the prosperous photographer

Welcome, I’m Melissa

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My mission is to help you create a business and life that you want: profitable, inspired and on your terms.  Give yourself permission to have the business you truly want. 

hI, I'M MELISSA

life coach for women over 50

Welcome. I’m excited to get this website off the ground, this has been a long time in the making. As you get started looking through the site, you are probably wondering who on earth is this person that wants to talk to me about my money, my dreams, my finances, living into my life?

Well first off, I am writing this from Montpellier – a small city in the South of France. I’m actually new to Montpellier – beginning our 6th month here. A little over a year ago, I decided to make living in France part of my life plan. (with the complete support of my family) So much back story on this but for now I’ll leave it here. 

I spent the last 16 years of my life living in Phoenix with my incredible husband and 2 teenage daughters. The previous 15 years were spent in NYC. Prior to that I consider myself from Boston (my family is from there and that is where I graduated from high school and college) even though I lived in multiple states growing up as a kid. 

I’m also a life coach. I work with women over 50 that want more out of life but their finances are stopping them. I have made it my life’s mission to understand why some women live into their lives and others are just passengers. Why do some of us have a good relationship with money and others do not?

You will not be shocked to know that the reason I got into this work is because I can identify as a woman who has not always had a great relationship with money.  

Because of my own struggles with money, not believing in myself – I wanted to learn how to get rid of my mind drama. Stop the bullshit in my head. Face what needed to be dealt with. I wasn’t getting any younger and my finances were a disaster.

Before turning 50, a switch flipped. Time was moving quickly and this feeling came over me of it’s now or never. Time to be more in control of my money rather than my money control me.  

I wanted to learn more about myself and how the mind works.  I began by reverse engineering people’s relationships with money and their personal financial success.

Unpacking all of this helped me change my inner narrative – and graced me with an understanding of not only myself but other women over 50 who were on a similar path.

For the last 3 years I have been on a discovery mission and I am so passionate about sharing it with other women whom it resonates with. 

If I can teach you the tips and techniques that I use with my coaching clients to get you through this money drama faster than it took me – my heart will be full. 

When I learned the big news that ‘our thoughts create our outcomes’. I was literally like WTF, why am I now just learning this???  It was both good and bad because now I couldn’t blame other people and circumstances for what was going wrong in my life and great news because that means that I control my life.

I can make my choices. I don’t have to continue to increase my debt. I can earn more to pay it off faster. I can create an emergency fund so there is no stress in my life. I can learn how to invest. I can save more for retirement. I can do anything I set my mind to.

It was time to stop hiding behind my fear.

I found out what worked for me and it left me in a much better, more aligned place. I wanted to bring this work to other people. This started my journey as a life coach and led me to where I am today. 

At 50, my financial life really came together, this time for good. My money story was now controlled by me and it flourished.

I asked myself the question – what does it cost me to stay where I am right now. 5 years from now. 10 years from now?

The dialogue that went back and forth in my head was not pretty. (This is the BS part) I used to think that maybe I wasn’t cut out for financial independence. I was afraid. I was angry at myself. Was I too old? Where do I begin? What if I fail?

The price was too high to stay where I was.

It seemed easier to just stay where I was and not take the chance. But I was getting in the way of my own story. 

It had never occurred to me that I could have whatever I wanted. That I was the participant in my own happiness. Not asking permission but granting myself the permission. Making a plan for what I wanted life to look like and then creating the steps to make it a reality. 

With all this thought work over the last few years I can honestly say that I have accepted agency for my own life. I control my own money outcomes, not the external circumstances that I used to blame. I have learned to feel courageous and self confident. I’m at peace with myself, my past and my future. 

I’m not 100% there yet but I’m on my way.

As I sit here in my new apartment in Montpellier, embracing being a life coach for women over 50, I know I am living a different version of my life. I’m transforming and it is exhilarating!

To learn a little more head to my about me page

I just finished another fabulous book by Donald Miller, Hero on a Mission

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