Reconnecting with Purpose: Why Me, Why Now?
I am thrilled to announce the re-launch of The Wealth Creation Institute, a program designed to support entrepreneurs in achieving their visions, acquiring more clients, and increasing their revenues. This relaunch marks a significant shift back to the intuitive and purposeful core that has always driven me. I want to share my journey with you and invite you to join me in this renewed mission.
Why I’m Coming Back
From the beginning of my first business—starting with 100 free psychic readings to prove there was nothing to my abilities and to get back on track to go to law school (ha!)—to charging $15 for 15 minutes, and eventually serving clients all over the world, including six, multiple six-figure, and seven-figure entrepreneurs, I have always believed in the power of businesses to be a force for individual transformation and broader societal good. For a child who had been raised in a trailer by a single mom, wore clothes from Goodwill and after college found myself living in my mom’s basement working a telemarketing job for $8/hour to achieve massive success felt surreal. By 2012, I considered myself a "seven-year overnight success." By 2015, I had a thriving business, clients I loved, and a marriage where I felt seen, safe, and proud to be a part of.
But then things began to change—or more precisely, all of the things I had been unwilling to face, all of the inadequacies and fears I had used work, success, money, and achievement to cover up, began to thrust their way through. Despite professional success, I began to experience cracks in my facade. By 2016, I was in the process of a divorce, at the top of my game but not fully aware of how burnt out I was. I worked all the time, noticing key problems in my industry and feeling eager to make changes. Then, everything fell apart. My divorce reactivated issues from my childhood, and I sought distraction in drugs, sex, and chronic overwork. I was raped. I didn’t know how to ask for help or how to be sad. My only strategy for dealing with any of this was to lie, conceal, and push harder.
This led to a level of bitterness and despair that was overwhelming. Being sensitive and empathic, it all started to feel just too hard, the pain and grief overtook me. I thought of Sylvia Plath’s line from The Moon and the Yew Tree: “I simply cannot see where there is to get to.” I wanted to die.
Still, my belief in purpose-led and spiritually centered business owners and entrepreneurs never left me.
The turning point came when my client Teri Bybee offered me a Resonance Repatterning. At the time, I had lost almost all faith, but there was still a smart part of myself that was willing. Willing to be open, desperate enough to try and trusting enough to give it a shot. And healing— a long and ongoing process—began. A crack of light underneath a shut metal door. A break in the pain. A sip of water on a too hot un-air-conditioned day. A little bit of hope. An impossible rope for my battered spirit to grasp. This experience was a moment of healing amidst darkness, the first spark in reigniting my passion for helping intuitive and spiritually centered entrepreneurs navigate the complexities of business.
Why You Should Care
My personal journey, while transformative, is just one story. My individual narrative alone isn’t a reason for me to re-launch this program. It’s even less of a reason you should care about me relaunching this program. This isn't just about me or my ego; fundamentally it's about you, and the challenges you face. While my experiences might inspire empathy, they alone aren't a reason to trust my business expertise. The reality is that countless entrepreneurs are struggling. I'd hoped there would be no reason, no need for me to reopen this program because there were so many more resources available. Shockingly, it seems almost the opposite is true.
The data paints a sobering picture. In a business landscape where up to 50% of all new businesses fail within the first five years, and a staggering 90% of startups falter within the first two to three years (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Investopedia), the need for robust support has never been more critical. The entrepreneurial journey is fraught with challenges: intense competition, overwhelming complexity, and a marketplace saturated with noise.
The surge in new business applications post-Covid, a 24% increase (U.S. Census Bureau), coupled with the coaching industry's 33% growth from 2015 to 2019 (International Coaching Federation), highlights a crowded and competitive landscape. While this indicates a growing demand for support, it also underscores the challenge of distinguishing oneself in a saturated market.
Strikingly, among all of these new businesses—courses, classes, webinars, eBooks, online summits, trainings, products, services, and advice-for-sale—there's a stunning lack of transformational programs that truly work. In fact, it's almost the complete opposite. “Experts” offering courses prescribing strategies and tactics that are already outdated by the time they're put into a course and offered to you. Classes where you may never hear from the instructor in real time, let alone get to connect with them one-on-one. Glossy sales pages stuffed full of promises made by people and companies who know nothing about you, your values or your business, yet feel completely confident using exaggerated, hyperbolic language designed to manipulate you into purchasing and shaming you into silence when it doesn't work for you.
It's a landscape filled with shiny objects, empty promises, cynical leaders and a pervasive sense of disappointment.
It's a landscape filled with shiny objects, empty promises, cynical leaders and a pervasive sense of disappointment.
Why the Wealth Creation Institute
In 2012, I launched The Wealth Creation Institute with a vision of empowering entrepreneurs to create businesses aligned with their values. The program was met with enthusiasm, and I was privileged to work with incredible clients. However, in 2016, I made the difficult decision to pause the program as I embarked on a profound personal and professional transformation.
Through years of introspection and healing, I've rediscovered my passion for supporting conscious entrepreneurs. And reconnected with the principles I wrote about and the track record I have:
- Mentored by top communications scholars
- Launched and ran several profitable businesses in multiple industries
- Trained first-time business owners, six to seven-figure entrepreneurs, and CEOs
- Sold millions of dollars in coaching and consulting
- Racked up 10,000 hours of coaching
- Written a bestselling book
My own journey through personal and professional challenges has deeply informed my decision to re-launch The Wealth Creation Institute. Through years of therapy, group support, meditation, journaling, and energy healing modalities, I've gained a profound understanding of the emotional and psychological barriers that often hinder entrepreneurial success.
The experiences I gained during the hiatus have deepened my understanding of the challenges faced by today's business owners. The rise of remote work, increased competition, and the overwhelming influx of generic business advice have created a landscape where standing out is more crucial than ever.
They affirmed my belief that there is not only space but a need for someone to teach and hold space for the wealth foundations. Sun Tzu's quote, “There are not more than five musical notes, yet the combinations of these five give rise to more melodies than can ever be heard," resonates deeply with me. The five cores of a successful business—vision, audience, offerings, marketing, and sales—are critical at every business stage. They represent clarity amidst complexity and offer entrepreneurs the confidence needed to succeed authentically.
The Wealth Creation Institute is back, reimagined and revitalized to address the unique challenges of today's conscious entrepreneur. Building upon the strong foundation of the original program, we now offer a more customized, one-on-one approach that combines strategic business guidance with holistic personal development.
Why This Launch Is Different
I've poured my heart and soul into creating a launch experience that's original, authentic and incredibly valuable without being overwhelming. This isn't about selling a program; it's about providing immense value and igniting a spark within your entrepreneurial journey. I'm committed to transparency, authenticity, and delivering results. This isn't about trying to trick you into anything through scarcity and manufactured time limits; or convince you that you can grow a successful business without hard work, dedication and a willingness to be uncomfortable and to challenge yourself.
I have 3 Intentions for this launch:
- Build Trust: I want you to get to know me, my approach and my commitment to your success.
- Deliver Exceptional Value: I want you to get more actionable insights, client attraction strategies and tools to move through resistance from this free experience, than you'd get from many paid programs.
- Help Grow Your Business: Whether it's getting a new client, increasing your revenue, creating a great offering, finding your perfect clients or marketing and selling in a way that works without feeling gross.
Over the next six weeks, we’ll focus on these five wealth creation foundations: vision, audience, offerings, marketing, and sales. Each week will include:
- Livestream Trainings: Weekly training sessions on each core foundation.
- Templates and Worksheets: Practical tools and resources to support your journey.
- Extensive Resource Library: Access to hundreds of trainings, visualizations, meditations, lectures, and systems/templates tested by myself and many clients.
All of which will be added to my website as we go—giving you a reason to checkback and a library of resources to help you depending on where you are in your journey.
Here's what I know: if you don't figure out a way to market that works, that feels sustainable, and that is aligned with your unique talents and divine gifts—then the people who need you the most, those individuals whose lives would be completely changed by experiencing your work, won't get that chance, won't get than help.
Beyond that, I am driven by the belief that if conscious entrepreneurs don't thrive, future generations won't pursue their dreams of making a meaningful impact. Each entrepreneur represents a chance—a crack of light in darkness—for a better life, a prosperous business, and a healthier world.
From my mind to yours,
Michael Mapes
Starting July 15th, I'll be sharing my most effective strategies, tools, and insights to help you achieve your entrepreneurial dreams. Be the first to know! Visit www.michaelmapes.org and sign up for the launch. You'll receive exclusive access to 5 weeks of invaluable content, including business growth tips, marketing strategies, and personal development tools to help you move through resistance and fear.
