How Anyone Can Build Habits For Optimal Wellness, Performance & Focus by Erica Martin

Erica Martin is a world class, high-ticket sales expert, entrepreneur, and international public speaker. She works with women who value their freedom and understand their deeper purpose to not just clear their hurdle but win their race. Her mission is to help female entrepreneurs build business momentum, attract ideal clients, and become wealthy without stress through mastery of tactical business and intuitive mindset strategies.

A former competitive athlete who is guided by a lifetime of business experience after launching her first business at 18 (building multiple 7-figure businesses in an industry that typically hits $100k/year), Erica leads her clients through a process to orchestrate an aligned business that nourishes their lives, is surrounded by play, and is truly sustainable.

Erica can be found on Instagram and at SellIrresistibly.com.

Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Before we dive into the main focus of our interview, our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you tell us a bit about your childhood backstory?

• My childhood was pretty unique. I grew up in Largo, Florida and was raised in our family business, a martial arts school. My dad built our 10,000 sq/ft school from the ground up with our personal residence in the back. Growing up I watched my dad pursue his dream of becoming a world champion while my mom took care of me and my 2 younger sisters. Both of my parents worked in the business. As a child, I was very curious. I spent my childhood studying people and became fascinated with what made people tick. My obsession for personal development, human psychology, and peak performance started on the wood floors of our family dojo.

What or who inspired you to pursue your career? We’d love to hear the story.

• I was always a daddy’s girl. He was my coach, mentor, Sensei, and hero. He exemplified strength and persistence, with such optimism. I wanted to be just like him. So, I started training when I was 6 years old, and earned my blackbelt at 14. While playing competitive basketball during my sophomore year in high school, I had an epiphany after practice one day. Basketball wasn’t going to lead to a career for me. So I asked myself what I was good at. The answer was obvious: martial arts. I was already teaching adult and youth classes at my dad’s school, so I registered for dual enrollment to college my junior year and early admission my senior year. By 16 years old, I was going to college and attending business meetings with my dad on the weekends. This declaration inspired my dad to join a business consulting group for martial artists school owners, in Jacksonville, FL. I would ride 4 hours there and back on weekends to sit in a room of 45-year-old martial arts dudes learning how to run a business. I kept my head down, took notes, and implemented what I learned when I got back to my dad’s school. When the opportunity arose to open our first branch location, I pitched my dad on letting me run it. He believed in me and backed me. We opened my school 4 months later when I was 18 years old.

None of us can achieve success without some help along the way. Was there a particular person who you feel gave you the most help or encouragement to be who you are today? Can you share a story about that?

• It’s humbling for me to think about how many people have believed in me, and invested in me and my journey. One of the most powerful and humbling experiences was when I decided to invest in my first mentor. I was 27 years old and 7 months into my first online consulting business. She picked me out of a room of 400+ entrepreneurs and said, “The stage you’re at…you’re ready for a quantum leap. I want to work with you 1:1.” The investment was $100,000 for the year. I had $2,000 to my name. Everything in my gut told me I needed to figure out a way to work with this mentor. But I was terrified and broke. I ended up calling my mom, rambled for 30 minutes straight about my dream to help thousands of people, and told her I needed to work with a mentor to help me get there. When I told her the investment, without hesitation, she offered to liquidate her retirement funds to loan me the money. My mom is disabled and on a fixed income, so this was a huge leap of faith for both of us. I burst into tears when she said yes, and vowed not to let her down. AS a result of that leap of faith, 6 weeks later I’d closed $90,000 in sales and I went on to close $340,000 at my first 3 day event. I wouldn’t be where I am today if she hadn’t believed in me.

Can you share the funniest or most interesting mistake that occurred to you in the course of your career? What lesson or take away did you learn from that?

• I was doing high level consulting for an 8 figure company in Australia. I put a ton of pressure on myself to perform. They flew me in to lead a high ticket sales retreat, and I really wanted to impress everyone. I bought a new wardrobe, and was really feeling myself. I had on a black tank top with high waisted flowy pants with heels. As I mentioned, I grew up in a dojo and have no business wearing heels. I’ve been barefoot the majority of my life. But, I was trying to create this perfect appearance and be what I thought they wanted. The day I was presenting I felt anxious. We were in a pre-event team meeting in an adjacent building when I realized it was 5 minutes to start, and I was opening. I jumped up, and everyone followed me out the door. I was so anxious and high strung that I ended up stepping on my pant leg, and puncturing it with my heel. Causing me to start falling, face first, into a perfectly manicured bush. My martial arts skills kicked in, and I landed on my back, flattening the bush, staring at the sky. The entire team, including the CEO of the company watched it happen. I remember laying there, for what felt like an eternity, hoping the ground would swallow me up and take me back to California. This was a big lesson for me in showing up as myself, and not trying to be perfect. I still had greenery in my hair when I walked on stage. Even though I was mortified about what happened, I ended up using the story in my pitch, and closing 50% of the room. 

What are some of the most interesting or exciting projects you are working on now? How do you think that might help people?

• I am on a mission to help 100 female entrepreneurs add $100,000+ to their bottom line. I believe the people who hold the wealth in the world are the ones who can create the most impact. I recently launched a group program called Selling Irresistibly. We are only 4 weeks in and the results have been life changing. One woman closed an $18,000 sale 2.5 hours after our call together. Another is finally attracting ideal clients after years of struggling. All of these women are doing important work this world needs. Political coaches, relationship coaches, human design experts, business coaches, spiritual mentors. These women are on a mission. I’m here to support them in reaching as many people as possible with their messages. I’m loving every second of it. I’ve never been more excited to see notifications on my phone. Every day it’s win, after win, after win. Sale after sale. So many lives are already being transformed. It’s really exciting!

As a leader, you likely experience times when you are in a state of Flow. Flow has been described as a pleasurable mental state that occurs when you do something that you are skilled at, that is challenging, and that is meaningful. Can you share some ideas from your experience about how we can achieve a state of Flow more often in our lives?

• The thing about Flow that nobody talks about is the ebb that precedes it. I call this desire. Desire is built when we practice delayed gratification. We must allow for desire to build in order to maximize our Flow state. If we are constantly chasing and pushing, the things that light us up start to feel like a burden. We stop doing them in exchange for the insignificant, or mundane. This is when we get stuck. The key to maximizing Flow state is giving yourself the space to get hungry. Take time away from work. Be fully present in that time away. Then, when you come back, dive straight into the things that light you up the most, and ride the wave!

You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good for the greatest number of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 

• I am redefining what it means to be a wealthy woman. People shy away from the word wealth. Almost like it’s a bad thing to be wealthy. I want to change that narrative. Wealth is not about hoarding money. It’s not about status. It’s about impact and influence. Historically speaking, the majority of wealth is held by a few powerful men. I’m here to help level the playing field.

 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 just see this, especially if we both tag them 🙂

• Sir Richard Branson is my hero. I read a quote one time that he gets his best ideas laying in his hammock on Necker Island. It inspired me to slow down and allow for “thinking time” in my day. I used to think success required go, go, go all the time. “Thinking time” revolutionized my business. It forced me to be creative and find the most efficient solutions to get things done. I aspire to build a business with the same values as Virgin. I want to take great care of people, and change the world. If I could have lunch with Sir Richard, it would certainly be a highlight of my life!

How can readers further follow your work online?

• I share my best content on Facebook and Instagram! You can find me at www.Facebook.com/EricaMartinConsulting and @EricaMartinConsulting on insta.