Episode 11 : Determination & Grit

Meet Michael Kelly, a “Digital Nomad” in Olympia Washington, who literally takes his work on the road.  Michael built Member Vault, a content platform which provides a powerful solution for storing content in one place.  His platform makes it easy for businesses to turn subscribers into buyers, and buyers into loyal clients. This storage solution also serves as a database for resources, freebies, digital textbooks and more.  Michael built his business in response to a noticeable gap in membership course platforms, which he discovered throughout his experience working in the web dev space for over 10 years.  

His journey from freelancer, to owning his own web agency, to launching and growing Member Vault grew from a desire for more:  more connection with his clients, more control for implementing creative solutions, and more freedom to perfect his final product.

Michael shares his success story through the lens of two key components: determination and grit.

Determination:

• Be determined to find and follow what fires you up.
• • Michael is a “do-it-yourselfer” which means that building, creating and engineering were important elements for any business venture.
  • One of his frustrations as a freelancer, was the limited ability to provide creative solutions in response to client feedback.
• Be determined to pivot as necessary.
• • Entrepreneurial journeys evolve through small pivots.
  • • Michael kept listening to his client requests and delivered what they asked for instead of what he thought would be cool and exciting for them.
• “If you build it they will [NOT] come,” it takes more hard work!  

• • You must be determined to build infrastructure for marketing.
  • • Start by building long-term relationships.  
    • • When people don’t know who you are, there is no trust.
    • Don’t be salesy, instead, be helpful and useful.  
    • Give first to build trust; asking comes later.
    • Provide value, network and engage.
• Be determined to listen to feedback without your ego.  
• • Even when feedback is harsh (and it will be) do not get defensive.  
  • Take a step back and find the truth in the feedback, then decide what you can do to improve.  
• Social Proof will come after building relationships.
• • Social proof can be extremely powerful, but it can also be extremely dangerous.
  • Provide value first before ever asking for reciprocity.

Grit:

• Success comes from being able to take in criticism, brush it off and move forward by asking “what did I learn?”
• • Even when you undergo harsh feedback and lose clients, you can learn from it.
  • Remember, feedback is helpful and is not about you, it’s about the product.  
  • Don’t take negative feedback personally.
• Focus on what you’re good at.  
• Be honest about what you have and what you don’t have and keep showing up authentically.
• • You can’t be everything to everyone; every client is not your client, and that’s ok!
  • Be transparent about your capabilities and limits- use that as a strength.  
  • • Don’t be afraid of transparency.

• Have the courage to keep showing up.
• No matter how many times you get knocked down, get back up.
• Work hard.

Final Thoughts From Michael:

Don’t take it personally.  It’s not about you.  You can be passionate about something and not take it personally.

Connect With Michael

• MemberVault.co : 14 day free trial & free opt in mini-course!

• Member Vault Facebook Page

• Member Vault on Instagram