#005 – On Kylie Jenner, Avoiding Burn Out, Staying Motivated, And 3 Things You Can Implement This Week

Leave a Comment / BUSINESS, MINDSET, PERSONAL, PODCAST / By Alex Beadon

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“Have you ever been to a busy mall with like a million people and everyone is talking? That’s what the inside of my brain felt like.“

Alex details her nitty gritty experiences this week in her business–the trials and tribulations of developing a Facebook Ad Strategy and her crazy and hectic workloads.

But in darkness there’s always a glimmer of light.

Learn how she overcomes her obstacles, declutters her path to progress and also discovers amazing insights that can help you and your business grow.

“The more that you put yourself out there, the more that your differences would stand visible to you.”

In this episode we talk about:

Biggest Facebook Ad lessons of the week

The book that’s made a big difference in my business

Staying motivated, working hard & avoiding burnouts

Why you should create content and put it online

3 things that worked for my business this week and could work for yours

Be with the Beads

IG: @alexbeadon
Facebook: Alex Beadon
www.alexbeadon.com

Must Read:

Essentialism – James Latham

Loved this and want more? Check out our other episodes here.

Spark a conversation! Leave a comment below or say hello @alexbeadon on Instagram.

#003 – 3 Facebook Ad Secrets, Identifying Business Priorities, Anxiety and Stress

2 Comments / BUSINESS, MARKETING, PERSONAL, PODCAST / By Alex Beadon

In this episode Alex shares:

Her lessons in launching this podcast & why it took so long
How she is setting up Gram Slam’s new evergreen marketing funnel
Why she decided to do Facebook Ads herself instead of outsourcing it from the get-go
Her Facebook Ad Strategy
The 3 Facebook Ad Secrets she’s learned over the last week that you should *definitely* know about and implement
How she juggles multiple social media platforms
How she identified business priorities this week
How she’s managing having Laura visit as both her bestie *and* the Operations Manager
How stress is showing up physically in her body & how she’s handling it
How she pushes through stress even when she’s committed to living a stress-free life
How her business is currently experiencing major growing pains
How she has been prioritizing self-care

Episode 003 of On Purpose With Alex Beadon is a good one. Alex opens up about 3 big Facebook Ad Secrets that anyone can apply to their business. She opens up about what it’s been like personally as the business goes through a period of intense work and hustle. She also discusses entrepreneurial stress, and shares how she copes with it.

QUOTABLES:

“No one is going to spend your money as carefully as you will spend your money” – Alex Beadon

“The one thing I really like about a podcast is that it really unites people who are like-minded.” – Alex Beadon

“Take a look at your competition, not so you can copy them but so you can possibly create something super different that gets the attention of your prospect.” – Alex Beadon

“As business owners it’s good for us to know the experience that our ideal client is having.” – Alex Beadon

“I hired my best friend! It’s such a dream come true.” – Alex Beadon

“I wake up first thing in the morning, and I can feel the anxiety in my body.” – Alex Beadon

“I can’t count the number of times this week I’ve told Laura, ‘OMG, I love my job!’ I love doing this, this is so exciting to me. It fuels me – the unknown, the uncertainty. I’m just excited by it. Even though there’s so much risk and I can’t promise I know exactly what the end result will be, I love it. I just think all of this is so much fun.” – Alex Beadon

“I know this busy period isn’t forever, I know I’m putting in all of this work for an end goal.” – Alex Beadon

“I know and have deep trust that this is me getting to the next level” – Alex Beadon

“If Alex from 8 years ago could see Alex today, she would be so proud.” – Alex Beadon

“I’m encouraging you to celebrate whatever you have to celebrate and how far it is that you have come” – Alex Beadon

“As much as I would like to say “I’m superwoman” I won’t burn out – I’m only human…. So prioritizing self-care is a priority in the next week.” – Alex Beadon

When you’re done listening, make sure to head on over to our Podcast Page and LEAVE A REVIEW! We have a goal to get 100 reviews within the first 7 days and I NEED YOUR HELP in order to make it happen, so be sure to subscribe, leave a review and then tell your friends?

A NEW TOOL I LOVE …

Leave a Comment / BUSINESS, MARKETING, Uncategorized / By Alex Beadon

Hey friends!

As you know … I’m always looking for new and interesting ways to connect with my audience, and what I’m going to share in this post is one of them.

A few weeks ago I got an email from a company asking if I’d be interested in collaborating with them. Let’s be real: I get emails like this *all the time* and I have literally *never* said yes because I’ve never actually been interested in any of the softwares, products or services.

But when I looked into this tool I was blown away and immediately knew I would love it.

What is it, you ask?

It’s called Interact.

Interact is a website that allows you to create quizzes, embed them onto your website, and prompt people to sign up for your newsletter list at the end (if you want).

I’ve *always* loved quizzes but have never found a tool that I thought would work for me. Interact seemed perfect because not only do they have lots of options for the quiz and how the answers work, but it also has the function to make your quiz *really pretty*.

My FAVORITE thing about Interact, though, has to be the impact that I *know* this is going to have on my list-building.

I only just started using it yesterday, and I was BLOWN AWAY by the fact that more than 300 people completed our quiz in less than 24 hours!

PEOPLE CLEARLY LOVE QUIZZES hahaha. And if used properly, you could even create a detailed PDF with their results which they could get access to only upon signing up to your email list.

For the quiz I created, my goal was to build buzz around my new online course, Gram Slam. So I created a quiz to help them find their Ideal Story-Telling Type. At the end of the quiz, when they received their results, instead of prompting them to sign up to my email list, I prompted them to learn more about their Ideal Story-Telling Type by signing up for Gram Slam and sent them directly to the sales page.

I can see this being used in so many creative ways as part of my marketing strategy moving forward, I’ll keep you updated and let you know how it goes!

With love,
xoxo
Alex

P.S. Because I love Interact so much, I’m now an affiliate! So if you’re going to join Interact, make sure you join here!

2 questions every soulful entrepreneur should ask themselves

65 Comments / BUSINESS / By Alex Beadon

There are certain rules I live by when it comes to my business.

The one I want to talk to you about today is this:

I must continue to actively and consciously create a business that supports me not only financially, but creatively, emotionally, AND spiritually. It’s about creating a job that doesn’t feel like “a job”, but more like a way of life.

I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately, and I came up with a method that I’ve been using to brainstorm new ideas to help implement this. Here it is:

2 Questions Every Soulful Entrepreneur Should Ask Themselves:

1) What’s something within your business that’s working really well and lights you up inside?
What is something you can pinpoint you LOVE doing within your business, that simultaneously is building your brand or adding to your bottom line? Be as specific as possible about WHY it lights you up, and the particular characteristic of it that really matters to you.

2) How can you create similar experiences within your business, in a way that would also help support your business?
What is it about your answer to Question #1 that lights you up? What is it about your answer that you can replicate in a way that would simultaneously excite you AND help grow your business?

I know it can be helpful to see someone else’s answers so …

Here are my answers:

1) What’s something within your business that’s working really well and lights you up?
I *love* the interactions that I have with the amazing people in The Spark Lounge. If I had to be super specific about it , I would say it’s the *intimacy* of the community that I love and that inspires me the most.

2) How can you create similar experiences within your business, in a way that would also help support your business in a legitimate way?
For me, the word that stands out in my answer is the word intimacy.
(note … this word will be different for you. make sure you find what it is that lights YOU up, and brainstorm on THAT.)

So my question then becomes:

How can I create more INTIMACY within my business in a way that will also help support my business in a substantial way?

This question sparked a LIGHTBULB MOMENT for me.

The brainstorm & thought-process that led up to the Lightbulb moment:

1) How can I create more INTIMACY within my business in a way that will also help SUPPORT my business?

2) Send out more heart-to-heart emails (more writing + more connection are both good things)

3) 25,000 emails is A LOT and will be costly. WARNING!

4) What if I only sent out these emails to super fans? To the people who really care to keep up to speed with me and my business?

5) Well… how do you separate those people from the rest?

6) What if I created a V.V.I.P. segment of my email list?

7) People would only receive the exclusive V.V.I.P. emails if they opened my previous email – eradicating those who aren’t truly interested!

8) YES!!! LIGHT BULB MOMENT! This would not only add more intimacy into my business by allowing me to share my heart and soul with a select few, but it would ALSO reward those who open my emails more frequently!

See what happened there?

Thanks to two simple questions and a simple brainstorming sesh, I was able to come up with a brand new idea for my business that REALLY excites me in both a PERSONAL, CREATIVE way and a PROFIT-BASED way.

Sit down. Ask yourself the two questions. Brainstorm. See what comes of it. I bet it’s all good.

Always by your entrepreneurial side,
Alex
xoxo

Be Brave. Leave a Comment.

1) What’s something within your business that’s working really well, and lights you up and excites you inside that you could create MORE of? For me it was intimacy, what is it for you?

2) What do you think of my idea of having a secret V.V.I.P. section of my list that you can *only* be on if you opened my previous email. Thoughts?

3) Did you get my email yesterday? If so – you were on yesterday’s V.V.I.P. list! *throws confetti* … did you like the Goody Bag at the end? 😀

WHAT I LEARNED IN 2014: PART 2

13 Comments / BUSINESS / By Alex Beadon

Have you ever had to make a major, transformative change in your business or life?

According to my fabulous Facebook audience, the answer to that question would be a resounding YES!

In 2013 I made 6 figures doing what I loved – photography:

I was at the peak of my photography career
My website was reaching ~75,000 unique hits per month
I was making more money than I had ever made in my life (6 figures, baby!)

The only problem was: by the end of 2013, I had fallen out of love with photography.

Spoiler Alert: When you create a career for yourself out of nothing … and suddenly realize it’s just not for you? Well … it’s not a fun realization. Because it means everything has to change, and change can be hard.

This unavoidable change meant that I had to do two very difficult things:

1) Reinvent myself online.

Amongst other equally painful things, this meant I’d have to get a brand new website, and wave goodbye to my current site which was getting around 75,000 unique hits a month. Ouch. It meant I’d have to reinvent myself online. No longer would I be “Alex Beadon the photographer” …

2) Create brand new income streams in my business.

Why? Because my current income streams at the time had everything to do with photography, the one thing I wanted to avoid.

Effectively, it felt like I was starting from scratch. Because hey … I pretty much was.

I had to step up, bite the bullet, and follow my heart. And 2014 was game time.

Wanna know what carried me through this transition?

If you’re struggling with making any kind of change in your life or business, here are the three major shifts in perspective that I learned and embraced in 2014 that ended up supporting me through this massive transformation and transition.

.

It all comes down to identifying Negative Initial Thoughts, and replacing them with Enhanced Thoughts.

Negative Initial Thought #1: Change is scary.
Enhanced Thought: Change is exciting.

Because when you’re trying to reinvent yourself online and create income for your business from scratch? Fear shows up. It’s all, “who do you think you are?” “no one cares about you without your photography!” “you have NOTHING to sell … prepare to FAIL!”

When these initial thoughts appear, my only job was to REPLACE them with my enhanced thought: Change isn’t scary. Change is exciting. Edge of your seat EXCITING. From the time you wake up, to the time you go to sleep EXCITING.

It’s like … when you watch a new movie that your best friend says is *really* good – do you go into it afraid? Of course not. You go into it trusting that this movie is gonna blow your socks off. 2014 taught me how to eliminate the habit of assuming the worst. It taught me how to expect the best from life, to know the blessings are on their way, even if I can’t see them yet.

Initial Thought #2: The desire to change is there for no reason.
Enhanced Thought: The desire to change is there for a reason.

Do you know how you get pulled towards discovering your life’s purpose and doing your best work? Through desire. What you want most in life is life’s secret way of telling you that that’s what you’re meant to be doing. I used to believe that my desires were as random as the direction the wind blows. Now I know that whenever desire tugs at my sleeve, it’s time to pay attention and feel blessed by its very presence. It’s life’s guidance in disguise.

Initial Thought #3: I’M SO STRESSED *PULL YOUR HAIR AND CRY*
Enhanced Thought: – Adventures without stress are not worth it!

Sometimes stress will creep in. Instead of FIGHTING it, take it as a sign that you’re doing something worthwhile. My cousin, Tracy, texted this to me in the middle of a stressful week in my business, and she couldn’t be closer to the truth. Why do we look at stress as a negative thing? Can we SHIFT our thoughts around stress? In 2014 I learned to look at stress as a sign for infinite AWESOMENESS on its way. Stress shows up? Cool man! AWESOMENESS IS ON ITS WAY! I realised that the less I associated with the negative connotations of stress, the less stress affected me.

Looking back, I can say without a shadow of a doubt that it was all worth it: the uncertainty, the fear, the unknown.

It taught me to be strong in the belief that I would find a way, that I would somehow make it happen.

Yes, there will be tough times when your initial thought is telling you to GIVE UP!

But when desire tugs at your sleeve and points you to your hearts true calling, trust that the change is good, and that the blessings are on their way.

And in the meantime – rely on your enhanced thoughts. They will carry you through. You’ve got this.

With love,
Alex
xoxo

P.S. In case you missed it the first time … you’ve got this

Before you go, leave a comment:

Be honest: when a negative initial thought enters your mind, how do you react?
Do you easily get frustrated by the apparent “lack” of what you want?
How do you deal with stress and fear?

3 of My Favorite Business Tools (day 5 of 7)

11 Comments / BUSINESS / By Alex Beadon

I just got back from a beautiful trip to the beach, and I’m sitting here on my peaceful balcony with my 7th grade best friend, Laura, who’s visiting me from NYC. Life is SO GOOD!

We are now on the 5th day of The Feel Good Blogging Challenge. I seriously can’t believe how quickly this week has flown by! The response to The Feel Good Blogging Challenge has been PHENOMENAL, and I’m just so grateful and excited for everyone who has taken part. It’s been too much fun 🙂

Today I’m going to be sharing 3 of my favorite business tools, along with WHY I love them so much. Let’s dive in:

1) Dropbox
I LOVE using Dropbox because it allows me to store all of my important business files, notes and folders. The best part is that I know I never have to worry about a hard drive failure, since it’s all in the cloud. I also love using Dropbox to move images from my computer to my phone so that I can upload them to Instagram! Win/win!

2) TimeTrade
All of my clients schedule their appointments with me via TimeTrade. I LOVE TimeTrade because it automatically syncs with my calendar, so it knows when i am free, and when I’m not, and automatically updates any appointments directly into my calendar! AMAZING!

3) Snapchat
This is my latest business obsession. I LOVE being able to ask questions to my followers in such a real way, and be able to get feedback from them immediately! Plus, it’s a crazy amount of fun 🙂 You can follow my adventures by adding me: thealexbeadon

CALL TO ACTION:

Leave a comment below.
What is one of your favorite business tools?
Don’t forget to follow me on Snapchat: thealexbeadon

With love,
Alex
xoxo

IT’S HERE: My new website!

18 Comments / BRANDING, BUSINESS, PERSONAL / By Alex Beadon

I am SO EXCITED to share this with you today! Welcome to my brand new website! If you’ve been wondering where I’ve disappeared to over the last 2 weeks, you now know!

Here’s the before:

and after:

Before I dive in and explain the “behind-the-scenes” goodness of this post, I want to give you a chance to sift through it and explore it for yourself!

So for now, go explore! And if you have any questions, just leave it in a comment! I’d love to hear from you 😀

Big hugs
xoxo

5 Tips For Dealing with Haters And Public Failure

4 Comments / BUSINESS, PERSONAL / By Alex Beadon

Having done a lot of work with entrepreneurs on their businesses and brands, there are certain patterns that I have started to see come up again and again. It’s funny how the same issues can appear in a variety of ways for different people and different businesses, BUT what it all comes down to is fear.

Today I want to talk to you about the fear of what everyone else thinks because I KNOW it concerns you. For many of you, like me, it’s YOUR NAME that’s on your business. And the fear of public failure can be paralyzing – because what will everyone think?

Here are five reminders to help get over fear of failure, and what others think of you:

1) You Are Not Your Achievements Or Failures

I refuse to judge myself based on my achievements or failures because they do not define me. And so, if I fail, it’s okay – because I WILL get up and keep going no matter what and I will not allow myself to feel “less than” or “not good enough” for experiencing failure.

2) Failure Is Not Bad

Listen to the life stories of the most interesting people on the planet and each story is full of failures – big failures, small failures, it really doesn’t matter. Ironically, the failure is, many times, what makes their stories so beautiful. Because what matters is how the individual deals with failure. Instead of looking at failure as this huge personal embarrassment, we need to look at failure as what it is: a blessing in disguise, one of your greatest teachers, and quite simply, a part of life. Failure happens to every single one of us – no exceptions. So don’t let failure slow you down, use it as an awesome compass, a tool, a friend, a teacher, and a blessing in disguise.

3) Being Liked By Everyone Is Impossible

When I was in high school, I wanted to be liked by everyone, and no matter how hard I tried – it never happened. Although I was loved and appreciated by many for being so happy-go-lucky, many saw me as fake and contrived. I was viewed by many as “too nice”. At the time, this was crushing, but I now see what a great blessing in disguise this was for me because it taught me that it’s impossible to be liked by everyone. And so, I let go of the impossible desire to be liked – and I was free to just be me, no matter who liked it or not. It’s the same in business – you will create things that some people LOVE and other people HATE, and it’s all good!

4) Fitting In Is An Awful Business Strategy

Guess what? When you fit in, and you try to be liked by everyone – you may avoid haters, but you’re simultaneously avoiding super fans. So don’t be afraid to do something different. Don’t be afraid to try new things. Don’t be afraid to AUTHENTICALLY STAND OUT because THAT’S how you’ll get A LOT of positive attention.

5) Celebrate And Love Your Fans AND Your Haters

I’ve always said that if you’ve got haters, you must be doing something worth talking about – and that’s something to celebrate! Every time I send out an email to my VIP List, 50 people unsubscribe. FIFTY. But I don’t think twice about it – I KNOW that by them leaving, they are making space energetically for new, better-suited people to join my VIP List, and because of that – I celebrate. When people feel STRONGLY ENOUGH to email you hate mail, unsubscribe from your news feed, or take any other similar actions, remember that when you strongly repel people, it must simultaneously mean that you are strongly attracting people! CELEBRATE IT!

We all experience judgement from others, but all that matters is the truth. And YOU know the truth, it comes from within – you don’t need to find it elsewhere or in anyone else’s opinion of you.

Just to bring this point home, in the past 24 hours I’ve received 5 pieces of hate mail. And guess what? I’M STILL GOING, BABY, AND YOU ARE, TOO 😀

With love and hugs, bright wishes and energy,
Alex
xoxo

P.S. Here’s a little bit of encouragement for you from Oprah herself – never let the haters get you down, never give up, believe in yourself, and know that we are all in this together! (Skip to minute 5 if you want to get to the good part)

How to turn that idea of yours into a reality

28 Comments / BUSINESS, PERSONAL / By Alex Beadon

Hey friend,

Every single day this week I’ve done one life-changing thing. This one thing has made such an awesome impact on both my business and life. It has given me a sense of companionship, forced me to see things from other perspectives, AND it’s encouraged me to venture outside of my comfort zone. (can you tell I’m excited?)

What is this magical thing I’ve done daily this week?

I’m so glad you asked 😉 Well … it’s Skype calls. And not just any Skype calls – but Skype calls with interesting people from around the world who, like me, run their own businesses, and love every second of it.

Yesterday afternoon I had the pleasure of speaking to Vicky Lyashenko of smallbusinessgal.com and she gave me some of the BEST advice I ever could have asked for. To find out what her advice for me was, and how I decided to put it into action, you’re gonna have to watch this video:

I know that whoever you are, sitting there, reading these words of mine – you have an idea. Maybe it’s a big, grand idea that feels far too huge to ever be taken seriously. Maybe it’s a small idea that you’ve had for a while, but you’ve been putting it off because you’re not entirely sure of how to push it forward. Whatever it is – this is a sign to MAKE IT HAPPEN. No matter what excuses you’ve been feeding yourself as to why you can’t do it yet – just ignore them and push on. Get it done, one small step at a time!

With love and hugs,
Alex
xoxo

Witness an incredible sales page

9 Comments / BUSINESS, MARKETING, THURSDAY THROWDOWN / By Alex Beadon

Hey Dream-Chaser,

This week has been a crazy one – I’ve had some HUGE WINS within my business, which I’ll be sharing with you at the end of the month on the blog :). But I’ve also had some craziness (like Blue getting into a whole bunch of chocolate). I’ve started to realize that the deeper I get into dedication and devotion to my business, the happier I feel – and lately? I’m on cloud 9! 🙂

Hey – do you ever wish you knew what a great sales page looked like?

Today we’re taking an inside look at someone who’s doing it RIGHT on this week’s episode of Thursday Throwdown! Trust me, the tips you’ll learn in this video are going to inspire you to get your sales page on the right track!

I hope you LOVED today’s video! If you did, share it with a friend!

Leave a comment now:
What does your sales page look like?

I really want to hear from you!

Rock on, my friend, rock on!

With love and hugs,
xoxo
Alex

P.S. I need your help! Please fill out this 7-question survey. Here’s why: I’m creating a FREE 14-day blogging challenge, but for me to make it as INCREDIBLE as possible, I need to know what YOU need the most help with! So do this now – take 5 minutes to fill this out, I’d really appreciate it!

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