Founder@ Interview
Interview with Sandra:Stachowicz
“They say, build it and they will come. I say, write it and they will come. And come they will. In hoards. If you are thinking about starting, stop the thinking and just DO IT! .” – Sandra Stachowicz
Today we feature Sandra Stachowicz, the founder at Awaken Inner Goddess. We hear their story in their own words, their successes, their challenges and their insights.
Let’s start by getting to know you. Can you please tell us a little bit about you and what you do?
I am a narcissistic abuse survivor, an immigrant from a post-communist country, and a college dropout raised by a single mother of five, turned a five-time bestselling author and a book coach for high-flying influencers. I am also a member of a Think Tank for Women in Business & Technology, a TED-Ed global transformational speaker, and a highly sought-after ghost-writer.
A great introduction and start to this interview. Can you please tell us, how did you start, from what age, and what made you decide to change direction and start?
I started three businesses by the age of 30 and published five books by the age of 34. By that point I had been in business for four years and established myself as a marketing expert. I was featured in a New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller. I published and co-authored an international bestselling book. I went on a six-month-long solo adventure and spent a few months working in exotic locations from the comfort of my laptop.
Soon enough, some of the biggest names in motivation and transformation circles reached out to work with me, including Sonia Ricotti, Debra Poneman, Marci Shimoff, and many others. An opportunity of a lifetime presented itself when John Assaraf, best known for the film, The Secret, offered to promote me.
The fairy tale didn’t last though, as shortly after co-authoring the international bestselling book, I changed my business direction. I effectively sealed my fate in the process as my lucky streak ran out just as abruptly. As if by a stroke of magic, all my online marketing business ventures drew to a grinding halt, even though they had worked seamlessly for years. I could not comprehend what was happening! In my mind, I was a veteran entrepreneur, yet I’d suffered a fatal stroke of fate that completely changed the trajectory of my business and life.
These tragic incidents ensued within a few short months! Completely out of the blue, business partners started pulling out one by one. Multiple sources of income that I had spent years building dried to a trickle, practically overnight. The fatal blow came when Google suspended my advertising account, accusing me of offences I did not commit.
I pulled my hair out of desperation, not fully understanding the scope of what was happening. At times, I wondered if I was bewitched or if invisible forces conspired against me. I lost my sense of direction, but my bills didn’t. I didn’t know where to take my business next. At one point, I contemplated shutting all my online marketing operations down and taking time out for a year. I had my “riches to rags” epiphany. Within weeks, I went from pulling in multiple high-end, four-figures per month to barely scraping by.
Within six months, I had two full-time jobs working as a night manager for a holiday rental company and doubling as an Airbnb cleaner during the day. I worked seven days a week and didn’t take any days off. I was tired. I was sleep-deprived. But I had a PLAN!
Thank you for that insight. So can you tell us…What does your business do and where is your company based?
I am the founder of Awaken Inner Goddess which takes a decidedly different view on how business books should be written and published. As a book coach I now teach conscious female thought leaders how to birth their #1 bestseller in 90 days or less so they can scale their soul empire to 6-, multiple 6- and 7-figures.
I have guided aspiring and emerging authors to start, write, and finish their transformational self-help and how-to books, sometimes in as little as three days. I weave my unique proprietary, mystical, psychic medicine that naturally draws the book out of the writer’s soul and into the world, from blank page to publication.
I am all about having a healthy work-life balance and creating passive income streams. Publishing a book is exactly what helps my clients strike a balance between the two. I am on a mission to empower thousands of time-strapped, conscious, female thought leaders to leave a lasting legacy, have a freedom-based luxury lifestyle, and spread their message like wildfire by getting published. I see myself as a freedom alchemist and give visionary female influencers back what is rightfully theirs, the freedom to just BE. My spiritual home resides in Edinburgh, Scotland where I conjure up my soul-fuelled company.
What’s the story behind your success? What led to your aha moment? how did you get to where you are now?
After my marketing business unexpectedly fell apart, I realised I needed to disappear to find myself again. I needed to take a step down from my business so I could clear my head and throw myself back into my entrepreneurial endeavours with renewed energy. My friends, family, and followers thought I had given up. On the surface, it looked like all those years of entrepreneurship were wasted.
Except that nothing is ever wasted.
Within six months, I worked two full-time jobs, worked seven days a week and didn’t take any days off. I was physically and mentally exhausted.
Between one sob and another, I realised that I could fail at a soul-sucking job that I didn’t even want in the first place or I could fail at something I actually cared about for once! In the heat of the moment, I made up my mind to pursue a childish fantasy of mine that kept nudging me all those years.
Ever since I could read and write, I knew I wanted to become an author.
When it became painfully obvious that my business was on the brink of a nervous breakdown, I turned into a woman on a mission and started setting the foundation to turn the impossible into possible and making my BIG childhood dream of becoming a published author a reality. Fast forward six months, and I was pulling my hair out of desperation.
As time went by, my hair was getting thinner but I still was nowhere near the publishing stage.
With too many questions left unanswered, I frantically stared at a blank page, desperately searching for clues. Being the one-woman show that I am, I subscribed to the erroneous and deeply flawed belief that reaching out for help was a sign of weakness. To admit that I was somewhat lacking and didn’t have the brains to figure out how to get my book written and printed was inconceivable in my mind and beyond painful.
I thought I was supposed to write my book on my own. But being “stuck on stupid” essentially kept me running in circles, with a book deadline that kept eluding me. Resigned, I concluded that if I was meant to write my book on my own, I would have published it already.
Then one New Year’s Eve, I finally wised up.
Without further ado, I put my money where my mouth was and entrusted all my savings to someone I barely knew, hiring a high-level book coach, one-to-one. The closer I got to the launch date of my book, the more monsters that crawled out from under my bed: doubt, shame, guilt, and fear. Out of desperation, I turned to my book coach for guidance. “I can’t do this! I’m not enough of an expert!”
I ended up borrowing my book coach’s belief in me when I didn’t have any left in myself.
Having him in my corner meant I had a Sherpa guiding me through the treacherous terrain of becoming a published bestselling author. Re-assured by my coach, I made peace with my own “not enoughness,” safe in the knowledge that my book was coming out exactly as it should.
After months of hard work and with my fingers trembling, I finally hit publish, and got my transformational book out into the world, anxiously refreshing my Amazon listing every five minutes.
To my utter surprise, getting my book published worked like a charm as I landed my first few coaching clients before my book even officially launched and had a bestselling-author status under my belt. I turned a seemingly devastating experience into a massive win as I had one of the best months I’ve had to date!
Et voilà! A recipe for a hugely successful coaching business on steroids.
In hindsight, getting my book published was the best plan ever.
These days my book does the heavy lifting for me as I wake up to new subscribers, booked discovery calls, and email payment notifications.
Potential clients literally turn up on my doorstep. Sometimes I wonder where the magic wand was hiding during all those lean years!
Thank you for sharing that. What’s been your life’s biggest lesson so far?
A few weeks before my book was published, my fancy job promotion from night-manager to content-manager unexpectedly fell through and I found myself jobless. The burden of unpaid bills loomed over me. My dream of ever becoming a published author was suddenly at stake.
I unexpectedly had 40 hours of time each week freed up but I was effectively liberated from the main source of income too. With losing my job, came another dilemma.
I could potentially waste precious hours applying for temporary jobs just to tie me over or completely commit to writing and potentially risk not having enough money left over to pay my editor.
It finally dawned on me that everything I spent the last few months working on could effectively put the launch of my book on hold until “someday,” sealing my book’s fate in the process and ensuring that my book would never see daylight.
Not now, not ever.
Admittedly, after my promotion suddenly fell through, I was at my wits end, frustrated beyond words, resentful, and upset. Still, some people seem to have a knack for knocking others when they are down. My mum has built-in receptors to pick up on those rare moments with stunning accuracy.
During one of her visits my mother probed pitilessly, “What if you fail? Will you pack up and move back home with me?”
I just looked at her without uttering a word, too taken aback to speak up. Tears welled up in my eyes. I felt hurt.
Failing was simply NOT an option!
If anything, my mother’s off-handed remark made me realize that up until that moment I hadn’t really gone ALL-IN with my book or my coaching business.
The reason my business wasn’t working for me was because I wasn’t working for it. Rather than make my mother’s unflattering comments mean anything about me, I threw myself back into entrepreneurial endeavours with renewed energy.
For me, publishing a book wasn’t a matter of, “How do I make money?” it was a matter of, “How do I get back up to the standard of living I am used to making?”
This sudden realisation led to an unlikely epiphany. “Just because I failed does not make me a failure. Why don’t I leverage that idea and build up on my failures?!” With sudden clarity, I realised not all was lost and I could lean on my previous successes, just as much as I could draw strength from my failures.
As I think back to the time before I got my book published, I wasn’t following my dreams, I only thought I was. I just dipped my big toe in to test the waters, hoping that one day the world would find out what a best-kept secret I was! I wasn’t truly chasing my childhood dream of becoming an author. And I effectively stalled my business growth by not listening to the inner nudges of my soul that gently whispered, “Go, get that book of yours published.”
I told myself terrible untruths that my dream of one day becoming a published author could wait until “someday.” What I didn’t realise is that “someday” could have easily turned into “never,” and with that, my hope of ever re-activating my coaching business.
Unbeknownst to me, my business falling apart set me on the path towards exponential growth as I reconciled my passion for writing and finally got my transformational book published.
Equipped with newly-found wisdom, I realised that business doesn’t have to be a struggle. Business can be easy, but only if you let it.
Having a bestselling author status is the easiest way to live life. My book not only saved my business. It saved my life. It salvaged my sanity as an entrepreneur.
Books have the power to change the trajectory of your business and life. You can publish a book once and reap the rewards for years to come.
I wish I knew it was OK to ask for help. I thought I was supposed to write and publish my book on my own. In my mind, I was a one-woman show who didn’t need saving and asking for help was a sign of weakness. Being “stuck on stupid” is what essentially kept me stuck, spinning in circles and with no progress in sight. In hindsight, I wish I hired the right help much sooner. This would have saved me years of trials and errors.
If you were to go back in time, what piece of advice would you give to your younger self?
The message I have for my younger self is to always follow the quiet whispers of your soul. Your desires are there for a reason. Your book is not in your heart to just to tease you. Your book is in your heart for a reason. Never let anyone who gave up on their dreams talk you out of yours. Never take advice from people who have not achieved what you set out to do – they will only try to cut your wings.
I have found that some of the biggest sceptics and harshest critics in my life where the people who tried and failed. They projected their own unresolved issues onto me. As it soon turned out, their feelings and emotions had nothing to do with me and everything to do with their own failed business attempts.
To my mother who was extremely sceptic about all my business ventures I would say “Unless you have something positive to say, do not open your mouth. Your opinion brings absolutely nothing of value”. I am happy to report my mother is now incredibly supportive of my business and just as proud. Growing up, I was a rebel and always resented authority figures. Now, that I have become a go-to expert myself I have made peace with authority figures in my life.
Ever since I embarked on my entrepreneurial journey it has never occurred to me that perhaps I would be better off in a 9-5. I cannot follow rules. My creative, sometimes chaotic brain cannot follow formulas. Deep down, I knew I wasn’t cut out to work for someone else.
Growing up as one of five daughters in a post-communist Poland it was expected of me get a university education, get a well-paid job and get married. My father who I very much loved and looked up to had a roofing business. We weren’t exactly groomed to be future entrepreneurs given that my dad was a struggling entrepreneur. As I watched my dad’s slow and painful demise, I have learned a lot of what to do as well as what not to do as an entrepreneur. He undercharged, undervalued himself, overgave, and eventually, worked himself to death. Still, I credit all my entrepreneurial aspirations to him and see him as my role model.
We’re nearly halfway through our interview so it’s a great time to ask how does your business run. What three tools make your business run better?
I have a background in marketing and like to simplify my business systems and structures. The three tools I cannot live without are Calendly to schedule coaching and sales calls, LeadPages to create high-converting landing pages, and last but not least, SquareSpace to built eye-catching customisable websites.
These days I also use direct messages on Facebook to book sales calls. Surprisingly the no-show rate has dropped to near zero and I hardly ever have to re-schedule calls. I just message the person I am about to connect with 5 minutes before our call to remind them about our session. I have previously used Wix, WordPress, HostGator, Name.com, EUK Host and several other web hosting platforms before settling for SquareSpace. In the past, I have also used Satori scheduling software but have found Calendly much easier to use.
What do you know now that you wished you had known before?
I wish I knew it was OK to ask for help. I thought I was supposed to write and publish my book on my own. In my mind, I was a one-woman show who didn’t need saving and asking for help was a sign of weakness. Being “stuck on stupid” is what essentially kept me stuck, spinning in circles and with no progress in sight. In hindsight, I wish I hired the right help much sooner. This would have saved me years of trials and errors.
What has been your greatest or proudest achievement or moment?
My proudest moment was when after months of hard work and with my fingers trembling, I finally hit publish and got my transformational book out into the world. I anxiously refreshed my Amazon listing every five minutes. To my utter surprise, getting my book published worked like a charm as I landed my first few coaching clients before my book even officially launched and had a bestselling-author status under my belt.
I turned a seemingly devastating experience into a massive win as I had one of the best months I’ve had to date! These days my book does the heavy lifting for me as I wake up to new subscribers, booked discovery calls, and email payment notifications. Potential clients literally turn up on my doorstep. Sometimes I wonder where the magic wand was hiding during all those lean years!
What future life goals do you want to achieve and why?
Unbeknownst to me, hitting rock bottom set me on the path towards exponential growth as I reconciled my zest for life and started mapping out the strategy to set up a charity in a third world country, something that at one point in my life, I considered inconceivable. But now I ask myself, “Why wait?”
To my surprise, publishing my fourth book and toying with the idea of making a difference on the African continent provided me with the never-ending sense of adventure, freedom, and meaning that I was missing. Sometimes I feel as if I opened a treasure trove full of surprises and unleashed a whole plethora of unexpected opportunities.
Who would have ever thought that someone who was once so penniless she had meals sponsored at school, would one day even dream of paying it forward?
To finish our inspire questions…”We believe that sharing inspiring words can inspire others.” If there was one positive thing you would say to someone to inspire and empower them what would it be and why?
They say, build it and they will come. I say, write it and they will come. And come they will. In hoards. If you are thinking about starting, stop the thinking and just DO IT!
“Thank you it has been great learning more about your founder story and Awaken Inner Goddess”
To learn more about Awaken Inner Goddess Visit www.AwakenInnerGoddess.com
Inspired by this story? Please share this story and other founder stories.
For more inspiring founders stories check out Founder Stories.
Disclaimer:
The views, thoughts, information, and opinions expressed in the text, videos, images belong solely to those of the individuals involved, and do not necessarily represent those of Founderat.com and its corporate owners, employees, organization, committee, or other group or individuals.