From Worn-Out Yoga Teacher to Six-Figure Coachpreneur

Last Friday, in the car on our way to brunch, I turned to my life partner Martin and said: 

“If you told me nine years ago, when I was struggling to earn $ 250 a month as a yoga teacher, that one day I’d sell out $ 20,000 coaching packages… I’d probably just straight out drop dead.” 

I wasn’t exaggerating. 

Nearly a decade ago, when I said No to cushy corporate offers to become a yoga teacher and open my studio, I did so with one pure intention: I wanted to do something meaningful with my life.

I was obsessed with learning yoga methodologies and teaching techniques. Not only getting a 200-hour YTT certification, but also investing hundreds of hours reading books, self-training, and experimenting with my students.  

However, I paid zero attention to the business side of things. 

I told myself, “Do what you love, and money will follow.” 

Besides, with my bachelor's degree in Business Administration and my past success as a Business Development Manager in a global NGO, what could go wrong?

A lot, apparently.

I’d teach nearly 20 classes per week, walking to the studio before the sun came out. 

But at the end of each month, after paying the rent, the utilities, and the staff, I’d only be able to pay myself 250 dollars. 

One time, we took our students to a beautiful 3-day mountain retreat and made a profit of - you won’t believe it - 48 dollars.

I was living in my childhood room in my parent's house because I didn’t have the money to rent a place of my own. Because of my writing, I had 30,000 followers on Facebook but didn’t know how to offer them value in fair exchange for income. 

I was making mistakes in messaging, pricing, packaging, sales, management… everything. But I didn’t know I was making them. So I kept making more mistakes.  

While I slowly recovered, I weighed my options. I could very much send out my CV and get a corporate job, but doing so would feel like murdering my soul. 

The only option was to forge forward. That’s the beauty of rock bottom: there’s nowhere to go but up. 

I was stubborn, struggling month after month, trying to figure things out by myself. But the results did not change. 

250 dollars. For two whole years. 

I did what I loved, but where is the money?!

Eventually, I was burned out and had to shut down the business. 

It broke my heart. And it broke me. I felt like a failure, disillusioned, ashamed, guilty, and spiraled down to depression. During those dark months, I remember one time my partner carried me from the bed into the shower because I couldn’t bring myself to do it.  

While I slowly recovered, I weighed my options. I could very much send out my CV and get a corporate job, but doing so would feel like murdering my soul. 

The only option was to forge forward. That’s the beauty of rock bottom: there’s nowhere to go but up. 

This time around, I knew I must not make the same two fatal mistakes… 

Fatal mistake 1: To ignore the business side of things. Happy thoughts alone will not bring money. There’s a huge difference between being a good coach and growing a successful coaching business. 

Fatal mistake 2: To figure out everything by myself. Even Jedi have their Masters; even Michael Phelps, the most successful Olympian in history, has Bob Bowman. Am I better than Jedi and Michael Phelps? I don’t think so. 

So I sought a business coach and found one I felt I could trust. I can’t recall exactly how much, but the investment was around 2,000 to 3,000 dollars - not for one-on-one coaching, but a big group program with a couple hundred people. 

Enters a teeny-tiny problem: I was broke. Thankfully, they had a monthly payment plan so I could get started with paying 500 dollars - which was everything I had. 

But my commitment was so strong. There was no going back. 

So I took a leap of faith.

And the rest was history. 

6 years later, now my business brings in steady six figures while I work four days a week out of my home office - an inspiring space filled with plants. 

I lead a team of 7 people across four different time zones. We have served people in over 15 countries, enrolling committed clients in premium coaching offers between 6,000 to 20,000 dollars. (Pinch me! I’m still surprised by this.) 

Every time you fail, you fail forward.

I live in my dream house: a sunlit, 5-bedroom duplex overlooking the hill with my life partner and my one-year-old baby. I’m living life on my terms: contemporary dance every Monday, slow yoga each morning, joining art workshops on the weekends and getting a massage every week. 

But the best part is: I wake up every morning knowing in my bones that I’m making the difference I was born to make in this world. 

How much does this mean to me? Everything. 

I grew up in a lower-middle-class family in Vietnam. Our house flooded every time it rained. So I never brought over friends from school because I was ashamed of where I lived. Kids called me a “black goat” because of my darker complexion. So I’d always felt that I was ugly. 

I went through my entire childhood without ever feeling safe or seen. 

I’ve had to break through countless inner glass ceilings and blocks to arrive here. And I know this is just the beginning. 

These days, I often look back at my 7-year-old self, who felt like she was a mistake, at my 13-year-old self, who thought of suicide, and I say: “You see, my love. We are powerful. We are enough.”  

To my daughter, 19-month-old but already having that bright fierceness in her eyes, I say: “I am doing this for us.” 

And to anyone out there who has felt like an underdog your entire life, I need you to know this: “It is possible.”

Here are the 5 Secrets to Creating Success on Your Own Terms:

1 . Do what you love, make your customers love what you do, learn everything you can about the business side of things, and transform your money blocks, and money will follow. 

It makes for a terrible bumper sticker, but it’s true.

2. You are your business’s greatest asset. Invest in yourself. 

There is no way around this. I used to feel so stingy with myself. I didn’t feel worthy of investing in myself in a big way. But that kind of thinking made me broke.

Betting on yourself is always the safest bet because the only person you have control over is yourself. 

3. You need to make an investment before making a return on investment. 

Want to make 10,000? Be willing to invest at least 1,000. Want to make 100,000? Be willing to invest at least 10,000.

I’ve invested tens of thousands of dollars in learning everything about the business side of things and getting coached to transform my inner blocks. Every single investment has come back 10-fold or more. 

4. Asking for help doesn’t mean you’re weak. It means the opposite: you’re strong - you are refusing to give up. 

Going at it alone is just too hard. You need your “success team”. Mentors, coaches, community, peers. 

Every time you start a project towards an ambitious goal, ask yourself: “Who do I want on my success team?” Assembling your success team is setting yourself up to win. 

5. Every time you fail, you fail forward.

Failures are simply teachers. The Universe gives you the exact lessons you need to manifest your authentic desires. So get into action instead of sitting on the sidelines. 

With all my love,

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I help YOU get paid to change the world.

Hey, fellow purpose-driven human!

I’m Milena. When I was 24, I said no to corporate job offers to “do my own thing.”

9 years, some major fumbles, 3 TEDx Talks, 1 published book, 50,000 followers, and hundreds of clients (from 15+ countries) later…

I make a multi-six-figure living as a coach while spending most of my time walking barefoot in my apartment. #introvertgoal

I know you want to make a difference.

I’m here to help you turn that calling into a financially sustainable coaching business — while staying away from the hustle, and skipping the pitfalls that trip up most new coaches.

Quit your 9-to-5. Move to a paradise island. Slow yoga every morning. Work from sunlit cafes. Make time for loved ones (including yourself). Grow your influence. Wake up excited about your day. And serve only the clients who light you up…

All of that (and more!) is possible, once you have the right support.

Let me help you shine.

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SHARING = LOVING