Goals

#017 – On hitting 8% of my monthly sales goal! (and a super simple tip for reaching larger audiences on Instagram Stories)

Look. Learn. Make More Money.  

Alex details her second week in Colombia, sharing some insightful encounters she’s faced in her everyday at Santa Marta and how your business and personal life stand to benefit.  

In this Podcast you’ll learn

  • Alex’s Do’s & Don’ts for Selling
  • Advice for budding entrepreneurs
  • How to be flexible with your goals
  • The struggles of work/personal life
  • About the joy of being disconnected

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 0:02
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, friends, it’s Alex Beadon. here coming to you from Santa Marta, Colombia. I’m very excited to be talking to you. Because this just makes the podcast all the more real, the fact that I’m traveling, and I’ve been traveling now for the past, how long has it been, it’s been almost two weeks. It’s been like nine days. So a week and two days that I’ve been traveling, which means that I’ve recorded two podcast episodes, which is just fun, because now the podcast is a legit part of my weekly schedule, which is awesome. As you guys know, every Monday and Thursday, New episodes come out on a Monday, a solo episode comes out on a Thursday guest episode comes out. And the guest episodes have been recorded in advance. So those are actually really easy for me to do and schedule in. But the solo episodes have a much more live field, which was really important to me when I created this podcast. And so that requires me to actually record when I’m traveling. And there’s no pressing pause on the recordings, which is fun, but also very interesting to schedule in. But I’m glad that I’m here, and I am recording this for you. We have been here in Santa Monica for the What’s today, today is Friday. And we got in on Monday. So today’s the fifth day that we’ve been here. And like I mentioned, I’ve been in Colombia now for 10, nine days, nine days. And it’s been really interesting because I’ve been practicing my Spanish. And for those of you who don’t know, I actually spent five years of my childhood growing up in Venezuela. So I spent my childhood always being surrounded by Spanish and my dad speak Spanish, but I always went to American International School. So I never learned Spanish fluently. I was very good at it, it was always my best subject in class, because I grew up listening to it, but I never spoke it fluently. And so it’s been really interesting coming back to a Spanish country for the first time in a long time. And just listening to it again and having to practice it again. And it’s showing me how different I am today versus when I was a child when I was a child, I feel like I had a lot of self consciousness about speaking Spanish. And I felt really afraid to speak Spanish. And that’s probably a big part of the reason why I never learned Spanish. And today as an adult, I’m like, Oh my gosh, I get to practice my Spanish Yes. And I have like, zero issue making a fool of myself and like just practicing because I know it’s an opportunity to further learn. So it’s that’s been really interesting. For me, it’s just like looking at the difference of how I feel around speaking Spanish. And it’s also just shown me like how I’ve grown as an individual, feeling much less self conscious than I did when I was like, in my young childhood illness, early teen age, compared to now. So that’s been really fun and really interesting to acknowledge. And I bring that up because I kind of want you guys to just ask yourself, you know, how good are you at not really caring what other people think. Because when I was a child that was a really big thing to me is I really cared what people thought. And now as an adult, I’m just like, I want to learn.

I don’t really care what you think of me. So yeah, we’re here in Colombia. We were here for the wedding. This is the first time I’m speaking to guys since the wedding happened. And it was beautiful and magical. And it happened on like this horse ranch. And it was about an hour outside of Bogota. And it was, I mean, to be honest with you, I did not know what to expect. But it was just so so so magical. And I’m really excited for the pictures to come out so I can share some some of them with you guys. For those of you who are just joining the podcast. Laura is my best friend. She’s also the operations manager and my business so we work together and she’s actually taking this time off. So she’s on full time vacation mode as she should be because she just got married. But so it was just really fun for us to get to have this new experience together of her getting married. And for me to get to see my best friend from elementary school walked down the aisle. Fun fact, Laura walked down the aisle twice because the first ceremony she had was an outdoor ceremony and it was beautiful until maybe about like 1520 minutes in it started raining. So we literally had to press pause on the on the ceremony and kind of like shuffle the bride and groom to the side and then shuffle everyone inside and they have to like really just kind of on the fly. Bring all of the chairs inside. Bring all the tables and the decorations like everything inside and then do a part two of the ceremony inside while it rained outside. And it was just so beautiful and so much fun. And Laura got to walk down the aisle twice. So I got to watch My best friend walked down the aisle twice. And their vows are beautiful. And the whole ceremony like everything that was in English was also translated into Spanish. And it was just perfect and beautiful. And it’s an experience that I will absolutely never forget. And I tried to document it the best I could. I took like a million photos and videos, which is awesome. But now we are in Santa Monica, which is about, I believe, like an hour and hour and a half flight from Bogota. I can’t really remember because I fell asleep. And it’s been so interesting coming here, because Colombia is a very vast and varied country. This is my first time in this country. Definitely not my last because this place is very impressive, and Bogota was, it had a higher altitude, so you’re much much, much higher up above sea level, which was interesting, because I had a little bit of altitude sickness, and the temperature there was much cooler, it wasn’t too cold, but it definitely had like a chilliness to it, the weather was just very, very different to where we are now, which is not the motto, which is on the coastline. And so we’re literally right on the beach. As I’m recording this episode, I am sitting in my bedroom, and the entire wall to the outside is just complete glass window, and I’m looking out onto the ocean. If you’ve been following my stories on Instagram at Alex Beadon, you will know what my view is like, it’s absolutely phenomenal. So I’m just here looking out onto the ocean right now. And there’s a few things that have happened in Santa Monica that I was like, Oh, I have to talk about this on the podcast. And so one of them is that in one was it I can’t remember what it was. I think it was like the second night we were here we all went out to dinner. And so we all hopped in the car, and it was like a 1015 minute drive to dinner. And we get out and we’re in this beautiful square. And where we went for dinner is actually more in the city than where we are now. Right now we’re like, like I said, like 10 minutes out. But I was surprised to go into the city come to find out that it’s like the second oldest city in South America, apparently, which is super, super interesting. And we go to the city, and I was just blown away. Because number one, it’s super beautiful. Really, really nice. We go in, we sit down at the restaurant, we’re sitting outside the restaurant. And guys there. I mean, we must have been stopped. And people try to sell things to us about 50 million times while we ate dinner. This is no exaggeration, like it was literally like, like they have decided the hustlers on the streets of Santa Monica have decided that oh, we know foreigners come here. And we know foreigners have money. And so we’re literally going to like, get into a line because this is what it felt like it felt like they took turns. They weren’t all coming to us at once. It was literally one after the next after the next after the next after the next after the next. Some of them were dancing and then coming and asking for money after some of them were singing and coming and asking for money after some of them were selling food. I’m like we’re at a nice dinner, why would we want to buy food from you. Some of them are coming up and just begging for food. So it was a really interesting dynamic because on the one hand, you know that the people are poor, there’s poverty here, there’s a lot of poverty here, which is why they’re, you know, they’re needing to do this, they’re needing to hustle, they’re needing to try to get some sort of income through the door. And then on the other hand, you’re like, or especially me as a marketer. I’m like, Dude, you guys are going about this all in the wrong way. Right? So we had that experience. Going out to dinner literally just one after the next after the next after the next we had people rapping at us while we were eating our dinner rapping like with this massive speaker hanging around this guy’s neck. And he’s just coming up to us and pointing at us and rapping to us and we’re just trying to ignore him because we do not want to listen to him rapping while we’re eating our dinner. And then you have the next extreme which is the beach. So we went to the beach a cat I think it’s I can’t remember the name of the beach, playa Blanca or something like that. And we take a boat we all get on this boat and we go out to it’s kind of very similar to down the islands and Trinidad actually very similar look, hop on this boat get to the beach. We all sit down on the beach. We get under this nice little like umbrella situation cool, we’re relaxed. Next thing you know it is just hustler after hustler after hustler after hustler after hustler selling us things they’re trying to sell us like these. I don’t even know what to call them like little things that you would hang up in your room or like in your living room like little decorations that you can remember from your trip. They’re trying to sell us food that they’ve literally been walking up and down on this hot beach with for hours. They’re trying to sell us Oh iPhone cases that are waterproof they’re trying to sell us these flotation devices for the ocean they’re trying to sell is 1,000,001 things and the worst part is like they’re coming ones that come in twice or three times and then their friends are coming who are also selling the same thing. So like hey, you want some you want some you want some you want some? And they’re not just like passing by and asking, if you want some, they’re coming straight up to your face and be like, Hey, you see this? Do you want some, it’s like no, leave us alone, we just want to enjoy the beach. And the reason I bring this up is because it really showed me the type of bad marketers and the type of bad salespeople that exist in the world. And I’m not trying to like be little them or make them feel bad about what they’ve done or anything like that, oh, Laura’s walking by my window, and I’m giving her a wave hello. I’m not trying to make them feel bad. But it just brought to my attention why people are afraid people are afraid to market their business because they don’t want to be perceived as these type of people as these type of hustlers are the type of people who are trying to sell to you and in doing so are ruining your experience of whatever it is that you’re experiencing. So in this case of the beach, or of our dinner, like the hustlers were definitely ruining our dinner, and they were ruining our experience of the beach. Right? So I want to kind of bring that up with you guys today. Because a lot of people are afraid to be this type of hustler. They don’t want to annoy people, they don’t want to frustrate people. They don’t want people to hear their marketing messages and roll their eyes and be like, Oh, she’s trying to sell to us again. Right? So I wanted to just kind of like highlights how to not be like those people. Number one permission. This is why I don’t feel bad sending out sales messages to my email list. Because I set I spent so much time creating free content for my email list. And I have done so for years, like literally since 2000. And what are we in? Maybe since 2011, when I started taking my email list super seriously, but I was making content for them even before then. So we’re looking at a good seven years of creating free content for people. And sometimes people are like, Don’t you feel bad when you send out sales messages being like telling people what you’re selling? And I’m like, No, like you chose to be on my email list. You get free content sent to your inbox from me that I’ve put together for free all the time. And sometimes, you know, I’m running a business over here. Sometimes I have to ask for the sale, I have to be like, Yo, I have this thing that’s happening. Are you interested yes or no? Right? So in that case, you’re looking at like an when you’re looking at an email newsletter, you’re looking at people who have signed up to hear from you. If at any point someone’s like, you know what, Alex is really bothering me with these grandslam marketing sales messages, they can unsubscribe at any time. This is why I don’t feel bad. If someone emails me, they’re like, oh my gosh, you’re sending out too many sales emails, I’m like, Dude, there’s an unsubscribe button right at the very bottom. Like, if that’s like, if you’re not interested in being a part of my newsletter anymore, that’s where you can go. I’m not ruining someone’s email experience when they themselves have signed up for my emails and can unsubscribe at any given time. Right. There’s one other thing I wanted to mention about this, what was it, it was just about making sure that you have people’s permission to sell to them, and that you’re selling to, it’s selling them in need selling them something that you know, that they need. Now, I don’t feel bad talking to business owners about grandslam, about how to use Instagram stories to connect with their audience so that they can build that know like and trust factor so that more people buy from them. Because we all know people buy from people that they know like and trust. I don’t feel bad about talking about that. Because I truly believe in what it is that I’m selling. I’ve seen it work for myself. I’ve seen it work for my clients. I don’t feel bad about it, because I know it’s going it’s going to be beneficial to those people. Now, if you’re selling something, and you’re like, oh, this person doesn’t really need it. So like for example, if I’m on the beach, and someone’s walking around, and they’re trying to sell me something that I don’t need, that’s frustrating. If I’m sitting at dinner, and someone’s coming up to me, and they’re like, Yo, you want some snacks, it’s like no man, I’m here having a nice dinner, I don’t want any of your snacks.

It doesn’t fit, right. Whereas if you’re trying to sell something that people really need and that people are going to benefit from, there’s no need to feel bad about it. I think a lot like we have our lines all crossed. A lot of people who are new to running a business think that if you’re selling something you’re like one of those hustlers at the dinner or you’re one of those hustlers at the beach, and that’s just not the case. I don’t know about you guys, but there have been so many times in my life when people have sold me things that I was genuinely happy that they were selling to me because it was something I needed. And I’ll give you an example. Laura, this is totally not my fault. Laura obviously had her wedding and for her wedding, it was an outdoor wedding. And a lot of it was on the grass. The ceremony the outdoor ceremony was on a grass. So she specifically told all of her bridesmaids and yes, I was a bridesmaid It was amazing. She told all of her bridesmaids. Hey guys, don’t forget it’s an outdoor ceremony. Don’t bring stiletto heels. What is your girl Alex do? She brings stiletto heels? Of course, I forgot. So I arrived in Colombia, and I’m so excited. And then a few days before the wedding, she’s like, Oh, you brought proper shoes, right? And I was like, oh my god, I totally forgot. So I I then go to the mall. And I buy proper shoes that have like a thick heel so that I don’t go sinking into the grass when I’m walking down the aisle in front of the bride. And I was so happy to find the perfect heels. I, I mean, words can’t describe how happy I was to find heels that I could walk down the aisle with without tripping over and falling on my face. And that’s a perfect example of an A sales experience where I was happy that the person was trying to sell something to me because it’s really what I needed. And the man in the store was like, Hey, we have these shoes. We had these shoes. Like as soon as I walked in, he was like, Hey, what are you looking for? And I could tell him specifically Oh, dude, I’m looking for this and doTERRA. And it’s a, it’s a sales experience that’s enjoyable to me. So if you’ve ever struggled with, you know, just the idea of having to sell to people, I want you to really remember like, when was the last time that you bought something that you really enjoyed the process of buying it? I will tell you what, every single time I buy an Apple computer, I buy a new MacBook Pro. There’s a little child inside of me that is so happy. I’m like, yes, a new laptop. It’s amazing. So ask yourself like when what sales experiences have been joyful for you? And how can you replicate those same joyful experiences for your customer? How can you make buying from you a joyful experience? I can’t tell you how many people have messaged me being like, Alex, oh my god, I absolutely loved your free Instagram Stories course. And when I was done, I knew I wanted to invest in Grand Slam it was like the obvious next best step right? There. I’ve created a beautiful sales experience where they don’t even feel like they’re being sold to. When I announced Grand Slam, we had our first sale in three minutes, three minutes, because people were excited about it. It wasn’t like I was sitting there trying to force something down people’s throats, people were excited about it. So that’s what we want to. That’s, that’s the type of experience that we want to create for our customers. And that’s the type of experience I want to encourage you to create for yours. The next thing I wanted to discuss with you guys here in Santa Monica, we’re staying in Laura’s parents lovely vacation home. It’s super nice. It’s an apartment building. And there’s no cold water. There’s no cold water, no cold water. What am I saying there’s no hot water. So every single time that you take a shower, it is a cold shower. Now two things. Number one, it’s not really that cold. The weather here in Santa Monica is hot. So the water is really not that cold. I’ve had cold showers in England before and those are ice cold showers. This is just a lukewarm cold shower. But still, nonetheless, when you jump into this cold shower, your entire body wakes up. And you’re immediately like, Oh my God, how do I get out of this cold water as soon as possible. The first time that I took a shower, I actually didn’t finish my shower, I turned the water on and I waited and they waited and waited and then it came out. I was like, Hey, Laura, I think we need to turn the hot water on or something like the hot water is not working. Come to find out, we just don’t have hot water. So it’s really been interesting to see my experience from the very beginning of like not wanting to take a shower, I would take showers because to be honest with you, I can jump in, like soak my body and then jump out and it’s cool when I have to jump in and wash my hair. I mean, that’s a whole next level of commitment when it comes to being in the cold. Those of you who know me know, I hate the cold. This is why I avoid living in England. It’s because I hate the cold. But what was interesting is at the beginning, I was so against sales like oh, you know, thank God for dry shampoo, like I’m just going to dry shampoo my hair up. And I’m just going to avoid washing my hair. Fast forward to now we’re almost at the end of this trip. And I’m like dude, cold showers my friend. And this is why this is kind of the entrepreneurial lesson that I’m kind of pulling from this. And your entrepreneurial journey, you are going to have to do things that you don’t want to do things that take a lot of time, things that take a lot of mental thought things that take a lot of organization, things that use skills of yours that you’re not very good at. Let’s admit it, guys, when you’re an entrepreneur, you have to do a lot of things. You’re wearing many hats, and you’re not they’re not all your strengths, especially at the beginning, especially if you’re a solopreneur especially if you’re doing this by yourself. There are so many things that you have to do and it’s only you everything lies in your shoulders, you have to figure it out. If you don’t know how to do it, you have to learn how to do it. And it’s hard and it’s uncomfortable and you have to push through you have no choice but to push through this miserable experience. And it’s similar to taking a cold shower because at first I was so against it. But then like now when I go in the shower, I literally just count I’m like okay, cool. I’m gonna count 321 And then I’m going to jump into that cold shower no matter how I feel about it, no matter how cold it feels, no matter how uncomfortable I am, and I’m going to stay in that cold shower and do whatever needs to be done until it is finished and until I’m done and ready to get out of the shower. So what does that mean? That means I jump in the cold shower, I take out the shampoo, I lather up my hair and I literally I’m not even rushing, I’m just like, Okay, once you get in, it’s fine. Once you can, like withstand those first, I would say 60 seconds, it starts to become enjoyable, right? It starts to be like, okay, cool, I got this, I got the hang of this and it actually starts to become refreshing. I don’t know if you guys know a lot about taking cold showers. But there’s a lot of like, amazing people. It’s not just cold showers, but it’s like colds, cold swimming pools, and there’s like a whole theory behind it. I can’t even remember what it’s called. But it’s very good for your body wakes you up, gets your blood pumping. It’s really, really good for you. I remember someone once told me, you know, if you want to succeed in life, you should take only cold showers every day. And living here in Santa Marta, where that has been my only choice is actually shown me how right and how true that really is. Like, I’ve actually come to enjoy my cold showers. I get in the shower. And it’s almost like, it’s almost like I’m testing myself. You ever heard that quotes? How’s it go? It goes like, pain. Yeah, I think it’s pain is, is weakness leaving the body. And so like you’re in pain, and you’re in this coldness, but all I can keep telling myself is oh my god, this is making me stronger. This is just weakness, leaving the body this is just me like, strengthening, right. So it’s very similar to the entrepreneurial journey, like we’re wearing so many hats, there’s so many things that we need to do so many things that we need to learn to do and to be good at. And that’s just weakness, leaving the body every single time you struggle with it, like just follow through the important part is like getting the momentum to keep going. And as I was taking a cold shower every single day, this week, that is literally the only thing that has come to my mind is like, wow, like this is just life, like life is gonna hand you sometimes the worst set of cards, you know, you’ll notice I always talk about like, life is just you got to hand of cards, like you can’t choose which cards you were dealt, but you can choose how you play them, right. So sometimes you’re gonna get dealt a bad hand of cards, and you just gotta follow through and, and power through it until you get your next set of cards. Right. So that’s kind of the life lesson that I took from that I’ve actually really been enjoying my cold showers. Next thing I wanted to speak to guys about is the fact that it’s now past the middle of the month. It’s kind of interesting, these podcast episodes, they fall, not perfectly, so you’re gonna have to try and remember like beginning of the month, middle of the month, as I’m recording this today, it’s the 17th of August. And so what I try to do is in the middle of every month, I review my goals and see where am I at? And what do I need to do in order to accomplish the goals that I set out from the beginning of the month. And I can tell you, my friends this month has been crazy for me, as you know, I’ve had Laura’s wedding, I’ve been traveling, as soon as I got back to Trinidad. In a few days, I’m then going to England and then going to Italy. So this is a big, big travel month for me. And so Surprise, surprise, I’m not very far along on my monthly goals. So I sat down today, to really take a look at my goals to look at where I’m at. And to be like, Okay, what needs to happen in order to get these accomplished. So no matter where you are, the important thing is not being hard on yourself and being like, Oh, you didn’t accomplish this, you’re such a loser. The important thing has been like cool, I didn’t accomplish this, but it’s still my goal. And I can still do my best to move forward. How can I be better, like what has really been holding me back over the last however many days, and also looking for the ways in which it can be easy. So for example, you know, I have a goal to run 36 kilometers this month, guys, I’ve ran two.

I’ve ran two. I know it’s horrible. I’ve run two of my 36 kilometers, and we’re 17 days into the month. But I’m not gonna let it stop me. I’m literally going to look back and be like, Okay, what really stopped me to be quite honest with you, it just hasn’t been a priority. When you’re going out and you’re meeting people and you’re spending time with your best friend for her wedding. And there’s events da running has just not been my priority. Also, we’ve been walking a lot on this trip. When we were in Bogota, whenever I traveled with Nick, Nick is such a walker, I’m definitely not a walker at all. But having traveled with him a few times now, he has definitely shown me the beauty of walking through cities. And I will I will say we’ve been walking a lot. So when we’re in the city, and we’re walking around all day, and we come home and I’m exhausted the last thing on planet earth I want to do is go for a run, which is understandable. So number one, show yourself compassion. Number two, ask yourself, How can I be different moving forward? So I took a look at how many days I have left. I divided it and I was like, okay, cool. Now, instead of running three times a week, I have to run every single day. And instead of running three kilometers a day, I have to run four kilometers a day. So that’s going to be my goal. Will it happen? I hope so. And I’m aiming for it. But if it doesn’t happen, I’m not going to be super upset about it. I’m going to show myself compassion and such as life right? You can only do the best that you can do. But this is just your mid monthly reminder to review your goals. Show yourself compassion and make a plan of action and do your best to stick to it. The next thing I want to talk to you guys about is it’s been so weird being here because when we decided to come to Santa Monica firstly, I don’t think I actually explained this Here on the podcast, Scott and Laura decided to do something that not many people decide to do, instead of going on a honeymoon directly after the wedding, they decided to go on a friend’s Moon, which basically means that they invite all of their closest friends to go to a destination of their choice, in this case on the MATA. And that’s what ended up happening, they have six friends here. So a total of eight of us here on the friends moon. And I decided, you know, this is something I really wanted to do. Laura is my best friend from childhood. And so it’s a once in a lifetime opportunity. But this was also a really busy time in my business, if you’ve been listening to the podcast for any length of time, you will know this is a really busy time in my business. So I wanted to comment, I wanted to make the best of it. But I also wanted to get work done. And I also wanted to, you know, be productive. And so it’s been really interesting being on this trip, because I know that if I had a normal regular corporate nine to five job, I most likely would not have been able to come. In fact, many people were not able to come because they only have a specific set number of vacation days. So it’s just been this mixture of like feeling a lot of gratitude to be able to do what I do. The fact that I can work from anywhere that has an internet connection, the fact that I’m able to come here, and I’m able to work so like, I think I’ve pretty much spent 50% of the days working and 50% of the days participating in whatever activities were planned for that day. So we pretty much looked at the schedule for Santa Mata and we divided and we’re like, Okay, well, these are the like big events that are happening. And these are the little events that are happening. So we decided, Nick and I that we would work on the not so busy days, and we would play on the really fun days. So yesterday we went to a national park here in Colombia, and we hiked eight kilometers to this beach. So it took about two and a half hours of hiking to get to this beach. And it’s the most gorgeous beach you’ve ever seen. If you go to my Instagram page at Alex Beadon, I actually posted a video of it on my feed. And there was just nothing better the beach was phenomenal. It was the most beautiful blue ocean that you’ve ever seen the rocks were just, I mean, just so beautiful. It looked like handmade. Everything was just phenomenal. Just such a magical experience, we had to hike through different terrains. So we went through like rain forest, we went through beach. Sometimes we were like an open space, sometimes we were under trees, it was really just some something like I’ve never ever done before. And so that’s an experience that I’ll never forget. So we hiked two and a half hours there. And then we got to the beach. And we relaxed at the beach for like two hours. And what I loved about the beach is that it was kind of enclosed. I don’t know how to describe it, I’m sure there’s a word that you can actually it’s kind of like a bay, I guess where like the waves come in. But then they hit these rocks. And then there’s like this little area where everyone swims, it’s not really a little but anyway, this is the best job that I can do to explain it. If you look at the video, you’ll know what I’m talking about. And what was so cool is just a swam from the beach, out into the ocean back to the beach, out into the ocean back to the beat out beach out to the ocean. And I don’t think there’s much that I don’t think there’s anything better than feeling like a mermaid in the water. You know, when you’re swimming for those of you who have long hair, and you’re just like under the water, and you’re just doing twists and turns you’re swimming around, and your hair is just like dancing in the ocean. It’s just one of the best feelings. And I just felt so free in that moment. And so to be able to have that, that amazing experience, and then to hike the eight kilometers back. And then we stopped off and we had lunch and it was just such an unforgettable day. And then to wake up this morning and be like, Okay, today is a workday. You know, I’m here in Santa Monica. And we have this beautiful view and I’m working from my best friend’s vacation home while her and her friends are off doing their vacation things for the day. It’s just been a really interesting balance of work and play extreme work and extreme play. And I just feel really grateful in this moment. And simultaneously just letting you guys know that like keeping it real, it’s also kind of stressful because I there’s things that I want to get done and at the same time I want to join the group and like drink wine all day and you know, enjoy the sunshine and get my town on. So it’s been really interesting balancing both and it’s easy for me to sit and complain and be like, Oh, I wish I could just be you know, playing with them all day and vacationing with them all day and you know, spending time with them all day and at the same time being like but I’m lucky that I’m that I’m even here, you know, and it just so happened that this this coincided with a really busy time in my business and so it’s better that I’m here and then I can work simultaneously then if I decided not to come at all. So for any of you who are currently in between the position of the old what will soon be the old version of your life where You’re working a nine to five, and you’re trying to balance this new business that you’re creating, and the new version of your life where you’re going to be able to work from anywhere, and you’re going to have much more flexibility and freedom and you’re in your life. Just know that, like, it’s coming, it’s there, it’s so worth it. It’s amazing. It’s fun, like, I’m living proof of that. And then at the same time, like life is life. And there’s always a downside to everything. And no matter how far you get in your business, there’s always going to be a little side of you that still feels that you know, that frustration that you have, that you’re just not there yet. I feel like that never really goes away. Because like I’m here and I’m like, Ah, you know, I just wish that I was at the place where I could just like take all of this time off, and it’d be fine. But it’s like, I have all these goals in my business that I want to hit and I want to move forward. And so that never really leaves you so really the key is finding finding the ability to enjoy the journey and to really be at peace and and enjoy that process which can be way easier said than done. For me. It’s a very intentional thing where I have to be like, Okay, I want like I’m choosing to enjoy this journey. Because no matter where you’re at, it’s always so easy to complain. Which brings me on to my next topic quite smoothly spending time alone with yourself. So the last episode you guys listen to this episode 13 with golla Darling no episode 12 With gala darling, sorry, my bad. And this is episode 13. With me solo episode, and I haven’t listened to the Gullah darling episode just yet. I do listen to all of my episodes, but I just haven’t had the time to listen to her as yet because it only came out yesterday. Was it yesterday? Yeah. Yesterday, gosh, my days are getting all confused. But my mom texted me and a few of you guys message me really saying that the biggest thing that hit home for you was when gala darling spoke about spending time alone, which was quite interesting, because written down in my notes for today I had to speak to you guys about the importance of spending time alone. On this trip, I’ve spent so much time with Nick and with Laura and with you know, the bridal party, and with the friends Moon crew, I love calling them the friends Moon crew, I feel like I should turn that into a hashtag or something I need to tell Laura.

And so it’s been a lot of time spent with other people, right. And this morning, I woke up. And I woke up super early, because I went to bed early last night. And I knew I had a workday today. So we skipped out on dinner last night, we just had an early evening. And I woke up early this morning. And I did my meditation and I did some movement in my room while Nick was sleeping, which is amazing. And then I did some journaling. And I just wanted to kind of highlight the importance of that, regardless of if you’re traveling or not traveling. But it’s just such a great way to stay grounded and to stay connected to yourself and to your vision and to your goals. And to whatever it is that you’re working towards. Journaling has really been something that has just it’s such, it’s so great for me to feel to feel really grounded. So I highly, highly recommended the importance of spending time with yourself of really being with yourself of not only journaling, but like doing nothing. So like I did my meditation. And then I spent time in my body doing some movements, I’ve been doing these weird movements lately where it’s just like rotation, so like, I’ll rotate my neck 10 times one way 10 times the next way that I do my shoulders one way, the next way that I do my elbows, and I do like a whole arm swing, just trying to like move my body and be with myself. And it’s just, it’s, I don’t know how to describe it, this feeling of like, there is the you that is the personality. And that is the person with the goals and the visions and this and that and like you’re moving forward and you’re hustling. And you’re spending time with people in your active active, active, active active, and then there’s the you that’s inside. And it’s so easy to sometimes ignore that little voice inside and to not even know what you want and not even know who that person is. And so I’m just here as your friendly, weekly reminder to spend time with yourself. And sometimes I know that can be really scary for some people. It’s just sitting in silence and just being with yourself and trying to feel yourself. But it’s so important and so beneficial, especially if you want to you know, have that long term vision of the person that you want to be and really stepping into that. So highly recommended. Ooh, interesting, fun facts. Since being here, the internet has been horrible. So much. So it’s sometimes like the other day or it was yesterday, we came home from this beautiful trip. I’ve so many photos and so many videos of things I wanted to post and we come home and I’m like, I can’t wait. I can’t wait to post to Instagram because I don’t have I did buy a SIM card here and I had data but I ran out like in 24 hours so I don’t have data anymore. So I came home I was really excited to post things and I got home and like the internet wasn’t working for like a good few hours and it showed me just how reliant I am especially on Instagram. I can’t even tell you like the internet was not working and I was still Tapping on Instagram trying to open it to see if it would work. It was the most ridiculous thing ever. It showed me how addicted I am. And it also showed me how I really want to be more in control of my relationship with these apps. I’ve heard Rumor has it that Instagram and I believe Facebook is coming out with something where it’s going to allow you to say, okay, like to really start being conscious of how much time you’re spending on the app. And to be like, Okay, I don’t want to spend more than two hours on the app or whatever that number looks like for you. I think it would probably be more for me as someone who really communicates to my audience on Instagram and Facebook, but whatever that number is for you. And I think I really want to start implementing that is just being very aware of like, how much time am I spending on Instagram? How much time am I spending? Scrolling? How much time am I spending? What’s it called consuming content, right? And the thing about Instagram is that yes, it’s fantastic to spend time on there, especially because it’s important for us as marketers to understand the culture of Instagram, if we want to be able to communicate on Instagram and talk to our audience on Instagram. But simultaneously, it’s can just be all consuming sometimes. So it’s good to take a step back and to really, to really have consciousness around how much time you’re spending on these apps. Another thing I noticed yesterday is how happy I felt being completely disconnected on this hike. Like this hike was something where I knew I have no internet. There’s no way for me to check Instagram, there’s no way for me to do anything. I’m literally just here on this hike, the only thing I can do is take pictures. And at one point my GoPro completely ran out of it didn’t even run out of battery. It overheated, which is amazing. I didn’t even know that could happen. I don’t have into my phone, but that is just never happened to my GoPro before. But anyway, that just goes to show how hot it was. I loved being outdoors. I love spending time in nature, I love swimming in the beach, I loved being totally disconnected. And lately, I’ve been reminded multiple times. Just, you know, sometimes to disconnect and like, Oh, I’m just gonna sit and watch some Netflix, I’m just gonna watch the show on Netflix. And then one show turns into 10 shows. And it’s just like this huge time suck. But also when you’re on your computer all day like I am, and you’re on your laptop working all day, like I am. watching Netflix is not a great way to relax and disconnect because you’re still looking at a screen, I would die if I knew how much time I spent on my screen every day or how much of my life I’ve spent on my screen. It’s just too much. So I think when I get back home, something I really want to implement is just going on more hikes going on more outdoor trips, spending time outdoors. And it’s such a great way to exercise and to get fresh air. And to have a different perspective and to kind of just like let your mind go somewhere totally different spend time in your body. So yeah, that is everything that has been present for me this week. I hope you enjoyed it. What else can I share with you guys? Yeah, that’s everything. I think you guys have been enjoying this podcast so much. I just want to say a huge shout out to everyone who has been posting about it to their Instagram Stories, who has been sharing it on your feed, I’ve been blown away by how many of you are screenshotting, the podcast and then posting it onto your feed and saying this is my favorite podcast, I just want to say thank you guys so much for your continued support. Every single time you message me, it’s also just so amazing like to hear the impact that this show is having on you. And to hear how you appreciate the time and energy that I’m putting into this. I can’t tell you how wonderful and nourishing it is. It’s just so much fun to like put effort and energy into something and to see you guys enjoy it so much and appreciate it so much. So I just want to say thank you for that. The next time you hear from me, where will I be? I’m not sure I think the next time I record, I will most likely be in Trinidad. And then after that, I’ll be in England. And after that I’ll be in Italy. So there’s still a lot of travel that’s going to be happening. But I look forward to continue to share with you in this way. I appreciate each and every single one of you who spend time listening to the show. And I’m so excited for everything that is coming to us for the rest of this month. Remember, we are halfway through the month. And by the time you listen to this, we’re probably two-thirds of the way through the month. But the month is not over. And we still have time to achieve our goals and to make things happen. And it’s not about perfection. It’s just about you know, getting things done Done is better than perfect. So even if I only run 15 kilometers instead of my 36 kilometers, I will still be proud. The important thing is not giving up right. So keep working towards your goals. Keep trying to make things happen. Stay focused, keep yourself energized and motivated. And I love you guys so much. And I’ll talk to you again next week. Bye. 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 There’s that you took away from the podcast. It helps me understand what is most valuable to you. And it helps me understand how I can be of the highest service to you. So if you could take two minutes to do that, I would really appreciate it. Thank you guys so much for watching. I hope to hear from you over on Instagram you can find me at Alex Beadon and I will talk to you again very soon. Bye

Oh my gosh, you guys look how amazing this shrimps are Raja cocktail looks meat Beatrice an avid Instagram Stories user and visionary to her followers. I can’t wait till you guys try this out. Yes, I’m talking to all three of you. Um, all two of you. Well, I guess I’m just here by myself now. Don’t be a basic Beatrice on Instagram. Keep your audience wanting more by learning how to edit your Instagram stories like a pro. Visit www.gram-slam.com and learn these simple free tips that will have your friends impressed with your Instagram Stories for years to come.

#009 – My Monthly Routine for Success, Advice on Growing your Followers & The App that’s Changed My Health

You think you want 1M followers on social media. Think again.

Alex details the importance of steering away from the vanity of social proofing, challenges users to make a difference in their audience’s lives and shares intimately what her July was like.

“Don’t get lost in the social media game of numbers.”

Stay motivated as she covers her monthly mantra that gets her amped for success and how you too can feel great when you get back into your zone of focus.

This is On Purpose.

In this Podcast you’ll learn

  • Disregarding social media numbers
  • How to create impact in the lives around you
  • Taking charge of your nutrition
  • Therapy as mental nourishment
  • Alex’s 3-step routine to monthly success

Catch up with the Beads:
IG: @alexbeadon
Facebook: Alex Beadon
Website: www.alexbeadon.com

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 0:00
In this episode, I’m going to share my monthly success routine. My advice on growing your social media followers and an app that has revolutionized my health. Welcome to 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, friends, welcome to episode number nine of on purpose with Alex Beadon. I’m so excited that you are here listening to this wherever you’re joining me from in the world, I just want to say welcome. I’m in a really fun mood. So I’m really excited to be recording this podcast, I think it’s gonna be a really good one. So just kind of giving you a heads up that this is one you’re going to want to listen to all the way through till the end. Before we dive into the goodness of this episode, I have one thing to share with you. If you struggle with what to post on your Instagram story and you’re ready to grow your online tribe build your brand and boost your sales, definitely come check out my signature online course gram slum. The course is short and sweet. You could literally finish it in a day. And it is going to make a huge impact on how you communicate to your audience using Instagram Stories. Join Today over at Graham dash slam.com forward slash join. Okay, let’s dive in. So this week has been pretty interesting because my boyfriend Nick, who I live with is currently in Colombia, working with a charitable organization there. It’s a long story. But long story short, he’s not here at home with me this week, which has been amazing. And I mean that in like the kindest way possible. I absolutely adore Nick, obviously, he’s my boyfriend, I have so much love and respect for him. I love living with him. But simultaneously, the fact that he’s been gone for the past week has been so refreshing, it’s so nice to like, wake up in my own bed have my own space. I think when like whenever you’re in a couple whenever you’re in a relationship, it’s super healthy to spend time apart, right? It’s so so good. When one person leaves the other person can experience life without that person, you learn to be more grateful for certain things that that person does for you. And then the person who’s away, so like him in Colombia, right now, he is having new experiences. He’s getting to explore a new country. So it’s just so positive for both individual parties. And I think when you’re in a relationship, it’s just important that you’re both not only growing together as a couple, but also growing individually. And what better way to grow individually than to have some high quality alone time. So I’ve really been enjoying it. Having said that, I am looking forward to seeing him again and getting to talk to him again. He’s been pretty much Mia, which has also added to the interest of this entire time because we haven’t been texting nonstop. We haven’t we’ve like had one calls since he’s been gone. Because the connection where he is is just not 100%. And also he’s super busy with what he’s been working on. So yeah, it’s been nice to have some space, but I’m also really looking forward to being reunited next week. So next week, I will be flying to Colombia. Maybe when you listen to this, yeah, when you listen to this, it will be two more days until I fly to Colombia. So if you want to keep up with my Colombian adventures, make sure you’re following me on Instagram at Alex beaten. But yeah, I’m excited for us to be reunited again, but also really grateful for this time apart. And if you’re listening and you’re in a couple, like ask yourself, How can I get more alone time or especially if you live together? Especially if you live together? Especially if you’re married? Like if you’re married? I’m going to ask this question on my Instagram because I’m super curious. Like when was the last time that you guys spent time apart? Because I think it’s pretty common for people who live together to not ever really vacation alone, you know, so I’m interested to hearing what your perspective is on that. I think Nick and I are also really lucky because we’re both self employed, which means like, we don’t really have to deal with vacation days or anything like that. So it’s easy for us to have these holiday times apart. Like when I went to LA when I went to Hawaii and for him now in Colombia. But we can still have that time together as well because there’s not really a limit on our vacation days. So I’m interested in hearing from you guys. So definitely message me on Instagram and let me know where are you at in that couples vacation? Like do you ever spend time apart? Are you pretty much together all the time? I’m super curious about that and Anyway, today, I really wanted to cover a topic that has been super popular in my inbox lately. Everyone wants to know how to get more social media followers. And it’s kind of this ironic thing. It’s like, I just don’t get the obsession with social media numbers like, don’t get me wrong, I understand that it’s a great form of social proof in your business. It shows other people that, you know, you’re an authority that people follow you that they look up to you. But really, and truly, it’s like 100%, a vanity metric, like, all I’m saying is that there are other things that you should be focusing your full attention on, right? So instead of focusing on the numbers, and being obsessed with the numbers, focus on your value, and I’m going to say value metric, if you can find a way to measure how much value you’re giving. So maybe you’re like, Okay, you know, instead of aiming for 1000 followers, or 10,000 followers, or 100,000, followers, I’m going to aim to really make a difference in 10 people’s lives this month, or whatever that number looks like for you. Right? So really focusing on the value you’re giving, becoming obsessed with giving as much value with making as much of an impact as you possibly can. Because the truth is, that’s how you grow clout. That’s how you grow authority. That’s, like, I see so many people growing their Instagram accounts for the sake of getting a higher and higher number. And to me, it’s like, you are constantly chasing that carrot stick. And every time you get closer, the carrot stick gets farther away. It’s like this never an ending chase for the numbers, it’s something that you’ll never be satisfied with. The numbers is just such like an empty chase you you’re always going to want more more, more more. Whereas if you focus on value, you’re actually focusing on something that matters, you’re focusing on something that has meaning you’re focusing on something that’s going to make you feel fulfilled, if you if you make an impact in someone’s life, if someone messages you and says wow, like you really made a difference to me today. That feels so much better than getting an extra follower. And it’s so much better for your business as well, because it’s legit, it’s full of meaning you’re actually making an impact. So whether you’re male, you decide, okay, I’m going to do it. Alec says I’m going to focus on the value. And you decide that you’re going to focus on making more of an impact in people’s lives, whether that’s through actually putting out content, whether that’s through actually reaching out to people and being like, Hey, I would love to help you with whatever it is that you do. So let’s say that you’re a nutritionist, maybe you decide that you’re going to take on this challenge and try to impact as many people as you can this week. Let’s just try it this week, guys, right? And we could check in next week and see how everyone’s going. I feel like we should definitely name this it should be called like the Impact Challenge or something like that. The Impact Challenge with Alex Beadon. Anyway, take the Impact Challenge, focus on creating as much impact in people’s lives as you possibly can over the next seven days, and just see how it pans out and have no strings attached. So if you’re a nutritionist, and you’re like, Okay, every day on Instagram, I’m going to show up, and I am going to give a tip or I’m going to teach something to people that I know a lot of people have a misconception around, or I’m going to literally prompt people and tell them Hey guys, this week, I’m giving away seven free, I don’t know 15 minute calls or 30 Minute Calls, or like whatever feels good to you, right? And just put it out there, no strings attached. See what happens. Focus on giving value focus on showing up and making as big of an impact in people’s lives as you possibly can and see how it changes in just seven days. Like what’s going to change for you in just seven days. So yeah, that’s my my entire, like, when people talk to me, they’re like, Oh, my numbers aren’t growing. To me. It’s like, don’t look at your numbers. If you’re looking at the numbers, you’re focusing on the wrong thing. Even me, like, I currently have 25,000 followers on Instagram. And there’s this ego part of me that’s like, ooh, but look at so and so she has 100,000 followers, that’s four times you are looking at that person, she has 250,000 followers, that’s 100 times you, right? For me, it’s like, I mean, it’s it’s just one of those things where it’s like, I can’t I can’t change it. I can’t there’s nothing that I can control about it. I can sit around and I can find these strategies in these ways of like growing my audience super quickly. But my thing is, I don’t want you to follow me unless you really know who I am and like who I am and you intentionally decided to follow me like to me I’m I’m chasing more of a high quality follower. How do you get high quality followers, you get high quality followers by showing up and being a value in service. So like for me even when I might post a picture and it might get a really low number of likes, I don’t care. Like, sorry, I’m not out here to be like, Oh, how many likes did this picture get? How many likes? Did that picture get?

Is it not reflecting well on my brand or business if I didn’t get likes or whatever? No, I’m just showing up to give value like that is it? That is my commitments show up give value make as much of an impact, positive impact as I possibly can and call that George. For those of you who don’t know, my entire life, I grew up thinking that call that George was like, a very common saying, turns out it’s a Trini saying, which means that people here in Trinidad say it. And I don’t know, do you say that call that George because it really just means and that’s that’s like and call that George. And that that’s it? That’s the end. But I’ll never forget, this is a second time I’m bringing up Adrian Dorsen. In my podcast. This is so funny. But we were together in Hawaii at our mastermind, and we’re in the bathroom getting ready for dinner or something. And I said I’m call that George. And she was like, who’s George? I was like, no, no, it’s just the saying. Anyway, I got off topic. So yeah, don’t get lost in the social media game of numbers, guys, it is a vanity metric. And honestly, just focus on providing value and as much impact as you possibly can take the Impact Challenge with Alex Beadon. Make sure you tag me and let me know how it goes. But yeah, make it about the value. Okay, another thing that happened for me this week that I wanted to bring up is the importance of surrounding yourself with people who are having a really positive impact on you, who are causing you to really look at your life, evaluate your life, and are prompting you to be the best version of yourself. So this weekend, I went down the islands with a few of my friends. And one of them was a girl who I normally don’t spend much time with her name is Beatrice B for short. And she’s this really awesome British chick, I absolutely adore her good energy. Anyway, we’re all in this boat. And for those of you who don’t know, when, when I say we went down the islands in Trinidad, that just means like, you literally go into boats, and you drive off the coast, and they have like a sprinkle of islands around the place. And you’d basically just park up your boats in the ocean next to an island, and you just enjoy the day, on the ocean, you can go swimming, and have some drinks, have some food, it’s really nice. Anyway, so I was there spending some time with my friends. And all of a sudden, we were all talking about the state of the world we were talking about, you know, Trump and we were talking about Trinidad, and we’re just talking about like all of these, just things that are happening in the world. And I expressed a feeling of just sometimes I just feel so defeated by what’s happening on the planet. It feels like so much help is needed. It feels like there’s so much that needs to be done to make the world a better place. That sometimes I feel hopeless. Sometimes I feel defeated. Sometimes it feels like there’s nothing I can do to make a difference. And I love this story be stopped me and she was like, What are you talking about? She’s like, there’s so much that you can do. And then she basically went on this long spiel of like, all of the different things that you can do in Trinidad to make Trinidad a better place. She started talking about how, you know, it’s such a frustration of hers that people always say, oh, like, you know, what is it that I can do to help when there’s so much you can do to help you just have to focus pick one thing that you want to show up in and just go right. And so she mentioned a charity called One Love Trinidad. And she was like, you know, they’re currently looking for volunteers. And the great thing is that they’re looking for volunteers in the marketing space. And that’s what you do. So this might be a perfect fit. And so I started working with one love Trinidad. And what I love about it is that like my level of involvement can be as much or as little as I want. I want to get involved in a way that’s manageable for my life, where I’m not taking on a whole next level of responsibility, because I already have so much responsibility happening in my business, but where I can still be a source of help, where I can still be a resource that they can ask, okay, you know, we’re trying to sell this many tickets. What should we do? What marketing ideas do you have? So I just felt really inspired this week by her response, you know, don’t get overwhelmed. That was weird. I just had a voice break. Don’t get overwhelmed by the chaos in the world. Don’t think that you can’t make a difference. Everyone can make a difference. You just need to like find your lane and get to it. And so I just wanted to pass that words of wisdom on from be today to all of you to really ask yourself, you know, what part are you playing and making the world a better place? We can only be responsible for our lives and the actions that we take. So really, you know, something that I’m trying to start doing is looking at every single thing in my life and being like, is this negatively or positively affecting the world like we all are here on this planet and I have a very strong desire to leave the world better than when I found it, it’s kind of like when you move into a house. So I spent my childhood moving from home to home to home country to country to country, because my dad worked for a job that moved us around a lot. So we really live that expat life. I’m a third culture kid through and through. And I will never forget my mom growing up, she would always be like, we want to leave the house better than we found it. So she would like plant flowers or, you know, upgrade some part of the inside of the house, just to always be leaving things better than when you found it. And I feel the same way about the Earth, right? So small things like I used to use plastic bags to go grocery shopping, and I’m now trying to make a real effort to use my reusable bags, little things like that, like what little changes can you make that’s going to make the world a better place? What kind of organization can you volunteer with? That’s going to feel good for you. Because I think for me, my frustration with volunteer work has always been like, I want to work, I want to help in a really specific way where I’m using my skills where I feel like my skills are being put to use because, yes, it’s great to help, you know, find supplies or like put together meals or things like that. And I think you know, when people do that it is super helpful. But sometimes for me, it feels like I could help in a bigger way I could help at a higher level. And that’s kind of where I feel most drawn to help. So really just listening to your own intuition around it. Like what would feel fun for you? Where can you apply your skills? Or how can you help in a way that that feels like you are making the most of an impact. Okay. So the moral of the story, guys, is to spend time with people who cause you to see things differently and encourage you to be better. Thank you, Beatrice. Okay, the next thing I want to share with you is something that’s really changed my nutritional Game Over the past few days. So for those of you who follow me on Instagram Stories, you will know that back in June, I went to Hawaii on a mastermind trip, which basically means that I meet with a variety of business owning women. And we all come together and we do hot seats, and we bounce ideas off of each other, help each other with our businesses. It’s so inspiring and so beneficial. And yeah, I just absolutely love it. Anyway, the last time I was there, my girl, Maggie, and let me just bring her up on Instagram so that I can share with you what her Instagram is. But anyway, my girl, Maggie basically gave me a hair test, which basically means that she cuts off about three square inches of your hair from the very roots, right? And what she does is she takes it she then cuts off the first two or three inches of the hair, and she sends it away for testing. So my results came back and we had the conversation on the phone. And she basically said, okay, here are a few things that I’ve learned about you through your hair test. She was like number one, your metabolism and I don’t think she used the word metabolism. I’m just using it because I feel like that’s how I best understand it. It’s basically the rate at which your body digests food, minus low, right? So because I have a slow digestion rate, she recommended that I divide my eating habits into 40% carbohydrates, 40% fats, and no sorry, 40% carbohydrates. 40% protein, 20% fat. This was news for me, because to be quite honest with you guys, I didn’t even know what a carbohydrate was like, if you had said, Hey, what is this carb protein or fat? I would have been like, I don’t know. So when she told me that I needed to do 40% carbs, 40% protein 20% fat I was like, sounds good. So I started going about my days cooking meals that I think look 40% carbs 40% Fat 20%

I keep messing this up. But you know what I mean? 4040 20. And she messages me? And she’s like, Hey, because I asked her and she was like, Oh, that looks delicious. And I was like, does this abide by my 4040 20 rule? And she was like, No, sunflower seeds are fat. This is fat, that’s fat. I’m eating so much more fat and my body digest fat at a slower rate, which then basically means that it’s spending so much energy digesting all of these fats instead of taking that energy and using it on other parts of my body that may also need it. Right. So anyway, to make a long story short, I realized that I had to start focusing on learning what carbs proteins and fats really look like. I’m also a vegetarian, which means that my protein definitely needs some help. So there’s nothing like tracking your progress, to really understand how you’re doing if you’re not measuring your progress. How do you know how you’re doing? This goes for like sales in your business. This goes for your health, it goes for whatever. So I found this app called chronometer. I’m going to spell it for you because I don’t know if you’re gonna be able to find it c r o n o m e t e r chronometer. And what I love about it is that I have putting it up every day, I add the foods that I’m eating as I eat them, I’m pretty good at remembering. And then at the end of the day, it gives me a nice little pie chart breaking down, how much fats, protein and carbs I had. And guys, I’ve been doing this for the last five days, and not one single day, have I managed to abide by my 4040 20 rule? I mean, I’m not even close to 4040 20. Firstly, my protein is never high enough. Secondly, my fats are always way too high. I’m probably eating 4040 20, where the 20 is protein, and the fats are 40 and the carbs or fats that make no sense. How do you nutritionists talk about this without mixing them all up? Anyway, to make a long story short, I have not been eating according to how I should be eating. But it’s okay. Because these first few days of me using this app, it’s really just to help me better understand what is fats, what, what are carbs, what are proteins. The more educated I get, the more I learn about the food that I’m putting in my body, the better decisions I’m going to be able to make moving forward. So for me, even though I’m not hitting my goals, and like it’s all good, because I’m learning, right? So it’s just been really great to, for example, yesterday, I made quinoa with black beans, and I inserted it into my app. And I was like, You know what, I normally like to add tomatoes. So I’m gonna go and add some tomatoes. But when I went to add tomatoes to the app, it showed me that tomatoes are like pretty much pure carbs, right? And I was like, Oh, I really need some more protein. So instead, I added green peas, which have a much higher protein. What do you call protein measurements than tomatoes. And so just by swapping out tomatoes for Greenpeace, I was able to get more protein into my diet. Done. So like, that’s just a small example of like, just learning about the food that you’re putting into your body and trying to eat the most healthy, nutritious way that you possibly can. Okay, so yeah, if you’re someone who is really wanting to learn more about nutrition, I would highly recommend the chronometer app. Okay, the next thing I have to speak to you guys about is my first therapy session ever. You guys seem fascinated by this, I shared this on my Instagram stories. And I got so many people messaging me about therapy, saying that they’ve gone to therapy therapy has changed their lives. Or the other side of the spectrum, which many of you were telling me that you want to go to therapy, but you’ve been putting it off, and you haven’t gotten around to it yet. And you were really curious about how my first session went. And to be honest with you, that’s kind of what I was like, I’ve been wanting to go to therapy for the past few months. And I’ve had my therapist number for the past few months sitting in my phone. And I have literally procrastinated on making the call and booking in my first session for three months. So the first thing I have to say is that I’m proud of myself for making the call, I’m proud of myself for showing up, I think the first time you do anything like that, it’s always the most uncomfortable. Because you don’t know where the place is, you don’t know where to park, you don’t know what the woman’s actually going to be like you don’t know what to expect. So it comes with like a lot of initial nerves and fear. When I showed up, she was super nice. She sat me down and she was like, Listen, you know, this first session is really just to help me get to know you as as best as I possibly can. So she started out by just asking me like, okay, you know, what is it that you’re struggling with? For me, I’m struggling with anxiety, like, that seems to be the biggest factor of me wanting to go to therapy, it’s just that I’m very anxious. And I understand that my thoughts are a trigger to my anxiety. So I feel like if I go to someone who’s a professional, and I can lay out all of my thoughts on the table, and that professional can help me sort through with an unbiased perspective. To me, that’s super valuable. And so that’s really why I wanted to go to therapy. So I told her all of that we had the entire session. And it felt good to talk to someone who is a professional listener, who can really help me see things from an unbiased perspective. She made a lot of pattern recognition. She was able to really like look at all of the stories I told her and been like, Okay, here’s the similarity between this and knots. She drew parallels that I had never seen before. It’s a pretty bizarre experience to share your life story with someone and then for them to kind of reflect back to the congruency that they see and a variety of your different stories. So that was so powerful. I’m a very self reflective person. So for me, I just loved you know, that side of it, just listening to what she was reflecting back to me. And then, you know, we went through the entire Her session I think I cried like three times. When I say cried, I wasn’t like bawling, but tears were definitely welling up to the surface, which I think is probably normal in therapy. And she was super, super nice about it. And she was like, Yeah, this is totally normal, don’t worry. And at the end of the session, she was like, Cool, Alex. Well, that’s it for today. That’s the end of our session, when can I expect to see you again? And I was like, what? That’s it, you’re not gonna give me homework or anything. So I booked my next session for next week, Tuesday. So by the time you’re listening to this, you’re listening to this on a Monday. So my next session is actually happening tomorrow. And yeah, I’m really excited about it, I’ve decided that she seems like a good fit for me. So I think I’m going to commit to going to her at least two or three times a month for the next three months, just to kind of see how that goes. And a lot of you guys were asking me how I found her. I actually just asked around, I asked a lot of different friends. Have you been to therapy? If you have, who did you go to? What were they like? What did you like about them? What did you like about them? And I think just asking those types of questions and getting feedback from people. That is really what helped me make my decision of who it was that I wanted to go see. But I would say guys, like, don’t let the uncertainty of it stop you from going. We make so many investments in ourselves every day. Like if you think about all the money you spend on yourself on food, on clothes, on education on entertainment, and then ask yourself, you know, when was the last time you spent money on your mental health? And for me, that answer is like $2 for a meditation app. So I would definitely recommend it. And I, if you’re scared about who you go to, or like finding the perfect person, my advice would be to just like surrender that worry and be like, I trust that I’m going to find the right person, even if the first person I go to is not the right person. And you can listen to your own intuition. If you show up in the room and this person is on a good fit, you’ll immediately know and you never have to go back again. Right, but just kind of like leaving that door open and being like I trust, I’ll find the right person. And I’m ready to start going to therapy and start prioritizing this in my life, if that is a good fit for you. Okay, I’ve shared everything that has been my reflections from this week, I feel like this is going to be a really long episode, because I’m now going to share with you my monthly success routine. This is something that makes a huge difference in my life. And I don’t do it every single month, because I’m not perfect. And I’m human. And sometimes I forget. But if I’m having a really good month, and if I’m really on top of my game, this is something I do every single month. So I thought it might be fun to share it with you guys every month and to help keep me accountable by sharing it with you guys every month. So from now on, at the beginning of every month, I’m going to do this monthly success routine with you guys. I’m going to try it for a few months, see what the response is like, and see how comfortable I feel with sharing all of this detail with you guys, because this is a lot of personal detail we’re about to go into. But I do think that by listening to you know my monthly success routine, hopefully it will inspire you in your own and you can implement this into your own schedule. So let’s get started. The first thing that I do is I review the previous month. So we’re currently in August. This is the first week of August. Yes. We just left July cut by July. Goodbye, goodbye. Goodbye, goodbye. And now it’s time to look back at July and really celebrate all of the wins, like what is there to celebrate from July. So first and foremost, Laura was here,

which was amazing having Laura here and really getting to be together for the first time as co workers and as a team and getting to show her my life here in Trinidad. It was just amazing. Like we had so many fun experiences together. We also worked super, super, super hard. So that’s definitely something that I added to my list. Katherine had her last day in July so July was the month we said goodbye to Cath on the team. We launched the podcast on purpose with Alex Beadon. And we reached our goal of 100 podcast reviews in the first seven days, we made the top 200 business podcast in the US on iTunes in our first week, which is mind blowing to me guys, I can’t tell you just I’m so grateful. I’m so so so grateful for all of the love and support that we’ve had around the podcast. It means the world to me, I love when you guys message me on Instagram and share your insights from the podcast. It’s just so much fun and I feel reinvigorated with everything that’s happening on the podcast and like sharing this content with you really excites me. So it’s like I just have this newfound pleasure in the content I’m creating because for the longest time I was making videos and I Just felt like it got stale. And then I lost my YouTube channel. So I decided to start a podcast. And now we’re here. And I just want to say I’m super grateful. So July was podcast launch month. And it was a huge success. Also, July was the month that we really started getting into a weekly work routine for the first time ever, thanks to Laura, which has been super beneficial. So for example, I know that every Wednesday is podcast recording day, I know that every Monday is admin day, etc, etc. So really trying to fit those things in to their particular day. It’s just been so nice. So Laura, I love you for that. Thank you. July was also the month that I started working with one love Trinidad, which is the charity that I spoke to you guys about earlier. So I’m really looking forward to seeing how I continue down that direction. It’s also the month that I started using chronometer to track my nutrition. And really, I’m less excited about using the app. And I’m more excited about all of the knowledge and education that I’m beginning to learn about nutrition and about my body and how my body responds to certain foods. So I’m so excited to keep carrying down this nutritional path of, you know, really being aware of what it is that I’m putting in my body. July was also my sister’s birthday, happy birthday, Liz. And July was the month that we I mean, we worked so hard this month, we were trying an initial strategy of using Facebook ads. And then we had to change our strategy. So July was a month of resilience. July was a month of hard work. And July was a month of intensity, right? So I look I can look back at that month and love it for all that it was and love it for everything that it gave us. And for all of the lessons and all of the knowledge and all of the hard work. And having Laura here and the podcast, and Kathy leaving, I feel like we’re moving into this new stage of the business. So thank you, July. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you July, July was an amazing month. Then what I like to do is I like to set my goals for the next month. So step one, review the month that just happened and celebrate everything that deserves being celebrated. Number two, set your goals for the month that you’re now moving into. So we are moving into August, it’s time to set some goals. So my goals for this month are divided into firstly business goals. business goals, I like to keep them short and sweet and focused, right. So I really want to sell 124 Gram Slams on evergreen this month. So I want to sell four Gram Slams a day. So I want for people to join my online course Gram Slam every single day. And I want it to be automated by the end of the month. Right? Automation, automation, automation automation, I’m calling it it, that’s what I want to have happen. Also, this month of August, I’m going to be traveling 77% of this month, which means I’m not going to be at home for 77% of this month. So I already know and can feel that what’s going to be really important to me this month is remaining grounded. And trusting that everything is happening in perfect time. I can just see myself traveling around I mean, like but I have to work on this. And I have to work on that. And I have to work on this. And so what I want to call in is a feeling of groundedness where I don’t feel scattered, where I really feel connected to my mission, and also connected to whatever it is that’s currently happening on that particular day. Right. So even though I’m traveling, how can I remain grounded? For me, that’s all about having like core traditions, or routines within your day that really make you feel at home, even if you’re not at home. So something that I want to do this month is meditate every single day. I want to journal I want to read I want to be in a space where I can really let go of my perfectionist side Brene Brown says that perfectionism sorry, procrastination is perfect. Oh my god, can I even speak today? She says that perfectionism is procrastination and really nice shoes. Right? So basically, what she’s saying is that when you are working on a project, and you just can’t, it’s taking you so much longer than you thought it was gonna take. Because you really want it to be perfect and you’re trying to get it just right. What you’re doing is just procrastinating. Right? So for me, I really want to embrace that side this month where I’m like Done is better than perfect. It’s more important to get it finished. And for it to be perfect. I can always revisit it in the future. This month. I don’t have time to waste because I’m going to be managing a lot of travel a lot of personal time with friends and family. So yeah, I need to let go of my perfectionism this month. I also want to get back into my monthly gratitude list habit. So basically at the beginning thing of the year I was really good at every time something good happened every time something worth celebrating happened, I would write it down underneath, like in my notes section of my phone app. And when I say gratitude, I mean like things that happened that month that are particular to that month. So for example, the entire list that I just read out to have like the podcast launching this month, and Laura visiting this month, and all of those things like those are great examples of what would go on that list. So this month, instead of coming up with it, at the end of the month, I want to be collecting those celebrations as we go along. So if anything good happens this month, I’m immediately going to write it down in the list. And then a health goal that I have this month is to run 36 kilometers. I think that’s going to be the hardest one because I’m going to be traveling and I’m not sure like is it going to be safe to run around Columbia is the hotel we’re staying out going to have a gym that I can go and run on the treadmill, like I’m not sure how that’s gonna go. But that’s my goal 36 kilometers this month. So just to summarize, I want to sell 124 Gram Slam courses this month, right 124 Or more or more universe or more, I want to sell 124 or more. I want to prioritize my morning routine this month, so that I feel grounded when I travel. So what do I have to do to do that I really need to prioritize going to bed at a reasonable time. And waking up and giving myself a good hour and a half to enjoy journaling or reading or meditating or whatever it is that I feel like doing in that morning. I want to set time limits for my tasks and remind myself that Done is better than perfect. So like, if I know, okay, I need to record a podcast and I need to outline the podcast beforehand. I’m gonna give myself 30 minutes to outline the podcast and whatever I get done in 30 minutes. That’s it? Have you ever taken I’m sure you have an exam, when you’re young when you’re like in high school and you take a test and there’s a time limit. And like you are running out of time and you’re racing at the end to finish. But like finishing is better than not finishing because you have no choice like you’re not going to get extra time. That’s what I want my work to feel like this month is like let’s just get it done. Another thing like I mentioned the August gratitude list, keeping that every single day on my phone, and then running 36 kilometers sell honor and 24 Gram Slams prioritize my morning routine, set time limits for my tasks. Keep an August gratitude list and run 36 kilometers this month. This is going to be cool because at the end of this month, when I record this same episode next month, we’ll be able to look back and really reflect on what worked what didn’t work, what went right, what went wrong, etc. So I’m putting it out there in the universe that these are my goals for this month. Hopefully that’s going to help me stay even more accountable. than what I like to do guys is after I’ve gone ahead and looked back at the past month celebrated, written down my goals for this month. Cool that what I like to do is I like to speak it into being and the way that I do that is by speaking it as though it has already happened. This is one of those things that I do that a lot of people might look at and be like, She’s crazy. I don’t care. This works for me. This helps me get aligned with my mission. It helps me stay focused on my vision. It’s too easy for me to lose focus and to get distracted. So doing this really helps me embody everything great. That’s going to happen this month and it keeps me pumped up to stay on track. So like I said, I’m going to speak it into being by speaking about it as though it’s already happened. Okay.

This month of August was amazing. Even though I was traveling and I was away from home for 77% of the month. I felt so inspired. I felt motivated. I felt grounded by my morning routines. I felt alive I felt nourished by my relationships. I spent time with Laura I spent time with Lizzie, my mom, my dad, it was refreshingly and surprisingly easy and super productive. This month was a magical month. This month I got to go to two new countries. I got to travel to Colombia. I got to travel to Italy. I got to experience a new country with Nick who I absolutely love traveling with. I witnessed the marriage of my best childhood friend Laura in Colombia. I was a badass boss, babe. And I surpassed my monthly sales goal by selling 200 Gram Slams this month. So I’m so grateful that 200 people have joined Gram Slam and are going to be able to get their Instagram stories to the next level. They’re going to be able to better have a relationship with their audience because of the work that they do in Gram Slam. Thank you life for these 200 people I am so so grateful for them and so happy that they’re going to have this experience. I was able to spend quality time in England with my favorite people, my family and it was just so nice to visit and Lend and to really just be there for two weeks in and out, get in there, do the important things, go to Italy see the wedding venue with Lizzie get to try on wedding dresses with Lizzie. I’m just so excited that she’s getting married. And I’m so grateful that I get to witness this process of hers before the wedding. I’m just so so excited. At the end of August, I went on a trip with my mum, my sister, and her fiance on this, and we went to Italy, we explore the wedding venue, it was beautiful. And now we are all even more excited for this wedding. I felt really grounded every single day through my morning practice. And I managed to run 36 kilometers this month, even though I was traveling. And it just reminded me of how important it is to move my body. When I want to create things in life, my body needs to be in motion, I need to be using my body and have movements in order to call in all it is that I want to call in. I am so blessed to be alive. I’m so grateful for every experience and opportunity that came my way this month. Thank you life for all of the pleasant surprises that happened this month. Thank you for the abundance of beauty in every moment. Thank you for surrounding me always buy love and support. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Okay, guys, that’s how I do it. That’s literally stream of consciousness, just me imagining myself at the end of the month, having achieved everything that I wanted to achieve and feeling immense gratitude for it, and thanking life for it. And everyone believes in something different. Some people believe in nothing at all. I am a woman of faith, but I am not a I wouldn’t consider myself a religious person. But I definitely believe in some sort of higher power. I believe in life. I believe in the universe, I believe whatever you want to call it, some people call it God. I think when people talk about God and I talk about life, we’re talking about the same thing, right? So find something that works for you. But doing that practice of really speaking it out loud, is so powerful. So, so powerful. Another thing I like to do is record it on my phone. And I listen to it throughout the month. And actually I just recorded it so I actually can listen to it throughout the month. But yeah, so I would highly, highly recommend that you also do this success routine for your month. Look back at the past month, celebrate things, write out your goals for this month, and guys hang it up, like hang up those goals so that you’re reminded of them every single day. And then, of course, talk it into being speaking as though it’s already happened and feel it it’s so important that you’re not just speaking out just to speak it but that you’re also feeling the emotion in your body. Yes, August was amazing. 200 people joined Gram Slam I’m so happy. We had the wedding. Laura’s wedding was amazing. I got to see her and Scott get married. And that was a once in a lifetime opportunity. And the love that I felt on that day was just wow, like, feel it. Right. And let me know how it goes. I would absolutely be honored for you to use me as a level of accountability. When you write down your goals for this month, send me a DM on Instagram and just share what are your goals this month. Like I said, guys, this is a community this is a two way conversation between you and me. So when I create all of this content, it’s just so so much fun to hear from you how you experienced it, what like what was it about this podcast that you most liked, but in the case like this, like hearing what your goals are is just so so cool. So please take three minutes to just message me once you’ve done this exercise and let me know what are your goals for this month. Also, I do understand that by the time you’re listening to this, you’re probably a little bit more into the month you’re probably on like, I don’t know, the sixth of the month or something. Don’t beat yourself up like the earlier you can do it in the month, the better. It doesn’t have to be right at the cusp on the first of the month. I just say like within the first week of the month. This is something that’s really productive to do. Okay, guys, that is it. For me today. I want to say a huge thank you for listening to this podcast. I am so happy to be on this podcast journey with you guys. And I just want to say for the millionth time, thank you for listening. Thank you for sharing. Thank you for being on this journey with me. And I am really really excited to talk to you guys again soon. Bye. 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 you’re a home moments were telling me what it is that you took away from the podcast. It helps me understand what is most valuable to you. And it helps me understand how I can be of the highest service to you. So if you could take two minutes to do that, I would really appreciate it. Thank you guys so much for watching. I hope to hear from you over on Instagram. You can find me at Alex Beadon, and I will talk to you again very soon. Bye

Oh my gosh, you guys look how amazing this shrimp serata cocktail looks me Beatrice, an avid Instagram Stories user and visionary to her followers. I can’t wait till you guys try this out. Yes, I’m talking to all three of you. Um, all two of you. Well, I guess I’m just here by myself now. Don’t be a basic Beatrice on Instagram. Keep your audience wanting more by learning how to edit your Instagram stories like a pro. Visit www.gram-slam.com and learn these simple free tips that will have your friends impressed with your Instagram Stories for years to come.

#002 – Shannon Boodram on Growing Her YouTube Channel, Being A Sexologist and more …

Let’s face it. You know it, I know it: sex sells. But improving people’s sex lives is ten times more fulfilling—at least that’s what we know about our next guest.

Let’s get close with Shannon Boodram, a “Martha Stewart for Intimacy” whose YouTube videos have earned her millions of views, and a loyal following well over 350k on YouTube.

But it didn’t just happen overnight…

“Momentum is not doing one thing great and then everything is good…for most people momentum is like—you have to get really close to see it. It’s happening at a microscopic level. It’s slow but it is happening.”

Learn what makes her tick, finding true love within yourself and your business, and the nitty gritty truth behind getting your life on purpose.

In this Podcast you’ll learn:

  • How Shannon gained 100,000 YouTube subscribers in six months
  • How she dealt with the shame of having low numbers when she first started on YouTube
  • How Shannon discovered her life’s true passion of intimacy
  • How she overcame the industry shaming her for being a sexologist
  • Why she shies away from the word entrepreneur
  • What self care means to Shannon
  • And lots more
Binge on dat Boody!

IG: @Shanboody
YouTube: Shan Boody
Facebook: Shan Boody
Twitter: @ShanBoody
www.shanboodram.com

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 0:02
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

Welcome to on purpose, the podcast that helps you align your life energy with business strategy. This is your co host, Alex Beadon. Here checking in, are you ready to live your life on purpose. Today we’re going to be speaking to one of my favorite YouTubers of all time, the one the only Shannon booty. In this podcast, you will learn how Shannon gained 100,000 YouTube subscribers in six months, we’re going to talk about how she dealt with the shame of having low numbers. When she first got started on YouTube. We’ll talk about how she discovered her life’s true passion of intimacy and so much more. Now listen, before we dive into this amazing interview, I just want to let you know friendly reminder that when you’re done listening, please don’t forget to leave a review. We have a mission to reach 100 podcast reviews within our first week of launching the on purpose podcast. And that can only happen with your support. So if you really enjoy the podcast, please return the favor search for the on purpose podcast in your podcast app, scroll down and click write a review. It would seriously mean the world to me for now. Let’s dive into today’s episode. Hi, Shannon, welcome to my show.

Shannon Boodram 2:00
Hi, Alex. Thank you for having me. It’s been a long time coming.

Alex Beadon 2:03
Oh, I know. I’m so excited to have you here. And I was trying to think today back to when it was that I first found you and I can’t for the life of me remember where it was. But I know I’ve been following you for years. I absolutely love your YouTube channel. You’re up to such epic things in the world. So I just want to say thanks so much for coming on the show.

Shannon Boodram 2:24
Thank you for having me. And thank you for all of your support. You’re one of the people whose name I saw it. I’m like, Oh my gosh, she’s stunning. Who is this? And I just always, you’ve always stood out to me. So I have never not noticed you. So whenever you came on board is probably the next day. I was like Alex is my homie.

Alex Beadon 2:40
Awesome. So let’s get this interview started. So my first question for you is, what do you find most nourishing about your career?

Shannon Boodram 2:48
how different it is how challenging it is constantly, like I’m working on the show right now for Facebook called makeup or breakup. And I only honestly love about that show is how hard it is every single week and how there’s different things are thrown at us and all these new components. And it’s a bizarre thing because I used to really hate being nervous. And I’m like, because I grew up running track and field and I was constantly nervous for every meet. And now I still have those nerves. But I almost love it. Because it’s a reminder to myself that I’m doing something outside of my comfort zone that I’m always growing and stretching and expanding my database of skill sets. So I love that my job is hard and hard is relative though I’m not in a coal mine. I am not saving lives, but just challenging mentally. Yeah,

Alex Beadon 3:31
I think that’s something that I’ve always loved about you. And something that has always drawn me to you is the fact that you always seem to want to be the best version of yourself, you’re really into challenging yourself and doing things that are going to make you a better person and that are what you do. And also you’re someone who I’ve always looked at and it feels as though your purpose has always been very aligned with your career. So I would love to hear you talk a little bit about that about your purpose and doing choosing to do things in your career that gets you closer to that.

Shannon Boodram 4:10
Yeah, and I think this is a story that my boyfriend hates to hear me tell because i You always share the story but just like it’s one of those things that I honestly believe that I knew I was meant to do intimacy and relationships and sexuality from like the age of five. I remember that my Barbies were constantly banned from being naked. I remember my first consensual sexual experience at like four or five years old and it wasn’t touching each other. It was just like, showing physical acts of like desire towards our pillows, and she went told her parents either in trouble my Barbies are banned from being naked and like a lot of my life I went to a Catholic school, like my natural curiosity for sexuality and intimacy was suppressed. So a good friend of mine, Melanie Fiona said that we often feel like we have to move forward in life that we’re moving towards our passion moving towards Finding our desire, and she’s like, I think it’s actually healthy to think about it like you’re looking back, you’re trying to find that original thing that you were drawn to that maybe you were scared away from, or maybe through a counselor, or parents, somebody told you, you know, you shouldn’t be doing that. And for me, it’s always been intimacy, I’ve always had a desire for that. So I look at my passion as not finding it, but really just going back and getting it.

Alex Beadon 5:23
Yeah. And what’s also really interesting about your story is that the passion that you’ve always had, since you’re a little girl, is something that is quite taboo and something that a lot of people frown upon, and is not to be spoken about, especially as a woman. And so I’d love to hear you talk about the struggles that you had in really stepping into this as a career for you. Because I can only imagine that must have been incredibly difficult. And even so because of the fact that it’s a taboo topic.

Shannon Boodram 5:58
Exactly, I think you’ve hit all the right nails on the head for that. And I’m very patient with people in regards to where they’re at with their comfort level with sexuality, because I feel like I’ve experienced all of them myself. So I’m never like, come on three more liberated because I looked back at, you know, 25 year old Shannon, whose book just came out, but had this still shame. You know, I had this book out in stores, I remember trying to convince them like, Please don’t call it laid, let’s call it something else. Let’s call it something softer, like, just because I was ashamed to have this book that was so obviously about sex. And it definitely took a long time, the very first time I told my parents about what I was doing. Mind you, I did it in like a sneaky way I was writing my book laid. And I really needed to collect stories, because laid was all about like, let’s all educate each one, teach one. But let’s do it in an interesting way by sharing our experiences so others can learn vicariously. And so I had to tell my story in order to collect other stories. So I put the story online, of how I lost my virginity. And it wasn’t, you know, a cautionary tale tale story. It was just, it was like exactly how I would tell a best friend, now my internet experience and end up being great. But I described the sex I describe the feelings that I have this person I described the second time that we had sex the next day. And so I sent this story and this website to my parents and said, This is what I’m doing while they were on vacation. And my mom came back like four days later, still equally as angry, I’m sure as when she first read it, and her reaction was like, boys are going to be laughing and masturbating at you, they’re going to be in groups, just reading your story and laughing and masturbating. I was like, you’ve obviously never hung out with dudes before one. But number two, like that was like the base fear that everybody would just abuse me and think down upon me and look at me as a porn star. And, you know, I carried bits of those. And obviously, that place of fear was at a place of protection. She just didn’t want to see me exact like marginalized or abused in that way. And it definitely did take me a while. And so once my at 19, I was really proud. And then around 20 to 23, when I was talking about it in college, because I went to school for journalism, I felt the shame from them when they told me that like, maybe you should change the topic that you’re writing about. Or there’s oftentimes they would say, Hey, you can’t promote your website, which was the one looking for stories. And then my book finally came out again, I was like trying to change the title to make it softer. And then after late and I finished promoting that I went to University of Toronto got my sex education counselor certification, I was working in the offices there. And about a year after that when the book died down there with all the hype died down, I was kind of like, maybe I just want to be a feminist writer, maybe I want to be a musical writer, I don’t know if I want to be a sex education writer. And so I shied away from that place for some time. And I joined this website called those girls are wild. And it was just doing general female empowerment. And it was a good time in my life. But it was, you know, kind of a last vague time. And it wasn’t until I moved to California within 2014 that I really, really embraced the role, went back to school and said, No, this is what I do for a living. No, this is what I talk about. And even in those past four years of doing that, and reclaiming this space, there’s definitely been some hiccups for me where I have felt that creep up of shame. So it’s a constant battle inside of myself. So I can only imagine people who don’t devote themselves to this topic area, how it must be a struggle for them.

Alex Beadon 9:20
And even I remember and I can’t remember the details. I remember I watched one of your videos, and you were saying how an opportunity came up. And then basically, they gave you the job found out about your YouTube channel online, and then pretty much took it back and they were like, well, you know, we can have someone who’s talking about these things representing us. How do you deal with that? Like, how do you find it inside of you to be like, I know that this is what I’m here to do and that and that this work is good and also like, because there must be a lot of self doubt and like second guessing yourself like Well, are they right? You know what I mean?

Shannon Boodram 9:58
Absolutely. And at that time I’m the because it was like they were offering $10,000. And at the time, that would have been the world to me like that would have made a massive difference between struggling to put together rent struggling to survive, and like being okay for a few months. And so it wasn’t like a job that I was like, oh, whatever I just missed out on it, it really, really did crush me. And I’m so proud of myself, like looking back with all these little moments. I’m like, I wish I could just hug you and say thank you. And I wish when I was two, three days ago, we me and my partner were walking on Sunset Boulevard. And when I first moved to LA, I moved with nothing, no job, nowhere to live. And like no idea how I was going to make it in this town. And we stayed at this place called like, the Comfort Inn, or the it was called the American inn or something. It was some motel. And I was walking every day to this restaurant called Tender Greens. And I was walking down the street a few days ago. And I’m like, I wish I could pass my past self and like, Just tell her on the way like, you’ll be fine. I wish I could just like give her a quick hug or like whisper in her ear. Like, don’t feel afraid right now, I know you’re afraid. And this is a hard thing to do. But like you’re going to it’s going to work out okay for you. But I’m just I don’t know, I’m an awesome times. And I was able to push through and even now like I I’m really good. I’m a very good stage host. I’m very good at presenting, I went to school for journalism. So I understand storytelling, I really could do PR, there’s a lot of great bass tools I think I have which makes me really good at my job as a sexual speaker and amplifier for a message. And I hosted this event last week called we gather and it was like a feminist event. And it wasn’t about sexuality. And then afterwards, producer came up to me and said, No, you really could do other stuff, you really could do other hosting. And I was like, Man, I know, I don’t want to do this. I don’t mind doing these as one offs. But I don’t want to skew my career towards being a general when I have a niche that I’m really passionate about. And now I can say that because I’m doing fine in this industry. But I think that that that took a while just to really be like, No, it’s okay, I’ll lose other jobs. I’ll say no to other things. I know where my lane is. And I’m really, really happy swimming there.

Alex Beadon 12:08
So what would you say your mission is? Or your purposes? Like, what is it that you’re trying to achieve in this lifetime, with all of the things that you’re doing and creating?

Shannon Boodram 12:18
I mean, I see it all the time in my comments. It’s just people who say things like you changed my sex life or my perspective on relationships, or because of you like I’ve gotten out of bad relationships and where I was two years ago in terms of intimacy is nowhere compared to where I am now. And even people who are like this one person tweeted, didn’t follow me. But there’s one person tweeted, I think the relationship expert sex expert role is bullshit. And the girl tweeted back to her, Do you know who Shan booty is like, you should watch this stuff. It’s not bullshit. Like, you won’t be able to help but look at your life and your romantic life in a scientific way after watching her videos, and that’s what I really want. I want for people to be like, Okay, hang on, how do I actually get good at intimacy? Because I don’t think that we often are, have the thought process that we have to get good. Most people think we just fall into it. And I actually had an experience the other day where this I went out for dinner with this girl and she was telling me her love life woes and the drama she was going through. And she was like, I don’t know why. But I fell in love with my friends would benefits. And I was like, I do know why it’s there’s a biological link that happens when people have sex together. If you’re not aware of that. It’s kind of like being like, I fell in love with pizza. And I’m not sure why. Like, there’s clear reasons why we are attracted to certain things that we interact with on a consistent basis. If you fall in love with cigarettes, you wouldn’t be like, I have no idea why I’m addicted, we have an understanding of the chemical bond that’s happening. But when it comes to love and romance, we have no clue. And so I was trying to explain to her and she was like, Oh, well, you know, I don’t like like to learn about that stuff. I just prefer to experience it. I’m like, Okay, we’ll be miserable. Like, it’s just somebody who just like, No, I don’t really want to learn. And so the people who do and who are nerds about it and want it to be a really, really powerful and controlled part of their life. Like just I think the same way with diet, there’s some people who don’t want to learn and just wanting to be like, whatever, I just eat what I want, which may work for you. But I think it’s much more empowering and magical to me to come from a position of knowledge, and to come from a position of self awareness. And so that’s what I really want for people is to have that same confidence that I know what’s going on. And I know how to make the right decisions for myself.

Alex Beadon 14:26
Yeah. So for me looking at your YouTube channel, it’s just so interesting to hear you say like, you know, what, you what is your purpose because from my perspective, I look at it and I’m like, here’s this woman who is so intelligent and so well spoken, and you speak about this subject sex and relationships and love and all that jazz, in a way that like when I tell people about your channel, they kind of give me this weird look like why would I want to look at that because they think it’s gonna be this trashy, like, you know what I mean? Like this just negative space that It is trashy because I think that’s what people’s idea of anything related to sex would be. And I’m like, no, she does it in such an educational way. And in such, just such an empowering way. And I feel like it’s so interesting to me because this is a subject that I feel like, needs a voice hasn’t been able to have a voice throughout the history of time. And now with the internet, people like you are able to come out and be like, Okay, I love this. I want to talk about it. I want to shine a light on it. And I think it’s just so empowering to see someone be like, it doesn’t have to be trashy doesn’t have to be the shameful thing. Like everyone does it everyone experiences it. So I just think it’s so beautiful, what you do.

Shannon Boodram 15:42
Thank you so much. It’s so loving. And it’s one of those things that I love. Because at this point, I have over 200 videos. So whenever someone says to me, I watched one of your videos, I just hold my breath to see like which one because there’s there are trashing ones that I’m really proud of, actually, and there are silly ones and there are hair ones like and so now this one, like whatever video you are drawn to, I mean to me says more about you and your interest and does about me. So my mom, for example, said that a doctor, she told one of her doctor friends that like oh, my daughter does this thing talks about sex and it’s obviously her channel. And the next day he approached you like, Oh, I saw one of her videos. Gemma, which one do you watch? It’s something about sexual private dancing. And, you know, he’s a good passing judgment. But as a mom, I don’t feel a way like there was 200 videos. This video he clicked on. Like of all the titles that he saw, that is the one that man was like, I’m gonna watch this one. So that says more about you than me. If that’s what you were drawn to then like so be it. That’s what I put it out there for my sexuality and I think it’s like a proud part of it. And if you watch the makeup video, great if you watch the pre come one on one video, or what does birth control do in the body? Or if you watch like, what is your love language, it doesn’t matter to me at this point, all the information is there, whatever your entry point is, I’m just glad people showed up.

Alex Beadon 16:56
It’s interesting to hear you say I have trashy videos, and I’m proud of them. Because to me, I look at all of those videos. And I’m like, I still think they’re all incredibly tastefully done. You know, like, I don’t look at any of them and think like, oh, like that’s, I don’t know. So it’s just, it’s interesting to hear you say that. And you’re right, like people are gonna watch it and take whatever it is that they take from it. But I just love that, like you own it. And it’s out there and you love it. And it’s just, it’s awesome. So I love it. Thank you. My next question for you is so I look at you as someone who’s really just gone all in, in building your personal brand, and then really figuring out how to create revenue streams from there, like how are you going to make money? But you’re always building your personal brand. I think that’s really like the core of what it is that you do. So I’m curious, would you describe yourself as an entrepreneur? Or would you say that you have your own business? Or how would you describe what it is that you do?

Shannon Boodram 17:55
I don’t know. I mean, like to describe myself as like Martha Stewart for intimacy, because I think there’s a lot of media personalities like who do what I do, like there’s Joe Rogan. And there’s Rachel Roy, who attach themselves to a lifestyle to a brand to an idea. And then they spread out on many different mediums and platforms to create a living for themselves. So Martha Stewart, for example, when you think of DIY and home decor, or maybe cooking, you think of her name and the top five. And when you do think of Martha Stewart, there’s many ways to interact with her, whether that’s buying her sheets at Kmart or it’s going through a website or purchasing her book or watching her showing VH one you’re seeing her on Comedy Central like but all that she does kind of relates back she never even when she was on Comedy Central the roast, she plugged her sheets. So I think that that type of monoculture that’s diversified in many different mediums is how I envision my career going. Is that person entrepreneur? Yeah, of course. I mean this. I answered that question as I was saying it. So yes, I do. I guess because I’m not really selling an item right now. And that’s one of the things I think I have to definitely work on. Because there’s some people who do it like Matthew Hussey, who’s a dating expert, there’s a formula that you should take if you’re going to be a digital personality, which is like, you sell seminars or you sell ebooks, and then you do this thing where you collect emails, and you give out a free gift. And then you mail them every two days. Like there’s a system in place to do it that like I don’t feel that I do particularly amazing. So I guess I shy away from the term entrepreneur because I’m not a well oiled business. But I work so yeah, I work a lot.

Alex Beadon 19:34
So it’s interesting to me to hear you say all of that, because I’ve always kind of wondered because I’m in that space like why you never ventured into that space. And then But then I see what you’re doing and you seem to be doing just fine like in your own way because I see you’re doing like sponsorships brand collaborations like you have your YouTube channel. I know you’re selling your necklace you’ve got sometimes I see you’re offering one on one coaching. You did the full screen series. Now you’ve got the Facebook show make up or break up. So like I see you doing lots of different things. And I’m curious about like, is there a strategy behind what you do? Do you ever Are you like sitting down and being like, okay, like, I need to find this project this project, like, how do you go about finding these opportunities for yourself? And what is the process for you behind being like, Okay, I need to make some money right now, what am I going to do to make it happen? Because really, and correct me if I’m wrong, it is in your hands. Right?

Shannon Boodram 20:27
Yeah, I mean, a wish. And that’s, you know, these are honestly great questions that I wish that there was like a long term strategy, I honestly feel vary day to day. And that can be problematic, because when things have momentum, I did a video once about kicking the ball and like momentum. And so if I’m in videos, yeah, and I’ve come into learning, there’s a lot in life that points back to us in there’s a lot in life that points back to us. And so it’s a catch 22. Because I do do things like YouTube, which is constantly putting out work and putting out energy into the world. Even social media is putting out energy into the world. I do my consistent one on one counseling services every single week. So I do have some consistent stuff that I work on. But no, I mean, am I creating an email database on YouTube going about from that perspective, and ensuring that even if I get no more jobs, no more opportunities, I’ve still collected, you know, 5000, like mines, that that, for me is always my base. I think that that’s a lesson I’d probably give to somebody when someone ever talks to me about wanting to build a brand or something similar to mine. I’m like, start with the business first, and then add the creative on top. Because I’m somebody who started with creative first and then was like, oh, yeah, I kind of have to make money off this. What’s that business thing. And it’s easy now. Because brand deals come to me and I’m an one of the known names in the space. And so if you’re a company who’s selling organic tampons, you’re gonna be like, Okay, let’s sell to these five, help these five influencers out or ask them to help us. But when I’m no longer in that space, or there’s new names that come up, and I’m going to have to find a way to reinvent. So that I think is the advice I would give to any person who’s in that sort of left right brain. That’s where we exist. We’re creatives, but we’re also business people start with the business first and add the creative on top. And even if you’re only having a business that’s structured around 10 People who are your audience, I mean, if that grows, you’re always going to have that base versus for me, it’s this massive catch up game. But it’s going well now, but this is a story of everybody, right? They’re doing really, really well. When they’re hot, they’re hot, and then when it’s over, they have nothing to fall back on. So I’m trying to work backwards, but that doesn’t happen to me. Right?

Alex Beadon 22:32
That’s super interesting. So do you have a team that you work with?

Shannon Boodram 22:36
It’s like I get asked, asked about bah, bah, bah. I actually like asked this question like two days ago, and I was kind of like reluctant. I do and I don’t, I have a very big management umbrella. Like there’s a lot of people in the sham booty. Percentage cut. I mean, I have a manager. I have an agency. I have a lawyer. I have a PR person. But Is anyone doing the day to day work? No.

Alex Beadon 23:03
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Shannon Boodram 23:50
Is anybody helping out with Creatives or writing stuff for me? Or working on treatments with me? Or really even for PR? Are they doing like my daily pitches or coming up with different stuff? No. They’re there for like to secure opportunities or to find things that are to catch things, I guess that it would be out of my scope. But the daily work? No, I It’s all me. That’s really

Alex Beadon 24:11
cool. Okay, so we’re gonna move into talking about YouTube now because I’m really curious to just pick your brain on what it’s like being a YouTuber. As of right now, I just checked you have 294,000 YouTube subscribers. So you’re like creeping up to that 300,000 mark, which is definitely a huge accomplishment, some accomplishment and something to be very, very proud of. But you started making YouTube videos four years ago, I think or at least that’s when your first video that I could possibly find was but I know that you had you were kind of playing around with it before your current channel. So tell us a little bit about your YouTube journey.

Shannon Boodram 24:47
Yes. And so in 2009, my book lead came out and I had no way to promote that I had no audience. I just I didn’t know how you’re supposed to launch at a publishing company. And I was under the impression that they would do it all but I think the more that you grow into these spaces, you realize, like nobody can do a lot of these jobs in terms of promoting yourself better than you. And so I started a website with a friend of mine who was on Degrassi who had a big following, which was a massive help for me, because she already had a name. And so it allowed me to create a space that was familiar to people. And I pushed my book through that we parted ways in 2011. And in 2012, I started my new my new YouTube channel, but I didn’t post on it at all. And it was kind of like a place of like feeling, because I suppose in the early wave of YouTube, where people weren’t really making a career out of it, and I’m like, What’s the point of me doing this, I might as well put all my attention on traditional media. And that’s what I did from 2012 to 2015. I only use YouTube, if you look back at like the videos I posted, they were mostly like, if I was on a TV segment, I would dump it over there. You know, if I had and the videos came up, like once every six months, or once every three months, maybe I’d post out for one month, and then I’d stopped for seven or eight. And I was really focused on trying to find a TV job that wouldn’t really allow me again, to get myself in that Martha Stewart space. And I did four pilots in LA, back to back for pilots neck, I don’t mean back to back, because how pilots work is that you shoot something you get locked up in this deal when they decide to decide if they want to pick it up or not. That means like you get one paycheck for six months. And then they say no, and then you’re back scrambling for another thing. And so I was like, basically caught up in these contracts for six months at a time. And the fourth one that happened was his MTV show, it was called unprotected text. It just felt really great to me, I knew it would be the one I’m like, this is the reason why this is why all my struggles happen. This all makes sense. Like this job was meant to save me and this will be my story. And short, and I had the worst year that year two was the most horrific year probably experienced in my life in 2015. And when that show also didn’t get picked up, I was like, what now? Like, what is my story, you know, when, and that’s one of my favorite quotes is you cannot connect the dots looking forward. And I had a really big habit of doing that. I’d be like, Oh, this goes here that goes there. And then it turns into a star and then I’m successful and life is great. And then when that doesn’t happen or come to fruition, you’re like, left devastated. And that’s where I was, and just had this thought immediately after like, how about YouTube? How about a space where the content that I put out actually get seen by people? How about a space where I’m in control how but I actually try there. And it was very difficult to try again in 2015. Because at that time, one of my friends Shameless Maya, for example, was killing it. I had a bunch of other YouTube people that I knew from over the years, or industry, people who had millions of followers or hundreds of 1000s. And so for me to start back up and make videos that were getting 1200 views, 400 views, like it was kind of embarrassing. It was a really difficult start. And I talked about this one of my videos how I bought views at that time, because I just I wouldn’t, I was so embarrassed to share, Oh, watch this video and one of my friends who like had a following to go click on it and be like, Oh, my God, she’s only getting 300 views right now. And that helped me a lot though, too, because in the first six months that I was starting YouTube, again, I was so hungry to get out of that space. I was such a hustler. And I gained 100,000 subscribers in six months, because I leveraged all of the people that I knew who had a following. And I was like, let’s collab. And I just moved and hustled, and like there’s a few times in my life, I look back, and I’m like, I’m really proud of you like writing my book was definitely one of them. And restarting YouTube, again, is another time that I’m like, I really, really, you know, did something wonderful. And I almost wish I could get back to that space. But mind you, I’ve kind of like, tapped out all my contacts, I gotta find new ones. But YouTube definitely is a wonderful vehicle. It’s a great way to teach yourself, it’s still a great way to challenge yourself. And you have to be in all positions, you got a program director, you are the marketer, you are the HR, you are the publicist, you are the camera person, the lighter the sound engineer, there’s so much learning that you can do if you want to get great at it, there’s a really great opportunity to experience a massive amount of self growth in this industry in a short span of time. I don’t know if it’s the hard thing about YouTube going forward for me is that it’s the one space that doesn’t grow with everything else. And so if you are not dedicating yourself to YouTube, YouTube does not love you. And it doesn’t matter if like no, I’m actually working on this really great show now or I got this podcasting deal or I’m writing a book right now like guys stick around, they’re like, Well, no, you’re not posting you know, every Tuesday that challenge video so we hate you. So that’s the hard thing about it is that you can’t It’s its own separate business model, which I’m trying to navigate how to balance that now as my life gets busier, but I never really want to like turn my back on YouTube again. So I’m trying to find a way to make that balance happen because again, I do really value that space.

Alex Beadon 29:52
Yeah, for sure. And how would you say that it has definitely been a vital part of it. You’re getting

Shannon Boodram 30:00
opportunities

Alex Beadon 30:02
in your career from YouTube.

Shannon Boodram 30:04
Oh, girl 100,000% I 100,000% YouTube. And I think again, especially if you’re telling a unique story, I mean, if you’re telling a story of beauty or inspiration or a typical human interest story, I think there may be other ways, but because I’m telling the story of intimacy and sexuality, and there is so much curiosity of how I’m gonna tell that story, or what I’m going to say, I think YouTube really allowed me to shape and shape people’s understanding and get them comfortable with the brand. And I’ve gotten a lot of brand deals from companies who normally wouldn’t work in the sex, sex space, or the sex education space, I think because of my YouTube channel and getting comfortable with the way I deliver. So I don’t think without that, I could have gotten probably, you know, it is a launching pad for everything. And where I’m at right now, in my career, it is, it’s a launching pad. So I have I owe so much. So, so, so much to YouTube.

Alex Beadon 31:00
Yeah, it’s amazing to me. So I’ve been doing YouTube for like, I don’t know, five years. And to be honest with you, I’ve always just used it as a place to host my videos, like, I’ve never really used it as like, Oh, I’m gonna focus on like growing my audience here. It’s really just been a place where I put my videos so that I can then embed them into my blog. And what ended up happening is that so many people were finding me through YouTube, keep in mind, my audience is super small. So I just hit 30,000 subscribers, yay, congratulations, thank you. But I feel like for me,

Shannon Boodram 31:34
bigger, crazy world we live in that we say just 30,000 I know, it’s a lot of

Alex Beadon 31:39
people. But what I always tell people just 30,000 Because I’m like, there are people who have millions and millions and millions. But I think for what what I do, because it’s so niche, like, I will never be someone who has, you know, millions of subscribers, because what I do doesn’t appeal to everyone. But yet, I still find so much value from creating content, number one, because I feel like it allows me to, or at least when I first started, it really allowed me to find my voice, you know, and really learn who I am. What it is that makes me special and different and how I relate to my audience. And I think it really helped me find my people. And so I can’t remember where I heard this somewhere. In one of your videos, you were basically talking about the difference between the people who follow you, maybe on YouTube, especially in the early days, like your core audience, and then the people who you might who might find you through doing something like I know you did that show on the view, who you know, they’re not your people, they’re not your audience. So I’d love for you to talk to us a little bit about the difference between the audience that you find on YouTube and the audience that you find elsewhere. Yeah,

Shannon Boodram 32:49
I mean, it’s getting harder and harder to kind of decipher. I do know in particular times, like, my core audience is you my core audience are people who have an active interest in learning about intimacy relationships are just in building connections with people and who are like, I want this content. And they come from many different places. I think the outside audience with people who don’t want that, but somehow stumble upon me. So for example, I did a collab via with the Hodgetwins, which has done really well for me, it’s like, like 400,000 plus views, but their audience I honestly, I love the Hodgetwins they’re really really cool guys, but have you ever watched Handmaid’s Tale? Their audience are like I don’t, they’re just, they are those people who would if they had the chance, put women back in the 1800s. They are sexist, they are nasty. They are just like, I don’t just racist, bigoted, just awful people. And I always know whenever that video for whatever reason hits a spike in views, because I’ll just get a wave of abusive comments all across my channels. And it always sources back to like, oh, there’s a lot of comments happening on this videos, they’re hopping over to other stuff, and they’re just spreading. And it’s difficult, like the view was a really good a great example, again, because I can get very accustomed to talking to you talking to people who understand and who are open minded and who want to learn and who have a certain level of respect. And it’s great, but there are people who have spent a very long time repressing and building up a wall, there are people who have done a lot of work to create a negative narrative in their mind. And when someone comes challenge that they just approach that like attack. And I have to come to expect that because it’s a very sensitive area that I’m talking about that people have beliefs they have had for generations sometimes. And it’s not up to me in one video to change their mind. But that video is there for them as well to it is there for them to see a new perspective, even if they reject it right away or call me all the names in the book or meet me with so much aggression. I have to hope that a maybe a bit of that seeps into their psyche and starts a small you know, spur of change but it that’s the part of putting yourself out there Yes, you, you can’t just want your audience, you can, you know, I think your audience should be 70% Your people because otherwise, I see some people who their platform is mostly negative and mostly attacking and like, Oh, it’s too much for your soul. But it is you do have to get the other people who don’t want you who don’t want your message and who don’t like what you have to say, because that’s who needs to hear what you have to say. And that’s, that’s been something that I struggle with, because I’m definitely a I’m not like one of those, like, take it on the chin kind of people. I’m very aggressive myself. And so you’ll see me like fighting in the comments. And my partner is somebody who is constantly being like, can you stop commenting back and do not do that? Or just block them? Why are you putting this energy out there? But I’m like, No, in real life, you could never talk to me without getting a debate out of me, you could never do that. And I think one thing I learned from the view, it’s a version again, it’s like one of those versions of myself that I’m like, I’m so proud of you because like that’s not the everyday me. That’s the thing too, is that there’s a lot of parts that I’m like, There’s sometimes I do shitty things like, Oh, that’s not a true reflection of me. And there’s sometimes I do great things. I’m like, That is not who I am most of the time. So I think it’s it comes with both, like knowing that, like, I’m not my best self, I’m not my worst self. I’m somewhere in between. But I watched myself on the view and the way that I handled their negativity. I’m like, I wish I could do that all the time. Because it was with grace. And it was with understanding and it was understanding that they’re attacking from a personal place. And if I was more accepting that they were willing to mirror that slightly towards the end. And so that’s going forward how I like to address people, but for sure, I’m just as likely to call them a basement dwelling loser.

Alex Beadon 36:41
I love it. So how do you feel about being an influencer? I think, you know, you’ve been in this space for a long time, I’ve been using social media for a long time as well, way before, like being a YouTuber was ever a thing. And so for me, I’ve looked at how social media has come and I feel like it was a really sweet place. And now it has kind of turned into this hit or miss place where I’m I’m just seeing so many people use it for great things like you, I look at you. And I’m like, Yes, like you’re, you’re moving forward, you’re moving towards a purpose. And then I see other people and sometimes I’m just like, okay, but like, is this ego driven? Like, what’s the part? Like, there’s a depth, you know, so I’m curious about your thoughts on the landscape of being an influenza?

Shannon Boodram 37:25
I like it, I think that yeah, to your point, like the word kind of gets like wrapped up in flat tummy tea and hair vitamins, which I just did, actually recently. So I don’t know, I think I like it. It’s a beautiful word. It’s a really, really, if you just break it down into very honoring word. I used to do background in movies. And that’s what we were called background like, you know, like background onset. And that’s not a nice title. And when you break it down for what that means, it means like, you’re just you’re just in the background, like, we don’t want to see you, you we don’t want to experience you like, we don’t want to hear you for sure. Like we just want you to be somewhere behind. And the term influencer is really, really nice. So I mean, I feel all the things that you feel about it, but I’ve kind of come to sort of enjoy it in a way for what it is, even though it can feel a bit fruity. I don’t think it is for me, but it can feel that way. Yeah. Um,

Alex Beadon 38:18
so my next question for you is your video. My career is not a fairy tale for anyone listening. That video, I think is my favorite video that you’ve ever done, Michael, wow, not a fairy tale, I just absolutely loved how you showed up. And you were so honest. And basically, the premise of the video was that, you know, you’re not always experiencing all of the highs in your career that you wish you were experiencing. And you kind of spoke about, you know, what it really means to be successful. And you had this great analogy of like the waves and how there’s big waves and small waves. And so I would love for you to talk a little on that. Because I know there’s so many people who are dealing with rejection and who feel very discouraged that their business isn’t going the way that they wanted it to go. Their career is not going the way they wanted it to go. And I think a lot of people just give up. And what I love about you is that you always find the beauty in Okay, yeah, things aren’t going the way I want them to go. But like, I’m going to figure it out. And I’m just going to keep moving forward and kicking the ball. So talk to us a little bit about that.

Shannon Boodram 39:24
Yeah, I also think that that’s a part of our job is you have to constantly create a storyline, a narrative, and if there’s nothing happening for you, that’s something to talk about. And that’s a beautiful space about YouTube where it encourages that kind of honesty. And so there should always be something you can create whenever you’re stumped for like I have nothing to say nothing to contribute, that’s what you have to contribute. And so I think when I go to those videos, like you know, Does God hate me and I have a bunch of them that are kind of like that, that are you know how to get naked and when they’re all coming from a space of like, nothing is going good. So like let’s talk about that. Nothing is And that’s a big part of the career that we’re in. Like right now. I am on the show I’m on Facebook’s makeup or breakup. It’s my first series I’ve done so many pilots are so many one off projects, or short term, I worked for MTV as guide to series last year, which again was it was great or full screen, of course. But there’s short term series of like a month, and you shoot and it’s over. Whereas in this show is my first like, six month job like I’ve never had that before. I’m I’m on it from September to February. So for this next six months, I don’t have to feel that sense of like, what’s next, or what am I doing. But in February, I’m very likely to be like, now what because what happens is when we’re working in, we’re on projects, and we’re being productive, we feel really great and energized. But it’s not as if we are, I don’t even know Julia Roberts, where we come off one set and go to the next, if you try to book Will Smith, he’s booked for the next three years. And that’s not the truth. For most creatives, most creatives, you have these really quick spurts. And it’s like I used the analogy of kicking a ball that you’re trying to get to the other side of the field, that you just want that ball to keep rolling, because you’re carrying so much, and it’s very, very exhausting for you. And so you kick the ball and you watch it roll you like, yes, it’s gonna make the other side. And then it stops. And you’d have to pick up all of your stuff, including your pride, your baggage is your home, whatever your relationship, walk towards that ball again, and kick it again. And then you hoping it’s gonna roll this time, but it only goes one more foot, and you got to do the whole thing all over again. And that’s exhausting. But that’s a part of the work that we do. And I was saying to my friend, Ari, one of the things that I kind of realized about life in general is that we’re expecting to have these great years, and we’re expecting to have these great careers and like is really, you know, our 20s to be amazing. I’m like, it doesn’t work that way. You start off having good days, or good day. I’ve had an act 2012 I had one incredible day that year where I was booked on set, I shot this pilot for one day, it was magical. And the rest of the year sucked. No, not subdue. Of course I wasn’t, it was great. I was healthy, everything’s great. But I just mean, in terms of my career, nothing else happened. And the following year, maybe I had one good week, one good week that like of the 52 of the year that I actually felt like I was in my purpose. And then the following year after that, maybe I had three weeks, and then it was a month. And then maybe I had one good quarter. Last year, I had a good six months. And then six months, I was like, What am I doing? How am I making money? What’s my purpose. And this year, I’ve kind of had a good nine months, you know, it’s been a really full situation. Now next year, I can go back to one day, who knows how it goes. But hopefully I’m building up to having a good year and then having good years, but it took time. And part of momentum isn’t like I do one thing. And now everything is great, which for some people it is. But for a lot of people momentum is like you have to really get close to see it. It’s happening on a microscopic level. It’s not even happening in the form of a ball rolling, it’s even like it’s electrons are slowly moving forward. It’s particles that are like inch by inch. It’s cells that are building, it’s slow, but it is happening. And after some time the momentum starts to get faster. I think that if we all have in the back of our mind that we’re not owed a good year, and it could take some time and if we love the process, and it’s a lot easier to stick it through.

Alex Beadon 43:18
And was that? Did it take you a long time to learn that like was it? Did you always have like this inner knowing that it’s just something you have to accept and just keep rolling with? Or is that something you’ve really had to work on as time has gone?

Shannon Boodram 43:30
Oh, hell no. You You saw me complain. So many tears, so many complaints. And it’s like, even right now watch my partner. He is a rapper. And so his career like he’s just getting started like with labels, he writes hooks for different rappers and like has is producing and just getting his you know, those those days at this point, there’s good days happening and great meetings that happened that would nothing following up. And there’s so much sensitivity and just rawness around his career. And I almost try to be that person that I want to be for myself four years ago who whispered in my ear is going to be okay, I try and be that for him. But it goes to that point, like you really cannot connect the dots looking forward. And it’s so easy for me now to say that I make. I’m in the top five percentile of income in America. And it’s easy for me to be like oh, you know, it all will work out and just keep working. And it’s all great because I’m here so it’s easy to say that when you’re in it, it’s you cannot tell that person that you can because it’s like nice to in the back of your mind. But even when you are that person you’re like that’s going to work for you but not me because you still have that doubt and you have no idea if it will ever come together so you can tell yourself those things. It’s nice to hear and I definitely tried to create as many of those quotables for myself or little life lessons. It’s not until you’re out of it that you actually get to sit in those sayings and those mantras and know that they are our true to them. But it’s no no no no no at the time I’m all tears and everything is the worst and I’m constantly like looking for jobs in the newspaper because I think I’m never Ready to work again. That’s where I’m that usually.

Alex Beadon 45:02
I love it. And I love that in those videos, you just show up and you’re like this format is so open and honest. And I think that’s just so I just love that about you so much. How do you balance growth in business with growth in like his, from all of the videos I’ve watched, like you seem super career driven, and purpose driven. But at the same time, you have the self awareness about like, what life is all about and enjoying your relationships and being in your body and yourself. So I’m curious for what that’s like for you. How do you balance growth and business being a hustler with the flow of life?

Shannon Boodram 45:39
What’s really dope about my job is that they’re both the same. And they’re like, every time that for example, yesterday, my makeup or breakup show, and I’m, it’s my job and to what I’m doing, but it’s like, there’s some things there. A lot of that is intimacy, building and intimacy, education, I’m learning things, we had this model that I’ve never heard of before, which is child, the child child to parent and adult to adult, which is the three ways that we should interact with each other within a relationship. And there has to be a balance. I’m like, Oh, I don’t know that. I’ve never heard of that before. So I’m always learning. I’m listening to audiobooks, I’m reading content, I’m meeting amazing people and having conversations with psychologists or therapists who I’m like, You have such beautiful insight. So I know I’m, like really fortunate to be in the space of, I think, I don’t know, whenever people tell me, they wanted to follow my footsteps and do what I do. I’m like, You should. It’s incredible. It’s awesome. It’s so fulfilling. And it doesn’t just help me in my romantic relationships, it helps me when I go and buy a piece of pizza, it helps me in my interactions with my bosses. Knowing how to connect with people is an invaluable tool that has furthered my life and every single aspect. There are some things like I’m not great, I’m awful at finance. You know, I’m awful at a lot of adulting things. I don’t think about cars. So I mean, for sure, my life has not allowed me to develop in areas I think would be useful for somebody my age. But in terms of just having a pleasant life and connecting with people and working well and cooperation based society, like I owe that all to the research that I’ve done. And that happens to be what I get paid to

Alex Beadon 47:12
do. That’s so cool. So you and your partner, Jared are both go getters. And I love his music. By the way, I had him on my Spotify, I was so high on Spotify to begin with. I was like, This is so cool. But so yeah, you’re both go getters. You’re chasing your dreams, you’re trying to make things happen. How do you balance that hustler energy between the two of you with actually making quality time for each other? I’m really curious about that dynamic that you guys have.

Shannon Boodram 47:39
It’s so crazy. Because in my previous relationship, I used to hate talking about work, I hated it. I’m like, can we please talk about anything else, because we just didn’t really see eye to eye on a lot. And I had a partner at the time who was very critical. And so I just it brought a lot of arguments. And I was like, I want to work with you like it’s just like, and so I developed this notion that like an ever more romantic relationship, I really want to separate work from it, because it just doesn’t feel comfortable. And I would hear couples who work together and be like, oh, like, how do you do that that just sounds like a recipe for disaster. But when I look back might know that that that relationship was disaster, like it didn’t need any extra help or additives. It wasn’t work. It wasn’t sex, it wasn’t any one thing, it was all of it. Whereas now it’s like, it’s a natural part of me. And so I need to find a partner who like that naturally makes sense that I can share that with I think that works for both of us. Like we had, we had a guest at our house for the past week was his producer from out of town. And so we just barely got a lot of time together. And so after my show, we came home and went for dinner and like the things that we’re talking about our dreams and our goals and like what we want next for the future. And like tomorrow, let’s plan this out. And let’s do this. And so it’s kind of like it’s our both it’s both of who we are. And so I think it’s a natural extension of what we want to share with each other. And it wouldn’t work for me with a partner who didn’t, you know, come from that same space, who didn’t just want to come home and play video games, who didn’t just want to come home and turn off and not think about work, I eat, sleep and breathe. And I remember, you know, in my past relationship, I was out for dinner and I got an email and it was on my phone. And he was like, you don’t have to do that right now. Like, you don’t have to do that. You can just be in the moment. And I’m like, no, no, no, this is me being in the moment. Because like, this excites me. And I would want my partner to be excited about what excites me. It’s like not take that personal look at that as as a choice of you or that it’s like, I can take this news and share it with you and we can have another discussion and elevate the energy level between us because we’re excited about our future that we’re building and it just, it didn’t work, you know, so I think it’s a lot of I credit that to just picking somebody whom I think is a better fit for me. But for sure, I mean, there’s times it’s just knowing when the time is right. There’s times we’re just having sexy time. There’s times when you’re just turning off watching a movie. There’s times when you’re joking around with each other but a large percentage of our relationship is we are each other’s like school counselors. We are each other’s there. peers, we are each other’s managers. And I think that that’s a joyful place to our relationship, not something that we feel like we have to manage at all.

Alex Beadon 50:10
I love that. And I love you. I know you guys had a YouTube channel, and it’s kind of put on pause right now, but I just used to love looking at the videos of you guys together, it’s just so great to see two people who seem to be on the same page and who have such a deep respect for each other.

Shannon Boodram 50:27
So awesome, thank you. Well, I know you get it too. It’s it’s like, I think that’s part of it, too, is like you, there has to be a balance, you know, when you’re doing this, like what’s making a return. And for both of us were like, this is cool. But the amount of work we’re gonna have to put into this to make it something is not something that either one of us want to take away from our main things like, I want to channel that reaches 300,000. You know, I want to grow and get new projects, I want to write a book next year. And this YouTube channel, if you could help it great, but it actually needs a lot of help. And that will be time and taking away from those dreams that I have that to be honest, are bigger dreams. And so it was like an experiment to see if it would grow really quickly. And we always want to do those like, because sometimes you just you hit gold, right? And if you started doing beauty videos, they started hitting goals, like okay, let me do this. But if you start doing beauty videos, I always say to creatives to so many creatives were like I’m you know, I’m really struggling in music. I think I might try YouTubing I’m like that’s not easier. It’s not as if that there’s not an easier choice. Like if you’re struggling there, it’s going to be the same work somewhere else. So we can try it out. Like if you want to see like, Oh, what if I started rapping would I become popular in a month. And if after a month, I wasn’t popular, I’d like you know, I’ll go back to doing sex education, because that’s hard. But this is hard, too. So I think we were just trying to see if it would be something that was like a overnight success. And when we knew it wasn’t going to be we’re both like not, we’re not ready to do the work for that. And I think that that’s an important thing for creative to be able to do. You can take risks, but you have to know when to pull out and when to do that quickly. And I think that quitting and learning how to quit is something that has taken me some time to pick up and I’m actually really proud of that skill set. Oh,

Alex Beadon 52:09
I love that. You said that so much. Because so often we feel like we’re almost married to the projects that we’ve committed ourselves to. And I just love that you’re just like, Yeah, it’s cool to quit, if it’s not working, if it’s not generating whatever it was that you wanted it to like cut your losses and move on.

Shannon Boodram 52:25
I like quit all the time. I am like I’m queen quitter. I started doing podcasting, like daily podcasting in you know, a few months ago. And then like a few, two, three months later, I’m like, this is not working. And I quit. But why did you stop doing that? Because it wasn’t what I wasn’t getting the results I expected and it was like becoming a mental drain for me. And don’t get me wrong, I get that persistence and consistency and you know, investment. But I’m like I do that already on other areas. Like I don’t have any more grind in me if it was going to be easy. Great. It’s not cool. I’m done with that.

Alex Beadon 52:56
Yeah, you don’t want to spread yourself too thin. Okay, cool. Um, lastly, I really want to talk to you about how you really take care of yourself. So self care, I want to talk about any daily practices that you have that really support you and your growth. So yeah, can you talk to us a little bit about that?

Shannon Boodram 53:18
Yeah, I mean, I’m again, I’m like, really? Yesterday, we were going for dinner and walking, and Joe made some kind of comment about how hard it is and how hard this time is. And I’m like, Yeah, but we still get to because we were watching we’re walking with this restaurant called Catch and catch is like all SUVs and like fancy cars. We should go inside I’m like nah, like I’m not in the mood I wasn’t in the mood for like, do you have reservations? Or like are you drink and get turned away? It was wasn’t in that mode. And it’s like, oh man is this like this thing is like so hard so much rotate. There’s so much this and I was like, Yeah, but like we’re still going out for dinner. Like, at this time, we’re still gonna wake up tomorrow whenever we want. Like, I’m still going to be able to like work out first or do something cool or talk to Alex like, I think that self care for me is just being able to choose what I want to do shit. Whatever that is like choose when I want to shower choose when I want to chill, choose when I want to take an afternoon nap what I want to wake up. I mean, obviously, some days I don’t have that choice because I have you know, a gig to go to. But by and large like I don’t have a nine to five or, and there’s benefits nine to five, you get to go on vacation. You know, you get to come home from work and not worry about it. You got to have structure. There’s there’s two sides that I never looked down at either one because I know. I know keenly. There’s some personalities that are fit for one and not fit for the other. I’m not fit for a nine to five. Mostly because I’m not like good at being. I’m like I’m good at working with people. I’m not going to work in under people. Right? And I’m like somebody who like if you put certain hours on me I’ll just find myself feeling very tired. So I just think I don’t always think self care is self care isn’t the life that I’ve created for myself. It’s like not even necessarily because I’m I have to go out of my way to do because I’ve spent so much time creating a career that is enjoyable for me that gives me the flexibility that I want. I’ve spent time investing in learning relationships and intimacy and and being able to select a partner, who at this time brings out the best in me and has created exponential growth for me, both emotionally and like monetarily like I’ve, since we’ve been together, I’ve gone from struggling to pay for rent to like, being able to pay other people’s rent and being able to be a contributor, my family in a way that I didn’t envision before. So I think that self care is just like, I don’t know, it’s an everything that I do. I don’t do anything. I do things that I hate, like taxes and shit. But by and large, it’s like a majority of my life is doing things that I enjoy. So I don’t really have to go out of my way to say, Okay, now it’s time for Shannon, because most of my life is like things that, you know, Shannon loves. Oh, I love that

Alex Beadon 55:48
so much. You have no idea. Awesome. Thank you for sharing that. Okay, so I have a few questions that I asked everyone at the end of an interview. So let’s dive in. What is one thing you do that has been a non negotiable in keeping your career successful and on track?

Shannon Boodram 56:05
Preparation, that

Alex Beadon 56:07
share one mindset that every creative needs to succeed?

Shannon Boodram 56:12
Do not connect the dots looking forward, you can only do it looking backwards. Looking forward, you just have to believe in this quote, let me see if I’m right. No, it’s not. It’s a Steve Jobs quote. I will pull it out. Anyways, it’s a Steve Jobs quote that basically says that, like, at some point, you got to just believe in something, you have to have a vision and just go for it. Don’t expect for everything to fall into place first, before you have that thing. And so you cannot connect the dots looking forward, you can only do it looking backwards. So don’t try to assume that if you do this, that that will happen. Because it probably won’t. And you’re going to be devastated if you tell yourself that it will. I love

Alex Beadon 56:49
that so much because it also required it sparks a trust in you that this is taking you in the right direction even if you can’t see it. That’s beautiful. Um, so these are fill in the blank questions. So the world would be a better place if more people knew themselves. That’s good. The book that changed my life was

Shannon Boodram 57:10
the social animal by David Brooks.

Alex Beadon 57:13
That’s a check that one out I’ve never read it. And last question off the top of your head. Who would you like to see me interview next? Oprah thank you so much, Shannon. I love you so much. And I’m just so happy that we got to talk today. I feel like people are gonna listen to this and take so much out of it. So thank you so much.

Shannon Boodram 57:37
Congratulations on starting your podcast and all your ventures congratulations on interviewing Oprah who knows when I’m not saying the next one. But I definitely think that that’s where you’re heading. Thank you. You’re just been awesome. Such a great uplifting lights. I appreciate this interview.

Alex Beadon 57:52
Thank you so much. Have a wonderful weekend.

Shannon Boodram 57:54
Bye You too. Bye girl.

Alex Beadon 57:55
Bye bye. Thank you so much for tuning into the on purpose podcast and I really hope that you had as much of a blast as we did. If you liked what you heard and want even more, make sure you leave a review because it really helps support what I do here on the podcast. All you have to do is search the podcast app for the on purpose podcast, select it then scroll down until you see write a review and then type away at the beginning of the next episode. I will be picking one review one special review My favorite review of the week and I will be reading it out for all of you guys so you definitely don’t want to miss out on that. I hope you really enjoy your week and I will see you guys again next time stay on purpose.

#001 – Welcome to My New Podcast: “On Purpose With Alex Beadon” – Balancing Hustle With Well Being

I’m so happy to announce that my podcast is FINALLY HERE, and today I’ve got Episode 001 for you!

In this episode I welcome you to the On Purpose with Alex Beadon Podcast. We talk about *why* I decided to name it “On Purpose with Alex Beadon” and I share exactly what I hope the podcast becomes for you.

Once we get over the introductions, I dive deeper into what’s been present for me this week in my business and life including:

  • Why I decided to hire my BFF as my operations manager
  • The sacrifices I’ve been making due to my commitment to success
  • How to enjoy your life when you’re hustling and putting in the work
  • What I’ve been doing behind-the-scenes of our Evergreen Funnel
  • Why I’ve been turning to Amanda Bond for all things Facebook Ads
  • The downsides of unrealistically high expectations
  • The one part of the podcast that we had to re-do
  • The important thing to remember when you’re in hustle mode
  • One simple change I’ve made since being in hustle mode to make sure I’m taken care of
  • The importance of discerning what’s a productive use of your time and what’s not
  • Why I don’t subscribe to society’s definition of “productive”
  • What I’m most excited for this week (Laura’s visit!)
  • What I’ve been doing with IGTV and what I’ll be doing with it moving forward

QUOTABLES:

“This is the thing about business that I love so much…. You’re taking leaps of faith, really hoping that things are going to work out the way you want them to work out… and simultaneously you have to be strong enough that when you take that leap of faith and it doesn’t work out that you remain grounded and unaffected.”  – Alex Beadon

“I’m such a ‘done is better than perfect’ person” – Alex Beadon

“Whenever I’m in a period of hard work, showing myself compassion and kindness is rule number one.” – Alex Beadon

“You have a bodyguard at the front of your mind… Just because a thought comes in does not mean it has any validity. You choose the thoughts you want to believe in.” – Alex Beadon

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Transcript Available Below

Alex Beadon 0:02
Do you ever feel like you’re trying to balance it all, nourishing your health while growing your business and living a life well lift. 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, friends, it is Alex Beadon here and I am so excited because you were listening to episode number one of my brand new podcast called on purpose. I’m so excited that you’re here that you’re listening. Like I said, this is the very first episode. And so in this episode, I really just want to introduce myself, introduce the podcast and then dive into podcast number one. So in this episode, I’m going to be talking to you all about how to deal with your life when you’re working super hard and when to accomplish your goals. It requires a lot of hustle. So I talk about my experience with dealing with that intense hustle season of my life. But before we dive into all of that goodness, I really just want to introduce you to the podcast and really give you a good idea of what it is all about. So I created on purpose as a way to have the types of discussions that light me up the most, I’m someone who really enjoys meaningful conversations, conversations that really get down to the core of who someone is, what matters most to them, and what it is that they are trying to create with their lives. I believe that it is an honor to be alive and breathing here on this planet. And I believe that we all have a responsibility to show up as our best selves. And to leave this planet better than when we found it. I want this podcast to be a part of your weekly routine that really helps fuel you to be that best version of yourself that really helps you think outside of the box see things from a new perspective, and allows you to see what is truly possible for you. The reason why I decided to call it on purpose is because it has a double meaning. Firstly, you know how you can say like, you can do something on purpose like you do it. Purposely you do it with intention, oh, yeah, I did that on purpose, right. And then there’s also on purpose, which means like the actual word purpose, which has more to do with meaning and fulfillment and being aligned with whatever it is that you believe the purpose of your life is, right. So I love that it takes both of these meanings. And it kind of brings them together, both about taking action on purpose, doing something on purpose, like actually choosing your destiny. And then at the same time, choosing a destiny and taking all of those action steps to make sure that they are in alignment with the end result with whatever it is that you want your legacy to be. It’s about thinking big picture enough to make sure that you’re steering your ship in the right direction. And it’s about thinking small picture enough to make sure that you’re actually doing it with intention that you are in alignment with the person and human being that you want to be. So that’s why I decided to call it on purpose. And it really does define the way that I live my life. And the way that I want to show up in the world is both on purpose and on purpose. This podcast has two weekly episodes, you will get a solo episode on the Monday and a guest interview on the Thursday. Now the solo episodes are really just an opportunity for you and me to connect and get to know each other better. So it’s a place for me to really open my doors to what is going on in my life and business to share with you what has been on my mind that week what I’ve been struggling with what’s been awesome. I think that there’s just so much room in this online space for people to be more vulnerable. And for people to be more authentic. And to really share the nitty gritty, it’s so easy to like go on Instagram and look at someone’s highlight reel and be like, Wow, their life is so amazing. I wish I could be more like them. And it’s so much more nourishing to hear that same person have real life conversations about what is legitimately happening in their life at that very moment. That to me, those types of episodes that I listen to where people are really real, honest and authentic. Those are the ones that I learned the most from, those are the ones that I get the most inspiration from. And so I wanted to create a space where I can have those moments with you, my audience, and then the guest interviews are going to be more about you know, someone’s life really getting to know a creator or a business person or whoever it may be not only getting to know them but also deep diving into like what’s worked for them what hasn’t worked for them. Each one of those episodes is really there to help you walk away feeling inspired, motivated and having learned something that you didn’t know previously. For those of you wondering who I am. My name is Alex Beadon. I’ll tell you a little bit about me. I’m a business coach, and I’ve been doing business coaching now for past five years, and I have loved every single second of it. I’m the kind of person who can just get lost in conversation about entrepreneurship, small business, social media, building a brand, online marketing, all of those things really excite me and light me up. And at the same time, I would say, What makes me super different is that I’m also just as passionate about your mindset and about what’s going through your mind, how are you treating yourself, what’s your energy, self care, self love, all of those things, to me are just as important, and are just as much of a piece of the puzzle as the strategic side of things. So in this podcast, you’re definitely going to get a strong mixture of both, you’re going to get the strategy and you’re going to get the energy and the mindset side of things to one day, I will definitely take you through my full life story and tell you all about my career and how I got to where I am today. But really, all you need to know right now at this very moment in time is that I’ve created this podcast, to be someone who is alongside this journey with you. I’ve actually never had a real job ever since I graduated from college back in 2010. I have been someone who has been 100% self employed, which is something that I’m really proud to say. And I think it also just shows how dedicated and committed I am to figuring this entrepreneurial journey out. And it fascinates me how every single business owner that I run into does it differently and makes it work for them. And to me, that’s what is so fascinating about the entrepreneurial journey, especially as we move into a time where we have the internet, we have access to so many tools at such small cost that can really help us leverage our voice, leverage our message, leverage our products and services. So to me, like being alive at this time is such an honor. And I want to create a platform here on the podcast where we can have really interesting conversations that help support you in your journey of entrepreneurship. One of the things that I stand for the most is that it’s not just about the end goal, it’s not just about hitting that profit goal. It’s not just about getting your business to that specific level or being featured in that magazine. It’s about the journey, if you are not enjoying the journey of entrepreneurship, you’re doing it wrong. And so that’s really what this podcast is all about. It’s about being on purpose, doing things strategically. And also making sure that you are in alignment with the legacy that you want to ultimately leave behind. It’s about creating your own version of success, and being able to define that version of success for yourself. And it’s also about learning to make it happen in a way that’s enjoyable. Like I said, it’s all about the journey. It’s not just about that end goal. Like I said, What matters to me just as much as the end result of creating whatever success it is that I want to create in my life and my business. It also matters so much that I enjoy the journey that I create a life that is worth living. And so to me, that’s what the solo episodes are really about. It’s a place for me to really like connect with you and show you the more of the journey and less of like, oh, this is what I accomplished, or this is what I did. I really want to open the doors and be like, Okay, this is what one right? This is what went wrong. Here’s a failure that I experienced this week. Here’s something I struggled with this week, because like I said, like I have learned the most from people who are open and that kind of way where they’re bringing you into more of like the daily behind the scenes thoughts that are actually running through your brain. So I really, really do hope that you enjoy this format. And I’m so excited to just experience the process of this podcast because I know the further we go into this podcast, the more I’m going to learn from you guys what you like, what you don’t like what’s helpful, what’s not helpful. I’m really excited to watch this podcast morph into something that I can say I’m super proud of. And something that you guys can say confidently is a non negotiable part of your week. Like that’s really what I’m trying to create here is an audio experience that guides you that makes you feel aligned. And that makes you feel as though you’re creating something that you can be proud of. So I really hope that this podcast helps support you in not only creating a very successful and profitable business, but also help support you along the journey in the moments where you feel like oh my gosh, what am I doing? Is this the right step? I failed again what is happening? Like that’s what this podcast is for. So I just want to say thank you so much for being a part of this journey with me. This is just the very first episode we have so much more to come. And it is an honor to be here by your side for this journey. Thank you for being here with me. So before we jump into today’s episode, I just want to say a huge thank you for being here with me like for any of you guys listening to this, you were probably my ride or dies and I just want to say I appreciate you guys and love you so much. And I just think it’s so much fun to be on this journey together.

So much of what I do is for you, I have so much respect for you as a person as someone who is a business owner and I know that most of you listening to this are so aligned with everything that I just spoke about, about this podcast, the name of the podcast of just living a life that is on purpose. It is just such an honor to be able to connect with you in this way. And I’m really looking forward to it. Let’s dive in, shall we? Okay, so what has been present for me this week, there’s a lot going on in my business right now. So let me just like get you guys up to speed. I just at the beginning of this year, really focused on launching Grand Slam, which I believe we launched at the end of March, beginning of April. And my goal was to make $60,000. Like, that was what it was that we were aiming for, we ended up making $100,000, right. So we ended up making way more than I was hoping or expecting to make. And it put me in this really interesting position where I was like, okay, like, I need to figure out what I’m gonna do with all of this money and how I’m going to wisely redirected back into my business. Previously, whenever I make large sums of money, to be quite honest with you guys, I just kind of like spread it out over as many months as I possibly can. I just live on it. And like that, just kind of what it has always been like, and now I’m at this point where I’m like, No, I want the business to grow. And in order for the business to grow, I need to reinvest back into the business. So the first thing I did was I got clear on what, what was it that was that I was spending the most of my time on, that was really holding me back from the activities that I love. So I sat down and I wrote a list of like, okay, what are the things that I love doing? What are the things that I could spend all day doing? What are the things that I wish I was spending all day doing? And those that list is really like creative things like I am, I used to be a photographer, guys, that’s how I got into all of this. i My career started off as a photographer. So creativity is so important to me, feeling self expressed is so important to me. So I was like, Okay, I know that I want to spend more time making content, like these, like this podcast, and more videos, and I want to spend more time on Instagram. And I want to spend time like actually connecting to my audience, finding out what it is that they’re struggling with, so that I can be of the highest service to them, right. So like, that was really where I wanted to be spending most of my time. And then when I looked at where I was actually spending my time, it was a very different story. I was spending hours every day just like checking on like, where are we? What needs to get done, and just evaluating like, the priorities of tasks, it was just taking me such a long time. And it’s not my strong point. It wasn’t something I was enjoying, it was something that I was doing, honestly, because it had to be done. So I decided that I was going to add someone to the team. Keep in mind at that point, I already had one full time employee called Katherine. And we had been working together for about a year and you know, had a really good working relationship. And, you know, she’s really in charge of the visual elements. So like the graphics, she’s also in charge of a lot of the behind the scene tech stuff. So I had all of those bases covered, thank God, but I really wanted to bring someone in who could think strategically with me and help me plan and help us basic raise our levels of productivity, and keep an eye on our end goals, where we are what needs to get done. And also fill in any of the blanks like really, this. We’re at the stage in the business where like, there are so many things that need to get done. Every single person on the team needs to be flexible. They need to be able to do multiple things. You’re like when you come and work for Alex bieden you need to be multitalented, right. So I was looking for this perfect person. And immediately the first person that came to mind is my best friend Laura. So to give you the backstory, Laura and I have been best friends since the fifth grade since we were 10, which is insane. We went to the same middle school in Venezuela. And we have been best friends ever since. She actually helped me launch one of my very first courses, online courses, which was called feel good blogging, we launched it back, I believe it was like 2013 2014 that we started working together. And ever since we work together, at that period of time, it was always my dream to hire her because I just realized like, this is someone who I can trust, like hands down not only trust in a way of like, she’s not going to spill my secrets or like that type of trust, but also a type of trust where it’s like, I know that she is not relying on me to to like connect the dots for her. I remember we were launching feelgood logging back in maybe 2020 1420 13. And there was something that needed to get done. And I had forgotten to tell her that it needed to get done. And when I remembered that I forgotten to tell her and I brought it up to her. She was like, Oh yeah, I already took care of that. And that just blew me away. Because I was like, wow, like you’re actually thinking five steps. 10 steps ahead. She’s super organized. She’s really on top of things. And ever since we worked together, back then I was like, Dude, this is the person who I need to bring into my business full time to really help with operations. So fast forward, you know, five years. And here I was making this decision, like, is this an investment that I that I’m ready to make, right. And this is the thing about business that I love so much is that it’s always like this weird mixture between you’re taking leaps of faith, really hoping that things are going to work out the way that you want them to work out. And simultaneously, you have to be strong enough that when you take that leap of faith, and it doesn’t work out, that you’re that you remain unaffected, that you remain grounded, right. So we had the conversation, obviously, I need to pay her a full time salary, she’s like, I don’t know if you can afford me, we had the conversation. She gave me a number that she wanted. And I was like, You know what, it’s a really big number. But I’m gonna go for it. Because I feel like you know, it’s just, it’s not, we’re never like, we need to, we need to jump in at some point, we need to jump in, even if I don’t feel 100% Ready, and we need to figure it out and make it work. So this is Laura’s, I believe this is Laura’s third week working with us, or we might be into week four right now. And it has just been amazing. Like, it’s so nice to have someone who is really super organized, which is something that I’m horrible at. But at the same time, you know, it’s also one of those things where someone doesn’t get used to working with you for like, I would say a good six months, like, it’s not really until that six month mark that you’re out maybe like four to six months where you’re really feeling in flow with someone. So we’re just going through that period of time where we’re getting used to each other getting used to working with each other. And it’s also just really exciting because there is so much that needs to get done in order for us to keep her in the company and in order for us to be able to afford to keep her so because there’s so much that needs to get done. And because we are literally constrained by time, my to do list just feels like it has never been so long. Like I was speaking to Laura. And I was like dude, I feel like ever since you’ve joined, it has just been non stop. And here’s the thing, guys, this is really what I want to speak to you guys about today is that in your business, you’re gonna go through seasons, you’re gonna go through seasons, where it does require you to wake up super early and work almost all night. And you’re going to have to make some sacrifices and not go out to whoever’s birthday party, or you’re going to have to miss some time down the islands, which is something that we do here in Trinidad. Everyone goes on a boat, they go down the islands, it’s basically like you’re on this boat in the middle of the ocean, or sometimes we go to people’s houses. But like, last weekend or two weekends ago, everyone went down the islands. And I was like, Nope, I’m staying at home because I’ve got things to do. And like, when I think about the big picture, right? It’s like, what are you willing to give up the short term sacrifices like, Oh, I’m not gonna go down the islands, which is something that, you know, we do quite regularly and something I’ve done what seems like a million times in my life and something that’s never gonna go away. And something that I can definitely choose to do the next time in exchange for the fact that like, I’m moving forward towards my goal. And I’m actually making things happen within my business that need to happen in order for me to reach that next level. And yes, there always is that next level, but you just have to know that like, okay, for me and my business right now, I’m really setting it up so that I don’t have to be working as hard as I’ve been working. Over the past seven years of running my business, I want to get to a stage where it’s super flexible, and I can decide to take lot days off, etc, etc. But at this stage of my business, it requires a lot of work, it requires a lot of hard work, it requires a lot of focus, it requires a lot of diligence. And that is 100% of what I’m willing to give to it. So it’s weird, right? Because it’s like you want to enjoy your life. That’s why you have your own business. But at the same time, in order for you to get to the next stage to get to the next level, a lot of times it requires you to put in the work. So that’s kind of where I’m at right now. It’s just this period of a lot of focus, a lot of hard work, a lot of laptop time, a lot of learning as well because I’m trying to learn a bunch of new things, really trying to take my business to that next stage where we have Grand Slam set up in an evergreen way so like this week, I’ve been working on Facebook ads I’ve been working on finalizing our evergreen funnel and really not even finalizing it it’s really that I’ve been working on like getting the bare bones of it set up I have to give a big shout out to my girl Amanda bond. If you’re looking for any help with your Facebook ads, she is my go to woman. She’s so knowledgeable in that area. So she’s just been such a great support system for me whenever I have a question I’m just like Amanda

What am I doing wrong? What’s happening and she’s just been super helpful. So I’m very, very grateful for that. But you He has been interesting to, I’ve learned so many new things about Facebook ads. One of them being that when you’re setting up your evergreen funnel, you should start at the end. This is something I learned from Amanda is that you should start at the final phase where it’s like you’re trying to convert sales, right? So you’re targeting the people who visit your sales page, and you’re sending them Facebook ads, so that they remember Oh, yeah, I went to that base. I went to that sales page. And I really did it. I was curious about Grand Slam. And now here are these ads on my Facebook feed that are prompting me to buy Grand Slams like that’s really what I’ve been focusing on this week, along with this launch of this podcast. Like, honestly, guys, I cannot wait until this podcast is live because it has been taking up. So much of my time. It is ridiculous. And again, one of those things where you have to hold space for the fact that like it is quite an annoying thing to have to work on. Especially before it’s live, especially when like, there’s so many different pieces of it that you’re trying to juggle. But at the same time remembering that like this is a long term play like this is not going to be this hectic forever. We’re launching a brand new podcast, we’re trying to get 100 reviews in the first week. So we have goals that we’re trying to accomplish. There’s podcasts that need to be recorded, there’s interviews that need to be edited, the intro had to be recorded. When we did the intro for the first time I hated it. And I was like no, like, I cannot press publish on this. And guys, I’m such like Done is better than perfect person. Like, I’m totally happy to press publish on something, even if I don’t think it’s the best thing ever. Because I realized that my expectations are impossibly high. And it’s just unrealistic. So like I’d much rather just press published and sit on something because it’s not perfect. But the first intro, I honestly hated it, I was like, this cannot be the intro to on purpose. Like, we have to have to have to redo this. So we edited the the intro, it sounds way better. Now. Now it’s at least at a place where I’m like, okay, I can put my name on this and feel proud about it, which is great. The important thing for me during this time has just been remembering to take care of myself, because I think when you’re working so hard, it’s really easy to get into a bad state of mind, where you’re just constantly being hard on yourself and be like, Oh, you didn’t get this done. You didn’t get that done. Whenever I’m in a period of of a lot of hard work compassion, showing myself compassion. And kindness is like rule number one, like, anytime a negative thought comes into my mind, I’m like, Nope, that is not allowed. It’s like you have a body guard, you know, like your whole body guard at the very front of your mind. Any thought that comes in, you’re like, let me judge whether you’re worthy of really believing because just because a thought comes in does not mean that it has any validity, right. So it’s really about choosing which thoughts you want to believe. So that’s been a really big theme for me this week. Also, just doing my best to take care of myself, make sure that I’m well fed, make sure that I’m well watered. One way that I did that is we’ve started ordering meals from someone so she drops off lunch for me every single day. And also giving myself time to do things that aren’t productive. I’m putting productive in air quotes. Because if I look at something that I would normally consider unproductive, not that I would consider unproductive what society might consider unproductive. So like cooking, I love to cook like I find it so therapeutic. I think it’s it’s just a really nice way to connect with myself. It feels like I’m serving myself, it feels like a self love practice for me. But it takes me like two hours to cook and make a meal and eat and then clean up. And it definitely takes a huge chunk out of my day. But I look at that as a commitment to myself. And I’m like, Okay, if I can cook a meal for myself once or twice a week that would make me feel really taken care of. And it would it would give me space to relax and just completely disconnect from work. And actually, that is productive. So for me during this busy period, it’s not necessarily about like working nonstop, but it’s about being as productive as possible. So it’s about getting in bed at the end of the night. And When Nick is like, hey, let’s watch. What are we watching? Billions when he’s like, Hey, let’s watch billions tonight. It’s about having the the wisdom to be like, You know what, if we’re going to watch millions, it’s probably going to take like an hour to finish an episode. Which then means that I’m going to sleep an hour later, which then means when I wake up early tomorrow, I’m not going to feel my best. So you know what tonight, let’s not watch billions because I need to get my sleep. And that’s really important for me tonight. Another great example is like going for walks. Me and Nick are starting to have a commitment with each other where we go for walks like once in the morning once in the evening, like twice a week, right? So we’re starting really slow because he’s he had took a lot to be like, Hey, let’s go for a walk. I don’t think it’s on the top of any of our lists. Like we’re both such highly productive people. It doesn’t feel like the most productive thing in the world to go for a walk and then you start to realize that yeah, it is super productive because number one you’re getting in like a light workouts You don’t have to do like a run in order for it to be productive, you can go for a light walk. And if that’s productive for your body, it’s movement movement is good, right movement is good for the brain, which means that it’s good for my business, it’s good for taking care of me. So that’s good. It’s also great for our relationship. Because we get to talk to each other and catch up in a situation where we’re not distracted by other people. We’re not distracted by our phones. So like, you could look at that. And for the longest time, I know both of us did, where it was, like, we want to go for a walk together. But man, we got so much going on. Like, we’ll just kind of put it off this week, we made a plan where like, Okay, on whatever day, it was Tuesday evening, we’re gonna go for a walk. And Tuesday evening came around, and I had so much work to do. And I was like, gosh, the last thing I want to do is go for a walk, I really just want to sit here and finish my tasks. And then I was like, you know, what, Okay, step back. Is this productive? And the answer is like, Yes, this is productive. Like, even though it’s taking me away from my work, I probably need a break. Because I’ve been working all friggin day long since early o’clock, right? So to me, that’s like the beauty. And the fun part of being in this space is getting to be in that position of leadership with myself where I get to make those decisions about what is productive, and what’s not productive. And sometimes it’s not what society would say it’s productive. But you know, what society’s version of productive, could not interest me any less, I know that if I don’t take care of myself. And if I’m not getting enough sleep, and if I’m not moving my body, and if I’m not meditating and taking care of my mind, I know it’s going to negatively affect my work, I know I’m going to burn out, I know it’s gonna seep through into everything I do in a negative way. So that’s why for me, it’s just super important, make those decisions. What I’m most excited for this week, because I’m recording this on a Friday, this is going to go live on the Monday. So when you’re listening to this, Laura is actually going to be coming to Toronto, to Laura lives in New York, New York, New York. Laura lives in New York. And we decided that, you know, since she’s new to the team, it’d be really beneficial for her to come down, visit Trinidad for a few weeks, see what it’s all about. And for, it’s just to like to get us to come together and really get aligned in the business to allow her to meet Katherine. I think it’s just it’s such an exciting time in the business. And there’s so much work involved, we’re we’re like really powering through to get as much finished as possible. I just thought it’d be like, soul food for her to come and visit and for us to get to be together. Like I said, she’s also my best friend. So like, it’s not just good for business, it’s good for my heart. It’s good for personal reasons. And so yeah, she’s going to be coming on Monday, which I’m so excited for. Not only I’m excited to see her, but I’ve also ordered all of this new equipment guys, IG TV went live last week, right? I’ve been putting out an IG TV video every single day that is live, which I’m super proud of. I’ve been doing a lot of repurposing of old content, but what I really want to get into is creating fresh content specifically for IG TV. But I didn’t really have the right gear, because a lot of my gear is heavy stuff like stuff that I I could put this camera on a tripod, and it would do a really great job. But I’m not going to bring this camera out and about with me, without really thinking about it. Because it’s heavy, it’s cumbersome, it’s just not comfortable. The more you guys listen to me talk, the more you’re going to realize I’m all about flow. And I’m all about ease. And I’m all about things just like I said flowing and being easy. So I bought a bunch of new equipment. And I’m so I’m really excited because she’s going to be bringing it all down with her when she comes. So that’s going to be amazing. And then also today, finally, our Facebook ads were approved for that final stage of like getting the sales, right, because remember, I told you like Amanda bond has me working backwards. So we’re working at the sales part first, where we’re targeting people who have visited the sales page, and we are sending them sales messages. So like, for example, right now we have four videos. One is a what is Grand Slam, another one is Grand Slam for you. Another one is a testimonial. And another one is basically an alive that I did where I answered people’s questions about Grand Slam, right. So I was like, let’s start with these four and kind of see how it goes. So those are currently live, we’ve had our first sale of the day. So that’s super exciting. So I’m just really excited to see like, how are the Facebook ads actually going to turn out? What’s gonna work, what’s not gonna work. And like I said, guys, like, I’m really here creating these podcasts, to share what’s happening behind the scenes and to share the lessons that I’m learning. Because I wish that someone was doing this. Like for me, you know, like, I think it’s really cool to share these types of things. I don’t think it makes you any less of a business owner, like Yeah, I’m still trying to figure all this stuff out or I’m trying to grow in this way. I’m trying to grow in that way. No one ever gets to a stage where they’re like, Okay,

my bet is good. Like, I’m done, right? There’s always a next level of growth. So I think having these conversations is really important, and it’s something that I want to do. So yeah, I’ll be sharing that with you next week. Hopefully I’ll have a little bit more insight into how the Facebook ads have been going, what’s been working, what hasn’t been working and what my big lessons have been. And yeah, I would say that those are the things I’m really looking forward to next week. Okay, my friends, that is the end of episode number one of on purpose. Thank you so much for being here with me and for listening all until the very end. Please take a moment to send me a message on my Instagram. You can find me at Alex beaten and let me know what did you think of this first podcast episode? And what did you like? And what would you like to hear more about? These solo episodes are really just completely freestyle. Like I have not planned anything. I’ve really just kind of like let my mental chatter flow out of my mouth. And I like I said, I wanted to be very open and honest. But your feedback matters to me because I do want it to be valuable for you. And I want you to be able to walk away and be like cool, like I learned this or I can implement that or like I’m going to shift my mindset in this way. I want it to inspire you, motivate you get you in the right place, the right frame of mind. Thank you so much for listening and I will talk to you guys again next time. Bye. Thank you so much for tuning into the on purpose podcast and I really hope that you had as much of a blast as we did. If you liked what you heard and want even more make sure you leave a review because it really helps support what I do here on the podcast. All you have to do is search the podcast app for the on purpose podcast, select it then scroll down until you see write a review and then type away at the beginning of the next episode. I will be picking one review one special review My favorite review of the week and I will be reading it out for all of you guys so you definitely don’t want to miss out on that. I hope you really enjoy your week and I will see you guys again next time stay on purpose.