From broke backpacker to 20K months how shifting my beliefs changed everything

Eight years ago, I was a broke backpacker in Asia with dreadlocks, second-hand clothes, and a deep belief that I wasn’t worthy of much. I thought I was “the stupid one” surrounded by geniuses, and I never imagined I could build wealth or success.

Today, I’ve built two six-figure businesses, scaled from 2K months to 20K months, and completely transformed how I see myself. The difference? I changed my beliefs and it changed my entire life.

Most mindset work only scratches the surface. In this episode, I’ll show you why shifting beliefs at the subconscious root is the fastest way to unlock your next level in business.

Inside, you’ll discover:

• Why affirmations and surface-level mindset hacks rarely create lasting change.
• How a single subconscious belief can sabotage your success without you realizing it.
• The belief-shifting method I use with clients to dissolve blocks and scale with ease.

If you’ve ever wondered why strategy isn’t enough to hit your next level, this episode will give you the missing piece.

And if you are an established women in business ready to apply the Millionaire Mindshift Method so you can become the type of woman who creates incredible success in her business, email me MINDSHIFT and let’s see if this is a fit for you.

Transcript

0:05

Welcome to the Empowered Edupreneur Podcast. My name is Michelle Smit, and I'm a business growth mentor and subconscious transformation coach. I work with established women in business who are ready to scale beyond what they ever thought was possible. Helping them grow thriving businesses that feel as good as they look. If you're ready to elevate your identity, unlock your subconscious power and combine it with aligned strategy to create limitless results with more ease, freedom, and impact, then you're in the right place. Think of this podcast as your weekly dose of mindset upgrades and business expansion that will unlock your next level and help you thrive on your terms. We're going to have so much fun together. So thank you for pressing play today. Now let's dive in. I have a story for you today. I'm going to take you back eight years ago into my life. So I was about 26 years old and I had moved to Asia. I had backpacked Cambodia, and then I had moved to Vietnam and I was literally wearing those elephant Thay pants. That you could buy for a couple of dollars at the market. I basically had two dreadlocks in my hair. I had bone earrings in my ears and I was very carefree. I was very adventurous. I was living an amazing life at that time for myself. But when I look back, there were a lot of beliefs that I have that were a problem. So I did not feel worthy of nice things. I didn't feel confident. I honestly didn't think I was capable of achieving much of anything in my life. I grew up in a really top private school within my country, and I was surrounded by kids who were actual geniuses. They were getting distinctions straight A's and compared to them, I just felt like a constant underperformer. I never really cared about the academics, to be honest. And that formed these beliefs in me that I was kind of stupid, that I wasn't really made for greatness. And all these things were formed obviously at that young age. So I grew up and in my twenties and later twenties I just really didn't believe I could make money. I believed that I just would never really be successful. At that point I bought mostly second-hand clothes. I never really owned anything expensive. I stayed in backpacker places. Some of the places I stayed in were so terrible. And yeah, even though I deeply desired nice things, I wanted those things for myself. I wanted to stay in nice place and have nice clothes and feel good, but I just had this belief that those things weren't for me. Like that wasn't my path. That wasn't for me. I wasn't able to have that. It was for other people, not for me. And that was like deep beliefs right there that were shaping my entire reality. And I had an amazing twenties. I loved my twenties and I wouldn't change it, but I realized when I met Mike and I moved from Asia to the Netherlands. He really shine a mirror on so many things. Because that's what happens when you're in a relationship. And it just really showed me how problematic my beliefs were in terms of my self-worth. That was major. I really just had such a low sense of self-worth. And I just was like accepting the bare minimum, the bare minimum in so many ways. At least I had really great standards for the man that I wanted. Because I manifested Mike and he was very high standards. So at least I didn't have that. But I had very low standards in general for myself and stuff, and I look back, and that was eight years ago, and I look at myself now and I'm completely unrecognizable. I can't even recognize who I was. Now I still have that hippie spirit intact. I still love traveling. You'll see I'm always dancing if you follow me on Instagram or you see anything on Substack. I love dancing. I love living, enjoy daily. I'm a proper hippie at the heart, but I now wear nice clothes that make me feel amazing. I buy beautiful makeup that's clean and good for my skin that has a decent price tag on it because I want to look after myself. I have an amazing skincare routine. And I buy these products that I would never have bought in the past. I have invested tens and tens and tens of thousands of dollars into my mentorship, coaching, and education. I wouldn't have invested literally$50 into something eight years ago. I think that was like my max capacity. Now I'll invest $10,000 into something. Especially if it's for my growth and my skills and developing myself. And I invest in myself because I just believe I'm worthy of it. So in this time of believing this, I've built not one but two, six figure businesses in two different niches. I went from earning $2,000 a month as an online ESL teacher to having months where I would make $20,000 a month. I started to buy Champagne just because I really love it. I started buying clothes that I truly wanted, not just the hand-me-downs and the second-hand clothes. I decided I did not want to settle in a place that didn't make me happy just because it was the easy choice and it was the easy financial choice. I was like, no, I'm worth living in a place that lights my soul on fire every single day. And I worked hard to get to Portugal where life is just infinitely better for me. And I just realize when I look at what I've done, it comes down to my inner game. Because now I believe I'm confident. I am confident. I identify as being a confident person. I identify as being a smart person. I identify as someone that I can do anything that I want. So I used to believe that I couldn't do anything, and now I believe that I can do anything I want. Because I have been able to do that. And so what happened here? Okay, so two things happened. I changed my identity and I changed my beliefs. And that's what I want to talk to you about today because your reality is formed through the lens of your beliefs, and your beliefs are formed from your identity. So it all stems from your identity that then form your beliefs that then form your thoughts that then will form your actions, right? So if you believe you are not good enough, your reality will reflect that back to you because your reality is formed through the lens of your beliefs. That's the main thing. Your reality is formed through the lens of your beliefs. If you believe you're bad with money, you will struggle to make money. If you believe you're bad at business, you'll struggle to grow a business. Life will reflect that belief right back to you. If you believe you're unworthy, you will sabotage success. You will do things that will stop you from receiving money and receiving good things. Life will reflect that belief back to you. So it really is as simple and as profound as this, which you've probably heard before, but this is the truth. If you change your beliefs, you change your life. But here's the catch. Changing beliefs is not easy. It's really not. The ones that matter most, the ones that are very impactful for the life and your reality are the ones that are deeply rooted into your subconscious. They are running the show without you even realizing it. And that's why traditional mindset work talk therapy, all of that doesn't work for long. Affirmations, journaling, thinking positive. There's so many things they can only scratch the surface. And this is why I became obsessed with mind shifting. And one of the modalities that I am doing now within mind shifting is called belief shifting, which is one of the most powerful modalities within the mind shifting arsenal. And here's what makes it so different. It identifies the exact belief that is causing the problem, and it takes you straight to the subconscious root. It then makes you aware of it, so you stop being controlled by something hidden. It allows you to feel it, to feel that emotion in a safe way with which then reduces the charge to it, the negative charge. And then the most beautiful part is once we go through the process it dissolves the belief. It takes the belief, and it just dissolves it, it evaporates. It no longer is stuck within you. Because at the end of the day, belief is just a thought with an emotional charge attached to it. So once you remove the charge, the belief no longer has power over you. It's like releasing a weight you didn't even know you were carrying. when that belief is gone, you're free. And it's not a case of we plaster positive beliefs on top of your beliefs. That's not how we do it. That's not what mind shifting is. We actually dissolve the negative beliefs. So there is nothing there. So trying to put a positive belief on top of a negative belief doesn't work. It might work for a period of time until something stressful happens, and then you'll revert back to your subconscious beliefs. So what we do is actually, we just dissolve the be belief entirely. I have seen this method eradicate beliefs that someone has carried for like decades, literally within a single session. Years of identity patterns and problems can dissolve when you work at this level within this modality and the impact on your business is extraordinary because obviously our inner game is everything in business, everything. If you have been stuck at, let's say 10 K months, and you have been wanting to work towards 20 K, 30 K months, you've got a dream to make a hundred K. You know the strategy, you understand strategy, you're making money, but you're still finding yourself hitting the same plateau, hitting the same numbers, not able to break from it, not able to break through. Yes, maybe there is a bit of a strategy piece that we can tweak which is what I've been doing for years now is strategy, business strategy. But I see it over and over again. It's likely not a strategy problem. It's likely that your subconscious beliefs are still saying, I'm not good enough. I can't handle this money. I'm not worthy of it. All these things, these fears, these things that are lying deep within your psyche are actually what's preventing yourself from showing up, stepping up, taking up space, getting more visible, owning your authority online, doing the things you need to do in order to hit those 50 k months. This is why the deeper work is essential, and once you do the deeper work, everything else falls. Everything else just happens when you shift internally the reality will shift. You'll start taking different actions. You'll be taking actions with a better energy, a stronger energy, more conviction, more confidence. You will be a different person when you shift on the inside. And when you're doing that, you will create different results. You will then exponentially increase your results. And that is why I have developed this Millionaire Mindset Method. Which is a method that I take my clients through that rewires their inner game for incredible success. So they walk away thinking like a millionaire, seeing themselves through that lens. And from that identity, their actions change, their energy changes, and their results expand. Because when you change your beliefs, you change your life. So if you are an established woman in business. You have done the strategy. You understand how to make money online, okay? It's not a case of, oh, I don't know how to make money online. You're at a point where you're trying to get to a next level, whatever that next level looks for you. It could be from 10 K to 20 K. It could be from 5K to 20 K. It could be from 20 k to 40 K. It doesn't matter. It really doesn't matter. You're doing the work, you've done the strategy, you've got a sales system dialed in, you've got a plan. You want to grow your business, you want to expand your business, and you know that your inner game is holding you back. You can feel it. You can tell there's sabotages, there's things you're doing, there's things you're avoiding leaning into. You're still fearful to do stuff. You're feeling you're not worthy. You know it's an in game thing at this point. And you're ready to dive deep into your subconscious, to rewire your mind and build that millionaire mindset that I was talking about so that you can unlock the results that you know are possible for you. Then I would love to invite you to reach out to me. You can email me the word mind shift. We can hop on a call. I can share with you this incredible process that is so transformational that will help you grow your business. And we can see if it's the right fit for you. You can feel into it. It is a no pressure conversation. Because you don't have to spend years trying to force yourself into a new identity or trying to create new beliefs like I did. Mine took years, years. With mind shifting, with belief shifting. This can happen in days, it can happen in days. You can dissolve things in days, you can shift in days. It can be that rapid, it can be that fast, and that's what you want. You want fast results. Right? So if you are interested, email me the word mind shift. I am just so, so amazed by this work. And the results it creates for people is just mind blowing. I hope you have enjoyed this episode and I will connect with you again next week. Ciao. Thank you so much for tuning into today's episode. If you love what you heard today, then be sure to share it with me by leaving a five star review so I can continue delivering these goodies. If you aren't already following me on social media, then come tune into some daily inspiration on Instagram by following @_digiteach_ or visiting my website at digiteah.biz. I appreciate you so much, and I can't wait to connect with you in the next episode. In the meantime, go create a business and life you love.