Mel Judson shares her journey dropping out of an Ivy League University and moving to Los Angeles to live in a backyard shed on Venice Beach and become a mural painter. She explains how she began doing brand-consulting and business strategy development with YouTube influencers and then parlayed her skills and network into a Hollywood studio career, becoming an executive producer before the age of 30. She then talks about her choice to leave her successful corporate job to start her own business and become a digital nomad. She explains how she replaced her corporate income in the first month of launching her business and quickly scaled it to over 500K/year in revenue. She explains how she built automated systems for the different parts of her business and gives her the most important tips for web presence, branding, and differentiation in a crowded marketplace. Mel also talks about how female entrepreneurs can incorporate feminine energy into their business and company culture. She also talks about her 2-year journey as a full-time digital nomad, including the setbacks she had along the way and the lessons she learned. She tells the story of getting into a scooter accident in Bali right before a scheduled Boudoir shoot and the life lessons she took from the experience. She then talks about dating as a nomad and shares how she met her current relationship partner. Mel also talks about what travel means to her and how she chooses her travel destinations and designs her nomadic lifestyle. FULL SHOW NOTES AVAILABLE AT www.TheMaverickShow.com
Episode #63: Leaving Hollywood to Become a Nomad, Bootstrapping a 500K Company in 2 Years, and Life Lessons from a Boudoir Shoot with Mel Judson
Episode Summary
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About the Guest
Mel Judson
Mel Judson is the Founder and CEO of Mel Judson Design, a Creative Agency empowering high-achieving women to build powerful online businesses through Branding, Web Design and Business Mentorship. Mel is also the founder and owner of Seductive Business Embodiment where she mentors female entrepreneurs to be fully embodied in their branding & copywriting and implement systems in their business that are designed to support their feminine energy rather than deplete it. In less than two years of launching her businesses, Mel built her revenue up to over 500K/year. She now teaches her clients how to do the same by building automated systems and processes so they can quickly and efficiently scale their businesses and design the life of their dreams. Prior to launching her businesses, Mel had a 10-year career in the Hollywood Entertainment Industry where she worked behind the scenes to launch some of the most successful digital influencers in the world and developed key strategies for digital brands to build up tens of millions of engaged followers online. She has built her own businesses with a complete location-independent infrastructure and now runs both of her companies while traveling the world as a full-time digital nomad, and she has lived in over 20 countries in just the last two years alone.
What You'll Learn
- How to start a business and replace your corporate salary in one month
- The best order to automate the 4 sections of your business
- The keys to having an impactful online brand presence and website
Links From the Episode
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HIRE MEL JUDSON DESIGN FOR YOUR BRANDING OR WEB DESIGN WORK
- Email hello@meljudson.com to schedule a consultation
(Use The Code “Maverick” In The Subject Line For A 5% Discount On All Services! )
THE #1 BOOK MEL RECOMMENDS
WINE SHARED IN THIS EPISODE
THE #1 PERSON WITH WHOM MEL WOULD LIKE TO HAVE DINNER
THE #1 PODCAST THAT MEL LISTEN TO
THE #1 APP MEL RECOMMENDS
SOFTWARE MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE
PLACE WHERE THE INTERVIEW TOOK PLACE
MEL’S TOP 3 FAVORITE TRAVEL DESTINATIONS
MEL’S TOP 3 BUCKET LIST DESTINATIONS
OTHER PLACES MENTIONED
CHECK FLIGHT PRICES TO ANY OF THESE LOCATIONS
CONTACT MEL
Time Stamped Show Notes
[4:27] Mel’s Initial Life Trajectory
- Growing up in Concord, MA
- Dropping out of Cornell University
- Moving to LA with $200
- Living in a shed on Venice Beach and painting murals
- Becoming a branding and creative director for a YouTube Influencer
- Transitioning to a brand director position at a Studio at age 23
- Matt’s experience living on Venice beach
[15:33] Moving Up the Hollywood Production Ladder
- Putting together merchandise strategies for YouTube influencers
- Behind the scenes of the Hollywood studio production industry
- The differences moving into the corporate environment
- The importance of networking and connections in moving up the ranks
[27:04] Leaving Hollywood to Become a Location Independent Entrepreneur
- Becoming an Executive Producer at age 29
- Realizing she hit her goal but was unsatisfied
- Traveling to Barcelona and realizing her passion for travel
- Matt’s experience getting fired from his job
- Matt’s transition to becoming a Location Independent Entrepreneur
[35:37] Mel’s Transition into Starting Her Business
- Choosing to hire a business coach
- Identifying her skill set and creating her business plan
- Launching her branding and web design business
- Replacing her corporate salary in the first month of launching her business
- The importance of investing in herself
- The importance of having a focused strategy and executing it
- Effectively combining her skills with what the market wants
[47:46] Effective Niching and Differentiation when Entering a Crowded Market
- The importance of niching
- Specializing in serving women who own online service-based businesses
- Mel’s #1 tip for entering a crowded market and succeeding.
[52:33] Feminine Energy in Business
- How and why to maintain feminine energy in your business
- Exercises for increasing feminine energy in your business
[58:57] Starting Her Digital Nomad Journey in Bali
[1:02:13] Scheduling a Boudoir Shoot to Celebrate Turning 30
- Getting in a motor-scooter accident the day before her Boudoir shoot
- Getting stitches in the hospital
- Doing the Boudoir shoot in a fancy villa with her leg bandaged
- Reflections and life lessons from her 30th birthday experience
- How everything going wrong in Bali prompted her to scale her business
[1:08:51] Scaling Her Business
- Hiring her first two staff people
- Automating her systems and processes
- Mel’s favorite project management software
- The difference between being a CEO vs. a Freelancer
- Working “in” your business vs. Working “on” your business
- Architecting your overall business strategy
- The importance of hiring people who are better than you
[1:18:34] Automating Systems vs. Hiring People to Run Systems
- Systems that can be automated
- Systems that need a human to run
- The order in which you should automate your systems
- Client onboarding automation
- Pre-qualifying clients and scheduling calls automatically
- Automating email nurture sequences for various outcomes of the sales call
[1:27:09] Keys to Having an Impactful Online Brand Presence
- Clarity of your message and offering and niche market
- Focus on benefits, not just features
- Establish differentiation to magnetize clients
[1:30:11] Managing a Distributed Team and Creating Virtual Company Culture
- The role of the CEO in setting the tone
- Overcoming “imposter syndrome”
- How Mel creates a company culture and relates to manages her staff
[1:33:39] Work-Life Balance and Finding Love as Nomad
- How falling in love changed her priorities and disrupted her routine
- Her disappointment not finding love in Bali
- Mel’s personal experience and tips on finding love as a Nomad
[1:50:20] What Travel Means To Mel
- Mel’s first international travel experience
- What world travel means to Mel and why she is so passionate about it
- How Mel plans her travel itinerary and designs her lifestyle
[2:01:19] Lightning Round
- The #1 Book Mel recommends
- The #1 Productivity App that Mel recommends
- The #1 Podcast that Mel Recommends
- The #1 person with whom Mel would like to have dinner
- The #1 piece of advice Mel would give to her 18-year old self
- Mel’s Top 3 Favorite Travel Destinations
- Mel’s Top 3 Bucket List Destinations
[2:13:21] Contact Mel
