I had the pleasure of interviewing Michelle Lewis, who the founder of Visibility Vixen. She is a Visibility Expert who specializes in helping established entrepreneurs skyrocket their visibility, launch their unique show strategy and start landing press for their brand through Hollywood techniques found in her programs and membership The Visibility Lounge. She is host of “The Visible Entrepreneur” podcast and facebook group and has been featured on Entrepreneur On Fire, The Huffington Post, Medium, Buzzfeed and Small Biz Trends.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! What is your “backstory”?
Thank you so much for the opportunity! I grew up in Los Angeles, following my Dad around the world on movie sets like “Mission Impossible: 2” and “Face:Off.”
I absolutely loved the film industry and ended up working in it for 10 years, specifically in television on shows like “Pretty Little Liars” and “Chuck.”
Why did you found your company?
I wanted more from my life, to be honest. I will always love the film industry, but I had a disquiet in my spirit knowing years were going by and I wasn’t making an impact with my work like I wanted to.
After my last show, I started Visibility Vixen because I knew I could help entrepreneurs overcome all the visibility obstacles I had faced on screen. One thing led to another, and here I am!
What is it about the work you’re doing that’s disruptive?
I do not help entrepreneurs make more money. That seems to be what all the ads are about these days, right?
I don’t care if you’re making $1 month or $100k.
My interest is in how we are all positively impacting the world — what I like to call our “big why”. Because, otherwise, why are we in business?
I encourage every student to find their immediate why (helping their family, getting out of debt, etc), and then to discover their big why (helping shelter the homeless, de-polluting our oceans, etc).
Not only do I believe this will have a positive effect on our planet, but it makes every single student of mine more confident, clear and forward-moving in their message. Because their purpose is incredibly loud, not their bank account.
We all need a little help along the journey — who have been some of your mentors?
Definitely my Father. He was the first person to encourage me to step out on my own by writing a book, then an e-course. He’s always believed that I’ve had a big mission in my future and has pushed himself to learn everything he can about the online world I’m in so he can understand my struggles (and entrepreneur-speak) and continue to push me forward.
Someone who I don’t know directly but has also been a tremendous help to me is Dr. Joe Dispenza. His published works have helped me re-make so much of who I am and re-write my mindset to be able to sustain such massive growth in a short period of time. I think everyone in the world should read “Breaking The Habit Of Being Yourself”.
How are you going to shake things up next?
I am actually releasing a book on July 30th called “Publicity Jumpstart” with my co-author Kristin Marquet. We’re pretty much showing any entrepreneur how to develop a powerful brand and get their name out there in the press in under 200 pages.
This is what I needed when I first started out. Publicity scared the daylights out of me. So that’s why we wanted to write this — to give everyone an advantage to taking their notoriety as a thought leader into their own hands.
Can you share 3 of the best words of advice you’ve gotten along your journey? Please give a story or example for each.
Put your blinders on. That’s actually from my Mom. It’s so easy to get distracted and compare yourself — especially when you work online! I wasted so much time in self-doubt and stagnation because I didn’t have blinders on. So I stopped listening to podcasts, taking online courses or even seeing friends in the field. I focused on what I was able to create and what was being put on my heart until it was all completed.
It’s not about the numbers. That’s from my friend Kamila Gornia, founder of Heart Behind Hustle. She slashed her email list in half and when I asked her about it (a bit dumbfounded), she taught me that an engaged audience of even 200 people is infinitely more powerful than bragging about 10,000. She helped me re-write the programming we all get as entrepreneurs that it’s all about the numbers and helped me focus on the people instead.
Embrace your background. That’s from Russell Brunson. I was feeling a bit lost in the sea of competition when he pointed out his background selling potato guns. That got me thinking…how could I use my unique background in Hollywood to help entrepreneurs? I created the Hollywood’preneur Quiz and was able to differentiate 4 very different entrepreneur types based on what I’d encountered on film sets. We all have a unique education through life experience. It should be put to good use.
What’s a book/podcast/talk that’s had a deep impact on your thinking? Share a story with us.
I’ve got to go back to Joe Dispenza here. Discovering that our feelings aren’t based on anything but repeated thoughts…learning how addicted our brain chemicals become to recycling our negative experiences…that opened up my world. To be able to, in essence, re-create who you are based on who you want to become gave me such a sense of gratitude and helped me become the person I am today.
Some of the biggest names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might see this. 🙂
I’d have to say Marie Forleo. We have similar business models and hearts for world change, so I’d be ecstatic to get the chance to have brunch with her!
How can our readers follow you on social media?
If you’re reading this and need some support on the entrepreneurial path, I highly recommend joining my Facebook Group, The Visible Entrepreneur. That will give you the most access to me.
Also, the podcast is a great resource for free education. Everything else is @visibilityvixen!
Originally published at medium.com