Today we’d like to introduce you to Erica Duran.
Erica, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I always knew I was meant to be an entrepreneur.
I worked in corporate America in the Hotel and Theme Park industry for about 15 years during college and after I graduated but I always had some little business “on the side.”
Ever feel like you are wasting your life at a job you hate?
I would get so excited when I would get involved in a new business opportunity!
I would say things like: “This time it was going to work. This time it would be my ticket out of the cubicle!”
I was pretty much a “star” employee in corporate America with fancy titles like Director of Operations, National Sales Director and Vice President of Sales & Marketing, CEO of the first nationwide short sale company, and Coordinator of Venture Capital.
I also had fancy licenses such as Investment Series 6, 63 and 26, mortgages, real estate and life insurance.
But, I was literally DYING inside every day I had to go “to work”.
It was making me physically ill.
I was making a good living and doing work that I highly praised, but the work was draining my energy every single day.
I was so RESTLESS!
I always thought the grass was greener so I would leap to other companies thinking that it would be better “over there”.
It never was.
I bounced from job to job for years!
They were “good jobs”, but they were still jobs.
The jobs would usually end badly like getting “reprimanded” for giving my honest opinion when I was asked in a meeting or getting caught up in some crazy political pissing contest.
One day, the politics got so disgusting, I packed up my car at lunchtime, left the building, and never went back!
I tried so many things trying to find my way as a new entrepreneur.
I tried real estate, getting licensed as an independent financial planner, selling securities, short sale specialist, and tons of network marketing businesses.
None of these really were right for me.
I was just doing them because I thought they would bring wealth.
Then, I put all that aside and did something I really was passionate about – teaching people how to declutter, get organized, and be more productive.
This is where I had my first huge success as an entrepreneur.
I turned my little Professional Organizing business into a mini-franchise system and also sold our clients clutter in an online consignment store.
This was a great business for years, but I still wasn’t living the lifestyle I dreamed of.
Being a minimalist, the very thing I despised was clutter and excess and in this business, I was surrounded by clutter all day in a warehouse in Long Beach, CA.
What I really wanted was to have an online business so I could work from anywhere in the world and not carry any inventory.
I wanted to somehow take my Professional Organizing business and translate that to an online productivity training business.
I studied online business day and night trying to piece it all together.
I would have little successes and a lot of failures over the next few years.
But all this experience led me to become a true expert in building a business based on one’s passion that they can run from anywhere in the world – even if they don’t want to travel full-time like I do and work from home.
My online productivity training business has morphed into business coaching and consulting with a heavy emphasis on technology and systems so that my clients can work less and enjoy their lifestyle.
A few years ago, I sold the last of my belongings and started traveling full-time living in vacation rentals and resorts that sponsored my podcast and Web TV Show.
Has it been a smooth road?
For me, like most entrepreneurs, success was not a straight line.
In my experience, there is no overnight success, shortcuts, or a single right way to build a business.
Looking back, the struggles, in the beginning, were typical to anyone new to being in business for themselves.
I no longer had a boss to tell me what to do and when to wake up.
I had a safety net of money from the sale of a home and all its contents to fund my business for a while.
I didn’t go after my true passion because I always thought the opportunity would be a great money-maker.
But then, there was a 5-year span of everything going wrong in my life and business – not the typical newbie stuff.
Just a few of the obstacles were…
*A long separation that lead to my second divorce.
*My father and other family members coming down with cancer and passing.
*4 out of 5 dogs passing and massive vet bills trying to treat them all.
*I had finally earned my dream home with an ocean view only to find out that there was a mold problem and that was causing me to sick often.
*My business in a constant feast-and-famine cycle leading to being two weeks away from being evicted and bankrupt.
The list goes on, but you can probably see that on top of all obstacles in starting an online business, I also had a mountain of emotional distress.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Erica Duran International story. Tell us more about the business.
Currently, I am a high-level Business Coach and Mentor and a Freedom Based Luxury Lifestyle Designer.
What that means is that I help people build a business around their gifts and passions so that they don’t end up creating another bad “job” for themselves.
It is also my goal that their businesses earn my clients a minimum $5K to $20K per month so that they can have the freedom to design their lifestyle, create experiences and memories, and have choices.
Money isn’t everything of course but it gives you choices and solves problems.
I specialize in helping people with every aspect of starting a business from their mindset to their marketing.
My company also specializes in creating systems, structures, and automation so that my clients can enjoy more free time – most of them work three days per week or less after everything is set up.
I still focus a lot on productivity and time management with my clients for using your time efficiently is the platform for our entire lives.
I am most proud of my company for not giving into internet marketing gimmicks. Each area I help my clients with is unique to them and based on the traditional business strategies that have worked for centuries.
This is a great benefit to the client because if they wish to shift their offerings one day – it doesn’t cause a complete company remodel.
What sets us apart from our competition is the fact that we don’t use cookie-cutter blueprints. With each client, we draw out their unique brand essence. We also blend the abstract mindset work (which is over 90% of this game if you ask me) with a ton of “nuts-and-bolts” technology support.
How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
I see my industry growing a great deal over the next 5-10 years due to the massive amounts of people all over the world getting access to the internet and wanting to but their lifestyle first and business plan second in this one life we have.
I believe what will change in this industry is that the fads and gimmicks will give way to people truly being able to support themselves working from anywhere they desire.
Doing business online is becoming more of the norm and doesn’t have the stigma or untrustworthiness as it once did. As more people trust doing business online, this industry will only grow.
I also believe that one will have to be a true expert in order to lead in this industry. The ones that haven’t embodied the knowledge and are hiding behind a fancy website will fall to the waste side.
Overnight get-rich-quick schemes are over online, you now have to be the real deal.
Pricing:
- I offer programs from just $97 per month all the way up to a year-long private mentorship package which is currently at $20K and everything in-between.
Contact Info:
- Address: 1024 Bayside Drive, Suite 421, Newport Beach, CA 92660
- Website: https://ericaduran.co
- Phone: 949-734-4685
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ericaduranintl/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EricaDuranInternational
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/EricaDuranIntl
- Other: https://ericaduran.co/optin
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