Aloha! It Is Nice To Meet You!
Now, A Little About Me...
Erica Duran’s Professional Bio:
Erica Duran is a former Fortune 50 Executive turned International Freedom-Based Business Coach and Lifestyle Mentor.
She is the creator of the Paid For Your Presence™ Method and Mentorship.
Most of her clients earn $5K to $20K+ per month while reclaiming massive amounts of free time.
Erica believes that the one thing this world doesn’t need is one more burnt-out, broke, overwhelmed women entrepreneur who is baffled by technology and living every day with massive amounts of pressure about their lack of time and money.
She doesn’t believe in cookie-cutter business formulas, blueprints, or one-off fad tactics.
Instead, Erica works with each client to help them develop and share their unique message and brand essence with the world so that they stand out online from their competition and attract their ideal clients/ customers to them with minimal ad spend (if any).
She is a down-to-earth, relatable, tell-it-like-it-is coach and businesswoman who creates massive results and regularly hits unrealistic goals (and helps her clients do the same) by leveraging a blend of inspired action and intuition with the most effective online marketing strategy.
Erica’s list of clients ranges from brand new business owners to 6 and 7- figure entrepreneurs across the online spectrum from authors, speakers, coaches, professional organizers, attorneys, web designers, stylists, healers, creatives, and more.
Erica also consults high-profile corporate clients, and content sponsors like Disney, Hilton, Marriott, Nexa Mortgage, Hello Fresh, Amazon, and Globe Life.
She teaches her clients how to attract ideal dream clients and create joint ventures with high-paying brands and content sponsors just as she has done.
Erica is also the owner of a highly-profitable travel agency where she helps her clients plan and book their retreats, workshops, events, book tours, and vacations.
Erica is a hard-core minimalist and traveled full-time as a digital nomad for eighteen years living at resorts in Hawaii, Arizona, Florida, and California that sponsored her content.
In 2004, she sold absolutely everything except her laptop, iPhone, two long-haired mini dachshunds, and two suitcases.
She now lives full-time in the little town that the Walt Disney Company built - Celebration, Florida but still travels often.
Are you finally ready to stop stressing about money and create daily sales in your business?
Are you tired of fighting with technology and piecing together all the free resources online (that never really solve anything anyway)?
Are you ready to attract high-paying clients, corporate partners, and content sponsors?
Then apply for your complimentary Aloha Strategy Session with Erica Duran today!
Never Settle!
Let's Get A Little More Personal...
Erica Duran's Informal Bio:
Aloha, I’m Erica Duran, and I’ve been a veteran entrepreneur for over 20 years.
I am a Freedom-Based Business Coach and Lifestyle Mentor, Digital Nomad, Travel Agency Owner, Certified Professional Organizer®, and minimalist.
I also have a strong background in sales, marketing, and technology.
But Here Is The Real Inside Story…
“I Always Knew I Was Meant to be an Entrepreneur…”
I worked in corporate America for about 15 years during college and after I graduated but I always had some little business “on the side”.
I would get so excited when I would get involved in a new business opportunity! Saying things like: “This time it was going to work. This time it would be my ticket out of the cubicle!”
I was pretty much a “star” employee in corporate America with fancy titles like Director of Operations, National Sales Director and Vice President of Sales & Marketing, CEO of the first nationwide short sale company, and Coordinator of Venture Capital.
I also had fancy licenses such as Investment Series 6, 63 and 26, mortgages, real estate and life insurance.
But, I was literally DYING inside every day I had to go “to work”. It was making me physically ill.
I was making a good living and doing work that I highly praised, but the work was draining my energy every single day.
I was so RESTLESS!
I always thought the grass was greener so I would leap to other companies thinking that it would be better “over there”.
It never was.
I bounced from job to job for years! They were “good jobs”, but they were still jobs. The jobs would usually end badly like getting “reprimanded” for giving my honest opinion when I was asked in a meeting or getting caught up in some crazy political pissing contest.
One day, the politics got so disgusting, I packed up my car at lunchtime, left the building, and never went back!
My Life Felt So Complicated All Of a Sudden!
Quitting my job with no “Plan B” was not the smartest thing I’ve ever done.
But, I was so unhappy and it was starting to affect my marriage (at the time), my health, and overall attitude about life.
Was I going to go through a “cooling off” period again and then take my tail right back to corporate this time?
Was I going to finally sell everything, get out of debt and downsize to get off this hamster wheel?
I was going from one job to the next and I didn’t love any of them.
I was working lots of hours to pay for things that I didn’t really want or need and to top it off I had no time to enjoy these items that were making me work and earn so much in the first place!
I had such a long commute that I had no time to shop for healthy foods or do any cooking or get to the gym as often as I would have liked.
I also went through two painful divorces over these turbulent years.
The various “business opportunities” after the work day and on weekends that turned out to be mostly scams or impossible to make a decent living where I could replace my high corporate income.
Then One Day I Woke Up From This So-called Suburban “Fairy Tale”…
I realized that I NEVER actually sat down and thought about what I really wanted.
Between graduating college, getting married, going from job to job, getting unmarried, buying and selling homes, getting married again, buying new cars, buying the latest gadgets, raising 3 corgis and filling up my home and credit cards with clutter – I didn’t give myself a moment to figure out what I actually wanted!
I didn’t want a high-level corporate job (even if there were benefits and stock options), I didn’t want a luxury car, I didn’t want a white picket-fenced house in a gated community and I didn’t want all that clutter and “stuff”.
I tried to remember or uncover down to my core and figure out what I REALLY wanted in my life. After a lot of 6+-hour walks on the beach just thinking, I decided that the following items are what I truly wanted.
Here Is The List I Came Up With...
I wanted a home-base in Newport Beach, CA with ocean view, no matter what.
I wanted to set my own hours.
I wanted to be able to walk to the neighborhood places I needed to go, not drive.
I wanted to be able to work anywhere in the world and live places for a few months at a time so I could really soak up the culture.
I wanted to have my dogs with me all day while I worked.
I never wanted to wear pantyhose or fly coach again!
Yep, that was pretty much it.
The Big Decision…
So, one day I made a decision to sell almost everything I owned.
I sold my perfect home in a planned community and moved to a tiny little apartment that overlooked the beach. This is where I wanted to be, closer to fresh air, unique restaurants within walking distance, a beach running trail and I could even hear seals barking in the harbor from my balcony!
Selling my home and almost all of my belongings also gave me some seed money and the ability to take time off to start something new that was all mine and not another multi-level company and leave the 9-to-5 (sometimes past 11 PM) corporate life once and for all.
I finally had time to think about what I wanted to do as far as a business rather than just “join” some direct selling scheme.
This “break” from my “job” also gave me a lot of time to research health, fitness, and green living for my own well-being and the environment.
Sadly Though…
Sadly, though, doing all this soul searching and growing caused me to grow apart from my husband and we eventually separated our lives.
Hitting Rock Bottom (more than once) and Bouncing Back (but this time for good)…
I had always known that my passion was for organizing, time management, and systems. But, I kept starting business ventures based on the money I was going to make, not my passions.
Because the businesses I would create and the consulting jobs I would take on were “just for the money” they never really grew to their full potential. I would make huge amounts of money only to lose it all over and over and over again!
When it was good, it was really good, and I had all the luxuries you could think of. But, when it was bad it was really bad and I sometimes had to reach out to government programs and there were about three times when I was just about one week away from being homeless!
Those “11th” hour miracles are scary!
So, in 2004 I decided to stop consulting other companies and start my own called “Clutter Bugs” and then “The Clutter Bug Store” – an online global consignment store so we could sell the items our clients were no longer using.
I grew Clutter Bugs into multiple 6-figure-business for over 8 years. And, even turned it into a franchise of fifteen locations across the U.S.
Then, I Was Over It!
I was bored and depressed and needed to grow the business into something that matched how I was evolving. Again, my passion was organizing, but now I was in the business of selling franchises and running a warehouse filled with our clients’ clutter.
And, now I was really stuck in ONE location again, the consignment store warehouse was in Long Beach, CA and “had” to be there. This is not the remote working arrangement I had dreamed about!
Once again, I was doing things and making decisions because of money, not my passions. (You would think I would have learned the first time!).
I was feeling so trapped!
So I sold the business and the proprietary software that I had created for an online consignment store.
Well, Not Exactly…
I was feeling restless again after Erica Duran International reached multiple six-figures in less than nine months. I decided to de-clutter and sell what little stuff was left from my first attempt at being a minimalist in 2004 when I sold my house.
So, in the summer of 2013, I sold absolutely everything I didn’t need or want down to the last spoon! I piled car with my MacBook Air, my iPhone, some clothes, a juicer, my dogs and their stuff. (Frankly, the dogs had more stuff than I did!). I took off to various states for eight months.
This was to accomplish three things:
One, to get away from everything I’ve known and receive some perspective.
Two, to test a theory out for a book and future program I’m crafting called “Urban Escape.”
Three, because I met a lot of my clients face-to-face they expected the coaching to be face-to-face. This puts a cramp in my “live remotely” desire. It wasn’t the clients’ fault we continued to meet in person, it was mine. So, I took myself out of the area and continued coaching over the phone and email and everyone was happy.
I learned so much while on this adventure! I can’t wait to share more in my new book “Urban Escape”. I would describe this book as “Eat, Pray, Love” by Liz Gilbert meets “The 4-Hour Work Week” by Tim Ferriss.
Being away and living in various states (and sometimes showing up in a place and not knowing where I was going to live!). I decided that having a home base was important to me! I thought about it and “home” really was in beautiful Newport Beach, California where I had lived for a seven-year span without moving once (that is a record for me!).
I returned to live in Newport with Java, my mini long-haired Dachshund.
“Nesting” Only Lasted Eight Months! I Wanted My Digital Nomad Lifestyle Back!
After about eight months of “nesting” in Newport Beach, I realized that I was just seeking a “home” to get through some painful family diseases and their eventual deaths. I wanted to cocoon in a place that was familiar to grieve.
An unexpected trip awakened my adventurous spirit again. I had to drive from California to Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas to pick up a puppy that a friend found online. That trip refocused me on what I wanted again and the joy of the new puppy snapped me out of all the sadness and grief.
All my dogs’ names were after some sort of coffee drink. So what was I to name this one? Ahhh! Cafe “Vienna” Latte! A coffee drink, a tribute to my corgi Latte that passed and Vienna (sausage) for my new little cocktail weenie!
2020 Update!
From 2013 to 2020 I pretty much traveled full-time while working on my laptop.
I bounced between Orange County California, Scottsdale Arizona, and the Hawaiian Islands.
In late 2019 I thought I wanted to settle down so I moved to Walt Disney World. Yep, for real - actually moved to Walt Disney World for an entire year! 🏰
But...
In January 2020 I contacted the Covid-19/Coronavirus... twice - and was pretty ill for about eight months.
But I am honestly grateful for this experience.
It forced me to slow down and evaluate everything in my life again.
Since I couldn't focus on work at this time, I had a lot of time to reflect and re-design my business to suite how I wanted to work from now on.
I created the Paid For Your Presence Method™.
I also became extremely anxious and depressed being "stuck" in one place... even if it was the most magical place on earth - Disney World.
So I started pitching luxury tropical resorts to sponsor my podcast - (just like I did back in 2015). They said "YES!".
The first stop was Margaritaville for an entire year!
Stay tuned for this next adventure! 💙🏝🍍
So, What Do I Really Do All Day?
Typically, I work about 2 days per week (Tuesdays and Thursdays) 3 weeks out of the month = a 6-day work month!
On the 4th week my clients and I enjoy and "Implementation Week". This strategy really helps you break that weekly grind and hustle.
I support, give expert guidance and accountability to new and established entrepreneurs virtually from anywhere in the world.
Sometimes I am asked to speak to a group, be a guest on a podcast, or I host my own events and workshops.
Most of my work day is spent listening and/or reading the dream lifestyles and goals of my clients and then working with them to make them happen.
I spend time building relationships with amazing women online and offline.
I also help with challenges and questions from my entrepreneur clients and then coming up with custom solutions and systems to attempt to alleviate the problem for them.
I feel my work is so fulfilling now, and I am finally doing what I was meant to do! It is so amazing to see my clients actually achieve what they say they want.
Sometimes it takes a few tries, but when the system or idea works for them – it is like magic! The clients get a system so they can literally “set and forget it”, increase their revenues and get on with the living life they’ve always dreamed of.
Usually, after most of my projects and tasks are done for the day, (or if I just need a break from the computer!), I run or walk along the beach or do some other physical activity.
For three days out of the month, I work in big content producing batches for my blog, podcast or videos, projects, marketing, and future programs in a fully focused manner.
A few days throughout the month I travel to a client or I host at the luxury resort where I am “living” at the moment, VIP Day Intensive Luxury Experiences. This is a half or full day intensive where clients get clarity on their lifestyle and business and get FAST results!
In 2015, I started podcasting and creating YouTube videos.
I've had six different shows over the years!
I am so grateful that my favorite 5-star resorts on the planet have offered to host and sponsor my new shows!
We’ve since archived all of the old shows and are getting ready to launch an all-new platform.
I am “Virtually Famous” and on the expert panel and/or contribute to the following publications and organizations
Podcasts and YouTube Channels Over the Years...
(Now, Most Of These Shows Are Archived To Make Way For the New Show!)
The Erica Duran Show - Freedom-Based Luxury Lifestyle Design Radio
The Erica Duran Show - Unscripted
Googlebait The Podcast
The All New Erica Duran Show
Enchanted Tiki Travel
Paid For Your Presence Wiki
Now, Join Me For My New Podcast!
Want To Know More?
Affiliations and Memberships:
I used to belong to a TON of networking groups and associations! Then, two things happened.
One, my website took off and there was no justification for the time and money spent on these groups as a marketing activity for business anymore. Although, I did miss the people and friends I had made in these groups
Two, I started traveling for months at a time and would miss so many meetings I just wasn’t worth it to join these associations anymore.
Plus, I liked traveling and getting my clients over the internet way more than sitting listening to a bunch of people trying to sell me something I didn’t need and getting served bad “networking” food.
I am currently evaluating a few new associations to join with highly professional and successful men and women that are fun, productive and not too “stuffy”. Do you know of any? Email your suggestions to Aloha@EricaDuran.co.
Want To Know A Little More?
Education:
I attended California Polytechnic State University, Pomona and graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Hotel and Restaurant Management. I sometimes find it ironic that I have a culinary “cooking” degree and now I am an active raw vegan. In addition, I earned an Associates Degree in Business Administration.
I was licensed in life insurance and securities (Series 6, 63, and 26) and real estate in the state of California. I was the Vice President of Sales and Marketing for a nationwide Short Sale/Loan Auditing Company for many years.
I am a “recovering” (you never really get over being OCD) Professional Organizer of 15 years, Certified (CPO®) for the last 3 years. Yes, there is really a test for this stuff. Being certified means that I took a long exam and have well over 1,500 of paid organizing related hours on record with The Board of Certified Professional Organizers®. We are taught to not just fix your efficiency problems but to also transfer skills and set up systems that compliment your personality and work style.
Still, Want to Know More?
What Do I Love:
Dogs – of course! They are such amazing, loving, innocent creatures!
I am working on a wellness website for dogs called Fountain of Woof.
For over fifteen years, I’ve also had three Pembroke Welsh Corgis that mean everything in the world to me named: Starbucks, Kona and Latte. 💙💙💙
What Are Some Other Favorites?
I love sunsets, coffee, wine tasting, plumerias, Gerbera daisies, Apple Computers, sea creatures, butterflies, Tommy Bahamas, new puppy smell, Hawaiian Culture, waterfalls, raw gourmet cooking, entertaining, and staying up really late at night.
And seriously, I love learning about new marketing techniques and personal development. During my free time, I have to force myself not to read about these subjects and broaden my interests.
My favorite activities are running, hiking, yoga, traveling, reading, finding great authentic (not chain) restaurants, farmer’s markets, exploring hotels, Broadway plays, and moving (weird?).
My favorite places in the world: The Hawaiian Islands, Florida Keys, The Queen Mary, Monterey Bay & Carmel CA, Disney Theme Parks, ships, and a spa in any city :).
People that Inspire Me:
Lin-Manuel Miranda and Walt Disney.
Music, Movies, Books, TV, Magazines:
I don’t like having a TV in my home, but sometimes I catch things online on my terms without commercials.
I stopped subscribing to magazines about 10 years ago – too many ads for so little actual information in the articles.
I love music! It really is the soundtrack to your life and can change your energy, mood, and environment in an instant! I like everything from world music, new age, classical and jazz to Top 40 to hardcore rap! The only music that never really grew on me was rock and country. I also love music from Broadway shows.
My favorite all-time movies are La La Land and Titanic (my 2nd wedding was even themed after Titanic on the Queen Mary ship!) I also love Gone With the Wind and any Disney movie.
Not exactly a movies, but... better than any movies I've seen...
Completely Obsessed with Game Of Thrones!
No seriously... from dying my hair mother-of-dragons-white to naming my new Jeep "Drogon" and changing my license plate. 🔥🐉🐉🐉
Books!
As far as books…there are seriously too many to list here – so I created a Book Club Amazon List so you could pick up the books for yourself easily with one click. My private clients actually receive a recommended reading/listening list so they can start up-leveling their mindset and building better productive habits right away!
I would highly suggest getting these on Audible so you can listen anywhere and do something physical at the same time. Here is a link to get your first Audible book FREE!
Amazon Book Club
Check Out My Amazon Book Club Here: EricaDuran.co/Books
I 💙 Listening On-The-Go!
Get 30 Days of Audible For FREE with this link: EricaDuran.co/Audible
My Secret Quirks:
I am fascinated with books, movies, and museums that explore shipwrecks and other disasters.
I am always looking for a simple and easy solution to any problem – the most direct way to get what you want. I’m great at cutting through the B.S. and getting to the root of things and then suggesting a clear plan of action.
My Not-So-Secret Quirks:
I LOVE moving! I had moved once a year until I landed in Newport Beach, CA. But even though I was staying in one place for several years, once a year I would “pretend” to move and clear everything out, clean it deeply and put it back.
I don’t do that too much anymore because now I only have one suitcase and a few boxes. Frankly, those few boxes are starting to annoy me!
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Never Settle!
Erica Duran
Psst! Last Chance…
Ready To Stop Settling?
Ready to abolish busywork and have large waves of ideal clients reaching out to work with you?
Ready to be positioned as a true thought leader and not just another internet marketer?
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We will even customize the Minimalist Business Model™ and the Paid For Your Presence™ Method for your industry, marketing style, and brand.
Don't want to wait for a session? Text 407-519-0313 or message Erica on Instagram to get your questions answered now!