entrepreneurship

S2 Ep.30 – The Story of my First Six-Figure Launch

Today I’m sharing how I had my very first six-figure launch back in 2016 – and it’s not what you expect. 

This is a short and sweet episode coming in at 16 minutes – and it highlights the importance of ONE incredibly powerful thing that made all the difference in my sales (that most people ignore).

Can you spare 16 minutes to learn the one thing I did that made all the difference and got me to six-figure launches?

Resources mentioned in this episode: 

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

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

Transcript Available Below

Alex Beadon 0:03
So you want to scale your online business while purposely prioritizing your most joyful, free, and luxurious life. This Podcast is your weekly dose of connection and self-reflection. As you set strategic intentions along the way, it’s time to prime your mind embrace your pace, and take consistent action towards creating what you truly want from your online business without sacrificing the small moments all around you that are so worth treasuring. So take a deep breath, relax, and let’s get you back to where you belong. On purpose.

You’re listening to season two, Episode 30 of On Purpose with Alex Beadon. And I am so excited for you to listen to today’s episode because it’s on one of my favorite topics. Today I’m going to be sharing with you exactly what I did in order to help my first six-figure launch ever and it’s most likely not what you’re thinking. I didn’t drastically change my strategy. I didn’t drastically change my visibility or the way that I was showing up. It was something else that made a massive difference. And that’s what I’m going to be sharing with you in today’s episode. So definitely listen through till the end and let me know what you think. I’m Alex speed in your favorite launch strategist and your guide into the online business world. I’ve had an online business selling digital products since 2011. And I’ve been helping online businesses scale through launching since 2016. I’ve been featured in Forbes and Entrepreneur and I’ve worked with clients ranging from solopreneurs to multi-million dollar small businesses. Here at Team Beadon. We pride ourselves on being the industry-leading destination for all things launch strategy. Our 12-month program together we launch teaches our signature rinse-and-repeat launch strategy that has helped course creators and membership site owners from all over the world to have their best launches yet. Our goal is to give you the tools to create a wildly profitable online business while prioritizing your most joyful life so that you can truly experience time, freedom, location, freedom, and financial freedom. I’m so excited for you to listen to today’s story all about how I had my very first ever six-figure launch. But before we jump into that, I have to say a quick shout-out to Christine who you can find over on Instagram at @paidcopywriter. She is one of our Together We Launch members and she just left a post in our circle community celebrating because she just hit her biggest revenue month in the history of her business. Since starting her course back in 2020. She said her goal with Together We Launch was to stop treating her digital course business as a side hustle and transition away from one on one service provider work as a copywriter. And since joining together we launch she’s so happy with all the growth growth that’s happened in just a few short months. And yeah, she’s launching in one week’s time right alongside me. And I’m just so so proud of her. So just wanted to give her a little shout-out here on the podcast. Now let’s jump into the topic at hand. This is the story of my very first six-figure launch. And of course, the reason why I want to share this with you guys today is because I am currently in the middle of promoting the ultimate launch bootcamp. This is a five-day virtual boot camp. That’s all happening online. It’s 100%, free made specifically for course creators and membership site owners to help introduce them to so many of the things that I love about launching that have helped me tap into those multiple five, six, and multiple six-figure launches. So I’m really excited to share the bootcamp with you. If you haven’t signed up already, I’m going to leave a link in the show notes or you can sign up for free at ultimate launch bootcamp.com. I hope to see you there. All right, so let’s jump into the story of how I had my very first six-figure launch. The year was 2016, bearing in mind that I have been selling digital products since 2011. So it had been it literally took me five years to figure out how to have my first six-figure launch. And so many lessons were rolled into what eventually got me to this point. But there’s one thing in particular that I did for this launch that I had never done for any of my launches previous. Now I want to be super clear that everyone is different, right? And so this was an area that I was really struggling with. This may not be an area that you struggle with. There are so many different components of what makes a good launch. And don’t worry, I’m going to introduce you to them all inside of the Ultimate Launch Bootcamp. But today, the one that I want to share with you is one that really made the biggest difference in how I was able to show up during this launch And in what I believe ultimately helped me reach that six-figure launch goal, which had been a goal of mine for such a long time and honestly felt so magical and like such a relief when I finally was able to get there. And so here it is, here’s the number one thing that I did differently from all of my past launches, I prioritized my energy. And I know that sounds like very woowoo and very out there. But here’s the thing, whether you like it or not, the energy with which you show up matters immensely, as to how people feel when they consume your content. If you have an energy that is very much in a lack, lack mentality, if you are someone who believes that things aren’t going to work out for you, if you’re going through your launch, and you’re kind of thinking to yourself, why would anyone want to buy from me, these are all very bad signs, and they translate through the content that you’re creating. And here’s the thing, when we are going through a launch, of course, we want to follow a system. Again, I’m going to walk you through that in the ultimate launch bootcamp. But we also want to be showing up, we want to be visible, we want to be creating content, putting ourselves out there telling the story of our launch, making sure that people see us as an authority, we have to be showing up over the period of the launch, even in the lead up to the launch, it’s very important that we are building that relationship with our audience that they know like and trust us, and that they know what to expect from us, right? If you’re showing up during that launch, and you feel like you’re annoying people, if you feel like you’re bothering people, when you send an email if you get full of anxiety, because you’re like, oh my gosh, I’m gonna get unsubscribes all of these things are negative, energetic things to be holding on to. And ultimately, they’re creating resistance in you being able to reach your full potential and being able to reach that pinnacle of success that you’re trying to create in your life and business. And so what I did was I really focused on my energy at all times, I set an alarm on my phone. And every few hours, I would ask myself, I would go off. And the question would be, how are you doing in this moment? And I would have these energetic check ins with myself to just stop and ask myself, like, how am I doing in this moment? How am I feeling? Where’s my energy at? And what do I need to be doing in this moment to better take care of myself. We can talk about self care a lot. We all know the basics, getting enough sleep, making sure that you’re drinking enough water, making sure that you are exercising, eating well, all of those things matter a lot. But what we often forget is the soul. Are we taking care of ourselves. From a soul perspective, do we feel charged up? Or do we feel completely energetically drained. And if you’re feeling that sense of energetically drained, and you’re showing up with that feeling, people can smell it from a mile away, and no one wants to buy from someone who has that feeling of energetic drain, right? You want to show up and you want to feel excited to be there. You want people to be able to feel that energy from you, like you are in the right place at the right time you are on purpose you are fulfilled you are in alignment with the work that you’re meant to do in the world. You want people to be magnetically drawn to you. And so taking that time to check in with myself, and always prioritizing my energy no matter what is the number one thing that I did, that led to me having my very first ever six figure launch. And it was not a linear process. Throughout the entire launch. There were many times when I felt like wow, things are not going the way I want them to go. My numbers are not where I want them to be. And I would be filled with this sense of dread and anxiety. I think that’s normal during a launch, it happens to the best of us. But what we need to be able to do is to have that power inside of ourselves to reclaim the energy that we want to be showing up with. And listen like I am a launch Coach. And this is still something that I have to deal with every single time that I launch. In fact, for this launch, I even went so far as to hire a coach to help me through the process and to support me through the process because I don’t believe that I’m bulletproof. I know that there is space for me to grow. There’s room for me to be better in this department. And I want to continue to invest in myself, I believe in the power of investing in myself.

And so during this launch back in 2016 I was always checking in with myself and being very honest with myself about how was I energetically feeling and where was I on the scale of zero being you know, I feel completely energetically drained. I don’t want to be doing this. I don’t believe in my offer. I feel like a failure and it hasn’t even ended and then On the other end of the scale, the 10, which is like, Wow, I feel powerful, I feel magnetic, I feel aligned with the work that I’m doing in the world. I know that there’s people out there who will benefit from this, I know that my job is to just find them and connect with them. Where are you on that scale, checking in with myself and asking myself that question. And if I wasn’t at an eight, a nine or a 10, I would take the time to pause whatever it is that I was working on whether it was an important email, or whether it was a live that I had to do, I would pause everything and get realigned in whatever way that I possibly could. For me, in that moment, what I used to love doing was meditation, I would use essential oils. And I would really harness the energy that I had inside of myself to remind myself of why I’m doing what I’m doing, and to reconnect with my vision, reconnect with the goal. When you’re going through your launch, you need to believe in the end result, you need to believe in that final outcome no matter what you need to hold space for that vision. Even if it currently doesn’t look like it’s gonna pan out, I needed to hold on to that vision, I needed to believe it with every single ounce of my being. And that’s what I focused on throughout the entire launch. Every time I fell off the horse. I showed myself self compassion, I paused what I was doing. And I reconnected with the vision at hand, I reconnected with a number of people that I wanted to attract into my into my course into my program, which at the time, I think it was like 112 people, I remember that being a very important number. And that’s exactly what happened. And what’s interesting as well is like I sat it wasn’t linear, right? I remember being 75% of the way through the open cart and being like this launch is a fail. But and this is what I tell my together, we launch members all the time, it ain’t over till it’s over. We had it together, we launch member Elizabeth Stiles who always used to say sell through the silence. And those are two mantras that I carry with me and that I share with my launchers moving forwards, like these are two things that you absolutely have to do is hold on to that vision. It ain’t over till it’s over, sell through the silence and believe believe believe, if you’re not believing that it’s possible, then it’s a complete and utter waste of your time, your energy has to be there. I don’t care who laughs at this who thinks it’s unimportant. Like there is a reason why athletes visualize what what it is that they need to do before they do it. It’s because it works. It is scientifically proven that your brain does not know the difference between if something is happening in real life, versus if you are imagining it inside of your brain and visualizing it inside of your brain. So let this be your reminder that if you’re not using visualization techniques, maybe it’s time that you start, if you’re not connecting with that vision, and with that dream, every single day of your launch, if you’re not reminding yourself, this is what I am here to do. This is how many people I’m here to serve. This is how many people I’m here to change the lives of. That’s what you need to be doing. And I can tell you right now, that was the number one difference that I had, that I made in my launches that made all of the difference. And I want to remind you that it doesn’t have to be perfect in order to be profitable. If your launch doesn’t unfold perfectly, guess what? It’s okay. No launch ever unfolds perfectly. It’s okay. What matters is that you’re putting your best foot forward, and that you’re making your best attempt and that you’re staying in that energetic high and prioritizing it above all else, in fact, and this is a really interesting fact, during that launch back in 2016, one of the days of my LME, which don’t worry, I’ll explain all about that in the ultimate launch bootcamp. But one of the days of my LME I had to postpone. And the reason I had to postpone is because I checked in with myself. And I realized that I was burning out I realized that I was pushing myself too much. And I realized that my energy was not in that pure high place that it needed to be. And that’s okay. But what we need to learn how to do as launchers is to be able to read ourselves to be able to have that indicator that temperature read to be able to understand what is it that we need in order to show up and be our best? Right? So I hope that this episode resonates with you. If it does, you are most likely going to be an absolute perfect fit for the ultimate launch bootcamp. Because I’m not only going to be teaching you about launch strategy, although there will be a lot of that. I’m also going to be teaching you about the winner’s mindset that you need to have in order to have an achieved Have your best launches yet. So if you haven’t already signed up, definitely go and do that. Like I said, it is 100% free, you have nothing to lose. And I’m so proud of the community that we’ve brought together already. So go on and head on over to ultimate launch bootcamp.com Make sure that you’re signed up. We are kicking it off with a welcome party on September 10. The boot camp itself actually starts Monday, September 11, through Friday, September 15. And then of course, the doors will be opening to together we launch so if you have been keeping your eyes out for together we launch, then this will be your time to join. So if you have any questions at all on this episode, please feel free to message me at Alex Beadon over on Instagram. I’m sending you so much love from my heart to yours and I really hope that this story resonated with you deeply as it always does with me every single time I share it. Sending you so much love. Talk to you next time. Bye bye.

S2 Ep.29 – How to Brand Yourself Online with Diana Jakubcova: Personal Branding Tips for Course Creators

If there’s one thing we all want, it’s to stand out in our individuality online.

And I don’t know about you but, the online space can sometimes feel like there’s a million people out there who are already doing the exact. same. thing.

Sometimes it can feel like your message is drowning in a sea of sameness.

And what’s the point in showing up, if your message is not being felt deeply by those who need it the most?

The question I’ve been asking myself recently is this:

How can you make it so that every touch point with you not only feels cohesive but feels like you?

Whether that’s a blog (like this one), a Reel (like this one), or a website (like this one) … the idea is that your brand catapults through the screen and makes people FEEL. 

That’s what we’re exploring in this week’s episode with my guest, Diana Jakubcova.

In this episode Diana shares:

✅ how to know if your branding is strong

✅ how to accurately express yourself online

✅ specific exercises to develop your personal brand

✅ the inner and outer energetics of a brand

✅ the mistakes online business owners (like you) are making in their brand photo shoots – hopefully you’re not making these mistakes!

✅ and so much more

Resources mentioned in this episode: 

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

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

Transcript Available Below

Alex Beadon 0:03
So you want to scale your online business while purposely prioritizing your most joyful, free and luxurious life. This Podcast is your weekly dose of connection and self reflection. As you set strategic intentions along the way, it’s time to prime your mind embrace your pace and take consistent action towards creating what you truly want from your online business without sacrificing the small moments all around you that are so worth treasuring. So, take a deep breath, relax, and let’s get you back to where you belong. On purpose.

You’re listening to season two episode 29. Of on purpose with Alex Beadon. After I finished recording this episode that you’re about to listen to, I was buzzing with excitement for you to listen to it too. In case you missed it, I recently did a complete revamp of the together relaunch sales page we worked with past together we launch member Galen Mooney of local creative but in the process of trying to find a designer, I stumbled upon the work of Diana Jakobcova. She is the owner and creator of deeply rooted studio, and it’s extremely rare that someone’s design aesthetic stopped me in my tracks on Instagram, but that’s exactly what her Instagram page did. And if you’re curious, you can go and find it at deeply rooted dot studio over on Instagram. I didn’t think much of it. But as I continued to follow her content and learn more about her story, I got more and more intrigued and realize that I needed to have her on the show. Diana studios specializes in building premium brands for service providers, educators and agencies who are deeply rooted in their mission. So why did I have her on the show? Firstly, she clearly has an excellent understanding of personal branding. She has been hired by various communities and global brands like Adobe to host guest expert trainings, and I’m super excited to have her on the show today. If you’ve ever felt lost amongst a ginormous sea of personal brands in the online space, you’re not alone. And this episode is going to give you a lot to think about. But most importantly, this episode will help you craft a brand identity that’s eye catching. And true to who you are. We talked about how to make your brand more magnetic, what the most common pitfalls of personal branding are, and how to master the art of digital charisma. If you’re an educator, a creator or a coach who’s eager to stand out in the online space. This episode is a goldmine of strategies and inspiration. Not only is she a branding expert, but she also has her own digital store where she sells social media templates, funnel kits and more. The way she has set up her online business is fascinating to me. And in this episode, we dive into not only how she follows her intuition to create all of these different products, but how she launches and sells them to get ready for an incredibly gutsy conversation that will help you bring even more self awareness and authenticity to your own personal brand. Keep listening and you’ll see exactly what I’m talking about. I’m Alex speed in your favorite launch strategist and your guide to the online business world. I’ve had an online business selling digital products since 2011. And I’ve been helping online businesses scale through launching since 2016. I’ve been featured in Forbes and entrepreneur, and I’ve worked with clients ranging from solopreneurs to multi million dollar small businesses. Here at Team bieden. We pride ourselves on being the industry leading destination for all things launch strategy, our 12 month program together we launch teachers our signature rinse and repeat launch strategy that has helped course creators and membership owners from all over the world have their best launches yet. Our goal is to give you the tools to create a wildly profitable online business while prioritizing your most joyful life so that you can truly experience time, freedom, location, freedom, and financial freedom. And without further ado, let’s jump into today’s episode. Diana, welcome to the show. I’m so happy to have you here.

Diana Jakubcova 4:02
Hello, I’m super excited about today’s episode. Thank you so much for having me.

Alex Beadon 4:06
Oh, it’s just I can already tell it’s gonna be so good. And you know, I’ve been doing my research. I’ve been like listening to other podcasts that you’ve been on. I’ve been stalking you on Instagram and Instagram is actually where I first found you. And like immediately was drawn to your brand and to just listening to everything that you had to say. So for anyone who’s listening, I’m gonna start this conversation off by saying go and check her out over on Instagram, you can find her deeply rooted dot studio. And I just think, you know, having that kind of brand that immediately causes someone to be so drawn to you is very rare in the online world and I think you’ve done a really good job of it. So I’d love for you to share with us you know, how do you define a good brand and how would someone know if they have a good brand?

Diana Jakubcova 4:56
Oh wow. How how How long can we be here? Basically, right? But I completely agree with you, when it comes to finding just something that’s different online these days, right? Because like, as much as a lot of people like to think that they are different, they’re not, I’ll be honest, they’re not. And they even invested in branding. But I feel like because it’s so easy to get influenced these days.

The stage where you get inspired by something, or someone is crossing the line into copying almost right. But it’s not that we do it intentionally, or that someone is doing it intentionally. It just because we are so connected online and to the whole online world, and what is happening that we forget to connect or like reconnect with ourselves. So I like to think about branding as an extension of you, right. So this is what we do with our clients. So we don’t just build brands, because they want to look polished up. But you know, at the end of the day, they’re completely someone else. And we’ve had so many clients that came to us that they built a brand, basically, but they were not able to show up. So they didn’t want to share anything on their stories, they didn’t want to share anything from their life. Because it was completely different to you know, the person that they have built online, on social media, their brands, and this can look like. So let’s say I’ve had a one client, and she was all about these pink pipes. And you know, just like a really bubbly person, but an online, she really try to step up, let’s say step up. And she really wanted this corporate style brand without being corporate. I mean, everyone says, I want I want this corporate style brand without, you know, the corporate vibe. And I’m like, Alright, this is cool. But

let’s be honest, it’s corporate or not. Right? Yeah. Then it became really difficult for her to show up on Instagram stories, because the environment really influences you, right? So it’s almost you feel, it’s like you feel ashamed or embarrassed to show up. Because it’s not, there is no connection, right. And people can feel it. And people can also see it. And I know a lot of people, a lot of coaches, they say that it doesn’t matter. You know, you can do whatever you want, you can be whoever you want, your brand can be this, it doesn’t matter, just show up, just show up unprepared. But how many of us actually are able to do this? Where is the confidence then, right? Because I know that if you are confident, you will be able to sell your packages, your programs, your courses, whatever it is, however, if you are not confident, and you don’t really feel supported by your brand, that this is, you know, the best representation of yourself, and no matter who would find you today, it’s all good, you’re good to go, right. And it happens all the time. And people keep putting it off until it’s I don’t want to say too late because it’s never too late. However, if you sort of keep putting off, investing in your brand, and specifically, your brand experience, in general, it tends to blow up at the end of the day, right? Because what happens is that you keep putting it off, but then there is an opportunity that might come in, right, and then you start panicking, and you start looking for 20 designers, the last minute and you’re like, oh my gosh, what the hell am I doing here? And then, you know, all of these horror websites, stories, sales page stories, and I don’t know what other branding stories that people have, they usually tend to happen when you’ve made that decision from like an emotional place because you were really not in the best place to make that decision for your brand and for your business. Right. Because like let’s not forget, it is you and most most businesses, nowadays, our personal brands, so it’s you basically that people think about even if it’s an agency, right? Even for us exotic studio, they think about me, they think about me traveling, living in Bali and just having good times, right? That’s what I think about. So you always need to think about okay, this is the personal part, but then how can we also think about the business? So not to mix these two things together too much. That’s what we are always looking for because when it starts to get too personal No, thank you So this is a really tricky when it starts to get personal for you as a client, you can really make a decision, because it’s difficult for you to actually be in that space and see the bigger vision. See the vision that fits your business, your lifestyle even right. And it makes sense and it will bring you results. That’s important.

Alex Beadon 10:27
Okay, so let’s go even more elementary. How would you define a brand? Like when when we’re talking about your brand? What are the different elements that we’re talking about?

Diana Jakubcova 10:41
I like to think about a brand as an experience. Because ultimately, again, that’s what we do, we turn brands into premium experiences. And a brand is something that people can deeply experience, right? You land on someone’s profile, you either feel it or not. It’s that simple. It’s that simple. You don’t really have to overthink this, you don’t need to look up your logos, or, you know, your brand strategy, visuals. You have to think about this as an ecosystem of different brand touchpoints working seamlessly together.

Alex Beadon 11:31
I’m writing that down. I think that’s beautiful, different brand touchpoints working seamlessly together. So if someone is listening to this, and they’re like, Okay, I know that my brand isn’t where I want it to be. I know that when I show up in all of those different touchpoints, whether it’s, you know, maybe in my online course, or maybe on my Instagram page through my emails, like there’s so many different touchpoints How does someone go about the journey of learning how to accurately express themselves and their brand online?

Diana Jakubcova 12:06
Through putting yourself out there through situations that sometimes feel good at the beginning, but then you go through this whole learning experience, and you realize that this is not what you want. So again, don’t be afraid, don’t feel locked in by your brands. It’s not the end of the world, right? A lot of the people think that, oh, I now have this color palette, and she told me that I have to show up like this, you still can experiment there is more than at least should be enough space for you to be in your flow. That’s how I would put it right. A brand should allow you to be flexible and dynamic. It shouldn’t feel like it’s a box, and you’re trapped in a box.

Alex Beadon 13:01
I think a lot of people feel that way. Yeah, they think about Yeah, they’re like brand colors, brand fonts, etc. And they’re like, Well, I have to stick to this, this is what I have to use. So something that I love to do is I will look at my Instagram page, and just pretend like I’m a random person. And I will scroll through it and really try to hone in intuitively on like, what are the feelings that are coming up? For me? I love what you said about branding being an experience, I totally agree with you. It’s about how is someone feeling? You know, what are the memories that we’re creating for people through our brand? What is the experience there? And so I think, for anyone who’s listening, you know, going through their Instagram page and putting themselves in the shoes of the ideal client and asking, you know, what could be communicated better. And actually, I’ll give you a great example for me personally, that I just went through, I’ve been leaning more into reels, which is great, and kind of my aesthetic was to just kind of take a screenshot from the reel, and then just throw some pink text on top. And at first, I was like, Okay, I think this looks good. But the more that I did it, my feed just started to feel overwhelming. It was just like so much text in so many different images, and it just didn’t have that cohesive feel that I wanted it to have. So I’m now experimenting with something completely different that I’ve never tried before. And it kind of holds hands with what you were saying around. Don’t be afraid to experiment and try new things and, you know, move outside of your colors a little bit. Try different fonts if it’s not feeling right for you. How often do you look at your own brands and make changes for your own brand? Or do you feel like right now you’re in a really strong position with it and you’re just kind of like sticking to the box that you’ve created?

Diana Jakubcova 14:43
This will be an interesting answer. As a designer, this is very tricky. We tend to change a lot depending on trends depending on what we just find online I guess, but I Do you have to say I feel really strongly about the direction we are currently having with the Pilates studio, I’m not changing colors, I’m not changing the messaging, I’m not changing any of those things. But I might change my phones once in a while, because let’s be honest, as a designer, half of my day, sometimes it just spending and looking for fonts, and I just can’t help it. However, this is, I don’t want to say mistake, because I don’t like using a word mistake. But let’s say mistake I see is that a lot of online entrepreneurs that are not designers are trying to be designers. And that is not going to work out for you. Because you’re not a designer. It’s that simple. So yes, if you want to get inspired by something we create, that’s fine. Just knowing that if you are not that type of creative, if you don’t have that skill developed, it is not going to translate the same way. If let’s say I were to do it, or some other designers, some other creative. That is a huge point here because I see this time and time again. And then you beat yourself up for something. That’s not even your job. Yes, like me beating myself up for not learning how to run Facebook ads properly, and then be like, Oh, I’m really bad at this. I really suck at this. Right? No?

Alex Beadon 16:35
How can someone because most of the people listening are either solopreneurs, or they have a very small team, maybe like a virtual assistant or something like that? How can someone go about expressing themselves in the online space? Like what do you recommend for people in terms of building that brand online? And you know, making sure that they’re also expressing it well online without necessarily having to go to a designer all the time? Like, is it work with someone who’s really good, who can give you all of the tools that you can then like run creatively with it throughout the year? Or, you know, are there any I don’t know websites or resources or anything that you would recommend for someone who’s struggling with this.

Diana Jakubcova 17:16
So if you are currently in like this kind of position, where you’re just like, don’t know what to do with your brand. And even though you understand what that is, why it might feel difficult for you, it’s because you are doing it for yourself, I’ll be honest, it’s really difficult to do your own branding and look at your own business in general, from, you know, like a perspective of what is really happening here, but like really happening here, what do I really want, we do get attached into outcomes, and the things we see. So what I would recommend is that if you have a team member, maybe you can hop on a call and refine together. And it’s not even because they need to be experts in this, it can simply be a conversation around where do you want to see your brands, and not even five years, you can go in a year, right? Let’s make this really easy, because like people tend to jumpscare when you say like five years, or 10 years to let’s say in a year, what would you like to achieve in your business. And that which you want to achieve in your business, you now need to connect with your brand. So then let’s say if you have a goal of launching a new signature program, next year, in the next 12 months, there are things that you will have to consider. Right. So from there, you can sort of backtrack Oh, okay, so what have I done to get here where this is a signature program? It makes sense for me, it makes sense for my audience. What are those touch points, I need to you know, either invest in or start at least developing. Again, you don’t have to do it all at once. But what really helps is getting that new perspective of someone else is looking through your stuff and seeing it for what it is basically. Right? So that’s number one. However, if you are if you are alone, if you’re just like, Okay, I’m really overwhelmed. If this is just about your visuals, start with a Pinterest board, literally this easy. Sit down, create a new Pinterest board and pin things that you feel drawn to. Now don’t pin things that you See, because they are popular. No, no, no bean things that you can see around your house, things that you have in your closet. Things, I don’t know that you just bought your favorite mug, your favorite dress sofa. And you can even look at this through a lens of your future self, your highest self, let’s say, Where would she be living, what kind of apartment, this usually helps even our clients to like disconnect from where they currently are, and where they want to get. And just filter the noise of the industry in general, just make sure you create that Pinterest board. And when you look at it, there will be a pattern of something. So you will start seeing colors, you will start seeing some kind of style forming here. And again, this is exactly what we do with our clients. When we start developing their brand. We tell them to create Pinterest boards of the favorite things. Now one thing to note, don’t pin graphic design things into this board, because this will mesh mesh mesh with all of the other things that you’re trying to do if you want to create a design or like a graphic design related board. Separate is a separate board a separate style. So this

Alex Beadon 21:26
board that you’re talking about is more about the feeling that you want your brand to have. How like how you want people to associate with you when they interact with you at some point.

Diana Jakubcova 21:37
Yes, yes, exactly. Exactly. That’s why it needs to have your favorite things, your favorite style, your favorite sofa, you don’t have to you don’t need to have it in your living room right now. That’s not the point. It’s just how do you you perceive yourself? What kind of things you would buy basically, right? And that will tell you a lot, a lot about yourself.

Alex Beadon 22:00
Okay, so a few things I just want to highlight there. The first thing that you said that I thought was really interesting is don’t pin graphic design elements. This is not about the graphics, this is more about the feeling. So I love that. The second one is that you highlighted that you don’t you shouldn’t be posting or pinning things that are popular. And that’s just a great place for me to remind everyone listening that your brand should stand out. That is what is going to differentiate you you don’t want to blend in in the online space, you need to be standing out. And the best way to stand out is by knowing who you are knowing what makes you different, and really kind of accentuating those things. I love that you also brought up connecting with that next level version of yourself. I think that’s the best advice because that’s how we’re going to be able to like manifest and move into that next level version. I’d love for you to make this a little bit more clear for the listeners with some examples by using your brand as as your own example. So can you give us some examples of like, things that you would have posted on your own Pinterest board and how that kind of was brought to life within your brand, I’d love for you to just share even just one example would be great.

Diana Jakubcova 23:13
Definitely. So I love fashion. So I was pinning a lot of Vogue style images. Secondly, I love travel. And when I was rebranding, I was in Bali. So that was a huge, a huge part of my life. That’s why there are so many like coconuts and palm trees and beach. And then combined with a more elevated style which I wanted to sort of come through showcasing the community aspect. So that’s why I was also painting different shots of like a team shots or something like this, you can you can put these into a search bar, Team shots, photo shoots, or belly aesthetics, trendy fashion vibes, something like this. And then I started to see that obviously it was difficult for me because it was my own brand, but I got through it. I first of all love pink color. And I always had love pink color. Which means why should I get rid of my pink color, even though I want people to perceive me as I don’t know a high caliber enterpreneur. And all this is like people get really scared when they start hitting six or seven figures and they’re like, Oh, now I need to change my entire style. I used to love pink color but I outgrown my pink color. Even though you still have it everywhere in your house. What you can do just do small touches of the paint. It doesn’t have to be up Primary color can be a secondary color. But this is how you keep that personality in even if you want to elevate because I’m guessing a lot of you that are listening, just want to elevate but elevate without sacrificing your personality.

Alex Beadon 25:18
You said something at the beginning of this episode around, avoiding, you don’t want your brand to become too personal. But we’re also speaking a lot about your brand is a representation of you and you need to live with your brand, you need to feel fully expressed by your brand in order to have fun using it and showing up in the online space. How do you recommend someone goes through the process of figuring out like what is too personal, and how much of my personality should I be putting into this?

Diana Jakubcova 25:46
The when I’m saying to personal, what we do inside of our deeply rooted methods. The first part is branding. And that is divided into inner energetics and outer energetics. So the inner energetics that is about you, and those are the things that I shared with the Pinterest board, we share a couple of journaling prompts with our clients as well, like, as I said, like how your highest self would dress up, what kind of apartment she would live in. What are you good at? What are your natural gifts, what other people say about you your entire life, how your family describes you, those are the things that you want to note, the keywords that you might start searching on Pinterest or any other website or just Google or on Instagram, you want to do your research, right. So this is the inner energetics. That’s your like the core personality. So someone is more funny, someone is a bit more, I don’t know, upbeat, someone doesn’t really like that. Fresh Web of color. But you can tell us about the person, right? So that’s where it stays that is the personal your core personality. And then the outer energetics. This is where we start tapping into your audience. This is where we start looking at your business, your business goals, your brand journey and the things that you want to create with your brand. Now, if you find yourself taking these two personally, in the first phase, what I recommend, again, is looking at those future goals, because it’s probably too personal because you’re looking at now what is happening now in my life. This can be financially this can be in business, maybe business is hard currently, and you’re just like, I don’t know what to do. I don’t like this. I don’t like that. You start overthinking. Right? So you start pinning things that what if I like this? What if I don’t like this? Now come back to your journaling prompts. If you’re someone who is funny the entire life and tie, you know, like your family knows you’re funny, your friends, even your audience. It will show right? So how can you bring the funny aspects into your brand. Without this being too much. This is a second point where this can get too much. So let’s say someone is funny, right? So now you want your logo to be funny. You want your colors to be funny, you want your third icon to be funny, you want your sales page to be funny, everything is just becoming too much. So inside of the journaling prompts, what you can do is what you should have is basically different keywords, as I said, and then spread it out. Like spread it out into different brand touchpoints. Right. So let’s say you can have a more and more funny infused color palette, but your phones can tone this whole thing down basically into being more more relaxed, right? So we want to find that sweet spot the balance, because like yes, let’s say you have pink, our green color yellow color, which we do have actually for one of our clients, what we have done is that we have infused her personality into the color palette, which is like a pitch is really fun. You know, it’s just fun to be around her in general. But then what we have done with the other assets, we really try to minimize that aspect like the funny aspect because that will be too much so we didn’t look for fonts that let’s say were too bulky, or we didn’t look for rhymes that evoke that feeling of not funny but It’s like, was this talent, Boho style but like you’ve been to GE, sometimes you can go to vintage event, right? Because those funds are really like bulky. Now we looked for forms that feel refined, because this way, she can still be in her element, but her brand can support her.

Alex Beadon 30:20
Yeah, it’s interesting that you’re saying this because I feel like a lot of typical design advice is something like, choose three descriptive words that that describe the way that your brand is. And then we’re going to make the colors be those three descriptive words and the fonts and the photos and everything. But, in fact, what I think I’m hearing you say is like, no one understand your personality. But then you don’t have to infuse those things into absolutely everything, you can infuse them into different touchpoints so that it’s more of a bigger picture type of thing.

Diana Jakubcova 30:53
Yeah, exactly. And this way your brand becomes more dynamic. Yeah. Dimensional. Yeah, yeah, exactly. So all of our clients actually are using their brands for three years. And they might come back with little tweaks here and there. What usually changes is the layout that is trendy, or I don’t want to say trendy, because people are like, Oh, trendy, not good. Well, we use sometimes trends to stay relevant to the audience. Okay. So we don’t use trends to be trendy, but we use some kind of trends here and there to stay relevant for where the industry is,

Alex Beadon 31:37
could you do you have an example of a trend that you would use to stay relevant?

Diana Jakubcova 31:42
So let’s say I’ll say these with the phones, right? That’s easy to understand. A couple of years ago, let’s say some sort of font was really popular, in general, like in general in the whole world, not just in online industry. Because remember, this is not just online, industrial, we are still living in in the world, right? There are other things. Let’s say it was a sans serif font, let’s say, right? Three years ago, very popular. You can of course, have different style of that font family, right. But now, things happened. Pandemic happened. Lots of other things happen in the world, people want to see something different people want to feel different. People read differently sometimes online, you know. So what we do we find fonts that are a little bit more relevant to where the industry is heading. Currently, we do small tweaks, we don’t have to go all in and do a huge rebrand, which yes, you can do this.

Alex Beadon 32:55
My next question is like, so what you’re saying is that it’s okay to evolve little parts of your brand, bit by bit so that it’s kind of, you know, a living breathing thing, instead of just being like, Okay, we’re done with this. And we’re going to create this completely new thing.

Diana Jakubcova 33:09
Yeah, exactly. I am saying that. I know, it might come weird, from a brand director from a designer. But yes, sometimes this is what you need as a person as well. Because again, I think this goes back to you feeling trapped by your brand, because you literally feel like and I know why you feel like that. Because there is a lot of content out there, from designers telling you, you need to stick to this. And I have a solution to this. You understand now, personal brands, or like online brands, in general, maybe digital creators, educate educators, this is a completely different brand than let’s say, if you were to create an E commerce brand, this is where people get really confused. And there were no rules created for this because this online industry is new. Right? But we are taking rules from E commerce from product based businesses, which is if you are creating a product, please do a proper branding at the beginning and you need to stick to it. Right and you need to stick to it for obvious reasons. Like you’re not going to be changing your packaging every five months. Why would you do it? However, when we look at the personal brands, you evolve, like as an enterpreneur we are evolving every single freaking day sometimes, right? I’m like, yesterday, I was this person and today I’m like, what, what is happening? Right? So that’s why it is really, really different to brand yourself as a person as opposed to a product product. It’s really when you think about it, it’s a made up thing that at the end of the day you can brand it in a Any way that you want, right? And it needs to be relevant for the audience, where this gets a little mashed up is when someone says that, oh, but what if my brand won’t be relevant for my audience? Right? This is the number one question. Well, how can it not be relevant? If you make sure your brand is you and you have infused your personality, your values? Because that is essentially what people are buying? You. They’re buying you. You’re even lifestyle, right, because they resonate. So I do resonate with certain profiles, because of their overall lifestyle, the overall brand experience, like in general, who the person is the values hitting the day, with the product, it’s different product, it’s there, right? The audience, yes, if you are launching, let’s say, a matcha product, it will usually be something with the green color, because it needs to stay relevant. But for you, if you want to use green color, and you are afraid that your audience won’t resonate, it’s not it’s not relevant to look at this issue with the personal brands. Because then what happens is that you get scared, and you’re like, Oh, I’m not gonna use the base. The style in general, it doesn’t have to be a color can be style in general, I’ll be this person, because this is what I can see people resonate with, or I think they resonate with maybe, and do this. Well, no, that’s not you. Doesn’t make any

Alex Beadon 36:49
sense. So it’s so funny that you said that, because my next question was going to be what is one of the biggest mistakes that you see business owners making when it comes to branding their business, but I think you just nailed it. Like, when someone feels like, oh, the reflection of who I am, and my personality is not good enough. I don’t see anyone else showing up in this way. And therefore, it’s not safe for me to show up in this way. So I’m just going to piggyback off of what I’m seeing is working, which is the worst thing that you can do for your business, because you’re just going to blend in with the rest of the sheep.

Diana Jakubcova 37:19
Yeah, exactly. And it’s not gonna resonate for you. And then five months, and you’re like, well, let’s burn my whole business down, because this is not who I am.

Alex Beadon 37:32
Right? Yeah, it’s not going to work. Are there any other mistakes that you’d like to share with us that you see business owners making within their brand, in the online business space, personal branding space.

Diana Jakubcova 37:46
Listening to too much advice online, taking advice from people that that are not experts in what they are basically sharing. So this is, this is my thing. And I still don’t understand why coaches, let’s say business coaches, sell how to create your brand, online, it doesn’t really resonate with me, because there are just so many things that go into branding that not adjust those things that they learned, let’s say, right. And a lot of the times coaches don’t, in that, not all of them. Again, disclaimer, I’m not hurting anyone. However, it’s apparent online, right? They don’t really invest, let’s say in a proper brand strategy, they don’t really have that foundational branding done even to understand branding in the first place. And then selling it doesn’t really resonated with me, because me as someone who, you know, helped so many women build their brands that resonate with them, brands that they feel connected to, I know that there is a lot, a lot, a lot a lot, not just from a design point, which is a huge actually point because if you’re selling a brand, the visual part is a huge part. Right? Let’s not forget about that. And then secondly, there we have the brand strategy plus, for for me personally, we use our own method that I have developed, because it helps you to actually build a brand that will support you that will land you those opportunities that you want to land that again resonates with you and your audience and because of that, you are able to foster brand loyalty. That’s why your customers your clients will stay with you. That is the whole point here. Your brand should To help you retain your clients, because their goal is client experience. So again, there are just so many little things that go into branding. That, you know, when someone did not really put an effort into understanding the whole subject as a general, this is where it gets tricky. And I know a lot of online coaches, they are really good at marketing, let’s say, right? But then they start blending in things about branding. And I’m like, wait, this doesn’t make any sense. Because if someone asked what is first branding or marketing, well, actually, it’s both branding and marketing. Because how can you market yourself online without a proper brand presence?

Alex Beadon 40:54
For sure, in fact, it’s like the first thing, probably, you know, because like, you need to have whether you have a good brand or a bad brand, you have a brand that you have to be showing up in marketing with, whether you’re aware of it or not. The important part is like taking accountability and going through your touchpoints. And really making sure that they are a good reflection of your brand, which is something that’s so easy to stop doing, you know, it’s kind of and I myself have definitely become with like building a team, and, and so on. Like, it’s become easier for me to stop double checking all of these things and making sure that it’s still a good reflection of me, how often are you reviewing your brand and you know, spending time on your Instagram account as a new person and going to your website? How often are you revising those things?

Diana Jakubcova 41:42
So for me personally, if we are taking my example, as a designer, I do it very often. Yeah. Because I can see, let’s see, if I work with the clients, I can really see what I personally want to change or like tweak when it comes to the whole brand experience, just to be a bit more bespoke. But I will do it every quarter.

Alex Beadon 42:09
Okay, so you’re recommending every quarter to do a review. And like make any changes that you need to make? It depends.

Diana Jakubcova 42:15
It also depends on let’s say, you don’t have to revamp your website every quarter, obviously, however, because usually you do have those quarterly goals. Just make sure that whatever those goals are, your brand is cohesive with your goals, basically, right. So let’s say q1, I have a goal to launch. I don’t know a new webinar, because by the end of q2, I want to launch the signature program, which means you will need to make tweaks to your Instagram bio page or your website, you know, you will need to change those pages, you will need to tweak the copy and make sure that people are being properly funneled into your webinar and not 25 Other things that you have there, right. So just make sure that you follow one goal and align this with your brand.

Alex Beadon 43:08
So this brings me on to my next question, which I’m really excited to speak to you about. You sell digital products. So you’re not someone who just has an agency who sells services, you also sell digital products, the ones that I was checking out our Instagram templates for Canva. Right? Yeah. Yeah. That’s so cool. So I’d love for you to talk to us a little bit about what your offerings look like, what are the different offerings that you have?

Diana Jakubcova 43:35
So this happened kind of like out of nowhere. I mean, every designer wants to sell just the products, I guess. But I first started with a notion template, which was like a notion sales page template and course portal. And this product is actually one of the most popular ones. Until this day. Yeah. You know, when it comes to digital products, I feel like it’s easy for me to develop them because I use so many systems and I use, I already use so many. So many platforms I would even say that I have access to so i can create those templates. We have kartra templates, show templates. I wanted to make sure that my audience when they come to our website, it’s not just a showy template, or just a Kajabi template. I want to serve different audiences because I do understand that not everyone is a fan of kartra or not everyone can afford to put their course in kartra. Maybe you just need to start with a notion. So I really love to explore different possible, like roadmaps of how you can navigate your clients or potential clients, your leads, whatever you want to call them throughout your brand. And finally, there are just so many things that you can do behind the scenes that will make your audience feel more seen, right. So that’s why I develop different kinds of templates, different kinds of digital products. And the latest one is the social media template pack, which I have worked on for at least like a year, because I have been seeing a long time on the idea. And again, I wanted, I wanted this to be different. Now, you know, when we say different, it’s really difficult to be different this in this role. There are just so many things, so many other templates. But I wanted this to be like an entire different experience. Again, I, you know, I just like experiences in general. So I’m making everything and experience if you purchase, this is your best experience, even the Canva templates. Yes, I guarantee. So this is the latest one. And when I design any template, I infuse it with our deeply rooted methods, which has the branding aspect, it has the client experience aspect, and the marketing aspect. So this is how you as a consumer, as someone who purchases the product, you can feel confident knowing that there isn’t anything else that you need. Just a copy, let’s say, right, there isn’t anything else you need to worry about if these sections are the sections you should be having. If this type of content is the type of content, you should be like posting, now, I have done the work for you. And you can just do your job, you can promote, you can sell because I want this to be easy for our buyers to use the template on a daily basis. A lot of the times you purchase a template, and then you’re like, I don’t even remember, you know, a year has passed and you’re like, huh, I don’t know, I don’t remember this

Alex Beadon 47:04
is very true. It’s very true. I bought templates before on creative markets. And that is pretty much what happens every time. I’m like, Oh, I’m so excited about it for like a few days, and then it’s gone. And I forgot about it. And yeah. That’s why not with yours. Yeah,

Diana Jakubcova 47:22
yeah. That is why also put the price tag on my templates, actually. Yeah, because I didn’t want this to be just another template, I want you to use this. And I have put a lot of work into creating that content for you already. So you don’t have to.

Alex Beadon 47:39
Yeah, and I want everyone who’s listening to really pay attention to what Diana just said, because when you have an offer, and you want people to cherish it, the price tag has to reflect that, if your presets or templates or whatever are the exact same price as all of the other ones out there. And people are just going through them really, really quickly and easily. You know, that’s not what you want. You want your stuff to be cherished and used. And a price points a great way to force someone to really not just let it gather dust on the digital shelf. I’d love for you to share with us what has worked best for you from a sales and marketing perspective to get those digital products sold. How are you selling them? Where are you selling them? And what advice do you have for someone who’s also selling similar digital products.

Diana Jakubcova 48:30
I always start with a waitlist. So I allow a long period for people to sign up for a waitlist for these social media templates. It was maybe even like five months, I guess that I started to like mention, right, you can start like slowly right. And then as you get closer to the deadline to launch day you can you can share more about the templates or a digital product that you’re creating. But waitlist is a great way because then you can really control what is happening behind the scenes. If you’re just promoting on Instagram, you can really control your Instagram. So one day 50 People will see your stories. And then the next day there are 10 people. And then the third day there are 200 people, right? So that’s why I love to do the waitlist strategy that has worked really well. And then I love to use an affiliate program. So again, they get 20% If they promote it, they use their link. So this this is the to two ways. Two ways. I prefer to sell digital products. I would love to run ads in the future. But I haven’t got there yet, which, you know, I feel like a lot of the times can be a budget thing. Because what you also want to do is to get that feedback first for you templates, you don’t just want to be, you know, like, Oh, this is a template, it’s going to be selling hotcakes. And then you pour 10,000 into your ads and like, Oh, what is happening? Is this a good product actually? So first test your products and see gather the feedback, and then see what kind of strategy works for you. But the weightless emails? I don’t think you can go wrong with that.

Alex Beadon 50:21
Yeah. And then when it actually comes to the day of the launch, getting closer, how do you go about building the excitement for the launch itself? Do you have a certain number of days that the cart is open? Or is it just like, Okay, now the curtains open forever? Is there any sense of urgency like, what are you doing to build sales as soon as you open the doors.

Diana Jakubcova 50:43
So with these templates, specifically, the social media template pack, what I’ve done is that I have created a free version that they could download first. And that’s something I have been promoting for two months, I think. And in that period, so it’s like a taste, you want to give them a taste of something, right? Can be something small, it was the one template for your feet and one template for your Instagram stories. But this way, again, they can see what it will look like if they actually purchase in the future, right. So just make sure that whatever you are giving them for free, it is good. And it is a pure reflection of what they will be receiving. And after that, because I was developing the templates I was sharing every single day on stories, what I’m working on, basically, when it comes to these templates, why I’m creating these templates, and what is different about the templates, because let’s not forget, yes, you can buy a template for $25 out there. So I really needed to make sure people understand what they will be getting if they purchase the template, right. So as we were approaching the deadline, the launch date. Now I’m trying to remember I actually did a giveaway as well. So interesting. Yeah, so I did a giveaway. So if you used the, the template, the free template, make sure to tag me. So again, I’m just doing a brand awareness. I tap into other audiences. So if there is a way for you to collaborate with someone to go live with someone to ask your clients to ask your network in general, that is the best way to build up that hype around a product. Because then what you don’t want to happen is that when you launch, and you hear crickets, and this usually happens, because you didn’t prep your audience enough for them to buy.

Alex Beadon 52:56
Yeah, right. Even when you said you know, you’ve you had a waitlist for five months. I’m over here as a launch strategist just clapping in the background, because people think it just matters what happens when I open the cart. But it’s like, no, it matters. Oh, even more what happens before you open the cart? So I’m really happy that you’re touching on this.

Diana Jakubcova 53:13
Yeah. And it’s a great way to build up the pie because I was receiving so many DMS, when are you launching this, I need this right now. And this is something you can then use to share on your stories to showcase that people, other people are interested, right, because people sometimes they just wait around to see if some someone else is interested. Because you don’t really want to be we as people in general, we don’t really want to be that first person to dip the toe. And you know, this was all packed up, right? So we tend to wait and see if other people are also interested in whatever someone else is, you know, selling. So I was really sharing those testimonials. Plus, I was really asking in the DMS whoever tagged me. So I was DMing them and just having that conversation, you know, building up that relationship with the person because then let’s say you are launching a digital product, you can DM them back and say, Hey, have you seen this, I launched it. I know you really enjoy it by free template. And this is you know, this, this is the date, this is the date, mark your calendars. It’s coming out.

Alex Beadon 54:23
Interesting. So you’re also not afraid to like reach out to people and DM them and basically just promote your own thing, which I think so many people are afraid to do. It seems to me what’s so interesting about you is like you have all of these different offers you have a wide variety of types of offerings. I’m curious to know, what is the percentage of your revenue that is coming from something that you are currently promoting, whether it’s that you’re launching it, or maybe you mentioned it on your stories like I’ve seen you online and you seem to be someone who’s not afraid to talk about what it is that you’re currently offering and what it is that you’re focusing on. What percent of your revenue is coming from all of that versus coming from just passive evergreen income that you don’t even have to think about? It’s just coming in from, you know, maybe someone going to your website randomly, etc.

Diana Jakubcova 55:14
So currently, obviously, the services done for you, I would say around 70 to 80%. And the rest would be sales coming through those templates, whether this is through affiliates through referrals. Again, but just you

Alex Beadon 55:33
find, do you find that most of your sales are coming when you’re saying, Hey, I have this thing coming by it?

Diana Jakubcova 55:41
Yes, of course, you have to talk about your offers, otherwise, people won’t know it exists, it can still come through once in a while, which is amazing. Because I have built that, you know, trust with the audience. And like, in general, however, if you don’t talk about your offers, even if it’s multiple offers, I feel like people still assume that other people are stupid, and they don’t, you know, they’re afraid to share multiple offers in a row. Now, make it very clear, this is this kind of offer, this is for this person. And if you’re this kind of person, you can go here, you lead them, you navigate your audience, but please share your offers. I mean,

Alex Beadon 56:21
you also seem to be like very open to the fact that you are a creative and you’re creating different things. And you’re not afraid of having too many offers, which again, even for myself, like oftentimes, I’ll be like, Oh, I could create this. I’m like, no, like, it just what I’m doing already. I think I’m someone who like I need to focus. But for you, you seem to be kind of thriving in this, like, I created this thing. Here it is I created this thing. Here it is. Does that? Is that something that you’re doing intentionally? Are you just following your intuition? Like, what are your thoughts on having multiple offers?

Diana Jakubcova 56:54
Here, I would lean into who you are as a person? Yeah. Make sure because what can happen is that if you’re another type of person who can handle multiple offers things thoughts,

Alex Beadon 57:11
like customer service, and then making sure that everything’s updated. Yeah, it’s a lot. Yeah.

Diana Jakubcova 57:15
Yeah, exactly. So I love multiple things at once I am Gemini, and you know, one thing one morning, I can be happy. And then in the next next day, I’m a completely different person. It’s like this personality thing. I would say I can flow in between. I can flow in between situations that maybe someone would deem as hard or tricky, challenging. I don’t mind that, of course, yes. I’m not saying that I am immune to bullshit. However, I know that my personality is like flowing, right? So I can go with it, I can create one thing. And then the other thing, I can still, I can still thrive in chaos, if that makes sense. But not everyone can. So if you are not this type of person, you cannot like commit to different projects down the line. It doesn’t even have to be at the same time. Because, as you said, I have multiple projects, multiple services, but they were created one by one. I wasn’t creating these projects, you know, in the same month, basically right? That is, yes, that’s not that’s really overwhelming, even for me. But if you are someone who really thrives on getting your ideas out there, you want to share multiple or like different perspectives of your could be products can be courses can be master classes, right? So a lot of I can see a lot of coaches actually thrive on having a lot of masterclasses because they can dive into different topics that they really enjoy. Right? So that’s an amazing way, right? But again, you have to promote that you have to market your products, otherwise, nobody knows. And that is where everyone forgets that sales do not just happen.

Alex Beadon 59:17
Yeah. And that’s why I wanted to ask you that question. Because I think people have the incorrect vision that they’re just going to create something and people are gonna be buying it all the time, but you have to talk about it. And you’re so good at that. I see you promoting yourself all the time.

Diana Jakubcova 59:32
Oh, thank you, to me, because like, I’m like, I’m not promoting enough. I feel like I’m not promoting it. But then everyone, but I get these DMS like, you’re so good at promoting multiple things. And I’m like, Whoa, am I voting? I feel like I don’t see selling as like when you think of like a hard sell. You know, I view it as an invitation, right? So I try to look for ways that I can sell these to you without me being like, Oh, I just launched my social media templates and you come here and buy them. Now, throughout the day, there might be a situation that you’re working on and you’re like, oh, this could be nice to showcase my templates. And I can just showcase the behind the scenes, how your connects. And there you go. You don’t even need to be, you know, creating your graphics, like professional graphics all the time, right? Just hop on your stories share the behind the scenes share what they will receive, once they I don’t all get the login and get the template, how it looks like and share the link. Like, is it such a nice invitation into your offers? And it’s easy?

Alex Beadon 1:00:45
Yes. 100%. I agree. I wanted to ask you about photography, because I feel like that’s another thing that I’m loving about your brand is you seem to be someone who really invests in good photography, you know, your images are also different, funky, unique, and a good representation of your brand. Talk to us about the importance of photography, when it comes to communicating your brand online.

Diana Jakubcova 1:01:10
Oh, wow, we might need another hour. I love this, I love this topic, because your photos can make or break your brand. You or I even can create the most beautiful branding, elevated, like just dreamy. But once you drag in photos that do not connect with what we have created, it all falls apart. Now, what do we do for clients, we develop like a photo shoot guide. So that’s their creative direction based on what we are creating with their branding. And this way, because even if you hire a photograph, now this is a thing your photographer is not there to tell you what kind of photoshoot you need, they come in, they might have a checklist for you of like different shots that you want to take. You know, that’s all cute. But then the editing all comes in a warm tone colors, whereas our branding was created with the colors that match colder tones, let’s say right, and that is where it all falls apart. And the message is not getting through. And people can feel it. Even though we like to think that I don’t understand branding. I don’t understand fonts. You do. subconsciously you do because we have been exposed to fonts to different directions our entire life that you can tell when something is like hmm, I don’t know what is off, but I know something is off.

Alex Beadon 1:02:52
Yeah. Okay, so for anyone who is listening, I was in the background just clapping away, because this is something that a lot of us don’t know. And it’s okay. Because you know, it’s a journey of being an online business owner, and you learn these things as you go. But that is definitely something I’ve learned is like, you can hire the best photographer. But if you don’t have that creative direction of exactly what it is that you’re trying to create, and the emotions that you’re trying to evoke, and what clothes are you wearing? What does your hair look like? And what does your make? Does it all align? It matters so, so so much. And, you know, when we’re in an online space, yes, we’re showing up on stories and we’re making videos and all those things. But the photography really makes such a difference. It’s it’s huge. Do you also use stock photo websites? Or are you really making sure that every single photo is something that you have created with your vision?

Diana Jakubcova 1:03:51
I make sure for the for the past two years, I make sure all clients have and you brand pictures when they work with us. And the past year, we have been implementing the photoshoot guides, which has been a game changer like a game changer. Because, again, as I said, your photographer is like she’s just or he’s just showing up right? Correct. Yeah, gave them some kind of direction. Oh, I need you brand photos. And I guess I’ll just wear the blazer right. The white blazer Yeah. I love it. Not not calling out anyone, right? Remember that? Don’t want to bleed again. This is what happens, right? Because you don’t really know what to do like you have no idea and as you said like people actually are not aware that their photoshoot connects with their brands, right? So this is where we get a photograph for so inside of the guide that is a brief for a photographer in what we are trying to achieve with this photo shoot. So let’s say for one client it can be we’re trying to We were trying to capture a community aspect for this new, I don’t know, business launch right for a client. But for other clients, it can be a really huge rebrand. So we need to make sure that we evoke these, like the wow effect, you know, some clients when the wow effect and their brand is like really about pops of colors and outfits are different. So we include outfits, I outfit ideas as well. We also include different shots. And then I also include different, like ideas on what I think would help me as a designer, to design their website and to design their marketing materials. So again, a lot of times we receive images that I can’t use, and I’ve seen so many times, one of our previous clients, she has given me access to like 800 images. And I could only use like 40. Now, what this shows is that you have wasted your time your money, because I can’t really use all these images, because either I don’t know the position of the light lighting is not the best for this brand. Or you are standing kind of weirdly, like why do we have these shots here? Right? So with this guy, we always make sure that if you have booked one hour photoshoot, you are in and out, and you know exactly what to do. Everyone is on the same team. And I’ve had clients tell me that previously they were having like four or five hour photoshoots. And I’m like, What are you doing five hours? Like I can’t imagine. But with the guy they guide, they were able to be in and out like one hour, two hours, Max.

Alex Beadon 1:06:48
That’s amazing. That’s very impressive. I’m cheering you on? And how often do you think someone should be doing a photo shoot? Like, how often do you need new photos?

Diana Jakubcova 1:07:00
Depends on your business, I would say for agencies or for someone who is like a done for you. It doesn’t have to be that often. Because there is not much of a change. However, if you are a coach, there are just so many things that you are changing. So many programs that you’re launching, it is advice to have at least two per year, just like a refresh, new location, something more exciting, because a lot of the times exciting things also happen in your business. And they will reflect in your brand photoshoot. Yeah, make sure of that.

Alex Beadon 1:07:38
Yeah. I think this is something that’s it’s just so easy to not do. You know, so even for everyone listening, myself included, I think even just booking it into the calendar and being like, Okay, I have two photoshoots booked for this year, at least. Because even for me thinking back, like when was my last photo shoot, I think it was actually it was this year. So okay, we’re doing okay, but still, you know, just making sure that it’s in the calendar and thinking about it, because I don’t even know what my next photo shoot is. And it you know, unless you’re really taking care of it and thinking about it, it might just slip your mind and then there you go, you’re not you’re not going to be showing up in the best way online. Diana I have to thank you so much for joining us. And before we wrap up, is there anything that you think is very important to share with our audience that I did not ask you that you feel is just too important to forget?

Diana Jakubcova 1:08:31
What is too important to forget is you first need to switch off from online space to actually reconnect to yourself. And that is important when it comes to your brand. Because if you can really see who you are inside your personality, then it’s going to be really hard for you to create the brand that you want to create, to connect with your brand for other people to connect with your brand. And ultimately, if you hire someone, I have questions for you. And you need to answer right this is something that a lot of people forget. If you even hire a designer, a brand professional, we have questions for you. You need to be prepared to tell me what is it that you want? Because this it doesn’t work the way that if you pay someone for branding, we just magically can read your mind. Unfortunately, I am not a mind reader. And I have a lot of questions if you work with me. So it is best if you let’s say decide to work with someone to get the best out of your investment specifically with the creatives. Know what you want come with a plan. You don’t need to have it all figured out. That’s not what I’m saying. But you do need to have Some sort of vision because then all I have to do is align that vision the plan your brand with your whole vision. That’s all I need.

Alex Beadon 1:10:11
Diana, thank you so much. You’re so I think you’re so great. I love like you just have this like spunky energy. And like you tell it, how you’re not afraid to tell it how it is. And like meeting you today, and then putting it side by side with like, what I’m seeing online is so much fun. So thank you so much for being here. I think everyone really enjoyed everything that you’ve shared with us. Can you let everyone know where they can find you online?

Diana Jakubcova 1:10:35
So you can find me on Instagram. Obviously, the best way is deeply rooted. That’s UDL but if you want to check out what we offer some freebies some fun things, check out our website deeply rooted studio.com

Alex Beadon 1:10:51
Thank you, Diana.

Diana Jakubcova 1:10:53
Thank you so much.

Alex Beadon 1:10:58
If you are someone who wants to launch your online course if you are an educator, and you’re ready to take what you’re already doing and scale it to the next level, if you want to bring in more students and make more impact with the work that you do in the world, then the ultimate launch bootcamp is for you. Don’t miss it. Make sure you’re on the waitlist. And I can’t wait to talk to you guys again next time. I’ll see you next week. Bye.

 

S2 Ep.27 – Unlock Your Entrepreneurial Intuition for Digital Product Growth with Nikki Novo

A few weeks ago, Teachable asked me to speak on a panel on the topic of Overcoming the Failure to Launch. During the panel, I met Nikki Novo.

Nikki is a best-selling author who has been teaching online courses since 2008 and has made over a million dollars in sales educating people on intuitive development. 

Nikki lives with her husband and kids in North Carolina, and she’s been able to grow her business enough to retire her husband! 🤩 A huge part of her success is that she knows exactly how to activate her intuition to grow her business, so I had to have her on the podcast to tell us all about it!

Nikki’s story of how she grew her business to make more than a million in sales is so inspiring and the fact that she was able to retire her husband is a dream for so many people in this community! She’s #goals and in this episode, she shares what the big turning point in her business was that acted as a catalyst to her success and development. 

I had soooo many favorite parts of this episode:

Firstly – I love when Nikki shares her own practice of sitting down and tuning in to her intuition each day, offering a variety of actionable steps you can take to connect with your own intuition. 😍 SO INSPIRING.

I also love that she shared how to tap into your intuition WITHOUT being too “airy fairy” or “woo woo”

…. after all, we do live right here on planet Earth, where money has to be made, bills have to be paid, and mouths have to be fed. 🏡 (let’s be real)


She also shares her secret sauce: running her business with a 50-50 mix of strategy and intuition, saying that her intuition leads her to the right strategy.

Lastly, as you listen to this episode, pay close attention to what she says about the importance of visualization. Her visualization practice is so effective – and she shares how to make it so that when you visualize that $20k month, you can actually bring it into reality.

IT’S JUST SUCH A GOOD EPISODE. I absolutely LOVED hosting the interview, I hope you love it, too! Take a listen today and *please* send me a DM on Instagram to let me know what you think! 🤗

P.S. Have a friend who might benefit from this episode? Feel free to forward this blog to them. Let’s spread the love and understanding we all need on this journey!

Resources mentioned in this episode: 

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

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

Transcript Available Below

Alex Beadon 0:03
So you want to scale your online business while purposely prioritizing your most joyful, free, and luxurious life. This Podcast is your weekly dose of connection and self-reflection. As you set strategic intentions along the way, it’s time to prime your mind embrace your pace, and take consistent action toward creating what you truly want from your online business without sacrificing the small moments all around you that are so worth treasuring. So, take a deep breath, relax, and let’s get you back to where you belong. On purpose.

You’re listening to season two, Episode 27 of On Purpose with Alex Beadon. In this episode of the podcast, I speak to Nikki Novo who shares her insights on the intersection of intuition and business. Not only is Nikki a best-selling author and a master intuitive reader, she has been teaching online courses since 2008. And has made over a million dollars in sales teaching intuitive developments. Now I don’t want you to get freaked out I know a lot of people hear the word intuition and they think oh, that’s so woo-woo I want nothing to do with it. But I’m here to tell you and remind you that having success in the business space is so much more than just ticking off a strategic to do list. A lot of it has to do with your energy tapping into your intuition listening to that level of CEO discernment. And Nikki has a wealth of knowledge on how to activate your own intuitive abilities to grow your business. And she shares so much of it. In this episode, she talks about how to bring intuition into your daily business operations. I love this part. She also speaks about how to strengthen your intuition and how to use it in decision making. She also shares practical exercises and practices to develop your intuitive skills and maintain the balance between intuition and data driven decision making because there is a balance. I hope that you love today’s episode. If you do take a minute to send me a DM over on Instagram at Alex Beadon. I’d love to hear how this lands for you. Without further ado, enjoy the episode. As usual, I’m Alec speed in your favorite launch strategist and your guide to the online business world. I’ve had an online business selling digital products since 2011. And I’ve been helping online businesses scale through launching since 2016. I’ve been featured in Forbes and entrepreneur and I’ve worked with clients ranging from solopreneurs to multi million dollar small businesses. Here at Team Beadon. We pride ourselves on being the industry leading destination for all things launch strategy, our 12 month program together we launch teaches our signature rinse and repeat launch strategy that has helped course creators and membership owners from all over the world have their best launches yet. Our goal is to give you the tools to create a wildly profitable online business while prioritizing your most joyful life so that you can truly experience time, freedom, location, freedom and financial freedom. I hope you love today’s episode. I’m coming to you from Hamilton here in Canada. I’m actually here for a wedding this week. And like I said, I think you’re gonna love this episode. So send me a DM on Instagram afterwards and let me know what you think. Enjoy this episode. Let’s get started. Nikki, thank you so much for joining us today. I’m so excited to have you on the show, I know that everyone here is going to be excited for all of the juiciness that you have to share with us. Thank you,

Nikki Novo 3:36
Alex, it’s my pleasure. I’m so happy to be here and always excited to like give back and, and and be with your audience. So thank you so much.

Alex Beadon 3:45
So I wanted to start the conversation off with a question that I think is very important. And it’s kind of going to preface the rest of our conversation today. And that question is what is intuition?

Nikki Novo 4:01
Yeah. So intuition I like to explain as the voice of your soul. So to me, it’s like this little compass that we each have, that if we learn to tune into it, like well know what is like the true path for us, like what is the right path for us? You know, souls are like, so interesting, where, you know, the idea is that we come to this lifetime, actually, that we’d like planned this lifetime a bit that we have like a souls path and a contract and all that a purpose. I think that’s why we asked that question all the time, because there is a knowing, but part of being human is forgetting, like everything that we signed up for. So it’s kind of like you’re like this last little like child, you know, on this big old earth and you’re like, where am I and the only way that you can find your direction is through going in yourself and find and finding that voice which is the voice of the intuition, because that’s like your little map your little compass. And then that’s also how you start like remember

Knowing what you really like, came here for. And for a lot of us our purposes, like mixed in with our work, our met our mission. So I’m sure like a lot of the audience that is like trying to put work out there, it’s like actually part of your purpose. So knowing your intuition will be very helpful, because it’ll help you like, understand that even more.

Alex Beadon 5:20
Yeah, I think a lot of people get into their business and start their online business, really, primarily with that source of giving back and being able to create that impact and knowing the change that they want to see in the world and understanding that they are a bridge to that change. You know, a lot of us are educators, we teach people certain things. And I love that you mentioned that, you know, getting in touch with your intuition is only going to help make that path even more clear. Why does intuition matter? As a business owner?

Nikki Novo 5:53
Yeah, I mean, I think a lot of people are probably using their intuition, maybe calling it like, their gut or whatever, here and there. But the main reason, first of all, that I like think not only to know your intuition, but to learn to develop it, because I think, you know, to know it as to like, oh, yeah, sometimes I get these gut feelings are sometimes I feel like my heart is telling me to go this way. So a lot of us have felt that before. But then there’s like that second level of actually, like, really knowing your intuition. Well, being able to, really, like I explained it almost like you have a magic wand, and you’re just kind of throwing it around. And when you develop your intuition, and it’s like you have that magic wand, and you can actually like point it and use it on demand when you need it. So there’s like those two things. And as a business owner, oh my gosh, like I could just couldn’t imagine like not using your intuition, because here’s the thing, there is so much information out there about like how to do business and what to do what not to do all that kind of stuff. And the people that are selling the what to do truly believe in the what to do, like it has probably worked for them, and they probably seen it work for other people. But that unfortunately does not mean that it’s necessarily gonna work for everybody and work for us. And we have to like really be tapped into ourselves to know like, when it’s time to work with so and so sometimes, like a sales person might like look really awesome, but they’re not like in integrity, or a true teacher that is like you’re supposed to get to work with. So you really have to kind of be able to feel into where you’re supposed to go. And then in addition to that, like my business strategy has been based, like completely off of my intuition, like just kind of like, okay, what, where am I supposed to go like, there is this guidance that will guide you to the next steps, because especially if you’re doing work that is associated with your soul’s purpose, the divine wants you to make that happen. So it wants you to remember, like the steps towards that place. So to like know how to use our intuition will actually like, tell us exactly, you know, not exactly, but step by step, I think people get a little thrown off by intuition, because they want, it’s like the yellow brick road, they want to know, like the whole road, you know, they’re like, Oh, if I’m not getting the full Road, then forget this. I’m not like taking a brave leap or anything. But intuition usually just gives you one brick at a time. And you have to follow that one brick. And then the next brick is shown to you. And the next brick is shown to you that kind of stuff. So it really, and it’s truly going to build the business that you really want. Because it’s so easy. Like I think a lot of us, like start growing our own business, because we’re trying to get out of whatever we were doing before maybe you had like a really pain in the ass boss, or you’re working like some crazy, you know, nine to nine to seven job and you’re trying to get out of there. And if you are still in like autopilot, and if you’re still connected to the like the shoulds of life and what’s expected to us, you are at danger of creating the same kind of business that you were trying to get out of. So like if you are not using your intuition, you by default will make something that you’ve already seen. And I think the real reason to like do the work that we’re doing is like we are trying to create new visions for ourselves, for our families for our lifestyles. So we have to create it from within. Yes, we’re gonna get tons of like tips from other people. And we really have to be able to be like, oh, cool, that tip is for me. Oh, that’s such an interesting tip. But that’s that’s not for me. And then that’s how you build a business that is very true to you rather than like a cookie cutter business that like you didn’t even want anyways, there are days that like I always joke when I’m kind of like in some sort of autopilot mode and I forgot you know how to live true to me. I’m like, god dammit, I’m my boss. She’s such a bitch like talking about myself because I’m like, How did I create this boss? That’s such an asshole. Like there’s days that that I’m like, really like, why am I and that really comes from being like, Oh, this is the way you should do it or this is the default path. As I like to call it in my readings, so to really be able to kind of know like, what is your true path comes from your own inner compass. And that is also how you’re going to create, what’s been your vision, like kind of what you see for yourself is going to come from from that place.

Alex Beadon 10:17
I love what you said about intuition, being something that only gives you one break of the road at a time and that you’re not going to be able to see the big picture and where it’s taking you. And really, that you have to just have that trust that it’s all going to come together and that you’re being led in the right direction. It reminded me of I think there’s a Steve Jobs quote, where he says, you know, the journey looks, the journey makes sense, when you can look backwards and connect all the dots. But when you’re moving forwards, it doesn’t really make sense. So I love that you shared that with us. How does someone go about developing their intuition?

Nikki Novo 10:55
Yeah, I mean, so I, first, sorry, so talk about that brick, I feel like I got more things to say. And I think that that like, I think especially like for the audience that we’re talking to that maybe is making like courses or you know, digital programs. As much as sure there’s tons of people that have like, done what we’re trying to do. You’re still such a trailblazer, like in this work that you guys are doing right now, honestly, like, there are going to be examples and people that will inspire you, but like you are blazing a new trail, I’m sure like, nobody in your family has ever done this. And you really are, like making your own your own path. So in a way, the, if you saw too much of the future, that would mean that you’re like following somebody else’s blueprint, like where you saw. And I know that there’s a part of us that like, wants this like step by step. But the truth is, like we all got into this work, because you have some sort of vision for your life. So the fact that it’s like not as predictable as you might like, it’s actually like in your favor, then it’s because it’s like really trying to create what you wanted to create. So to kind of I know, it’s frustrating to only get like one message at a time. And but like, just to trust that that is like how your soul intended it. And that’s really what’s going to create this beautiful life that you’re you’re dreaming of. And that would be my first tip about intuition is that intuition, people tend to think that intuition. And when you think about developing your intuition, you think that it is about like, right and wrong. Like I know that I got into it. So I wasn’t born intuitive, or at least I didn’t have any idea of that. My, my my parents are Cuban, I grew up Catholic. I always joke that like if there was any signs of like me predicting the future, my parents would have like shipped me off to like some nun like school to make sure that like the devil, like left me, that was not accepted in my family. It wasn’t until I was in my 20s I went through a bad breakup. And of course, like after a bad breakup, I’m like, I need a psychic. Like I need somebody to tell me that everything’s gonna be okay. So I visited my first psychic. And that’s when I really got like, interested in intuition, because I had felt like I was a heart led person. But I really felt that that boyfriend was like a heart led decision. And when it didn’t work out, I was like, I need some answers. Like, I need to know whatever happened, I wasn’t calling it intuition. I was calling it more like I follow my heart, I follow my gut. And then when I met this woman, I was like, Wait a second, like, you know, and she was just so good and predicting and all that stuff. And I was like, Wait a second, like I could predict the rest of my life and like, never make a mistake again. And that is why I got interested in intuition. Like, I want it to be perfect. I want to make sure I was never going to get dumped again, that I was never going to make a mistake again. And that was really like my interest in intuition at first. Of course, it totally changed after that. Because intuition. And when we see it that way. It’s a lot of pressure. You’re like you think you need to sit in meditation and be like, I need the absolute right answer. And it’s really the first thing is that intuition is really the energy of curiosity. It’s also the energy of like gratitude. So you kind of go into intuition not being like I must, I need the right answer so they can make the right decision. It’s really like, oh, like, like, I’m gonna sit here and I’m like, Alright, let’s see, like, let’s see what I get. Like, let’s see what’s like here for me, like, let’s see what’s available for me like how exciting that like anything is possible. So you first have to be a bit open minded and have an open heart to receive intuition rather than meeting it with a lot of like, constraints and I know that how many of you have like used a deck of cards before and with all your anxiety have like ask that card to give you the answer and then the card tells you that like you’re going to lose all your money and that your life is like falling apart. Well that’s because like it’s just Law of Attraction like you’re anxious energy game. Have you That answers that is very different than intuition. So the first step is like, really, we want to be in a good state. So to do your best, I like to just kind of like move my body and be like, okay, like, you know, I just like want to beat my heart, I pray for myself and my heart be open and my ears be open, may I receive what I need to receive. Second tip is that, like, we do need some quiet time for our intuition. I know, we all want to get to the place where I’m like walking down the road, and like intuitive guidance comes to me, with time you will be able to get there. Like, if you ask me a question, right? Now I can go there. But that’s years of training. And still, when I’m still to this day, I have such a practice of sitting down. And, and intentionally connecting, because your intuition needs quiet time, it’s like meeting like with an old friend, like you don’t want to rush it. So definitely setting some time apart each day or whatever I love to. So intuition comes from the crown like the top of your head, basically, we have an energy center here called the crown and the third eye. And the intuition is trying to come through there. But then the like, it really doesn’t make its way through us until we until we express it. So you might get like some hits in your head and kind of like you’re trying to figure it out in your head, you want to try to not figure it out in your head, you want to bring out whatever message is coming through and drop it on a paper or even on a voice note, you want it to leave your throat basically you want it to leave, you want it to be communicated. And then you can judge it like once it’s on the paper once it’s in the voice. No. But we what we want to do is like let like kind of sit in meditation, let the information drop, not overanalyze it not being like why the hell am I seeing a rainbow? Like, don’t worry about that. Right down, I am seeing a rainbow, you know, like or speak into your voice note I am seeing the rainbow. After everything is communicated, then you can look at it the way you would like look at a dream. You’d be like, Oh, that’s so interesting. Like I was flying on a rainbow. What does it mean to fly on a rainbow? Right? So everything and intuition is very much like metaphors, it’s symbolic. It really is like looking at a piece of artwork and deciding what you think the artist was trying to say. So we do need some time to get that and to, you know, to write it out. The other thing about intuition is that when you get a message when you get a hit, to do your best to like be brave and take action on it. Because like those bricks, you will not receive another brick until like until you do something with the first brick you got. So I’ve had like many clients that will come see me have an amazing reading. It’s such a dopamine hit, because like you’re like, oh my gosh, all this stuff up on my soul. It’s amazing. And all this clarity, didn’t take any steps and try to see me like three months later or six months later. And they’re the guides, the divine wisdom that’s with them is like nope, like nothing new for you. Because like you didn’t do anything with the first brick. So intuition is like this muscle, that the more you believe in it, and you believe in it by trusting it and following it. Of course, if you get a message that’s like, burned down your house, leave your family, like maybe take a second to think about it. But usually the messages are small things like call that person, you know, pitch, whatever, whatever. Like, say, your messaging this way, start doing real, like things like that, you do those little steps. And even if they don’t, even if you don’t know how they’re going to work out. It’s kind of like you showing your intuition like an offering like, oh, look, I listened to you like almost like this very wise teacher, like you’re not going to go to a wise teacher, three months later and be like I did nothing that you told me to do. Like, you know, you gotta be you gotta like, have done something to come. So your intuition is like the wise wisdom within you. It’s the higher self. And you want to show that you took some of those steps. And when you do, you will get more. And then at some point that starts like really adding up and you have this like really strong intuitive muscle. So there’s just a my, there’s so many cool ways to develop. I teach that if anybody’s ever interested. But those are like, I think, good, some good. Those are your first that’s your first brick. I think that they’re good messages.

Alex Beadon 19:13
I love everything that you just shared, particularly around like finding that quiet time to connect with your intuition and thinking of it as connecting with an old friend. I think so many people don’t take that time and it is something that’s so easy to skip. But once you start doing that you can really tune into your intuition. I also love what you said around expressing it communicating it. Yes, you’re receiving it but now get it out put it on paper or voice note it I think that’s such a good tip. And also important what you said around like Don’t be analytical about it. Don’t be judgemental with it at first just keep that channel clear and really try to just be in receiving mode. I love that. I have a question for you because it obvious, it’s very obvious to me that you’re very good at this. And as someone who is so attuned to their intuition, how often are you turning to your intuition within your business? Like, would you say that your business is like a dance with your intuition? And how do you bring this intuition into your business practically? without it necessarily being something that’s, you know, taking up all of your time, you know, just because it could be easy to do that too. And just be like, Okay, I’m just gonna sit here and listen to my intuition all day long, like, how do you balance the taking action with the reception of your intuition?

Nikki Novo 20:39
Yeah, that’s such a great question. Because sometimes people that are like, very intuitive or spiritual or woowoo, whatever you want to call it, like, the worst is like they’re up in the sky, and you’re like, Okay, well, that, you know, that does nothing for me, right? Like you really want like a grounded, like, practical practice as well. And I have three kids and a business like, I don’t have time to necessarily like always be in the sky, it has to be practical. And I would say the first belief I have that helps me with that is I am a spiritual being Yes, I am a soul have lived many lifetimes, I have a higher self, I believe in all of that. But I also respect that my soul wanted to have a lifetime here on Earth, in physical form, in three dimensional form, with the very real problems of money, and children, and food, and home, all those are like, very real things about this game called Earth. And I respect that, like, my soul want it to be here. So I’m not trying to bypass this lifetime, by, you know, like, being like, Well, my guides told me that I’m, you know, so and I’m a queen from, I’m Cleopatra from another lifetime, and I don’t need to do shit this lifetime, like, no, like, I respect that I’m here. And I’m playing this game, and I’m in this body called Nikki novo. And I respect all that. So the first thing is to, like really respect that even though you can connect spiritually, intuitively, that you’re playing this game called human life, and you gotta you gotta play it, you know, you got you got to play it. And sometimes it’s like, it’s the part of the game where you pay the bills, and it’s part of the game where you get the clients like, all of that is part of the game. And I respect that, because I know my soul is getting so much growth from this lifetime, like through this game. So that’s like, at the end of day, what keeps me very grounded. And then in my business, I would say that I am like, 5050 Sure, I’m like, 50% strategy and 50% intuitive. So I would say that the intuition leads me to the proper strategy, not the other way around. So the strategy is like secondary to where I’m being called to. But again, to know that part of like, taking those intuitive hits, and putting them into action is often like strategy or getting the right person to help me or whatever that may be. So typically, I’ll go to my mat, I have this like, really pretty yoga mat that’s, like made out of I don’t know what material but my sister in law gave me, I put like, almost like a little altar. So I have like, my little like, Buddha, my Jesus, and I’m Cuban. So there’s a lot of like, influence from African derived religions and Cuba. So there’s like a reshares is what they’re called. So like, I have like a little Orisha candle or whatever, maybe a deck of cards, my notebook, and I sit there like really with an open heart, like, like really like, like trying to let go my ego because like, trying to, you know, there’s this part of me that wants to control everything and like, like, I have so much strategy in me, I was a publicist, before I did this work, I was a fashion beauty editor for like, really big publications. So I have a lot of like, knowledge from my career. So of course, I want to control my business many times and do the things that I know that could work. But I have to also get out of my own way. So there’s a lot of like going to the mat, surrendering being called to like, what is the next step? And sometimes it’s not only what is the next step, but like, I really envision this for me, like, please help me bring this into my life, please help me like, let go of anything that’s blocking me from making a connection with a really great podcast host or you know, whatever. So that is part of the practice. And then actually, my office is set up in that way that there’s like a side of the office where there’s like all the spiritual practices done and then I come to like, the more masculine part, which is where I am right now on my desk, my computer, and then I put those things into play. So there’s like checking in and then putting things into play, but I do feel like intuition also needs wisdom. So Like, you have to study certain things. So like, let’s say, you’re like, okay, in order to get my business to like, where my soul wants it to get to, I need to study business concepts. Because if I’m in meditation and my meditation, you know, I’m getting, like, look into SEO like I would if I don’t know what the hell SEO is because I have decided to not study business, because I want to bypass all that stuff. You have to balance like the study of business to be able to actually even understand the downloads that you do get

Alex Beadon 25:37
that speed beautiful. How often are you checking in with yourself, for your business.

Nikki Novo 25:45
So I have a daily meditation practice, but it’s not always about, like, necessarily business, sometimes it’s personal life and just just trying to get rid of like, the crazies in my head sometimes, you know, like, it’s just really just like, part of like my upkeep. But I would say like, checking in with myself on my business is probably happening, you know, out of the five days of the work week. Yeah, at this point, it’s like, I’m integrated into it, like I, because I practice it enough, I can walk through the day, and like, feel these pullings of like, what I’m supposed to do. And my to do list is really like, based off, where I know I’m being pulled to go. So I’m like, making moves. So funny. So like, a funny example right now is that I have a I use, I had a podcast. And I’m about to, like, do another season, or, I have gotten this opportunity a bit ago to be to work with like a Podcast Network. And but I was like, I kind of like sometimes don’t trust those things. Because I want to like own all my stuff, you know, like I like to, like, make all the money and like not necessarily share with the publisher or things like that. So I’m hesitant towards that. And that is something that it’s like, is that an intuitive hit? Or is that my ego, like not trusting all that kind of stuff. So those moments are the place where I’m like, I gotta go to the mat, like I need to see if I am getting because it’s not black and white. It’s not like intuition, like that. There’s like, these things that are light and considered good moves. And then there’s these things that are considered bad moves. Like it’s like, you know, let’s say working with a publisher bad move, self publishing, good move, like that is not black and white. For some people, the best decision is going to be self publishing. And for other people, the best decision is going to be going with a publisher, right? So I’m really trying to find those things and to make sure that I am not getting in my own way. So for me, this feeling of that podcast, like, I have a tendency to do one thing, and I catch that within myself, and then actually getting like a hit like almost like, let’s look this over, like let’s really like feel into this. And those are like, I almost get called to the mat and I get called to check in on my business. And that’s really how I’m functioning right now. So I have my regular like morning practice, but the business stuff is like, I’ll get hits. And I because we’re working so fast, I don’t think you could just like stop in the middle of the day all the time to like check in on that hit. But I just kind of file folder and I’m like, okay, like tonight, when the kids go to sleep, like I need to do like 10 minutes of checking in on that thing. I didn’t have time to check on it today at 12 o’clock. But I’m going to go back and revisit it to make sure that I’m really making those moves from my heart.

Alex Beadon 28:40
I feel very similar to you in terms of like, I feel called to certain things during the day. And for me, I if there’s something big or something that I feel like really needs my attention, that’s when I’ll like carve out the time to sit down and work on it individually. So I definitely resonate with you. I feel like this is a great time to remind you about the launch expansion method. If you are someone who has a course or membership site, and you want to get more people into it, you want to be able to make more impact with the work that you’re doing in the world and you want to have more clout and build a little bit of a reputation around what you’re doing in the online space, then definitely check out the launch expansion method. Inside of that masterclass, I’m teaching you exactly my launch strategy, you’re gonna get a really good overview of what it’s all about what types of things you need to be considering. And it really is an excellent use of I think it’s like an hour long. So go and check it out. You can find the link in my bio. I’ll also make sure to include the link here somewhere in the show notes. You can also find it at Alex beadon.com. It’s 100% free, you have nothing to lose and everything to gain so go and check it out. Just imagine how much more powerful you could be if you had The right launch strategy in place. That’s what it’s all about. It’s going to teach you so much about what you need to be thinking about mathematically. And really just kind of making launching sexy and sales sexy. So go and check it out. That’s the launch expansion method masterclass 100%, for free. And I look forward to seeing you there. I’d love for you to share what your daily practice looks like. Because that’s something that I definitely am always on and off with. I like bounce back and forth in these weird chapters. I’m kind of like an all or nothing person. So I’d love to hear what that looks like for you. how consistent are you with it? And how do you make sure that you fit it into your life? Because I know you mentioned you have three kids, I think right? Yeah, I

have three. Yeah. So talk to us about

that. Yeah, that’s

Nikki Novo 30:43
a great question. And I would say I’m the same way like I’m, there’s no, I think at some point, we want to integrate this life, and I feel very integrated, it feels very synergetic. To like, like, my life is a spiritual dance at this point. There is spirituality and putting my kids to sleep. And there is, you know, all that, you know, within. So I don’t think like we need to be like super hard on ourselves. But my mornings are like, pretty, like, that’s my time is just like my sacred time. So right now I’m in the summertime, so my kids are home. But typically, it’s like this, you know, get them ready, send them off, they go to school. And then I come in, and I actually incorporate, like, any sort of meditation with my workout, because like my workout, actually, obviously, it’s like tending to my body. But it also just, like, helps me kind of, I just find it like, almost like when I’m moving, it’s better to, to get clarity. So there’s always some sort of movement, I live on 30 acres of land with like hiking trails, so I usually go hiking in the morning, or sometimes just when it’s cold, I just go to the gym, put on some music and, and move. So really that moving, I do a lot of like my visualizing when I’m moving. So I think as a business owner, visualization is like, you’re a visionary. It’s like, it’s totally necessary. You’re always having to change your mindset. So like, at every level, you’re being asked to be like, oh, yeah, that mindset that worked for, you know, making $10,000 a month. And now to make $20,000 in a month, you need a new mindset. So we are like, we have to constantly be visualizing, and shifting our energy to the next level. So when I’m working out, I’m usually doing that at the same time. So what it looks like is like, I am just like, being like, Okay, what does it feel like to make 20 grand a month? What does it feel like to make 40 grand, and I’m like, sitting in that I’m seeing whatever, you know, maybe I’m like, Okay, I see myself like, you know, see my teachable, like email showing up and saying, like you just made, you know, $500,000, or like, whatever I’m like, seeing that I’m feeling it. I’m believing that. So that’s like, really important to me, as a business owner, and just as a visionary and a dreamer. And somebody that like, wants the big things from my life, whether it’s personal or business, there’s always that and that’s mixed in with my workout. Does that happen every day? No, because I don’t, sometimes I can’t work out every day. But I’m trying to shoot for like three days a week of movement. And sometimes if it doesn’t happen in the morning, I’ll see if I can squeeze it in in the evening. But I’m not really working out to like lose weight or anything, I’m actually like, doing it to move my energy to shift my energy because that’s like, I think in business, we are constantly always trying to like do things that will move us to the next level, when really we need to shift ourselves to the next level. And that is very energetic. So that’s mindset and body memory. Like is my mindset at the next level is my body memory cleared out and healed so that I can go to the next level. So that’s that part. And then the, then I’ll come and I’ll I shoot for 20 minutes of meditation, you could totally get away with 10. But for me, my mind is busy for 10 minutes. And it’s like after those 10 minutes is like when I get some relief. So I do try to squeeze in 20 minutes of meditation. Again, those it’s usually like all or nothing like it’s like the three days that I do something, it has everything, there’s never really like a little bit. So the days that I don’t do anything that doesn’t get like squeezed in sometimes I have to go straight to work. So I have a client at eight or nine or something. So that meditation is important because that is where we like get to really hear ourselves and where we start to see I think one of the biggest questions, especially with intuition is like, is it my fear? Or is it my intuition? And I just don’t think you’ll know that until you get to know yourself and the way your mind is working. And meditation is like a place where we can like observe the craziness that like is our mind, you know? So that and then a little bit of like journaling, if you have time and that is all of that is probably it’s like an Hour in 10 minutes for me, because I can do it all at home. And that will happen like three to four times a week.

Alex Beadon 35:09
Amazing. Wow, that’s really impressive three to four times a week, an hour and 10 minutes total. But I see what you’re saying around like the moving of the body as well. And I love what you said around like, I don’t necessarily move my body to lose weight. I’m really trying to shift that energy and you know, become the person that I’m trying to become. And I know that doing that is what’s kind of activating the visualization that I’m doing at the same time. That’s so so special. I’m really glad that you shared that with that. I

Nikki Novo 35:36
think there are seasons for that Alex, like sometimes, like, when you’re in a season of like an uplevel, you’re going to need that more than when you’re not. And when you’re like chillin, and you’re like, okay, yeah, I got like a system going and like what I’m doing right now is working. But when you’re trying to move to the next level, like, it does not matter what strategy you put into, if your mind and your body is not there with you. So that is like, the whole reason of shifting energy is to make sure that, like I’m not hitting my head against the wall, I might be like, Man, I have all these great strategies, I’ve spent all this money, I’ve done all these things, but I’m still holding the fear from when I got picked on in sixth grade in my body. So that is like what the movement is for to release any of that like if it needs to be released. Also, if you don’t know how to do it yourself, you can just find a somatic healer in your area. It’s called somatic. It’s basically the body has memory. And believe it or not, like when you’re trying to attract new people. But your energy is saying, I’m scared of being bullied because I was bullied in sixth grade. Like your body still holds that. And since we are energetic beings, people will send that off of you. So we’re trying to shift to that so that we can really like get move into the life that like we’re worthy of and that we deserve and that we see for ourselves. So that’s really what the bodywork is for.

Alex Beadon 37:02
I love that you mentioned as well. Seasons, I was thinking about this just yesterday about how you know I’ve been in business now for what are we in trudging through, it’s been 13 years. And I can easily look back and see very much like seasons in nature, you know, like, and it’s just so interesting as well, I feel like I’m a very, I’m very sensitive to the energy that I’m carrying. And I know, like when I’m kind of in that magical space of manifesting and bringing new things in and just magnetic energy almost. And then I can tell when I’m maybe not there you winter. Yeah, exactly. And I think there’s a time I think when I was earlier in my career, I used to judge myself for not always being in that energy. And now I realize like there’s just a time and a place and you have to kind of accept where you are. I listened to another episode that you spoke in. And you were talking about this analogy of intuitive hits, and being at the front of the line, and having patience and trust in knowing that maybe you’re not at the front of the line yet. And maybe it’s not time for you know, your manifestation to come true yet or whatever. But trusting that even if it’s not happening right now having that energy of surrender and deep trust. And I think that’s one of the most important things in business. And it’s something that I’m so like, I have so much love for myself around this because pretty much anything can happen in my business. And I believe that it happened for me, it’s here to teach me a lesson. I know I’m going to grow from it. And I know that I’m going to be able to be of greater impact because of it. Even if it’s not what my ego wanted. You know what I’m saying? I’d love for you to speak to us just a little bit about that in terms of for people who they are visionaries, they have this idea of what they want their business to be. But they’re just not seeing that traction yet. You know, how do you avoid going into that mental down spiral of like, why is it not here yet? I’ve been putting in all the work. I’ve been doing all the things. What advice do you have for people around that?

Nikki Novo 39:07
Yeah. I love that. And that’s so like relatable, right? Like we all feel that. And I think the first thing that we have to remember is that our visions are those are us creating a physical manifestation of something right? And I think that there’s, unfortunately there is a delay in so what I am living today is a creation of whatever I was thinking doing feeling three months ago, six months ago, like I am living like what I’m envisioning today does not exist yet. Because I’m envisioning it today but that’s because it’s going to come three, six months a year whatever that you know, whatever that may be, depending on like, how different that like let’s say today I’m Making $1,000 a month and I’m visioning 60 grand a month, well, there’s going to be a delay there. And sometimes the bigger the vision big, the bigger the goal, because that’s 60 grand version of me is so different than the one and grand version of me. So it’s not only about like, I can see 60 grand, I can see 60 grand, it’s like, no, like, the person that can hold 60 grand a month, like the person that like, I mean, there’s probably maybe her husband’s relation, her relationship with her husband might be holding her back there, maybe the way she feels guilty about her kids is holding her back there. You know, maybe even like her knowledge, when it comes to wealth is holding her back there. So like there is going to that journey from one grand to the one grand version of me to the 60 Grand version of me is a journey. And there will be many things that will have to be shifted and changed in me, I have to allow the divine to do all that work. So that I can be the 60 Grand version of me, we just unfortunately, think that like, just because I’m thinking it now, it should be here, but it’s always on delay. And what’s so annoying is that when you are the 60 Grand version of you, you’re gonna have new visions, you know, because like, you’re going to want to your Creator, and you’re gonna want to birth more stuff. And more, you’re just want to see like, what is my potential? How much more can I birth. But as business owners, we have to understand that we are birthing like the new vision. So what could be helpful, helpful, definitely, I wouldn’t go from one grand to 60 grand, I would say I want to go from one grand to 5000 or 1000 to 10,000 even. And that is very helpful. I resonate with that a lot. Because when I first started this work, I was a fashion beauty editor at the time, I had found my first self help book written by Gabrielle Bernstein. And I was like, Oh my gosh, like young women can write these books, because I had been reading all these spiritual books written by like old men, basically. And I was like, fascinated, I was like, Wait, we really like this is the thing. And she really birthed this new dream in me. Base, I was very expanded by that. And I remember talking to my friend who was 10 years older than I was at the time, I was 30, I believe. And she was and I was telling her the story. I was like, Oh my gosh, like I have this vision. I think this is like what I’m meant to do. This is what I want to do. Like, I’m putting effort into it already. She’s like, Oh my god, I totally see that for you. Like, I totally see you like having books and stuff, like 10 years from now, you’re totally gonna have that and I was like, Eff you. Like, I do not want it in 10 years, I thought I was on like a two year plan. You know, I was on the year and a half like, plan of like all of this happening. And that goal was so big that what was happening is that every day I was waking up frustrated because I had not hit such a lofty goal. So if I would have, like I was very important with our goals is like have the lofty goal have that 10 year goal, right that I had now. And visionaries have this problem where we we move out of our body because to to actually predict the future, you’re leaving your body and you’re going forward into time instead of timeline. I’m sure many of you know what that feels like. Like, so you’re traveling right forward into the future, you see that it exists, you believe it. But what happens to many of us is that we stay there, and we don’t and an everyday when I wake up, I’m not physically there, I’m pissed off. So what I have to do is I have to bring that visionary person, I have to ground back into my body. So bringing the energy down through your head, your face, your shoulders down your legs, like become roots of a tree rooting into the earth. So really rooting back into this present self. And then making sure that I’m taking like present action that can actually get me there. And also perhaps making like smaller goals into that bigger one. So like what is my one year plan? What is like the two year and hitting like the small goals actually gives you confidence? Like you’re like yeah, like I, you know, I’m making 2000 hours a month, like I can celebrate the small wins, rather than like being frustrated that I don’t make the big wind. So there is a process of like, going into the future, having the vision for yourself holding it knowing that it exists, yes. But then come and I want when you visualize, don’t visualize yourself like, you know, speaking in front of 1000 people, visualize yourself, going from 1000 followers on Instagram to 2000 Like, visualize a small steps visualize yourself, like being able to sit at your desk and write that book, like visualize yourself, like completing that, you know, online course and like loving it. Like, we miss those small moments. And we’re all like, kind of like too much into the future and we just become really frustrated and we’re constantly feeling not enough and we constantly feel like we are not hitting and we need that in order to be that 60,000 version that I was talking Meanwhile, we need the confidence to be that 60 grand. And the confidence is created in making in the movement of one grand to two grand, from two grand, three grand, it’s from, you know, 500 followers to 1000 followers, that is where you make the confidence to be the 60 Grand person. So if we’re missing those moments, like we are missing the confidence, and then it’s just really hard to get to that next place.

Alex Beadon 45:27
I love what you’re saying around visualizing the small steps. And yes, it’s important to have that big dream, but also how are we bringing that into our day to day and being present with it and taking action steps towards it, and not getting super frustrated that we’re not there yet. I work with a lot of people who have these big dreams. But they also have, you know, very long to do lists, they have all these things that they need to do. And a lot of them struggle with overwhelm, and paralysis. And they often get stuck in these feelings of as you said, I’m not good enough, I’m not worthy, and end up spending, you know, the majority of their day actually not taking those action steps and not being as productive as they’d like to be being, because they’re kind of letting it get to them. How do you suggest that someone avoid that sense of overwhelm, and really harness their energy to show up with clarity and avoid that kind of chaotic, downdraft?

Nikki Novo 46:33
And like, we’ve all been there, I would say get really good at what you’re currently doing. So like, for me, for a lot of my students are practitioners, they’re healers most, you know, intuitives. So they want to be let’s say, the thought leader, the same way that I wanted to be Gabby, Gabby Bernstein have the books or whatever. But they don’t. They don’t even have a website yet, right? Like, there’s just like, something very simple. So definitely, like having somebody that kind of knows your business could be helpful, like a mentor. And then, so for me, I tell my students like, okay, all you’re supposed to do this year, is do readings, and get good at it. That’s it, like, you are not supposed to do anything else is your and I know, people get mad because they’re like, No, but I want to have the following. I want to have the podcasts and I have all those things. And we have to be humble enough to be like, I am not there yet. I’m not read, like, I need to get really good at the thing that I’m doing. So you may be in the season that like you need to get really good at launching and selling. Like, that might be like, you might be really good at your craft, let’s say and you’re like, okay, like, I’m really I’m a really great artist, I got that down. I’ve been doing that for 10 years, whatever. But then there is you’re not so great in business. So like, whatever is showing up for you like, like, almost like kind of you almost have to tap into like, what is like your current curriculum? Like if you were in school? What sub what, what season, what semester are you in, and you might be in the summer. If you’re, you know, in Alex’s world, you’re probably in the semester of getting really good at selling, and launching. So like, get like, listen, that’s a skill, I have that skill. That’s why my program, so I didn’t like doing it. I remember, you know, I would buy these like programs and like the sacredness of like selling like, I was like, give me all the woowoo versions of selling like, I can’t, you know, like it was like a very scary thing. But I knew I needed to get good at it. Right. And then I just finished up my Latin, my most recent book, sold lead living. And I’ve been a writer for many years. But I I’ve written two books before, the first one was horrible. The second one was okay. And the third one, I was like, I want it to be really good. So I spent a long time writing that book because I wanted to get very good at writing at this level in this way. So there’s always something to get good at. I think we I think those of us our comfort zones is usually our craft, like, I’m a painter. So I’m just gonna like now I’m gonna learn to paint in neon colors. And it’s like, no, no, like, your craft is good enough. But then there’s all these like business things that we need to get good at. So you cannot move on to the next thing until you get good at like the current season semester that you’re in. And to really like love you’re like to kind of coach yourself that way, guide yourself that way.

Alex Beadon 49:34
I feel like that’s so beautifully said and it kind of holds hands with what we were saying before around like having different seasons and different chapters of your business. So I think that’s so spot on. I’d love for you to talk to us a little bit about your offers what offers Do you have? I know you said you just came out with a book. Congratulations. Talk to us a little bit about like your business model and how it’s set up in terms of your different offerings.

Nikki Novo 49:58
Yeah, so this was kind of like something, it’s like you don’t know until you to know. So I really didn’t. I wasn’t super clear when I was building it. But it’s funny like, the more I get into my work, the more I hear like, oh, no, like, this is a thing, especially for people like myself that are healers or thought leaders and stuff. There’s like these kinds of stages. So my first offering was, I got very good at a signature offer, which was that I do a one on one reading, it is called the soul reading is a reading that I created. So I got very good at that created a waitlist, the point that I have, like over 1000 people on a waitlist for me for that and just created like this really good demand got very good at that put my head down and just did a bunch of readings about four years ago or so. And once that happened, naturally, people started to funny, like, I never thought this was going to happen. But people started to ask me if I would teach them to do readings. And I was like, what like, and you know, I had taught myself to do readings. So that made sense that there were other people that were like, Oh, if she can teach herself maybe. So I started to teach people the soul reading method. So I spent about two years building. So I think you move from like signature offer to signature program. So I moved to like, how do you scale that signature offer? That signature offer was for the lay man, it’s not like everybody that was getting a reading from me was necessarily somebody that wanted to do what I wanted to, that’s what I was doing. A lot of people were coming to me for dating and money, just general things. But there was a nice group of people that one to learn to do readings. So I started to learn how to create a signature offer, which I’m sorry, a signature program, which is what I call the soul reading method. So it is a three month program, where I teach people how to do readings. It’s not business related, like so I have people that just like, are moms that want to be able to read their children. And then I have people that want to do it for a living. So I did not incorporate any business there. Because I just wanted people to enjoy the process of learning to read. And that really changed my business, that container like that scale was life changing. And I had to learn so many things during that season. So of course and that season, I wanted to write a book and I wanted to be whatever an influence or whatever the hell I was going for. But I was like, they were like, no, no, this is where you become a leader. So that season taught me to I became a leader. During that time, I learned boundaries. During that time, I learned how to make like a lit really good offering. Like, it’s just like I worked really hard on tweaking that program. And then I also had to learn to sell it in a way that I had never seen before. So moved out of so I have I still have the soul reading method, I still have my readings. And then I am currently building like a part two to soul reading method because a lot of my girls graduate and they do want to do it as work. And I’ve been like on the DL like helping them as much as they can. But now it’s like there’s time for like a structure because I I’m not gonna be able to do readings much longer. And I want to be able to support them. So I’m working on a second program. And then I have a lot of little like on demand offers that are low price, which I think are great to have in your suite. And we introduce them every once in a while. So I have like, it’s their online programs that have no support with me. So like slow reading method you I’m there teaching I’m with you. But then there’s like I have Soul Seeker, which is like Well, the first I have the entry level intuition work is called everyday intuition is just $67 and it basically helps you like just start getting intuitive then for anybody who wants to be like a little bit more metaphysical maybe wants like past lives, Akashic records, we have a second level that’s called Soul Seeker. And then like two little one off courses on like souls purpose, and also on manifesting. So for like, because I kind of my business has like almost like two roads, I have like the everyday person. And then I have like the professional. So my products are broken up into those two categories. And then I have two books. So I have a dating books. My first body of work was about dating through a spiritual lens. And then my most recent book, it’s called Soul led living. And yeah, I’m super proud of this one. This is really about like, what’s your soul’s true path? How do you become brave enough to follow it? So this is very much more for like the everyday person but I do talk a little bit about work I talk about like, your career, your family love, like all sorts of categories. Intuition, obviously in there. So that’s like my latest product. So I think at some point, you start you know, kind of adding these products little by little and you have some like very easy low price stuff and then you have like your higher price things too. So I think it’s I love having a mix of these like you know, you can buy this book for you 20 bucks, or you can buy soul reading method, which is like almost $2,000. So it just kind of depends.

Alex Beadon 55:07
I know you said, firstly, you mentioned that when you started selling your program, things really expanded for you, which is brilliant, I’m sure it was mainly down to the fact that it’s scalable. And you know, you can run it once with as many people as you want, which is wonderful. But you also mentioned that there was a really big learning curve for you in terms of sales and marketing and understanding that more business education side of it, I’d love for you to just share with our audience, I know we’re running out of time, I’m gonna be wrapping up soon. But I want you to just share with us, you know, what was one of the big lessons that you learned in sales and marketing that really changed the game for you and forced you or allowed you to uplevel and take that really big step? I’d love for you to share what that was for you.

Nikki Novo 55:53
Yeah, so I mean, give you two tips on one is like, I’m going to try to make it quick. So first is like, unfortunately, I know, we get into this work for the love of our craft, like so, I have a love for helping people, I have a love for the readings. And in a perfect world, that would be the only thing that we do, right. But we have to fall in love with entrepreneurship. And entrepreneurship is so creative and fun. And it really is like a creative process. And once you start to see that rather than be like, I don’t know how to make reels, which is like what we think, you know, like entrepreneurship is like no like to really fall in love with. So I had to fall in love. I was always a natural entrepreneur, but like I had to fall, I had to identify as that as much as I identified as being a writer, as much as I identified as being a healer, I need to equally identify as a business owner. And I had to really see that I was a great smart businesswoman, entrepreneur, I had to identify with that at some point. So you have to get to the place where you can identify as that you might not be that yet. But actually what was very helpful for me, it was like, I started to gather friends that were just other business owners. So for me, it was like women in Miami, because that’s where I’m from, that like owned popular flower shops and popular boutiques, and, you know, their businesses were even though it was in person, and they weren’t healers. I mean, it’s businesses business. So having that was super important. So that was something I learned during that season. And then the second thing I learned was that what got me to where I was something I was doing was working, there was something that I was doing was working, and I needed to identify the things that were working at the very small scale of my business, like just doing one on ones, what was working there, why was that working? And what I discovered was, because the thing is all, I think that we get really overwhelmed, as like, you know, when you hear about marketing techniques, you feel like you need to do all of them, like, oh, I need to do you know, SEO and I need to do email marketing. And I need to do you know, content creation, all this kind of stuff, and I was there too. And, but something is naturally working for you. And even if you’re starting a new business, there is some sort of like natural skill that you have that magnetizes people to you. And you have to figure out what that is, I started to realize that like, I had two things going for me, I was just really good at referrals, because I had a very, I had a good product, but I had really good customer service. Customer service is like I just cared about my people, I would, you know, make sure I would send them emails, when I thought about them. I would send them recordings of our things. And I would tell them what books to buy. And I was just like, was like that annoying doctor that’s like texting you after you leave the appointment. That’s like kind of and that was like just out of my heart. So my customer service, like made up for anything where I wasn’t like yet a strong reader, but my customer service, like really made up for that. And then I was naturally getting referrals. Referrals is just basically people talking about you. And that was my skill, like, so when I thought about marketing, it’s like, you know what, I don’t have to worry. Because the thing is, I it’s almost like you can’t label it something else. I was like, I’m good at customer service, like providing a good product and getting people to talk to talk about me. I’m good at relationships. So I just needed to learn to skill, I mean SRE to scale that skill. So I didn’t have to think about all the different marketing things. I’ll get there with time, but like, how do I scale the way that I do referrals? And one of the ways that I scaled it was I would say like a referral is basically like one person talking about you. But you scale that by getting one person who’s who has a large network to talk about you. So it’s like You can have that friend that’s like really nice and sends you her sister. But then you have that mom at school that knows like, the PTO, you know, she’s the PTO president, she knows everybody. And she’s actually going to send you 13 people. So they’re what they call connectors. So you scale if you are a referral person, like if that is what’s working for you already, you scale it by finding bigger and bigger connectors. So sometimes the next connector was like a coach who had a lot of clients who would send me people. And then above the coach was the influencer, the you know, this social media influencer, the podcaster. So I already knew how to make friendships, and I already knew relationships. And these people just had bigger, they had more of an audience to refer me more people. So I didn’t go crazy on being like, I need to do all the things. I just like, looked at what I was doing well, and how can I scale what I was doing? Well, at a very small level, and I got very good at that on the next level. So it wasn’t too different. You just have to like up your skills. And also, I upped my leadership skills during that time as well. So I got like leadership coaching, I learned to how to have the community because I was moving from one on one to a lot of people, and I needed to know how to like, take care of a lot of people rather than just like, you know, doing that one on one. So that was really important. So I would say like, whatever you’re already naturally good at just look at, like, how can you scale and amplify that like, don’t feel like you need to do all the things.

Alex Beadon 1:01:33
That’s so beautiful. I feel like you’ve inspired us in so many ways today. I love the fact that you seem to be someone who’s so patient with your business and understanding that, you know, you’re only the thing that you should be focusing on is that one brick that one next brick at a time, I think it’s just such a beautiful analogy for people to take away into their businesses when they’re thinking of scaling and taking their sales to the next level. So thank you so much for being here with us today and sharing all of your wisdom. Is there anything that I didn’t get to ask you or something that you didn’t get to speak about that you think would be particularly helpful to our audience?

Nikki Novo 1:02:11
Yeah, just one last thing that has to do with intuition in your business. So Alex, I think your point was, like you said it, like, your business is a relationship, it is not you, it’s something that you have birth, it’s like, you can look at it as like your lover, or as a child, or, you know, whatever you want to look at it. It has its own energy. And if you think about dating, let’s say, let’s say that I like find this person that I love. And within six months, I want to do all the things I’m like, Let’s get married, let’s go to Hawaii, let’s have a baby. You know, like, let’s say $500,000, let’s buy a house like that would be just like so much on the relationship like to, to want to do all those things with this person right away, I would probably blow it up completely and just drive myself insane. Your business is no different. There is an X there is an expectation for it to be quote unquote successful at the gecko, but is a relationship when you fall in love? Is it unsuccessful? If you’re like still not living together, and you don’t have a lot of money? Like, does that mean you’re in an unsuccessful relationship? No, like, it just means like, that’s the stage of the relationship that you’re in. So your business at its like beginning stages or any stage, it’s like, not unsuccessful, it is an ever evolving thing that like, has its own timeline and will move at like the the pace that it’s like meant to move at. So to really like love it that way. It’ll give you so much more. And you don’t have to put pressure on you like to know that. Yes, it’s something that you birth, but it’s different than like who you are and you are successful, like you are worthy and successful, like exactly where you are, even when your business is not making you know, 20,000, whatever like that your worth has nothing to do with where your business is at. And once you start really seeing that, it’s going to be just so much more fun, and it will give so much more back to you. And you can like listen to your business, tap into it, see where it’s like trying to go and have fun with it. Rather than like be like to kind of think that your worth is connected to where your business is that like it’s, it is unrealistic to force your business into something where it is like not, you know, ready to be at and to enjoy the same way that we enjoy having a newborn at nine months and it’s a crazy time. But can we enjoy our nine month old as much as we’re gonna enjoy our 13 year old child you know, so to really enjoy wherever you are at with the business.

Alex Beadon 1:04:48
That’s such a beautiful share. Thank you so much. Do you mind sharing with everyone where’s the best place online that they can find you?

Nikki Novo 1:04:56
Yeah, so I’m on Instagram is probably like where I’m the most social Also just Nikki Novo and I kick AI and ovo on my website right away on Nikki nova.com. There’s a lot of freebies if you guys want, like, I have guided meditations for like, manifesting guided meditations for spirit guides. So anything like that, and I also have a podcast, it’s called to ask Nikki novo. I’ve been on a lot of podcasts too. So if you just like, want to hear more about my, my thoughts, check that out.

Alex Beadon 1:05:25
Thank you so much, Nikki. I really enjoyed this episode. I know everyone else did as well. So thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Nikki Novo 1:05:32
You’re welcome, Alex, thank you for having me.

Alex Beadon 1:05:37
Thank you so much for listening to today’s episode of On Purpose with Alex Beadon. I want to encourage you to go and check out the launch expansion method. This is a free masterclass that I created specifically for online course creators and membership site owners to help them scale their sales. So if you haven’t gone to check it out yet, you can go and do that using the link in the description. You can also check out the link in my bio, I also have an available for you on my website. It is called the launch expansion method and it teaches you my six figure launch strategy that has helped so many business owners from all over the world to have their first six figure launches. So definitely go and check that out now. Thanks so much for listening, and I really look forward to next week’s episode. I hope to see you there. Bye.

S2 Ep.26 – Entrepreneurship: Managing Time and Quieting the Inner Critic

There’s one thing I’ve been wrestling with lately – an invisible enemy in my entrepreneurial journey. It’s relentless, unforgiving, and perhaps the most challenging of all, and it’s gotten sooooooo much worst since I minimized my team. It’s not market trends or competitors … it’s my own inner critic.

CONFESSION: No matter what I do during a workday, there’s always this nagging voice whispering, “You could’ve done more.”

Sound familiar?

This struggle is at the heart of this podcast episode, “Entrepreneurship: Managing Time and Quieting the Inner Critic.” I decided to dedicate this episode to all of us battling the same inner critic, as it’s an experience so common yet rarely addressed.

In this deeply personal episode, I share:

  • the nitty-gritty details of how my inner critic affects me 🙈
  • the strategies I’ve found to be effective at overcoming it 🏆
  • practical ways to treat ourselves with compassion 💗
  • techniques to separate our identity from our productivity 🥂
  • and the importance of acknowledging our accomplishments 

But let’s be clear: This isn’t about achieving perfection or silencing that inner critic forever. It’s about creating an environment of acceptance and compassion within ourselves. It’s about recognizing that the inner critic is merely a manifestation of our deep care for our work, not a voice of truth.

This episode is less than 20 minutes long, but it’s packed with insights that can help reshape your relationship with your inner critic. So, whether you’re on your daily commute, sipping your morning coffee, or taking a quick break from work, I encourage you to give it a listen. My hope is that it brings you comfort in knowing you’re not alone in this struggle, reassurance that it’s alright to feel this way, and practical advice to manage this common entrepreneurial hurdle. 🎧

After listening, I would love to hear your thoughts. How do you deal with your inner critic? What strategies do you find effective? Reach out to me on Instagram or comment below. 

P.S. Have a friend who might benefit from this episode? Feel free to forward this blog to them. Let’s spread the love and understanding we all need on this journey!

P.P.S. I would love to hear what inspired you the most from this week’s episode. Hit reply or send me a DM on Instagram.

Resources mentioned in this episode: 

Tools mentioned in this episode:

  • Clockify

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

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

Transcript Available Below

Alex Beadon 0:03
So you want to scale your online business while purposely prioritizing your most joyful, free, and luxurious life. This Podcast is your weekly dose of connection and self-reflection. As you set strategic intentions along the way, it’s time to prime your mind embrace your pace, and take consistent action toward creating what you truly want from your online business without sacrificing the small moments all around you that are so worth treasuring. So take a deep breath, relax, and let’s get you back to where you belong. On purpose.

You’re listening to Episode 26 of season two of on purpose with Alex speeding, and in this episode, I’m going to be speaking to something that I’m sure every single online business owner can relate to. And it’s the feeling of overwhelm feeling like no matter what you do, you will never get through your to-do list, feeling a sense of beating yourself up over the fact that you’re not getting as much done and you’re not being as productive as you’d like to be, even when you look back at the day and you’re like but I actually did do a lot and I did accomplish a lot, right? There’s no real need to be beating yourself up about this. If you can relate to this, then this is the episode for you. I’m Alex Beadon, your favorite launch strategist and your guide to the online business world. I’ve had an online business selling digital products since 2011. And I’ve been helping online businesses scale for launching since 2016. I’ve been featured in Forbes and Entrepreneur, I’ve worked with clients ranging from solopreneurs to multi-million dollar small businesses. Here at Team Beadon. We pride ourselves on being the industry-leading destination for all things launch strategy, our 12-month program together we launch teaches our signature rinse and repeat launch strategy that has helped course creators and membership owners from all over the world have their best launches yet. Our goal is to give you the tools to create a wildly profitable online business while prioritizing your most joyful life so that you can truly experience time, freedom, location, freedom, and financial freedom. Now without further ado, let’s jump into today’s episode.

If you ever feel like you are beating yourself up, no matter what it is that you decide to spend your time on, you have a to-do list, you know what your priorities are. But no matter what you do, at the end of the day, it never quite feels like enough. If that’s you, this episode was created specifically for you. And the reason why I’m creating this episode is because this is something that I myself struggle with. You know, as business owners, we are always working on skills and tools in our toolbox, right. And I would say for me, this is definitely something that I am constantly working to improve when it comes to my mindsets. Oftentimes, when it comes to how we spend our time, I’m just so hard on myself, I just feel like I should have gotten more done within a specific period of time. But as I have gotten older, and as I’ve been in this industry for a very long time, I realized that this is just normal that it is just normal to feel this way, there’s always going to be more that I wish that I had gotten through I don’t think I’ve ever had a day where I finished every single thing on my to do list. And it is okay. And so this episode is going to be me sharing with you the way that I go about it dealing with this problem dealing with the fact that I find myself being so hard on myself. And so the first thing that I like to do is show myself absolute compassion. I remind myself that whatever it is that I’m beating myself up about probably is unnecessary. Something that I love to do is like, bring awareness to the thoughts, right, bring awareness to what it is that I’m telling myself. So a great example is this week, you know, I’ve been on such a good roll with posting daily to my reels. And I’ve been feeling so good about it and so proud about it. And I’ve been seeing all of these great engagement and results on Instagram, and it’s been really positive. And over the last few days, I’ve been working on so many projects, like we have so many projects that are up in the air right now we’re working on a collaboration with future females, which is amazing, wonderful, excellent opportunity. If you joined together we launched you’ll know that one of the things that we always talk about is how do we get more leads, you know, that’s one of the things that only business owners struggle with the most is how do I get more leads and one of the best ways is through collaboration. So as we gear up for our next launch, these are the types of activities that we are doing. Then we also are working on updating all of our sales pages for Together, we launch behind the scenes. So there’s lots of different things. We have a launch quiz, we have a launch expansion method training, which hopefully you would have already checked out. If you haven’t checked that out, you’re definitely missing out. It’s basically like, I don’t know, I think it’s like an hour and 10 minute long training, where I walk you through the launch expansion method, which is the way that we launch from time to time and are able to scale our efforts by pretty much reusing a lot of the assets that we’ve already created. So go and check that out if you haven’t already. But yeah, we’re working on all of these websites. We’re working with Galen from local creative Co. And there’s just a lot on my plates. And it’s so interesting, because I find myself telling myself, Oh, you didn’t spend time on this today? How could you not have spent time on this today? And how could you not have spent time on this day? Why didn’t you post Instagram reels for the last I think I’ve missed maybe three or four days. And just beating myself up about the things that I didn’t do and the things that I didn’t get done. So the first thing I do is bring awareness to those thoughts. So whether you write them down on a piece of paper, or write them down in your notes app, write them down, get them out of your head, get them onto a piece of paper, the next thing that I do is I reread them and ask myself like, is this actually true? And the way that I go about finding out if this is actually true is I go over to clarify, if you know, you know, I talk about this quite a lot. We, here at Team Beadon, track absolutely everything that we do. And we’ve been doing this for years. And over the years, the way that we’ve tracked our time has changed in terms of how we categorize the activities, etc. But the basic premise is that every single thing that I do and work on in the business, I write it down and clarify so that there’s never a question of like, oh, well, where did I spend my time, when I started tracking my time, I realized so much about the activities that I was spending my time on how I was prioritizing certain things. And I find that by tracking my time, it just shines a light on everything. And it helps me really understand where I spend my time. So I went I go I go on I check clock, if I after I bring my awareness to the actual thought right, then the thought in this case is oh, you know, you haven’t posted Instagram reels over the last few days. Why haven’t you done that? Or, for example, right now, I’m still working on the copy for the ultimate launch bootcamp opt in page, and I’m beating myself up about it and being like, why is this taking you so long? Like, why haven’t you finished this yet? You know, so just getting those things down on paper, heading on over to qualify and actually asking myself like, okay, have I been showing up to work? Have I been clocking in enough hours? Where have I been spending my time and just bringing visibility to the way that I’m spending my time, and then of course, realizing that I am. And here’s the thing, right? It’s like when you are showing up in your business, and you’re present, and you are consciously making choices throughout the day, I know that I’m doing my best. It’s not to say that I’m like, rolling out of bed and hanging out on the couch and not being strategic about the way that I spend my time I’m being extremely strategic. I think it’s just like, I’m going through this transition of having so much support and having such a large team of eight people. And then you know, now narrowing it down, there’s only two of us on the team. Now, there’s obviously going to be so much more on my plate. And on the one hand, I’m feeling so happy because I’m like, I love being creative. I love having my hands in every detail again, like I’m just loving the energy of this new chapter. And simultaneously going through that resistance of like, oh my gosh, I don’t have as much time as I used to have, you know, I

don’t I have way more on my plate than I used to have. And just figuring out that transition and showing myself grace as I go through that transition. So step one, writing it down. Step two, asking yourself is this true? Step three, reviewing any data that you have that can help you decide is this true or not? What changes do I have to make in order to alleviate this? And so for me, it’s just about acceptance, and giving myself grace. So acceptance, acceptance is everything that I just shared with you. It’s acknowledging that I have more on my plate, it’s acknowledging that I have less support in the team. It’s simultaneously acknowledging that I’m loving this chapter and I’m loving getting to be more creative and that this is what I’ve chosen. Right? It’s also about giving myself that grace. It’s about being okay with the fact that sometimes I’m going to beat myself up and and immediately nipping it in the bud as soon as it starts to happen. So as soon as I feel myself judging myself judging the way I’ve spent my time, I just remind myself like, Hey, it’s okay, you are human, you have been doing your absolute best I’ve seen you, I’ve been with you, I’ve shown up with you. It’s literally about mothering myself. Like, sometimes I feel like my mindset is like a child, you know, you have this little child in the back of your mind, or like a little mean, girl bully, who’s like you didn’t do this, you didn’t do that, you know, just judging, again, the way that I spend my time. And I just need to mother myself and be like, Hey, you’re being mean, for absolutely no reason. You have been doing your best. You have been showing up, you’ve been giving it your all. And you’ve been doing it every single day for who knows how long you are. You’re so generous to your clients, you show up for them. You deliver on the results, that and the transformations that people are coming to you for you have so much to be proud of. And you beating yourself up is 100%. Unnecessary. We don’t do that. And just speaking to myself like that. And you know, not necessarily. Again, this is not I’m not trying to beat myself up for beating myself up, right. So the premise, the idea is that I’m showing myself the utmost kindness. And then I’m just being patient with myself and just giving myself space to be like, cool, you’re feeling a little bit frustrated. Right now. There’s a lot on your plate. That’s normal. That’s normal. And just like literally letting that sink in. That is normal. It is okay. But now, what do we need to do to bring a little bit more control into the situation? So for example, this week, I have a podcast episode two, could you tell every single week we come out with a podcast episode, we’re not yet at the point where I could tell you which day of the week because I feel like every week, it’s a different day of the week. But at least we know every week, there’s a podcast episode coming out. And so I knew I had to finish this today. And I told myself, okay, instead of doing like this long episode that you normally do, we’re just going to keep it short, sweet, and simple and speak directly to what it is that I’m struggling with in this moment. Because we are all human. And this is what I want this podcast to be about. Like I want this podcast to be a real-life look into what it means to be an online entrepreneur. And so for me this week, this is what it’s been about. And the irony of it all is like I’ve had such a productive week, I feel like I’ve done such a good job of showing up and giving it my best, while also making sure that I’m not overworking and while also making sure that I’m taking time for myself and my personal life, and taking time to check in and like get my movement in and get my meditation and like I’m doing such a good job. And I’m really leaning into just being kind to myself. And so I hope that you can listen to this episode and take this as your sign to be kind to yourself today. I love you guys so much. If you enjoyed this episode, please take a moment to send me a message over on Instagram, tag me in your stories. It means the world to me to hear from you guys. And to make this more of a two way conversation. So if this resonated, please take a moment to let me know. I’m sending you huge hugs and wishing you all the best as you move forward in your week. And I’m really excited to share all of the upcoming things that we have in store for you. I am just like I said, I’m so happy and excited to be in this space where I have my hands back in the creativity of my business and it can really feel self expressed again, through all of the creative work that I’m getting to do. But you know, there are two sides to every story. You know, there’s there’s the excitement and the joy. And you know, Laura always tells me she’s the CEO of Team Beadon, our operations manager and she always tells me she’s like, it can be two things at once. So it can be yes, you’re enjoying it, you’re loving it, you’re feeling creative, you feel so connected to your business and your community again, and at the same time. It can be a little overwhelming you can be struggling with you know, finding your rhythm and your work again and figuring out like okay, maybe there is too much on my plate, maybe it is time to get a little bit more support again, and that’s okay, you know, we go through these transition phases, and there’s always something to learn and take away. All right guys, enjoy the rest of your week, and I will talk to you again next time. Bye. Thank you so much for listening to today’s episode of On purpose with Alex Beadon. I want to encourage you to go and check out the launch expansion method. This is a free masterclass that I created specifically for For online course creators and membership site owners to help them scale their sales. So if you haven’t gone to check it out yet, you can go and do that using the link in the description. You can also check out the link in my bio. I also have an available for you on my website. It is called the launch expansion method and it teaches you my six figure launch strategy that has helped so many business owners from all over the world to have their first six figure launches. So definitely go and check that out now. Thanks so much for listening, and I really look forward to next week’s episode. I hope to see you there bye.

S2 Ep.20 – Course Launch Confessions: My 2023 Sales Page Crisis

Ever wonder what happens when a meticulously planned launch doesn’t go as planned? Join me, Alex Beadon, as I bare all about a recent launch that reached only 20% of our base goal. You’ll get a raw, unfiltered look into what really went down, as I reveal the true factors that led to this outcome and how I was able to overcome the disappointment of it all.

In this episode you’ll learn:

  • Why our launch converted at just 1/5th of our expectations
  • The importance of analysis post-launch
  • The proof of how a sales page really can affect your launch

Whether you’re an experienced online business owner or a newcomer to the course creation industry, you’ll find valuable takeaways that will challenge and redefine your view of success and failure.

So, are you ready for the tea? Click play and join me on this journey of turning ‘failures’ into wins. Remember, in the world of online entrepreneurship, there are no failures, only lessons.

After listening, I’d love to hear your biggest takeaways. Feel free to hit reply or DM me on Instagram!

Resources mentioned in this episode:

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

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

S2 Ep. 18 – How Together We Launch Transformed their Online Businesses (2023 Alumni Panel)

Today, we have a very special treat for you. We’re taking you behind-the-scenes of what it’s really like to be a part of Together We Launch, our 12-month program designed to help ambitious online course creators and membership site owners to scale their launches through our signature rinse and repeat strategy.

In this episode, we’re joined by Tricia Camacho, Elizabeth Stiles and Chelsea Glass, three of our current launchers who are here to share what it’s really like on the inside of Together We Launch.

We’ll talk about:

  • where they were before joining TWL
  • how their business has changed since joining
  • whether TWL was actually worth the investment
  • what their favorite parts of TWL are

You’ll also learn more about our rinse and repeat strategy, some of the resources we offer inside of TWL, and the surprising benefits of TWL that extend beyond profitability.

If you’re an online course creator or membership site owner who wants to learn how to scale their business, and you’re not really sure how to do it, or you’re someone on the fence of joining TWL, this one is for you!

Resources mentioned in this episode:

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

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

S2 Ep. 17 – How Membership Site Owner Marina Simone Went From Failed Launches to Building a Seven-Figure Brand

In today’s episode, we’re joined by past Together We Launcher, wife, mom, Founder and CEO of the seven-figure brand Moms and Heels™, Marina Simone. Marina teaches busy moms to slay online sales by identifying their story, personal brand and mission – all using social media.

One day while stuck in a cubicle at work, Marina missed her first born taking her first steps. It was in that moment that she felt like she needed to strive for more for her daughter. Marina joined Network Marketing 10 years ago as a broke, single mom looking to get her car back from being repossessed.

In the first two years in the industry she never made a cent. However, it was her second company where Marina built an organization of over 60,000 customers and distributors in less than two years using online strategies. She became one of the Top 12 Income Earners in that company. She has since been featured in Yahoo Finance as a top Branding Coach in 2020 and 2021 and she now teaches other marketers how to do the same.

Through rinsing and repeating the TWL launch systems and strategies every 90 days, she made $532k on ONE offer through launching over the course of two years. This number included only the primary payments for her membership site, and the number over the course of the membership lifespan was closer to $1.5 million! 🤯

With zero social influence, Marina has built a multiple 7-figure income using social media and the TWL strategies – and you can too.

In this inspiring conversation with Marina Simone you’ll learn:

  • How Marina has navigated through failed launches, imposter syndrome, the challenges of PTSD, bipolar disorder and anxiety to build a successful online business
  • The myths about your social media numbers, the surprising truth about online millionaires, and the KPIs you should actually be focusing on
  • Why Marina hates going viral and how she had her most profitable launch even though she had her lowest like count ever
  • The power of her 333 method in building an online community and optimizing sales conversions
  • Her experience within the TWL program, including her initial hesitations and the one thing she’d tell anyone on the fence about joining TWL

Trust me when I say, if you’re an online course or membership site creator on the fence about joining TWL, or struggling with self-doubt, scaling or strategy, tune in now because this is the episode for you!

Resources mentioned in this episode:

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

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

S2 Ep. 04 – Launcher Spotlight: How Alyssa Lang Went From 1 Sale to $1 Million in 3 Years

In today’s episode Alyssa Lang, owner and founder of Workflow Queen and Magnetic Bookkeeping & Consulting, shares how she grew her business from one sale to $1 million by year three of her business.

If you’ve been around for a while, you’ll know that Alyssa is somewhat of a TWL Celebrity around here. 🎉 The irony is that Alyssa considered herself a “small fish” when joining TWL, and has gone on to have incredible success!

In this episode she delves into the importance of niching down, designing a business that supports your core values and shares her secrets to managing four launches a year.

Alyssa also tells all about her offer suite and the role that launching plays in her big-picture strategy! Tune in to this episode to learn how she overcame money mindset blocks, how she’s navigated challenging times in her business and the self-care practice that has been transformative while running multiple businesses.

In this week’s episode, we talk about …

  • How Alyssa was able to go from making ONE sale, to $350k in two days, to $1 mil in year three of her business
  • How she overcame feelings of undeservingness about earning damn good money.
  • Her offer suite and the role that launching plays into her big picture strategy
  • What her days as an online business owner look like (hint – it’s not entirely what you’d expect 🛶🐕)
  • How to handle the pressure of being a CEO
  • The one decision that has made the biggest impact on the success of her business
  • A powerful practice that has been transformative for Alyssa when it comes to her self care

… and sooo, so much more!

 

Resources Mentioned in the Episode


Workflow Queen

Magnetic Bookkeeping

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

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

#016 – Life As An Artist Vs. Entrepreneur, Tips To Boost Demand, Content Creation Insights, and Creating a Business Built on Faith with Promise Tangeman

How close are you to your gut? Best friends or acquaintances?

Meet Promise Tangeman, graphic designer, website builder and best friend to her intuition. And it really shows.

Like most creatives, Promise entered work life after graduating with a double major in Design and Fine Arts. But unlike most, she stayed attuned to her gut and ventured into the big bad world of entrepreneurship and has never looked back since.

“There’s a lot of creative thinking involved with growing a business.”

Tap into Promise’s story, how she carved out her own path using a creative mindset, staying true to her strengths and acknowledging her weaknesses and staying ahead of this crazy little thing we call the era of Social Media.

“If you’re going to make money doing what you love, you have to bring in the right people.”

This is On Purpose.

In this Podcast you’ll learn:

  • The key to thriving in the era of social media
  • Why your business is bigger than you
  • The creative approach to entrepreneurship
  • How to never run out of content to post
  • Why you should take a designer vacation

Tune in with Promise:
IG: @promisetangeman
Website: www.promisetangeman.com

Transcript Available Below

Alex Beadon 0:00
In this episode, we talked to Promise Tangeman, a graphic designer and owner of go live HQ, a company that creates easy to use websites so that you can launch quickly and start wooing your dream clients. We talked about what it really means to be killing it in your business, the key to thriving in the era of social media, why your business is bigger than just you the creative approach to entrepreneurship, and how she’s become a boss at content creation, and what she recommends for you. 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.

Hello, my friends, welcome to episode 16 of on purpose with Alex speeding. I’m coming to you today from London, England. And I’m so excited for you to listen, today’s podcast promises someone I’ve been following for a very long time. And she’s not only very impressive with the work that she does in the world. She’s an excellent graphic designer. And she’s also an epic businesswoman. But she’s also just such a cool person, when you follow her online, you get a really good sense of who she is. She’s not only here to create great work in the world, she’s here to do good in the world. It’s interesting for me to talk to her about how she makes his her faith with her business. And I think this is an episode that you’re really going to enjoy. We talk a lot about creativity, we talk a lot about what it means to create epic content online and how not to get lost in the world of likes and follows. I think you’re really going to enjoy this one. Please take a listen. Let me know what you think on Instagram at Alex Beadon. And I hope you enjoy. Promise. Thank you so much for being here with me today. I’m so excited to have you on the show.

Promise Tangeman 2:07
I’m so excited to be here. Thanks for having me, Alex.

Alex Beadon 2:11
So the first question that I want to ask you is, what do you find most nourishing about having your own business?

Promise Tangeman 2:20
Oh, nourishing is a really good question. If you would say like, what do you like about having your own business? Which is a different question. I would say, I love the fact that I can like turn the ship quickly. With a business like I love seeing just personally I love seeing progress and impact. And when you own your own business, if something’s not working, you can be like, Oh crap, that’s not working. And let’s try something different. And you don’t have to go through like a ton of levels in order to get something approved. Or, you know, just try something new. So I would say that’s what I that’s what I love. And I guess that would be nourishing to me, because I love to see progress and forward motion on things. And so I think that’s the thing that like, well, there’s a lot of things that get me up in the morning, but being able to, like really make an impact on things. But yeah, yeah,

Alex Beadon 3:14
I love that. I think that was I don’t think we’ve ever had that answer before on the podcast. So that’s awesome. I enjoy that answer. So for those of the listeners who have never heard of you before, which is crazy, but could you tell us a little bit about who you are what you do, and just give us an introduction to promise.

Promise Tangeman 3:36
Okay, perfect. Yeah, I am a graphic designer, and I own a company called Go Live HQ. And we’re all about launching websites quickly, which I love. I love helping people launch what they love, which would be the other thing that gets me out of bed in the morning is that, you know, we work with a lot of female entrepreneurs, a lot of creative small businesses that are, you know, maybe quitting their job and taking, they’re taking their love, you know, whatever that may be like painting, design, accounting, like whatever it is that they love, and being able to do that full time through their own business. And so being able to help them launch that through graphic and web design is so fun. And my team and I really are special T is like a five day process. So we start on Monday and launch on Friday. And there’s some like brand prep that we do beforehand, but I’m all about getting it launched and getting it up there. I know like there’s a lot of other web design firms that will take months and months, even a year to launch your website. And as a small business owner, I’m like, I personally could not wait that long because your website is your digital front door. Yeah. And so has like

Alex Beadon 4:51
helped people get up and running as quickly as possible, but still giving them enough time to like really get it right.

Promise Tangeman 4:58
Yeah in their store. Adeje involved and obviously, we want it to look beautiful and represent your ideal client and your business and who you are to. So, yeah, we love doing that. But ultimately, like, just get it launched. And then as your business grows and expands, you can like tweak and edit your website to meet your ideal client and all the needs that you have in your business. So I love that sector blast.

Alex Beadon 5:21
Okay, so tell me about your entrepreneurial journey. Like, when you first got started, what was it that you were offering? And if you could kind of like give us chapter by chapter, the evolution of your business and your offerings, and like how you evolve to where you are today? Because I think it’s so easy to like, see where you’re at and be like, Oh, she’s killing it. But I’m curious, like, how did you get here?

Promise Tangeman 5:44
Yeah, that’s such a great question. Stop me. If I get like on a train you I will want to spend a minute here.

Yeah, that’s awesome. So I went to design school. Okay, I graduated with a double major in graphic design and Fine Arts. And I really loved fine art, like I loved painting, drawing, like all growing up, I was like, That nerdy kid in the art class, who like, didn’t want to go in the cafeteria, because all the cool kids are in there. And like, you know, hiding away and creating stuff. That’s what I loved, doing. So much so that I didn’t even like take the SATs, I was like, I don’t want to do that. I just want to get like a design school and just design a way. And I was actually really intimidated by the technology aspect of the computer and design. But I knew I didn’t want to be an art teacher, or like, I wanted to do something that involves the future. And I felt like technology

is obviously part of the future. And in graphic design, I felt as was like art of the future in some ways. And so I was trying to figure out, like, how can I make a living, doing art and doing art for people’s businesses seemed like, the best way to make money doing that sounds like, Okay, I’ll give this a try. So I actually got a job right after college, I got a job as like a lead designer for a church, right. And I worked on part of a team and I had a couple of bosses and I got in a year into it. And I’m like, I think that I could do a better job. If you can see my face,

Alex Beadon 7:15
I love how you knew that I love like, deep down, you knew you could do a better job that’s awesome. owns the knowing of that. That’s yeah,

Promise Tangeman 7:22
it was like so weird. It’s like, you know, there’s something deep down inside. He’s like, this is how it should be. And I just felt like that. And so I like saved up my money did a lot of freelancing on the side when I had my full time job. And then I got engaged. And I was like, I think this is the perfect time to go full time with my own thing. So I had that money saved. And I had built a freelance career, kind of on the side of my day job. That’s awesome. So I was like, okay, like, let’s just do this. Let’s just see where it goes. And I was blogging on my projects on my design projects. And I took the leap. And I really like never looked back. I guess I started just doing like one off designs for people like this is like a freelancer. And the first time I hired somebody was when I felt so overwhelmed by the sheer number like the sheer administrative aspects of the business that I was like I cannot I want to design. I want to help people launch things. But I cannot keep up with these day to day tasks. There’s way too many. So that’s when I hired I was like, some people asked me like, oh, how do you know when you know when to hire your first person. I was like, I was so stressed out in my mind. I was like anybody that can help me please. I’ll pay ready. So that was the point for me. And I felt like that’s been a pattern like anytime I’m like so stressed. Yeah. So yeah, I had a gal come in and help me do like all the intake with clients and all the administrative stuff. So then I could really focus on what I did best. Because keeping up with emails and stuff I’m just not that great at and I feel like it’s so important to respond quickly and be there for people. And

Alex Beadon 9:04
I’m the exact same way like that is one thing that throughout my entire entrepreneurial career. I’ve just, yeah, it’s definitely something that is not enjoyable for me to do is like respond to a million emails. So yeah, I understand that.

Promise Tangeman 9:20
Yeah. So. And then I would say from there, I think as the demand grew, I have an entrepreneurial like itch in me that loves to grow things. So and I feel like that’s part of like, it’s kind of crazy that I really saw myself as a creative in the beginning. And I would have never said oh, I’m a business person. Right. But as I started creating my business and growing my business, I really realized there’s a lot of creative thinking involved with growing a business. And so I felt like I was really able to scratch my own itch in that way. And so like years later, like I’m a business lady. I’m like, What am I doing? I thought it was like that nerdy art school girl staying away from the cafeteria. But But yeah, it turns out it’s super fun to create a business. And it’s a lot of like creative problem solving and innovating and marketing, like just ideas of like, Will this work? And I love that idea. So yeah, I’ve just grown the team, like slowly as a demand, adding new, new team members, new designers.

Alex Beadon 10:27
So have you always pretty much offered the same thing from day one? It’s like you were always offering like, helping people build their website and their brand and the design elements.

Promise Tangeman 10:39
Yeah, I would say that’s, well, I used to do photography, like way, way back. Like some dabbling, I did the I did photography, and I did design. So I did like all three things, right? One day, just realize like, this is way too much. Yeah. And I started hating each of them just because I feel like I wasn’t doing any of them. Well. Okay, cool.

Alex Beadon 10:59
So then you ditched photography, you focused on design. But since focusing on design, you’ve pretty much found something that works and you’ve stuck to it,

Promise Tangeman 11:07
I would say, generally I have, I’ve just refined the process in the knee. And I feel like you know, beforehand, I would have done design for anybody. I’ve done business cards, I’ve done like little things here and there. And I feel like now, my company really focuses on launching a website, and we have certain packages that help you do that. And then also just honing in on on our ideal client, you know, which is, which is mostly like girl bosses, creative entrepreneurs, we work with guys too. But I would say the majority because we’re all female, the majority of our female men, yeah, women own in it and rocking it and, you know, double or tripling their business or getting their day job. So yeah, just

Alex Beadon 11:48
talk to me about demand. Because I’ve had this really interesting relationship with demand, where everyone I work with and every entrepreneur in my life seems to have a different experience with the demand of their offering. And it’s it, of course, would be different because every offering is different, right? So when I was listening to tell your story, something that you said is like demand kept growing and growing and growing. What do you think has been like the key behind growing the demand? Was it something that like you never really put any effort into? Was there always demand? Was it something that you were really strategic about? I’m curious what your relationship has been with demand?

Promise Tangeman 12:28
Yeah, that’s a really great question. I would say it’s a like, man. I would say it’s a combination of things. I feel like I have a marketing, passion, I have a passion for marketing. And so just figuring out ways to market our services has been fun. And not every creative, or like business person is like savvy with marketing. But I like to, I like to think about ways in which I can get my product up to the most people possible, right. So even even when it comes down to like being strategic, and what clients we take, you know, like, for instance, I’ll take on, like what I call internally, we don’t obviously use this externally, but like marketing clients, so like, our target market isn’t necessarily our marketing clients, but the marketing clients are like, usually, our influencers online who, you know, maybe have a large following, or have a tribe that is dedicated and loyal to, to them. And then they see that we did their website. And so then, then our target market will come to us because they see that we did their website, which, you know, maybe maybe these clients I’m calling marketing clients aren’t necessarily our target market, because a little more involved or maybe, you know, they have like different needs and stuff. But so yeah, I feel like that’s been really key is figuring out who those marketing clients are, and then going after them, I guess,

Alex Beadon 13:57
I like as well that like, what that does, and something that you said right before you start that story is you like to get you like to basically reach as many people as you possibly can make sure as many people of your ideal clients know about who you are, with as minimal effort put into it as possible. And like that’s a really great way to go about doing it is finding people who are influencers who have the right people following them, and introducing yourself that way. So would you say that that’s like the number one marketing strategy that has worked the best for you and been most efficient for you?

Promise Tangeman 14:30
I would say yeah, for sure. It’s

Alex Beadon 14:32
really cool. Yeah, it’s smart as well, because I’m, this is what I’m, I’m always telling people like try and be creative with your marketing and try and think about different things that you could do that would be not as not saying that that’s easy for you to do, but it’s in your realm of talents to be able to do that and to be able to then get such a return on your investment of time, energy and efforts.

Promise Tangeman 14:55
Yeah, well and as the business owner to like, that’s one thing that when it comes to like relationships and networking. You know, a lot of people say when you’re building a business, the business owner should just focus on the on the things that only you can do. And I feel like for me, those are the only things that I can like, that’s one of the only things that I can do personally, or my team can’t, like they can’t get out there and network and create relationships with people. Like I would say, the Girlboss website for Sophia Amoruso has been a huge, that was crazy marketing thing for us. It was like, really, really great. And she she’s not like our ideal client. I mean, she is obviously our ideal client, but her needs are a little more individual than what our ideal client needs. And so, you know, but it’s worth figuring it out. Because that the people that have come to us from her our ideal clients, you know, it’s like, that’s so fun to work with them. And I would say Jasmine star is another one of those for us.

Alex Beadon 15:48
She’s fantastic. Yeah. And then we’ve gotten on the podcast.

Promise Tangeman 15:53
Oh, my gosh, so crushed it, shall we? Yeah. Yeah. Oh,

Alex Beadon 15:58
to kind of follow up on that, what has it been like for you, as your business has grown? And like you’re working with way bigger clients, what would you say has been like one of the biggest struggles for you, or challenges that you’ve had to overcome? As a business owner?

Promise Tangeman 16:14
Yeah, I would say, getting sued. Because, you know, there’s a lot of opportunity all over the place, right. And I would say like, getting swayed from your niche is like the biggest opportunity for me, I can get distracted by so many things. Like, I think there’s opportunity here. And I think there’s opportunity there, we use opportunity there and I can get so distracted that then my offerings come become so diluted, that we’re not really doing anything well. And it kind of gets back to that, like whole. I’m doing design and photography and fine art. So just I think for me, the hardest thing is like keeping that focus on what we are creating and why we’re creating it. And so not to not get distracted by potential opportunities that come our way. But then the other the other struggle is like, maybe there’s a really good opportunity, that’s fine, you know, so I feel like discerning those and staying true to really what we’re made to do. Like, for boring example. I hate with a purple passion. I hate WordPress. Like, for so many reasons, I could get on a soapbox and talk about like all the things I hate about WordPress, but but a lot of our like marketing clients, if you will are on WordPress. So I have that like that struggle of do I go with the thing that I believe? Yeah, just to like, just to quickly like people wonder what WordPress like I just feel like it’s it’s an older platform, you know. And so there’s a lot of things that you pretty much have to have a web developing team to maintain your WordPress website like managing all the plugins and all the updates and all the security breaches and like all the things that come with that. I think there’s some other platforms now that are more modern and easier to use. Yeah, at least for our my target, our ideal client, the girl bosses and people, the solo business owners like they need to be able to tweak and edit their website on their own. And so what do you recommend for those people? Well, I love there’s two that I love. I love Squarespace. Yeah. Like the views. You can’t do as many cool design things. But we can we we do a lot of cool workarounds and stuff. And then show is great for like, really creative, like expressing yourself creatively. How, though it’s a little, like, more involved on the back end. So but yeah, so that’s just getting off on a tangent. Yeah,

Alex Beadon 18:36
that was a good example, though. Because I think so many of us even, like, even not even just opportunities that you’re like, doesn’t really sit with me well, but even just like bright, shiny objects, like, oh, I should do this, I should do that. I you know, I see that with my clients all the time. And I’m like, no focus, like, yeah, and because if you’re spread too thin, you’re you’re going nowhere really fast. So that was a really good point that you made. Okay. I want to talk to you about social media, and content creation. I know we’re going there. I feel like it’s so interesting, because I think I started blogging in 2000. I want to say nine to maybe 2010. Yeah, I feel like we were both kind of in the online world at the same time. So you have a vision of what it used to be like compared to what it is today. So I’m really curious to ask you. How do you think social media has changed over the last let’s just say like, eight nine years? And how has How has the way that you use use it changed? Hmm. Yeah, because it’s so different now

Promise Tangeman 19:48
is like, tell me something that you think is different.

Alex Beadon 19:51
Okay. So for example, I think number one back in the day I remember when I started Instagram wasn’t really a thing face. People weren’t even really using Facebook. It’s like a marketing technique. It was really just your blog, your blog was like the go to place everyone was blogging and and I felt like people were actually reading blogs. And we weren’t at the stage where we’re at now, where I think everyone is, like, inundated with so much content and posts and this and that that like, I think sometimes today, it’s too much. Whereas back then there wasn’t that much content out there. So I think people it was just easier than than it is now to stand out, which is great, because it makes you have to up your game. But it’s also just, like, even recently, I’ve been thinking like, my blog, I, I would prefer to post on Instagram, than my blog. Because I know people are on Instagram, I don’t have to bring people over to my website. So now I’m even like rethinking, okay, maybe I should just have like a really simple website, have an opt in where people can sign up for my newsletter, and like use Instagram and all the other platforms to kind of like, bring people into my little newsletter world. But so I’m just curious, like, I see that you’re still blogging. You’re on Instagram. I know, last year you were making videos, I think you’ve stopped now. So I’m just like curious, like, how are you feeling about content creation? You know, it’s so easy to get burnt out. I know, at one point, I was like on this thing where I was putting out content every single week for years and years and years. Like video content took up so much time.

Promise Tangeman 21:22
I love those.

Alex Beadon 21:24
Thank you. So I’m curious. What do you think about it? Yeah,

Promise Tangeman 21:28
no, I think I think what the the assets that you brought up was so right. Like, I feel like when we started creating an empire online, with like, you know, designed all cool when someone lands on your site, it’s like they landed on your planet, almost. Yeah. And I love that. I think that’s so fun. But people just don’t, people just don’t go visit places like that anymore. And so what you like what you were saying is create content in the places where people are already at go go where the people are and create content. But to me, that just seems so exhausting. Like, I posted a post today about like life of a perfectionist. And it’s like, Oh, I love that post. It was good. Yeah. You start creating things. And then when you realize as a perfectionist, how long it took you to create that and then again, and you don’t want to do it again, because it’s not worth the time it took you to create that and then you’re bummed you’re not doing stuff.

Alex Beadon 22:20
And then also, there’s so many people on Instagram that it’s like you’re just in this massive ocean. Like, how much can you stand out?

Promise Tangeman 22:28
Yeah, totally. Totally. Yeah. No, I’m totally with you on that. Oh, shoot, I just lost my train of thought. But But yeah, go going where the people are. Oh, yeah, going where the people are. I just feel like on every channel can seem really overwhelming. Yeah. And then especially if when a channel like tanks, you kind of like, Oh, crap, I put all my eggs in that basket. Like right now, like pretty much only posting on Instagram. There’s still Facebook and Twitter and all those other things that I feel like, oh, I don’t have time for that. But I just I love like messing around just playing around seeing what people are liking. And then something I always think about, like I love brainstorming and like contemplating things, it’s just something that I love to do. You know, a lot of people like to just be busy with stuff that they’re doing. I just like to have just free brain space to just like, brainstorm. Yeah. I always think about is, it’s so simple, but I feel like I always come up with really cool things. And I do it is if I like I think to myself, I see everyone else doing so many cool things online. Like, oh, like, you know, Alex has a full podcast now. And all these amazing things on videos and everything and like, shoot, you know, and I think in my mind, like, what would I be do? What like what would I be doing if I really wanted to kill it? Like if I was contending with scenario myself, like really killing it. And so like, I just write those down, like, in my mind, what is killing it look like? And then I like do something for a season and like see what that brings and see what that does. I love doing those videos that

are amazing.

I love them so much. Like they were so different. I feel like I want to bring them back. I’m just not sure

Alex Beadon 24:12
Creating content is such a weird thing for me because like I love making content. Like I love it so much. But even if it really never brought me any business like I just think it’s a great way to express myself like it’s just fun, you know and like to to be able to meet like minded people. Yeah, over the Internet to me, it’s just magic. Like it still gets me super excited. Fun, but then at the same time, it’s like it takes so much time and you have to or at least for me, what I’ve started to do is really get clear on like, okay, like what is like you said, Okay, what what would I have? What would killing it look like? I guess I’m in this place now where I’m like, what does it like? What is killing it even mean to me? You know, because I think for a long time I was like oh I need more followers and like the numbers and the views and then this and then that and now I’m just at the stage where I play comes lately and like, whoever is supposed to find me, is gonna find me. And I’m just gonna create content because it’s fun. And like if people like it great, and if they don’t like it great. Yeah, but a lot of people who are creating content, especially people who are new in the game, I think there’s a huge frustration around like, why is my account not growing fast enough? Why is my content like, and I feel for these people, because like, they’re making great content, but it takes time to like, really build your tribe. So I guess my question for you is like, how, what advice would you give someone who’s maybe in the first one to three years of their business, they’re trying to build their tribe? You know, do you think content creation is even worth it? Do you think that that’s something that they should be investing in?

Promise Tangeman 25:40
Yeah, I do. I do for sure it because it builds your influence online, and people look to you as an expert. It just depends on like, what you want to do, right? Like, what is the content you’re going to create? Are you going live every day on Instagram? Or are you creating blog posts, which is still great Google juice, you know, went for your website, which is why my company still does blogging and stuff. So yeah, just about like creating the type of content that you feel is gonna draw in your ideal client, because that’s, that’s the main thing, right? If you have your own business, you have to make money. And so if you’re gonna make money doing what you love, you have to bring in the right people. So when you think about like, what do I What What should I create? For on on social media or on the blog? Think about? Where are your ideal clients spending their most the most time? Are they on Twitter? For me? They’re not on Twitter. Like a lot of businessmen are on Twitter. I mean, people are not on Twitter, they’re on Instagram. Or they’re, you know, Oh, yeah. For a lot of them. They’re on Instagram or on Facebook. Yeah. And so creating content on Facebook, and then looking at like, Okay, what kind of content is going to benefit them? Because you want them coming back to your site, you want them coming back to your social channel? So what is it that’s going to that’s going to reach them in particular? So on my videos, because they’re so dramatic, I had a lot of mixed reviews, like some people were like, this seems really genuine. Wow, some people were like, Oh, my gosh, I love it, because you’re giving us helpful content, and you’re doing it in a fun, silly way. Yeah. And it’s entertaining. So, you know, for me, I really had to wrestle with that, like, what am I you know, is that you know, and every time I posted on on Instagram, I gotta like a lot of unfollows. So I was like, Okay, interesting, India.

Alex Beadon 27:29
So how did that affect you? And like, how did that? Is that why you stopped? Do you think it was like a good thing that you were doing? Do? Like, what do you think? What do you feel about it? Now?

Promise Tangeman 27:39
Everyone’s gonna go back and watch these videos.

Alex Beadon 27:42
But they’re so good. Like, I remember the first time I saw one of the very first one that you put out, I can’t remember what the topic was. But I just remember thinking, Oh, my gosh, this is the way that you do. It is so creative, and it’s so fun. And like, I am shocked that anyone would say otherwise. So I’m curious as to how you dealt with that criticism? And with

Promise Tangeman 28:05
all of that, yeah, well, I feel like um, first off, I’m a four on the Enneagram Are you? Are you an Enneagram?

Alex Beadon 28:11
Girl? No.

Promise Tangeman 28:14
I know what you are, I already know what you are. So I’m a four on the anagram which is like a typical artists. So typical artists can tend to be like, they like to be unique, and they tend to be moody, right? So for me, I feel like I really had to like to figure out, well, number one, if you’re online, you’re going to get both ends of the spectrum, right? And you just have to keep doing what you’re doing because you are automatically going to get both ends of the spectrum. So you just have to go into it knowing that you’re not going to please everybody and it’s actually good if you don’t please people. And so I honestly felt like I had to go through a season where I feel like I’ve been really lucky and I feel like my followers have always been usually pretty positive but the stuff that I that I’ve put out there I think it’s because my network is still small enough where people that follow me like really like genuinely liked me well yeah, once you start like getting out there and and reaching more people, you get more like trolls and you get more haters and stuff and so, but I honestly feel like once you get a little taste of that and you realize this is the name of the game, you just got to do it like it’s just part of the thing. So you realize, okay, it’s just part of it. And so I feel like that’s I feel like I’m like preaching to myself right now because I really liked doing those videos but they didn’t quite have the result that I was looking for. But then again, I only did it for like maybe 10 months I didn’t I keep pushing forward I just like took a break because I’m like things are going crazy right now with my business and and I’m not seeing and maybe like I started I’m just speaking really honestly here. I definitely wanted right. Yeah. I maybe didn’t have like a goal with those videos I just wanted I had a lot of fun. I had a girlfriend that was doing it with me. And she’s an actor. So she’s like, really funny. And she, like helped me write the scripts. And she’s just awesome. And we just like laughed the entire time. And we made those videos. And so to me, like, they brought me so much joy. But I think looking back, I didn’t necessarily have a plan for that, like, this is the goal. I wanted to get more email subscribers, but I was realizing I was testing some things and realizing what I was doing really wasn’t working, right. But I would love to bring those back, like maybe as a series or something, and maybe have maybe just a little more intention behind why I’m doing it. Because ultimately, that’s why I stopped was okay. I don’t really know where this is going. Yeah.

Alex Beadon 30:39
Did it for such a long time, though. That’s creating. Yeah. And I love that you gave yourself permission to be like, Okay, I’m over it now. And like, I’m just gonna let it go. That’s really cool.

Promise Tangeman 30:49
Yeah, totally. So yeah. So I don’t know, I don’t even know what the question was.

Alex Beadon 30:56
Okay, you answered it. I was basically just asking, like, how you feel about, like, the criticism, and I think you covered that. And I think it’s also really powerful, what you said about having an intention behind your content. It’s cool to do things for fun. And I think it definitely fuels you. And I think that’s definitely what it did for you. But I think also, you know, knowing like, Okay, this is the direction that that I want them to go in or like this is the strategy behind it, or the end result that I’m looking for. So yeah, that’s all good. Okay. Do you have anything else to add to the social media Convo? Before we move on to the next topic?

Promise Tangeman 31:33
I would say like for anyone that is, like you said, one to three years into their business wanting to create content is to come up with like a roadmap of what you’re going to be posting, one of the things that my team started doing this year, which is in so how unbelievably helpful is, I think a lot of times people wake up and they think, oh, I need to post something. And if they try to bust something out, yeah. And then they feel like, Oh, this isn’t any good or whatever. But something that we’ve decided to do, or maybe they didn’t have time to do it that day, and then they feel discouraged. One of the things my team has done is we put together a three month plan and we we brainstorm what are we going to be posting the next three months and then we like literally map it out once per month, per month, and then we just then we’re just busy like writing the content for like the weeks to come. I feel like that’s been super helpful in just get getting it on paper and not just like brainstorming it the day of which I think a lot of newbies think, oh, this brainstorm like when I posted it, and then it just becomes a backburner, and you never end up doing it. So making it a strategy, getting it on the calendar, and then just creating, like a content calendar. It’s been super helpful.

Alex Beadon 32:37
Amen. I love that. Okay. Next topic, I want to talk to about your faith, and the relationship between your faith and your business. I think for me personally, like doesn’t matter what religion you are, or whatever, but I think having something, whatever it is that you believe in, really helps you in your business. So I’m curious, what role would you say that faith has had in your business?

Promise Tangeman 33:10
Hmm. I would say, for me, faith, helps me realize that everything I’m doing is for a bigger purpose than myself. I think so many times when you’re running a business, you know, you’re, you’re creating content, you are like what we just talked about, you’re trying to make a lot of money. So you can have a nice car, or a nice house or a nice, like, whatever the thing is, and I think for me, just having a faith bigger than myself has helped me realize that. Ultimately, I love doing what I what I love doing what I doing, I love helping people launch what they love. But when it comes down to like the monetary value of it, I love being able to give generously to a lot of other organizations that, that help the world at large. And I think, I think that’s like ultimately when I’m having a down day, and I realize, like, oh, selling another website or doing another design, ultimately, it’s helping that person. But ultimately, I’m hustling for something bigger, you know, I’m hustling for, you know, to provide clean water over in India or, you know, to help women get out of the sex trade in different countries. And I think to me, like when it comes down to it, that’s like that. I mean, that’s like, huge. Yeah. And so I feel like for a lot of other small business owners, you know, I think just getting outside yourself and realizing that, that there’s more to the world than lining your pockets. Mm hmm. You know, and, and if, if all of us small business owners could get on board with something outside of ourselves, like we could literally change the world. Yes. I agree. Because somebody’s going to be making that money. Yeah. And it might as well be you, Alex, because you’re gonna be a good steward of what you’ve been given. Yeah. So,

Alex Beadon 35:06
I love that so much. I’m so glad. And that’s one of the main reasons why I love doing what I do as well. It’s just like helping people create the freedom in their own lives. Yeah, but also, like you said, being able to give back, but I think when people have space in their lives, because I think so many people are doing something they hate, it’s taking up pretty much all of their day, they’re going to work from nine to five, Monday through Friday, and then Sunday comes around, and they’re like, dreading having to go back to work like that. When you look at the the power of that life, it’s not as powerful as like finding something that really lights you up. Finding something that gives you freedom and flexibility allows you to work and like I know, for you, you’re like really creative, and like you’ve really built your business to suit who you are as a human being. Yeah, you know, which is fulfilling to you, and then allows you to be in that state where you’re like, okay, like, let me see how I can amplify this.

Promise Tangeman 36:00
Yeah, and when you when you like, lay down, when you lay your head down on your pillow at night, I feel like when you create a business that’s all about you, and what you love and your passions and everything. Like I mean, it’s awesome. It’s awesome when you first do it, and then you’re like, like, when you when you? Yeah, when you will. And when you’re thinking about just yourself like it’s so it’s so empty.

Alex Beadon 36:25
Yeah. It’s not fulfilling. Yeah, when

Promise Tangeman 36:28
you lay down, when you lay your head down at night, it’s like, oh, everything is just about me. That’s not, you know, and even when I think about, like, doing things that pull me out of my comfort zone, I’m really nervous about something, I’m like, Okay, I have to really recenter myself, because I’m the pressures not on me. Like I need to, I need to be there for other people, you know, and when you when you look at when the mindset is about giving to other people, then it just becomes easier and like feel like is more fulfilling when it’s about others not about yourself. So one of my mentors always said, when your business is about helping other people, you can always you will always have plenty of work. And I totally, totally believe in that. Like when it becomes about yourself, the collaboration, stop the helping other people stop, and then you just become really selfish. And so giving true, giving to others collaborating, like never feeling like you are, you know, on top of the world being too big for your boots. Yeah. And like there’s some people that like won’t post about other people or other people because they don’t want to give them any love or whatever. Like, that just doesn’t last that’s not going to, like what goes around comes around and the stuff that’s coming around for you isn’t gonna be anything you’re going after, you know.

Alex Beadon 37:51
It’s so true. Yeah. Okay. My next question is What? What role does your intuition play in your business? Because it’s such it’s and especially as creatives, I think it’s so hard, because it’s like, sometimes you feel really strongly pulled in a certain direction. Sometimes you have to reel it in. So I’m just curious, like, you know, do you always listen to your gut? Like, how does that work for you, as someone who has a team, like, you have to plan things out in advance? You can’t just like always go with the flow. Talk to me about that.

Promise Tangeman 38:21
Yeah. I feel like there has been a lot of times where I’ve been like, oh, no, we can make it work. And then your, your gut is telling you, no, you should not do that. And when you do that, and it ends up really terrible. So I went yeah, I would say going with your gut is like always the best. Yeah, thing. But yeah, your intuition, I feel like plays tricks on you sometimes, at least for me, especially when you’re saying you’re seeing shiny objects, or you see things that you really, really want to work. But then when it comes down to it, you’re in hindsight, you’re always like, I should have listened to my intuition and gone with gone with. But I feel like that just comes through learning and through through time. Like, I can think of already so many scenarios going through my mind. And I was like, Man, I wish I would have taken that back. But that’s all I mean, it’s all learning because you’re learning a lot of things right. And I feel like something I’ve learned lately, so I went to this event a few weeks ago, and I got to meet Joanna games.

Alex Beadon 39:23
Oh, I saw that on your insert. And I only just found out who she is, by the way, like literally last week

Promise Tangeman 39:32
because of my Instagram Yeah, so I went to an event and something that we talked about was what is one thing in your industry that saddens you that you wish wasn’t existing? And like what would your what would the world look like if it if that wasn’t existing? And to me, I said, I wish that people had more integrity in their businesses. Like, behind the scenes, being able to high golf on this tangent, but

Alex Beadon 40:06
I like it, let’s keep going. But for me,

Promise Tangeman 40:09
I guess it goes into intuition. For me, I just feel I’ve seen so many businesses that I’ve just been so surprised that aren’t doing aren’t being above board, they’re not doing the right thing. They’re, you know, trying to kind of skirt around issues or not being honest or transparent. And I feel like, that’s really sad. And to me, that is getting to the point of, like, I don’t want to become jaded in my industry, because I feel like, like, for instance, I feel like I’m always gonna be taken advantage of, or I’m never in a partnership that’s equal, or the people that that are approaching me about this always have something in it for them. And, and they do, because that’s business. And so I’m glad I’m learning these, these lessons, but I think I can tend to be really trusting with people. And so I feel like what I’m learning in this season is not to become jaded with it, but just to learn how to draw boundaries, and become a smarter businesswoman with some of the things that I’m learning. But ultimately, I think what makes me sad is some of the lack of integrity, you know, when when a hard situation comes up, like what are you going to do? You know, and I feel like, my experience lately has been like, just let met with disappointment and the choices that people are, are choosing to do so. Sorry, that’s such a downer.

Alex Beadon 41:31
It’s, it’s a part of it. And I think it’s a part of, you know, being a business owner is not easy, and you will have to face really difficult things where people let you down, or like you said, people just not being maybe 100%, ethical or whatever. Yeah, I think it’s good to hear you talk about it.

Promise Tangeman 41:49
Yeah. And that is with like, with clients, like when we’re working with clients, like I’m like, oh, man, like, you know, they’re like, really, this is not right, you know, or even with team members. Even collaborations that I’m a part of, you know, just things that like, Oh, I’m really surprised that they went that direction. That’s not what I was hoping for, or that’s not in my eyes, what I’d see is right, but everyone has their own set of ethics and like, intentions, I guess. And so just learning to know what mine are, I guess, before I go into things, and ultimately, bringing that back to intuition is, you know, finding people that are just like, especially with collaborations that are more like minded in terms of what our expectations are. And, and anyway, I think I’m just Javelin No, you’re

Alex Beadon 42:37
good. So talking about collaborations, what would you say? Are your favorite ways to collaborate?

Promise Tangeman 42:45
Whoo. Well, I always like coming up with new ideas and running with those, but then that just creates more businesses for me. True. One of my favorite collaborations to date has been designer. vacay. Right.

Tell me about that is

one of my designers on my team. Her name is Alyssa. And she’s amazing. But we actually met through, we were graphic designers, it was back in like maybe 2011. And both female graphic designers, and back in 2011, it’s not that many years ago. But still, a lot of men are in the tech world. And so when we found each other, we’re like, oh, my gosh, we’re designers and females. And we had a bunch of friends across the country that were doing the same thing. And so we thought, why don’t we put together an event where we can all get together and just hang out and like learn from each other until we’re all female graphic designers. And so what we did, so she’s technically my partner in this it’s called designer vacay. And we do prints every year with with female graphic designers, but she’s been just such a great partner, like always honest, above board, like, we just work together very well. And ultimately, I think when it when it comes to a good partner for me, I want to know that you have the best interest for me personally, as I do for you, besides the business like yes, we want the business to succeed. But more than we want money, like we want each other to succeed and we want the best for each other and I think that’s to me, what’s important is like not not sacrificing friendship for money, or sacrificing the good of for someone else because of money and that’s just not really what I want to be balanced. So she’s she’s totally on board like the same way where this kindred spirits in that way. And so, so yeah, designer vacay. We had a bunch of we invited a bunch of female graphic designer, designers out to Palm Springs, and then every year we said F to everyone who was invited, we say, Oh, you invite now another friend or two and so it just kept growing for the year. So

Alex Beadon 44:45
is it a conference? Is it like

Promise Tangeman 44:47
it kind of? Yeah, it’s kind of just hanging out? Yeah. Really interesting. We don’t tell anybody what we’re going to be doing. Okay. Nobody knows the speakers that are gonna show up. No. Buddy knows what’s gonna go on. Right? Um, and it’s just we hang by the pool, we have good margaritas and get drinks. It’s in Palm Springs. And we do a lot of like collaborating networking. There’s been a lot of businesses that have gotten started because of it, a lot of collaborations that have started. And then there’s also a lot of people that come that are designers on teams, like we had designers from Pay Pal, or Starbucks or Marie Forleo designers came the ACES designers. Yeah. And so they are also just a part of a design team. But it’s fun to be around people who are all doing the same thing. Yeah. As it’s so nice. We’re all females. We’re all graphic designers. It’s just great for conversations and to see where to see where everything leads. But yeah, so it’s been a blast. So we do have some speakers that come, but we just don’t tell anybody what’s going to happen.

Alex Beadon 45:52
I like it. I like it.

Promise Tangeman 45:57
It’s more of a vacation. That is a conference because one thing I hate is when I go to conferences, and I feel more. I feel more like exhausted rain storage. Yeah. When I leave than when they came like oh, crap, I got to do all this now. Discouraged, and so yeah, so I didn’t want to uplifting place.

Alex Beadon 46:19
It’s uplifting, like totally feel good. Happy vibes. I like it. Yeah. Okay, cool. Well, promise. We’re about to wrap up. I have some wrap up questions for you could call them like fire? What is that? That some people call it like fire? Whatever, I need to brand it. I need to come up with a name. I need to get a copywriter who can rise it rapid fire. Yes. That’s it, something like that. Anyway, so I’m gonna ask you some questions. Okay, you hit me with the answers. Okay. What is the one thing you do? That has been a non negotiable in the success of your business?

Promise Tangeman 46:53
What does that mean? Sounds like rapid fire.

Alex Beadon 46:55
No, that’s totally fine. So like, what is something that you you maybe a habit that you have in your day to day life that you do every single day or every single week that you think is a very important part of your success?

Promise Tangeman 47:08
Okay, I like to do things fast. And I would rather do I would rather spend like an all nighter working on something and get it done rather than it lasting like a year. And so that’s why we did the five day process is because I don’t like things dragging on. Right? Do you like to like be in and out? I like to do it. Let’s get it done. Let’s launch it. Yeah,

Alex Beadon 47:29
I like it. Okay, cool. Sure. A mindset shift that made the biggest difference in your life as an entrepreneur,

Promise Tangeman 47:35
I would say being open to like collaborating. And I think so many times we can like kind of hoard what we’ve built. I think being open and sharing.

Alex Beadon 47:48
That’s a good one. Yeah. Fill in the blank. The world would be a better place if more people knew.

Promise Tangeman 47:55
Blank. How to hustle and get stuff done.

Alex Beadon 48:00
Good answer. The book that changed my life was

Promise Tangeman 48:04
Big Magic. Oh, I

Alex Beadon 48:06
love that books. I Elizabeth Gilbert. I went to someone’s house the other day, they had that book on the bookshelf, and I was like, Oh my gosh, that’s one of my favorite books ever. And she turns to me, she’s like, I hated that book. I want to know more about that. I was like, okay. Okay, this is my favorite question asked people, I want you to challenge our audience to do something this week. So I want you to kind of like give them an action item that you think is really going to benefit them this week. relaunch your website. Hmm, we could talk about that a lot. And last but not least, where can people find you online?

Promise Tangeman 48:45
Go Live hq.co Is my company’s website where you can buy website template and do it yourself or we can do your website for you. You can find me on Instagram at promise tan gym in or you can find my company at go live HQ on Instagram. I would say those are like the best places you can find my personal blog, which is kind of like a you know, whatever, at promise tanjun.com

Alex Beadon 49:12
It’s a good blog. So question how do you say your last name?

Promise Tangeman 49:16
How do you pronounce it? Tan Jimin?

Alex Beadon 49:18
So it’s tanjun Yeah, my whole life I’ve

Promise Tangeman 49:22
always thought promise changement take Oh, you have or tenganan change. Team changeman changeman Yeah, Benjamin i A lot of people say Tang Tang Tang naman ha. But like, technically my husband’s last name is Brazil. And my last name is Mooresville never changed it online. And so I’m in that debacle. You know, I’m like, we’ve been married almost nine years now. I should probably

Alex Beadon 49:47
know I like it. Like I really love your last day and that’s how I know you. Anyway, my love. Thank you so much for joining us here on the podcast. It’s been so much fun having you I feel like we covered so many good topics. So thank you So, so much.

Promise Tangeman 50:01
Thanks for having me, Alex.

Alex Beadon 50:02
Okay, my love. That’s it. We’re done. 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 beaten, and I will talk to you again very soon. Bye

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