Why I Enrolled in Marie Forleo's B-School!
"So, Deb, will you get your Ph.D someday?"
This question inevitably gets asked of me any time I mention or talk about my educational background and academic past. I graduated with a Masters degree in sociology in 2011. So for the past 8 and a half years, my answer has always been the same: "HELL NO." Not surprisingly, the question that follows is, "oh, why not?" I've given all the generic responses: that I really didn't want to do a 7-year program, that I was perfectly content with having my Masters, and that even though I'd enjoy being a professor (I really loved teaching during my time as a TA), I didn't like the expectation of publishing in scholarly journals and presenting at conferences, and so on and so forth.
But the real, nitty gritty, deep down emotional truth is this: going to grad school and getting my Masters degree all those years ago took everything out of me, academically and energetically, and I firmly believed I had nothing left to give. For me, my grad school experience was a mixed bag in every way imaginable. Applying and enrolling was one of the best decisions I've ever made in my life, but getting my Masters was also the hardest thing I've ever had to do. I look back at those years and that phase of my life with both fondness and scorn. For the past nearly 9 years then, I have held the very limiting belief that I could never go back to school, that I'd never be able to find it in me to pursue another academic path.
And yet here I am, enrolled and ready to begin my 3rd week of online business school at Marie Forleo's highly acclaimed B-School - and loving every minute of it!
How the heck did I end up here?!
Why I Enrolled in Marie Forleo's B-School
This story and journey began in October 2019. I had started recovering from my state of depression that I'd been battling for 3 months. During this time of healing, I began reading self-help books and gradually over the course of several months straight into the new year, I found myself embarking on an exciting spiritual path and developing a spiritual practice, which would ultimately change the course of my life forever.
I was still working at Lemon Lily and running Dessert by Deb the entire time, but during my recovery in October, something shifted. I had come to the realization that part of my depression had stemmed from the resistance and friction I had felt from not being happy with my business at that moment in time: it wasn't reflecting my truest authenticity, I wasn't realizing my purpose, and I wasn't demonstrating or reaching my fullest potential; it was absolutely maddening. It wasn't just about the growing pains of being an entrepreneur or crunching sales numbers. It was so much more and bigger than that.
I was vibrating at a low frequency, feeding and being sucked into a lack mentality, resisting love by pushing what wasn't working and relying solely on my own strength. I desperately wanted more for my business and more from myself. Which meant I needed to stop pushing and start ALLOWING. I needed to let go, and surrender. And during my recovery and during that quantum shift, I surrendered completely, spiritually and energetically, before I even knew what that spiritual principle was; my inner guide and higher being just knew. I began manifesting miracles and abundance left and right and I realized that one of the things I wanted most was business coaching and mentorship - I wanted help.
"When the student is ready, the teacher will appear."
Fast forward to January 2020. I was now a fully fledged "spirit junkie" and spiritual student of Gabrielle's Bernstein's work and teachings (among other self-help, entrepreneur, and personal success contemporaries) and I had made it part of my daily practice to watch YouTube videos on self-help, personal success, leadership, spirituality, and entrepreneurship. I came across Gabby's interview with Marie Forleo on Marie's channel, MarieTV, to promote her newest book, Super Attractor.
And the universe shifted again.
Thoughts began ping-ponging in my head left and right: "who IS Marie Forleo? What other videos does she have on her channel? She's been around the self-help, entrepreneurial, and business circuit for HOW LONG? Oh my god have I been living under a rock this entire time?!"
I will never forget that day. In the middle of watching Gabby and Marie, my now sheros, I received a spiritual hit (and by that I mean it was like a spiritual force smacked me upside the head) about my greater purpose in this life and from that point forward, I began gobbling up as much of Gabby and Marie (and other contemporaries who resonated with me) as much as possible. I soon found out about Marie Forleo's online business school, B-School, and learned that enrolment opened just once a year. Enrolment opened in February and closed on February 28, 2020. This was the opportunity I'd been waiting for. I'd come across two other business coaching and mentorship programs prior to discovering Marie but something hadn't felt right about them, so I passed and continued to be patient, believing that the universe had a greater plan for me, I just had to be recognize the signs and be opening to receiving them. I had a serious and important decision to make: do I take the plunge and enroll?
It's Good to Feel Good
I didn't rush my decision. Because I had energy work to do first. I had to drop my long-held limiting beliefs about going back to school, my limiting beliefs about what it meant to be in online school and how I would thrive in that environment (I had long believed that online school wasn't for me, that I needed to physically be in a classroom in order to succeed), tell any excuses that could possibly crop up to essentially fuck off, and to finally determine the feeling I was after. When I envision business coaching and mentorship, how do I want to FEEL? Who is the person I want to grow into? How does this future Deb want to feel? What are my desires? Be unapologetic about them. WHAT. DO. I. WANT?
Answer: I don't want to be a small business owner for life. I am a solopreneur right now, but I want to grow my business into a company, an empire, with a beautiful purpose that serves people and makes an impact in the world. There will be a Team Deb one day. Which means I need to learn and get real fucking good at leadership. I want to grow and expand and turn my visions and dreams into reality. Which means I need to learn everything I can about modern business, marketing, and how to grow long-term, the right way, while bringing my passion, joy, light, and message to the world.
When I am being coached I want to feel...supported. Taken care of. Guided. Inspired. Empowered. And the more I looked at B-School, the more I felt it. I just kept leaning into those feelings and leaning into them some more and when I finally clicked the button to enroll, there was zero doubt in my mind that this was the perfect fit for me and that this was where I needed to be. This is what I needed to do.
My limiting beliefs, gone. Excuses? Nothing could touch me. My ego, the voice of fear, tried to throw roadblocks in my path. "You can't afford this." Actually, yes, I can, I have some money squirreled away and I have the option of making monthly payments towards my education, I can make this work no problem. "You don't have the time." Actually, yes, I do. I am sticking to a routine work schedule and am devoting a specific day just for school and can work on Dessert by Deb on evenings and weekends. I have ample time. "You may not be successful after all this." Bitch, I just busted through all my limiting beliefs and believed in myself and my own investment. I'm already a winner.
And that, my dear friends, is the story of how and why I became a student of Marie Forleo's B-School, class of 2020. It is a gift and I'm so humbled and excited to share in this adventure and journey with you.
