Less Is More - Maybe

Welcome to another episode of the Service Based Business Society Podcast, where we dive deep into the journeys, strategies, and insights of successful entrepreneurs and business owners in the service industry. This week, we're thrilled to present an engaging conversation with Alison Reeves, a world-class marketing expert with a remarkable journey from blogging and music to becoming a sought-after business coach and marketing strategist.

Alison shares her unique approach to business, which combines strategic consulting with mindset restoration, helping entrepreneurs not just scale their income but also find joy and fulfillment in their lives. With a wealth of experience in marketing and a plethora of certifications ranging from SEO to digital marketing, and even somatic healing and the law of attraction, Alison brings a holistic view to achieving business success.

In this episode, Tiffany-Ann and Alison explore:

• Alison's journey from blogging about her music and art to becoming a marketing expert and business coach.
• The evolution of blogging and the importance of creating genuine value.
• The blend of masculine and feminine energies in business and the power of embracing both for growth and fulfillment.
• The concept of doing nothing as a productivity tool and the challenge it presents to busy entrepreneurs.
• Alison's upcoming book, "Embodied Abundance," and her trauma-informed approach to manifesting success.

Join us as we delve into these topics and more, uncovering valuable tips and insights that can help you not just make more money, but truly love your life and business. Whether you're a seasoned entrepreneur or just starting out, this episode is packed with wisdom and strategies that can transform the way you approach your business and your life.

About The Guest

Alison Reeves is a world-class marketing expert and business coach, known for her unique approach that combines strategic business consulting with mindset restoration. With a career that spans over a decade, Alison has helped individuals and companies worldwide scale their income, boasting consecutive multiple 6-figure years and a record $60k sales month. Her expertise is backed by numerous certifications in marketing, digital strategies, and personal development areas such as somatic healing and the law of attraction. Beyond her professional achievements, Alison's mission is deeply rooted in helping people not just make more money, but truly love their lives. Join us as we explore Alison's journey, insights, and the transformative power of aligning business acumen with personal growth.

Connect with Alison:

Website: alisonreeves.co
Instagram: @alisonreevesco
Facebook: Alison Reeves
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/reevesalison/

About The Host

Tiffany-Ann is a savvy business strategist who masterfully juggles her roles as a podcast host, leader of a management agency, and mother. Her innovative approach combines strategic thinking, technological savvy, and a passion for authentic connections, bringing a refreshing viewpoint to the world of modern entrepreneurship.

Connect with Tiffany-Ann:

YouTube: Bottcher Business Management Agency
Tiktok: @ta_bottcher
Website: bottcher.io
Facebook: @bottcher.io

To our valued listeners, your ongoing support and feedback are the pillars of our podcast. As we explore more topics this season, we invite you to share your thoughts with a review on your preferred podcast platform. Your insightful comments not only motivate us but also help new listeners find us, fostering the growth of our community.

Creators & Guests

Host

Tiffany-Ann Bottcher

Entrepreneur | Founder, Bottcher Group | Host, Service Based Business Society Podcast | Author, Data Driven Method | Helping you scale your success!

What is Service Based Business Society Podcast?

Attention entrepreneurs! Are you looking for ways to scale your service-based business without sacrificing your sleep? Look no further than The Service Based Business Society Podcast, hosted by Tiffany-Ann Bottcher.

Each week, Tiffany-Ann shares valuable insights on productivity, business strategies, marketing trends, and tech secrets that you need to know in order to take your business to the next level. She firmly believes that a successful service-based business must prioritize an amazing client experience and sustainable, predictable, repeatable profit, and she'll teach you how to do just that.

But that's not all - Tiffany-Ann also invites expert guests to share their knowledge and experience with you, providing even more valuable insights on service-based business growth and sustainability. You won't want to miss a single episode!

If you're looking to create, grow, and optimize your service-based business, The Service Based Business Society Podcast is the perfect resource for you.

And don't forget to join the community on Instagram by searching for Service Based Business Society Podcast

MINDSET
Focused on helping entrepreneurs cultivate the right mindset for success in their businesses. Hosted by experts in the field, the podcast covers a range of topics related to mindset and business, including self-improvement, goal setting, visualization, and meditation. The podcast provides practical tools and strategies to help listeners develop a growth mindset, overcome limiting beliefs, and build confidence. Through inspiring interviews with successful entrepreneurs and thought leaders, the podcast shows that a positive and resilient mindset is key to achieving business success.

DATA-DRIVEN DECISION MAKING
Dedicated to equipping business leaders with the knowledge and skills they need to lead with confidence, based on data-driven insights. Hosted by experts in business leadership, the podcast covers a range of topics related to data analysis and interpretation, strategic decision-making, and effective communication. It provides practical tools and strategies for interpreting complex data sets and using them to make informed business decisions that drive growth and success. Through engaging interviews with successful business leaders and industry experts, the podcast offers valuable insights and examples of how to use data to build strong teams and drive innovation.

RELATABLE ENTREPRENEURSHIP STORIES
A great resource for aspiring entrepreneurs looking to learn from the experiences of successful business owners. Through relatable and engaging entrepreneurship stories, the podcast provides valuable insights into the challenges and opportunities that come with starting and running a business. Hosted by experienced entrepreneurs, the podcast covers a range of topics related to entrepreneurship, including idea generation, product development, marketing, and fundraising. Each episode features inspiring interviews with successful entrepreneurs, who share their personal stories and provide practical advice and tips for those looking to start and grow their own businesses.

BUSINESS TOPICS
As businesses continue to evolve, it's essential for entrepreneurs and business owners to stay informed about the latest trends and best practices in marketing, bookkeeping, technology, and innovation. The podcast is a valuable resource for anyone looking to keep up with these changes and stay ahead of the competition.

Whether you are just starting out or looking to take your business to the next level, this podcast is a great source of inspiration and guidance from real-world examples of entrepreneurship success.

Brought to you by Bottcher Group of Companies

[00:00:00]
[00:00:27] Tiffany-Ann: Welcome back to another episode. Today, we're thrilled to have Allison Reeves with us here in the studio, a world class marketing expert whose journey is nothing short of remarkable. She's been blogging since 2011 and business coaching since 2017. Allison has mastered the art of combining strategic business consulting with mindset restoration to help entrepreneurs and companies scale their income. But Allison's business is more than just about making money, it's about helping people love their lives. With consecutive multiple six figure years under her belt, Allison's [00:01:00] wide range of marketing experience covers both solopreneurs and corporate settings. Allison holds a ton of marketing certifications including SEO, digital marketing, email marketing, funnels, learning about the customer journey and more, but that's not all. She's also certified in somatic healing, art therapy, meditation, law of attraction, abundance mindset, and sound healing. Her superpowers include so many of these things and she has really focused in on trauma informed manifesting and the law of attraction. Today, we're going to explore all sorts of tips, tricks, and parts of Alison's journey. Her insights into the world of marketing and how she helps people not just make more money, but truly love their lives. So let's dive in.
[00:01:43] Hello, Alison, and welcome to the show.
[00:01:45] Alison: Thank you for having me.
[00:01:46] Tiffany-Ann: So let's dive in. Let's talk a little bit about your journey to your business. How did you get here?
[00:01:53] Alison: Yeah, good question. I started blogging in 2011 because I was writing music, which you'll see some guitars in the video [00:02:00] behind me, started writing music and painting on acrylic. And I was like needing to do something with all of that artwork. So I hacked together a WordPress blog in 2011. And then my job at the time promoted me to website administrator, which launched me into HTML, CSS, SEO, and luckily we don't have to create our websites like that anymore. But that's kind of what got me started in entrepreneurship. before then I wasn't really sure like what I was going to do when I grew up. I was an executive assistant and so the blog really just kind of launched everything I'm doing now.
[00:02:32] Tiffany-Ann: You know, it's so funny that you say that because we had a guest a couple of weeks ago, who also started with a blog, definitely not with the intention of creating his business and fast forward later, obviously a totally different direction. It's so interesting because I think blogging has really changed from what it used to be. And I think that, if we go back to that time where people were creating genuine value and sharing it on the internet in the form of a blog, compared to now where blogging is mostly done for, let's add fresh content to the website, [00:03:00] let's add keywords, it's, you know, mostly AI generated, it doesn't have a story so much, it's more SEO focused. I miss the days of the real blog, I really do. So do you feel like you were always an entrepreneur at heart or do you think that you've kind of grown into that role?
[00:03:14] Alison: If you were to ask me 10 years ago, I would say I've grown into it. But now with more context of my life. I feel like, yeah, I've always been a little bit entrepreneur. I've definitely always been a creative, like a creator person, but it's crazy to me now, you know, when I was creating artwork. Like I was painting acrylic on canvas with no formal training. It was just something I started doing. We used to paint ceramics when I was growing up in my house, and my mom would always do craft shows at Christmas. That's where she got all of our Christmas money from. But in hindsight, I think it's pretty crazy that I was selling paintings for a couple hundred dollars sometimes, or like I was getting giclee prints made of these, and my sister and I have always been creative, I wouldn't even say like entrepreneur so much as like, we love to create and produce. So when we were in elementary [00:04:00] school, we would record ourselves on tapes. We would record like audio workout, sessions. We were like an aerobics class, but it was just audio because we just had the tapes. So we were always kind of like creating and teaching and producing and putting these things together. So now if you were to ask me, I would say like, I've always been an entrepreneur. But 10 years ago, I didn't really know, I wasn't celebrating those components in my story as much.
[00:04:22] Tiffany-Ann: It's so interesting, and you talk about kind of those things from the past. So my daughter, is turning 11 this year and I don't know why it's like such a mind thing to me that my oldest is 11 because I feel like I distinctly remember being 11, like 11 is the time that like I am so clear about like what I was doing and those kinds of things. And actually at 11 is when I, started my first business. And so I used to ride horses really competitively. And I came up with, it was in the barn. I was a barn kid all the time. And I came up with this idea that I wanted to host summer camps. You know, you see all these cool movies and things where people go and do these fun summer camps. And so I decided, hey, this is, I want to host a summer camp. [00:05:00] And so for two summers in a row, I did all the advertising and the marketing and would host. And we'd have like 15 kids come with their horses and stay for the week and do all these games and activities and whatnot. And so at the time, it really just seemed like, hey, this is what we do. But my daughter turning 11, because I was 11 when I started doing that. And I look at my daughter at 11 and I'm like, I, I'm sorry, I was doing what? I literally had a conversation with my mom and I was like, so were we crazy back then? And she's like, I don't know, it was a different time, I guess. And so it's funny when you start to see, and so that was really my first entrepreneurial adventure was doing that. And I would always say now I'm not a real entrepreneur. I never wanted to be an entrepreneur. I just kind of situationally ended up as an entrepreneur. So it's funny when you're sharing your story, I was like, oh, maybe if we go way back when I had some entrepreneurial tendencies back then. So do you still paint?
[00:05:52] Alison: I go through phases of creating so I try to do something creative like per my spiritual coaches recommendation, do things that don't have an end goal, do things that are [00:06:00] not just for money. So like I got into painting shoes for a little bit or my sister actually painted this painting for me in the background, the one on my wall. But yeah, I do it for fun, but not like how I was doing it back then.
[00:06:13] Tiffany-Ann: I think as business owners, that's really a tough piece when you mentioned just doing something without an outcome, doing something that's not for money. I think that as business owners now, our audience typically, I'm not anti hustle. I love my business and most of the people I work with love their businesses and everyone's all in. When you have time, you usually default to using it to move something along. And it might be, I definitely love the more creative side. Even though we have a social media team, I might decide, hey, I'm going to throw a wrench in all their plans. I'm feeling creative. It's a fun thing for me to do, to go play and do some graphics and do some stuff and that kind of thing. But it's still towards the business. I think there's something so valuable in that statement because it's actually really hard when you're a busy business owner to actually just take the time to do something that's just for you.
[00:06:59] Alison: [00:07:00] Yeah, but it's really important. It's like, the two things that come to mind when you, like, reflect all that back to me are, number one, it's like cross training a bit. Or like, cross training, you know, in athletics can make you stronger. So if you're a cyclist and you pick up running, for example, it makes you stronger. And I think what we tend to do, it's very easy in Western culture in general, but then especially in entrepreneurship, we kind of lean into the masculine energy like really prominently where we want to do, we want to get results, we want to set goals, we want to have plans and all those things are really important. And we forget to balance that with the feminine energy of resting, trusting, leaning back, which is almost like can be cross training for your business. Like you can become a better entrepreneur by leaning into doing nothing a little bit more.
[00:07:46] Tiffany-Ann: I feel like you just like reached to the screen reached into my soul and like pulled out something I was like, oh gosh, I feel so so
[00:07:54] Alison: I didn't mean to call you out so early.
[00:07:56] Tiffany-Ann: Oh I feel very called out. [00:08:00] Yes, guilty as charged. It really lends itself into that work that you do though, and talking about the mindset and the different energies and stuff. So let's dig into that a little further and say, I think that it's not just me. I'm not alone in this challenge. So let's talk about it.
[00:08:15] Alison: Yeah. I mean, that's the reason why I know about anything that I know about is because I went through it and like, I've been working with the same coach for almost two years now. And my biggest lesson from her was like, you've got the masculine side down. You're good at the marketing. You know how to make money. But I had gotten to this point where, I mean, the year before I met this coach, I'd gotten to a point where I just did not enjoy anything about life anymore. I'd been working really hard in my business and I was doing so many things that were out of alignment and I would have kept doing that if it kept working like, overinvesting in masterminds and going all in on Facebook ads and all these really masculine strategies. And it worked until it didn't, you know, joining expensive masterminds and pushing myself to the limits worked [00:09:00] until it didn't. And I don't think I would have started leaning into feminine energy if I felt like I had a choice for me. It was almost like I've tried everything else and my business is broken. I went from my biggest month ever is 60 K and then I had a lot of ups and downs when I was paying myself less and less. And then I had a month where I had an almost $0 in new sales and I thought like I've something is broken and I've tried everything else. I've paid a bunch of other people a bunch of money and left the feminine energy and the leaning back and trusting, which is really scary. It's a lot easier just like, something is broken, let me do something about it. It's hard to say like, something is broken and I don't know the answer, and I have to do nothing for a little bit and wait for the answer.
[00:09:45] Tiffany-Ann: That sounds very challenging because I would agree. I'm like, okay, problem identified. Let's go solve that problem. Problem identified. Let's go solve that problem. And I do think, when you talk about the feminine energy, there's a strange feeling where it's like, is it really important though, is kind of [00:10:00] how I think. And I think it is, but I think they were so conditioned. I mean, I came from a corporate world, showed lots on the podcast where, I mean, I was most, almost always the only woman in the room or the woman at the table. And it became kind of this joke really that it was like, well, you're just like one of the guys. And it was part of one of the reasons that led me down the path to leaving because they would sit around the table and they would talk about their wives at home. And it was such a different discussion to be a part of because like I'd love to be a fly on the wall. Well, I was not necessarily a fly, but I was there, but it was almost like they perceived that those comments would not affect me because I wasn't really like one of their wives. And I was like, no, no, but I, I, I am, I still am. And so very interesting as you're talking about that, because if we go back to that traditional kind of role piece, where you have, well, women are going to raise the kids, and then, men are going to do the work, I mean, at my house, we all raise the kids and we all work,my husband and I, but, at the end of the day, there is still some of these things that are so ingrained in us, [00:11:00] in terms of, what is feminine, what is masculine, and all of that, that it's hard to get away from, even if you try. Like, even if you're conscious about it, it still is.,
[00:11:07] Alison: Yeah, I wish there was a different term for it too. I wrote a whole blog post about feminine versus masculine and yin and yang is like the only example where it's not a gendered term. It's not really meant to be. It's about the energy of those things. And to your point, I think that's a really valid question on like how important is it to lean into the feminine energy and feminine energy versus masculine? Like I already kind of defined that, but for people who are really unfamiliar, like masculine energy is all about planning force, action, doing. Feminine energy is more intuition, rest, creativity, leaning back and many of us, there's two things that happen. One is our society kind of judges the feminine or thinks that it's not as valuable. So we have a lot of bias in regards to how effective it can be. But also, you're not gonna work on it unless you have a motivation to, right? So if things are going well the way you're doing things, you're not gonna be like, well, let me just [00:12:00] dabble in feminine energy. It's like for me, you know, things were, quote unquote, like were not working anymore, they were broken, I was unhappy. I had lost myself. I didn't know how to lead myself anymore. And to me, feminine energy helped me to start manifesting in my business again, instead of just trying to force results all the time. But to your point, like, you're not going to work on the feminine energy, if things are just working great, how you're doing them right now, right?
[00:12:22] Tiffany-Ann: I think though there comes a point where everyone's scale of success, happiness, what's going on in their business is so different. What one person thinks is amazing is, what another person is like, yeah, that was kind of average, and so I always say, sure, it's easiest to say it's working for me, but it's this bigger open the mind question of, but what could be if we look at something else and we are a little more open minded, what is the true potential? Just because things are going well, doesn't mean that it can't go significantly better. You know, like there are people that are out there that are on whatever the scale of success you use, there are people out there that [00:13:00] are ahead of you at always. And so it's like, what is the potential for yourself? And sometimes it's only our own limitation where we're like, oh, I'm doing so great. But it's also being willing to think like, well, what is possible?
[00:13:13] Alison: I remember I heard this quote from Taylor Welch, who's a coach and a mastermind I was in, and he said, as your business grows, your self care should grow. And so often we do the opposite. We get busier and busier in business and spend less and less time on ourselves. And in that mastermind I was in, I remember like going to one of those live events and there's 300 people in a room. And I would say. At least half of them are millionaires, they're all successful or multi or, eight figure. And the questions in that room were not, how do I get more leads? The question in that room was, like, how do I find purpose again? How do I enjoy my life again? How can I improve my relationship with my family who I have, like, half abandoned in these last three years?
[00:13:55] Tiffany-Ann: Mm hmm. Yeah, because I think all of the other pieces ultimately can be solved. [00:14:00] It's the question of, oh, I need more leads. Well, there's a lot of people that are amazing at that. So that's your challenge. You solve it and as business and any entrepreneur business owner that has seen some success is resourceful. So for things that are external, more leads a new website, a new offer, better messaging, more social media, all of those things. I mean you can go in today's society, you can reach anywhere in the planet and find the person that is best for that for you and solve it within a few days really? I mean but those questions on purpose and how does it feel good and Repairing relationships and there's no one. That's, that's the, even if you know it's a problem and there is someone that could help you solve it, you don't even know what you're asking for, you don't know what like you're just stuck. That really all comes back to mindset. It's time for that mindset to grow. So you're writing a book. Tell me, how does your book tie into this discussion?
[00:14:54]
[00:14:54] Alison: So the book is probably going to be called Embodied Abundance and I like to [00:15:00] describe it as a trauma informed approach to manifesting. So in business, like most of us are familiar with mindset in our business, so we know like we have limiting beliefs and we know that. Really before 50k months, one of your biggest factors of success is just self belief. but what I struggled with in my business was learning mindset and having a lot of success with that. And then like quote unquote mindset stopped working. So I was like, why are affirmations not working? Why am I still getting stuck on these like anxiety cyclones? And I saw the same thing in my clients. I saw these same patterns and cycles in my clients that I realized the mindset is just part of changing our self belief because your mind, if you think about your head and your brain, it's just a small part of your body's processing power. If you don't use your nervous system to go along with your mindset, you're missing out on a lot more processing power and embodiment opportunities for those new beliefs. And so in the book, I identify five core, what I call wealth wounds, which are just money mindset issues. And then the antidotes to those, because it kind of [00:16:00] along with what we're saying, you know, if you're worried about money when you don't have it and then you're worried about money when you do is never about the money and so often entrepreneurship we see scarcity, worthiness, fear just showing up over and over again at all levels. And so that's kind of the basis of the book.
[00:16:15] Tiffany-Ann: Interesting. There's so many different ways, of approaching money. We've had,money coach Brie Sedano on the podcast a couple of times in two seasons. And, so I've been, following her journey. She's also writing a book and whatnot. So many of the things that she says it's interesting because, I actually have a good friend who does a lot of work with her and she will say something to me and I'll be like, I don't know if I've ever thought that. It's interesting, and my friend will say like, Oh my gosh, you don't, I thought that was so normal. And so it's interesting because goes back to that old expression, money makes people funny. And so often we have things around money, wealth, whatever that nobody really talks about because you don't really talk about money with your friends. And so if you've got anything that is not working around that, if you just kind of [00:17:00] sit with it and we see that. I see it in business owners who are in kind of their second year of business when we're talking about, let's set the budget and let's do these things. And we're working on through the numbers. And so many of them have really just shied away from money discussions for their business, which you need, you need the data. You need the numbers. You need to know this. But people are like, you know, Oh, I don't really, I don't really know. And I'm like, no, no, like we have to dive into this. And it's, you know, this, the concept of like, well, I don't really know how much money I made last year, or I don't really have my numbers or, you know. Find people either go one of two ways and it's either a blind trust in everything will work out no matter what it costs they'll just keep spending and sometimes it does but sometimes it doesn't and they sit at the end and think how did I spend that much money and have nothing. Or the alternative is that people are penny pinching on, the expression to step on a five to pick up a penny. you know, where it's, middle ground, is not as common. It's either we're managing it so closely that it's actually distracting from the success of the business or we're not managing it at all.
[00:17:59] Alison: [00:18:00] Yeah, those are such great examples. So I identify the first one is money avoidance, which obviously that's a good name for it. It's like not looking at it. And even with some of my really successful coaching clients, we've had to just start because I really relate to this. When I was first looking at money, like my solution to my avoidance of finances was just to make more and to make more and to make more and to make more. And again, that worked until it didn't, but because I was avoiding it, I wasn't really aware of how little I was paying myself. So I was like making all these sales and because I wasn't looking at it, I wasn't in tune with reality. And so my finances journey just started like hiring someone to look at it and I'm not going to look at it. And then it became, I'm going to track it in my notes app on my phone. Just so I have a loose idea on what's coming in, what's going out. And so you have to ease into it because my nervous system would literally go into like a trauma response if I had somebody asking me too many questions about the budget or like projections. I just got so, so [00:19:00] anxious and then fear is like I have a client right now who she has a lot of money. And she's not making any money in her business right now, but in her full time career, she was able to make so much money that she could just take two years off and build up her creator business. But that's the other end of the spectrum where she kind of gets herself in trouble sometimes because she is so afraid to spend that she doesn't hire support. She could be maybe growing faster or she's editing YouTube videos. She's editing 20 minute YouTube videos on her phone. So she didn't tell me that she was unwilling to like buy a new laptop, use a video editor, but she kept saying like, Oh, Alison, it's just taking me so long to edit my videos. I was helping her with productivity tips. And finally she bought a new computer and she, confessed to me that she'd been using her phone to edit these 20 minute videos and I'm like, oh, that's why they were taking you so long. But that's like an example of the fear and the scarcity was causing her to not invest, even though it would have been a healthy level to invest at, but yeah, those are two great [00:20:00] examples of avoidance and fear.
[00:20:01]
[00:20:01] Tiffany-Ann: I think it's the online business space or the, you know, bootstrapped kind of online, space. Because, you know, if we go back, if you were going to start a business back in the day, you know, you had your business plan. And you went and you decided, well it's going to cost me, I'm going to need to get a space, and I'm going to need to get a desk, and I'm going to need to get all of these things. And there was like a start up. And I think so common now, people, it's this shift of you can like pretty much do anything with your phone. If you have an internet connection and a good, phone, you could really build a business. And while I agree with that, I also think that certain things like you were just saying, take so long. We'll travel and meet with clients sometimes. So we'll spend like three days working in a hotel room, do like a big project. I don't leave home without my mouse. I have a laptop and sure it has one of those little trackpad kind of things. But let me tell you, if I have to spend three days working off a trackpad, I like I can't. My frustration with how long, and I'm pretty [00:21:00] particular about my keyboard and mouse and my setup and stuff. So I hate working off my laptop. But without a mouse? It is game over. Because it becomes so inefficient. And so, we're sitting there for over the three days and she goes, I don't know why I never thought of that. And I said, thought of what? And she's like, the mouse. She says, I've been watching you for two days thinking, why did I never just buy a mouse? She's like, it's like $40 for the mouse. I was like, yes, you just throw it in your laptop bag. We're not talking about bringing the whole kitchen sink. She's like, I ordered one last night. Amazon's delivering it to the hotel. And literally like that last day was like, oh my gosh, this is such a game changer. But it's those things. It's the same thing as if you have a sore knee and you're like, well, it's always hurts. And then six months later, you're like, oh yeah, my knee's been hurting for a while. It's a slow festering thing instead of an immediate problem. And so it's not until you see or you try the other side that you're like, Oh my gosh, I should have, it's the people who are like their backs are killing them because they're still working at the kitchen table, hunched over or they don't have the mouse or they're working off the phone. I mean, I edit [00:22:00] some videos off my phone but like, I wouldn't sit down for like a full YouTube video editing session on my phone. That would be crazy. But we do that and it's the opportunity cost that we often forget about because we only factor. It just takes a little more time of my own, but when it's on a bigger scale, it's such a missed opportunity.
[00:22:17] Alison: Yeah, and you highlighted another problem that a lot of us face that kind of relates to the feminine energy too, which is like disembodiment. We're all so busy, we're all just plowing forward all the time that we're kind of taught not to feel or we're taught to deprioritize feelings and we're taught that feelings are not productive, but, what you're sharing is such a great example of, what if she'd just been intentional about, something about this is uncomfortable? What if she bought a mouse two years ago and always traveled with it and was able to increase your productivity ten percent just because she was, feeling and being present in her body? But I do those kinds of little things, hopefully less now, but all the time, where I'll just feel this something nagging, nagging, nagging, nagging, and we're just [00:23:00] so again used to plowing through and then just stopping and being like, oh, I could deal with this and that would be more comfortable. I can make my life better here if I just paid attention.
[00:23:08] Tiffany-Ann: It always just comes down to for me breaking down, if I could do that in half the time, what could I do with the other half the time? And so, you know, is it an extra sales call that you could fit in? Is it an extra, if you're a part of doing your business, is there more billable work you could do? Or, could you perhaps just take a few minutes to even think about something else? Earlier on in our discussion, we were talking about self care. And, you know, one of the most useful times for me, which is going to sound funny, is getting a massage. And I'm going to tell you why, because there's very, very few times in my life where I lay am awake. And just thinking. I'm not thinking about are we late for something. I'm not thinking about, you know, the next thing. I'm not thinking about, is someone safe? My kids are still young. So, even at a sports practice, you're watching the other kids, the massage is one of the few [00:24:00] times where you're just in the moment and you just are there. And I have come up with some of my greatest ideas, concepts, thoughts, on the massage table. And so I always think a good massage always pays for itself on the back side but we just don't prioritize that kind of stuff, you know, when you're busy and so it really is seeing the value in that I was working, it's book accounting tax season. I work closely with a CPA in the States and we were messaging back and forth and it was kind of late. And I said, Oh, I'll send that over to you shortly. And he said, no, he said, send it to me tomorrow. He said, I'm not looking at it now until tomorrow. He said, go do something else. And I said, no, no, it's fine. Like I'll get in. And he was like, take the time and go do something else. And it was nice that even though busy season, it is coming up more. And I think that people are more cognizant of the fact that there is still value in the slower times, but it's a hard sell sometimes.
[00:24:50] Alison: It can be a hard sell. Yeah, but again as your business grows your self care should grow and at some point if you don't prioritize that balance, then your [00:25:00] body will prioritize it for you.
[00:25:02] Tiffany-Ann: Yeah, just before Christmas I got really sick, actually, really, I was sick and I kept working and it was sick and I kept working and working, I ended up in the hospital, it was an absolute disaster, and it was really that moment of like, holy cow, like, ignoring the body, at one point the body just says enough is enough. Well, you're in it, you know, it's so easy to look back now and think, well, of course, that was a bad idea. But I feel like as entrepreneurs, we're always kind of just chasing that next kind of light at the end of the short tunnel where you're like, it's just this project. It's just this offer. It's just this one file. But it's always on the backside. What I have learned over the last, three years of my business is that that view of kind of chasing that just next thing, there's always something behind it. There's always a next thing, and they seem to flow together. And so, you know, I am, I'm an advocate for short term pain, long term gain, and I work hard and we can crank things out, but you still have to at least schedule in some kind of time to take it a little slower.
[00:25:58] Alison: Yeah, and a [00:26:00] rest can really help you become more resilient. And part of that is just because it's not easy for us. So it can be uncomfortable to put the phone down. Like, you're not getting that, what is it, like hit of dopamine or serotonin or whatever it is when you're looking at notifications. Or it takes discipline and that can make you more resilient. And again, it feels like cross training for entrepreneurship. It's like you'll become a better service provider, you'll become a better person by letting yourself like lean into the other side.
[00:26:27] Tiffany-Ann: Yes, absolutely. So, the coaching that you're doing, where are people learning more about that? Where are people, seeing information? Where do you like to hang out?
[00:26:36] Alison: Yeah, I do a lot on my website. So I blog a whole bunch and then I have a Facebook group called the Mindful Marketing Mavens and I, I think my email list is probably my biggest focus. I've just been really enjoying not being on social all the time, even though I post all the time. I'm not like on it. Like I used to be. I really just love having the email list to like, you read it when you can. We come together on the Facebook group. but everything that I have, [00:27:00] including the, all the free offers I have in any communities I have are on allisonraves.co/everything. Which is just an easy place to find everything that I offer.
[00:27:09] Tiffany-Ann: Awesome, amazing. And so, you said the book you think is called, so it must still be in the writing stages, so when are you hoping to get that book out?
[00:27:17] Alison: And the launch date is June 6th. So I was. Yes, it's coming up, which is, I just have been kind of like in progress as I'm sure anyone who's ever even if you've thought about writing a book, you've been in this process of it just hangs out in your brain forever and it's in limbo, half written forever. So there's a day, it's happening. no guarantees in the quality, but it's called Embodied Abundance and it's a trauma informed approach to manifesting.
[00:27:41] Tiffany-Ann: Incredible, incredible. So, if someone had one tangible tip, from whether it's your book or your, some of your resources, the coaching work that you do, something that you could share that someone can go and implement inside their life and business that they can really start to see that quick win, understand a little bit more what you do, what would that be?
[00:27:58] Alison: I think relevant to [00:28:00] this conversation, I would say a really good routine to have is a routine around doing nothing. So just starting to challenge yourself, starting to get uncomfortable, like it's very uncomfortable when we've been plowing through our lives and just really focus on productivity. It's really uncomfortable to slow down. And so if you can gift yourself time to sit by your favorite tree. Sit in your chair and do nothing. Maybe do some breath work. I really think it will improve how you can lead yourself in your business and how you just feel in your life.
[00:28:29] Tiffany-Ann: Well, I don't know if that really works for everyone, but I feel very called out again. So, I think I'll take that tip. Straight back to the soul. I see how it is. My husband actually called me out recently and he said, You don't always have to be doing something. I was like, what are we going to be doing? What's the plan? What are we doing? He said, There is no plan. And he says, You need a hobby. And I said, being busy is my hobby. And he said, that's the problem.
[00:28:53] Alison: I'll have to get an update on you where I interview you.
[00:28:56] Tiffany-Ann: There you go. It's funny though, because you do get to the point [00:29:00] where, as a business owner, when you're going and you're growing and you're doing all the things and it kind of does eliminate other things that you used to do, other things you've kind of fallen out of or don't do anymore. And so it's really taking the time to actually even decide. And put some planning into what other things could I, because sitting there doing nothing, I don't know, I mean that, oof, that's a challenge. Challenge accepted, I'll give it a try, but, challenge.
[00:29:25] Alison: Yeah. Give it a try or do something for no reason. Could be another.
[00:29:29] Tiffany-Ann: I like that. Well thank you so much for being here, and, I will be sure to drop your website and, group into the notes for those who want to check it out. Join and, learn more about what you do.
[00:29:41] Alison: Yeah. Thank you for having me.
[00:29:42] Tiffany-Ann: Thanks so much. [00:30:00]