Second Act Success Career Podcast: Career Change Advice, Job Search Strategies, and Personal Development Tips

Overcome Debt, Sell Your Business To Bill Gates, and Become a Millionaire Businesswoman with Beate Chelette | Ep #74

April 27, 2023 Beate Chelette, Shannon Russell Season 1 Episode 74
Second Act Success Career Podcast: Career Change Advice, Job Search Strategies, and Personal Development Tips
Overcome Debt, Sell Your Business To Bill Gates, and Become a Millionaire Businesswoman with Beate Chelette | Ep #74
Show Notes Transcript

“I will not drown in a puddle.” Beate Chelette has experienced more than her fair share of obstacles- immigrating from German, divorce, debt, betrayal, lawsuits, loss of a parent, being a single mom, etc. Beate began her career in photography, but pivoted to open her own  business. She had it stolen from her and found herself in $130,000 of debt. After so many losses, Beate wrote the President of the United States begging for help. This bold move led to a light at the end of the tunnel. She built a new business and sold it to Bill Gates for millions. Now Beate is a successful business woman once again, as well as an author, coach, and podcast host. She is the founder of The Growth Architect and The Women’s Code. Shannon sits down for an in-depth conversation with Beate to learn about her journey and how she now helps others build their brands so that others can achieve success too.

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Second Act Success Career Podcast
Season 1 - ​​Overcome Debt, Sell Your Business To Bill Gates, and Become a Millionaire Businesswoman with Beate Chelette | Ep #74
Episode - #74
Host: Shannon Russell
Guest: Beate Chelette
Transcription (*created by Descript and may not be perfectly accurate)

[00:00:00] : I have so many women over 50 that come to me and they say, I've been in service of my family.

I've been in service of my husband, I've been in service of my husband's career, my husband's business. And I took that job of being in service so seriously that I, I lost my own way. And they can't even answer, what is it that you want? And if you listening to this and you don't know what you want, then consider this your wake up call. Are you at a 

[00:00:30] Shannon Russell: crossroads in your career? Ready for a change, but you're not sure how to get there? Don't worry. We are about to produce your best life together. Welcome to the second Act Success podcast. I am your host, Shannon Russell. I am a former television producer, turned boy Mom. I left my dream job to find family balance, and in doing so I produced my dream life.

Now I am a business owner, podcaster, and career coach. My mission is to help other women like you. [00:01:00] Find what they are truly meant to be doing. If you are ready to start over in your career or pivot to a new purpose, then get ready to be inspired by stories of women who have done just that. We will share advice and actionable tips to motivate you as you move along on your path.

It is time to shine. So let's start producing your balanced life of abundance today. This is second act success.

Welcome to the second Act, success Career podcast. Today I will be introducing you to Beyonce Chalet. She is a growth architect, author, and the founder of the Women's Code. Beyonce's story started off when she immigrated to the United States from Germany, and she found herself as a single mom with over a $135,000 worth of debt.

After launching businesses and being hit over the head with bad luck, BTE cracked the code to. Get this. She sold a business to Bill Gates and [00:02:00] all of a sudden her luck changed. The rest is history, and she walks us through this incredible road to second act, success today on the show. So let's dive in and meet Shatz.

Welcome to the podcast. It's so nice to 

[00:02:14] Beate Chelette: have you here. Thank you, Shannon, for having me. I'm. Oh, I cannot wait to hear about 

[00:02:19] Shannon Russell: your journey. So tell me kind of where your career journey started and whether it's from high school or college or way back in the beginning. 

[00:02:26] Beate Chelette: So, way back in the beginning, my journey really starts in Germany in a middle school type setting.

There are three different school systems in Germany. There's one for the smart kids and one for the not so smart kids. And I was in the Okay. Smart kit track. And that's when I first found out that what happens, generally speaking for most people, seems to not work for me as I'm sitting in this. 16 page aptitude test and page after page, I'm marking on all the things that I can and cannot do.

Like being [00:03:00] outside, don't mind carrying heavy things. I'm not afraid of heights. And then the results said I should have been a roofer. No, 

[00:03:09] Shannon Russell: I don't know about that. I don't know. I'm sure you can do a lot of things, but I don't know if you'd be fulfilled as 

[00:03:15] Beate Chelette: a roofer. Not my, not my first choice, and not that there's anything wrong with roofing.

It's a, it's a great profession. I just was not what I had in mind for mine. Of course. 

[00:03:24] Shannon Russell: So where did that take you? How did that shape your 

[00:03:27] : next step? My next step then from there on, was that I. Inquired about all the fun things that I wanted to do, like being a jewelry designer or being a textile designer or being a photographer.

And the answer was always the same. The answer was, there's so many applicants and not enough jobs. How about if you were to be a secretary? And that wasn't really exactly. My choice either. I mean, why be the secretary if you can be the boss? I mean, that's just what I'm saying. Mm-hmm. And so I realized that none of these aptitude tests or [00:04:00] these ideas that other people have where you should be taking your own career would work for me.

And then I became a photographer anyway. All right. And how 

[00:04:07] Shannon Russell: did that go? So how did you like photography? This is your first job Out of high 

[00:04:10] : school, I actually went to photography school, so I applied. I was the youngest to ever be accepted, and I got my photography degree, and then I was a photographer assistant.

And I found out that because I was so young in the very beginning, That it takes a lot of time until you become really good at honing a particular style. And that took time and energy and effort and years of practice. And I realized that that was not what I wanted to do, that I was not so good behind the camera, but I was really good understanding what was happening behind the camera, and I wanted to be around more people.

And so I became a photo editor. In Germany and ended up at Elle Magazine in Germany as the startup team when Elle Magazine was first published in Germany. And that's how [00:05:00] my career in photography started. From there on, I immigrated to the unit United States for the year abroad. That just has never ended. And I left for adventure, Shannon, and it has not been a boring day since.

Oh my God. So 

[00:05:14] Shannon Russell: you stayed here and where were you? Where were you when you got came to the. 

[00:05:19] : I first went to Key West and I lived on a houseboat without water and electricity, and then I moved to Los Angeles. I always knew Los Angeles was my city. Very lovingly and very jokingly say that Los Angeles is the city of misfits.

Anybody who doesn't fit anywhere else fits in here. A 

[00:05:41] Shannon Russell: thousand percent. I lived in Los Angeles for 10 years and it is my home as well, so I am with you. it is unlike any other city, and it's a city where dreams come true too. So I feel like you meet a lot of people who are just searching for that next step or that dream, that ultimate goal.

Is that what you kind of found when you were there [00:06:00] when you first 

[00:06:00] : got there, I should say? Yeah. I mean, there are a couple of things that factor into that. For people who have never lived in a different country other than the one that they're born in, especially if it's the United States. What you don't realize is that this idea of the American dream is an American dream.

It's not the European dream. It's not the German dream. It's not the uh, UK dream. It's not the Philippine dream. It is the American dream, and the way that really happens is that. Disposition of the American in general is one of childlike belief. Mm-hmm. And the idea that when you say, oh, I'm, I'm gonna be a business owner everywhere in the world, people will say, yeah, sure.

I mean, did you go to business school? What do you know about business? Other people have tried in and failed before, and here people go, great idea. My God, no. Business owners and they're making all a ton of money. You know, I'm sure you can figure it out. You [00:07:00] look smart enough, go ahead and do it. And I think this is sort of the overall attitude that happens in America that allows this setting of.

It's almost like a, a mindset thing that a whole country believes it, and if everybody believes it, it must be true, and therefore it actually really does happen. So I started working in Los Angeles as an artist representative and as a photography producer. I worked for a company that had hired me and that worked for a couple years until there was a rather. Recession. And that came at a time where I just had gotten married and I just had had a little baby girl.

Mm-hmm. And, uh, suddenly I'm finding myself, uh, laid off with. A idea of a business that I did for somebody else with absolutely no education on how to run a business or, or what to do. But he had said, Hey, if you wanna take the business, [00:08:00] that's fine. I'm closing the division. Just, just keep it. And so I did.

But then I had to figure out how in the world am I gonna. Learn how to run a business and that's when the journey started and I got a divorce. Very quickly after I got married, I realized that the man was a. Pathological liar and an alcoholic, and that does not make for a good marriage.

And then the big earthquake came, and that was on, on the heels of riots, fires, and floods. And you just realize that life is too short. And if you are going to have a hard time, at least you have a hard time by yourself and not a hard time with someone else. That makes it even harder. And so I went through a divorce.

I was a new business owner in a recession and that's when Rocky Road started. And you're in 

[00:08:51] Shannon Russell: one of the most expensive cities in the world too, because it is not cheap to pay rent and live in Los Angeles at all. I feel for [00:09:00] you as a new mom, new business owner, single in Los Angeles, trying to 

[00:09:05] : make end.

Yeah, single and desperate. Really? Mm-hmm. Uh, trying to make ends meet. And so the story just goes over, over the course of really a decade, I fought hard. I built my business, then something would happen. Then I had a photographer who'd leave and betrayed me, and then I had something else. And then you go ahead and you fall back.

And then finally I'm thinking, God, it made, I'm running a million dollar. Which is a very exclusive club of business owners to run a million dollar business at that time especially, and I had this weird feeling that my employee had gotten just a little bit too close to one of my key vendors and I fired her and I realized I fired her two weeks to late.

She already had given the entire client list to this photographer and she had, you know, set. Her own [00:10:00] business, which was in essence, my business without me. And then the fight begins. Oh my gosh. 

[00:10:06] Shannon Russell: so at this point you had grown it to be a million dollar 

[00:10:08] : business.

Yeah, I did. And so 

[00:10:12] Shannon Russell: so

you're successful and that's when people 

[00:10:13] : wanna break you down. I mean, truly, isn't that always the case? I think that what happens a lot of times, and this is sort of a, a really big takeaway for any business owners, entrepreneurs, founders that are listening, You always have to keep your client contact in your own hands.

You don't ever give that to anybody else. Mm-hmm. And you slice and dice your business in such a way that no, any single person holds too much power. I rather give 10 people part-time jobs than one person a full-time job, because I learned a very, very hard lesson that when you. Do the mini me cloning. And you think that there's somebody who can hold up the Ford the way you do it when you're gone.

They believe they own that business and they take liberties, and I've [00:11:00] seen this again and again and again. So this is really a strategy that I recommend every business owner to really look very hard at. How are you running that business? Because if you give somebody too much control, they will. I 

[00:11:14] Shannon Russell: think that is so true because you put a lot of trust into your employees and you just think that they love the business as much as you, and it's so hard for women because it's hard for us to trust.

It's hard for us to delegate in the first place, and then you do, and then this happens. So I feel for you, you were in such a tough spot. 

[00:11:34] : Yes. I think you're making a very good point, and I, with your permission, I just wanna spend, uh, a, a minute on. Please. I think there really is this part about that ha that women have, that men really don't have, and we erased a very particular way to, uh, believe the best in everybody.

That if somebody's nice, they're trustworthy. I mean, whoever came up with that idiotic crap, right? I mean, we know all pedophiles look nice [00:12:00] and not charming. I mean Yep. 

[00:12:01] Shannon Russell: That's what we're taught when we're little. Don't you think Like I, I think it stems from when we're little.

[00:12:06] : It's all from when we were little girls and about behaving a particular way. And if somebody treats you a particular way, you must have done something that you deserved that. And to not fight back to the contrary, give them the other cheek. Uh, even though it says in the Bible and eye for an eye, right?

Mm-hmm. But, uh, so why do I have to hold up the other cheek? If somebody gets an eye for an eye, why can't I have an eye for an eye? Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. And. We have these conflicting messages as women that we then start reconciling for the rest of our lives. And you go like, so, so am I a good girl now? Well, what exactly is a good girl?

Is someone who's successful a good girl? Should I shut up? Should I speak up? What can I say? And we perpetually justify our right to exist and our right to speak and our right to do what we believe in. And that. All combined kind of [00:13:00] gets you in the state when something like this happens where you go w t F.

Mm-hmm. What just happened to me because she's not being a nice girl and she's not behaving, and, and she is, she's, she's not just taking. Her own eye. She's taken my eye and she's taken everybody else's eye with her, and that's okay. And I'm just gonna be rolling over. And ultimately, this lawsuit went on for a while and there was this moment where my attorney then, as we settled this about a year later where she asked him, she says, what, what was it about?

Why did you not just give her what you owed her? Mm-hmm. And he says, I needed to teach her a. Wow. So what, what do you, what do you say to that? I mean, he had to pay me every penny he stole and owed me, I'm glad 

[00:13:44] Shannon Russell: that that worked out in your favor though, because 

it's karma, I think to an extent because for a woman to do that to another woman, when you are in this hard stage of life anyway, dealing with being a single mom and I mean, I'm sure you [00:14:00] confided in her as a friend and it's just. Ugh, women just cannot support women the way 

[00:14:05] : they should.

It's really remarkable. Instead of saying like, wow, you know, what did she do? What can I learn? It's like, well, she didn't get that on her own. She got that because I helped her. So therefore it is mine for, for me to take away, which is on me because I allowed that to happen. Mm-hmm. So as I'm now fighting this big lawsuit and I lose this part of my business, literally overnight, I figured, you know, at least I have the production piece of my business and I have about a half a million dollars on the book. And then September 11th comes a couple months later and wipes out in one day. My entire production business, and I mean, I literally lost it in 24 hours. There was nothing to rebuild. There was no person getting on a plane flying to Los Angeles to produce here.

Everything was canceled and canceled and canceled. So I, I found myself a hundred thousand dollars in debt for the first time, and then the lawsuit settled, as I said, and, Literally, I [00:15:00] remember this moment, Shannon. I paid my debt. I paid my attorney. I went to the flower mart. I picked up huge bouquets of flour from my attorney and her entire office.

And I dropped it off and then I went home and I looked at my bank account and it said zero mm. So I could have saved myself this entire year of this excruciating fight and put it to something much better. So, you know, story to be told here. If you wanna fight a lawsuit, even though you are right, it means absolutely nothing.

So I got to be right at the end of it, but it didn't do anything. I mean it, it gave me the backbone to say after that, what else can happen? Well, let's just say God wasn't finished with me quite yet. And so now I have this idea of this stock photography syndication for architecture, interior images.

Now I'm going in debt again because now I have a great idea. Coincidentally was this particular photographer who gave me this idea because he was in this [00:16:00] architectural interior photography. Category, and I am running up the spiral staircase and four inch stilettos as fast as I can, but I can't catch up because I just, I just don't have any money, right?

I have no income, right? So I'm building this, I'm building this, I'm building this. I'm having the world's greatest photographers. The quality of the images is amazing. I had an offer for them to go to refuse. They all gave me their stuff, but it was very expensive to digitize these, these archives and build these, um, CRMs before, you know, asset management was even, was even invented.

Mm-hmm. You know? Mm-hmm. And so I do. Go into debt. 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, a hundred, 110, $120,000. And here we go again. And then I'm thinking, okay, no, make it, I just may not make it. But I, I, I coined this term that I'm today quite famous for. I [00:17:00] will not drown in a puddle. Mm. It's just not worth it if you drown, drown in the ocean, at least.

At least it's worth it. I got 

[00:17:12] Shannon Russell: the chills. I got chills from that Wow. That really resonates, go big or go home. 

[00:17:16] : It's It's so true. Yep. Yeah. Go big or go home. Exactly. And so, because you could have been scared 

[00:17:22] Shannon Russell: Of launching into a business again. You could have taken what happened the first time and said, oh, no, no, no, I'm just gonna go get a job working for someone else.

What made you want to 

[00:17:31] : take this on? Well, two things. Number one, let's face it, I'm unemployable.

And if you're listening, you know who you are. It, it just, there just wasn't any way in the world that anybody in their own right mind would've employed me. I mean, I'm, I'm too opinionated. I have too much to say. I know too much. And I think rules are there to be either bend or broken, and it does not always work in certain settings.

Mm-hmm. And so I, [00:18:00] I went to Germany to drum up some business. In Germany, and then my dad had a stroke. It's just that my father did not have a stroke. My father had pancreatic cancer, and my father died six weeks after, I arrived in Germany. So I have to pay for a. Funeral on money. I don't have, I have to bury my best friend and my biggest supporter, my number one cheerleader.

And, um, I mean, at this point, let's face it, it's game over, right? I mean, it's just game over. I mean, what else can you do? So I met the grave. We, we literally just put my father in the ground and my phone rings. And if that wasn't all that a woman can handle, here's my office in Los Angeles telling me that the landlord.

Just posted a notice. We were losing the. So I fell to my knees and I raised my fist, Shannon and I yelled at God.

And I said, you know, I have no idea what the [00:19:00] heck the game plan here is, but if there is a plan, this now would be a really favorable time to fill me in because I just don't get it. Mm-hmm. What the heck is going on here? No. And then you surrender. Yeah. 

[00:19:14] Shannon Russell: And did you just surrender? Did you just say like, all right, I'm gonna put it in your hands cuz I don't know what 

[00:19:18] : else to.

That's it. Yeah, I literally, there was nothing else I could do. No. In my desperation, I had written a letter to the president of the United States. And I wrote this letter because my former mother-in-law just would not, and I'm just gonna say it how it is, she just would not shut up about it. Mm-hmm. You gotta call the president of the United States, you gotta send him a letter.

The president of the United States, you're president of the United States too. You know, if anybody can help, it's the president of the, who writes a letter to the president of the United States. I 

[00:19:47] Shannon Russell: want you. That's crazy. Okay, so what, what was in this letter? 

[00:19:51] : What did you cliffhanger Right. Well in the letter, it's just, I, I just said, look, I mean, I did everything [00:20:00] by the book.

I raised my daughter, I worked my butt off. I came here. I'm an immigrant. I'm working hard. September 11th happened and the recession happened and I did what I could, and you know, I've been betrayed. I'm trying to get back on my feet. I need help here because I clearly can't figure this out on my own right.

And then I just let. You know, it was pretty realistic about what the r o i of such an, uh, such an activity would be. Well, so now as I'm coming back from Germany, completely devastated. With all of this hanging over my head, I get a letter from the White House.

What? I get a letter from the White House and it says, the president sends his best wishes. Now let's, let's not make any mistake yet. The president never saw this letter. Okay? There's no president in the United. States are gonna read this letter from some underling somewhere in full desperation. But the president of the United States has a whole staff of interns and and helpers and [00:21:00] chief of staff that employ hundreds of people that connect with their constituents.

And it says, we are putting you in touch with the small business administration. And that is when the turning point begins. Okay? Because what happens is when you do something so outrageous, And so bold and brazen is that it doesn't go the regular route, that it would've gone on The small business administration, with some loan admin that kicks it up to their manager, who then kicks it up to somewhere else.

It goes straight to the top. The deputy chief director, the number two, because it's a letter from the white. So they really did it. They did it, so I walk in, I have my business plan ready, I had written that business plan every night until midnight and every Saturday and every Sunday I was ready.

I walked in with my portfolio, my business plan. I sit down and his name was Lorenzo Flos. And he says to me, I'll put in what you put. [00:22:00] And that was the first time in a very long time that I had hoped Shannon. Mm. Now I saw that I had an opportunity for this to turn, and they found me a bank that was gonna restructure my now $135,000 in debt.

Mm-hmm. Into a 10 year fixed loan, which freed up my line of credit, these $45,000 of my line of credit. For the reason I got to break even three months later. So this is how close this is, three months. And then now with this newfound, you know, badass attitude of, there is hope after all. I start to develop a strategy, how I'm gonna get on the table to talk with the big guys to get these big contract.

And that's when I developed this rule that I call the Cinderella rule. I realized that at a [00:23:00] conference, all the men always go afterward to the bar and the women don't because most men drink at conferences at the bar, and it is often uncomfortable for women to do that, so they should stay away. So because nobody else went, I'm like, oh, that's the opportunity. And I went to the bar. So the rule goes as follows, you always dress up for the ball at the bar, a three drink maximum. In bed before midnight and you walk to your room alone.

Yes. I like it. And so, Men don't have a three drink maximum when they're away from the stress of the family, they oftentimes drink oftentimes heavily. I have heard things that to this day I have not told anybody about because that's the rule. It made me be one of them because they realized now that they could trust me Now I was getting these appointments that I couldn't get [00:24:00] otherwise, and that got me in front of the largest company in the world Getty Images, so I go and fly to Seattle.

And now you have to understand the setting is, there's this table, this conference room, and like all these hotshots are sitting there and there's me. And they're used to, you know, deals that include millions and millions and millions of images, Shannon. Yep. And so they go like, so how many images are we talking about?

And I said, 450,

they almost fell over laughing that they thought it was so funny. And I said, wait. I said, there's a strategy behind this, and this is, you know, another one of those strategies that I teach women specifically, and it's the art of reframing because you have to have an answer for everyth. You have to preemptively [00:25:00] act as if this was the strategy all along and, and presented convincingly. So I said, well, I bet you've never heard that strategy before. And they're like, oh, there's a strategy behind like, well, of course there is. I said, I am working with the world's a-list.

Now that means if somebody's an Alister in the photography world, in architecture, we talking about the people that publish every book on architecture. They don't need to take 100 shots to get one. They take one. That's what we are talking about. So if you are looking for somebody who's gonna fill your database with just a bunch of like mediocre.

Average images, that is of course your choice. Then I'm the wrong one here. But if you want the world's best and you want the top selling images, then I'm the right choice. And as we are building this, your data will help me to [00:26:00] supply you with exactly the types of images that will sell in your database.

So as we grow, we grow very deliberately. And we don't clog up your system. And I got the contract on the spot reframing on the spot reframing, and then 18 months later, I'm the world leader in my category. And the story on how that happened was another one of those things that you just don't think about because the world's greatest photographers.

Work with the GR world's greatest architects and the greatest interior designers who work with whom? A-listers. So these are the people that photographed Francis Fort Koala, Simon Baker, Terry Hedger, Julian Moore Seal, Heidi Klum. They photographed all these houses and when they came out of embargo from the magazines, remember I was an editor at a magazine before.

Mm-hmm. I used to buy these stories. so when these stories came and they said, do you know what to do with those? You bet I did. That's what made me the world leader in [00:27:00] Celebrity at home stories. I didn't invent the category, but I made it a worldwide phenomenon. And I sold into 79 countries in the world, and that's how a Bill Gates company came and said, can you tell us how you.

And I said, no, decent woman should tell anybody how they do it. Mm-hmm. Unless they get paid. And I put a multimillion dollar amount out, they said yes. And then 18 months after, my worst moment in my life, I became a self-made multimillionaire and sold my business to Bill Gates. 

[00:27:29] Shannon Russell: 18 months after your lowest day. Yes. And you were so confident walking in there with your 450 photos, getting the deal and so confident to say, no, I need to be paid. Here is what I'm asking. I can see it just talking to you. I can see it all happening and you having such confidence and the fact that you have such confidence after all of these knockdowns and these low points is just such a testament 

[00:27:55] : to you.

Well, I mean, there's always two ways to look at it, and I think this is why we are really having the [00:28:00] conversation. Mm-hmm. When I speak about this, uh, to my women audiences, it is not about me telling you how great I am. There's the people that have more harrowing stories and overcame way more than I did.

But the point really is, is that I think that our power comes from either looking at this as. Reason on why we can't go anywhere or a reason on why we can. If I would've failed, these morons who did this to me would've won.

Mm-hmm. And that's just not gonna happen. I'd rather die. And with that attitude to say, there is no scenario in this world where I will lose in the end, it just was not possible for me to fathom that thought. When my ship came in, that was, A dinghy that was a luxury liner. Mm-hmm. So if I were then to ask a provocative question to your audience, Shannon, and [00:29:00] say, would you agree that 10 years of hardship is worth becoming a multimillionaire?

What would you say? Yes. Yes. So, but you don't know this when you're in it. No. The critical part to remember about the story, Three months between bankruptcy and victory. And that is the part I think, where a lot of people really give up in life. Mm-hmm. Because they go like, well, this was just one Too many failures.

Yeah. One too many things. And I remember, you know, my dad had died and then I'm fighting and fighting and fighting. And then there was this huge tsunami in Puket in Asia. And my key photographer vanished and died. He was the partner of Nate Burkas that is now world famous. I remember that, that story. Oh yeah.

That was my key guy. And you just sit there and you go like, okay, fine. What else can you come up with now? I mean mm-hmm. That is so. So [00:30:00] audacious and so bold and brazen to say, you lose what? You lose your key vendor in a tsunami on the other end of the world.

I mean, who does this even happen to? No, that was me. And, and then you go, what's the lesson here in this? And so that was the moment when I said, if I get out of. I'm gonna sell it. That was the decision I made that day. Mm-hmm. On the 25th, that was, it was Christmas day actually, where I said, if I get out of this, I'll set this up so I can sell it.

And then that happened and a year later, and having Fernando's archive. Was one of the biggest reasons why they bought it, because we had so much material that that in itself was worth it for them. For the acquisition. Right. 

[00:30:44] Shannon Russell: Wow. I mean, you could have given up so many times, and the whole glasses half full or glasses half empty scenario.

So many people I think, would've looked at all of these things. The lawsuit. The divorce, [00:31:00] your dad passing, all of these things as signs to give up because you're being beat down. You kept looking for something, you did the White House letter and that led you to something and things started rolling.

You could have given up, you could have crawled into a corner and just said, I'm done. 

[00:31:17] : You're absolutely correct. And, let's not say that I was, uh, skipping and whistling. No. I was curled up in a fetal position in a corner crying my eyes.

I'm like, how am I gonna even pay for any of this? But, you know, if we were to now reframe this looking backward, yes, then we would say, the reality of this is when I was a photographer rep, I would sit there and say, I am capable of doing a lot more than this. This is not challenging enough for me, but I didn't act on it, so it was acted on it for me.

Mm-hmm. So what I had said actually did happen because I wasn't listening to my own inner voice. The decision was taken from me [00:32:00] if I wouldn't have had this lawsuit. 

half of the stuff other people just get all bent outta shape doesn't even phase me because I've been through so much. It's like, that's it, $10,000 and you're throwing such a fit, you can make $10,000 in a day. If you really would put your mind to it.

And once you've been this much in debt, you know, $130,000 is like nothing Now. What's a lot of money? A million dollars is a lot of money now. Hey, it's 

[00:32:27] Shannon Russell: Shannon. If you are enjoying this podcast, then you will love my weekly newsletter. It's full of career advice, productivity tips, and of course inspiring stories of women who have launched a new career that they love.

Just go to second act success.co to sign up. Plus you'll get the My Success Vision Board to help you with your 2023 planning as. Now it's back to the 

[00:32:51] : episode. So you look at this now backward and say, if I tell the story differently, I say the story [00:33:00] really is, here's a woman who knew she was meant to do more, and then she choose not to listen.

And then God, spirit, the universe said, okay, we heard you. If you are incapable of making that decision, how about we'll make it for you. Then you still don't wanna listen and you wanna hold on to the other part, and then that voice says, I thought we talked about this. How about we take this away from you too?

Because we need to activate you to really get going with the stuff that you really came here to do. Mm-hmm. And they said, well, if you really were to be a teacher, a coach, a consultant, somebody who can light the way for other people, we are gonna have to give you a couple more hits so that you're really truly believable.

So you're gonna have to learn how to fight. You're gonna have to learn how to believe in yourself. You have to learn how to not fall over when somebody says something stupid. Uh, happens all the time, by the way. Mm-hmm. You have to learn on how. Live and work with conviction and think about what you come here for.

And now if I [00:34:00] think about it that way and say, I have now. Since my courses tens of thousands of people have have heard my message. And I see people all the time that come out of the woodwork and you know, I was in Boston and a woman flies out of the crowd, gives me a big hug and she's that you changed my life.

I spend days listening to you. If it wasn't for that course that I would've taken, I would've been here. And I can't believe that I actually saw you. You, you changed everything for me. And so I would've never done any of that if I didn't go through what I go through.

The challenge often is Shannon is letting go of the judgment of the experience that we are in. Mm-hmm. 

[00:34:42] Shannon Russell: The judgment from ourselves 

[00:34:43] : or from. Both. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Because everybody else who says, see, I told you yeah, I should have taken a job, and, um, if you wouldn't be so damned independent, and if you wouldn't always run your mouth, I mean, you know, look at what's happening to you.

Nobody wants you [00:35:00] now. And yourself in the sense of, well, if you don't believe in. Who do you think is out there that's gonna say you're great? I mean, your kids think you're the best things in sliced bread until they turn teenagers. But other than that, it's on you.

It's on you. It's on you. So what, what 

[00:35:21] Shannon Russell: made you decide to get into the area of really educating others and being this growth architect? This, you know, helper and coach for women and for other people 

What made you say, I wanna help others so that they don't have to go through this. 

[00:35:38] : So the true nature of Beate Chelette comes out and it is, I walk around and my daughter grabs like a little Burberry code and it's like $2,500. And I look at a t-shirt and it's like $200. And I look at this and I say, that's not what it's about for me. This isn't [00:36:00] about the Louis Leviton bag and the Prada shoes and the expensive t-shirt and the fancy car.

Don't get me wrong, I do certainly like to drive a nice car, but my success isn't measured by, by that. Mm-hmm. I come from a very rough childhood, with a mentally, uh, challenged mother. I had to fight hard to get here, and I thought that somebody must derive a benefit out of this story because it's just not normal that one person goes through fires, floods, riots, earthquakes.

September 11th, a lawsuit is tsunami and now a pandemic. And I joined a mastermind because I wanted to speak about this. In this mastermind, I brought up this idea of the women's coat, and it was like there was a needle, you could hear drop in this room.

I mean there was like 97 men and three women out of which two were spouses and then this gentleman, [00:37:00] Christian Bard, comes and says to me, have you ever thought about that? God gave you what he gave you so that you can do this and inspire. And it never left me when he said that. 

[00:37:13] Shannon Russell: Had you thought of that before?

[00:37:15] : Well now here come the stretch marks. So you think you just did it and you think you just come out on the other side and now you're sitting.

Only to find out that the real job is ahead of you. Mm-hmm. Because compared to what I'm doing now, that all was peanuts because now, now with all the strategies and the shortcuts and the, I'm a no BS kind of person. Life. In business specifically, it's a series of strategic decisions that you make.

You just need to know enough of them to figure out which ones are working for you, because if you follow the wrong one, it might be the right one for someone else, but it might be the wrong one for you. Mm-hmm. So I would never recommend somebody to speak who is so painfully shy that the breakout in. In front [00:38:00] of an audience, unless that's what they really wanted.

Mm-hmm. If somebody is not good on video, then we'll do an audio strategy. If somebody is not, if somebody's great on, on camera but sucks in writing, we'll develop a strategy that will make that the hero. So people just don't understand well enough how many different strategies there are be successful.

But that the challenge is to figure out which of these many strateg. Is the one that you should follow. Here at the Growth Architect, we say that you need to have a strategy for every quarter. So if you don't have a client attraction system, your next strategy needs to be a client attraction system.

If you don't know how to convert your next strategy needs to be a, how do I convert my leads into sales? If you don't know how to talk to people. Than you are solving without selling. Mm-hmm. Needs to be a strategy. So we go through this with [00:39:00] laser focus and we say, okay, our program does what others don't do because I don't need to sell you everything.

I know what I am, but I can see what you need. So if you need media, then I'll get you somebody who can train you on. And then if you need a publicist, I'll bring a publicist in. 

But I don't have to do everything myself. I don't have to make every dollar myself. I can be the big strategic consultant that helps you to figure out which of these pieces you need at what time, so you can shortcut and shortcut and shortcut and shortcut. That's what we do today. And I love it and it's rewarding.

And when I see people going from crying because they wanna make 60,000 to making a half a million dollars in a year in like 18 months, that is powerful. That is reward for 

[00:39:53] Shannon Russell: you for sure. Yeah. 

[00:39:55] : The point X is where you stand here today. There is no X to go to. It's X [00:40:00] here. That's the starting point. I can see you 

[00:40:03] Shannon Russell: being such a good coach and just K teaching women like myself, the confidence to go after what they want and not be so reserved like we can be at times and be like, oh, I'm gonna wait for my opportunity.

[00:40:17] : You know, if we are really honest, and, and I let the curtain down here for a second. If I have learned one thing in my life, Shannon, and that is that if you try to make other people happy and you do that at the expense of your own, the consequences are disastrous, especially for women. Hmm. I have so many women over 50 that come to me and they say, I've been in service of my family.

I've been in service of my husband, I've been in service of my husband's career, my husband's business. And I took that job of being in service so seriously that I, I lost my own way. And they can't even answer, [00:41:00] what is it that you want? And if you listening to this and you don't know what you want, then consider this your wake up call.

Mm-hmm. And your come to Jesus moment where you say, is this? What you had in mind for yourself that you can't even answer the simplest of all questions. What would make you really happy? 

[00:41:22] Shannon Russell: We are a different generation than our parents, and I think that's how our parents were raised to be that way. And there's still so many of us that are, and I feel like with this podcast and talking to people like you, it's my mission to make people wake up and take control of what it is they really want.

So what you just said just is so perfect and so needed because there are still people. Find themselves falling in the same line as their parents or their mothers and, and going through that of being, of service of others and not of yourself. No, it's okay to be your [00:42:00] own person.

Look out for yourself and take care of your family. It doesn't have one under for the other. 

[00:42:06] : No, no, absolutely not. And it's all e e. Everything is a compromise. I mean, I wrote a book about it called Happy Woman, Happy World, where I tell women on how to manage these expectations. I develop the concept called algorithm, which helps women to set a main focus and understand that you cannot run nine different algorithms all at the same time.

You cannot have a smoking hot body and work at three hours a day. Be the greatest chef on the planet that Gordon Ramsey would be jealous of. Uh, have a house that's immaculate. Be in the sexiest, hottest relationship while you are picking your kids up at three o'clock from school every single day. Do the award-winning cookies run your business like a superstar.

I mean, it's just not pos. We have to make a main focus. What matters to you. And while I'm at it, I'm just wanna give you a shout out, Shannon. So thank you for doing what [00:43:00] you do. So if you're listening to this podcast, please subscribe to the podcast. Leave Shannon a five star review. Five stars, not four, not three, five stars, and leave her a little note about what you're taking away from this episode and share it with one other person, just one other person so that you can help Shannon to grow her reach.

And reach more people and help more people. Thank 

[00:43:26] Shannon Russell: you. That's so sweet of you. And yeah, it really does help and it's, it's just getting our messages, your message and my message out there to others who need to hear it. You spread the word on your own podcast as well, right? Can you tell us about your 

[00:43:39] : podcast?

Yes. So my podcast is called The Business Growth Architect Show, and I designed it, you know, for a lot of the reasons we talked about already is that I. Listeners to understand the different types of strategies that are out there and learn how to be successful with a strategy that works for you. Each episode's [00:44:00] about a half hour, we talk about one particular strategy, and then, uh, encourage the audience to figure out if that's a strategy that would work.

Well, 

[00:44:09] Shannon Russell: I encourage all of our listeners to go and follow the Business Growth Architect Show as well, and leave a review and just gather all the goodness, because we could just talk for hours about these topics, and I feel like it's great that you have your book, you have your website with all your information about your business.

You have your podcast, so there's so many touchpoints on how to get in touch with you and learn from you, and from everything that you've gone through and what you're teaching is just so insightful and inspir. 

[00:44:37] : It really is. Thank you so much. I I appreciate that. That's, you know, we, we are here to help other people to scale their impact and grow their authority.

So how can 

[00:44:45] Shannon Russell: my listeners find you? What's the best way to connect with you? 

[00:44:48] : I definitely encourage you to go to subscribe to the show Business Growth Architect show if strategy is something you're interested in. If you're a woman and you're struggling with some of the things we talk about, Go get the book.

Happy Woman, [00:45:00] Happy World. Available on Amazon as an audiobook, a printed book, or as an ebook. You can go to my website at beatechelette.com and take a look at some of the things that we offer. And if you heard something where you say, I must speak to her, go to uncoverysession.com. I give away seven sessions a month away. Make sure you mention Shannon's name. And I'll make sure I'll reach out to you and hopefully you'll be one of the people that are one of the seven that I get to personally talk to. 

[00:45:31] Shannon Russell: I just am so blessed to have talked to you today. I feel like I need to reach out to you for some coaching help down the road too, because you just have so many insights. But thank you so much for joining me and sharing your story, and I'm so happy that you're in such a great place and it's just been so wonderful chatting with you.

[00:45:48] : Thank you so much for having me. It's been an absolute pleasure, and thank you again for what. 

[00:45:52] Shannon Russell: Beate's story of the ups and downs in how she landed on her feet and grew something that is now [00:46:00] helping others find success and grow a life to be proud of. Wow. I was touched by just how open she was with sharing her story of those highs and lows.

I will link to all of the many ways that you can connect with Beate in the show notes for this episode. Don't forget, you can catch up on past episodes of the Second Act Success Career Podcast wherever you listen, Apple, Spotify, anywhere. Just search for Second Act Success, and of course for more career advice, inspiration, and ways that we can work together so that I can help support you on your journey.

It's all over at secondactsuccess.co. Thank you my friend for listening. I will be back again soon with another episode of the. For now, I hope you make some strides towards working on your second act success story today. I'll talk to you. Thank you for joining us. I hope you've found some gems of inspiration [00:47:00] and some takeaways to help you on your path to second act, success.

To view show notes from this episode, visit secondactsuccess.co. 

Before you go, don't forget to subscribe to the podcast so you don't miss a single episode. Reviews only take a few moments and they really do mean so much. Thank you again for listening. I'm Shannon Russell and this is Second Act Success.