55: From Desperation to 7 Figures: How Two Female Entrepreneurs Built Authentic Businesses

🌟 When You Don't Have the Luxury to Choose Your Discomfort

You know those origin stories that sound too perfectly aligned to be true? The ones where you meet someone and realize you've basically been living parallel lives? That's exactly what happened when I sat down with Colleen Nichols (you might know her as @noshamessalesgame) for this episode.

We both got pregnant. Our husbands both lost their jobs in finance. We both had to figure out entrepreneurship not because we wanted to, but because we had no other choice. And here's the thing that nobody talks about enough: that desperation became our competitive advantage.

I've been thinking a lot about this lately because I see so many women in my community who are waiting for the "right time" to go all in on their businesses. They're consuming endless content, following 87 different coaches, buying $47 courses they never implement, and staying stuck in analysis paralysis. And I get it, because having a safety net feels good. But that safety net might be the exact thing keeping you from the breakthrough you're chasing.

Ready to hear the full conversation about building authentic businesses from rock bottom? Listen to this week's podcast episode where Colleen and I get real about our messy journeys, the comparison trap we still struggle with, and why showing up as your unfiltered self is the only strategy that actually works long-term.

💪 The Needle of Fear That Changes Everything

Let me take you back to 2017. My husband had been laid off from his finance job and hadn't found another position in two years. We had started a CrossFit gym out of desperation, I had quit my job, and we were drowning. I was pregnant with my second child, terrified of being on video, and my husband told me I had to start creating content for our gym's Instagram account because that's where things were going.

I fucking hated it. I was terrified. I didn't want to show my face. But here's what I've realized in the years since: that needle of fear will always be in my mind. The fear that I could lose everything. And honestly? It's what makes me show up consistently even when I don't feel like it, even when my engagement is shit, even when I'm stuck at the same follower count for eight months straight.

Because I know what it feels like to not have anything.

Colleen's story is eerily similar. Her husband lost his VP job when she was five months pregnant with their second son. She had to figure out how to make money while nobody was going to hire a visibly pregnant woman. She started in network marketing, got really good at selling in her own authentic way, and eventually launched her Instagram account (completely anonymous at first) that grew to 50,000 followers before she even revealed her face.

Between 2017 and 2020, we both amassed massive debt trying to make entrepreneurship work. When my business finally took off, we were over $100,000 in debt. Colleen's story was the same. We had years of proof that it wasn't going to work, but we kept going anyway because we had to be slightly delusional enough to believe it could happen.

Here's what I want you to understand: people who don't know what it feels like to have nothing find it really difficult to get uncomfortable. They have to choose their discomfort. I didn't have the luxury to choose my discomfort. It was thrust upon me, and I had to do something with it.

If you're waiting for the "right time" or the "perfect conditions" to go all in on your business, pretend like you don't have your safety net. What would you do differently if you literally had no other choice? That's the energy that creates breakthroughs.

🎯 Trusting Yourself Over Every Expert's Advice

One of the most powerful parts of my conversation with Colleen was when we both admitted that we struggle with pricing. Not because we don't know our value, but because we refuse to price our offers at a number we can't say out loud with complete confidence.

I have a brand strategist (Steph) who's been in my life and business for years. I also have my husband Rob who's our finance guy. Almost every single time I launch something, I go to them with my pricing idea, and they both want me to go higher. Every. Single. Time.

And you know what? In the end, I'm like: I can't do it.

Because I have to feel 100% confident when I say this price out loud. What they want me to do doesn't feel right, so I can't do it. I need to sleep at night. I need to be able to look my community members in the eye (even through a screen) and feel completely aligned with what I'm charging.

Colleen shared the exact same struggle. Everyone in her life tells her it's ridiculous that she doesn't charge more. And she's like, "I know I could, but I don't. It just doesn't feel right." We both have friends who joke about just being assholes and charging a million dollars for everything, but we can't. Not because we don't believe in our value, but because we need energetic alignment with our pricing.

Here's what I've learned: when your energy is off because you're forcing yourself to do something that doesn't feel right, your people feel it. Even if they can't articulate it, they know you're in a funk. And it tanks your conversions.

I'll go to my husband and ask, "Do I have to launch? Because my energy right now, I don't want to, and therefore it's not gonna go well." And he'll look at the numbers and sometimes the answer is yes, you have to. But more often than not, giving myself permission to trust my gut has led to better outcomes than forcing launches when I'm not energetically aligned.

The problem is that most women are consuming so much advice from so many different coaches and gurus that they've lost the ability to identify their own desires. You've got Colleen saying this, Emily saying that, and 85 other experts saying something completely different. All of those voices are conflicting because of course we all have our own opinions. And you're just weighed down by 87,000 other voices telling you what you "should" do.

Even something as simple as picking a Canva template or choosing your branding becomes paralyzing because you don't trust yourself anymore. You're waiting for someone to tell you which one is "right" instead of asking yourself which one you're pulled toward.

🔥 The Authenticity Revolution (AKA Curation Fatigue Is Real)

Let's talk about what's actually working on social media right now, because it's not what you think.

When Colleen and I were discussing Instagram growth strategies, we both kept coming back to the same observation: the people who are doing well right now are the ones who are so authentic. Not authentic as a buzzword, but genuinely showing up as themselves. They're not trying to perform. They're in their car. They're in their bed. They have on a hoodie. They're not in their McMansion showing off the kale salad they served their children for dinner.

It's very real and raw.

I cannot tell you how many times I've posted a perfectly curated brand photo that my best friend took (she's a professional photographer) and it gets 400 likes. Then I'll post a mirror selfie I took while trying on clothes and it gets 2,000 likes. Make it make sense.

We've reached curation fatigue. People are over the perfectly branded, perfectly lit, perfectly staged content. They want to see you as a human being outside of just the thing that you sell.

Now, here's where this gets tricky: being authentically yourself online means you're going to repel some people. And that's actually the goal.

Colleen is unapologetically herself. She curses. She shares her political views. She talks about being an ally for gay people. And yes, she loses followers constantly. In 2025, she lost more followers than she gained. People can never leave quietly either. They have to give her an exit review she didn't ask for: "I would really love you if you could just tone down the language."

Her response? "Okay, fuck you, Karen."

I'm slightly different because I'm an Enneagram 9 peacemaker who wants everyone to love me. I don't acknowledge holidays because I said "Happy Thanksgiving" two years ago and somebody came at me about colonizers. I pretend like nothing exists and people have even come at me for NOT talking about things happening in the world. You're damned if you do and damned if you don't.

But here's what Colleen said that really stuck with me: "I would rather just disappoint somebody up front. I never want somebody to be like, 'Oh, I think her content is so great and she's so smart,' and then they meet me and realize I'm not who they thought I was. So I try to pepper in who I really am because I don't want people to not like me from the jump or like me from the jump, but I never want them to be disappointed later."

That's the energy that builds real community. Not the kind that's inflated with people who followed you for a viral dance video. The kind where people feel like they actually know you and would show up for you when it matters.

📧 The Email List Strategy That Actually Converts

One of the biggest regrets both Colleen and I have? Not starting our email lists sooner.

I'm one of the rare people who actually listened to the gurus and started my email list immediately when I launched my Instagram account in September 2020. But Colleen waited, and she wishes she hadn't. Because here's the truth: Instagram is rented land. Your email list is the only thing you actually own.

Here's my exact strategy for growing my email list without feeling salesy:

1. I send a newsletter every single week. No exceptions. My open rates stay above 50% because I'm ruthless about cleaning my list every three months. Anyone who hasn't opened an email in six months? Bye-bye. They can come back if they want, but I need the Google, Yahoo, and Hotmail gods on my side when I hit send, and my deliverability is phenomenal because I keep that list so clean.

2. I create one-off free resources constantly. Not just my two main lead magnets. Random, low-lift freebies that I can promote in different contexts. Like yesterday, someone sent me an engagement calculator for Instagram and I was like, "I don't know if I hate this or love it, but if you want it, comment 'calculator.'" That's not even my resource. I'm just providing a link. But people are willing to hand over their email address for it because it's timely and relevant.

3. I have one dedicated post per week that's ONLY about a free resource. It's not buried in the caption. It's not hidden at the end of a reel. The entire post is about the freebie. Does it perform well engagement-wise? No. But it gets a ton of comments, which means a ton of email signups, which means I'm moving people off Instagram and into my ecosystem where I actually have control.

4. I talk about what's in my newsletter in my Instagram Stories. "This week I'm sharing X in my newsletter, make sure you hop on my email list if you're not on it." It's a soft sell that reminds people there's value happening in a place they're not currently accessing.

The biggest mistake I see people make is having two freebies and thinking that's all they can talk about. Or burying their CTAs at the end of content where nobody sees them. Your email list should be your number one priority because it's the only platform where you're not at the mercy of an algorithm that could change tomorrow.

🎢 The Comparison Trap Is Alive and Well (Even at Seven Figures)

I need to be honest with you about something: the comparison trap is alive and well in my soul. I cannot cast that demon out for the life of me.

I see things do well for other people and I just feel like shit. And then when you feel like shit, you can't perform. Your energy sucks. And your people feel it even if they can't articulate it. They know you're in a funk, and it's not good for you or your business.

I've been stuck at 124,000 followers for like eight months. Maybe more. I shit you not. My reels get 4,000 views when I have over 100,000 followers. My story views are terrible. I have peers with 2,000 followers whose stuff gets more engagement than mine, and I'm like, "I want to start over."

I was literally in my Stories yesterday saying, "Hey guys, I'm thinking of starting a new account. If you love me, follow me. If not, stay here."

Colleen feels the same way. She's dealing with feeling shadow-banned, having people tell her they haven't seen her content in months, and watching her engagement drop despite showing up consistently. It's hard. Really hard.

But here's what helps: I went on a complete unfollow rampage. Over Christmas and New Year's, I felt so overwhelmed with the amount of content I was being fed about "do this in 2026, don't fucking do this in 2026, you're screwed if you're doing this." I consumed so much that I couldn't think straight. So I unfollowed almost everyone in the industry.

Colleen did the same thing. There are very few people we follow in our industry now because we can't handle it. Not only the overwhelm, but also the comparison. When you're constantly seeing other people's highlight reels, it's impossible not to measure yourself against them.

The truth is, I'm fully guilty of comparison. If you think I'm immune to that, trust me, I'm not. Everyone struggles with this, even at high levels of success. The difference is learning to protect your energy by curating what you consume and remembering that engagement rate matters way more than vanity metrics.

For context, Colleen looked up our engagement rates. I'm at 4%, which is actually really good. Jenna Kutcher is at 0.38%. Amy Porterfield is at 0.14%. So even though it feels like shit in my head, the facts tell a different story.

🛠️ Resources & Links Mentioned in This Episode

• Follow Colleen Nichols on Instagram: @noshamessalesgame

• Colleen's book: Don't Make It Weird: The Entrepreneur's Guide to Being Human on the Internet (Amazon #1 bestseller)

• Engagement rate calculator tool mentioned in the episode

💫 The Real Secret Nobody Talks About

Here's what I want you to take away from this conversation: the messy middle is where all the good stuff happens.

Colleen and I both built seven-figure businesses from absolute rock bottom. We both amassed massive debt. We both had years where nothing was working. We both still struggle with comparison, algorithm changes, and wondering if we should just burn it all down and start over.

But we keep showing up. Not because we're more disciplined or more talented or have some secret strategy nobody else knows about. We keep showing up because we know what it feels like to have nothing, and that fear is a powerful motivator.

The difference between people who make it and people who don't isn't talent or timing or even strategy. It's being slightly delusional enough to keep going when all the evidence suggests you should quit. It's trusting yourself over expert advice when your gut tells you something's off. It's showing up as your authentic, unfiltered self even when it means losing followers. It's protecting your energy by unfollowing the noise and focusing on your own path.

You don't need another course. You don't need another coach. You don't need to wait for the perfect time or the perfect strategy or the perfect anything.

You just need to start. And then keep going. Even when it's messy. Especially when it's messy.

Want to find your people who will support you through the messy middle? Join The Content Coven where we're building businesses that work for our lives, not the other way around. No comparison. No overwhelm. Just real women doing the real work together.

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