Claire F.

The first thing I want to make clear because of the threats of law suits to others who have written their reviews, this is how I viewed my experience. There is much more to my personal story, but no one has time to read a novel when they're looking for a review.

The second thing I want to say is that this is just my side of what I happened. Every story has more than one side; this is just mine.

In my opinion, this programme is not worth the investment.

I made what I consider to be one of the greatest mistakes of my life when I signed up for this programme.

As the face of the Michelle Stonhill company, I can't deny that I felt drawn to Michelle's apparent warmth towards women and, what I felt at the time, understanding of what it's like to be a woman building a business, but those feelings faded significantly and quickly.

I was invited onto a discovery call June 2018 after I'd been interacting with Michelle and/or her team for a couple of months on social media. I was delighted because I saw her as a person of influence and everyone wants to be liked, right? And we are constantly told to surround ourselves with people you want to be more like... Not always the best move, in my case.

On the call with her, I recall I was told about how she was taking women from 0-10k in a matter of months and how one of her clients, a makeup artist, was making it big in the Versace mansion as a result of working with her. I told her my intention which, at that time, was to work with women overcoming depression and ready to step up to the next level in their lives. She then went on to tell me about how she'd worked with someone who was earning a million dollars a year as a live in support for celebrities with addictions. She couldn't say who this was because of the nature of their business, but I knew who the makeup artist was. I have since learned that the MUA already had the contacts for this. I can't say about the other person because I have no idea who they are or even if they exist. I have also learned in subsequent months that some testimonials were not factually correct or accurately represented which means, at least in my mind, I wasn't able to make a fully informed decision because some of what I saw, read and heard had an influence on me.

During that same call, I made it clear several times (and I also made it clear in at least one message prior to the call) that I was not currently earning money, that I did not have access to credit cards or loans, and although I would have loved to work with her, I didn't think it was going to be possible.

Against my better judgement, I paid a deposit a few days later, but I felt like I was persuaded into a programme I had no business being in. I didn't even have a semi-established business, just an idea that I didn't actually stick with because my own mental health was not in a great space, but I wanted to believe what I was being told was possible.

After signing what I consider to be a poorly written contract that only appears to protect Michelle Stonhill, I beat myself up mentally for making a terrible decision that I knew would affect my family. I was due to start the programme in September 2018.

In August 2018, two months after I signed the agreement and BEFORE I was due to join the programme, I wrote to Michelle asking if I could defer to a later date or have another way out and explained my financial situation again. She told me that reading my message helped her realise exactly why I needed the programme. I took it as her way of saying that I was broke and this programme would help me not be broke. She said I could defer and within a strict deadline, but basically because I'd signed the agreement, she'd have to speak to her legal and support team because my payments would go out automatically on the agreed date of the 12th of September otherwise. It's important to note that I have evidence to back this up, since I am trying to protect myself from more legal threats. At this point, I was given an October or November start date to choose from and I chose November, feeling it might give me more time to get my first payment together, which would be £650 (this was the amount left to pay for my first month after paying my £150 deposit). I had a strong desire to avoid any legal issues and so I told her I still wanted to work with her, despite this not being true.

Where. Was. My. Cooling. Off. Period? If I wanted out, I should have only lost my £150 deposit.

I joined the programme in November and was so overwhelmed by my situation that I began to have an emotional breakdown but I stayed silent because I didn't tell anyone that I'd signed up for this programme and because I felt so ashamed.

That shame was exacerbated as I started to go through the programme and much of the mindset work was worded in such a way that if you aren't succeeding, it's your fault. If you default on payments, it's your fault. Blah. Blah. Blah. But more than that, I was so frustrated that most of what was in there wasn't relevant to me and what was relevant, I'd already learned from my previous mentor for a fraction of the price.

I tried to participate as much as I could because I'd convinced myself I was alone in my feeling and that it must be me. But I wasn't always able to attend calls or be present because I am my son's carer and a full-time university student who spends a lot of time travelling. This is something I was called out on but I can't magic time out of thin air.

By March/April time, I was in such financial hardship that I had to default on a payment and I felt suicidal because not only could I not afford to pay her, I couldn't pay my rent. Michelle was so nice about it that again I was convinced I was the problem. There must be something fundamentally wrong with me. I then defaulted a further two times because I had next to no money coming in.

I did make some money while in the programme but that was from following my own methods because I refused to follow the same guidelines Michelle uses to bring people into her programme.

I stayed in that programme for 10 months believing I was the sole problem, scoring it a sycophantic 10 out of 10 so I could keep the peace and hope they wouldn't set the debt collectors (whom I'd been threatened with multiple times, just by the sheer mention of them. I have the emails), until one day, I realised I wasn't alone and the many red flags I'd experienced weren't just my imagination.

Michelle posts a lot about having mean girls attacking her, but I suspect these mean girls' aren't actually mean and judging by the negative reviews I've read, they are simply grown women who questioned what they were getting and weren't happy. Just a guess. And today I was directed to a post she'd made - a live - where she talks about how to deal with clients who don't pay. I can't lie; I was triggered. It triggered the shame in me that I feel around my financial situation, about my debts and about how I didn't finish paying her.

In my opinion, a wealth coach for women should never make you feel ashamed about your financial situation. She commented back to someone who asked what to to if the client doesn't have the money to pay by saying something like it's not her problem.

Well here's the thing, it is my belief that it becomes your problem when you are signing people up (me, in this instance. I can't speak for anyone else) to a programme you know they can't afford and to shirk all responsibility is, in my opinion, abhorrent.

The short version of this review is Not worth it, in my opinion.'

Edit (10/02/2020):

Michelle Stonhill has responded to my review - you can see this by clicking on my name, I believe.

Having posted this exact review to Trust Pilot first and having it reported for defamatory reasons by Michelle Stonhill, Trust Pilot asked me to change one line. I did so willingly and made the changes here, too.

Trust Pilot doesn't think my review is defamatory, so...

If my review, which was posted a couple of months ago is defamatory, then why have I not been approached by Michelle Stonhill's solicitor, or taken to court? Let's do it?

I have evidence for my claim, it's cool.

And as for my testimonial, which has been quoted in Michelle's response below, I did indeed write it. She asked many of us to write one. I was about 2-3 months in, had no frame of reference, and hadn't done the work because I was and still am a full-time student, a carer and a mother. I also wasn't as happy as I made it sound in that testimonial and can remember thinking how odd it was to ask me when I hadn't even completed the programme.

I'd also already been made aware of a legal team' (which, by the way, is one solicitor based out of I don't know, The Wirral or Manchester. Somewhere anyway) in the months before. I felt like I was the only one unhappy with the whole shebang. Turns out there is at least 37 of us and I'm happy to list names with their permission.

Michelle Stonhill, you no longer have permission to use my testimonial in public, so please remove it.

You could of course, refund my money, offer me a public apology and I will amend my review to say that you cooperated?

No?

Your loss.

And your move.

Edit AGAIN - 14/02/2020: Probably worth mentioning that I had done the appropriate amount of work leading up to that review. I just hadn't completed the course because I was a very busy person but the course is effectively a year long. I have piles of notebooks to prove the work I put in. So when I say, I hadn't done the work,' I meant I hadn't completed it past module 2 or 3 by that point. Cheers anyway. *thumbs up*