About
As recently as 2004, Gina Ratliffe was a psychotherapist who was trading dollars for hours as she managed a counseling clinic, handling every aspect of the business, working 75 hours a week while serving a full caseload. Gina was exhausted, struggling to make ends meet on her $24,000/year salary. “I had no life, I had no money. It was no fun. I would sit at home and watch the celebrity profiles on shows like EXTRA! and Entertainment Tonight. Everyone in L.A. seemed to be prospering and having a great time and here I was living with my parents. …in Detroit. It was then that I decided it was my time to make a change and fully participate in life. So off to L.A. I went.”
Gina decided to pursue her dream of being a life coach. The notion excited her greatly, but as no one was familiar with her or her work, “it was feast or famine – I would secure a client but who knew when the next one would come along? I wasn’t just broke. I found myself in this crazy neurotic cycle as my bank account would yo-yo up and down.”
That’s when Gina had what she calls her “pizza moment”
“Nobody died, and nobody lost a limb, but it was awful. I was working so hard to get clients and it was just exhausting. One Sunday night I was feeling sorry for myself and decided to treat myself to a pizza. Before placing my order, I checked my account balance, only to find I didn’t even have enough money to order a pie. I’d hit an all-time low. Here I was, an intelligent, independent woman who had worked at the White House, the Supreme Court and Harvard’s Institute of Politics, had earned a Master’s degree in Clinical Psychology, and who was now working to help people live great lives …and I couldn’t even afford to order from Dominos.”
Something had to change. Gina had been working with her own life coach who recommended that she look into internet marketing. “I didn’t know anything about marketing and I wasn’t interested in the business side of things. But I had to admit that although I was really good at what I was doing, my self-confidence was shot. I was faced with the choice to either take the leap into internet marketing or go work at Vons. I went online and was fascinated by what I found. People were making millions online selling e-books about things as crazy as grooming guinea pigs. Here, I thought, was an opportunity to do something new and make some real money for a change.”
Gina put her new insight and education to use as she knew that what she offered would change people’s lives. “I started owning my own power and decided that I was going to value my services and participate in the world. It was time for me to focus on what I loved — Empowering modern-day women to be Queens of their lives.” She started internet marketing to sell her collection of coaching CDs and found that her whole business soon blossomed.
Within 2 years, she was making over a half million dollars. She was finally living the ‘heroine’s journey’ as Queen of her life, exactly what she taught her clients about – living in her power while remaining feminine. “Usually powerful women are hardcore and masculine. What I teach women is that they can be Queens – benevolent, soft, and feminine while still wealthy and powerful. Think Sophia Lauren – Powerful, yet still feminine.”
Gina is happy that her clients are more than paying their rent in this tough economy based on the lessons she’s taught them about valuing themselves and their skills so they can feel comfortable raising their rates and charging what they’re worth.
Gina is about to expand her international coaching practice to include wealth-building, relationship support, and her favorite lifestyle pursuits. “I love coaching, but I also have a passion for cooking and travel, and I’m looking forward to expanding my business by combining all of these interests in a new and exciting way”. The Le Cordon Bleu-trained chef is back to chase her dreams, and she will undoubtedly inspire a legion of women to do the same.
