Achieving Alignment in Life and Business
BY MELISSA MACHAT
Tell us about who you are and about your early career experiences.
I’m originally from the Los Angeles area and grew up pursuing a career in dance and musical theatre with a degree in theatre from USC. From a young age I’ve always worked multiple jobs to get by. In 2008 at 24 years old, I had the crazy idea to move to Las Vegas to audition for shows and got a job dealing blackjack in a Casino while I was auditioning. When I realized it was time to find a “real job”, I decided to get my real estate license which happened to be in 2009, during the height of the recession. At the time, I had no idea it was a sales and commission based career and for the first time in my life I was rewarded for how hard I worked instead of working harder than everyone else and making the least amount of money.
I ended up building my real estate business rather quickly and also learned some difficult lessons. Over the last 12 years I’ve experienced what it takes to build a business and the self-doubt, sabotage, and struggles that come along with it. I’ve also had significant personal growth and development because after becoming burnt out and miserable, I went searching for answers.
That eventually led me to NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming) where I learned why I was getting in my own way and what I could do to change it. NLP inspired me to start my coaching business, Re-Align Coaching and Consulting. I now teach entrepreneurs how to go from Solopreneur to CEO which all starts with the foundations of mindset, sales skills, hiring, systems, and leadership through digital courses and speaking.
What gave you the courage to make your leap to decide to become a coach?
I used to believe I had to achieve certain things in order to earn the right to start my business and it seemed like every benchmark I set would never happen. I was constantly comparing myself to others and under the impression that I hadn’t achieved enough to be taken seriously. There were so many people doing something similar already, who was I to think I could do it too?
It wasn’t until after NLP training in 2019 that I was able to get out of my own way and realize that I already had everything I needed within me. After that training, I knew exactly how to start. My favorite two questions to ask now are:
1. What do you actually want?
2. What’s the first step you need to take to make it happen?
Our minds can play tricks on us and convince us that we don’t know what to do, it will be too overwhelming, or we aren’t ready yet, but when we focus on what we actually want, the answer to “what happens next?” comes a lot easier.
How have your early career experiences influenced you as a business leader?
I see more clearly now and everything I’ve been through and experienced has taught me and prepared me for exactly where I am today. Being in Real Estate helped me understand how to build a service based business from the ground up as well as highly effective sales techniques. I then learned how to hire and teach others what it means to be the leader and CEO of your business.
When you’re in the trenches and learning difficult lessons, it can seem like you’re failing or things aren’t working out. Looking back now, I see how those experiences shaped me into who I am today and provided me with the ability to teach others the things I had to learn the hard way. Things that I wish I had known in the beginning.
What do you like the most about what you do?
What I enjoy most about what I do is having the freedom to create and build a life and business in alignment with what’s most important to me. I love being able to teach and empower others to go after their dream life and business goals. Helping others create alignment within their own lives leads to more joy and fulfillment, because life is too short to be miserable. I love giving people permission to break society’s rules of what things are supposed to look like, and create the life and business they want.
What is your strategy for management - for staying on task to accomplish what you set out to do?
Standards and expectations are everything when it comes to leading and motivating others as well as being clear on their goals. If you don’t know what’s important to your team and what they want to accomplish, it’s hard to focus on the right priorities that will actually move the business forward and help them achieve those goals.
My strategy to stay on task is to break down goals into smaller pieces and ask what really matters. It’s easy to mistake being busy as an achievement, but accomplishing your to-do list may not actually matter and may not be moving the business forward.
Communication is also extremely important as well as tracking your numbers so you can take the emotion and guesswork out of what’s working or not working and look at the evidence of what’s actually happening.
How has your business shifted over the last year? What obstacles have you been able to overcome and what successes have you had?
My business has shifted so much over the last year as I've had to experiment and learn what I actually want. I didn’t realize how much I was committing to and I wasn’t allowing myself any time to do my own work. As much as I thought I was learning how to slow down, I was still saying yes to everything but myself.
I’ve learned first hand what it means to create ease and flow in my business and set boundaries by saying no and giving myself space. I started out pursuing 1:1 coaching and realized my strength zone is actually around teaching and speaking. I’ve spent the past 4 months creating digital courses to help entrepreneurs go from Solopreneur to CEO through mindset, sales skills, hiring, systems, and leadership.
I’ve had to overcome weaknesses, including comparing myself to others; imposter syndrome; and listening to all of the opinions around me, in order to learn to slow down and listen to myself.
It’s easy to get caught up in what we “should” be doing, and I’ve been very intentional about taking time to listen to myself and figure out what I want this business to look like even if it’s unconventional.
What is one tip you can leave with us today about how you find and live your joy?
What brings you energy and lights you up? What drains your energy and what are you avoiding? Sometimes we don’t listen to the signals right in front of us and can blame ourselves or think we’re lazy or not motivated if we’re procrastinating or avoiding. I have learned that there’s a reason you feel that way so pay attention to why. When you realize what excites you and brings you energy, how can you focus on that or do more of it? If it’s draining, how can you delegate it to someone who gets excited doing the things that drain you.
ABOUT MELISSA MACHAT
Melissa is an NLP Master Practitioner and entrepreneur who founded Re-Align Coaching and Consulting to help empower and teach entrepreneurs how to create and scale an aligned business without the grind and burnout.
With more than 12 years of sales experience, over $100 Million in Volume Sold in Residential Real Estate, and more than eight years being educated by multiple coaching organizations and mentors, Melissa understands how to build and grow a business in any market, and how your mindset can control your outcome and results.