#019 – Q&Alex – Anxiety, Focus, Audience-building & Apps for Insta

Alex Beadon 0:00
In today’s episode, I talk about how to stay focused, clear and confident How To Overcome Anxiety, how to build a loyal online community. I talk about the apps I use to plan my Instagram content. And I even describe my boyfriend’s Nick. I hope you enjoyed this episode. This is on purpose. Do you ever feel like you’re trying to balance it all, nourishing your health while growing your business and living a life well lived. And no matter how hard you try, sometimes you slip from purpose driven into autopilot. Take a deep breath, relax, and let’s get you back to where you belong. On purpose.

Hey, friends,

it’s Alex Beadon. Here, you’re listening to episode number 19 of On Purpose with Alex Beadon, and I’m coming to you from London, here in England. And it’s a beautiful day. I’m sitting on the floor as I speak to you, I’m feeling really ready to go home, I go home back to Trinidad tomorrow. And it literally I don’t know how to describe it. It feels like every cell in my body is just impatient. Like I just can’t wait to step off the plane, put my feet on solid ground there in the Caribbean. And look my boyfriend in the eye and just walk into my home and surround myself by the covers of my own bed. Like all of those things sounds so good to me right now. Because for the past 30 days I’ve been traveling when I get home, I will have only been home for two days of the past 30. So I’m just so excited. Like it really brings it I don’t know man contrast. I don’t know if you guys are obsessed with contrast as I am. I love contrast in life. contrast in life is like the good and the bad. And anything that you experience in life. Whether it’s good or bad is just highlighting contrast for you. It shows you what is important to you. It shows you what matters to you. And this last month of travel has been amazing. Because I’ve gotten to watch my best friend get married. I’ve gotten to go on a friend’s moon with her. And Colombia, I went to Colombia for the very first time, I got to go to Italy for the first time I got to watch my sister trying wedding dresses, all of these things are amazing things. And they were once in a lifetime. And I appreciate them with my entire being. And simultaneously being away from home for this long and traveling so frequently in such a short period of time. It’s just shown me how much I value being at home. Right? How wonderful it is to have a routine, how wonderful it is to be, well, I live with my boyfriend. So how wonderful it is to live with him see him every day and just get to experience life together. This month, we’ve been apart for quite a long time we’ve been together and apart and together and apart. And so it’s just making me feel so grateful for all of the things that await me at home. And so I say all that with a big smile on my face. I’m so so so grateful for the last month and simultaneously so excited to get back home. So today I was feeling a little nervous. I was like what am I going to talk to you guys about because honestly, my mind my brain has been all over the place. Even in the past week, I’ve been pretty stable at my parents house in Melbourne. And it still felt tumultuous because we had one of my dad’s friends come and visit for two days. And then we had undress who was my sister’s fiance. And then as his family came to visit for about four or five days. And so it’s there’s been a lot of socializing a lot of spending time with people a lot of busyness surrounding me. And so I wanted to show up today and give you guys something that was super valuable. So I decided to answer some of your questions. And so I asked you on Instagram a few days ago, if you could hop on a phone call with me and ask me anything. Talk to me about anything, what would you want to talk about? And I got so many answers. So I’m gonna do my best to get through as many of these questions as I possibly can. I’m gonna set my timer right now, because we all know that I could probably talk on and on and on and on. And I want to make sure that I know how long this podcast is. Because i Everyone knows one thing is that I don’t like to waste your time and I like to be a value. Okay, so I have written down all of your questions in the order that they were received, except for the first question, we’re going to start on a really strong note. So let’s dive in. Let’s dive in. Also, just to let you guys know if you hear your question, but I use a different name. It’s because I couldn’t find your first name online. I think it definitely adds a personalized feel when I can include your first name But if I just, if it’s not your name, I apologize. I couldn’t find online. So I just made up a name instead. So there you go. So the first question is from Derr, who said, What is the first thing you’re going to do when you get home, I think I’m going to walk through those doors. And I’m just going to like, do a happy dance of just like twirling in my living room, I this massive living room space. Or I’ll be so tired, because let’s be real, I’m going to be exhausted. That I’ll come home and the very first thing I’ll do is take a shower, because I hate there’s nothing worse than being in an airport all day long, and then coming home, and like I just can’t I have to shower showers like number one on the list. Number Number Number One. Luckily for me, Nick is coming to pick me up from the airport. So I will already have hugged him and kissed him and given him all my love. And then I’ll get home, do a happy dance and get in the shower. That I just had to start the episode off with that because I’m, I’m literally so excited to get home. Tomorrow, guys tomorrow, what’s happening? Okay, so the actual first question is from Bernice, Bernie says, How do you? How do you get focused and clear? How do you get focused and clear? So for me being focused and clear is all about being intentional and taking the time? Oh, there was my phone, I’m getting text messages, text messages, okay, but on silence, so that shouldn’t happen again. Getting focused and clear is about being intentional and taking the time to actually ask yourself, what do I want? This is something that I do quite regularly, especially when I’m in a good habit with my journaling, I have an entire journaling system that works really, really well keeps me focused, keeps me clear keeps me on top of my goals. But I want you to really ask yourself, when was the last time you sat down and had that conversation with yourself? What is it that I want to create with this life? What is it that I want to create with my business? What is it that I want to create with my relationships? How do I want to live etc, etc. Just bringing focus, presence and intentionality, if that’s a word makes all the difference, like to me, that’s what it is, I think as well being very clear on the fact that you want to get these things accomplished. That really helps me overcome any distractions. Like I’m really good at having conversations with myself in my brain where I’m like, Hey, is this helping you get closer to what you’re trying to accomplish? Because if not, let’s skip it. Next question is from Cindy, what is the current jump you need to take in order to get to where you want? Oh, I love this question. My main focus right now the next step in my business is to create passive income that is coming in month after month, after month after month. Right now, I do have monthly income that is coming in from previous courses, people who have chosen to pay in monthly installments. So I do have a monthly income. But it’s a monthly income that has an end date, if that makes sense. And really truly what I want in my business is to know that I have a business that has enough leads coming in every single month, that is going to convert into sales at the end of the month, I want to have an evergreen sales funnel up and running. And so that is what I’m really focused on. That’s what I’m working towards. That is the next big thing in my business the next step. So the current jump that I need to take in order to get to where I want is setting that up, so that it’s actually working and successful. So I’m very excited about that. I feel like I can do an entire episode on that. Stephanie asks, How do you better understand your ideal clients to build a strong foundation in your business? I think really, and truly, the best way to get to know your clients is to physically go out there and get to know them, talk to them, be a member in their communities, ask them questions, be there for them support them. So I always say especially if you’re someone who’s a coach, and you’re looking for coaching clients, but you’re not really sure what your niche is, or what you’re really good at, the best way to figure that out is to actually get to coaching, like start doing the work, start getting into those conversations, start being of service to people. That’s why you know, I have some friends in my life, who if they ever need anything, they can call me up and they can really just pick my brain and they’re like, Oh, I’ll pay you and I’m like, Dude, we’re friends. Like, I’m someone who I’m kind of like it’s an all or nothing type of thing. I’m not really into the whole, oh, I’ll give you a 20% discount. No, it’s like I’m either going to help you for free or you’re going to pay. And so these people, the benefit for me, even though I’m not getting paid is that I’m getting to better understand the problems that my ideal client is having. Right? So if you want to understand your ideal client better get into conversations with them, get into real conversations with them where you can be of service and where you can understand what it is that they’re what they’re really struggling with. She wants to know about marketing and promotion how How to find her people how to connect and how to create a marketing plan. That’s a lot of questions all in one.

So, it’s so hard to answer this question, because it really depends on what industry you’re in. I know Rebecca, I know she’s in the photography industry. So when it comes to finding your people, when it comes to connecting with your people, I would say really, truly getting clear on who those people are, and, and being in as many places as you possibly can with them. Right? I think a big problem that photographers have is that photographers like to talk about photography, which only attracts more photographers, this is a problem I had when I was a photographer is that I would be like, Oh, look at this dude lens. And, guys, if you do this, you can get this blurry background and delta delta. And it’s totally irrelevant to my clients. So I would say, try to get in front of the eyes of your ideal clients. It really depends on what type of photographer you are. But I would say, if you’re a family photographer, how can you create images that, let’s face it, probably most mothers make the decision of like, Oh, I’m going to I’m going to hire a family photographer. How do you make sure you’re creating images that catch her attention? How do you make sure that you’re coming up in her newsfeed? How do you make sure that she’s seeing photos of her friends having worked with you? I think getting in front of the eyes of the right people a lot of times means working with people that they know, when I first started, I did a lot of free work. And to be honest with you, a lot of my first clients came because I had worked with someone that they knew, and they may not have been very close to them. So they didn’t know that I did that shoot for free, if that makes sense. Like they looked at the work and thought that it was paid work, and then hired me because of it. So I would say get in front of your ideal clients. Like you need to be in as many places as you possibly can be. I feel like this is a really hard conversation to have, though, unless I’m having a specific conversation with you on how to market your business. Because every single business should be marketed differently. So it’s really hard to give a general answer to that question. Okay, Caroline says What apps do you use to plan content and get insights. So I love using Pinterest Pinterest really helps me with inspiration coming up with ideas. I also like to see what’s worked on Pinterest and what hasn’t worked to like what topics in my industry are hot on Pinterest, because that’s a pretty good indicator that that’s a topic that will also be hot if I do a little piece on it on Instagram, right? Another app that I absolutely love to use to plan my content when it comes to Instagram. It’s called snug as an ug snug. And basically what it does is it brings up your feed as a grid. And it lets you add photos and drop and drag them so that you can see what your feed will look like when it’s actually live. Because I used to struggle with this all the time. It’s like you want to have a cohesive feed you want your feed to maybe have a color theme or maybe have some kind of pattern. And it’s hard to tell when like you don’t know what it looks like in the grid until you upload it onto Instagram. So snug is one of my go twos when it comes to planning content. I also use a website called what is it called I always forget the name Trello Trello is really cool because it lets you create different boards for different topics. And I like to go there to be like, Okay, what topics like what are my brand topics? What are the things that I like speed and my brand focuses on and what content? What pieces of content? Can I come up under those specific topics. I also use Asana. So whenever you guys send me a message, and you’re like, Hey, Alex, could you talk about this on the podcast? Or, Hey, Alex, I’d love to hear you talk about whatever, I screenshot it and I upload it into a special place in Asana. And then I have all of my ideas there. So if I’m ever stuck on ideas, I can really quickly and easily go there and see what you guys have been asking me for, which is really fun. The next question is from Katie, how do you stay focused and consistent with all the distractions online and in real life? I mean, number one, click awareness, being clear on the fact that you have a problem. I used to watch Netflix like every night with Nick before we went to bed, which is fine. Like it’s not the worst habit in the world. But the problem with Netflix is that you watch one episode and then you look at each other and you’re like, you want to watch another one. Just one more. Just one more. Okay, okay, one more. And then you watch another one. And then before you know it, you’re like five episodes deep, and you’ve just wasted five hours of your life and you should be getting sleep because you need to wake up early the next day, and then you don’t end up waking up early the next day. And honestly, that used to be the one thing that was so distracting for me and it just got to the point where I was like Nick can’t do it anymore. He’s like, no one’s watch the show. I’m like, Nope, can’t do it. Not watching a show you go ahead and watch your own show. Which sucks because it is an activity that I enjoy doing with him but it’s is too addictive, especially when you’re in the middle of a series and you’re like powering through a series. It’s so addictive. So I would say being aware, knowing that you want to stay focused and just journaling to me, guys, when you have when you journal, frequently, and you’re asking yourself questions like, how am I doing in this area of my life? How am I doing in that area of my life, it brings so much awareness. When it comes to distractions online, like scrolling randomly through Instagram, if that’s really such a big thing for you, then just bring awareness to it and maybe set a timer so that you’re only allowed to go online for a certain amount of time every day, like you have to be on top of it. Diane says, How do you stay in tune with the industry and connect internationally with peers? Interesting question. So I feel like that’s two things. One, staying in tune with the industry is something that I’m kind of 50 about. On the one hand, it’s really important that I understand what’s happening in my industry, what the big topics are, what the controversial things are, so that I can have an opinion. And that’s how I can stay up to date, especially when it comes to like changes in social media, changes in the online business world changes in marketing, those things matter a lot to me, right. So I find myself reading a lot of articles really just trying to stay on top of news, I really enjoy using Google Alerts, that’s something that I would recommend as well, if you’re interested in a topic, just putting, like creating a Google alert that will send you an email, maybe once a week, or maybe every day, updating you on what’s new in that topic. There’s also something called Alltop. Yeah, alltop.com. And it basically just brings in a bunch of different news stories under a bunch of different topics. So that’s something that’s really helpful as well. When it comes to here, like peers, people who are in my industry and keeping up with them, I have a much lower interest, like I’m really not interested in what everyone else is doing, I actually find that to be very distracting. And just distracting because it’s just like, there’s no point in really seeing what everyone else is up to, I really like to beat to dance to the beat of my own drum. So I don’t like keeping too close of an eye on the rest of my industry, when it comes to connecting internationally with peers. I do something a few times a year where I will reach out to like five or six people and I’m like, Hey, I’d really like to get to know you better, let’s hop on a call. And that’s something that just allows me to get to know people better. It’s actually something I’d like to do more often. And it’s great because you get to know people from all over the world who are doing something that maybe is similar to you, or maybe is kind of complementary to your business, I highly recommend that having internet friends is wonderful. So definitely, definitely do it. If you’re not already. Chanel asks, talk to me about setting work life boundaries when you’re self employed. I’ve been self employed now for the past eight years. And this is something that I think I struggled with to begin with. I remember having a conversation with my mom once where she was like, Listen, if you’re gonna take this seriously, you need to wake up before 10 o’clock. So clearly, it’s something that I used to struggle with was just like sleeping in and kind of being too wishy washy with my schedule. I’ve definitely gotten much better with that. Also, I think I’m just, I work really well, by just kind of letting myself feel into things. That’s what works for me, I’d recommend doing what works for you. So like, I quite like to do two hours work, take a break two hours work, take a break two hours work, take a break, two hours work, take a break, when Lord came to visit me she hated that. She’s like, dude, let’s sit down and work nonstop. I just get distracted easily. I can’t sit still for very long. So for me, that doesn’t work, I would recommend figuring out what works for you. Some people like to work early morning like I do. Some people like to work late at night, that’s cool to figure out what works for you and make that happen. When it comes to work life boundaries, I would say the number one thing I struggle with is like when people invite me to do things during the week, like, Hey, let’s go to the beach, or, Hey, let’s go for lunch or whatever. I feel oftentimes because my work schedule is so flexible, I often take advantage of it.

I’m like, Hey, I’m self employed, why not? When really, it might be nice to at least set some boundaries there was like, Okay, once a week, you can do something fun, that kind of stretches your schedule a little bit and the rest of the time you really need to stick to your schedule. When it comes to work life boundaries. In terms of my clients, that’s something I also feel I’m really good at. I know that like let’s say for example, when I was running my spark lounge membership site, I knew that we would meet four times a month so almost once a week, we would have a q&a call where we basically get on a call and they can ask me anything. And the commitment there was one hour but I knew that I was happy to stay on that call until the last This question was answered, that’s like, a boundary that I made for myself was, hey, I’m cool to stay on as long as I possibly like can to support my people. I was happy with that some of our calls ended up being like three hours long, I’m totally fine with that. Now, on the other hand, on the other side of that stick, I also had boundaries where I was like, okay, every day, I’m going to show up in the spark lounge, Facebook group, and I’m going to spend 15 minutes in there. And once the 15 minutes is done, I’m leaving. And that was my boundary, right? And of course, it has to align with the expectations that you have set for your clients. So really being clear on like, Hey, guys, I’m only showing up for 1530 minutes, or whatever it is. And after that, I’m out, just to make sure that like you’re actually delivering on what you promised. But to me, that was really important. For my sanity, I’m not a big Facebook person. So to be in a Facebook group. for hours on end, answering every single question was not cool with me, it was not what the spark lounge was set up for. I didn’t want it to be a like one on one coaching me five hours a day in a group. I wanted people to work hard during the week. Yes, I will check in once a day into the Facebook group to see what’s going on Monday through Friday. And then we have our weekly q&a call where I will stay until the very last question is answered no matter how long it takes. Right? So that was kind of how I set my work life boundaries. Boundaries are just about being clear and specific about what’s working, what’s not working. And what are some rules like rules in quotation marks? What are some rules that you can apply? Or some policies that you can implement that are going to help you stay in the boundaries of what you feel good with? I hope that helped. Kathy said, how do you stay so excited about everything? Man, I don’t know. I definitely have an energy about me that I think is unique. I know a lot of people say Oh, Alex, your energy so special. So that’s cool. And I’m I’m really grateful for it. But I also think that on social media, you see a very hyped up version of myself all the time. I meet people in real life all the time. They’re like, Dude, you’re, you’re so different in person than you are when you’re on your Instagram stories. And I’m like, Yeah, because when I’m on my Instagram Stories, it’s just me and the camera, baby. It’s like, it’s like, I take my personality, and I turn up the volume all the way. But when we’re in person that like if I came up to you, and I was like, Hey, how’s it going? Kathy? That would be weird. I think people would. It’s just, it contextually doesn’t fit. When I’m with you in person, I want to look you in the eye. I want to be present with you. I want to hear whatever it is that you’re talking about. I want to listen to you. I want to be thoughtful. I don’t want to be like a hyper hyped up version of myself. Right? To me, that works really well on Instagram stories I like, you know, sharing my enthusiasm and my excitement about what I do. But that’s because it’s like, it’s like a one way thing, right. But when it’s a two way thing, I turn it down a little bit more. So I’m not that excited all the time, much to people’s dismay. But I am I am very excited about what I do. I have my up days and my down days just like everyone else. And I think for me, it’s just a decision. I want to feel excited about the work I do in the world. And a story. Melissa says how do you start? How do you get started with video and get over first time video jitters, you just do it. It’s like anything else in life. When I first started creating videos back in, I believe it was 2011 I made my first YouTube channel, which it’s such a shame you can’t go and check it guys. I feel. I feel so sad about that. Because for those of you who don’t know, my youtube channel was accidentally deleted by Google. But that’s another story for another day. My first video, I was very monotone, I was like, Hi guys. My name is Alex. And today I want to talk to you about how to whatever whatever whatever. This is what I’ve decided to do in my business. And I think it’s a good idea because then whatever. And I look at that video. Now when it was up, I can’t look at it anymore. But back in the day when I used to look at that I used to refer to that video all the time. It’d be like go and look at my first video and then look at my last video because it’s like night and day. It’s like chalk and cheese. It’s like you learned so much by doing I remember when I first started making videos, I was like this is one of the most beneficial things I’ve ever done in my life because I finally understand how I’m coming across to people. When you don’t watch videos of yourself or hear yourself speak. The truth is you have a very limited idea of how you come across to people. But when you watch videos of yourself and hear yourself speak and you do that every single week because I used to make videos every single week for my YouTube channel, you get a really good idea of how you’re coming across and I It’s very beneficial. I remember, I used to always say, um, I’d be like, um, um, um, and I had to make a mental note to eradicate, um, from my vocabulary. I remember I remember, I also used to what was something else I also used to do, there was something else I always used to do that I had to make a clear intention to stop doing. And that’s the beauty of like, doing anything, and getting good at anything in life is that you learn what works, what doesn’t work, what feels good, what doesn’t feel good. That’s why with these podcast episodes, I’m listening to all of them. Because I know I’m at the beginning of my podcast journey. If this is gonna go, Well, guys, I’m going to be around for a while I’m going to be in your air, I’m hopefully going to be inspiring you to live your absolute best life and to create epic businesses that really make the world a better place. Like that’s my mission. That’s what I’m here to do. And I love the podcast, I think audio is so much fun. Like, I don’t have to put on makeup for this guys, literally, I just have to set up my microphone and talk. So that’s exciting to me. But hopefully, I’m gonna be here for a long time. And if I am, I need to get good at this. I need to understand what works, what doesn’t work, what I can do better at. So if you want to get better at video, just commit, commit, just be like, I’m going to do video, once a month for a year, or I’m going to do video once a week for a year. Give yourself a goal. If a year feels too long, try three months. But like, for me this podcast, my time limit is a year I’m going to do this for one year. And if I don’t like it after a year, or if it feels off after a year, then I’ll I’ll be like, Okay, I tried the podcasting and I gave it a good go. But yeah, so just start if you want to do video, just start and what I advise people as well as like start in the least intimidating way ever make a video and don’t even post it online. When I started recording these episodes, I didn’t post an episode for eight months. But I knew I just had to get started. I just wanted to get the ball rolling. Next question is from keep hitting the table guys. I’m sorry if you hear that shake. That’s what that is. I know Miguel who edits these is probably rolling his eyes. Sorry Miguel

Giovanna says how do you grow a beautiful, loyal tribe? Number one, you the same way that you grow a relationship is very similar to the way that you grow a loyal tribe. For those of you who don’t know, the word tribe when she says tribe, which really means is an online community. Right? How do you grow beautiful online community is just by treating them like someone you’re actually in a relationship with. Someone you’re in a relationship with is someone that you check in on regularly, you give them updates, you give them advice, you help them when they need your help. It’s a two way conversation. All of these things lead to a beautiful online community. I think a big problem that we have nowadays is that everyone wants more, more, more more. You have 300 followers, you want 1000 You have 1000 followers, you want 2000, you have 2000 followers, you want 5000, you have 5000 followers, you want 10,000, you have 10,000 followers, you want 20,000 It is a never ending Chase. And the worst part is that when you’re chasing those numbers of growth, and having more and more and more and more followers, you actually lose track of what matters the most, which is the connection, every single person who follows you as a person with a heartbeat, a soul, they are living breathing creatures, and they want to feel connected with. So if you want to grow a beautiful loyal tribe, Giovanna, I would recommend that you show up for those people day in day out and treat them like your friends. Talk to them. Something I do is I will go through the list of people who have watched my stories, and I will tap on random people and just go and watch their stories, or go and leave comments on their stuff, and interact with them because they are real human beings too. And I want it to feel like a community I want to I want to feel like we’re friends, you know, and that’s why I have this whole aka your business bestie thing going on, is because I wanted to feel like I’m your business bestie. So that’s my advice. I think it’s easy for me because my people are also business people. So if you’re doing if you’re in a business to business situation, it’s even easier because people who are in business want more engagement on their posts online. So that works really well. But if you’re not in a business to business setting, maybe you create a meal plan and you send out meals, maybe you cook meals for people every single week and you’re like okay, well how do I build a loyal tribe? I would ask, I would ask you like, what is it about your brand that differentiates you? And maybe it’s the fact that Like you focus more on health and nutrition than your competitors, okay? How can you create a community of people on your Instagram or your Facebook or wherever you decide is your place who love to focus on nutrition, but maybe don’t have the time. Maybe they don’t have the bandwidth, the mental space or capacity to be reading into these things, learning about these things. And here you are someone who is passionate about it as studied it like you can make their lives easier by becoming a resource for them. That’s really what I’ve done with my business as I become a business marketing, online branding, social media resource for my audience. So you guys know that I’m like the go to place for you. If you want to learn more about building your brand. And if you really want to stay connected to your business, on a soul level, I feel like that’s really what my my brand is all about. What that’s what differentiates me that’s, that’s the kind of community that I’m trying to create is being on purpose, as my podcast is called living your life on purpose, creating a business that’s on purpose and really feeling happy and fulfilled in your life and not just going through life on autopilot. So if you’re into nutrition, you’re into health and wellness, how can you be a resource for that? Because your passion is other people’s shortcuts to there be passion, and I say be passion, because you might have like an a passion, which might be like, your career, or your family or your friends, and then your be passion. They’re things that you could be passionate about, but you just don’t have the time, effort or energy. So you’re a passion for that. Is there shortcuts? Right. So I would say those are my my big things, my big pieces of advice for you. Brittany asks, What are you currently curious about? Ooh, that is such a good question. I’m super curious right now about relationships, and philosophy. And that’s the end of that. Chelsey asks, Can you lay out bullet points for comprehensive marketing and social media strategy? If you want a comprehensive marketing and social media strategy, it has to be catered to you and your business. So I can’t lay out bullet points for you for that. It’s just too broad of a question. Chelsea also asks, she wants to know about time management and discipline. Time management for me is about planning my day, the day before being very clear about what my tasks are. Thank you, Asana, I love Asana, Asana, Asana, Asana, Asana. Discipline, for me is really just a choice. It’s one of those traits that I really want to be very good at, I want to be a disciplined human being, I want to be able to say, I’m going to do this and I can trust and know that it is going to happen. So when it comes to discipline, I know that it’s like a muscle, I know that it’s also down to attitude. For me, a lot of times when I feel like I really don’t want to work, but I know I have work to do. It just comes down to breathing. Guys, this kind of sounds so Oh, I’m so sorry, I keep hitting the table. It’s gonna sound crazy to many of you, maybe, but breathing. If you’re ever feeling like, Gosh, I really just want to take a break. I really don’t want to be doing this right now. And you know that it’s just your laziness talking and you haven’t actually gotten any good work done. Just take a deep breath in. And just focus on your breathing while you’re doing your work. That helps me stay disciplined a lot. But yeah, I would say journaling also helps with that. And basically just knowing like, knowing what matters, knowing what your priorities are, as much as being a consistent social media post or for your own account, but avoiding addictive scrolling. I think she means how to be a consistent social media poster. I would say plan as much as you can choose topics that are either going to last you like maybe you focus one week on this topic or in one week on that topic, find a way to make it easy for you. If you are someone who addictively scrolls. Man, you got to check yourself before you wreck yourself that is destructive. And the thing is, it’s something that’s so easy to do, but you need to catch yourself while you’re doing it and pull away. Replace that with something. So I’ve been going through this thing where every time I find myself doing it, I’m like, oh, clearly I have time to be doing nothing. So I’m actually going to open up my Kindle and do some reading, right? Figure out something that works for you to end that addiction because it’s such a waste of time, especially if you’re trying to grow a business. It’s such a waste of time. Amber says how do you launch a course I love launching courses is something that I’m so good at. I feel like I need to create a course on how I launch courses. Because it really is a skill of mine that comes super easy to me and something that I’m really good at. I love launching courses. I love it particularly because it builds up so much energy and hype and it’s just such a great way to get people’s attention on a product that you can’t get when you’re doing something in a more evergreen fashion. So evergreen for those of you who don’t know, basically means that it’s always available. It’s always there. When you launch something, it’s like you’re creating excitement. I could go I mean, I should probably do an entire episode on that, to be honest, because there’s just too much to squeeze into this tiny little question. Samantha says how to look for passion and my work or how to find a new direction. I feel like I’m lost. If I were you, I would identify why why you feel like you’re lost. A lot of times, our thoughts try to convince us that we’re on the wrong path. We’re not good enough. We’re not where we should be. Man, it’s I think it’s, it’s not like that for everyone. Oh, geez, I’m so sorry, guys. I’m I can’t stay still. So I keep moving to try and find a comfortable position. And every time I move, I just hate you. So yeah, I’m sorry about that. I don’t think everyone struggles with this. I think that it’s those of us who are more sensitive, and maybe have a little bit more anxiety than others who struggle with this. I’m not really sure. I used to think everyone struggled with it. Now I think like maybe 80% of people struggle with it. Negative thoughts, negative thinking, self doubt, self criticism, thinking that you’re not good enough thinking that you’re not working fast enough thinking that you’re not there thinking that bla bla bla bla bla, feeling lost, feeling confused, those thoughts come into my mind now. And I pay them no attention, because they’re not helpful. If a thought enters my mind, and it’s not helpful, I’m like, Cool, I see you. But like, I’m not letting you run the show. Because it’s not helpful. So if you’re feeling lost, if you’re feeling like you have a lack of passion, if you feel like you need a new direction, Where’s that coming from? A lot of times that’s coming from comparing yourself to others. Can you stop doing that, a lot of times that comes from

maybe you do, maybe it’s a bigger sign in your life that what you’re doing right now, it’s just not what you’re supposed to be doing. Like you need to find the root cause of why you’re feeling this way. And then evaluate if it’s true or not. And if it’s true, and you’re ready to find a new direction, then great start exploring trying different things. But if you feel like you are like that you have something that you’re passionate about, and that you want to continue being passionate about it. A lot of times passion is is something that is created from within. And it starts off being something very automatic, but it’s like you have a relationship with your passion. Right. So it’s something you have to work on. It’s something you have to nourish, it’s something that you have to water, it’s something you have to attend to. So what is your relationship to your passion. And on that note, sometimes the passion is gone. And that’s okay. I used to be obsessed with photography, I used to love photography, I used to be known as a portrait photographer, it used to be my thing, my calling in life, my purpose. And one day I woke up and I did not want to touch my camera. And I was like, Oh, this is just a phase. It’s just whatever. And it turns out the passion was just gone. It was time for me to go in a new direction. And that’s okay, too. I would just say right now, maybe I invite you to be in a space where you don’t need a direction. You don’t need to have it all figured out. Give yourself permission to be in this space of confusion or uncertainty. I’ll never forget I went to Brooke shaytans promoting passion events. And I was a speaker. And I was sitting on a panel because you do like your own speaker thing. And then at the end, they have like this panel thing where all of the speakers get up and it’s basically like a q&a. And I basically someone asked me a question, and I basically shared with me, they were like, what’s your next step? Like, what are you working on? What’s your next big thing? And I was like, I don’t know. I was like, I’m going through something weird right now where like, I just don’t know, what’s the next what the next step is? Or what, like what my calling is? Or any of that stuff? I don’t know. And it’s okay, that I don’t know. And I’m kind of relishing in the fact that I don’t know. And I’m just being at peace with the fact that I don’t know, and I’m cool with it. We as human beings, I think always feel like we need to be certain, like you have to know, if you don’t know, then, you know, you’re you’re lost, you’re losing. I just don’t believe in that. I think part of the journey of life is not knowing and I think we should choose to be cool with that. Not only says how to how can I be as confident as you are when it comes to selling? I struggle to sell myself. Natalie it’s a muscle. When you first get started, you’re going to struggle. What I advise you do is take courses on selling read books on selling, learn as much as you can about the art of selling, and then explore it within yourself and try different styles of selling and see what works for you and see what doesn’t work for you. Competence comes from doing it again and again and again and again. So get to doing, Melissa said, how would you market yourself if you were a visual artist, oh my gosh, Instagram, Instagram, Instagram, Instagram, and I create content all the time, new content all the time, I’d create the kind of work that I would want to get hired for. Now, it depends on how you intend to make your money. I mean, there’s so many different ways that you can you could sell posters, you can have clients pay you to create art for them. You can sell your art, you can teach people how to create art, like you. There’s so many different facets of that. So I’d market myself differently depending on which, but I’m jealous. Trust me, I found marketing myself as a photographer was a million times easier than marketing myself as a business coach. Amelia says, How do I turn my writing hobby into a career, I’ve never turned a writing hobby into a career before. And it’s one of those things that is so different. It’s so different than than anything that I’ve ever done. And what I would recommend that you do is do a lot of writing and do a lot of sharing your stuff online. You need to be known for your writing. So write books, self published books, put them out there, get your writing out there. That’s what I’d recommend. Adrian says, How do you know what part of the business to work on and when? Girl I honestly work on essentialism, I think I mentioned this book and every single podcast episode that there is Essentialism by Greg McEwan don’t know how to say his last name changed my life. That book was a game changer. For me a business changer for me, it showed me that I should really only be focusing on the things that are vital and super, super, super important. I don’t believe in juggling a million product prod projects anymore. So I work on one thing at a time, if I can. And if I’m not working on one thing at a time, I at least try to minimize it. So right now I would say the two things I’m working on are Graham, Sam evergreen, and really getting that up and running. And I’m working on this podcast week in week out trying to make this podcast the best it can possibly be. So yeah, that’s how I choose I look at like, what’s building my brand and what’s making me money. What’s putting that money that moolah in the bank? How do you find your niche create contents and find you, Kelly? Oh, isn’t an in depth question. Find your niche, create content and find you. I would say do the work. Do the work, do the work. Do the work do the work. The more you work. The more you put yourself out there, the more you’ll realize what your strengths are, the more you’ll realize what you love talking about the more you realize how you can help people add things that you didn’t even know you could help them with. Do the work hire says can you give me steps to launch my new subscription service? It’s all about retention. If you have a subscription service, it’s about getting people to sign up, and then keeping them sign up for as long as you possibly can. I would highly recommend Stu McLaren’s online course it’s called tribe. It’s absolutely fantastic. Veronica said How and where did you learn about business, social media and marketing. I learned largely through trial and error. When I first got started in my career, I was a professional photographer. And I was trying to sell my my photo shoot services. And so I learned a lot in those few years. Then I started selling online. Sorry, I started selling photoshop actions online. For those of you who don’t know, Photoshop actions are like Instagram filters. Except I used to make them for myself, like I would make my own filters. And then sell them to people to use in Photoshop. So there were like Photoshop filters. And that business took off. That business took off without me spending a single dollar on advertising. And when I did that people then started being like, Well, how did you do that? And really, it was because of my skills in social media, branding, marketing, putting myself out there. And so that’s how I decided that I was going to really focus in on helping people learn how to do that themselves. Christine said, Do you ever think when you post a picture? Is anyone going to care about this? That’s my problem. Honestly, I’m so over that thought process because if that was a thought process, it would drive me crazy. It used to drive me crazy. It used to be a thought of mine like oh, what if no one likes this? I don’t care if no one likes it. I’m here to be of service. I’m here to put out my best work, I’m doing my best. And if I think that this is something that they will enjoy, I will post it. And if they don’t enjoy it, oh, well, I’ll try. I’ll try again next time, right? I don’t really care if anyone else cares about it, because I’m not creating content for people to like it and, and care about it and whatever, I’m creating content to be of service, right? So I’m not gonna get it right 100% of the time, I’m not a robot. I’m a human. And that means that sometimes my engagement is going to be up, and sometimes my engagement is going to be down. And I gotta learn to be cool with that, because you cannot base your happiness on likes, or follows, or comments or shares, because all of that stuff is outside of your control. So get over it. Nikki said, How do I get my first 2000 followers? Nikki? I don’t know you, I don’t know what your businesses I would say post consistent content, make it super clear what your page is all about. Make sure it’s clear why people should follow you. And be a value. Janine says creative ways to build buzz in the world’s tiniest niche. Ooh, that’s a great question that I can’t help you with, because I don’t know what your niche is. And even if I did, I’d have to do research on who your ideal client is what topics matter to them. If you want to build buzz, you have to do something different. You have to have a really good understanding of that niche in that industry. So that would be my advice. Brad said your asana setup and how you prepare your team for success. I love using Asana, I feel like I need to do an entire video on the setup. And how I prepare my team for success. When it comes to Asana Meghan mins did a course called Asana HQ, I will leave a link to it in the show notes. And that pretty much changed the way that I used Asana. So I highly recommend it. And how I prepare my team for success.

Just being very clear and specific on what our goals are what we’re working towards. And I would say like getting on the phone and talking about it as regularly as possible. And you said what is your best tip for getting your interactions up on Instagram? I would say be a student of what people find most valuable and also know that sometimes attention is is not based on quality necessarily. So sometimes I’ll create a post that’s super high quality that is not as well received in the Instagram algorithm. And I just don’t take it personally. One thing I will say that I do to up my Instagram engagement is I ask questions. It’s really good to build your community that way and to get people talking and to engage with people, but it’s also just really good, because it prompts people to actually respond to you. So that’s awesome. Amelia says, How do you battle feeling like a failure, that you’re stagnant? And how do you get clear on your business? Thoughts that I’m a failure or that I’m stagnant. I don’t let them get to me i Guys, your your brain and your being and everything about you. You need to body gardens, you cannot let every and every any and every thought that you have come in and just change your mood and change how you feel about your business and your life. You need to be strong, you need to be like a rock. feeling like a failure happens to everyone. If you literally ask Beyonce, have you ever felt like a failure? She’d say? Yes. If you’ve asked Beyonce, have you ever felt like you’re stagnant? She’d say yes. Like every human being deals with this stuff. Once you know that you can stop letting it affect you like stop letting it affect you. It adds nothing of value to you at all. How to get clarity on your business? I feel like we’ve covered that. Like Kea says how do you build an online course, I highly recommend using teachable. It’s a really great online platform that will allow you to host your course. But when it comes to creating an online course, you really want to ask yourself, what is the transformation the one transformation I want people to have? And how can I basically divide that into steps that I can teach people about? So if you look at Grand Slam, for example, I knew that I wanted people to be able to create better stories on on Instagram. I knew I wanted to help them really learn how to use the app itself. Because a lot of people don’t know how to use it. They think they do and they don’t. And I wanted them to learn how to use other apps so that they could start getting really creative with their stories. I also wanted them to learn how to brand themselves, right? How to know how to present themselves online, what’s their brand personality? What’s their brand story? So I divided all of those things into little steps and created the course and out there it went. Rebecca, where do you draw courage, confidence and clarity from within? I know That’s so cliche. I know this thing, everyone. You can listen to what I say and you’re like, Oh, it’s so airy fairy or like whatever This stuff works for me. I’m just sharing what works, what works for me. Silence time alone. Meditation, journaling, reflection, all of these things are vital for me when it comes to getting courage finding competence and finding clarity. Natalie said, how do you always have enthusiasm? And how do you always have something to say? I haven’t Soozee Azzam about what I do. Because I believe in the mission of what I’m here to accomplish, I think with the more people who are empowered to create their own life circumstances through entrepreneurship, especially through the use of the Internet, we’re in a new era, guys, our parents didn’t have access to the internet that blows my mind, this is just the beginning. I’m so freakin passionate about helping people see the light, helping people see that if you have a passion, and you’re stuck in a nine to five job, you don’t have to be stuck in that nine to five job. Like, if you are someone who is creative and really enjoys expressing yourself, and, and you have a passion or something that you can turn into some kind of profits, then the world is your oyster, right? It’s just about learning how to put yourself out there online and learning how to use the tools in a way that works for you. That’s the thing. It’s so individual for each and every single person. But yeah, so I’m very enthusiastic about what I do. Because I’m passionate about the end result. I think when more people have more freedom in their lives, they can lead better lives, they can be better humans. How do I always have something to say, I always have something to say because I know who I’m serving. And I want to be a value to them. So it’s easy for me to think, Okay, who am I talking to? And what piece of advice can I give them today? That’s gonna give them a little pep in their step. Right? And that’s not to say that I wake up every day. And I’m like, oh, yeah, it’s I’m gonna talk about this. No, I require brainstorming. And I do require, like, time to sit down and be like, should I talk about this? Should I talk about that? It’s not easy. It’s not like it just comes out of nowhere. But it’s easier when you know who you’re talking to. Caroline’s that, how do you beat self doubt when first starting out, Caroline, have a relationship with the vision that you want to create. So know the vision of who you want to be in two years, or five years or whatever. And always remember why you’re doing it always connect to that vision. If you can have a relationship with that vision, you are on the way to beating self doubt, because nothing beats division. I remember I used to wake up in bed. When I first graduated from university and I was just getting started in my business. I had to live at home with my parents and I would wake up in the morning, and this doubt would wash over me like, am I wasting my time? Do I know what I’m doing? Am I ever gonna get this figured out? And then I’d be like, Oh, but I want to be creative. I want to have my own business. I want to do my own thing. I want to create my own rules. I want to create my own life. Yes, yes, yes, yes. Yeah. So I don’t care. If I doubt myself, because I’m not going to let it last for very long. I don’t care if my best friend pulls me to the side like he did and says, Alex, this whole thing isn’t working. You’re not making any money. It’s time you move to the city and get a real job. I don’t care. I’m gonna figure it out. Like you need to be so committed to the to the vision that nothing else matters. You need to believe that it is your end situation, regardless of what your current situation is. I have to do a course on this guy’s I have to do a course on this. Oh, okay. I answered all of your questions. There were a few other questions. Let me see if we have a little bit more time, but there’s not that many. So I’m just gonna go. I’m just gonna dive into them. Tara said what would your last supper be? My last supper? I’m glad you asked. Because actually me and my family were speaking about this literally two days ago. I love a good salad. Ooh, you guys hear the sirens in the back? That is what recording a podcast in the city is all about I feel like I’m part of the club now. I don’t even know if you can hear what’s going on anyway. Yeah, a good salad to me. Delicious. A really good mashed potato delicious roasted vegetables delicious. Like, I’m not picky girl that that I’m happy with. That’d be my last summer. My last summer my last supper. Dara said what are you reading? I’m currently reading a book called The Science of happily ever after. Very interesting, highly recommend it. Someone said what is Nick like? Nick is amazing. I would say that because he’s my boyfriend. Nick is incredibly hardworking. His work ethic inspires me every single day. He also has an emotional calmness to him. He’s not an anxious person. He doesn’t second guess himself. He’s very confident. He is 100% extroverted. He is someone who is we’re opposites in so many ways, which is why I think we work really well together. Like all of the stuff I do journaling, visualize nation all of that stuff like he’s just so centered and himself, he doesn’t struggle with the same things that I struggle with, like, I feel like I struggle with my mental thoughts and chatter, that so much so that meditation helps and visualization helps. And all that stuff helps. I feel like he doesn’t struggle with that. So it’s really fun for me to be with someone who is just built so differently. And I think that’s such a beautiful part of the world, as well as that everyone is different. And just because something works for you, doesn’t mean it works for everyone. That’s one thing I love about entrepreneurship as well. Just because one type or certain way of business works for one person doesn’t mean it’s going to work for you. Life is all about figuring out what works for you and what feels good for you. And living with someone who is such a stark contrast for me, is a beautiful experience. And it’s something I’m really grateful for because I learn more about life through just observing him, which I really enjoy. What else can I tell you about him, he’s very social, he loves his friends. He has an amazing friends group, unlike anything that I’ve ever seen before, like, I feel like his friends are really right or die. I’ve,

I’ve moved around a lot. I’ve traveled the world a lot. I’ve been in many different social situations. And I don’t think I’ve seen a group of friends were like, so supportive and so loving of each other. So that’s a really beautiful thing to witness and get to be a part of as well. Nick is a graphic designer, he’s an incredible artist, he’s always trying to push the boundaries. He’s someone who can juggle a million different projects at once. Like I told you guys, I’m all about that essentialist life where I’m like, Okay, I’m picking a few projects, and I’m focusing on those he is like, Oh, I’m going to be a graphic designer. And I’m also going to have a T Shirt Company. So he has a t shirt brand here and here in Trinidad. I’m not sure not right now, but in Trinidad called deft men’s. And they’re killing it. They’re doing so well. Really building a strong brand over there. He’s involved with his just so many different things like I could just go on and on about about his different projects. But I feel like they’re kind of personal. So maybe I shouldn’t be sharing all his business with the world. But he’s, he’s a very impressive man, very loving. He listens. He’s a fantastic partner. I feel very, very lucky to have him in my life. I could literally go on and on and on and on about my Nicholas Huggins, but I’ll keep it to that. Last question from Rebecca, how do you get out of productive anxiety and into a calmer but driven flow state. Anxiety and work to me Do not go hand in hand, if I’m feeling anxious, I have to stop I have to take a break. I have to meditate I have to do whatever it is I need to do to break that because I don’t like bringing anxious energy into my workspace running helps a lot for me. Also sense so like I use a lot of essential oils. That really helps me too. I think it’s just about being intentional, like intentionally not working when you’re feeling anxious and finding ways that work for you to break the anxiety. Okay, guys, I hope you enjoyed today’s episode. Thank you so much for listening. If you did enjoy this episode, please hit me up on Instagram. Like I always think about the power of community. I’d love to hear from you. What was your biggest takeaway? What was the part of this episode that you were like, Oh my gosh, that was my favorite part. Or that was the thing I learned the most. I would love to hear from you. Other than that, enjoy your day. Enjoy the rest of your week. You’re listening to this on a Monday. I’m already in Trinidad. I’m already home by the time you’re listening to this. Thank you for being a part of my life. Thank you for being a part of my routine. I’m grateful for you. I hope you know the power that you have. And I hope you believe that you are capable of achieving whatever it is that you want to achieve whatever it feels that you were put on this earth to do. I believe in you. And I hope you believe in you to have a wonderful week. Thank you so much for listening to today’s episode. If you enjoyed it, I would love for you to give me a shout out on your Instagram story or anywhere. Just letting me know what your biggest takeaway was. You guys have no idea how helpful and useful it is for me when you message me telling me what your aha moments were telling me what it is that you took away from the podcast. It helps me understand what is most valuable to you. And it helps me understand how I can be of the highest service to you. So if you could take two minutes to do that I would really appreciate it. Thank you guys so much for watching. I hope to hear from you over on Instagram you can find me at Alex Beadon and I will talk to you again very soon. Bye

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