Leah Gervais: Hey everyone. Welcome back to the show. 

Today we are joined by a dear client and friend of mine who is such an inspiring entrepreneur and mother and Frenchie, which if you guys know my story, you know how much I love France and I know, and I love the French culture. 

So we’re very excited to have her here. Do you wanna introduce yourself? 

Lea Vercellotti: Yeah, sure. So my name is Leah, as you said. I’m a French person and I’m also an entrepreneur. It’s been, uh, three years since I started my YouTube channel and, um, I’m so happy to be here talking to you today.

Leah Gervais: Thank you so much, Lea. 

So I think you guys are really in for a treat here to hear her story because she has managed to build a YouTube channel that has such a great following and do it in such a way that that molds to her life. 

She’s a mom of two. Um, she really values traveling and work life balance, and she’s never really sacrificed, um, any of that in order to achieve success. 

But she has done the work, and that’s really what I wanna talk about today, which is the difference between hustling and burning yourself out, which none of us wanna promote, but how some of us aren’t being honest about the hustle that it really does take and the dedication and the commitment and the consistency. 

And so I wanted her to be here to tell her story and help you guys see just honestly what it looked like. So with that, will you take us back a little bit to when you started your YouTube channel, and if you just wanna give everyone a quick, um, summary of your YouTube channel and what it is?

Lea Vercellotti: Yeah, sure. So if we can go backwards a little more. I started my website in June 20, uh, 18, and I was still teaching. I was, um, English teacher and I started my website about how to learn English. 

So I was, uh, initially starting with this, um, website without selling anything. And I remember posting one article every week without fail for two years. And I didn’t sell anything. I just was so consistent with that and I was, I had no idea how to just sell something. 

So I started with something and after that I added my YouTube channel. It was in January, 2020 and I was nine month pregnant. 

Uh, it sounds crazy when I say it out loud now, but yeah, I went all in because I wanted to, uh, just, uh, I wanted my YouTube channel to, to work and I didn’t want to go back to working as a teacher after my son was born.

 So I went all in on my YouTube channel and I did the same, uh, that I did with my website. I started to post like one video a week for one year and a half.  And when I started to get momentum on my  YouTube channel and on my website, I slowed down, like, as you said, I was not in for hustling, I was just there for consistency and just to get the ball rolling.

Leah Gervais: Amazing. So how long is maternity leave in France?

Lea Vercellotti: Um, it depends. I was, um, I always worked as a freelance teacher, so I was just, yeah, I, I don’t know, I get like three months. I got money and I could just stay at home as long as I wanted. I had this budget and I could just yeah, be home as long as I wanted, as I could live with this money.

 So it was, um, yeah, it was just my choice to stay home for, um, six months and just not work as a teacher for that period. But I didn’t get paid like every month for that because I was a freelancer, so I just chose to be home and just, uh, just start my YouTube channel at the same time.

Leah Gervais: Right, Okay. So in a, in a sense you gave yourself a six month window where you needed to get your YouTube channel working enough and making enough money where you wouldn’t have to go back to teaching anymore, is that right? 

Lea Vercellotti: Exactly. Yeah, exactly. So I, I, so in France, school starts in September. My son was born in, in February and I decided like, um, I would give myself till next September right. To make it work.

 So I was breastfeeding my son and I was, uh, creating YouTube channel videos and creating a course and I wanted to make it work cuz I wanted to stay longer with my son. 

So I just went all in and I, yeah, literally did everything breastfeeding, uh, filming videos for my YouTube channel, learning everything at once and just, uh, um, taking a course to know how to, uh, really launch something and create, uh, also a course, not just have this YouTube channel going on and this, uh, big audience. I wanted to make a living so it was a crazy time.

Leah Gervais: It’s the, so I’m, uh, the saying, the saying goes, I think that if you need something done, give it to a single mom. 

And I think, not to someone, someone messaged me the other day and they’re like, I think that that’s kind of applicable with entrepreneurs that are moms. Not to compare ourselves to single moms because they really are the strongest, but it’s true how, it’s almost like when you have more on your plate, you actually become more efficient at things because you don’t have a choice. 

Yeah. You sort of just have to get things done.  Okay, I have a few things I wanna pull out of here. I wanna talk about the strategy cuz I think you did such a smart thing, but um, also just practically when you were in those six months, so you had a newborn, so you weren’t sleeping through the night, right? 

Lea Vercellotti: No, I’m still not to this day.

Leah Gervais: you still don’t to this day. Oh, you are a patient loving mother.

Um, do you have, did you have childcare? Did you have help or were you the main caregiver?

Lea Vercellotti: So it happened during the pandemic, so we didn’t, we, and I did want to have childcare for my son before he was six months old because I wanted to breast fit him and to have him near.

 So I wanted everything, I wanted the business with the YouTube channel, I wanted the money, I wanted my kids near, and I just wanted to just also enjoy, um, yeah, having a newborn at home. 

So for almost six months we didn’t have anyone to help. And my daughter was at home because school was closed, so it was just, yeah, a lot on my plate. My husband was home because he couldn’t, uh, like schools were shut down. He’s a teacher, so he was home. But yeah, two kids at home, one toddler, one newborn, a YouTube channel. 

Uh, it was, yeah, a crazy time. So we didn’t have help for six months. Um, Wow.

Leah Gervais: Yeah. So you did this when your baby was napping essentially?

Lea Vercellotti: Yeah, I became crazy efficient. Uh, and yeah, every time I had half an hour I would just, um, have one task ready to, I had my like to-do list and I would just, um, I remember when, um, I had my son, I, everything shifted. 

I decided that I didn’t have time to give myself excuses to just, uh, be afraid to have the imposter syndrome. I just went all in when I had like half an hour, one hour I would just work, produce, videos for my YouTube channel. I would do something like move my business with the YouTube channel forward. 

And I didn’t have that before my son was born. I was just like procrastinating creating, uh, fancy things. Like I was changing colors on my website. I was like waiting, procrastinating. 

And when he was born, I decided that I was too tired to just hold myself back. I needed to like, yeah, just be more efficient with my YouTube channel.

Leah Gervais: It’s, it’s, it’s bizarre, but I relate to your story from when my dad passed away, which I know is a very horrible thing. You know, my what, having a baby, such a joyous time, an exhausting time, but a joyous time. 

But there was something about those, I think there’s something to be said about when you have a moment where you no longer entertain or pretend like it’s possible for you to have to go back to a job or for this not to work, it’s not even possible. 

And I think that so often we like to tell ourselves that we know we’re going to be successful, but our actions say otherwise. Because I know it’s very easy when you have a free half hour instead of being productive to go into a form of doubt, Well, should I even do anything? Well, what am I even doing isn’t go, Is it gonna work?

Is it worth my time? And you just completely snapped yourself out of any of that thinking because failure was not an option. Going back to your job was not an option. This YouTube channel not working out was not an option. 

And that’s exactly what happened to me back in the day. It was almost like, I mean, I wasn’t as busy as you were because I had, I didn’t have a newborn, but I had a nine to five and I was extremely grief stricken, right?

 I was dealing with so much sadness, but whenever I could manage to work, I just really knew, like, I forgot how to just get this done because I have no, I, in, in my mind, I don’t have another option.  

And I know that that might sound a little intense, but I really think that’s a valuable takeaway for anyone listening, because you need to ask yourself, have you actually decided that what you want is inevitable for you and that you’re going to make it happen?

And I know it might sound a little bit annoying even to hear that because you might wanna be like, Well, yes, Leah, I wanna be successful. I wanna make five figures in a month, or whatever the goal is that you have. 

But if you are spending even one, I guess I would say like 10 minutes of your day, one hour of your day, debating internally, Should I get up early? Should I exercise? Should I post this? What if no one likes it? I don’t really know my direction. That decision has not been made. 

And I’m not trying to shame you for that. I’m trying to help you feel empowered to the fact that you can make that decision and shut that voice in your head up because you don’t have time to listen to it if you really wanna get things done.

 That’s how I feel about that. Is that what happened to you?

Lea Vercellotti: Yeah, totally. I, I clearly see it before and after, Um, before my son was born and after, before my, my son was born, I was still a teacher. And I have this, it was not a side hustle because I was just creating content, but not selling anything. 

But I decided that I was too tired. The period was too stressful with co and everything, the two kids at home, at home running around, I decided that, as you said, I couldn’t entertain fears and I had to, if I wanted to make this work, I had to just, uh, like work and just stop like second guessing myself and doubting and am I worth it? 

Am I, um, and, uh, eligible to be a teacher to teach English too. I’m not an English teacher. I’m not an English native speaker. So I just decided that I would just, yeah, I had, uh, there was no turning back. 

I mean, it was, uh, I just, I remember telling myself, um, it will take the amount of time it will take, but I, I will just push until it works. So I was just ready to, if it was three years, it would take three years, but I would, I would do it anyway. But it worked in this then, then

Leah Gervais: That’s right. Right. So let’s talk a little bit about, I mean, I think that, that, that mindset shift is the most important part. Um, it’s the most important part. 

But  let’s do, talk a little bit about the strategy. So even with a newborn and a toddler and a pandemic and no childcare, how frequently did you create and upload videos to your YouTube channel during that time? And how long did you do that for?

Lea Vercellotti: So before? So I think there’s, um, two, one thing to mention, I started to post like one video a week to my YouTube channel, but I was really intentional. So I knew that it would work, that I was so sure, because I had, uh, spent month , like almost six month, like researching how the algorithm works. 

And I was, um, like looking at the competitors and I saw that there was like, there were not that many YouTube channel, uh, because it’s, yeah a  YouTube channel  is, it can be a lot of work. 

So it makes sense that everyone starts a YouTube channel. So I was so sure that with the videos I had in mind and what I was about to publish, I had like a list of 20 videos that was ready to film. 

I knew that it would eventually work, so I was just posting once a week, but I was really, um, yeah, there was a lot of preparation before, a lot of research and a lot of, uh, learning the algorithm.

 So I was just posting to my YouTube channel once a week. Um, yeah. And I, I think that was the maximum I could do because I was filming myself editing also like kind of a bit of editing and I had two children, so I couldn’t do more. But, um, yeah, I think it works, uh, once a week if you have the right video subjects, um, ready to go.

Leah Gervais: So. Right. So you researched, planned, filmed, edited, produced and posted a video  to your YouTube channel once a week for for years. Years, right? For years.

Lea Vercellotti: For one year and a half, Yep.

Leah Gervais: For one year and a half. Okay. And, and then you had done the background of making sure that, you know, you knew how the algorithm for a YouTube channel worked and everything. Okay. Did you have any fear when you posted your first video to your YouTube channel?

Lea Vercellotti: I, yeah, I think the first 10 videos were awful, but I remember someone saying like, your first 10 to 20 videos would be like, crap. So you, you just, you should put them out there as fast as you can, like to make your, to get it. Yeah, totally. 

So it made me laugh and I was like, Yeah, he’s right. Just yes, just do it. And yeah, it goes back to what I was saying before, it is just, I was scared. It was really weird to speak to a camera, but it was like, yeah, I can’t just start like, uh, holding myself back and all that. 

So just, yeah, you know, that this topic would work, you know that the thumbnail will work and that the video will work. So just, yeah, just do it. Yeah, of course I was cured, but I really got used to it after a while.

Leah Gervais: Yeah, you did it anyway. That’s what matters. Yeah, totally. Okay. So I’m hearing when I, when I’m, when we’re going back to this pattern of like what it really takes, So it took consistency, it took research, it took moving past your own indecision and moving past your own confusion and totally committing. 

And then it feels like, it feels like you were so committed that the fear was just like an afterthought. You’re like, Yeah, I’m scared, of course, but like, I’m not, I don’t even have time to think about it because I have a newborn and this is so important to me.

Lea Vercellotti: Yeah, exactly. Yeah, yeah. Consistency was one. Yeah. One key and just, yeah, putting in the work and um, yeah, being consistent and I, I tricked myself at the beginning. 

I decided to just have like one post video every week and not look at the analytics that much. And I, yeah, I didn’t have that much time to be honest with my kids. Yeah. 

But I think it can be, you can, if you stop posting and you’re not really clear about how the platform works, you, you can get caught up in like, um, looking at your numbers growing slowly and it can derail you.

 So I stopped everything that could derail me and stop me from succeeding on my YouTube channel. So I didn’t look at the analytics for six months. Yeah, maybe a little less, but I was just like a blue , like producing one video a week and it will eventually work.

Leah Gervais: Wow. Beautiful. But importantly, it’s not just upload any video to your YouTube channel and pray. It’s like there’s a strategy. You knew what you were doing. Yeah. 

And that brings me to, so you now are, uh, kind of able to help other business owners use a YouTube channel  for business. That’s a service that you can offer to a business owner that might be ready to do that. And I’ve seen what a  YouTube channel  has done for your business and you’ve done such a beautiful job of it.

 So, um, you used it to grow your email list. So can you talk a little bit about when you started that it, did you do that with the first video or did you do it after a few months? How did you know to do that and when did you start making money from it?

Lea Vercellotti: So I, um, whether it was on my website or on my YouTube channel, I started directly, directly to build an, um, an email list.

 And I have to this point, I have 40,000 contacts on my email list. And like the combination of these two, like search engine platforms, YouTube on my website and the fact that I, um, can get, um, new contacts every day, uh, and sell to them is what makes my business.

 so, um, evergreen and passive to this day. So I started, for the first video I had like a freebie, an opt-in ready to go. And, and, uh, yeah, I started to build my email list, uh, with the first video I uploaded.

Leah Gervais: Wow. So you knew right away to do it, You know, I’ve made a million mistakes in my business, a million, but probably the smartest thing I ever did was I did the same thing as you. 

Like very first blog post, I had an email list, Optin, and I don’t know how I had them wisdom to do that, but still to this day, I mean, I don’t have a huge audience on my social media platforms, but my email list is definitely what has kept my business growing as quickly as it has. 

And I, I go back and thank that version of Leah that like had no idea what she was doing. So you use your YouTube channel, which you now have over a hundred thousand subscribers and you’ve received a plaque from your YouTube channel.

 I mean, it’s a big deal. You have a good YouTube channel and you use that to build your email list and you sell to your email list and you make multiple five figures a month doing this.

Lea Vercellotti: Yeah, exactly. So the great thing about building an email list, um, was that when I first launched, I made 20 K for my first launch because I had all these people sending up every day from YouTube to my email list. 

And what’s great now is that with, um, like the amount of video that I have and the amount of, um, articles that I have on my website and the fact that these are search engine platforms that people literally find me every day organically, I’m able to make like, um, 20 k, 30 k a month, just with yeah, these two platforms, even marketing and uh, yeah. So it’s, um, it’s just, it’s great.

Leah Gervais: It’s great that you did it. And so I think that there’s so much to be proud of and to be, to be admired as your story. And I have the privilege of working with you closely and seeing how true you are to your own values and you’re such a present mother and available mother and you love to travel with your family. 

You know, you really do not just have this successful business, but you really have used it to live this life of your dreams and to be with your kids more and travel more. And it’s so beautiful to see, and I know that someone can hear you right now. You have this huge audience. 

You can be on vacation in Sweden with your kids and it doesn’t matter because people are finding you because of your YouTube channel and you’re still making money doing things like that.

Leah Gervais: Even then, um, you haven’t spent one penny on ads up to this point, which I Yeah. Is amazing. You haven’t paid for your audience at all, and you did the work, right? You did the work to get here.

 And something that I, I think I told you this, but something that I, I realize a few weeks ago is that when I talk about how business is so hard, and I actually, it’s not and I think, cause I realize that, I think I said that a lot almost because I don’t wanna trigger people when they think like, how can you say that? 

Like, you don’t know how lucky you are to have built this business with it not be challenging. 

And so I always would be like, Yeah, well it’s really hard. We all go through lots of challenges and look, it’s not like I haven’t had hard times, but it’s been the mental gymnastics that’s been challenging, the actual work of showing up and being consistent and just doing the thing is not, is only as hard as you make it, I think is what I’ll say at the end of the day. 

Like of course we have challenging times, Yes, there’s curve balls, but the drama we attach to these things is really what stands in our way. 

So I think you did a very thorough job telling us exactly what it looked like for you to get here. But if someone were to come up to you and say, Oh, your business, you don’t know how lucky you are, like you just, were in the right place at the right time. 

Is there anything else you’d wanna tell them about what you’ve done with your YouTube channel and what really it took?

Lea Vercellotti: Yeah. Um, I’m have spoken to a lot of entrepreneurs and I’ve seen, like behind the scene of their business is, and it made me realize how like powerful, this whole machine that I’ve made, uh, that have created, I, I was so into it and so consistent and I was not, uh, second guessing myself for everything that I didn’t realize how much work I put into it. Right?

 So yeah, I have few people coming to me and like, I wish I, I could make like 10 K or 20 k a month, but I can see, I can tell that they are only on Instagram and they have just, uh, one e-course that they’re barely promoting. They don’t have an email list and they don’t put in the work. 

So, um, yeah, I would say just be honest with yourself. Are you putting the work or are you just, um, yeah, admiring people and just wishing you could be there, but you’re not actually doing anything.

Leah Gervais: Right? Right. And you, um, you didn’t spend 24 hours a day doing this. You spent a lot of time doing it, but you still were a present mother. You still gotta be with your kids. 

You still didn’t have childcare and I’m sure some days you were more tired than others, but you really probably don’t have a lot of understanding of this excuse of, I don’t have time because you, you make time for the things that are really important to you, it sounds like.

Lea Vercellotti: Yeah, totally. And I, it’s easy to forget, but I, I made choices that were hard at that time, but now that I’m successful, like I have 160,000 people on my YouTube channel, 40,000 people on my emails. 

It sounds crazy, but now I’m, when people ask me how I came to this place, I remember that I had to choose, uh, I turned down all the jobs that people offered me, uh, when I was, um, with my son, like on my maternity leave. Uh, I had in, uh, in June, 2020, I had to decide whether I would go back to work in September. 

And I remember discussing with my husband, I was like, I, I don’t want to have students anymore. I don’t want to go back to this job. I, I hated it. And I had made just 700 years, uh, from my first launch. 

So I just took the leap. I trusted myself that this would work and I, I made a bunch of like scary decisions along the way. I invested, um, yeah, 3000 euros in one course and then a few months after I had to buy another and I had to have a coach to help me.

 So yeah, it’s easy to see the success. Like it’s just the tip of the iceberg, but to forget, like, yeah, I made yeah, choices that were tough at that time

Leah Gervais: That was scary and that felt like a risk. Absolutely. Absolutely. I think that that’s such a good point. And um, it’s easy even for ourselves to forget that part of our own story and to really like go back to how absolutely terrified we were some of the time, but we did it. 

Um, this might be kind of a hard question, but I’m curious. So you can answer it in whatever way you want, but you know that I’m a new mom and a lot of my listeners either are moms themselves or they wanna become moms or they’re pregnant and they’re, you know, thinking about how they can have the joy of working for themselves as a mom, but also it’s a lot more responsibility working for yourself as a mom.

 And so you have had the experience with both, right? You were working as a teacher with your first, and then it was with your second that you started working for yourself with your YouTube channel. 

And what would you say about, since you’ve been able to experience both, um, what was the main difference between the two and did you feel like you did actually get to be more present the second time around, even though you were building this business? 

Or do you maybe feel like you’re only more present now? How has the difference between the two been?

Lea Vercellotti: Yeah, so I like to teach English, but I was not really, yeah, I didn’t like to teach in classrooms and I, I dreaded going to work cuz I didn’t really enjoy having to have, Sure. I didn’t enjoy having like 30 teenagers, uh, in a classroom and just teaching them. 

So, um, yes, I didn’t have to think about my business and, and uh, like a refund request. So the stress was different. But to know that I’m, um, now to know that I’m, I can work and I’m, I have the power and I, I can just double, triple my revenue, uh, if I want to. 

Uh, it’s just, yeah, it brings peace of mind because I know that I can provide for my children. I can, uh, we can travel if you want. I have just, yeah, there’s no, I’ve never been, um, I’ve never felt safe to have a job on a bus. I feel safer now to be my own boss. Yeah. 

Because I’m in control basically. Yeah. And I can choose and, uh, my revenue is not kept and I can just keep growing as much as I want. So I’m much more present now. Of course, I have like a million gazillion ideas every minute, , but it’s, it’s great because I get to choose Yeah. How and when I work. 

So there’s no, yeah, there’s no cooperation. It’s just so much better to be an entrepreneur.

Leah Gervais: Oh, I, I totally agree, but I only had my kid when I already was, so I can’t compare the two, but it’s good to hear the difference between the two. 

Um, amazing. Well, I love your story. I love your work. 

And do you have anything else you wanna share about how, cause you have such a big audience of, of people wanting to learn English from you, French people learning English, you’re so good at that.

 But you have so much knowledge about business and online business and growing a YouTube channel and the algorithm and monetizing it and making money while you’re on vacation, and you wanna be able to offer that as well.

 So if people are interested in learning more about your YouTube channel growth or just wanna chat with you, is there a place they can reach out to you?

Lea Vercellotti: Yeah, sure. They can come to my Instagram. So it’s my first name, Leah, my last name, so you can Sure. Contacting me in DM

Leah Gervais: If you have. Okay. So we’ll put her Instagram, YouTube channel, um, in the show notes for this episode. And though we have the same name, hers does not have an H so if you’re searching for her, just keep that in mind and, um, yeah. 

So thank you so much. Okay. I have three quick questions for you. You ready?

Lea Vercellotti: Sure.

Leah Gervais: Is there a book that has really helped you on your entrepreneurial journey?

Lea Vercellotti: Yeah, Um, yeah. One that I read like two years ago that changed it, uh, that made me realize how mindset is important. Yes, this strategy, but if you have the strategy and you have the wrong mindset, you will not, you will not implement the strategy.

 So this book is called Get Rich Lucky. It’s from, uh, Denise Fin Thomas. I don’t know if you’ve read it, but it’s, it changed everything for me.

Leah Gervais: Oh, awesome. Okay, good. That’s a really fun one. Uh, do you have a moment or a day where you were like, Holy, I can’t believe that I built this sort of a really proud moment?

Lea Vercellotti: Yeah, when I was, um, working on my laptop by a lake in Sweden last, last spring, because it was everything I dreamt. No, I was actually on my phone. 

My dream was to be able to just work from my phone because I would have someone like, uh, doing the heavy lifting for me and I would just be able to just do a bunch of things on, on my phone with my kids, like playing around. So that was just, uh, yeah.

Leah Gervais: Oh, that is such a beautiful picture and I can see it perfectly and I’m sure that that’s such a real dream come true. Amazing.

 And then do you have something that really helps you when you’re having a bad day or something didn’t go wrong or you got a mean, now what do you do to vent out the stress?

Lea Vercellotti: I, in the past I went for a run, but now I try to remind myself that I’m not my business. So, And as you, I think you mentioned that in best things don’t mean anything un until you give, give them a meaning. 

So if someone asks you for a refund, it’s not about you, it’s just about them. So it’s just yeah, trying to put things in perspective.

Leah Gervais: Mm. Good. Good. Well, thank you so much for sharing your story with us. Thank you for sharing the behind the scenes of your hard work. 

I know that you’ve already helped so many with your YouTube channel and you’re just going to help more, especially as you help more entrepreneurs because you really have built such a powerful machine. 

And I know that if people are willing to do the work , they can do it for themselves too. And there’s so much good about having that for yourself or your family as a mom, as a wife, as a, as a daughter, you know, whatever kind of roles are important to you. You don’t need to have your employee role be more important than your family and your friends and the things that are most important to you.

 And I think that that’s really what a successful online business is about. So thank you so much for sharing it. It was fun talking to you as always. Thank you. 

All right, everyone, go check out her Instagram, her YouTube channel, DM her and let me know if you listen to this episode. I’ll talk to you guys soon.

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