Salila in Wonderland: My Grand Adventure With The London Real Business Academy.

One fateful morning, late September, I came to work and logged in.

Was it my faulty mouse or my distracted bungling with my touch pad, I found myself in the midst of a Zoom webinar on Face Book.

A checker board of faces were looking at me and one very white man looked familiar. It took me a minute to grasp that I was actually live on a London Real Webinar and here was Brian Rose holding court.

The man I had been following since I had watched him interview Dandapani and was so moved, I shared it with everyone on WhatsApp and got the gumption to gush all over Dandapani on an IG message, was here, live and talking.

Falling down the rabbit hole…

My entrepreneurial journey really began in June 2015, when I went through a Panchakarma detoxification back home in Kerala, India.

In 19 days, from the lowest point of mental and physical destruction on account of losing five pregnancies in three years, I had come back to an astounding sense of self-worth, love, and Yoga prowess I had never known before.

The first casualty, of this new Shaktified(Goddess of feminine strength from the Hindu pantheon) me, was my marriage.

I was like someone who had fallen in love, I wanted everyone to experience this high. Only, I was trying to sell a service that got people divorced.

All of my friends, except two, shunned me.

Eat this…

I had been totally put off by the body builders on Brian’s couch, but I had lingered on LRA to see their human stories of struggle and transformation.

I had been watching Brian vulnerably reveal himself through his questions and the back and forth.

I always loved the look on his face when he was put in a tough spot because that gave me permission to be vulnerable myself.

Grow big and grow small…

I was slowly being chewed up by a divorce and the custody of my child.

After a decade of volunteering to build businesses and raising money for others, I was sending my resume out in to the internet black hole to find someone, anyone to pay me for work.

Using social media, I had raised over $380K for my daughter’s preschool to keep them in business.

I had been a Call center manager for FedEx, India and had grown an $8M region by over 800 accounts in less than three years, but I was hopeless when it came to putting myself out there.

My sales technique usually was bursting into uncontrollable sobs while talking about my experience.

You need to be mad as a hatter…

In spite of this, in 2016, my best friend and two trusting souls from Henfield, UK wired me money for a 14-day Panchakarma detoxification stay in Kerala, India.

In 2017, I booked five times more, but I only get a commission on these stays.

When I take a group to India, I pay for my own airfare, which did not leave enough for me to resign from my Administrative Assistant position.

I knew I had to have a different strategy.

“This is impossible!” & “ Only if you believe it is”…

Before I could say “Mad Hatter”, Brain Rose of the London Real Academy, was actually talking to me. Asking my name and telling me what I needed to do to scale up my business.

He told me to create free products and a 3-part minimum viable product. He explained the End to End product Eco-system.

This was already more value than what my best friend had learned from the million dollar coaching program she was on. The firm she was paying over $3000 a month to be on.

Yes, yes-but you would have to be half-mad…

Then Brian said, “Salila, you have to create videos of yourself speaking and giving value to your customers!”

Me on a video! Talking to people I don’t know, in my nasal Indian accent/voice and my face, on my FB page, out for everyone to see me!!

And I thought I am out of here.

Oh, he’ll fit! We just have to push harder!…

I calmed down , took three deep breaths and used my Vedic divination technique that I use in such situations to help me make a sound decision.

The signs were clear, the planets were aligned, the card was swiped and there was an email from Lisa May of Expat Real, asking me to post my first vlog on Face Book.

My response was very un-yogic.

The only time I use the f word is with someone I have done the f word.

“Off with her head!”

Its been 7 weeks since then.

I have had my ego lopped in more ways than one.

I have actually created a six-module online video course, six of which were sold after a webinar that totally bombed because I failed to keep an eye on the clock.

I have come out of the closet and my entire family knows that I am divorced.

I have had an App developer, a 2017 Health 2.0 challenge winner, negotiating with me to partner and create Ayurveda diet plans. I am about to sign the contract.

My friend from LRA, Verge Manyen, put me in touch with Lissa Coffey, who is stratospheric in the Ayurveda world. She told me “ I like your approach, and your course sounds great!”

N:B-I confessed to her naively that it was an experiment to see if I could sell anything.

Lissa is going to introduce me to some major players here in Northern California.

I got laid off from work.

More than all that, I have found a community of brothers and sisters, including my awesome coach, Chris Albert, who continue to support me.

This amazing group of entrepreneurs, who fall and rise and get stronger each day, are here for me for as long as we need each other.

Who put out content that blows my mind every time.

Who appreciate me like my own mother doesn’t.

Who challenge me, humble me, and make me want to give more of myself to all those who are waiting for me.

Most of all, I have learned that I cannot let my little ego and insecurity from helping a women who stays up all night in excruciating pain.

I cannot stop myself from giving hope to a man in his sixties, broken by his poor diet choices.

I cannot stop myself from sharing with a couple, their dream of having a baby, is still possible even if IVF has failed them.

I cannot stop myself from helping menopausal women get off synthetic hormone patches.

I cannot stop myself from helping an MS patient get rid of his wheelchair and walk and delay the deterioration by several years.

It is criminal to stay inside and hide.

Footnote: After a life-altering Panchakarma, an Ayurvedic detoxification of the body and mind in 2015, I have made Ayurveda my mission. My travel consultancy Ayurgamaya offers my clients tailored solo and group Ayurveda wellness journeys to Kerala, India, the birthplace of Ayurveda. I only support Ayurveda lineages and establishments that are committed to leaving their community and environment better than they found it. I am also working on my Ayurveda diet App, super fun! Sign up for more Ayurveda tips here.