Abundance Bound podcast / episode four: Regina

MIATA:
Abundance is not about the amount of money you have. It’s about the quality of the relationship that you have with your money.

KRISTINE:
And no matter where you’re at right now, you can decide to become someone who is bound to abundance. Someone who is committed to having a healthier and more compassionate relationship with your money. And you can decide to become someone who is bound towards abundance, someone who is stepping into a more expansive financial future.

MIATA:
We are here to help you become abundance bound.

KRISTINE:
Hello, I’m Kristine Oller – co-host of this podcast and today I’m happy to have Regina Melzer joining us to share how her ideal new side biz was born. When I met Regina she was in a situation familiar to many performers: a wildly talented actor who, because she needed a flexible schedule for auditions, was doing waitressing work, which drained her of energy and supplementing that job with a little side biz as a pet sitter (where she was chronically under-charging). That sounds very typical, right? But what isn’t typical – at all – is how committed Regina was to enduring the discomfort that comes along with learning how to make more money. My respect for her grew rapidly as she up-leveled her petsitting biz, experimented with a wreath building biz (which brought in triple the amount of money that she invested in the Creating Cashflow program), and then she launched her new side biz, Peaceful Pets. Keep listening to hear how Regina embraced coaching and community and courage to shift her circumstances. One of the reasons I invited you on this podcast was because you are someone who I’ve watched put herself through so much discomfort to grow. Because it’s required – you must feel uncomfortable. That is where the growth comes from. That’s why it’s called “growing pains.” But you have been dedicated to learning how to withstand the discomfort that it takes to get to the other side. It has been so beautiful to watch. And I have so much respect for your dedication to be like: “Okay, here we go again! This feels uncomfortable, but I’m gonna do it.” The main part of the journey that we’re talking about now is within six months, if not a little bit less than that. It was astounding to watch. Because you came in and you had a side business, but you were like: “I don’t really love it – pet sitting, pet walking, that kind of thing – so I want to do something else, but I’m not sure…”

REGINA:
Yeah, I think that petsitting there were aspects of that, that have become a little bit straining to my relationship with my fiancé. You know, I have to go live somewhere else – for a short amount of time, but still. I also didn’t start out charging enough. And I didn’t know how to raise my rates. I have had some weird mindset stuff around like: “Oh, no, I raised the rates and they feel that’s somehow disloyal.” There are some really interesting stories that I now see I told myself for so long, that kept me in this place that only really created like resentment, and kept me in a perspective of like not being able to appreciate the awesome things that I really do love about working with animals. So that’s what was not flowing so well with the pet setting. And so then I had to get another job, some kind of supplemental income, and I just stayed with the restaurant stuff because I knew it was quick cash, I could swap my shifts out if I needed to, for some reason, right? Hopefully an audition or a booking. The environment of restaurant work is a lot for me, my personality. I am so sensitive. That that type of work actually takes a lot of recovery time for me afterwards, after my shifts, and it’s so it can be so stressful. And if you’re a people pleaser, I think it made it even more stressful. So I didn’t really know what could work but I am an idea person. Oh, man, all these ideas like: “Well, I could be a personal shopper. I could, you know, be an event planner. I could start a coffee shop out of my vintage vehicle.” I get excited. And it’s so fun to like live in those first-time idea bubbles. And then like, I love researching. So I can spend my life just researching how to maybe go about doing these ideas, but then I get lost in the rabbit hole of the research. There’s so many options to apply. I think growth is just you come up to these pain points. And without some kind of structure, guidance, coaching, community, to lean on, you only have your old ways to lean on. And so then you most likely don’t grow and I wasn’t. But anyways, I had just gotten to the point of like: “I have to do something! I have to try something else!” And I think in my growth as a human, I’ve kind of gotten to the point of like: “Okay, so all this stuff I’ve been doing hasn’t really changed my life. So I think I have to try something I haven’t done before.” So this one night, I was just like: “I can’t take this anymore! I have not found the answers on YouTube! I can’t figure it out.” And I think I’m finally humble enough to admit this to myself, that I don’t know what I’m doing. And I think I need help. But then a friend of mine in the community, she reminded me of you. She’s like: “Just, you know what, just dip your toe in the Kristine Oller pool and, you know, if you like it, I really encourage you to hop in because it’s changed my life, girl.” And I was like: “Oh, okay…” So I remember it was like, late at night, and I was like: “Okay, I gotta go check out Creating Cashflow.” And I read through your whole website. And I loved it. Because it was like what I was looking for on YouTube. You said, the beautiful analogy of: “Yes, these business coaches that are out there, they have great architectural plans to build a nice big house. But you’re not looking for that, are you? You’re looking for the plans for building a little garden shed.” Once I heard that, the trust started to build: “I think she gets it.”

KRISTINE:
Yeah, 100% I got into business, just to fund my acting career – to help help fund it, right? And it was like: “I just want something little and over here on the side. And I don’t want it to grow huge and overtake my acting career.” That’s not the point, right? Until I decided that I wanted to pursue that instead of my acting career. But then I had this whole asset that I could grow bigger. So just the ability – to grow it and shrink it as you need to – grow it when you’re not working shrink it when you get jobs – it gives you maximum flexibility. And that’s what I like to teach people how to do, because the purpose of the side biz is to help you do the thing you want to do – acting in your case. I like to say: “The purpose of the side biz is to get you to the place where you no longer need to have the side biz.” That’s the point. That’s what I was going for when I first started.

REGINA:
So I had started doing some flower arranging for a friend. Then the holidays rolled around and I made a wreath because I had all this botanical stuff, you know, so I made a wreath for my parents. And my sister saw a picture of it – we sent a picture of it to her. She was like: “Post that on Instagram and say ‘Hey, DM me if you’re interested’.” And so that kind of started this whole thing of making wreaths in December. And like another friend who I used to work with at this cafe was like: “Hey, do you want me to show the owner?” And I was like: “Sure, okay.” He’s like: “Maybe you could, you know, sell them here or something, do like a little pop-up shop,” and I was like: “Right, right. Okay.” So then that happened and she was open to it. So I did our pop-up shop at this cafe. And then a young woman came in and was like: “You made these wreaths? Well, they’re beautiful! Hey, I’m doing a pop-up shop down the street. Do you want to do a collaboration?” And I was like: “What? Okay…” And with your guidance, I figured the money situation out with that. And I tried that out. It was a very, like, hands-on tactical business itself, because it’s a product that I had to make. And so learning how much time it then took me, and then: “Do I want to have deadlines for this kind of intensive hands on work?” No, I didn’t. This fantasy of being one of those amazing makers out there in the world, you know, making all these great, beautiful products, I always thought that’s going to be my side business. And then actually doing it was like: “Oh, wow, I can’t do that.” I think I might want to do it again for the next holiday season. And I’m open to that being a thing that like, it pops up for a couple of months out of my year and then that’s it. But I learned it wasn’t going to be sustainable for me.

KRISTINE:
So what I love about your story is that you tried this wreath business, which isn’t the business that you decided to then kind of really grow and put your attention on, which we’ll talk about in a minute.

REGINA: 
Yes.

KRISTINE:
But look how much you learned from going through that experience. I remember just saying to you every week – when you would come back and tell us what happened and get more guidance for the next week – it was just like you were learning business lesson after business lesson after business lesson. You had an accelerated, condensed learning experience because you were willing to try. And very often, the first thing we try isn’t always the thing that we end up doing. But that’s okay. And now you’re like: “If I wanted to do that wreath thing again, I could totally do it again. And I would see how I do it a little differently and a little better.” You now have an asset that you have in your back pocket that you didn’t have before. When you need money, that’s something you can take out of that pocket.

REGINA:
That paid my rent in December – for January – you know.

KRISTINE:
So how did the idea for the business that you are growing now come to be?

REGINA:
That felt like a miracle that only could have happened in a Creating Cashflow coaching session. Somehow through questions you were asking and guiding me to this place. And somehow we got on the subject of my cat who was like my… he was never just my cat… he was always this like feline-wizard spirit-animal guide or something. He was my rock. I grew up with him. So when he passed, when he transitioned out of his physical form, I was completely devastated. And I sort of fell into pet sitting around that time, when he passed. I sort of saw that it was like this perfect thing that had come into my life because I needed animal interaction. I’m very, very connected to animals, and I needed that interaction, but I wasn’t ready to bring another pet into my life. So it was like spreading the love I had for him to everyone else’s pets. And I felt like that was such like a nice way to kind of go through my grief. So we got on that subject. And I’ve never really discussed to like a group of people about how much I loved my cat and what he meant to me and like what animals meant to me and you just like – I honestly I don’t know – you just plucked this idea out. Like: “What if you did…” I must have been talking about kind of getting into Reiki or something or crystal energy…

KRISTINE:
Yeah, I think it was a conversation, because when people are searching for ideas, yeah, you know, for a stream of income, it’s like: “Well, what are you naturally drawn to? What do you what do people already come to you for?” And you had started talking… I think I probably asked you, you know: “What did you like and not like about the petsitting business?”

REGINA:
Yeah, you did.

KRISTINE:
Because we knew right away that that was not the business model that you wanted to grow. So I think it was sort of this conversation that started weaving around: “Well, I’ve been thinking about Reiki and I love my cat….” I got enough little threads where I could see where something that might be able to be woven together. And I remember saying the idea and having someone else in the group go: “Oh, I would pay for this!” And that’s the magic about the group.

REGINA:
Yes!

KRISTINE:
And oftentimes I think people are like: “Well, I’ll join Cashflow once I have an idea.” It’s like: “No! Just come and let us help you figure out the idea.” And you get immediate feedback from strangers who don’t necessarily know you. And it can mean so much to even have one other person go: “Oh, I would totally be your client for that.”

REGINA:
I could not have created the space that this idea kind of was born out of, like, by myself. I could not have created the vibe, the texture, the energy that was happening in the coaching session. Obviously, you’re offering, like, all these amazing, broader perspectives, you know, that I don’t have in my lens. And then, you know, other members in the group. And that one member, she actually sent me a voice recording, like the next day, saying, like: “Oh, my gosh, I’m just so excited about this business idea for you. And here’s some extra stuff that came to mind because I have paid for this service with others that offer it and here’s what I loved. Here’s what I didn’t like. So take what you need, and leave the rest” kind of thing. Just to have that kind of support right off the bat. People really believed in this for me, and you did and I was like: “I felt it!”

KRISTINE:
Oh, that makes me so happy! So what is it that you do?

REGINA:
Okay, so it’s called Peaceful Pets. I did proper training. I am Reiki attuned and trained. And I’m also educated in using crystals to cleanse other’s energy. So a session with me… I’m doing some of the work with you, the human, some of the work with your pet, and then some of the work in your space, because you and your pets exist in these spaces. So I do the work on those spaces, too, because everything is all connected. So what I offer is a fully connected energy cleansing practice.

KRISTINE:
In terms of the results that you’ve achieved so far – and results can mean shifts in mindset as much as earning income – what are you most proud of?

REGINA:
Definitely tripling the investment I made to get into this beautiful community – that was with the first side business that I tried out. I think that also speaks volumes to the program of Creating Cashflow. The closer I got to Christmas, I had these wonderful little Venmo notifications, like: “Oh, my gosh! I just sold another wreath – and at that price point!” I suppose that opened me up even more to then look at my petsitting prices. Because raising my rates… I really don’t think I could have done this in a way that I was comfortable with. I don’t know if I would have mustered up the courage by myself because I’ve wanted to do that for years and years. The only way I did it was like if someone got another pet, it was like: “Well, obviously, that’s going to be more.” It’s so amazing, because I raised my rates in a way that works for me, which is very professional and healthy. I’m now able to, like, come up for air. I just don’t have that eight-ball behind me in-between my petsitting jobs. Okay, and then I would say from listening to you coaching another group member about marketing – literally a couple days after that – I applied those marketing tactics in my creative career and reached out to casting directors and some commercial agents and some talent managers. And a week later, one of those managers responded, and one of the commercial agents responded. And so I started working with the new talent manager about two weeks ago. And then a week and a half ago, I heard from the commercial agent and he asked me: “Hey, would you be willing to take a leap of faith and work with me?” I was like: “WHAT?” And I responded: “I eat leaps of faith for breakfast. Let’s do this!” So I fully believe I now have new reps because of doing this work and being a part of the coaching and the group coaching. In the Abundance Bound course work, you have to look at your own money. And it’s really scary. And sometimes it’s really heartbreaking because you think you tell yourself certain stories like: “I’m doing fine.” Or you tell yourself other, scarier stories, and you’re actually not – you don’t need to be freaking out day to day, as you might be telling yourself that you are. And so it can be heartbreaking to find out you didn’t need to be doing that to yourself. That pain that maybe you’ve been trying to outrun that you have to look at… but then once you do, the fear that may have been there all along starts to dissolve, it starts to fade away. Those moments, they’re difficult, but they’re a lot easier to go through when you’re with this community.

KRISTINE:
Mm hmm. So, final question: What does being abundance bound mean to you?

REGINA:
Like abundance has always been with me, it’s always been there. Because it’s part of me. I think it’s part of everyone. It’s bound to you. It’s part of you. But there was just some clutter, covering it up. I couldn’t see it, it couldn’t feel it. And Miata and you just help us clear out the clutter and pull out the weeds that are kind of taking over this beautiful abundance garden.

KRISTINE:
Thank you so much, Regina. And I really appreciate you sharing another little piece of yourself with even more people.

REGINA:
Thank you.

KRISTINE:
“Abundance has always been with me, because it is a part of me – it is a part of everyone.” Regina, that’s music to my ears. We are sharing Regina’s story with you for two reasons. The first reason is because she’s started in a place that is so relatable: striving for her goals yet always concerned, from month to month, how she would hold the pieces of her financial life together. And the second reason is because she is now in a position that is so attainable – for you as well. She’s launching a lean, well-structured side biz that will enable her to earn what I call “above and beyond money.” A level of income that finally gives you some breathing room. Regina can be found online at PeacefulPetsLA.com

MIATA:
This podcast is our invitation to you an invitation to accelerate your progress towards a more expansive future by joining us in the Abundance Bound Financial Empowerment Program. It’s an invitation to develop a healthier relationship with your money, one that is less conflicted, less neglectful, less desperate. Our program offers a warm, friendly environment where you’ll have the space and time to work at your own speed and get the hands on support you need. You’ll receive step by step guidance that will help you strengthen your money mindset. Practice consistent money management and create additional streams of income to fund the life you want to live. Your next step is to learn more. So take a moment today and visit: AbundanceBound.com/financial-empowerment.

KRISTINE:
All of the show notes for this episode are available at AbundanceBound.com/the-podcast. We are delighted you are listening. Please keep taking very good care of your very talented self.

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