Life - at least from a woman’s perspective- is a whole lot of details!...and BUSINESS, is also a bundle of details wrapped into a big vision too. The details are where things can get and FEEL complicated, but today I want to encourage and REMIND you that God is in the details. I want to share with you a really cool experience that JUST happened to me that proves this very point.
I can’t wait to share with you my story and testimony of how God pulled through a detail that seemed IMPOSSIBLE.
GOD KEEPS HIS PROMISES…
HE CARES ABOUT THE DETAILS…
YOU HEAR HIM MORE THAN YOU KNOW...
YOU SHOULD ASK HIM ABOUT EVERYTHING…
AND HIS TIMING IS ALWAYS PERFECT!
This story is going to light up your heart with HOPE that all the pieces of your life are weaving together for a purpose!
LET’S STAY CONNECTED
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Michelle5Hiatt
Email: hello@nourishingmichelle.com
Full Episode Transcription:
0:03
Hey mama. So life, at least from a woman's perspective is a whole lot of details and business is also a bunch of details, wrapped into a great big vision. The details are where things can get and really feel complicated, but today I want to encourage and remind you that God is in the details, I want to share with you a really cool experience that just happened to me, and proves this very point. We can never get enough encouragement on our entrepreneurship journey, so I promise this story is going to light up your heart. It is loaded with truth and perspective, and I get pretty real and vulnerable on this episode, so listen in and don't forget to share this as a way to lift other women up. This is my story, this is my testimony and I would love nothing more than to hear your feedback. That being said, I want to celebrate the launch of this brand new podcast with cupcakes, but not just any cupcake, The Nourishing Cupcake. The business that sprung me into entrepreneurship many years ago was a business called The Nourishing Cupcake. The long story, short of it is that my son had a gluten sensitivity, set out to create a cupcake that was truly healthy and truly delicious. You know, doesn't it feel like desserts that are super healthy, they're pretty "meh" tasting, or they're absolutely delicious, but they're loaded with sugar and all the refined stuff. I wanted to create a cupcake that had the best of both worlds. That's what I did and then they ended up becoming an entire experience when I put these cupcakes in cute little glass mason jars. The Nourishing Cupcakes are 8oz glass mason jars, and there's two frosted cupcakes in them and they are all organic, they're gluten free, grain-free refined sugar free, some are even dairy free, but they are absolutely delicious and they're made with love, right from my home, from my hands, from my heart and I would love for you to try them! As a way to say thank you for leaving a review on this brand new podcast, I would love to enter you into a giveaway to get a batch or a four pack of these Nourishing Cupcake jars. All you need to do is right now, pause this episode, scroll to the bottom of The Noursing Mompreneur Podcast, rate and leave a quick review, and then send a screenshot of your review to "Hello@NourishingMichelle.com" I'm going to enter you into a giveaway this week, I just want to spread the love and I got your back, I want to send some treats your way. Just as a thank you for helping me get this episode, into the hands of more women to lift other women up and empower them on their journey of motherhood of walking in faith and in entrepreneurship. Thank you so much. I can't wait to share more of this story with you. Let's dig in.
2:55
Welcome back to the Nourishing Mompreneur Podcast, where we get encouraged and empowered as we pursue our greatest potential within the walls of our home. My name is Michelle, and I'm so thankful you're here. Do you feel like your life is good, but something, in you feels unfulfilled? Do you feel stuck in the trenches of motherhood, exhausted and working so hard but feeling like you're getting nowhere? Do you have big dreams, you're holding in your heart, but you've been living small? Are you motivated for more, but don't have the clarity or the courage to do anything about it? Do you want to discover God's best, and see if it's really possible to be an excellent wife, an intentional mother and be successful in business, all for the glory of God? As a wife of 16 years, a homeschooling mom of five, and an entrepreneur, I know exactly how you feel. Every bit of it. I truly believe that the most important thing you will ever do is within the walls of your home, and that there is a purpose in everything. If you are a fellow business minded, with a heart for home and the love for Jesus, let's process this journey and grow together.
5:15
Okay so last year, in 2020, we all know what happened, we know that COVID hit, actually before it was even called COVID, it was the Coronavirus. You know, my husband and I were both entrepreneurs, and out of necessity I started a new business we kind of, I talked about this in the very first episode one Brittany interviewed me but you know we freaked out a little bit because we understood that this was a big deal that this was a circumstance that wasn't just going to go away in a couple weeks after a 14 day quarantine. It wasn't just going to just fade away overnight, that this was kind of a long-term thing with some major repercussions, especially for business owners. You know, I believe that in every situation there is opportunity, and there's good if you choose to look for it. I remember one night, I was walking in the driveway, I was asking God, I already had a business that I was actively building and doing well with, but I was asking him I was like, God, what can I do more, what can I do to help our family at this time because we were looking at the situation and thinking, oh my gosh like we're, our income, it could very well be like, cut like just done and I thought, man, what can I do to help to step up to rise up in this time and in this season. I was walking in the driveway, and I came up with a business idea and opportunity, I would say the Lord inspired me because he's in everything right? To start a business called Nourishing Vitamin C, and I really started it, like I mentioned before, out of necessity I thought at the time that it could put food on the table for our family. I thought at the time that it was something that was going to just be kind of easily explode and go viral. I thought at the time that it was something that was going to deeply serve our community and could even save some lives. I was just all about it, I just made sense from a lot of different reasons, it's all about, you know, as, COVID brought things to the surface, it brought to light that the things that really matter and the essential things. I was like this is an essential nutrient vitamin C, But not just any vitamin C liposomal vitamin C is an essential nutrient that is absolutely crucial to our health, to our immune systems, and I want to have this not only for my family, because it's getting hard to come by, but I also want to offer this to the community of Orlando. That's what I set out to do.
7:50
This business endeavor was definitely the most risky move that I've ever made as an entrepreneur and this is just gonna, you guys are gonna die. I had this idea, right, but right as I had this idea. Everything was shutting down, like literally restaurants were closing quarantine like everything was just closing in on us and I thought, if I don't get the ingredients that I need if I don't get this thing going immediately. There's no way I can do this business so I really quick, went and researched I got the very best ingredients that I could get, researched the recipes we you know, work together and got everything ordered so that it could get delivered, and so from idea to launch date when I publicly, had a Facebook page had my little logo announced the whole business, all the things from idea to launch date it was 6 days. The crazy thing is that I launched this business. I had never made the product before I had never tasted the product before. I didn't even know what I was doing, or much about it, I just knew "Hey, this is an opportunity, this is, this is going to provide a solution to what other people need right now this is an essential item this is going to serve the community. This could save lives." I thought that because it was such a crucial, critical, you know, important item and nutrient I thought oh this is going to be it's going to kind of blow up and go viral, I just got to get this thing out there. So, totally like how crazy is that you guys like that is like that is that is the real like crazy entrepreneurship that start before you're ready. Take messy action kind of idea and attitude but I did it I totally did that.
9:36
Let's just say things did not turn out how I thought. Thankfully, the necessity wasn't there. My husband was able to continue working, business continued to grow. We weren't desperate for the money, it definitely did not go viral and explode easily like I thought that it would. Obstacles and struggles, and it was just a complete grind to grow this thing, just like any business you know even when you are doing the thing that you love and you're most passionate about business is still work. There's still a grind aspect to it, you still have to do the things that aren't your favorite so anyways that's just a little tidbit but all that to say, it was, it was definitely, it was a work. Then one day I got into the shower, I'm wrapped in my towel, and I'm about to step out of my bedroom door and I get a phone call from an unknown number on my phone so I answer the phone, and it's the Department of Agriculture, and they are shutting my business down because come to find out I was not operating under the right licensing, which I kind of had an idea and I already had been doing the research and had the pieces in place. Fortunately, to like, adjust to stop, pause and adjust very very quickly like within a couple weeks I had all the licensing figured out and all those hoops, I had to jump through, but you know it's in those moments that you pause and you question everything again and you're like, "Okay, do I stop at this point, or do I press on, like what is the right choice here?"
11:03
At the end of the day you just want to do what God has for you. Right, you don't want to quit on yourself you don't want to quit on the things that he's putting your heart, you just have to make sure that you are walking in obedience and an alignment to His will. That is the most important thing and so I stopped at that moment and I was like man, I can see that I don't have to do this business but should I stop now. Should I take this as a sign. And I prayed about it but I did not have a release, I did not feel that I needed to end this thing, and close it down. So I did the hard thing, and I pressed on. You know I'm a firm believer that it's not about what you do it's about who you become in the process. Even though I understand this and understood this, there's still a lot that you don't understand in the midst, and I didn't understand how this fit into the bigger picture but I continue to work faithfully, tirelessly, and continue to grow and just give my best with all that I did, I knew going into it that it was going to be a seasonal business if you will, that once I had the clarity and the release to let it go that I was definitely gonna be moving in that direction because I don't recommend having a multiple businesses that you're actively growing. It's just a lot I would typically say choose one thing and go all in with that. Sometimes when you spread yourself too thin it's not productive, but in this season, it was the right choice. So, I pressed on with that. Like I said this was my second business I never even start I never planned to start it, I was already building another business, this just kind of came into the picture, and then come to the end of the year, I ended up bringing back in my other business the cupcakes that I already mentioned in the intro to this show. This was my first business, this was my third business last year that I rolled into the picture and you know the reason why I started baking again, just at the end of the year is because I'm like these cupcakes spark joy and this has been a heck of a year for everybody. I just wanted to do something that made people happy. It made me happy. I love love love this business. And the cool thing was I had the website because of the vitamin C business all set up to do it to bake the cupcakes to sell them to launch them in a very sustainable way. That was, that was a beautiful thing, but it was in those late nights of baking up at night, that the Lord confirmed again and again, the vision for starting this podcast.
11:11
He gave me my word for the year for 2021 and he showed me that the podcast was going to be the primary vehicle to allow me to show up as the woman that I'm supposed to be in this season and just to walk in the purpose that he's put in my heart. I had clarity on this but it took me months of questioning God to finally pull the trigger and purchase the program that was going to teach me all the ins and outs of podcasting. I mean I questioned God everyday like God, are you sure, are you sure I don't know about this God, this is crazy, this is way out of my comfort zone. I don't know like all of those questions but I knew that I knew that I knew that this was going to be the next step so took me months to finally pull the trigger. Then, January came and everything just started shifting and kind of falling into its proper place with the vitamin C business I was transitioning out of that I had release and clarity, and I was passing that along cupcakes were still in the picture, some of my other businesses were just kind of resting January was that time where I needed to rest and restore because I was just quite frankly burnt out and exhausted from 2020, from all that I had done, and from a season of being in a deep place of work.
14:48
Then in January, God called me to fast he called me to join my husband and fast and during that time. He wrecked me, but in a good way. I needed to overhaul my heart and get truly aligned with his heart, crushing pride, learning to surrender, hearing his voice, receiving His love and new ways deeper ways, walking in obedience, building my faith once again, learning to work out of his strength, learning to rest in Him and work out of a place of rest, I could go on and on but January was really pivotal and redefining who I was and how I was going to walk in purpose in his ways. I entered a time of preparation and so the first part of the year wasn't just a time of preparing logistically for the podcast but it was preparing my heart to be a vessel to use my voice for purpose. If you know me at all you know that I'm a planner I love lists, I love plans, I love having an idea of what's going on, being super intentional and that way you know the Bible says in Proverbs 16:9 "We can make our plans but the Lord determines our steps." There is nothing wrong with planning, thank goodness, but as long as we hold on to it loosely. Right?
16:05
I had set a timeline of when I expected to launch this podcast, but I quickly cancelled all when I knew that it wouldn't be ready. God just kept reminding me, I'm like, you cannot rush the Holy Spirit. Although like to me and my personality, patients often feels like a curse word. When I get my mind set on something I was determined that this project, this was going to be done God's way and in His timing and I was willing to wait and remain in a place of preparation as long as it took when it would be time to launch, you know I would know and I would be ready to move but that was something that I was not going to rush. So after the first launch date failed- my timeline, I should say. I was like, alright, what am I just asked you, God, so I just asked him I was like, when do you want to do this thing, what is this I looked at the calendar and I was like when when are we going to launch when am I going to be ready when are we going to be ready to do this. God had have been showing me a lot of things prophetically in regards to his calendar so I wanted to first look at his appointed times and look at the, the Hebrew calendar and the dates that are significant to him and to the Bible, and I really felt impressed that the date to choose to launch the podcast would be March 24th. Why March 24th? Well, it was the day that the Israelites God's chosen people crossed over the Jordan and into the promised land. This podcast is a very representative to me of crossing over into the promises and the purposes of God in my life, like a huge leap of faith here and so many different ways. I had that date set I held on to it loosely, but continued just to prepare having a lot of doubts and just, I don't know, like I said just not sure if it was going to happen or how it was going to work but that was the date that I had in the back of my mind and had journaled it months before. After all, it wasn't like a, "Thus saith the LORD" type of thing. But as the day got closer I realized that the launch date, it was actually within reach and I decided to push for it at the very last second.
18:13
I had my first episode up, because you have to have one episode up to be able to submit it to Apple iTunes store had it set up on Monday night which was March 22. Now, you have to wait on Apple to approve that submission so it can take 2-12 days for Apple to approve that. I didn't know how long it would take, but I thought, well there's a good chance there's a possibility it could be up by the 24th, I don't know. I had everything ready on Monday night, and I was so excited and giddy that like oh my gosh like I'm here I'm at this moment, I'm actually doing this, I'm doing this thing that I've been, you know just praying about and preparing for for what feels like forever. I feel like I've been moving so slowly on this project, much different than the vitamin C business where I just had the idea and sprung on it and like a matter of days. This has been something that was just marinating in my heart for a while and I really wanted to, again, just seek His timing and his weight every step of the way. Monday night I was all set to go. I had gotten to the place to click it to submit or validate for the podcast to go on Apple iTunes, and I just in my excitement, I clicked validate like I didn't even submit it. I thought that I did and I was just like okay.
19:27
Well, Tuesday came, and I was having a big baking day and Tuesday night came, and I started having this really bad feeling like something didn't go right. Something's not right. It didn't go through. So, I went in and tried to check it tried to look at it again, and I just knew I was like it didn't work, it didn't go through I didn't even submit it, what in the world Michelle what are you thinking? Like, I don't know how that happened. But I realized that it didn't go through, and also I could not make it happen. My computer was stuck the whole system. I was Googling how to troubleshoot it. I don't know what the deal was but I literally just was, I was stuck. I had this podcast that I wanted to launch, and I wanted to launch it by certain day it was so close within reach, but I was just completely stuck in there was nothing I could do and I got so overwhelmed and anxious, and it was just stressing me out.
20:16
I ended up, you know, I hit my knees. It was like 11 o'clock at night on Tuesday night, I just got on my knees. I was like, God, you know my heart. You are in control of all of this. I don't understand. I don't know what I did, I don't know what's going on. I have no way out I cannot fix this problem, but I just have to trust you. I just have to trust you and I have to let this go and and release it into your hands. I ended up getting on the phone with Krystal, my virtual assistant at like midnight and we walked through the process on her computer, we were able to successfully submit it to Apple iTunes at midnight, like on Tuesday night, the 23rd, so I let it go. I was like well, I'm way later than I planned. I don't know how this happened, but it's, it is what it is at this point. I went on through my day, and Wednesday I received an email that the podcast was approved, and was live on Apple Podcast. So cool. Such a blessing.
21:11
Again, it's just a blessing because God had given me that date, you know, and he fulfills His promises. I share that with you because I want you to know that God keeps His promises. He cares about the details. I guarantee that you hear him more than you know. I want to encourage you to ask Him about everything. Then on Friday afternoon so I had a big cupcake baking week that week I'd worked really hard. I was exhausted. On Friday afternoon, I'm lying in bed, just to rest and put my feet up for a minute and I look at my phone and I go to my Facebook memories, and you will not believe this. I looked at my memories from that week. On the exact date March 24, 2020 a year before exactly one year was the exact same day that I launched The Nourishing Vitamin C business, like I had no idea. Totally crazy, but I don't believe it was coincidence. I launched that business the vitamin C, exactly one year later. So here's, here's how it worked. On March, 24 2020, I launched the vitamin C, like I told you, super fast on a whim, like, start before you're ready completely, totally risky and entrepreneurship just went for it, didn't know, didn't think anything of the date. A year later, to the date. I took all the vitamin C stuff off of my website completely released it fully cut ties with that business, and on that exact same day as well. My podcast went live on Apple iTunes and I launched that into the world. How crazy is that? I'm like, God, what does that even mean, so I'm just gonna say it again. I just believe it's just such a reminder that God keeps His promises. He cares about the details you hear him more than you know. You should ask Him about everything, and his timing is always perfect, perfect.
23:18
There is a bigger picture than we know he is working out all the details we just have to take the next step in faithfulness trusting him that there is a bigger picture than we see and there's just so much perspective in that. You know, if I had not done the vitamin C business, I wouldn't have found my good friend and my virtual assistant Krystal who helps me so much, make so many different things happen. I wouldn't have a website. If I hadn't done vitamin C because I needed that website to process orders for pickup and delivery and ordering transactions, I wouldn't have the ability to send emails to a list, I wouldn't have spontaneously brought up the nursing cupcakes. Later that year, I wouldn't have had those late nights baking where God gave me the vision for this podcast and just worked out some necessary things in my heart. I wouldn't know more about what I like and what I don't like what I made for what matters most. Furthermore, my other network marketing business. It taught me so many skills to even be able to start the vitamin C business and to be able to even do this podcast, all the Facebook Lives interviewing other people getting interviewed, learning to coach and train a team, basically just pushing out of my comfort zone, in every way. These are the things that gave me the courage and the skills to start the vitamin C business, which set the stage to start this podcast that you're listening to right now. I would not be positioned in any way to have been ready to launch this podcast to cross over into deeper waters of purpose and to walk in the greater promises that God has for me. Every bit of this journey matters, and was preparing me for this season right now.
25:05
You may not be where you want to be now, but remember that what you're doing, does matter. You are sowing GOOD SEED wherever you go, every time you work, every time you give your best every time you work with excellence even when it's just for the audience of one, it matters. You may not understand the bigger picture, but you can be sure that it does play an important piece of the puzzle of your purpose in this life, when you're walking in obedience to God. Friend, God is preparing you even when you don't understand it, even when life feels mundane, even when it doesn't feel like you're getting anywhere or it doesn't even make sense. Just stay faithful and I promise you, you will end up fruitful for His great glory because isn't that what it's all about. It's all about giving him glory at the end of the day, through the works of our hands He created us to do good works and we can honor him, and reflect Him and all that we do. Gosh, I don't even know how to end this, I feel like I could just keep going but I just hope that this story sparked hope in your heart today to keep pressing on and to remember that God is in the details of your life and that he is a good, good father.
26:17
Let me pray for you real quick before I go. Father God, I just pray for the mom, listening to this episode right now, God that we just bless her. Bless her with confidence Lord with no fear of the future, Father. Bless the work of her hand, and may she just press on with faithfulness and excellence in all that she does. Lord, I pray that she would trust you and know that there is a bigger picture, even when she can't see it, that she would know that there's purpose in everything and just look for the meaning in the mundane of her everyday life, God. I pray that You would give her faith that all things work together for the good because she is in Christ Jesus, Lord. I pray that as she makes her plans that she would just surrender everything to you, and just trust you that you would give her the guidance every step of the way father. Lord I bless her in your name, and make your love surround her today.
