One of my primary messages is to live your life on purpose, to live your version of your life (not someone else’s version), and to live as your true, authentic self.
I practice what I teach – most days – and most days is as good as I can do. After all, like you, things come out of the blue that throw me off-course and there are days I am my own worst critic and enemy. l also battle the little voices that keep me “safe” at the expense of achieving my own vision.
In other words, I’m human.
That said, the most important part when these things happen is to pick myself up, dust myself off, regroup and commit to myself that I’m going to continue working towards my vision for my life – while living purposefully.
If you are on Instagram, you can follow me there. You’ll see that I post lots of photos of my travels, my hobbies, my family and food. These are important to me and not necessarily in that order 
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My personal purpose is that I’ve been Chosen to Reinvent Lives Globally.
The purpose and higher purpose of my brands are to Reinvent Business to Transform Lives.
My vision includes changing the dialogue about how business is conducted. As a leader, I am passionate about changing the destructive habits of business. Too many businesses are producing too much crap that’s harmful to us and the planet. Too many businesses treat their employees like single-use plastics – meaning they don’t appreciate them and treat them like they are disposable. Not enough businesses are taking a long hard look at what they are producing and how they are producing it and pivoting to a more sustainable business
One Version of My Story
I was a miserable, disengaged employee who had insomnia and who cried on the way to work most days. My workplace was toxic and I was a round peg in a square hole. I had recently remarried after being a single mom who’d left a dysfunctional marriage. Within 2 months of our wedding, we were pregnant and I knew I couldn’t go back to that job. So, with my hubby’s blessing, I started selling cruises as an independent contractor for a travel agency. While on maternity leave, I made a call that would change our lives. I had called to get a quote for a group and I heard the term “incentive travel” for the first time.
I couldn’t believe what I’d found – an industry near and dear to my heart. I love to travel – basically, I live to travel. I also studied business management and labour relations in college and this notion of recognizing, motivating, and rewarding people to achieve your goals was right up my alley.
I decided this was the perfect industry for me. I could create a website and have a portable online business while I was raising my family. I could build a flexible business I could operate anywhere I had an internet connection, which was important because I was a military wife and we never knew when we would be posted.
I grew my business so it was providing us a really cushy lifestyle, with multiple vacations a year, luxurious international business travel, and freedom to go to our girls’ school events, Brownies, and sports. I was living my dream and I was awarded Entrepreneur of the Year for 2003.
But things change and so did my business and my life…
Remember 2009?
That’s when my perfect storm hit. I was in the middle of a 3rd attempt to get my huge vision for incentive program management software created. I was getting the sense that this wasn’t going to work either. It was about this time that we started to get indications that things weren’t going well with our 2 oldest, most profitable, and best clients. Suffice to say after about $500,000 of investment into the software, I pulled the plug right before the second client declared bankruptcy. My employees quit one by one and I cancelled my office lease and moved back home.
I needed to find a way out of the mess I was in but I was my own worst enemy. I believed all sorts of negative stories I told myself. I spent far too long on the couch scared to make a mistake again while watching our savings deteriorate and my family showing serious concern about my mental state. I took every course that crossed my path. I bought every book and every product to give me the edge. I hired coaches, healers, and consultants. I built a new business only to realize it wasn’t going to give me the freedom to do what I truly want to do – travel the world, share my gifts, help create profitable, sustainable, and people-focused businesses, and make a difference.
…and then my life changed
I can’t really remember what happened but something inside me changed. I started listening to my intuition rather than my fears. I started opening my eyes to opportunities that are all around me. I jumped at opportunities – like writing a book with Jay Conrad Levinson.
If you’ve ever written a book, you know it takes a lot of soul-searching, dedication, research, energy, time, and money. I almost quit a few times but I knew I had to do this. I published the book Guerrilla Tourism Marketing on Kindle 12-12-12 and on Amazon the following month.
I dug deep to remember the lessons I learned along the way – the techniques to position yourself as an expert and to market your book to become a best-seller – and I became an Amazon Best Seller (knocking Howard Schulz, the CEO of Starbucks out of the #2 spot in the category for a short while!)
Another opportunity appeared – my first chance to be on stage in front of 500 people – the same stage as Brendon Burchard. The same stage as other really successful business people who are also authors. I started attracting other authors, experts and business leaders.
And then it happened again. I had an overwhelming urge to go to a conference. I didn’t know why. I just knew I had to be there. I was sitting in the balcony at that conference a few weeks later and the presenter asked us all to say an affirmation to ourselves 10x. Each time we were to put another finger down – starting with the baby finger on our left hand through to the baby finger on our right hand.
My lap was covered in stuff – my backpack, my purse, a cup of tea and so I missed most of the exercise. We were on the 3rd to last affirmation when I finally got organized. I said something and it wasn’t right. Then I said “I’ve been chosen to reinvent lives globally” and I put down my ring finger. “Yup, I said to myself, that felt right”, so I said it again with more emphasis on the “chosen” part and I put down my baby finger.
What happened next was perhaps the weirdest thing that ever happened to me
Up unto this point, I lived in my head. Everything can be sorted out logically. There are logical steps to do things. You look at the opportunity and you figure out how to make it work for you. You look at the challenge and you figure out how to solve it.
Intellect, experience, skills, education, and good old “Google” were my best friends. I wasn’t spiritual. I was only just beginning to trust my intuition again and to listen to my heart.
But that tsunami of something – energy, I think – that hit me at the moment I put down my baby finger was so overwhelming I burst into tears. After the break, I went inside and decided to sit on the aisle, 3rd row, left side of the middle section. The speaker, Tess Vigeland, was explaining how she’d quit her job without a safety net and she was wondering what the hell she had done too! She came off the stage, bee-lined straight to me, and asked my name and what I did. I said, “I’m Carol Wain, Queen of Reinvention and I help people like you to reinvent their lives”. Whoa!
I realized this was my calling. People need to hear they are not alone in their burning desire to change things. People need to hear that reinventing their own lives and business is not only possible, but it’s also necessary. People need to hear that fear can be overcome and shouldn’t stop you. People need to hear that being courageous is about facing the fear head-on and doing it anyway.
People need guidance and support and I’m here to provide it.
In 2016 I asked the Universe to help me find a way to bring all my brands together in a unique way to grow my business. The next day the words “Enlightened Capitalist” came to me. I started to research and quickly discovered that this is indeed becoming more popular. Richard Branson is talking about it and so is Arianna Huffington. I knew I was onto something — and then it dawned on me — this topic is way bigger than me. It’s way bigger than my brands. It’s how I am to leave my legacy and transform lives globally.
You can change not only your own life but also the lives of your family, your employees, your customers, and your community when your WHY is big enough to keep your going.
You just need to be shown the way, lead by someone who has been there, done that. You need someone who challenges you and cheers you on. Someone who calls you on your BS while she knows just how difficult it is to hear it.
If I’m that person who you’ve been looking for — whether you are an entrepreneur, an executive, a professional service provider, a local business owner, or an aspiring entrepreneur — reach out. I have a variety of products, services, and experiences for all budgets.
The next chapter of my story has begun …
One of the most important elements of being an Enlightened Capitalist is to know yourself. What do you want? What does success look like? What is your purpose? What is your vision for your life? What legacy do you want to create? What would you do, if money and time didn’t matter?
As I stated, I love to travel, so in the summer of 2014 my husband and I impulse bought a 38′ 5th wheel and truck, leased our home, and moved into the rig full time (I’m sitting in the rig as I type this!).
Our intention is to travel North America in this rig with me speaking, facilitating workshops, consulting, writing, and mentoring as we travel. Then we’ll go overseas and do the same…
This is the result of one of the exercises I do with my clients and my students. I strongly suggest you do it too — imagine your ideal day and your ideal lifestyle (click on the link to find out how to do this).
I’m living my dream. I’ve created a business that marries my higher purpose with my skills, experiences, education, and what I want.
YOU CAN TOO! … and I can guide you on your journey. Contact me today to see how we can work together.