In this episode, Kim Kasparian, The Success Genie, shares how she lost all her money and the mindset shift she used to turn it around after a business partner embezzled $3.6 million dollars from her and her soon-to-be-husband. Her resilience and sense of humor will make you laugh and bring you to tears. And the lessons she shares are invaluable for any business owner!

Resources mentioned
11 Ways To Create Success Right Now Free Guide

Kim Kasparian’s Facebook Group

3 Secrets to Writing a Bestseller in 1/2 the Time for 10X the Profits
For FREE access to Social Buzz U

EWomenNetwork 
How to Turn Your Book into a Million-Dollar Business Masterclass
Sept. 13th, 11 am PDT/2. pm EDT

3 Key Points 

Having money is a choice.

You need to get very clear on what you really want before you can get it.

Networking is key to getting what you want and/or need.

Transcript

Ellen: Hi, and welcome. Today, my guest is Kim Kasparian. Kim has 32 years of professional sales and marketing along with her personal trials and triumphs in a very competitive industry, such as telecommunications, direct sales, and corporate staffing.

She shares these savvy and strategic tips to delight and inspire audiences to network in powerful, productive ways that create the clients they desire with the revenue that they desire.

People who have heard her speak call her “The Success Genie” for her magical ability to guide them to success levels beyond their imagination, and that is what I love about you. So, welcome to the call, Kim.

Kim: Nice to be here, Ellen.

[1:31]  Ellen: Well, we actually met because, I don’t know if we were already, I guess we were already connected, but my husband collapsed last July, and you reached out to me, and I was just so touched because I didn’t really know you, and you were genuinely concerned, and that is so rare to find somebody like you. So, I keep those people close.

Kim: I just did what was in my heart to do, but you’re welcome.

Ellen: Yeah, but that’s what I’m saying is it’s not in most people’s heart to do. That’s the point.

Kim: Okay.

Ellen: That’s the point. And one of the things about you is you are so giving. It’s like every time we talk, just even as friends, right away you want to help me figure out whatever I need to figure out.

Kim: Yeah. Sometimes I don’t ask permission, which is bad.

Ellen: Right. And you’re always looking for the simplest ways, but you’re also so much fun and I love that.

Kim: Thank you.

[2:33] Ellen: Yeah. So why don’t you tell people a little more about how you do what you do and how you got there. And also, I would love for you to share the story about your wedding. That was just unbelievable.

Kim: Oh, God. You mean the backstory.

Ellen: Yeah, the backstory.

[2:46] Kim: Yeah, the backstory. All right. Well, hello. I’m Kim Kasparian. I’m the creator of a company called Success Genie LLC. It’s a coaching company. I’ve been a coach for almost 22 years. I can’t believe I’m actually saying that. And we started Success Genie LLC in 2006 after our wedding. So, I’ll get to that, why we had to start a new company, because I was coaching way before Success Genie.

But as a coach, I’m considered a mindset coach and a business strategist, and I really focus on working with brilliant business owners, who want a sustainable business, and that’s a really key distinction. A lot of us business owners think we have businesses. We don’t. We have a job, because me, myself, and I, and everything’s on us. But what we wanted was a sustainable business that allows us to do what we love when we want to with whom we want to. And believe it or not, a lot of business owners are having a problem getting there.

Ellen: Yes, they are.

[3:58]  Kim: That’s the problem I solve, making that job that has become like a prison, you love what you do, we all go into business because we love what we do. But if we’re being honest, it gets to a point where we feel like we have a job that’s more constrictive than the job that we left. We want to burn it all down, but we don’t really want to, but we really feel stressed and trapped. And my gift is helping make a bridge between that prison to the playground of fun, freedom, and profit that you always wanted, and we make that happen really fast. So, that’s what we do.

[4:34]  Ellen: How could you argue with that? And you do it in a fun way. The Success Genie, even that, you know how you always have your little lamp.

Kim: Yes. My lamp. My husband got me a lamp all the way from Arabia. Yes. It was a real lamp. The first one got stolen, believe it or not, at a speaking engagement, but he got me another one. That concept, two things. It started when I was in corporate coaching. I was invited to corporate to solve some problems, and I had a CEO who was just speaking so professional. Right? He was using all of his big words and his education. I used to call it the edumacation, and it was just so blah-blah-blah, fah-fah-fah, la-la-la. And he was really trying, yeah, but he was really, he brought me in because he was really having a problem.

And I’m just sitting there, going, “I have no idea what he …” I understood what he’s trying to say, but I’m like, “Question for you. Have you ever read a fairy tale? Have you ever read fairytales to your kids?” He’s like, “Yeah.” I go, “You know the story of the genie?” He goes, “Who doesn’t?” And I’m like, “I know, right?”

I go, “Pretend you’re in front of the genie. You’re on the vacation, Aruba, wherever you want to be, and you’re walking, and you kind of stumble over this little dusty thing. And you polish it all off, and it’s a lamp or a bottle, and poof, the genie comes out.” He goes, “Okay.” I go, “Would you be saying that to the genie?” “Oh, no.” I go, “Tell me what you would be telling the genie. You know you’re going to get what you want, so you want to make it clear, and you get three times.” And all of a sudden, he was so clear.

Ellen: Wow.

[6:14] Kim: He was so concise, and he was so on point with his pain. And he’s like, “How is that?” I go, “We can work with that. We can work with that.” So, I always kept it in my repertoire, and when I used to explain to people how they can make their struggles go away, how they could show up to what they want really fast, and they would do it, they’d go, “Are you a genie? I did what you said, and it just showed up. It was like magic.” I’m like, “Well, that’s how the universe works. Thanks for showing up.” What sealed the deal is one time at a networking group that I had become president of, I did an introduction and set the tone, and did a little mini-workshop on networking, and it was based on the Aladdin Factor by Jack Canfield.

Ellen: Oh, yeah.

Kim: Well, I had them do a meditation, having them close their eyes, and I had a little team that helped me transform into a genie costume when they open their eyes, so I could hit the point home, really ask for what you want, not what you think you should ask for. So Genie,, the Success Genie,  kind of stuck from that point.

[7:21] Ellen: I love it. That’s so great. Okay. So now tell us how you had to start that company.

Kim: Okay. So the success of my signature, it’s our signature program, that I’ve been using for the past 15 years, I’m thinking of how long, we just had our anniversary, I should know how long it’s been, came out of being embezzled for $3.6 million and having our real estate properties that had all of our investment money involved in it, that’s what made us have to start the new company, because my name was mud, and my personal credit was attached. And to protect whatever money, which was nothing at the time, literally nothing at the time, but future monies had to be protected, and it required me to close out every bank account I ever had and close my existing business.

[8:20] Ellen: Right. So when did you find this out?

Kim: Well, we had rumblings that there was a problem about four months before our wedding, but it was just a problem. It was like, “You know? My eye was off the ball. I’m going to fix it.” And I’m like, “Yeah, I’m going to help you fix it.” And we had these benchmarks in place that we were working on, because in our mind and the way the picture was being presented, it was a temporary blip. Life happened. It’s going to be okay.

But long story short, the closer the wedding got, the harder it was getting our funds out of that entity that was earmarked to pay for the wedding. So, we had problems, stressors leading up to, but we were still thinking it’s just a blip.

When our partner/mentor/coach did not show up the night before at the rehearsal dinner to give us the final few thousand for the band and for the tips and for the minister, all these things, and I waited up until two o’clock in the morning, realizing, “Oh, this wasn’t a mistake. This wasn’t a blip. This was on purpose.”

And just things started to click, and I realized, “Oh, nevermind. I don’t have a few thousand dollars for tomorrow. I’m going to be speaking to the FBI on Monday or going to jail.” That’s when things started to click. So, I’m not wanting to awaken my husband, who was sound asleep and sleeping soundly, I went into the living room of the suite and cried and wrote all of our wedding notes ahead of time, thinking that I might not be around or available to write thank-you notes later.

Ellen: Oh, God.

[10:11] Kim: Say, “Okay, what’s so great about this? How is this all going to work out better than I can imagine?” Long story short, it did. Angelus woke up around nine o’clock or whatever, our wedding wasn’t until the afternoon, and he’s like, “What’s wrong with you?” And I’m like, “Nothing, nothing.” He’s like, “Really?” I go, “Well, I was thinking. We’re going to have this wedding, the wedding.” And he’s like, “Yeah, of course we’re having the wedding. What are you talking about?” I go, “But I think maybe we shouldn’t sign the marriage certificate. Uncle Jack’s going to marry us.” He went like, “What are you talking about?”

And then the watershed moment, and then I’m like, “You don’t understand. We’re broke, and I might be going to jail. Save yourself. You don’t understand.” So he had a very interesting reaction. He started dancing with glee, and I was like, “Okay.” I’m like, “Has your cheese slipped your cracker?” And he goes, “No, I’m excited.” And I’m like, “Please share some.”

He was just like, “Kim, this is the best thing that you could ever tell me.” And I’m like, “Tell me more.” And he’s like, “We now know the enemy. We’ve known there’s been a problem. There’s been something niggling in the back of our mind. Every time we look, we’re told it’s nothing or it’s we can’t find it. Now we know.” He goes, “I can fight what I can see.”

[11:39] Ellen: Wow, that’s a good guy. Yeah.

Kim: Yeah, and I was like, “Yeah, but did you hear the point where I’m broke and I might be going to jail?” And he’s like, “We’re going to be fine. We’re getting married. Dry your eyes. Everyone’s coming soon, and let’s have a wedding.”

Ellen: Awww…..

Kim: Yeah. And it really was the most, believe me, we had a wonderful day with wonderful things planned for the family. It was a tribute not only to us, but to our family who created us. And honestly, it was magical, and I really was proud that I was able to-

Ellen: I’m tearing up.

Kim: Yeah. Let me tell you, I was tearing up too. This is why I’m so passionate about mindset, and this is why I teach. I teach from experience, and unfortunately or fortunately, I’ve got a lot of dramatic examples. I said to myself, “Kasparian,” I said, “you can either enjoy these 12 magical hours that you’ve planned with meticulous detail and a lot of love and everything’s going to be okay, or you can stress out, miss everything, only to find out everything worked out, because with us, it usually does. And you have 20 minutes to choose.”

[12:49] I’m glad I chose the first, and we did. We were just saying it yesterday, when we were running some errands. I’m like, “Hey, we’re one day married. Remember the day after how we took all the wedding money and signed it, and I went to every bank in Middletown to make sure my personal checkbook, which had written checks for the wedding, that was going to get reimbursed when I saw them, didn’t bounce?” Because I was like, “I can explain what he did, but I can’t explain my checkbook bouncing like a ball.”

Ellen: Right.

Kim: So in the end, it all worked out. We got to know the FBI brotherhood in New Haven really well, and it all worked out. It all worked out. He spent some time away.

Ellen: Oh, good.

[13:35] Kim: Yeah, because we weren’t the only ones. A bride’s Bible, how you plan the wedding and all of our things, came to be very handy. The FBI learned the power of a bride’s Bible and all the tracking you can find where the money went and where the money comes from. So, that ended up being what helped put him-

Ellen: Oh, cool.

Kim: Yeah. So they were like, “A bride what?” I’m like, “Oh, you’ve never been married? Or, you were, but she didn’t show it to you? Let me show you.” So yeah, it was definitely an experience. After we got married, I had six weeks to figure it out. Right?

So meditating by the pool and just sitting down with my computer, it just was a heavy day. It was just the weight of it all just kind of closed in on me, and I’m like, “I’ve been in some messes, but this one takes the cake.” Why I’m so passionate about networking is because our network didn’t know what to do. It was too big for them, or they had their own judgements about, “Well, why did you do that? And then blah-blah-blah.”

Ellen: Right.

Kim: But it was an option again. I had two options. Figure it out, and figure it out fast, or meditate at the bottom of the pool with a cinder block for about 30 minutes. That’s how I was thinking. At that moment, I just couldn’t see a way out. It was that heavy on my heart and all of these mixed feelings.

[15:09]  And I said, “Well,” I asked myself, “Kasparian, what would you say to a client? Would you recommend to a client that they meditate at the bottom of the pool for 30 minutes? Well, of course not. What would you tell them?” I’m like, “Well, if you did know how to solve this, what would you do?” I said, “Good question.”

And I wrote down on a little writing pad the steps I would take if I was in it to win it. If I was committed to believe there was a way out, how would I start? And basically the steps were the system of our signature program, which it’s part of a bigger program now, but it’s called Have Fun, Get It Done.

And basically, it started out as a bootcamp, six weeks, just do what I say. Don’t overthink it. Just do it and tell me how you liked it afterwards. And that was the recipe for me to just get up out of bed and just start one foot in front of the other.

I kind of put it out to my community and said, they all knew I lead with transparency. “We got embezzled. We’re starting over. This is how we’re getting our millions back. You want to do it with me?” They’re like, “Yeah. Where? Yeah.” So I think I started with twenty people, and then from there I got more people to join, and they’re like, “What’s next?” And I’m like, “I never thought past, honestly, past those six weeks.” I was like, “Do or die.”

[16:30] Ellen: So, how’d you get more people to join?

Kim: Networking, networking. I was very well-connected to investment community, real- estate investment community. I was one of the teachers in networking and all that, so they’re were all eyeballs, “Whoa,” and I did not know it was a badge of honor to be embezzled. I had the false belief that I deserve to be branded, capital L, and put my head in the oven and light a match.

Ellen: Right.

Kim: And they’re like, “Welcome to the club. You’re a real investor now. Wow. You rock.” And I’m like, “Really?” They go, “Yeah. We’ve never seen something as bad as you, but yeah, you rad, dude. We want to know how you’d …” So I became like the instant “it” girl for how to get out of embezzlement.

Ellen: That is hysterical. But see? It’s that same thing, turning lemons into lemonade.

[17:25] Kim: Well, yeah. And I wish I could say I did it enthusiastically and knowingly, but that’s the power of belief, right? You’re looking at the dark end, and someone else has the light end, and then somewhere in the middle, you find your path. So also, too, people knew me. I was a coach first back then, what? Seven years? I had a following.

Ellen: Right, and I will say to people, people don’t usually get embezzled right in the beginning, because I don’t have enough money for anybody to want to embezzle, so people don’t have to worry about that if they’re just in the early years.

Kim: Listen, I started my business about seven months after I bought my condo, got downsized, no fault of my own. I had two-weeks severance pay, and I needed more money to pay the mortgage. . I started my company with no money. Had to make the mortgage in thirty days, so I had to figure it out fast. I came up with a system to do it. Did it. Seven years later, sold the condo for a hundred grand more than I bought it, and got into investing in properties, because I wasn’t really happy with the stock market at the time. I hired a coach, obviously the wrong one, but I believed in my dream. Right?

[18:43] Kim: And the strategy was sound. That was the hardest part. The strategy was sound. Had we stuck to the strategy that I was taught, that I believed in, that I agreed to, I would have lived a different story. He had something else going on behind the scenes that it took the FBI three-and-a-half years to figure out. So, it was a little bit above my pay grade.

But in the meantime, I needed to start over. I had taken my eyes off of my coaching business, because there were problems in that. Then I had a lot more money at stake, so I thought I was being the brilliant business person that I am, stabilizing the ship. I didn’t realize it was more like the Titanic that hit the iceberg, and was on our own with basically no money.

[19:32] So when people tell me they don’t have money, my heart hears that. But I also know that it’s a limiting belief, because I sat there with literally no money, needing to pay the mortgage, needing to pay the UI bill, and having to spend twenty minutes with a supervisor with the electric company explaining. I got the truth about money. “I got what I got. I don’t got what I don’t got.

When I get some more, you can have some, but at this moment, I got what I got. I don’t got what I don’t got.” And I had to tell her twenty times until she goes, “I get it.” I go, “You get it? Now you’re asking me what can I pay? I haven’t created it yet. As soon as I create it, earmarking it for you.” And it taught me that money is just a thought, money is energy, and when you decide you want some, it comes.

[20:31] Ellen: So why don’t you tell people how they can reach you and also tell them your Facebook group, because your group is great, and people should join it. And your posts are so fun and you are so brilliant. So,  tell us.

[20:45] Kim: Free Facebook Group it’s called, and it has a URL is www.com, businessownersgrowingtosevenfigures, businessownersgrowingtosevenfigures.com. (That redirects to the Facebook group.)

Ellen: Is the seven spelled out or is it the number seven?

Kim: It’s letters, S-E-V-E-N.

Ellen: Okay.

Kim: And then if you want to get some of these tips, “Kim, I like the way you think. I would like some thoughts like that. Things to remember to open up the doors for me,” you can get I call it the 11 Ways To Create Success Right Now, 11 Ways To Create Success Right Now.

[21:28] And that is at successisyourbirthright.com, successisyourbirthright.com, and you can join our email community and you’ll get the 11 Ways To Create Success Right Now.

Ellen: Okay. That’s all we have time for today, but we’re going to continue the conversation, and the second part of this interview is going to air next week. To get the transcripts, go to booksopendoors.com/podcast/fun-and-done. And for all past podcasts, they are at booksopendoors.com/podcast. Also, I want to let you know, I’m going to be speaking at the eWomenNetwork Accelerated Online Networking event on Monday, September 13th, 2021, How To Turn Your Book Into A Six-Figure Income. The mission of eWomenNetwork is one million women make $1 million in annual revenue. The organization has great networking for women business owners, and I’d love for all my women listeners to join me there. The link to that to register is eWomenNetwork.com/chapter/Charlotte, capital-C, little h-a-r-l-o-t-t-e.

Also, if you’re ready to get started writing your book, you can go and grab the Rockstar Author’s Toolkit on our website. You’ll get the Rapid Book Creation Checklist, your Secret Title Formula Checklist, the Kindle Planner to Help You Maximize Your Amazon Listing, and the 21 Simple Strategies to Jumpstart Your Book Marketing Online Checklist. So again, that’s at booksopendoors.com. So be sure to grab that. Even if you’re already an author, I guarantee you’ll find some golden nuggets in the toolkit that you maybe hadn’t thought of, and I know you’ll get something out of it. So that’s it for now. Until next time, Bye-bye.

THANKS FOR LISTENING!

To share your thoughts and comments:

• Join us in our Facebook Group!
• Share this show on social media!

To help out the show:

• Leave an honest review on iTunes. Your ratings and reviews really help and I read each one.
• Subscribe on iTunes. (We’re still working on moving this to Books Open Doors)