Nel Shelby on the Boldheart Business Program
hello there it's fabienne and uh welcome i am here with somebody i love and adore and have known for a very long time and uh that is mel the nell shelby and uh we're gonna have a conversation about what it's like to be uh investing in yourself what it's like to be uh in boldheart business what happens when you do something for yourself like this but before that now i want everybody to know who you are so briefly tell us what you do so we can get okay well thank you fabienne i am so happy to be here and um so my name is nell and i live in new york city um and i've had a video production company for i think it's about 18 years now my production company is focused on filming dance dance is my specialty as my niche which actually also really was refined because of fabienne um i was sort of doing everything but realized that my love was dance and so that's what my focus is on i make documentary films about specifically about dance education i make dance films marketing films and they're probably my biggest bread and butter the biggest thing that i do is is film dance concerts um in theaters all over new york city a big client of mine is jacob's pillow dance festival in beckett massachusetts vail dance festival unveiled colorado and um you know we'll film dance wherever anyone invites me and have grown my team over the years to have um we're all dancers that are doing what we love to do which is video yeah so you and i have known each other for a very long time how long do you think it's been now like oh well guess what gracie turned 12 yesterday oh and i do remember um i think we were working with you when she was born yeah so i went to your baby shower at sheila's apartment yes you did you did and so it probably was 2007 i think that when you know when christopher my husband for those people that don't know started working with you yeah and then you joined the program as well to work on your own business yes you did really well for yourself uh so you worked with me for a couple of years and then you went off and did life and then we reconnected uh was it last fall and you said i think it's time for me to come back but i i wanna i think it's important to share the first round of when you started working with me you went from what income is it okay to share numbers right away i love sharing numbers okay great so you came to me the first time like maybe like 10 years ago or whatever yeah i think it was like 0809 yeah we're making what in your business back then do you think i think i might have been making under a hundred thousand dollars and um and just to give people an idea you know to be the dance world um that is very very saturated in new york city especially that's why i'm here um it you know it has that sort of like um i wouldn't call it poverty mindset but i would say that there is not a lot of money flowing they rely on a lot of grants and donors and it's it's a not-for-profit situation so you know the idea of even breaking a hundred thousand dollars is um a pretty big deal and um and i and i so i think before i started working with you i was probably under a hundred thousand dollars and then you know as we were working together um i really learned how to love marketing which was a huge thing and um so i sort of became a marketing machine and and then for marketing loving marketing uh marketing that not like i just want to clarify that that we teach marketing in like a really lovely way would you agree yes i mean i probably shared the story 5 000 times is that and i shared i have a lot of interns and a lot of people that i mentor and i tell them that that's i really honestly the first thing i say to them is is marketing is is so important but i define what that means and i and i share your story about how you say um share your brownies you know it's like if you make all the brownies and you keep them for yourself you get really fat and you also you also it's just not very loving and if you share those brownies and share with people what you do then you know you so many wonderful things happen and and and that's been something that i've just con a mindset of mine that i've just been continuing to share with others even in my field you know like even even in the dance world like you can't hold tight like all the dances you're making you have to be able to show people yeah yeah you were able to take these concepts of marketing and make very good money um in the last few years are you are you willing to share the number you you took your business to before coming back last fall yes so um i mean also we have to say i mean i still find like all the binders that you gave me you know before digital um where it's like uh oh gosh i can't even think of what some of them were called but i would sit at the beach and read them about um you know all of the things that you were teaching us about marketing and about growing your business and everything so i've continued to really take those in and continue to practice them from 2000 you know when i maybe stopped working with you in 2011 until last year so a year ago at that point i think that i was at six hundred and thirty thousand dollars right less than a hundred to six hundred and thirty thousand in the dance video world right right that's huge right yeah yeah and also you know that the important thing is is employing other people and that that this is it made possibilities for other people's lives you know that they can be a dance videographer also they can be a dance editor they can they can do what they love to do and and make money as well so so you decided to come back it was time for your new level of growth and what are we shooting for now in terms of revenues well i really definitely um it's interesting you know pre-covered situation um i think my i said my goal was like a million was like what was in my heart but um i think on paper i i think i i think i have to look back but i think was like 850 000 or something you know i felt like that was that felt real to me um and and now i have to say i was talking to my marketing team the other day and we were looking through my goals and which i know we'll probably talk about in a bit but now in this covet situation even though i lost a ton of business i've sort of grown it back and beyond and now i would say they were they were telling me the other day like no i think you could probably hit a million by the end of the year yeah so really glad you're sharing this because there are a lot of people who are in fear and panic uh with what's going on in the world and they don't realize that people have pivoted and i have had so many conversations with um the gold heart business members that said well when coveted first hit i took a dip but then right away you told you told me to pivot and you taught me how to move things online and you taught me how to keep my mental strength and and and that's why i'm back up if not exceeding my pre-covered numbers can you share uh just how being part of boldheart business helped you in working with me helped you uh with whether this storm that this uncertainty i mean geez we you know we're in the biggest health crisis since 1918. and um this is this is you know coming from a very optimistic person like myself this has been an interesting time to just not just go oh everything's going to be okay you know we have to be real about it like um we this is a time where we um i mean my clients are suffering you know makes i hope i don't cry right now but um suffering meaning like creating art theaters are not open um there's there's a lot of sadness going on right now so just to bring you back though like when march 15th i was actually in jamaica on a trip with my family even though everyone if you think march 15th that was probably not the right time to go to jamaica but i went and came back and quarantined all my business i think i think on the books it was like 200 000 of business had been lost um whether it was postponed maybe or just completely lost and i remember saying to you on a call i just said you were talking about pivoting and i said fabian i'm so exhausted like i've been working so hard for 18 years like maybe this is just like the universe saying just slow down and take a moment and you know meditate pray write in your journal be with your kids and that is what i did and i remember you said to me that for me that's a pivot for you i remember that conversation you were really like oh my god i don't want to work so so hard and so every pivot's differently and you needed that time to go within to connect with your spiritual center to then come out of the gates and just crushing it the last few months yeah and i and i did take it in that you you had reported um something about pivoting you've been talking to us about pivoting and it's interesting that word has not been in my vocabulary a lot like pre-covered so i think i was also just like what does that word mean but i was listening to what you know listening to how to pivot what that means writing in my journal a lot thinking and praying and going on the q a calls with um all the leverage the whole leverage group business group and um and then you know there was that one moment where i got that a past client just reached out to me and said we'd love for you to produce our convocation this is teachers college with columbia university and i was like there's no way like what can i possibly do for my home you know i'm a videographer like i should be out there and um when i i just said okay let's talk and i thought there's no way she's going to hire me like what am i going to offer but she just you know she i felt like she she in my mind this woman is an angel um because she obviously saw that i could do this and so i then um just like you do with us so because she saw that i then was able to create a proposal and um we produced this beautiful convocation for 2000 students all over the world yeah and you've been like this this pivot that you made as a result of some of the coaching that you've gotten here has brought you i mean juilliard has reached out to you like all the big new york city center the joyce theater lincoln center just booked congratulations right this i've seen this happen a year ago not yet okay no i mean i feel so also to help people to understand so i went to school for dance and i went to school for broadcast video so being um like producing television was what i wanted to do um i didn't know producing at the time you know i thought i wanted to just work in television um but when live streaming happened and became a thing and i started live streaming 10 years ago i realized and i love live performance because that's what i what i do and so then live streaming is like mixing shows live meaning like cutting to different cameras and just having that live feel then that's what i was like oh i love doing this and so now that's what we're doing so i feel like when you kept talking about pivoting and opening my mind to that and and just like you know calling my accountability buddy for people that don't know what that is it's your boldheart friend or boldheart colleague or boldheart lovey person that holds you accountable every day every day every day and i called elena starting march 15th every day and i was on those q a calls and i was listening to what you were saying and it just opened my mind and and something actually which i think is a big part of boldheart someone interviewed me a few weeks ago and they said no seriously like do all videographers and editors can they all start producing like shows these virtual shows that you're doing like you know because i have these skills um we all have these skills as videographers and editors to be able to do this for people and i said gosh i don't know like i literally would innocently was like gosh i don't know she's like no they can't and but i think a lot of that is because a bold heart of like thinking outside the box thinking that first methodology right we don't show you how to do something until we expand your capacity to really hear it and believe that you can do it because otherwise it will fall in deaf ears now um as we wrap up what are what do you what do you believe are the most important elements of why boldheart business helps these hundreds of women make more money and grow their impact and create things like you have that are is just unthinkable to others and astonishing results what are the aspects of the program that you find are incredibly valuable well before i joined leverage a year ago i felt like i was going to my team for help i thought i was going to my husband for help i thought it was like you know crying to my mom for help right and um and then when i talked to caitlin who's on your team and we talked about leverage and because i just said you know caitlyn i just want to go to the mindset retreat i'm going to be good she's like let's talk about leverage a little more and i think that that what really sold me on it in terms of why i wanted to come back is because of the support because of the camaraderie because of that like the high level support you know i'm not just talking like someone being like you're gonna be okay like or or let's talk through this like the high level support like i i just want to tell a little story like last week when we were on the q a call i was really struggling because lincoln center just called me to do some work and um i feel very busy this october and i feel like i have a full plate and you said to me you know you gave me practical business advice which was like write down all the things that could go wrong and then flip you know and then work through that and troubleshoot from there of like how to create success in those in that work so lincoln center just booked me yesterday and for five five live streams five shoots two camera on the plaza um and i i just felt like if i was just telling my husband that if if i didn't have that i would have been in my head i would have been saying to everyone i would have probably been like whining like oh what am i gonna do you know and i so i feel like that is just an example of being able to go to these people whether it's my boldheart friends colleagues or you or derek to be able to just say okay this is what i'm dealing with yeah and i need a high level of last week like i don't really care what else you have on yeah i can say like that but what else you have on your calendar we will always make room for lincoln center oh my gosh i know being practical um yeah i uh there's a woman at least one woman who is watching this right now who has been on the fence about joining us who has been on the fence about believing that she can create results like you're creating and she's like should i shouldn't i should i shouldn't i should i shouldn't i what would you say to her knowing what it's like inside about what to do next it sounds so simple but i would just say just go for it just see you can even just go in and see and then give yourself time in there to because you know it takes sometimes a little bit of time to just get your groove of like how many q a calls should i you know if you're too big if you're feeling too busy you know how many q a calls should i go on you don't have to do everything i remember caitlyn said to me do this how it works for you and and it took me a little time to get into that groove um and and not feel like oh no i'm missing a q a call but i would just say you know there's there's there's really no turning back i mean i i i said on our leverager time um two-day workshop i i remember before i said um i feel like i'm paying to have friends and i know that sounds so silly but i think it's true because we cannot rely on our just like girlfriends to help us work through our business and the entrepreneurs we have so much energy and so many ideas and we really need the help of these other women and you to be able to focus and direct our attention and prioritize ourselves in the right direction whatever that may be for each person and as a result of this you are on your way to your first million nil shelby like yeah i okay so i was trying to calculate my head today um i think this month alone i'm bringing in 300 000 so i don't even know what to say like it's just and you have a gorgeous marriage and you have two yes children and like you're not you know it's not the idea of what some people think is being a multiple six figure a month when i say to somebody like you're gonna end up making 20k a month when you join us 50k 100k they're like 100k i will lose my life and now i'll say like no like nell like she has a great life than 300k a month i still exercise i rode my peloton bike this morning i still meditate i still you know have yeah i mean you know i feel very busy this month but also the thing that we didn't talk about is like you know in this pivot i feel like i'm almost starting a new business but with a lot of knowledge behind you know and with a lot of support so so there's there's a little bit of us like startup feel um and but but having that all those tools leveraging your time just thinking that through oh my gosh that was such that was mind-blowing two days yeah you know i'm so proud for you i'm so deeply proud for you nell and i hope you are proud of yourself you are i want to thank you for sharing your story with us today so inspirational and i just know that there's at least one person who has tears rolling down her face and you've just given her the faith to believe in herself to believe that it's not just for other people but she can do it too and uh and then she'll reach out and and say okay i heard nell's story sign me up i want to get to meet her and and and continue to be inspired by all the bold hearts thank you so much nell and congratulations thank you favian thank you you too
2021-03-05 08:01
