because I had to find solutions for everything in all these years myself, I'm great at finding solutions. And it's interesting because even sometimes on the calls, Pedra, you will be actually calling some of the people you need to. Because what's very interesting with the people that I work with is as soon as they're off the call, the next shiny object is over there. So I give them the space to complete tasks that they need to do that they are not able to do when they're out because there's so many things to do in their business. So that's some, I think, a hugely added value for them. And they are they are increasing their income quickly with that because those calls or those emails are the ones that actually make the cash register ring. And because I don't do random ones, oh, just call you a friend or just call this person. These are the ones they're putting off, which is part of procrastination or perfectionism, which is part of a brain thing. So I support them doing that. And so one lady I worked with, she had bought over $500,000 worth of programs using none of them, using none of the teams that are supposed to help her with this. And she's like, My husband doesn't know, these persons don't know. And I'm like, and she's like, I've hired you. I'm like, okay, so how much money do you need to make? Because part of my philosophy is whatever you're investing in me, I want you to at least make back in the first month or double in the next couple months. And so, and she's really extreme ADHD. She has a system, she's an accountant, almost already making a million, but didn't break that one million. And she wanted to do the passive income. So I'm like, okay. And she had already built out a whole platform with one of the programs that she bought in the $500,000 category. I'm like, let's just send out those emails today. So she made back in one week $40,000. From sending out an email, she couldn't and when I wasn't unable to do. And also too, because I'm a language expert, AI expert, I helped her craft that whole funnel. Because for me, I can do it in like five minutes or less. So because I love tech and because I've been language expert, I just work it together and then I also too support them in doing it, teaching it themselves, right? So that they can do it, that I don't have to be there all the time.

Pedro Stein 24:06

Okay, got it. Sounds like I hit a uh the nail in the head with my pain point, the the ceiling, right? Good example. Okay, okay, interesting. Now I'm curious about where you're taking all this, you know, Simone, looking ahead. Where do you see the business going? Are you thinking about scaling even more, hiring, or is there a next step you're excited about?

Simone Fortier 24:24

There is. So the next step is is working with corporations and institutions. Yes. So that is the next step that I'm going. So for the brand that's the Fasha Training Institute is looking at partnerships like Dr. Eamon's group. I don't know if you've heard of him. Dr. Eamon has 11 clinics across the United States, has a tremendous amount of followers, but partnering with him and potentially partnering with the NHL to do continue my research. So that will bring that piece out into potentially NFL associations, the NHL, all that sort of thing. So I'm looking at those relationships. And that's in the beginning stages now. And then for corporations, I was approached by a group in Canada to bring my protocol or my strategy, my coaching piece to occupational health and indigenous groups. Because part of what I'm doing with the brain reset program is it supports people get out of anxiety, stress, and it prevents suicide. And so those groups are at risk. So they approached me. So we're we're talking about that. So working with corporations, even in their wellness program. So that is the next phase of really moving into that. And that's also too the foundation of why we're doing the website because that energy has to match the corporate and the institutional, and it's very different than the practitioner or the one-on-one coaching person.

Pedro Stein 25:49

Interesting. That's exciting, NHL, NFL. Oh my God. You're trying to get me excited. I'm getting excited. Okay. That's right.

Simone Fortier 25:57

That's right.

Pedro Stein 25:57

Yeah, that's exciting. Okay. And now, of course, you mentioned the website and all of that, but whenever we were aiming towards the next chapter, always something we're refining in the present, right? So what are you currently trying to improve or tighten up in your business right now? I mean, despite the website, I know that's something on your plate right now, right?

Simone Fortier 26:14

Yeah, I think one of one of the bit biggest things is fine-tuning systems, the system that works. I'm also too creating potentially if there is an exit plan. Because I've been actually approached, I don't even know if they're real, but I'm an approach to sell my business. People have asked to purchase my business. So I'm like, okay, that started a few, another different conversation. And so I'm like, yeah, is there an exit plan? What's the next? I'm not retiring anytime soon because I'm really passionate. I love what I do, but is that an opportunity, let's say 20 years from now? So that's something that I'm looking at. And so you have to have all of the SOPs, all of everything organized to really, to really do that.

Pedro Stein 27:00

Okay. Yes. I love the exit uh mentality, just to frame it as exiting, not necessarily having to exit, right? Because you create a bulletproof plan. It it starts to really dive in into systems, like you mentioned, and the back end to make sure everything is aligned. Then you can make the decision if you want to sell it or not. But either way, you're gonna have a more solidified business, which is great. I love that mentality. Okay. Now, I would love for us to do sort of a sci-fi thing here, real quick. Okay. Okay. Let's pretend we have a time machine in front of us. Okay, we're gonna have two stops, Simone. First up, you can go back in time when you opened shop, your not your first business, your first coaching venture, okay, 30 plus years ago, and you can give yourself, Simone, a piece of business advice you know now that you wish you knew back then. What would that look like?

Simone Fortier 27:57

Well, I think what we just talked about, I'm gonna do another story, another analogy. I I in 2001, I had the opportunity to sit in a room with four amazing, brilliant business people. One first name's Charles, the other guy is a Dr. Eric, the other guy's name's John, and then there was an engineer. And we're sitting in this room, and I'm like really young in the sense, so this goes about scaling. So I would go back and tell myself to actually listen to these guys. One of them sold Precision Nutrition for $50 million, probably about 10 or 12 years ago. And it was in that room where he was creating it. The other one built out franchises and was an international speaker and trainer. And the other one works hugely in developing protein lines, supplement lines, all that sort of thing. And they're like, Well, what are you doing? I'm like, Well, I'm having fun. Traveling the world. And uh I think if I had more mentorship and coaching, and if I were to talk to that person, I would definitely say, get what's in your head out on paper and start to do the training. Because they go, You need to start teaching, you need to start training. And as a pioneer, I was a pioneer in fascia treatment. And I that's why I was traveling all over the world, is because I created results and like you have to teach that. But I didn't really have the system or the understanding of what that looked like. And I would basically go back and say, this would have changed, it would have changed my business, it would have accelerated my growth and uh yeah, it would have sped things up. So that would have been I've gone back and say, listen to these guys, create a product, even if it's not great. Get it out there, because back then, that's a long time ago, I would have been the only one in the market. Now, with fascia, I don't know if you understand what that is. It's just a connective tissue thing, and but it's all over the internet, and people are like, oh yeah, you do this. And I'm like, Well, they're still doing the muscle model, they're not really engaging the fascia. So that's what I'm teaching people, and that's why my courses are like next level in advance. But back then, I would have been the only one in the room online. Okay. And now there's a lot of noise online and a lot of crap online, so people can't even find the real thing. And you know, I get those calls every day. I get these calls, I'm like, I got this one, it's pretty funny. And because I do have a dry sense of humor, and I get this call from this business guy, he's like, I hear you're I hear you're the one for fascia treatment. And I go, like Neil on the Matrix. And he's like, he's laughing. And he's like, Yes, exactly. And uh so yeah, I get calls like that all the time. But if I had that business model instead of man, I just made it happen. I had no system, no business plan. I had nothing, and I made six figures in the first year. So if I had had all of that, I would have made seven figures by my third year. So that's that's a huge inspiration.

Pedro Stein 31:01

I hit a nerve. Sounds like I hit a nerve. I'll I'll I'll take it easy.

Simone Fortier 31:04

Did I could have sold this for 50 million, like precision nutrition. Okay. So yeah. But you know, the really, the really amazing thing is that uh I was in the height of my concussions at that time. So I if I didn't go through that hardship, which is interesting, everything's for a reason, I um wouldn't have developed this life-saving program. So and the program that I created, I wish I had it done when I was 10. Because it's particularly those with ADHD. Every decision I would have made throughout my life would have been different and would have been easier. So that too, I wish I had it when I was 10, but I didn't create it then. So all of these things fit into, I guess, exactly how they were supposed to happen.

Pedro Stein 31:49

So here's the thing: you can go back in time in between that time frame that 30 plus years you're you open shop your business, and you can uh pinpoint an exact point in time that you felt so fulfilled that it's almost like, oh, this is why I started this, you know? It could be something that, like a testimonial, it could be freedom for yourself, you name it. It's something that it's like a full circle moment when you started a coaching pre uh business and when you realized that happened, you know? So what would that be?

Simone Fortier 32:19

So for the the coaching piece, yeah, that moment would be when somebody, one of one of the people I was coaching in particularly really shifted, shifted from really, I guess I would say trauma to success. And so that trauma led to self-sabotage, led to defiance, led to really every time they reached a plateau, let's say they reached their milestone or their goal, it would take them like two months because they've reverse, revert back to the self-sabotage. And then it would take them so, so long to get back to where they were. And so now if they're doing that, it's basically a day. So self-s and I think that is is a huge win because it's looking at how far people have come in their business and helping them re break through every goal that they set for themselves. And it's not easy. I got this question the other day like, you know, like it's it's it's not an up, it's not a straight trajectory, uh, as you know, life doesn't work that way. And so, you know, going up a little bit, and but what we want to prevent as coaches is the going backwards, and people's mindsets or subconscious beliefs can actually make them run away from success. And as soon as they get it, then they tank it. And that's happened to several prominent people in in business, and that happened to Tony Robbins until he hired a marketing team to help him keep going up. He would go bankrupt because his motivation was really to get away from poverty. If you take that away, what do you do? You create poverty. And so, yes, which is a very tricky thing. And so understanding how the brain works, and with a couple of these practitioners, they had that, and there'd be so much anger. Because why isn't this working? Why isn't this working? And it's really that mindset creates that hardship, and it's how do you break through. And and that's I think the biggest kind of wins is seeing them move through that and the growth.

Pedro Stein 34:21

Love that. Okay. Now, if someone listening wants to connect with you or follow your work, Simone, and we're gonna have all the links in the description here, okay? But where can people find you and connect you best? You know?

Simone Fortier 34:31

Best is LinkedIn, it's a it's a great platform, but I do respond to people on their LinkedIn, and then also to my email, info at Simone4j.com. That is a strategy for ADHD since I have it, and everything that goes in there will eventually get addressed by my team, which is usually 24 hours. So we have that there. And I also have an AI assistant that now every morning tells me what the priority is and what people are asking. So that makes sure none of those, because with emails, I don't know if people notice that they get buried.

Pedro Stein 35:06

They do.

Simone Fortier 35:07

And they get buried. If you if you respond, so this is a strategy, a tip for people. When you're working with a team, start a new email for each item you are talking about with a subject line so that you can search it. Because if you're going through Google at all, Google will hide it so that you can't find it. And I don't know if that's intentional, but it's happened now for 15 years. So a new subject line that's clear, start a new thread, and each one does that. So however you are doing it, whether it's in Google Docs, Slack, you know, uh Sana, is just making sure that you keep track. And here's here's the hardest part for people with ADHD is that you actually have to go look at your system. So, you know, you're putting all this stuff in your phone or wherever it is, and you're like, oh yeah, but you have to go back and look at it. I know, right?

Pedro Stein 35:57

Yeah, you can tell by my face. I've been there, done that. Yeah, I mean it hits home, definitely. Okay. We create those systems, right? The ADHD guys, multiple systems, just to function. And sometimes we rely too much on them, and we like we know something is off, but we pretend it's not. It's like, oh, that's been taken care of, but not really. But yeah, deep down I know there's a band-aid on it. Yes, exactly. Okay, you know, Smell, there were a few moments from this chat that I feel the need to highlight. Okay. Well, first of all, back to the origin story, right? Born a teacher. My God, I'm married to a teacher. All right. My dad was a teacher, my brother a teacher. So I I got the teachers, okay?

Simone Fortier 36:42

Yes, you've been you've been you've been told.

Pedro Stein 36:45

Yeah, been told. That's the I love that because that's the difference between coaching and teaching, right? You you kind of already mentioned that. It's uh the the the coach he guides. The teacher usually tells a little bit, trains, you know, but you're guiding. It's part of an awakening process. Sometimes you can have a teacher that can guide you through it and can coach you, but not necessarily. Most of the time, considering the the size of the classes, right? 40 kids, 30 kids, I don't know how many. But it's hard to guide everyone into a journey when you have to teach them stuff like a subject and all that. So yeah, the the teacher is there, definitely in the background, smiling, right, Simone. Also, when we were discussing when you're started, you're you're like, I was better testing what works, right? Love that the beta testing vibes, you know, because it's not like you figured out everything when you're launching, you're like still testing water, still feeling what works, what not work, what's not gonna work, and uh love the honesty about that. Now, when we were onboarding Pedro, the MadSpa guy, the owner, oh my god, that Pedro, right? You mentioned something very interesting that you are serving, not selling through discovery. That makes a huge difference. If you're coming from a place of being of service, people will pick up on that energy. If you're not trying to close people for no reason or being too pushy, which you're not, it shows, and people sometimes they're kind of they're gonna kind they get kind of thrown out, you know, like they're wait, are you not gonna try to sell me? Right? It's like it's the difference in the energy that they're like, wait a minute, do you really want to help me? You know, it's so funny. And I I was in sales for a while, right? So I get it. And and sometimes it's just about the energy. If you have that needy energy, I need to hit my KPIs to close this person and all that, the agenda is backwards because you're not thinking about them, you're thinking about you, and that shows on the call, right? So could I see you on that? And uh the last but not least was when we stepped in into the time machine and you were like, I should have done more mentor mentoring and more coaching, right? Within that room and understand a little bit more because it felt like if you launched it and using even those insights that could propulse you towards forward, right, to help you even more. I mean, you're here today, right? It's not like a bad thing, but at the same time, it's good to understand the opportunities we even sometimes we missed, right? But we have the awareness of that, oh, maybe I should have made more with that opportunity, which is great because puts you in a in a mindset of improving the next opportunities you're gonna have. So there's that. Now, this is just my long-winded way of saying that I appreciate you and I appreciate what you do and sharing so openly today with me. Okay, it was great having you once, Mo.

Simone Fortier 39:34

Well, thank you so much. I appreciate the opportunity.

Davis Nguyen 39:37

That's it for this episode. This episode, as well as this podcast, was brought to you by Purple Circle, where we help business owners elevate their business to six, seven, and eight figure years all without burning out. If you're looking to grow your business as well as get the time freedom that you are looking for, visit us at joint purplecircle.com and see what we can do to help you.