I'm Monica Shah, founder and CEO of
Revenue Breakthrough, business professor at LIM college in New York City, and business mentor for female business owners of service businesses. Today, Ideal Balance is a growing company with three coaches, assistants and even an advisory board.
But it wasn't always that way. Even though I have my MBA from the Kellogg School of Management, I found that being an entrepreneur was extremely difficult at first. The long days of being alone (especially after busy corporate offices), struggling with an inconsistent cash flow, finding new clients, managing clients and running a business was a struggle.
But I was determined to make my service business fly - I was and still am totally committed to creating a business that makes a positive impact on the world and will continue that impact even when I'm not here - and living a high quality, abundant lifestyle at the same time.
So I learned everything I possibly could about small businesses from business workshops, countless teleclasses, and tons of business books.
All of that learning was great. It gave me a solid foundation.
But there was always something fundamentally missing and it took me a long time to figure it out. All of these business-training programs that talked about pushing and fighting your way forward were created and/or taught by people who didn't understand my own perspectives. They were amazing teachers, but ones who believed in competition and scarcity and manipulation. And many of them were men.
Finally I realized what I wanted. I wanted a life that was balanced between work and play. I wanted the freedom to think about creating a family and having my company at the same time. I wanted to attract business, to literally pull my clients toward me. I wanted to ride the structure I had created on the days that I was emotional or moody and not feel like I had to push my feelings away.
I recognized my uniqueness as a female business owner and I wanted to celebrate it. I wanted to operate from a place of abundance and cooperation, not scarcity and competition, because I knew that more options were available than what they told me in Business School.
So I started all over, from scratch.
I created a solid foundation: a clear vision both personal and professional, a three year plan and a daily action plan. I also learned the tools I needed to keep myself productive day in and day out and take care of my health and personal life as a female business owner. And it paid off.
My company is now four years old, has three divisions and is on track to make six figures this year. And I haven’t had to sacrifice my friends, my family or myself in the process
And now, I've started a new path - helping female service business owners take their businesses to the next level, crossing the $100,000 mark in 12 months or less, without compromising their lifestyles and while celebrating their unique identity as female business owners. My company, profit and balance is all about just that, finding a peaceful balanced path towards ultimate business success.
I'm so grateful for having the honor of helping other women shorten their learning curve and create businesses that truly support their dream lifestyles.
