Why I believe in the Law of Attraction
Talisa Gill (Director – 10X Marketing Consultancy Ltd)
On the 15th March 2020 I was awake at my usual time of 6am in a lodge overlooking Loch Lomond in Scotland. I sat down with my laptop and designed my new vision board. After reading heaps of self-development books I always loved designing my goals visually. My 27th birthday was 2 days ago so it was time to identify what I wanted to achieve in the next year. I always need something to work towards.
6 weeks later, I had already ticked off the biggest goal on the board – to become self-employed.
Here is my journey using the law of attraction…
Where it all started
I was raised into an entrepreneurial family. My grandparents owned a farm, my dad owned his own business breeding birds of prey and my mother ran a wholesale pet food business from home. I was surrounded by the grit and determination of running your own business. Looking up to them, I knew that I wanted to become my own boss one day.
My entrepreneurial spirit began in my early years. I was never the type of girl to be playing with dolls, I was found playing shops or pretending to waitress in the kitchen. Anything that involved selling a product or service.
Every Sunday I would go with my mum to my uncle’s pet shop and help out by cleaning and feeding the rabbits before the shop opened. For this reason, I still cannot eat celery as in my mind it belongs in a rabbit hutch. I would then move into weighing and bagging up dog treats or going round the shelves with the old school price gun. This excites me more than you would believe. Now granted, I had to take an afternoon nap on the dog bed shelf or on a stack of shavings in the staff room, but I loved feeling productive. I was earning pocket money for my next holiday or sneakily trying to reward myself by taking home a hamster discreetly.
One of my earliest memories of being at home was sneaking out of the house late at night and running across the drive into my dad’s barn to help my parents feed the falcon chicks. My mum always tells me now that they tried to be as quiet as possible when leaving the house to feed the chicks but without a doubt, I would always appear 5 minutes later asking to be placed on the high countertop to help.
You would expect me to be working with animals, but I feel I got enough of that in my childhood years.
Into my teenage years I was always offering my support to my dad’s business in school holidays. Spring and Summer is the busy breeding season would help to do the scheduled feeds each day. I can even remember cutting out foam for all the bird shipment boxes ready for shipping to the Middle East. Every time, I used to get blisters on my hands from the scissors, but I used to keep on going because I knew how time critical this task was.
That work ethic has always been there and the dream to become my own boss had already begun.
International Experience
Fast forward to my higher education… I stayed at my secondary school for sixth form where I studied Business Studies, Economics and Film Studies. Even though my predicted grades were B,B,C my end results ended up being A,A,B. I worked my socks off and none of it came easy. I also supported the school business department in coaching year 7-9 students in Enterprise classes which I loved. This is where my passion begun for coaching and helping other people to grow. Whilst studying I was working as an Assistant Manager at the clothes store Oasis. I was promoted to this role fairly quickly when they say my ability to manage people and money.
I then went on to study my International Business degree at Sheffield Hallam University. I knew I wanted a career in marketing already, but I wanted to make sure I had a broad set of business skills because they all would be important for starting my own business one day. In my second year at university I took the first leap into building my own business, Delaport Décor.
My inspiration for Delaport Décor came from years of travelling to the Middle East. For my dads work we would visit twice a year religiously as his market was out there. I remember Dubai when it was mostly desert and Qatar when there were hardly any skyrise buildings. We would travel back home with gorgeous Arabic home décor pieces such as tissue box covers, hand towel holders and trinket boxes. Whenever anyone visited the family home, they would always compliment these pieces. I knew there was a demand for this style of home décor because there was no supply like it here in the UK.
I began searching for wholesale opportunities to become a UK reseller of the products. I set up a website and began the import process. This business allowed me to learn so much, from hosting launch events, paying import tax duties and managing accounts. After a successful first few months I knew I needed to get the cost price down as the margin rates for the next shipments were looking slim.
By this time, I was working full time as a Marketing Executive on my placement year for a company called Repton Medical. I had the opportunity to visit Shenzhen China with the company director to source a veterinary first aid kit manufacturer. As part of the trip I had the opportunity to use a day to visit manufacturers of the Arabic home décor. I needed to work with the bottom of the supply chain if I wanted this to be a success. I visited numerous factories and had an experience of a lifetime. At the age of 21, I really did feel like I had stepped outside my comfort zone but was learning an exceptional amount on the journey.
After my placement year it was back to university for my final’s year. I decided to focus in global marketing where my final report was around Pret a Manager expanding into Europe. I received 78% for this report which I was beyond happy with. However, with the study time overloading I decided to close Delaport Décor. I knew it wasn’t something I wanted to do full time after university as I strived for more exposure to the global business world.
I continued to work for Repton Medical for another 2 years where I travelled to Holland and Germany on business. I loved the international experience I was getting at such a young age. I also took lead of two placement students in the marketing department for coaching and mentoring. In this role I had a limited marketing budget to work with so I had to get creative with free tools and an engaging content marketing strategy, which set me up for success for my next adventure.
Fast-tracking my goals
Next was my career move to Martek Marine, a company which I’ll always be thankful for. I started as a Marketing Executive and after 7 months, I was promoted to Marketing Manager. This was a big step to take but I showed positivity, ability and passion for marketing. These were all essential values for Martek Marine. Being part of the senior leadership allowed me to grow and develop with superior mentorship. I built a team, new processes and introduced new systems into the department. Luckily again, I got to explore some more of the world including Singapore and Monaco for superyacht exhibitions.
To be an employee at Martek Marine, you need to have the entrepreneurial spirit because you have to work exceptionally hard. It is not a usual 9-5pm job, you are invested in achieving those business goals. I was told when I first started that a year in Martek Marine is the equivalent to 5 years somewhere else.
The CPD culture showed me the power of learning everyday. Without fail I would read or listen to a book every day for at least 30 minutes. I was hungry for more and more content to better myself or my marketing knowledge. In my bi-weekly 121s I would always have my development plan focussed around becoming a marketing consultant and my own boss. I just never thought it would happen so quickly until March 2020.
Here I am in Scotland for my birthday weekend away, planning what I want my next 12 months to look like.
At the start of 2020, I began supporting a start-up company with their marketing strategy and found hope that this could be my starting block to the self-employment life. I set a mental goal that within 2021 I would be able to leave Martek Marine for my own work.
4 weeks later my mental health had taken a turn for the worse… something I had never really experienced before. My workload anxiety was through the roof and I wasn’t my happy self. It was mid-week and I was seriously considering leaving my full-time work to feel free. I opened my Law of Attraction planner and journaled my thoughts. I wrote down “If I can acquire one more client, I will leave to start up my own marketing consultancy business”.
2 hours after writing down my thoughts, my phone rang. It was an old colleague who I hadn’t spoken to for months. Out of the blue he offered me the chance to develop him a new website for a start-up company. I was shocked that the words I had written down and believed in had come true. The law of attraction spoke to me for a second time based on my vision board.
Taking the leap
That following weekend I knew I had to make a decision. I felt like it was now or never. I did my usual process of writing down the pros and cons whilst discussing with family on what decision to make. Luckily it was Easter weekend so my extended weekend gave me more time to think through my plan of action. I mean… we are in an economic downturn and a global pandemic so it didn’t look the most optimistic timing. But I knew the universe was speaking to me to make this decision. It was my time to give this a good go while the iron’s hot.
The next Tuesday I handed in my notice and was leaving my high paid, secure job to go alone. I wasn’t nervous or scared. I was excited for the future as I knew whatever I believe in, I can make it happen. I finished this role on Friday 24th April and on Monday the 27th April, 10X Marketing Consultancy was born.
I’m now 4 years into launching 10X Marketing and I look back now knowing I made the best life changing decision. I also continue to practice the law of attraction to achieve my dream vision of life. Every year, I create a vision board which goes on my phone wallpaper and my laptop wallpaper so I’m constantly seeing how I want to live my life. From this vision board, I then create annual goals breaking this time into categories e.g. financial, career, health & fitness, relationships etc. I make sure that every goal I set, is working towards my vision board. I then implement this into a business setting and create quarterly priorities/themes to achieve the longer-term goals and then each individual team member creates objectives to work towards the success.
If you haven’t yet created a vision board and or placed down your goals for 2024, it’s not too late to start now! Start visioning and start believing in everything you can achieve… when the time aligns, these things will come into your life.
