My name is Erika Cramer and my business name is The Queen of Confidence.
Known as the Cardi B of the personal development world, Erika Cramer aka The Queen of Confidence is a full-flavoured, spicy inspirational speaker and mentor to thousands of women across the globe.
Today, she connects with an engaged global community and shares with tens of thousands of women on a daily basis to help empower, encourage and inspire them to step into their confidence.
But it hasn’t always been this way. Having survived many traumatic experiences in her youth, Erika spent a number of years searching for love, peace and validation in all the wrong places. She has survived childhood sexual abuse, being brought up in and out of the foster care system, life-altering car accidents and a whole lot of grief and loss.
In the last decade, she has been able to turn her life around from one of hopelessness and pain to one of passion, growth and success, after going on her own powerful journey of personal healing.
An international confidence coach, Erika also hosts a five-star rated podcast, The Confidence Chronicles, which is in the top 10 of the Australian Apple charts for Mental Health, with over 1,800,000 downloads and listeners in 86+ countries.
She has created a seven-figure global business by mentoring and supporting those who have experienced similar life experiences as her own. Erika’s story is one of triumph over adversity and she is full of light, laughter and of course, confidence. Erika is a beaming and beautiful example of how you can heal your personal story to transform trauma into triumph.
When did you start your business?
It was February 2018, after I had my second son at home.
What was the inspiration behind starting this business?
I’ve always been in the business of confidence with women. I started off as a hairdresser, I later became a stylist helping women dress confidently. When I arrived in Australia I went on my own personal confidence journey that lasted for eight years doing coaching, healing, self-development, business mentoring retreats…you name it. I did it. I got really passionate throughout those eight years. When I had my second son, I became sick of saying “One day I will do what I want”, and I decided I would pursue my confidence/life coaching business. It was the worst time possible, but I knew I couldn’t wait any longer. I knew I couldn’t put my dreams on hold any longer. It seemed like the best time. I have always had a passion for supporting women, especially women who are overcoming adversities and I really wanted to uplift and empower women to create the life they desire despite the circumstances they had been through in the past.
What are you most excited about in your business?
I’m most excited about women realising their potential. Women creating their confidence. Women showing up, speaking up, going for what they want. Women knowing that they are powerful beyond measure and that when we step into our confidence, the world benefits. It benefits when women make money and women know who they are. Not only does it benefit them, but it impacts their children and their families, corporations, and the culture globally. I’m obsessed with coaching and absolutely love serving my clients.
What has been the most challenging thing about starting your business?
Doing it with the worst timing. We had absolutely no money. We were literally broke and in debt. Over $150,000 in debt, and looking for coins to buy bread. Not knowing anything about starting this business and building it online, or knowing how to tell my story and get clients. That was really hard to figure out. Having that desire to want to help and want to do so in the worst possible time was probably the hardest thing we had to overcome, close to the pandemic.
What advice would you give to other women thinking about starting a business?
Get a mentor. Get a community. Get to know people who are a few steps ahead of you and follow what feels good to you and find people who resonate with your values. There’s a lot of crappy business advice out there and people who don’t resonate with what you will resonate with. Find someone who is doing something similar to what you would like to do and learn from them. I love how Tony Robbins speaks about how success leaves clues, and how every mentor of mine that I’ve had there was something in them that I saw in myself. So I would find a mentor, find a path to follow as you are creating your own path. Know that when you are trailblazing and no one has done before what you want to do, that you will need to look within yourself.
The second thing I would say is build yourself up, do the inner work, heal limiting beliefs, the thoughts that don’t serve you. Get life coaching, get therapy, get healing on the past experiences you have had because those are the things that will hold you back in your business. Most of business is mindset, it’s not a strategy or an ability to create what you want. It’s because you think you can.
Lastly I would say build a community online…yesterday! The minute you know you want to do a business, get on the internet and share that. Even if you don’t know what you are doing yet. Start documenting why you care, what you care about, your life and your story, start letting people into your life and building a community. It is the biggest thing we can do as small business owners and that where people stop showing up and we lack that community and audience. So when we do have something to share and something to offer, the community is already there.
Why did you enter the AusMumpreneur Awards?
I think if you are someone who believes in your business and the impact it can make, it is a great exercise to go for awards and put yourself out there. It’s a good thing to learn your business and really reflect on what you have done and where you are going. Also, it’s important that you celebrate yourself and taking up space. It’s important to celebrate the other women who are coming up and doing the same thing. I think more of us need to be entering awards and showcasing our businesses, and looking under the hood of our own businesses and seeing how we can improve things.
What did you enjoy the most about being part of the awards?
I loved being at my table with other awesome finalists and incredible women who are in the community. I loved that my husband was there and got to be a part of it because he is very much a part of my business. We got to celebrate. Whether you win or not, it is important to be around women who are doing the same thing as you. Business can feel lonely if you don’t have a community and I really believe that aspect of it. We had a lot of fun!
What surprised you most about the awards?
Just the audience size, there was so many people. I was surprised to see that because we hadn’t had awards for years. So it was surprising and beautiful to see people come together.
How did the awards help you in your business?
It gives us street credit. It lets people know that we do know what we are talking about and that we are recognised. It’s like social proof. It’s really showcasing that we are here and we are serious about what we are here to do and we are serious about our impact.
What advice would you give to other mums thinking about entering the awards?
I definitely think do it because you will get to know your business so much. I believe that women should look at their numbers and not only how much we make, but our profitability. Our expenses, staff cost. If we don’t look at these things we don’t know where we are going. It’s a great check in with your business, recommitting to the passion and realising where we are going.
What has been the best thing about starting your own business?
The best thing about starting my business is that I call the shots. I get to create and I am very much a creator. I get freedom. I get to be with my children and they get to come with us wherever we go. We get to make as much money as we want and we get to impact the world while doing so. It’s a dream.
What’s happening next in your business?
We are looking at building a coaching school to educate and support coaches who want to change the world as well as have a lucrative business. I am writing a second book. A lot more speaking and a lot more retreats.
What are your big plans for the future?
We have a vision where we want to create and empower the next generation of coaches and therapists. We want to be a part of the change because the coaching industry has a lot of stigma around it. We want to be part of the solution and we want to support coaches to feel empowered with information and skill sets so that we can help people. We want to also help them build their business so they can become financially stable and help create sustainable businesses where they can help support others. I want to be speaking and going around the world speaking to marginalized women. I love doing work with foster kids, as I was a foster kid myself. It’s really important to me. We want to create retreats; we want more connections where we can get together with women all over the world. I love the business of looking in and changing lives together.
https://thequeenofconfidence.com/
https://www.facebook.com/Theconfidencequeen
https://www.linkedin.com/in/erika-cramer-ab695571/?originalSubdomain=au
