How Elley Became a 6-Figure Business Coach at 24

This is an interview with Elley Mae.

Hey, Elley. Tell us a bit about yourself and what you do.

Heeeey! Firstly, thank you for having me, I’m excited to dive in. And secondly, hey, I’m Elley of ElleyMae.com! I’m a business coach from Australia and I help female entrepreneurs to work less, earn more & book their dream clients with ease.

My greatest passion is seeing the women I work with to stop hustling & start enjoying the freedom that they actually started their businesses for in the first place!

What was your life like before being your own boss, and what made you decide to start a business?

As cliche as it sounds, for years I was overworked & underpaid.

I was working in day jobs that I hated and being paid far less than I deserved (or what I really wanted to be paid at least). I’d pour my heart and soul into everything I did – I always have and always will – despite not really loving what I was doing in any of those day jobs.

For me, starting a business wasn’t a “I’m sick of my day jobs so I’ll just start a business” kind of thing. I actually began my entrepreneurial journey back when I was 15 years old, which seems crazy now looking back.

At the time, I was OBSESSED with portrait photography & so I started a photography business. I worked as a self-employed photographer as my side-hustle whilst in high school and, then after graduating high school, alongside my day jobs in retail, office management & accounts.

From there, my love for business ended up growing stronger each & every day. I ended up finishing my career as a portrait photographer when I was 21 as I’d fallen out of love with it. I’d turned a hobby into a business & in turn, had fallen out of love with something I used to be so passionate about (because I was so run down from managing all the weddings, editing, etc!)

Over time, I tried out blogging & playing around with social media. I started a lifestyle blog, that didn’t go far.

I started a beauty blog & had far more success there. In fact, I actually ended up growing my Instagram following that complimented my blog to over 18,000 followers at one point. I was receiving parcel after parcel of beauty products, working with brands on sponsored content & even going to some of the top events with Australian beauty brands. So much fun!

But, yet again, I fell out of love with it. I knew I was meant for more. I always knew I was meant for more. I just didn’t know what.

It wasn’t until I started to take notice of the questions that people on my Instagram & my blog were asking me that I realised “woah, I’m in the wrong niche”.

I realised that what my audience really wanted from me was tips, tricks & advice on blogging and growing on social media. So I pivoted away from beauty blogging and pursued blogging about… well… blogging (and social media!)

I eventually got to the point where I was ready to turn my blog into a business, hired a business coach & made it happen. I became a social media manager & brand photographer and I went for it.

It took me 4-5 months of hardcore focus, alignment and selling (of course!) to get my income to where it needed to be for me to go full-time in business & then I made that leap. In August 2018 I became my own boss!

From there, my love for business grew even stronger again (I know, is that even possible?!) and I eventually pivoted to become a business coach in January 2019 & will never look back.

How did you know that having a coaching business was the right thing for you?

I’ve always loved to teach & I’ve always loved to support people, so I guess it was just instinct! Wanting to help others and see others thrive is one of my main driving forces in my life, and so it was only natural that it would be one of my main driving forces in my business.

In saying that, going into coaching wasn’t all sunshine & rainbows. I definitely still had imposter syndrome and all of the limiting beliefs coming up at some points during those initial stages (I mean, we all do!)

However because I knew it was the right step, I detached from the outcome of me “having” to book clients & just went for it, I made it happen.

How long did it take you to find your first client?

Hmm, great question! To be honest, I can’t remember the time frame exactly. But I just know that when I first became a social media manager & brand photographer (whilst I was still side-hustling), and when I pivoted to business coaching, that it was pretty quick.

And, if I was to elaborate on that and give you some insight as to why I think that it happened so fast, or at least faster than some people see, it’s because of the work I’d put in before then.

It was all the mindset work I’d done before launching my services. It was all the money I’d invested in my growth, learning & coaches before booking clients.

It was all of the late nights, working during my lunch breaks at day jobs & relentlessness I’d poured into growing my audience and building my personal brand before it happened.

What are some mistakes you’ve made in the early days?

Haha, are you sure you have the time?! Honestly, what mistakes haven’t I made?! But I guess that’s just it.

Entrepreneurship isn’t a straight path (sorry to burst anyone’s bubble!) It’s a crazy rollercoaster of ups & downs, backwards & forwards and crazy highs, along with the crazy lows.

If we were to get specific though, I’ll put it down to a couple of mistakes I made that I learned extremely valuable lessons from.

Mistake #1 – Not identifying my ideal client well enough.

Back then, I thought that knowing who your ideal client was was just a matter of knowing their age, their gender & where they were from, maybe even what hobbies they had. That was it! Ahhh, I still cringe my face thinking back to that time. But it’s all I knew…

And if this is you, if you’re reading this & saying “ugh, since when is knowing your ideal client more than that?!” then hear me out.

If you truly want to book dream clients, the kind that are aligned with your values, who you are as a person, respect your boundaries, enjoy your company, feel like a friend & love working with you, you NEED to know more than the surface level stuff like their demographics & what drink they order at Starbucks.

Mistake #2 – Thinking I had to talk to EVERYONE

This one kind of goes hand in hand with the previous mistake, but in a different way.

Not only did I not really know who my ideal client was, I was also trying to speak to everyone and please everyone (which is very obviously physically impossible to do!) I’d write content that appealed to everyone with every problem & every kind of mindset and then wonder why I wasn’t growing.

Thankfully I had a conversation with my business coach at the time & we worked through this. Content creation became so much easier and of course, then leading into creating services & starting to sell, that got easier too.

What income streams do you currently have and how have you grown them?

How to Start an Online Business on The Side [2020 Edition]

At the time of this interview, I have 4 different income streams or service tiers in my business.

I have my digital products, my low level programs & courses, my group coaching programs & my high-level 1:1 coaching.

Plus I also have affiliate marketing as a source of income, so I guess that counts too!

In terms of growing them, it all comes down to 2 things starting with C: Confidence and Consistency.

Sure, I never actually knew if I was going to be able to sell an offer, have a $50k launch or be fully booked out, but