Building and Maintaining a Nine-figure Organisation: An Interview with Emily Ford
While it’s incredible seeing a vision come to life, each building block is shaped by personal sacrifice, financial challenges and plenty of conviction. Going from sleeping on her friend’s floor and writing herself a cheque for $1,000,000 to building and maintaining a nine-figure organisation, entrepreneur, Emily Ford knows this well.
FACT FINDER:
Emily is an entrepreneur and business owner
She has built a nine-figure network marketing organisation.
She is also an international keynote speaker, and develops programmes and content to help others practically grow their visions and confidence
Emily is based in Los Angeles, California
THE BUILDING BLOCKS
You have built a nine-figure sales organisation. What did the beginning of pursuing that full-time look like?
All we need sometimes is to see somebody else go first. I had an example of a woman who built an online business and worked from home. At the time, I didn't desire to become a millionaire, I desired time, freedom and choice. So when I saw someone else who had done it, I was like, ‘oh, I can too’. At the time, I was doing a hundred different things, so I wasn't going anywhere fast. I always say you condense timeframes when you go all in, so I decided to refine my focus, and master sales, building teams and leadership. The first three years were the most difficult years of my life, but it was where I learned the most.
What made those first three years so challenging?
I always say it's the law of trade-offs. I had to say ‘no’ to things that wouldn’t impact my future, so I could say ‘yes’ to the life I have today. I was sleeping on a mattress on the floor at my mentor’s house. I unplugged the TV, put ‘I am’ statements over the screen and wrote a cheque to myself for $1,000,000. I didn't go out drinking. Instead of spring break, I went to a personal development conference. Some nights I would cry myself to sleep and question, ‘should I just get a job and quit this?’. I would have really good days and then really bad days. That's just the reality of it. I would make sure that every quarter I had something planned to re-energise me.
‘I had to say ‘no’ to things that wouldn’t impact my future, so I could say ‘yes’ to the life I have today.’
Practically, what made the journey and progress easier?
What I love to do is maximise moments and opportunities. Starting out, I would speak for free, knowing I might gain clients from that gig. I would constantly put myself out there to serve. Eventually, I got in my 10,000 hours, so now I get paid for a 60-minute keynote. What improves you is mastering the mundane and repetition. I would do the same thing over and over and get 1% better every time. For me, it was sales and learning how to ask for the sale, because I didn't want to ask people to buy things.
Dress by DOLCE & GABBANA. Earrings by MELINDA MARIA JEWELRY
How did you get comfortable with pricing offerings and asking people to buy them?
It's all belief. If anybody struggles with selling, you're either struggling with the belief in the product, the service, or yourself – or all the above. For me, it was a belief issue in myself until I realised how much value and wisdom I have that people would pay for. Once I got over that belief issue, I started curating a programme where I felt confident to sell it.
What has been the biggest game changer in building your businesses and brand?
When I decided to face my fears, what happened was I became the youngest millionaire in my company at 26 years old. Because of that, they put me on stage and said, ‘tell everybody what you did’. I always do everything with excellence, so I prepared and prepared. I did that preparation, and God met me there. I was so nervous and I said to God, ‘speak to me and through me’. I went on stage and that one shot changed my career forever because I took it seriously and allowed God to direct it.
You now help others build belief in themselves, but how did you overcome low confidence?
Studying what I was selling and experiencing it myself. It's so different when you speak from your heart and not your head. Having a real-life testimony makes it so easy to share something. I really do believe that when we're selling or promoting something, we're just sharing what we love. The more I've grown as a woman, the more I realise my worth.
Comparison with others is a big trap for lack of self-worth. What helps you stay focused on what you have to offer?
Having faith has allowed me to become a confident woman because I understand I’m uniquely and divinely created. When I first got into business, it was so easy to compare myself thinking, ‘who am I to do this?’. But when I started to go back to the Bible, it gave me the confidence to love and accept myself.
THE FINANCIAL REALITY
As a business owner or entrepreneur, cash flow can be inconsistent. How have you handled shifting between seasons of abundance and lack?
When I started my business, I didn't buy extra anything, and I would do a 90-day run. So I would work really well in 90-day sprints to stabilise income. But also, I built residual wealth. I'm a huge believer in making money while you sleep, so that's what I did in the beginning and everything compounded over time. Yes, I would still see fluctuations, but my residual wealth was continually growing. When I learned leveraged income and not linear, that's when things started to shift for me. I invest a lot of time in creating actual wealth instead of just money.
‘I invest a lot of time in creating actual wealth instead of just money.’
When did you realise your focus should be on building wealth over money?
When I was graduating high school, I didn't know what to do, so I went to massage therapy school. I landed a job working for one of the top anti-ageing doctors in the Midwest when I was 19. I learned how to run a private practice and for a few years, I was trying so many different things to make money. I was searching for the way because I didn't know how I was going to build my life and make a business. I knew how to hustle, but I only knew how to transactionally hustle. It wasn't until I was 23 and did research that I saw how to compound and create wealth.
With blessings come responsibilities. How has your faith helped to settle and stabilise you in all aspects of increase?
It's everything. If I try to do this by myself, it's so self-serving. For me, I want to make sure that everything I do is truly to glorify God. When you have money, you can change, and not always for the better. So having a strong foundation of faith, I understand that none of this is mine. When I've been in hard moments, I pray and seek God because I know it's temporary, so it's allowed me to just keep fighting. If I didn't have faith, I would've given up multiple times.
What practical financial advice would you give to other founders or entrepreneurs?
Some stuff I don’t necessarily want to do, but God told me to, so I know that I'm called to it. So every year I do a general deep dive planning session where I go away for a week. I also have assessments every quarter to understand exactly where I’m at. I put down my top five initiatives and no more. Financially, in the beginning, when I started to make a lot of money, I didn't pay close attention as I had a partner who was in charge of that. I trusted someone was getting the job done and they didn't. It's my biggest lesson and the biggest piece of advice. No matter where you're at as a woman, always have your eyes on the financials. Smart women build wealth.
‘Some stuff I don’t necessarily want to do, but God told me to, so I know that I'm called to it.’
Dress by BALMAIN.
GROWING, LEADING AND SERVING A TEAM
What has the journey of growing your team been like?
Starting out, you wear multiple hats, but I've been slowly expanding my team. It’s really easy to overspend, so I’m pretty frugal and ask ‘Could I do this myself?’. That can also be my Achilles heel. I had a brother who passed away before I was born, and my father wanted me to be a boy. When I wasn't, he left my mum in the hospital. I was so proud of seeing my mum do everything and make it work, so I can be guilty of wearing the badge of ‘I can do everything’ too. I had to shift my mindset, which was the hardest thing.
What was the first key hire you made to see your business grow?
An assistant. Look at the things only you can do. For me, it's speaking, being on camera, and coming up with speeches, content and programmes. No one can do that for me. For a while, I got lost in the little things which took me away from the things I'm good at. The second thing was a good tax advisor to set everything up as a proper business. It’s tempting to spend the money you make, but I ensure to pay myself a monthly salary and then the rest goes into savings, taxes and investments. Being intelligent about how the business is set up has been so essential for me.
Do you have any key indicators for knowing when to hire?
When I'm starting a new thing — for example, I started the ITfactor that I film in LA — I say, ‘who do I need to hire to run this?’. Because I don’t want anything to take me away again. I hire a team, and then I do the parts only I can do. Also, looking at what hires will help areas of business growth. So I have a sales team for my ITfactor programme which teaches people how to brand it, speak it and sell it in any area. There’s also a spiritual component where it's about furthering your relationship with God. I also have a network marketing team that is 150,000 people worldwide. I teach those people how to distribute products and make additional income streams.
You have so many areas of business and life to watch, how have you learnt to prioritise?
There was one part of life when I was going through a horrible breakup, so I said, God number one, then my health, then growing my mindset and business; and I'm not going to participate in things that don't revolve around that. Also, not changing for the world has been a big lesson. One time someone said to me ‘maybe you should tone it down on the faith aspect’. I said, ‘no, then I am lying to these people’. I went ahead with what I felt was right, which was kind of scary at the time. But being true to my core has helped me grow and not conform to the trends, which is so easy to do.
Why is it important to you to use your gifts to serve others?
I know what it's like to not have anything. I know what it's like to feel alone. I've broken through that and I truly believe our happiness is from giving. I look at what I've built and know it's God's. You don't have anything great in life until you give it away, so when I wake up in the morning, instead of stressing about my schedule, I say ‘God, who can I bless today?’. I started saying that when I was flat broke because I had this victim mindset of ‘no one's doing business, nothing's working and I'm so frustrated’. All the limiting self-talk. So I changed the dialogue. Asking ‘Who can I bless today?’ changes your whole mindset.
AS TOLD TO Ellie Dalton
CREATIVE DIRECTION BY Ruth Yimika Afolabi
PHOTOGRAPHY BY Obidi Constantine Nzeribe
STYLING BY Katie Peare
MAKEUP BY Kymberli Williams
HAIR BY Jenn Lagron
PRODUCTION ASSISTING BY Miguel Velasquez
Keep up to date with Emily here.
Voice of the Month is a monthly digital series where Magnify spotlights a woman of faith excelling in their industry. We share their journey, practical advice and how their faith anchors them through the highs and lows of life.
