What’s up everyone! Today I am joined by Alisha Robertson, founder of Living Over Existing and author of a book by the same title. She’s also the creator of Brand with Purpose, a ten-week mentorship program for women entrepreneurs. Know what it is you want to do - passion, skills, and interest - then build your brand on that. After all the pivots she made, Alisha finally said yes to her calling to write. For over 6 years, she has worked with women entrepreneurs teaching them how to gain clarity in their business. Her group program, Brand with Purpose, guides creatives to build their brand, create better content, and define their signature product. Listen as Alisha talks about how she handled those big life decisions, how she committed to her mission to write, and how she helps creative women build their life and business on purpose. Let’s get into it! Episode Quotes "Some days are really bad, but you have to keep going because the next day could be the day that changes your entire life." "People want accountability and structure and group programs are perfect for that." "We are in a season now where people crave community over information." "If what you are giving away for free doesn't make you want to slap a price on it, it is not good enough." "Don't be afraid to change... dwelling too much on making decisions makes you stuck." Listen to Learn 00:50 - Getting to know Alisha Robertson, Rapid 5 Questions 03:04 - Alisha's entrepreneurial journey 07:53 - One-on-one coaching to group programs 10:50 - The calling to write 19:26 - Brand with Purpose - How it started and who it's for 23:47 - Brand with Purpose - Program structure and learner's experience 30:47 - Brand with Purpose - Creating the program content 36:00 - Insights to achieve transformation 37:07 - Awesome things coming up from Alisha Connect with Alisha Brand with Purpose LivingOverExisting.com TheAlishaNicole.com Join the Living Over Existing Community! Follow Alisha on Twitter! Looking for the Transcript? Episode 112 Grab the bonus segment! Alisha shares how she consistently pushes through fear and into greatness, and stays true to her commitment to write. Grab it here: https://get.zencourses.co/extra
What’s up everyone! Today I am joined by Alisha Robertson, founder of Living Over Existing and author of a book by the same title. She’s also the creator of Brand with Purpose, a ten-week mentorship program for women entrepreneurs.
Know what it is you want to do - passion, skills, and interest - then build your brand on that.
After all the pivots she made, Alisha finally said yes to her calling to write. For over 6 years, she has worked with women entrepreneurs teaching them how to gain clarity in their business. Her group program, Brand with Purpose, guides creatives to build their brand, create better content, and define their signature product.
Listen as Alisha talks about how she handled those big life decisions, how she committed to her mission to write, and how she helps creative women build their life and business on purpose. Let’s get into it!
Episode Quotes
"Some days are really bad, but you have to keep going because the next day could be the day that changes your entire life."
"People want accountability and structure and group programs are perfect for that."
"We are in a season now where people crave community over information."
"If what you are giving away for free doesn't make you want to slap a price on it, it is not good enough."
"Don't be afraid to change... dwelling too much on making decisions makes you stuck."
Listen to Learn
00:50 - Getting to know Alisha Robertson, Rapid 5 Questions
03:04 - Alisha's entrepreneurial journey
07:53 - One-on-one coaching to group programs
10:50 - The calling to write
19:26 - Brand with Purpose - How it started and who it's for
23:47 - Brand with Purpose - Program structure and learner's experience
30:47 - Brand with Purpose - Creating the program content
36:00 - Insights to achieve transformation
37:07 - Awesome things coming up from Alisha
Connect with Alisha
Join the Living Over Existing Community!
Looking for the Transcript?
Grab the bonus segment!
Alisha shares how she consistently pushes through fear and into greatness, and stays true to her commitment to write.
Grab it here: https://get.zencourses.co/extra
**Alisha Robertson**: I had to surrender and just sit down and say, I believe that if I do say yes to committing to writing that it would work. And I think the thing that we are so privileged to have is that we can always go back.
**Janelle Allen**: Welcome to Level Up Your Course, where we pull back the curtain on what it takes to create learning that transforms lives. You will hear stories from business owners like you who share their success and their struggles. This is not where you come to hear passive income myths, friends. This is where you learn the truth about building a profitable learning platform. I am your host, Janelle Allen. and this is today's episode.
What's up everyone? Today I am speaking with Alisha Robertson, author and founder of Living Over Existing. Alisha is also the creator of Brand With Purpose, which we're going to discuss today. Alisha, welcome to the show.
**AR**: Hey, thank you so much for having me.
**JA**: I'm excited to chat with you. I had some time to read over your story and just all of the journey that you shared and I can't wait to get into it, but first we have a tradition on the show called the rapid five. Five quick questions to help listeners get to know you. Ready?
**AR**: Yep.
**JA**: All right. Number one, what'd you have for breakfast?
**AR**: I didn't eat breakfast, but I did have cheesy bread from Domino's.
**JA**: Okay. Okay. Okay. Number two, what is your favorite movie of all time?
**AR**: Oh gosh, so hard, Player's Club.
**JA**: Player's Club. You are Southern.
**AR**: I know. I'm so southern.
**JA**: You know what? I love it. All right. Number three is a very serious question.
**AR**: Okay.
**JA**: The zombie apocalypse has hit. You have six minutes to grab three essential items to survive, not people. All of your loved ones are good, they're with you. Okay. What three items do you pick?
**AR**: Okay, so I am going to need my child's baby formula, because I feel like that's pretty important. I am going to take, got a little chest of, like, important documents, and my laptop because my world is like on here. So even if I can't use it, at least it's all safe.
**JA**: You know what, this is a a judgment free zone, so we're going to go with, with those items -- laptop, baby formula, and important documents. To show the zombies. I love it. Okay.
**AR**: It was quick.
**JA**: I got you. Number four, finish this sentence, when I was a kid, I wanted to be a blank?
**AR**: A writer.
**JA**: Okay, and number five, what is the hardest lesson you have learned so far as an entrepreneur?
**AR**: Some days are really, really bad, but you have to keep going because it's possible that the next day it could be the day that changed your entire life.
**JA**: Yes. Okay. So, speaking of you as an entrepreneur, can you share, you know, how you get to the place you are at now in your entrepreneurial journey? Where did you start and what has been, you know, the highlights that got you where you are now?
**AR**: Yes. So I'd say about seven or eight years ago, and I'm horrible with timing, but about seven or eight years ago I was in a job that I hated, and not just a, you know, I really can't stand being here, but literally could not stand going in there. Like the people were toxic, the work I was doing was toxic. It was just a really, really bad place to be in. And I started making jewelry actually. like a hobby and as a way to kind of like distress when I got home from work. And the more people that I showed my jewelry to, the more people were asking like, hey, can you, you know, make this for me? And they would show me designs like, hey, can you do this? And I've always been a pretty creative person. I was like, yeah, sure I can do it.
And it was just the hobby until the demand got to a point where I was like, wait a minute, I can't keep putting all this money into this and not actually making anything of it. So I decided to launch like a small online shop where I handmade jewelry and sold. And during that phase too, my time at my job just, it started getting worse. Like it was going downhill, until one day I had a full-on panic attack in the bathroom on the floor. And I knew that I needed to find an escape and it was at the point where it was either, you know, I had to decide between continuing to, you know, be at that job and make money, or take care of my sanity. And I felt like my sanity at that point was way more important than a paycheck, so I chose to quit that job and I took my then jewelry business full time. Fast forward like a year or two maybe into it, I start blogging about my journey. I'm not someone who ever thought she would be an entrepreneur, even though I've always been someone who's just sucked at having jobs…
**JA**: I can relate.
**AR**: But I started to blog about my journey, because I had never want it to be an entrepreneur. I didn't know anyone who was an entrepreneur. I come from a background of women who worked, I'm talking like sunup to sundown. So that was never like an option even for me to consider. So, I started to blog about my journey, talking about things I had done wrong, talking about the things that I got right, talking about where I was sourcing products and how I was getting, you know, my products sold in like little shops around town. And the more I shared my journey, the more women began to ask me how I could help them do the same things. And again, demand that to a point to where I was like, I have to do this, you know, for money if want to continue to make this happen. Because I was getting emails on emails and emails of people just asking me for advice, and, like, I love giving the advice, but it got to a point where it was taking me away from what was actually making me money.
So, I decided to launch business coaching services. And at the time, I was strictly just working with women who wanted to launch online shops, but helping them in the process of just like building and growing and presenting themselves online and using what now I know is content marketing, of like telling them to blog through their story and blog through their journey to help them to gain sales. And it got to a point where that was really what I loved to do and that was really what was taking the majority of my time. It was what was making me the most money and I decided to then turn down my shop or shut down my shop to fully focus on business coaching. So, my entire kind of journey has just been like one big aha, Hey this is in demand right now, let's see how this can work for me moment. But it's been working ever since. And most recently, I have stopped coaching to focus on figuring out how to help more women on like a broader scale without having to trade so much of my time.
**JA**: Yeah.
**AR**: As I was working one on one.
**JA**: Yeah. That's the overview version. And when we do the bonus segment. I definitely want to get deeper into how you made those pivots, because making a pivot, especially, you know, you've done it twice now, can be scary. And so I definitely want to talk about how you navigated that, and how you were able to keep your audience and all of that through making those changes in the bonus segment. So for anyone listening,, come back and check out that portion of the conversation. All right, now, so you have Living Over Existing, and your program is Brand With Purpose. I want to talk about your business model now because you gave us the overview. What is your business model now? So you talked about making money. How does your business make money now?
**AR**: Yes, so through my personal brand, I recently quit one-on-one coaching to move over into like a group coaching platform, which is where Brand With Purpose came into play. It's where I can go through the same material that I would with one on one coaching clients, but they have the added luxury of doing it with a community. I noticed the biggest issue a lot of people say when they take a course or when they join a coaching program or, you know, they invest in any type of help that their biggest issue isn't, you know, getting the work done. It's being held accountable to make sure everything is done when it should be. So, Brand With Purpose was something that is giving you the same one-on-one feedback that you need, but you're able to do it with other women who are either on the same journey or not too far, you know, ahead or behind you as well.
And then Living Over Existing is my new baby brand, which I'm super proud of, but it is a media company and soon to be membership community for women entrepreneurs. So we have the podcast, which we do do podcast sponsorships through that. And then the membership community will potentially be our like big revenue stream where we're also building a community for women entrepreneurs that will help you to launch and grow your business. But we're really focusing on the community aspect and also bringing up topics about how to do entrepreneurship and how to do business around your life. I feel like we're in a culture that's telling you to hustle 24/7, and after experiencing extremely bad burnout myself, I want to have more conversations on how you're living an intentional life around entrepreneurship and how you're taking care of yourself around entrepreneurship, so that's really going to be like the main focus of that.
**JA**: We really need that. I'm so glad you said that. And, you know, know I read that on your site. I was just having a conversation with someone last night around we don't often stop and think about what work means to us and how we want to work.
**AR**: Yeah.
**JA**: We get caught up in whatever it looks like, whether you have a full time job or you're an entrepreneur, burnout can happen in any way. And sometimes it's just not having the luxury, because it is a privilege to be able to, to take a step back and say, I don't think this is for me. This is how I want my life to be. This is how I want work to be. So I'm glad that you are doing this work to help people kind of think about that from how to live, right? Not look back and, and see that all of your days and time were spent just burn out.
**AR**: Exactly.
**JA**: So thank you. It's basically what I'm trying to say in a long winded way.
**AR**: No problem. Thank you.
**JA**: Okay. So I want to get into Brand With Purpose, but before that, I think it's important so that people can get to know where you're at, I think it was January of 2019 -- this year -- you put a blog post up that said you're not taking on any more coaching clients, I think after February.
**AR**: Yeah.
**JA**: And you drew your line in the sand and said, I am a writer. I'm going to pursue writing. Talk about that. You know, that resonated with me because I've always written as well. And I know how hard it can be to move away from something that is generating income for you.
**AR**: Yeah.
**JA**: And to then say, you know what? That's nice, but this is the thing. How did you manage that and what has that transition been like so far?
**AR**: Yeah, so, well, for one I'm probably just slightly crazy, but leaving something that definitely is working, definitely that pays bills. But for me, in every transition that I've ever had, I've always been able to make it because I felt like a tuck or a pool or what I was currently doing just didn't settle right with me. And that's how I began to feel about one on one coaching. I enjoyed it. I know that I'm good at it, but there was always that pool of this isn't what you should be doing anymore. It's time to move.
**JA**: Yeah.
**AR**: Or I would feel almost frustrated when I would look at my calendar for the week and I would have several coaching calls and I was like, I shouldn't feel that way. I shouldn't go into this week almost dreading it because I have to do my job, you know? And I took a break from it for a while and was like, well, maybe I'm just burnt out. Maybe I'm just tired. Let me kind of take a break and kind of come back with like new eyes and new heart, and I did that and came back and I still felt the same way. And it wasn't, you know, anything that my clients were doing, like I think I've nailed down, you know how to get really incredible clients who want to do the work. It was all like internally in me and I have known since I was probably in, I don’t know how old you are in like third grade, but I've known since then that I was supposed to write.
**JA**: Yeah.
**AR**: Every time I sit down to put pen to paper, I feel so free. It's almost like a state of like Nirvana, like I'm into it and I just feel so connected and aligned when I'm writing and that has something, when I looked back and said, okay, well if I'm not going to coach, what in the world am I going to do? That was the thing that kept coming up whenever I would ask myself that question and I always just felt like, yeah, I can write but that's not going to make me money. Which I feel like a lot of us adults, we mess ourselves up a lot of times thinking that, thinking money first, because we were probably raised to think you need to make money and, you know, forget about your passions, that's not gonna make you money. So I was kind of in that mind frame of yeah, I love to write, but is it really gonna make me money? So I was really hesitant to really put myself all into it until the end of last year, beginning of this year, I just had like come to Jesus moment. It was like either you're going to, you know, sit down and commit to doing this thing or you're going to continue to feel like you're just floating.
Like nothing is connecting. You're going to feel unfulfilled. Never going to feel easy or feel right to you until you fully immerse yourself into doing this thing. And I really did, you know, just to say, okay, I give up. I had to surrender and just sit down and say, I believe that if I do say yes to committing to writing, that it will work. And I think the thing that we are so privileged to have is that we can always go back. If something doesn't work, we have the luxury. I can always go back to coaching one-on-one if I want to. I can always go get a job if I need to. So it was just kind of either you're going to, you know, go out here and see if this thing is really going to work for you or you're going to spend the rest of your life wondering.
**JA**: Yeah.
**AR**: Yeah. So, so far it's going pretty well.
**JA**: I just want to say I liked it. You use that word privilege because it is, and I'm gonna let you know -- not to have a Kanye moment. I was about to say "I'm gonna let you finish," I just wanted to put that there cause I want to come back to talking about privilege, because what you're saying is so true. But please continue.
**AR**: Yeah, I was going to say, like, so far it's been working out. I've learned that I can impact women in many ways and I think that's always been like my big goal is to impact women in their business and in their life. I know that my writing does that for both and then I can, you know, build different things in the meantime that can also kind of supplement my income while I'm working on writing and writing this book without having to go back to things that didn't feel right to me, if that makes sense.
**JA**: Yeah.
**AR**: But yeah. So yeah, it's going pretty well. There have been some moments where I'm waking up and been like, girl, you are bugging. But so far, you know, it's gone pretty well. My husband hasn't told me to get my crap together yet, so I think we're good.
**JA**: That's the compass, right? You look over and say are we still good? Okay.
**AR**: Right, right.
**JA**: You know, you said a lot of wonderful things there that we don't often hear people talk about, especially online entrepreneurs. You talked about privilege and it is a privilege. You know, one of the things I remember having a conversation with someone about early, early on in my entrepreneurial career, it was just being mindful of the fact that having the ability to say, you know what, I'm gonna leave my job. I'm going to try this thing. I'm going to take my time and figure out what it is that I want out of life is a privilege. And it's a privilege that my parents and grandparents did not have.
**AR**: Exactly.
**JA**: And oftentimes I think that I get frustrated with the narrative that we always hear people saying, looking down on having a 9:00 to 5:00 or being frustrated, and I understand where that comes from, but I also think that there needs to be a place for just the gratitude of having the privilege to be an entrepreneur.
**AR**: Yeah.
**JA**: And looking at things and even if you are working a job, understanding that that is part of your journey, and what can you learn from that? And just looking at things in a different way as opposed to looking at everything that feels like it's not what you want.
**AR**: Yeah.
**JA**: I don't know if that makes sense but…
**AR**: No, no, it does. It definitely makes sense. I feel like we all have the space to kind of pick and choose what our future or the path we want to take holds. And like you said, that's not something that our parents or our grandparents or great grandparents even had an opportunity to do. So we should definitely be thankful either way.
**JA**: The other thing you'd said, you know, when you talk about money, and I know in one of your blog articles you, you were like, okay, I'm doing this thing, but I still need to figure out how I'm going to make some money from it. And that's real, right? It's not a business if it doesn't make money.
**AR**: Yeah.
**JA**: And in the context of what you're doing, how have you been able to pursue this calling as a writer and then reconcile that with this need to also generate revenue with your online business?
**AR**: Yeah, so one, cutting back. I haven't done a lot of the things that I consider a self care, but that are probably considered a luxury to a lot of people. So I'm doing my own nails, doing my own hair, doing, you know, things like that. We're not eating out as much, but also, you know, thankful that I took the time beforehand to create passive income for myself. So while I may not be making as much as I was through one-on-one coaching, I still have some money coming in. So it's not like I'm completely cut off. And then also like I mentioned before, I do, you know, have like podcast sponsorships and things like that that do help a lot too. So it's been able to rally around like the smaller ways that I've been able to make money and then also in conjunction with cutting back too.
**JA**: Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So let's talk about Brand With Purpose. When did the idea for this come, especially in the context of this transition that you just made?
**AR**: Yeah. So when I put up the announcement that I was going to officially leave one-on-one coaching, I said, well, I got to go out with a bang. I've got to like, you know, really give my all and like bring women together to really help them to build the business that they desire in a way that isn't, you know, sleazy or, you know, super demanding. Again, going back to wanting people to build a business around their life and not the other way around. So I thought, you know, how can I bring women together and also help them in my business. So I came up with Brand With Purpose, which helps women entrepreneurs to really clarify their message, get clear on their target audience, and also think about how they can create better content and begin creating their signature product or service.
And I decided to do it in that group setting again because I wanted women to be able to have a community outside of just our calls together, because entrepreneurship is lonely, especially if you're in a small town where maybe you don't have that big, like, entrepreneurial support system, or if you're the only that you know or if you're new to this and you really don't know where to start, I wanted women to have a space where they could bounce ideas off of. So I was really intentional about trying to get women from different industries just so that there wasn't like a competition type of thing going on. Because I know as women, unfortunately, we can feel some type of way for many of us doing the same thing, which that's a whole story for a different thing.
**JA**: That’s a whole other podcast.
**AR**: Right. But I want it to be able to get women from kind of different industries and also women who were similar on the same paths and really to just guide them through my process of building a brand, creating incredible content and my favorite part, which is creating their signature like product or service.
**JA**: Okay. Okay. So you kind of have gotten into it. It's for women, but do you have an explicit sentence? If I were to say who is Brand With Purpose for, what does that target learner look like?
**AR**: Yeah, so I would say Brand With Purpose is for women who are wanting to build specifically an online business, who are wanting to build an online business around what they feel called to do. And that could be whether you are very clear on what you know your purpose or calling may be. It could be something that you just are really passionate about, but they also want to do it in a way that feels right to them. Maybe they are tired of having a bunch of information shoved down their throat every time they log into Instagram. They are tired of, you know, signing up for 5011 webinars and still leaving just as confused as they were when they first started. So these are women who are clear on what they want to do. They just need the step by step process of how to get from start to profit.
**JA**: There's so much of that. The question that I get often is what's going on with online courses right now? Where is it at? And one of the things I tell people all the time is A, the market has become more sophisticated. People have become more discerning. But the other part of that, B, is people have realized that they want less, but they also want accountability. They want structure. They don't want to be bombarded with just so much information, as you just said. And these group programs are perfect for that. You know, having a structured program over a period of time that allows people to not only have that structure, but also the accountability and community that they're seeking has become so powerful. And I'm seeing more and more people move to that.
**AR**: Yeah, exactly. And I read somewhere not too long ago that we're going through like a phase or a season now where people are really craving community over information. And I think that's huge. Like we have all the information that we need. Now, we just need the space to like really implement it.
**JA**: Yes, absolutely. Absolutely. Okay, so what is the structure of Brand With Purpose? Can you give us a peek if we were to, you know, lift the hood, what does it look like from a structure standpoint?
**AR**: Yeah, so it's a three-month coaching program. And during those three months, we have live coaching calls, I guess you would say, where we're going over a different topic each session. So whether it be content or you know, growing your email list or you know, outlining your product. We're together going over each topic during our coaching sessions. After our coaching sessions, you are individually assigned homework. So this is where you kind of get that one on one feedback. So let's say if our homework for the session was to outline you're a product, or your service, we actually worked through like a Google doc and you go ahead and you fill out your outline of your product or your information and then after you're done I go through and make notes of what needs to be changed or what I feel like could be added to make it better. And then you report back to me your changes that you make.
So together on the calls or together you can bounce ideas off of each other, you can ask me questions on the live calls, but then you also have the opportunity to get that one-on-one feedback. And I don't like Sharon feedback on the coaching calls just because I feel like no one ever wants to feel called out when it comes to creating their product or you know, their course or their content or whatever it may be. And I feel like that's something that should be kept between us. Because I never want someone to say, well you know girl, you sucked at that. So I don't think, but you know, you never know. So I do like to keep that piece intimate between me and the individual, the ladies in the group. But you get that one on one feedback and then there's also the community.
So we have a community space where you can go in, in between calls and asks questions. If you want community feedback on anything, you can add that in there. If you just want a little accountability, if you need to vent, you can do that in there as well. And that's kind of a space where you can get overall feedback in between our calls. And then I also have been to, you know, I celebrate everyone's wins. I congratulate people for the steps that they've taken. Just because I, I want everyone to feel seen and I want everyone to feel like what they're doing matters even if it's a super small step. Like if you bought your domain name, girl, let's celebrate that because you made an investment in, you know, the next steps of what you're building. So I do try to make it a fun space, but also a space where you can really learn and get feedback too.
**JA**: Yeah. To your point earlier, you know, one of the things that someone said to me once and I was like, ah, that makes sense is praise in public, critique in private.
**AR**: Yeah.
**JA**: It's so important. I'm glad that you said that because it is so important to consider those things that, you know, sometimes we just get caught up thinking about the content and the information, but not thinking about people and how to connect, but also support people in a human way. And you're right. No one likes to feel called out in front of other people. That's not fun. So I love that you shared that. It seems small, but I think it's so big.
**AR**: Yeah, absolutely.
**JA**: So where do students get stuck when it comes to creating there brand? What are the points where they tend to need a little more support or they get stuck and how do you handle that?
**AR**: I would definitely say they're really good at like gaining clarity. They're really good at knowing overall what they want to do if that makes sense. The issue I find most people get stuck is really figuring out their target audience in thinking about their target audience as this whole brand new person that, you know, they know nothing about. I felt like a lot of people go into it with that mentality and I really have to break it down and say, no. Nine times out of 10 your target audience is some version of yourself. You know, a lot of us create our brands out of necessity, meaning we create our brands out of something that we wish existed or out of problems that we've experienced before. And I always say that your target audience is just maybe three to four years behind you, so you're really just pouring into them what you've learned over the past few years. And once I kind of break it down that way, usually my clients are like, oh, that makes sense. Okay, now I know how to market to this person. Now I know what type of content I should be creating when you put yourself in their shoes.
**JA**: Yeah, that's so true. And it's also true that it involves listening, you know, going back to bringing that human element. I find that so many people get caught up thinking that they have to figure out and it's like, no, you just have to listen. What are people reaching out to you about? What are people saying that they need? And then from that listening, the way I teach it is to put together a profile and it becomes the picture. But you're right, it helps to have a person that you can think of, even if it's like the way you expressed it, you three or four years back, and say this is the target audience member to be able to see that person.
**AR**: Yeah. And what I've found too is that a lot of people are afraid to ask questions or afraid to ask for help. I will send out a survey in a heartbeat.
**JA**: Same. I'm the same way.
**AR**: Tell me, yeah, tell me what you need. Do we need to have a video call real quick, because I need to know.
**JA**: Yes.
**AR**: I feel like if people would kind of get around that hesitation, just simply asking people, there is so much you can learn about marketing in the product, you should be creating the you should be creating, if you're just willing to ask and listen.
**JA**: It makes it so much easier. I literally just had a call where, you know, the person I was speaking with said the same thing. You know, a lot of times, people will just bang their head against the wall trying to come up with, in my world, trying to come up with their course idea. And it's like no, ask your audience what they're struggling with, take that data and use that to inform and help make it easy for you to pull out these are some things that I can teach. But you're right, I think the first step, the, the hurdle that a lot of people struggle with is just asking, just communicating with their audience, what do I say? Is it okay? What if no one responds? And I think it's because they're thinking about all of the bad things that could possibly happen. You know?
**AR**: Yeah. You know, like they're not going to like me.
**JA**: Yeah I've definitely been guilty of that. But if you just focus on the bad, you're never going to get to the good. You're never going to make any progress. So yes, I'm so glad that you mentioned that because it is a struggle for a lot of people. Okay, so talking about, you know, asking your audience, you've talked about the structure of the program and where people get stuck. How did you decide what content to include in this program and can you give us a high level of what each of the modules is over?
**AR**: Yeah, yeah. So honestly, it's just been from years of working one-on-one with clients. I've found that everyone kind of needs help with the similar topics, if that makes sense. Even if, you know, they need to spend more time on one topic, or if one topic comes really easy to them, I've noticed that we have to hit on several points in order to, like, get to our main overarching goal. So through the program, we always start out with focusing on helping you to get clarity if you're not 100% sure if your idea is the idea that you want to focus on. And that's usually more of like a clarity in your brand. So knowing exactly what it is that she wants to do. Because the last thing I want to do is to go through this entire program with you and then you get to the end and you're like, you know what? I really don't like doing this as much as I thought. Because then, you've wasted your time and your money. So I do spend a little bit of time just making sure that my client is really clear on what it is that they want to do, and I do this -- there is something I like to call the sweet spot exercise, which really just blends in your passion, your skills and your interests to really come up with like one core idea that you really want to focus on in your overall brand.
And then we move over into like the branding aspect of it. And I work more of like the internal branding, not much as like the graphic and web design. I don't, I don't do that part, but I focused on getting clear on your brand message. So being able to clearly state who you help, how you help them in the transition that you're going to take them through, which for me, if you can't clearly articulate that you're going to a lot of trouble creating and creating products because you can't clearly tell your audience why you're here to help them, you know, and how you're going to be able to help them. So with the brand message and also going through our target audience profile, we get really clear on who they should be targeting and how they can reach them. And I usually go through that and let them know, okay, you need to go update social profiles. You need to update website to make sure that everything that you're putting out there into the world, either in person, or online, now matches that brand message that we've gone over.
From there we go to typically content, and I'm thinking of this like at the top of my head. So we go into content, which I said products is my favorite, but I honestly think content may be my favorite, but I go through a process of teaching them how to actually brainstorm content ideas because another issue I hear a lot of entrepreneurs say is I don’t have any more ideas, I don't have anything else to talk about. And it's like, yes you do. You're just not thinking into it deep enough. So that's where we really dig into, you know, sending out surveys to their audience to learn what their pain points are. Writing down issues that you've previously had regarding your brand. And then teaching them how to take different content types from those brainstorm sessions. And we usually talk about the different types of content that they'll create when we talk about the target audience. But yeah, we go through that, and we also go over something that I like to call the attractive method, which is an easy way for you to, we have like a template that I give them where you plug in information for your content. But it helps you to create a really good and valuable piece of content that also focuses on converting your audience, either into a new customer or getting them on your email list or getting them to consume another related piece of content.
So I give them and go through that kind of breakdown process of how to create incredible content. And then from there we talk about their email list. So building their email list, making sure that they have one like main offer that they're offering to their email subscribers, and also treating that email offer as if it's a product. I always tell my clients, if what you're giving away for free doesn't make you want to slap a price on it, it's not good enough. So I always tell them to create something of value just because when someone signs up for your email list, they're giving you like prime space in something that's so sacred to a lot of us. So you have to, you know, give them something that is worth it. So we go over creating their freebie if they don't have one or kind of restructuring their freebie to make it even better and to also make sure that it matches their brand. And then the final piece is going over into the making money side. So I like to either work with clients in creating a digital product, so a course, e-book, something like that can easily be consumed, or their signature service, whether that be a one on one service or a group service. And then we go over how to properly outlined those things, creating their sales pages, marketing plans, things like that.
**JA**: Okay. It all made sense and it sounded very well thought out and very comprehensive. So thank you for walking us through all of that. So I feel like we've talked about a lot, but in your journey and all of the ups and downs and where you are now, do you have any final insights on just teaching and helping people to achieve transformation?
**AR**: I would say don't be afraid to change. Like we mentioned before, you can always go back. And I think also, try not to dwell too much on whether you should move, or you should take a chance, whether you should take this leap of faith. Of course, you know, think about the logistics, if it's going to affect more than you know, just yourself, you have to think about those things. But I think when we sit there and dwell on a decision is when we get stuck and we don't take any action. So you're not doing what you were doing, you're not doing what you could have been doing. You're kind of sitting, you know, in the middle of doing nothing. So I think if you're going to move and make a transition, think about it some, of course, make sure it makes sense, but also don't take too long to make that decision.
**JA**: So true. So true. All right, we're going to talk a little bit more about that in the bonus segment, but we're down to our final three questions from the main segment. The first one is easy. What is next for you? Anything exciting coming up?
**AR**: Yeah, so I think I mentioned before, through my company Living Over Existing, we are launching our membership community from women entrepreneurs, which I'm really, really excited about, y'all. Like geeking out right now over building this thing, so that'll be launching October 22nd. It's really going to be a hub for women entrepreneurs to learn and to also just talk about what real life is like as an entrepreneur, because we all know it's not always pretty, but I'm giving you the space and opportunity to really dig into those conversations about taking care of yourself and, you know, running a business when you have a full time job or running a business with, you know, maybe mental health issues. So we're really wanting to dig into all things entrepreneurship and not just the growing or the building part. I love it.
**JA**: Where can people find out more about you and your work?
**AR**: So you can find more about me on my personal website, it's thealishanicole.com. I'm also thealishanicole on pretty much every social site that exists. And then if you want to learn more about Living Over Existing, you can head over to LivingOverExisting.com
**JA**: And we'll be sure to share all of those links in the show notes. Alisha, last question. What is your why? Why do you get up and do this work each day?
**AR**: I want to make a bigger impact for women entrepreneurs. I want to show women who felt like they were unheard, or felt like they're not being seen, or for the women who know that they have something huge that they want to offer, but don't exactly know how to go about it, I want to be an advocate for those women because that's how I was. I felt because I was an introvert, I couldn't go out and have a successful business. I thought because, you know, I was quiet then no one would ever hear me or no one would ever see me. But I found out that, you know, being an entrepreneur and being really clear on what it is that I want, and also being able to just push past fear enough to put myself out there that, you know, I can make a greater impact in this world, that I can, you know, help women who feel low, who feel like they may not have anything to offer, I can make them feel powerful through building a business. So that's my why. And of course I just had a little girl myself, and I want her to see mommy killing it so she can feel it and, you know, let me retire one day.
**JA**: That's right. I love it. Thank you so much.
**AR**: Yeah.
**JA**: Hey, everyone, I hope you enjoyed that interview with Alisha. Shout out to Alisha for just coming on and just being so transparent about her experience, her life, her journey, and all of the pivots that she's made. If you're looking for the show notes, you can find out more about Alisha's work. You can find them over at ZenCourses.co/112, again, zencourses.co/112 for episode 112. All right if you're looking for the bonus segment, I got you covered. Head to get.zencourses.co/extra, if you're in front of your computer, desktop, laptop, whatever it is.
Get.zencourses.co/extra, or if you are on your phone, text the word 'ExtraExtra' all one word, E X, T R A, E X T, R A, to the number 44222. In the bonus segment, Alisha and I had a wonderful time chatting about just getting deeper into discussing the fear and how she pushes through fear to put herself out there and how she's able to commit to that call that she heard and felt to focus on her writing and the work involved in doing that. And just in general, when you feel like something just isn't quite what you're looking for, what you're after, or your work is, is not doing it, it's, it's like this ain't it, what to do about that. How to pursue that feeling. So that’s in the bonus setting. Again, text ExtraExtra to the number 44222, or head over to get.zencourses.co/extra to grab that. All right, that is my time and I will see you next time.
All right, my friends, that is my time. Remember before you can Level Up Your Course, you must first level up your mind. As always, thank you for hanging out with me for another great episode. I do not take it for granted. I am Janell Allen and this has been Level Up Your Course. Peace.