Today we’d like to introduce you to Annie M. Fonte.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Annie. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
When: October 22, 2007, 4:30 pm (it was a Monday)
Where: Rancho Santa Fe, CA
What: My house burned to the ground
What Else: The fifteen-year relationship that I had been in was also going up in flames.
There’s More: Yes, one of my companies was in a multi-million dollar lawsuit with a big-ass global company.
Then What: Needless to say, I had to re-imagine and then re-create my life. The odds of one’s house burning down is one in 16,000 and although the odds of a relationship breaking up are extremely high it doesn’t make the pain any less. As far as the lawsuit, it is my experience that being up against one of America’s largest companies, even as the Plaintiff is certainly not for the light-hearted. The great poet Rumi once said, “Set your life on fire.” Rumi would be proud, I was all in!
Building a house from the ground up was never on my “list of things to do”. As a matter of fact, I had never even given any thought to doing such a thing. GOD had other plans for me and who was I to argue with the “big guy”. I was so broken from a failed relationship that my heart literally ached. My business partner and I were supposed to be in Minneapolis (in the middle of freezing ass cold winter) meeting with attorneys in two weeks to continue our David and Goliath legal battle. I didn’t even have a coat let alone anything else to wear. I lost almost everything I owned in the fire.
I decided to simply be with the loss and heartache. As humanly challenging as it was, I elected to accept all that each moment brought to me as if I had chosen it for myself. I was still; often. I went on walks; many. I lived moment to moment and realized that being happy and healed and safe was all a matter of choice. As the days, weeks, months and now years passed I learned a lot… about myself, about others, about life and about love. Along the way (thousands of magazine pages, a bunch of books, a seminar here and there, the support of friends and family and absolute determination) I created Lines In The Sand: A 10 Step Invitation to Be Your Authentic Self. I created it because I want to help others live an authentic life… a life that is extraordinary… a life worth living.
This journey will be challenging, invigorating and worth it. There will be hard questions that demand answers that are honest and certain. There will be moments of sadness and of great joy. There will be “ah ha” moments and times when you will want to close the book and put it on a shelf never to return to its pages. You will recognize things about yourself that you don’t much care for and you will discover things that you would have never imagined… good things, grand things. LIFE giving things.
You will become a “Warrior” in the most captivating way. As you courageously start to peel away the layers of who you are currently being you will be delighted when you get to the “good stuff”… to who you really are… you will “be”-come your true essence… the amazing, one-of-a-kind, genuine article, authentic YOU!
Has it been a smooth road?
It hasn’t been a smooth road, however, I have enjoyed the journey. This company has gone through some of the typical start-up challenges that most do. And, the evolution of the company came out of my desire to re-design my life. I didn’t start out with my re-design intending to start a company. As I was evolving to a different place in my life I would tell friends what I was doing and they all urged me to share it with other people. I was hesitant to do so and then I thought why not? If what I have learned about creating a life that I love could help others, why wouldn’t I share my journey and what I had discovered along the way?
I started to write the curriculum and content to teach a live ‘beta’ class. I then gathered together 10 of my friends and asked if they would join me one day a month for a year at my barn to take the course. The transformation in the participants was truly remarkable. As a result, I continued to teach the live course. Then the participants would suggest that I put the course together and offer it in an online format. Once again, this was not something that I had planned to do, but with some urging and encouragement, I decided to jump in and create an online course.
It took several months to create the course and film all of the supporting video with bumps along the way. However, the online course is now up and running. I am very proud of what was created and the online participants are having tremendous results. So, the struggles have all been worth the outcome.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Meet Me At The Barn story. Tell us more about the business.
Meet Me At The Barn is a self-mastery and personal development program designed to help people of purpose achieve their highest level of living. By producing live and online courses that guide our clients toward living and an authentic life, we help them discover and pursue their true self and passions. This matters because when existence and essence merge, you can be in the world according to your true self, forming the very core of self-fulfillment. Unlike other self-mastery and personal development programs, ours is led by a Harvard-educated MBA with multiple successful businesses to her credit and who truly lives the life of her dreams.
I am most proud that the company is focused on assisting others to create a life that they love. Throughout the coursework and the other resources provided, I encourage people to put their smartphones down and start being present in their lives. The focus of the company is to help people consider new perspectives in their lives that serve them instead of distracting them. We provide many avenues to people that leads them to a more peaceful, fulfilling and abundant life. Just because the world might seem like it is spinning out of control does mean we have to feel like our lives are spinning out of control.
What sets us apart from other companies is our commitment to values-based living. Integrity is the cornerstone of our vision and mission. We assist people in discovering what is most important to them and designing a life that makes it possible.
How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
Right now the industry is very crowded. With the introduction of the internet and social networking, it provided a platform for anyone to hang a shingle out and claim to be an expert. And, there are so many people who want to be Life Coaches. As with most things, there are generally about 20% of those in the industry that are viable and true experts and there are 80% who are not.
I think that changes in social media will have an effect on the industry. The cream will rise to the top and the consumer will become more educated and discerning about where they get their information and who and what they will spend their money on.
It is my goal to assist people in creating a life that they love. In my humble opinion this is done by spending less time, a lot less, on social media, comparing oneself to others, and in a distracted mode most of the time. The pendulum has swung so far in one direction that I don’t think people are capable of handling all of the noise of the world. They need a break from it, and they know they need a break from it. The challenge is to get people to admit that the fast-paced, I want it now way of living isn’t serving them. We have more stressed, depressed, anxious and unhappy people in the world now more than ever. That needs to change!
I think that in the next 5 to 10 years people will need an outlet that provides them with peace, sanctity and a safe place to be vulnerable. That is what I do.
Pricing:
- Live course-12 month program. Meets once a month for six hours. $1450
- Online mini-courses. $29.95
- Online full course. $297
Contact Info:
- Website: www.meetmeatthebarn.com
- Phone: 858-245-5200
- Email: annie@meetmeatthebarn.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/anniemfonte/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/annie.fonte
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/AnnieMFonte1
- Other: https://beattitudeskit.com
Getting in touch: SDVoyager is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
