Episode# 034: Being A Mom Entrepreneur + Stepping Into Your God-Led Calling with Stefanie Gass
Who else is fueled by Jesus, iced coffee, & toddler snuggles?!
This episode is so dear to my heart because it touches both on motherhood and my faith as a Christian. I brought in an extraordinary mama and successful entrepreneur to shed light on how she managed her business, motherhood, and serving through her God-led calling.
Stefanie Gass helps mompreneurs create passive income businesses that light them up and allow them to be exceptional mamas AND extremely successful entrepreneurs.
Stef’s call is empowering women to claim their BEST lives by working less, yet making more. She believes that when we let God's miracles light our path, we will profit from our passions, live proactively, & design a life that fuels our soul.
Stefanie’s Journey Here
About eight years ago, like so many of you, I think I was raised to believe that you get the typical degrees, you're going to go climb the corporate ladder- stability. So I went and got the master's in accounting even though it didn't feel me at all. I'm here sitting in this finance and accounting class, ‘whatever’. I'll make it a stable career. But I didn't enjoy it and regardless, I'm a 3 on the Enneagram, so that means I'm an Achiever. I'm going to do something even if it's finance. So I went into the corporate world climbing that ladder. By the age of 27 I was making well over six figures, globe-trotting Spain and Germany, and I was the youngest controller in this solar company and that was fine.
At the time I thought- I'm rocking, I'm loving it! I love to work! I love to achieve…I don't care about seeing the daylight. I want to work from 6:00 AM until 7:00 at night. I don't know how many of you can relate to being in that phase of your whole journey. But I experienced that. And then I met my husband and we knew we wanted to start a family and for me it was divine intervention. My mom introduced me to network marketing. That was my first taste of entrepreneurship. I think probably like a lot of you listeners, and some of you may still be in network marketing as an income stream, but at the time, six and a half years ago, it was new. It was catching that new wave again. People hadn't really heard about it and I thought, Oh, if that girl in that promo video can float on that pink flamingo with her Mimosa, make six, seven figures and raise her kids…sign me up, you know?
So I totally bought into it and I went crazy. I actually interestingly got laid off my company shut down here where I live. And so I had this opportunity to build this network marketing business for a year full steam ahead. I was newly pregnant so I didn't have kids yet and I'm like, I'm going to do this thing, whatever it takes. And I did just that. I went top 1% within two years, all the blood, sweat and tears. I did it. I lost friends. I was like crazy woman's spamming everyone on social media, like networking events all day, every day. I worked harder in that business than I did in corporate and regardless, checked the boxes, right? Oh Stef made $17,000/month. The cars, the trips, all of it. And it was great for a while until you realized that, Oh, this isn't mine.
I just built this thing. And what happened was this team that I had built this massive empire over a thousand people, they were like, Oh, well if Stef was versed in this one, I should go to this other one and be first. And they had shiny objects syndrome. The company went through a lot of re-branding and it started to fall apart and about a year after that height in my income, the world came crashing down around me. It's so hard and gritty and there's these really dark defining moments and this was one of them. So I had fully lost my identity in this company. I was the network marketing girl. This is all I was showing up for was ‘success equals money’.
Achievement equals money. Right? And what happened is the income got slashed. I'm sitting at my computer, I'm doing the budget and I realized we can't pay the bills this month. The cash flow wasn't there because we had elevated our lifestyle and my husband's like, Well, we're going to have to borrow money from Mile’s savings account. Who at the time was our two year old son and that was the moment like the darkest. I'm like, Oh, this is rock bottom. I poured my entire soul out to build this thing for what? To borrow money from my son, right? And so that in that moment I decided I will never again have all my eggs in one basket. I will never get to wrap my identity inside of a company. I call it my, my God-led calling.
You may call it a spirit calling or higher power, but I was like, I got to get myself out of the way. I have to redefine what matters to me here on this earth and figure out a new path because this woman I see in the mirror, I don't even recognize her. And so I went through this process. It was about a year I had to heal myself. I was having anxiety attacks. I had to get some therapy, like amen for that. I had to figure myself out, get my health back on track. And about two years into that journey, I met with a mentor. This mentor was like, Hey Stef, what is it that you love about network marketing and about what you do? And I'm like, well I love helping women and coaching women and firing them up and helping them see that they can achieve something that they thought they never could.
And I love sales and marketing. Sales and marketing just lights me up. I am that weird human like that 1% that is obsessed with sales. And they're like, why don't you just help female entrepreneurs with sales and marketing and pair it with spirituality? Cause that's what I'm super passionate about. I'm like, Oh…OH snap. Okay, not sure how this will work (and here's the beauty) when I finally got out of the way and I opened my heart to this, just show me how to do this. Show me what's next. I prayed on it and allowed the Holy Spirit to move me and all the doors opened. It was crazy. Someone called me, Hey Stef, have you ever thought of coaching? I'd like to hire you.
And then I had someone call me, Hey Stef, do you do consulting? I need some consulting work and they're paying me five grand a month for a couple of hours. I'm like, okay. Then we've got a car that was basically handed to us to use for free for a year. And all these blessings, just infinitely serving, served on a platter like you're in the right path, you're aligned with what you're meant to do. So now fast forward, I coach female entrepreneurs, I call them mompreneurs to uncover their God led calling. Figure out a way to monetize it in a passive way, create a brand that is their own and then scale it so that they can be present for their kiddos or themselves. You can have an extremely successful business and be an exceptional mother and wife or just exceptional human being as well.
What do you tell Mompreneurs who are in search of their God-led callings?
Don’t be afraid to step back…
Ask yourself…is what you’re doing lighting you up? Do you wake up so on fire to continue and further this mission?
If YES, then stay that course because a divine source will be behind you pushing you forward, that's going to open the doors even if it takes a decade.
If NO…if you hate your work then you're forcing something that isn't in alignment with your heart. Just stop because I promise you when you get in alignment with what you love and what your soul wants you to do and your heart wakes up and you're going to be successful again.
When Mom’s find their passion(S), their niche(s)…what’s next?!
Create a brand that’s YOU. Don’t be afraid to be seen, to be authentic.
Create passive income (because let’s be honest, as moms, wives, we don’t have the time to be working all day and be PRESENT). It doesn’t matter how much you charge, because you will reach your goals. Be focused on what your tribe needs and creating content that serves them. Courses, self-study, ebooks.
Focus instead on Public Relations. Pour into people for free and they will buy your content. SERVE.
Check out the rest of the episode for Stefanie’s expertise on finding your passion and creating a successful business from it!