Note: We use AI transcription so there may be some inaccuracies
Anne-Lyse Wealth: This is the Dreamers Podcast, episode one 19 with Emily Ford. Today is May 30th, 2023.
Hello. Welcome to the Dreamers podcast. I'm your host, anise. We Today I have a very special episode on the show. Her name is Emily Ford. Emily, started her entrepreneurial journey 13 years ago with no business background. she was at the time a nanny and massage therapist. And fast forward to today, she is running a nine-figure, sales organization as well as speaking to companies and teams globally.
Emily Ford truly embodies, what it means to have the it factor. she has spoken on stages next to Tony Robbins and Robert Kiosaki and, train corporate sales and leadership teams, to help them achieve new levels of business and, fulfillment. In their life forums has, featured an article about Emily's title To Be Successful, put People First in Business.
Second. Emily is a wealth of knowledge and she has developed a method that helps people not just, extract their IT factor, but also use it in all aspects of their business and life so that they can thrive. So without further ado, here is Emily Ford. Emily Ford, welcome to The Dreamers podcast.
Emily Ford: Thank you. I am so excited to be here with you.
Anne-Lyse Wealth: So, for the Dreamers who might not be familiar with you yet, do you mind sharing a little bit about you and what you do?
Emily Ford: Not at all. Well, I started as an entrepreneur when I was 23, sleeping on a mattress on the floor, and I was a nanny to four boys, massage therapist.
I basically would do any odd end job I could for work and I found a woman who was living a life that I wanted to live. And what I mean by that is she was designing her days. She got to work from home. She just looked really book built and happy and she was selling, supplements in the health and wellness space.
And so I got involved in that and, How I do everything in my life is I go all in. And so I went all in and changed my financial life by the time I was 24 and became a seven figure earner by the time I was 26. And that's the foundation of the practices I have from building a personal brand to teaching others that, to sales, to building teams, to leadership.
And so now, I still do that, but I also teach, selling, speaking, branding. I have my show, the IT Factor show, and then I speak all around the world on how to gain confidence and how to find and cultivate your IT factor.
Anne-Lyse Wealth: I love it. I think your story is just a reminder of, we become what we see.
And it wasn't until you saw, that, person be, able to. Plan or a day and kind of like, be in control of our life that you realize that you could do that as well. Yeah. I really can't wait to get into that, but I always like to take it back to the beginning. can you tell me about where did you grow up and what was your experience with money growing up?
Emily Ford: Yeah. Oh my gosh. So I grew up with a single mom in Minnesota and, we had this tiny little house, but we are so proud of it because my mom, had full custody of us, three kids, and, worked a lot, but we were proud of it because she got. Out of a, bad relationship. And so it was nice to be able to have that spot.
But what happened very quickly is another abusive man moved in the house. And so for the first like 10 years of my life, it was very turbulent. and She did the best she could, but I was always told, money doesn't grow on trees and things, all the things we hear and I had either, hand me down clothes or, my godmother would take me shopping and like, that's when I got to experience like, whoa, it's like a brand new shirt, right?
and so that's how I grew up was, very like small minded, small mindset. And it really wasn't until I, got into the business world that I realized like, whoa, I have caps on my financial blueprint. First of all, what is a financial blueprint? Second of all, like I can have unlimited wealth and unlimited abundance and what does this even mean?
And so I've had to do so much reworking, refiring, like so much work on my self worth. And it's paid off for sure. But in the beginning it was like, Man, can I even do this? Am I worth it? and that bled through every area of my life to relationships. I attracted to the work I did to like literally everything.
Hmm.
Anne-Lyse Wealth: I often hear, you become wealthy in your mind before you actually become wealthy. So I'm, curious to hear about some of the work that you did to be able to prepare yourself for, to become wealthy.
Emily Ford: Mm. Yeah, it's like a plethora of things. So I would say number one, like being in a growth environment and so having a few people I could model after because I didn't have that, right?
like I said, I didn't grow up around people that were successful, and so having a mentor's examples major for me. but then like, Constantly listening to things, that would change my brain around money. So affirmations. and then t Harv Ecker wrote the book, secrets of a Millionaire Mind.
And I'll never forget, that was my first book I ever read, and I was like, Whoa. I was like, I had no idea and I actually think that people should read it, including me once a year because it's so good, the wealth principles in there. so started to read a lot and I literally, unplugged my TV and I put.
Declaration or affirmation. I am statements all over my tv. I am wealthy. I am a millionaire. I am worthy. And I put it all in little post-it notes all over the tv. And then I also took like my favorite lipstick and I wrote it all over my bathroom mirror. So when I brushed my teeth, I was like just constantly.
Like surrounding myself in that. So the environment, the affirmations, I made myself a vision board and I wrote myself out a check for a million dollars. And I remember writing it. My hand was like shaking and I'm like, who am I to have this? And it was like, no, shut up. And I had to like talk to my head, right?
I was like, no, And I would look at it every single morning. I would literally, Drink my coffee and I would stare at it and I would like, touch the board. and along on the board was many other things, by the way. It wasn't just a check for a million dollars, but like I would touch the board and, pray over it.
And those were just a few things that I did. And, went to events like I invested in myself and in my personal development more than anything else. So like, I didn't buy anything new, like in terms of like clothes or cars or anything of that sort. Like I literally invested it all into my mindset and my heart.
So, also like. Me being sure that I was spirit filled and, going to church and stuff like that. just so I could really change as a woman and grow.
Anne-Lyse Wealth: Love it. I love it. So, earlier you shared that you were a nanny and a massage therapist, right? And then, today you lead a nine figure sales organization, a team of how
Emily Ford: many people.
Well that team has like 175,000 people, in that business. But yeah, it's busy. So
Anne-Lyse Wealth: can you share maybe some of the things that really surprised you when you went from being a massage therapist to becoming a seven figure earner, three years
Emily Ford: later? Mm-hmm. Yeah. basically I went from being an employee to like, clocking in, clocking out, to literally having a desk, an old desk.
I had this old desk, it was like very, old and it like moved around when I would write on it and I went from like, people telling me what to do, to like, Hey, you gotta go get sales. You gotta go get clients. And I'm like, well, there's no guarantee here. There's no guaranteed income, there's nothing. I gotta do it.
And so, I really struggled in my first year with like, some days were great, some days weren't. And it was the highs and the lows of like, yay. And then oh my gosh, defeated. And that's the stuff I don't think people talk about enough to be honest with you. Like, There was times where I would cry myself to sleep and I would like lay in my bed and I didn't have a bed frame, so it was just this mattress on the floor and I would just pry and I was like, can I do this? Like maybe I should go get a job, but it was, that year that taught me everything about resilience. And it also like helped me learn skills. Cuz there's skills in this, right? There's skills in selling, there's skills in communication and. If it wasn't for all those hard times, I wouldn't be as skilled as I am today.
And, it taught me everything that now I feel like I could go into any environment and do well because I learned through every step of the way,
Anne-Lyse Wealth: Do you still go through those moments of, wondering, can I do it?
Emily Ford: not as often anymore. but there's a new thing always happening, and God's doing a new thing in my life, even right now with writing a book and being a first time author and working with agents and then speaking in new arenas that I haven't played in before.
And, yeah, of course you had those moments of like, Who do you think you are? Blah, blah, blah, Yeah. And, so I just shut 'em up. And so I've learned to become so much more intuitive with myself and trusting myself, which in the beginning I wasn't. I, doubted myself a lot and, I just really stay connected to, for me, my divine power source, which is God.
And he gives me confidence and so I'm able to do a lot more, a lot faster cuz I have a lot more confidence and who's giving me the power. Before it was like I was relying on myself so much and like it was very egocentric. And it was like all about Emily. And so now I just really pray to be of service to people.
And I think by changing my posture and my mind and my heart, it's allowed me to come into situations in such a more calmer, more confident way because it's not all about me. Right.
Anne-Lyse Wealth: Love that. So today, how do you stay motivated to keep, you know, raising the bar for yourself?
Emily Ford: Yeah, well, I just keep surrounding myself with really cool people and learning constantly, always learning.
I have a hunger for growth and school's never out for the pro, and I'm no pro and I'm humble enough to know that, and so I stay hungry by constantly learning. And then for me, What really drives me is hearing people's stories and their hearts, and what I mean by that is like staying connected to people that.
Wanna get out of debt that wanna change their life, that want to break free from shame or emotional bondage, or they're dealing with certain things. Like if I can hear them and talk to them a little bit, it motivates me so much to go, okay, how can I help you? Like I want to help you. I want to be this for you.
And that's what motivates me. It really does. It's like hearing the stories and when I speak at events, oftentimes people say like, are you sure you wanna like, stay in the hallway and talk to all these people? Or you're just like, literally, I'll stay ours because I want to hear people's hearts.
I want to connect to them because at the end of the day, that is what motivates me. Like they motivate me. And so there's that, and then it's just like, Creating a life that I love and not that I dread. Love
Anne-Lyse Wealth: it. So there was an article in forums where, you shared that, you became a millionaire at age 26, but you were still budgeting.
Do you still budget? Mm-hmm. It's funny. Yeah. A lot of people see budgeting as like, this restrictive thing. Right. I'm curious to hear like your thoughts on this. Oh my gosh. For it,
Emily Ford: budget, financial literacy and budgeting, it actually gives you more freedom. discipline equals freedom. Just with my schedule today, if I didn't have boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom.
I don't know where I'd be right now. Like, I'll probably be walking around outside or something, and like, I wouldn't get anything done. And so discipline equals freedom and just like budgeting equals freedom in your mind because how do you know otherwise? Like, am I spending too much? you kind of play games with yourself and so I'm super big on that and like, I have really learned how to have a great brand and, have nice things, but not do it in a way that's like, Crazy expensive.
And what I mean by that is like I have my own cameras as I'm filming this. Like I don't need a camera person here 24 7 as I create my content, I rent a lot of my clothes so I can write off a hundred percent of them. I don't buy. a lot of my own stuff because it's just gonna sit in my closet, number one.
Number two, from a tax perspective, I can't write it off if I keep it. and I would rather like just, instead of buying something for X amount of dollars, I'd rather just lend it out for the weekend while I go speak, and same with like, gosh, everything, like in terms of, Housing and eating out and just excess.
Like my G wagon I've had for years and I bought it used and it's been paid off for many, many, many, many, many, many years, right? So, yeah, I'm super big on this.
Anne-Lyse Wealth: Love it. And, you just, dropped a major gem about renting clothes, right? Because. That's literally a loophole cuz a lot of times you can't write off your, clothes unless you have like, your logo on it or anything like that.
Right. So when you rent Yeah, that's, a expense because you're using it just for that one event. love that. So your show is called the it Factor. And I would love to hear more about like how do you define it factor, and why should we all care about
Emily Ford: it?
Hmm. It's so good. Well, I, came out with the it factor because after coaching thousands of people, it really disrupted my heart when I would talk to people and I'm like, how do you not see how great you are? so cool. You don't even know how cool you are, from like, Artist that are creative geniuses in their own right to people that wanna speak or sell or have a platform, they don't see it.
And. Why I came out with the it factor, because so many people talk about the X factor and I need to be charismatic, and I need to be beautiful, and, and it's like, no, no, no, no, no, no. If we look at a fundamental truth is, you were designed, uniquely designed in your mother's womb. God designed you to the number of knowing the number of hairs on your head.
There is no other you and there's no other me. And I need to help people understand that in a big way, so they will stop comparing themselves to someone they will never be. Because the truth is when you understand your greatness and your divine beauty, you become so much more confident as a man, as a woman, and you also have a higher.
Frequency, which is a higher energy because when you live in a place of comparison or jealousy, it's low energy. And so when you know I am unique and divinely created, you have so much more energy, so much more confidence. And so I created it to help people understand that. But then I take them through many different things.
Of lessons of discovery so they can really be like, man, I am amazing. I am a badass, right? and so I've really extracted it in all that I do because it's like whether someone wants to brand themselves, or just have a better home life, knowing Factor is gonna help you do that.
Anne-Lyse Wealth: I love that. So how can we go about finding
Emily Ford: our IT factor?
Yeah. First of all, what I love to do with people is take out a piece of paper and I'm like, okay, whether you're listening to this driving right now, do this activity and, take out a piece of paper and write down what are my strengths? Like what are they? And it can be. I have empathy. It can be, great at baking.
It can be I am disciplined, I'm good with numbers. Like you should be able to rattle off at least 20 strengths. And then I also take a look at what,excites me? What do I enjoy doing? What do I do where like the hours just pass by. And it's like, I didn't even know the hours went by.
And I like people to also write that stuff down. And when I coach a lot of people, we look for, common threads. Throughout, which make you so much of who you are. But then I also take it a step further and say, how could we do more of that in your life? How could we extract that into your company, into your brand?
Maybe you're not even good at certain things. They're not your strengths, but you've been doing it for years. No wonder why you don't have a lot of energy throughout your day. No wonder why. it's like you're not sparking joy. And I found this out the hard way cuz I'm a real creative, but I was doing things that are more analytical, which does not excite my soul,
So that's what I do. That's like the first base level of it. for sure. And What's really startling is when I speak at conferences, sometimes there's people that can't even come up with one or two things of what their strengths are, which tells me of how your mental mindset is and how your self-talk is.
If you can't tell me five things about yourself, that makes you so great. we gotta start with your mindset, That's interesting
Anne-Lyse Wealth: you said that, you used to do like analytical type of work. But you are creative. Did you always know that you were
Emily Ford: creative? Yeah, but I suppressed it.
I, suppressed certain, parts of myself and I think some of it was like, I grew up with a single mom and she had to wear all the hats, the masculine, the feminine. I mean, she had to do it all right. We didn't have it. We didn't have someone to do that for us. And so I took on that badge of like, I do everything.
I'm an independent woman, blah, blah, blah. And the truth is, I am a creative being. I love to create, I love to create brands and, imagery in products. Now I'm working on a couple different products I'll come out with soon. I love to write, I love to do all that, but when I got into my first business, I.
Didn't have the help, nor did I have the business acumen or even the knowledge to like hire people to help with certain things. So like I just did it all and I thought I was really special because I did it all. And meanwhile I was like suffering in silence because it was like I was doing things. I wasn't really that great at.
it's amazing
Anne-Lyse Wealth: that you help people discover what their it factor is. I know, like for me, I mentioned before we started recording my background, I'm a C P A and I always saw myself as this, I'm good with numbers. I'm analytical person, and I'm not a creative.
Actually, that's what I thought for most of my life until I actually took the time to sit down and just start. From scratch and really like, identify my strength weaknesses and realizing the process that I am actually a creative, I thrive in creative environments. So, I think it's, such an important, exercise, to go through.
So you mentioned personal branding, right? So should everyone, kind of think about their personal brand,
Emily Ford: what are your thoughts on that? Yes. in 2023. Absolutely. and here's why. You never know what's gonna happen in your personal life. Meaning when God is going to do a new thing, spark an interest when maybe you'll get let go of a career, right?
When you're gonna want to change careers and that happens. Usually for people every 10 years, depending, And so, yes, you should build a personal brand because it's an asset for you that you know, gosh, if you ever wanna launch something, or even if you don't wanna launch anything, but you wanna add value or you want to.
Playing in a new arena, you have a free tool that you can use to share a service, share a product, and I just think that it's so intelligent to do it because if you look at anybody who's hiring anybody, They go to social media, they go, even me, I was looking for an assistant and like I was on Indeed.
And I'm reading all of these resumes, but you better believe I'm going, well who does She really? And so I go look at their Instagram and I go try to find them and I'm like, oh wow, okay. This is like not gonna be a good fit. not gonna be a good person, And that's what people are doing.
when I moved, to Orange County in California, I went to Instagram to find my nail girls. I was like, cuz I do this like Russian nail. Technique that it lasts longer, by the way, so way longer, just don't have to get your nails done as much. But I was literally on Instagram, like typing in like Orange County, Russian nails, and then they popped up and like, that's the world we live in today.
And so yeah, it's everything. I could talk about it forever. Clearly.
Anne-Lyse Wealth: You had a recent, podcast episode, about personal branding being, More than just, your colors and, actually being, your reputation, right? So I think when a lot of people think about personal brand, they're thinking about, okay, what should my colors be?
What, the presentation, my, media kit and things like that. So I would love for you to expand on that because a lot of times, even people who work in the corporate world think that they don't necessarily need to worry about building
Emily Ford: their personal brand. Mm. Yes. Well, yeah.
First of all, like you just brought up, again, people think that it's like the brand is your logos, your colors, all that, and the yes, that stuff matters of course, but the truth is, we're all our own little personal brands. It's, your reputation, it's what people think of you. It's not even what I think of me.
I can have all my ideas of what I think my reputation is. But at the end of the day, like if I surveyed 20 people and it's like, tell me five words of what you think of Emily Ford it, whether they know me personally or just from a digital perspective, that's my reputation. And it's super interesting when you think of it that way because you're like, wow, how do I wanna be portrayed?
How do I wanna make people feel? What do they even think of me? Most people don't even like think of what other people think of them. And not that you should rely ever on what people think of you, but when you're conscious of that, you're like, I'm gonna show up a little differently. I'm gonna like actually give a rats, you know?
and I do work with a lot of people that are in corporate, but they also, I, really encourage them to build their own thing, even though they're corporate, maybe workers, but do something at home that you're passionate about. So if something happens to your corporate career, you've, got something.
But then also just to fuel the side of you that really makes you, because a lot of times, depending on the corporation you work for, they put you in a box and that can really be suffocating. and I just feel like We find ourselves when we're in service to others, and that's how I found who Emily really is, is by like going to work on myself and, really extracting like, how can I serve another human through that?
Self-identification is really what has like. Made me be so in tune with who I am. And so if you're constantly only working for somebody else who's telling you what to do, and you've do that for so long, you're missing a huge part of that self-identification process. Hmm.
Anne-Lyse Wealth: I love that. So, Emily, can you give me three to five steps that Dreamers can take today to leverage their, it factor and start living a wealthy life on their
Emily Ford: terms?
Oh, oh my gosh. Yeah, for sure. I would say first of all, make, that list and really play up. What excites you. Like, for me, I love fashion. Anybody knows that about me. Like it's a part of who I am, even if I'm gonna sit at home in the corner by myself, and I love, vintage shopping and consigning clothes and like, it's a huge passion of mine.
So I made it a part of my brand. Why? Because it's fun and it's real and now eventually that will lead to even other businesses because I'm living in my passion. And I would say like, really, Don't go to into business just to go into business. Go into business because you have a vision and a mission, and you have something that's actually going to excite you and you see long-term with it, because a lot of people are passionate and passion is very fleeting.
I mean, I was passionate when I met the love of my life for the first time, but. Then after a while it's like, okay, well we have obstacles and I'm gonna have to like, commit to this. and then after that you move into the stage of devotion. And so I look at this as like The really like the fundamental principles of building anything, whether it's a relationship, whether it's a company, whether it's a brand, it's, having what I call zeal.
And most people have passion, but they don't have zeal and zeal is dedication, commitment. That fortitude that you're gonna commit yourself to something rather than just be excited about it on a Monday and know where to be found on a Friday. And so that is required to build and to sustain your dreams.
Because we all know those people that have come in hot and then they're gone in a year and it's like, why is that? And so asking God for more zeal, asking and really understanding what that means. and then I just think you gotta try some things on as well. And so what I mean by that is like, Get out there and learn and grow and, experience is the best teacher and that's how you are going to become a business owner.
Or to become, somebody that's worth following, to be quite honest, is by you just trying things on. And so every day, and I've done this for 13 years, I try to do at least one thing that makes me kind of go, oh my God. I'm like a little, like, ugh, little nervous here for a minute, right?
I try to do that at least once a day, whether it's a bold conversation, I'm gonna start, whether it's an interview, I'm gonna do a reach out that I'm gonna make. That might kind of scare me a little bit, but I wanna do it anyway. Like I always try to do something that is gonna activate my growth and that.
Is the game changer. I love
Anne-Lyse Wealth: it. So I always end the interview with a round of rapid fire questions. Oh, you ready? Yeah. Tell me about a book that changed your perspective on life.
Emily Ford: Hmm. I mean, truly it's The Secrets of the Millionaire Mind by t Harve Ecker. That was the game changer. And if I didn't read that, I wouldn't have, I don't think I would've like, opened my mind up to creating wealth as fast.
Anne-Lyse Wealth: Mm-hmm. What's one life lesson you learned the hard way?
Emily Ford: Hmm. Geez. So for the longest time I really struggled with confrontation and so instead of like dealing, I would just avoid, I was an avoider. So I learned that the hard way with like not communicating my real feelings and having the other person assume a lot of stuff or get mad, where in actuality I should have just, said what I thought, right?
Anne-Lyse Wealth: what's one thing about money you wish you could tell your
Emily Ford: younger self? Mm. To have more fun while I'm building my stuff and to like really live in the moment a lot more. spent a lot of my early years just like. Getting to the next thing and getting to the next thing where I didn't enjoy the present thing.
What's the best
Anne-Lyse Wealth: investment in yourself you've made
Emily Ford: so far?
Yeah. I would say, mentorship for sure, like having mentorship as a cheat code and so. Hiring people to help me along the way in all areas, financially, spiritually, business wise, like all the areas of life, like constantly having somebody who's 10 steps ahead of me in that, the
Anne-Lyse Wealth: blank in three words or less money to me is
Emily Ford: the
Anne-Lyse Wealth: energy.
What do you want your legacy to be? Mm.
Emily Ford: Yeah, it's kind of a funny question. I used to be like, oh, I want people to think of me and say that, I honestly, I really, truly want other people's lives to change, but I don't need to have credit for it. I wanna cause people to play. The game of life, the way God created this abundance for them.
and if people do that, I'm a happy camper. That's
Anne-Lyse Wealth: beautiful. So Emily, thank you so much for stopping by the podcast. please tell the dreamers where they can find you. Yes. Thank
Emily Ford: you for having me. This has been so fun. You can find me on Instagram at it's Emily, or it's emily.com and we can rock out there. Thank you. Thank you.
Anne-Lyse Wealth: All right. That was Emily Ford. I hope you enjoyed today's episode.