“Knowing your story is the key to understanding yourself, your mission, and your purpose. Sharing your story is the key to empowering your impact in the world.”
Ellie Shefi says 2023 is the year of your story. While you are the living manifestation of all that’s happened to you—the events and people and facts of your life that have influenced you up to this point—your story is how you present this to yourself and to the world. It’s how you perceive everything that’s gone into shaping the unique being that is you. And it’s the perspective you apply to those facts in order to harness those events and influences to determine how they will shape your future…the next chapters of your story.
According to Ellie, knowing your story is the key to understanding yourself, your mission, and your purpose, and sharing your story is the key to empowering your impact in the world.
She emphasizes that when you know and share your unique story and espouse your purpose, what you are uniquely meant to do, you also learn how to prosper from it. Your story is what makes you stand out. It likewise makes your business and your brand stand out. It’s all that makes you YOU—it’s the one-of-kind combination of everything you’ve learned and experienced throughout your life—from traditional education to lessons learned through failures and getting knocked down but getting up again! The story of these hard-learned and hard-earned lessons are what will position you as the go-to expert in your field while establishing your credibility and authority—in essence, your brand. Your story is the rock-solid foundation of your brand. It’s the gateway to the life, business, and impact that you desire.
Let’s hear more from Ellie about how she became a powerhouse consultant and advisor to organizations, governments, NGOs, and individuals, and learn how she helps her clients tell and sell their stories to build their brand and amplify their impact in the world!
From Mastering the Art of the Hustle to One of the Most Impactful Entrepreneurs to Watch in 2023
The entrepreneurship that had started as a necessity when she was very young became the rock on which she built the rest of her life.
Ever since she was young, Ellie has been a passionate entrepreneur. Her family didn’t have much in the way of disposable income, so, even from a young age, she worked as tutor, proofreader, and dance teacher to help out and pay for her teenager extras like concerts, clothes, and movies.
She mastered the art of the hustle early! This proved fortuitous when she took a break from higher education to earn more tuition money and followed a job in management training that led her from California to Texas. Only the job turned out to be a closed door. She knew that she needed to be resilient. The entrepreneurship that had started as a necessity when she was very young became the rock on which she built the rest of her life.
Though in Texas with no job, no home, no connections, she knew she was good at connecting with people, with motivating them, and teaching them how to hustle—just as she did! She decided to open her own management training center. So, she rented office space instead of apartment space, and, while living out of her car, she recruited and trained people for companies that contracted with her.
Within a year, she had built up a lucrative entrepreneurship that paid for her housing and enabled her to save money for her tuition so she could finish college! That was when she knew she was destined to become a master problem solver!
After college came law school—a lifelong dream born of her desire to make a difference, fight injustice, and help others! And in this, she has truly succeeded! For more than two decades, Ellie has used her voice as a force for good, working as an advisor to universities on discrimination rights, as a staff attorney in the judiciary, and as an advocate for many human rights-related causes.
Ellie serves on the leadership councils and advisory boards of nonprofits focused on human rights, civil rights, fighting human trafficking, disaster recovery, criminal justice reform, and ending mass atrocities. In fact, she was Women in Law’s Discrimination & Human Rights Lawyer of the Year 2022.
Now Ellie combines her advocacy and law experience with her entrepreneurship expertise in her various consulting and coaching services. Through MTC Consulting, she helps companies develop corporate practices that create a more diverse, inclusive, and participatory culture where their employees are seen as a whole person and have a platform and a voice. Ellie also works with high-achieving women to help them reclaim their voice and advocate for themselves and their families. She founded and manages Made to Change the WorldTM Publishing, a full-service, independent publishing house through which mission-driven individuals share their message and forge their brand.
And she offers her Best-Selling Book BootcampTM, Monetize Your MessageTM, and Master the MediaTM programs to help entrepreneurs and leaders become global brands through writing and publishing best-selling books, speaking on stages, and being featured in the media.
Through all of these services, Ellie offers platforms to everyday people where they have an opportunity to tell their story and amplify their impact in the world. It’s no wonder Ellie is considered one of the most impactful entrepreneurs to follow in 2023!
2023—The Year of Your Story
Book writing is essential to getting one’s story out into the world, which is the foundation of building one’s brand.
This year, Ellie is particularly proud of her Best-Selling Book BootcampTM and her publishing house. Ellie launched Made to Change the WorldTM Publishing in 2020 during the height of the pandemic. At the same time, she coached individuals who wanted to write books to get them out of their heads and into readers’ hands. Knowing that book writing is essential to getting one’s story out into the world, which is the foundation of building one’s brand, she realized that she needed to encourage not just aspiring writers but all experts, changemakers, and burgeoning entrepreneurs to tell their stories.
And so began her Best-Selling Book BootcampTM workshops. During these semi-private, weeklong programs, Ellie harnesses her 20+ years of writing, ghostwriting, and publishing experience, plus her expertise as a multiple #1 international best-selling author, member of the National
Academy of Best-Selling Authors, and Quilly Award recipient to guide writers in a step-by-step, no fluff, hands-on manner to write their books.
Already, Ellie has achieved a 100 percent success rate! One hundred percent of individuals who have participated in her Best-Selling Book BootcampTM workshops have successfully written their book in a week…and 100 percent of the books published by Made to Change the WorldTM Publishing have become bestsellers!
For Ellie, this success is thrilling not just as a coach and publisher, but because there is nothing better than seeing her clients get clear on their vision, find their voice, take control of their destiny, and create the brand…the business…the impact…and the life they love.
Overcoming Current Challenges Facing Entrepreneurs
Client experiences include deeply immersive and individualized workshops. While 2023 has started with a bang for Ellie, she’s fully aware that entrepreneurs are nonetheless facing plenty of challenges. First and foremost, entrepreneurs need to cut through the noise and distinguish themselves.
That’s a huge part of what drove Ellie to launch her Best-Selling Book BootcampTM and Made to Change the World™ Publishing. She cannot emphasize enough that your story is your superpower! It’s the vehicle that sells your brand because it reaches your right-fit clients and delivers your unique impact. You must tell it!
Ellie has also recognized that entrepreneurs need to overcome their own Zoom and learning fatigue, as well as that of their ideal clients. They need to learn how to strategically create powerful, engaging 5-star client experiences. For her, such client experiences include deeply immersive and individualized workshops where clients leave with their book manuscript, their story bank and signature talk, their monetization strategy and customized action plan for building a business, or their step-by-step strategy to get media bookings.
Innovating and Adapting to Changes in the Industry
To best stay on top of her industry, Ellie remains immersed and comes from a place of service. Ellie believes that the best way to innovate and adapt to changes in the industry is to go straight to the source—her clients. She doesn’t look to third parties to discern trends after they’ve begun. Rather, she asks her clients what they want and what they need. Then, based on their responses, she innovates, creates, and delivers the services and products they’re asking for. She also stays attuned to the ancillary and complementary needs her clients have, then finds a way to meet those needs!
In addition to focusing on the “who,” Ellie also stays clear on the “how.” To best stay on top of her industry, keeps her finger on the pulse of the latest developments through lifelong learning, full immersion, and asking insightful questions, and she comes from a place of service. She serves powerfully, adds massive value, and over-delivers.
She consistently shows her clients that she values and appreciates them, even through simple acknowledgments like sending birthday cards. She is consistent and clear in her communication and nurtures an inclusive community of which her clients are proud.
Ellie’s Advice to Aspiring Entrepreneurs
The gift of coaches and mentors. Ellie believes that the most powerful gift aspiring entrepreneurs can give themselves is the gift of coaches and mentors. She believes there’s a reason the old adages “you don’t know what you don’t know” and “you can’t see the forest through the trees” remain popular. Seeking insights, guidance, and advice from experts across a range of industries and disciplines is how entrepreneurs continuously learn new lessons and advance in their success.
Coaches and mentors who are further along in the journey are invaluable for helping you anticipate obstacles, identify blindspots, and bridge gaps. They model best practices, help you think outside the box, and empower you to take action. They allow you to condense decades into days so you can go further, faster, with greater clarity and ease, all while avoiding costly mistakes. She observes that success takes a village and no one successful does it alone. She notes that if presidents have advisors and championship teams have coaches, you should too!
Reflecting Her Mission in Everything She Does
Her mission is to change the world! Ellie proudly declares that her mission is to change the world and empower others to do the same! And because she works and offers her services in alignment with her purpose, that mission imbues her company and permeates all of her services.
Not only does she want the organizations and individuals with whom she consults and coaches to succeed businesswise, but once fully aligned in their own mission and purpose, they’ll create impact in the lives of their families, their communities, and ultimately, the world. It’s a ripple effect that Ellie is proud to kickstart! Thank you, Ellie, for all that you do and for being one of the most impactful entrepreneurs to follow in 2023!
To connect with Ellie and learn more about her work, please visit: ellieshefi.com.
