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Welcome to the Barter Edge Podcast—your insider guide to smarter business, bigger networks, and better ways to trade.
Whether you're a seasoned member or just getting started, we're here to share real stories, expert tips from different industries, and fresh ideas to help you grow your business using the power of the Bartercard ecosystem.
Alison Wheeler
[00:00:00] Welcome to the Barter Edge Podcast, your insider guide to smarter business, bigger networks, and better ways to trade. We are here to share real stories, expert tips from different industries and fresh ideas to help you grow your business using the power of barter cart. Well, welcome back to another episode of the Barter Edge.
I am Jen, the host for this amazing podcast, and today we have a very special guest with us, Alison Wheeler, who is a high performance business coach and mentor. An Amazon bestselling author and a worldwide speaker. Allison, would you like to introduce yourself to everyone and, and tell us a bit more about what you do?
Yeah, absolutely. Thank you so much for having me. So, yeah, look, uh, my background I am an occupational therapist by profession. That's sort of where I started worked. In a lot of businesses or with a lot of [00:01:00] businesses, uh, helping them really to stop hurting and harming their people. So, developed a lot of programs in that worked with very large organizations in terms of injury prevention, uh, also mental health and.
All of those areas, increasing productivity systems, processes. So then evolved from there. I've been an athlete my whole life, so I was actually training to go to the Commonwealth Games, fell pregnant with my daughter, um, which was actually a choice. And then after that I'm like, oh, now what am I gonna do with my life?
'cause my priorities changed. So, pivoted sports, pivoted. Business pivoted pretty much everything at that time. And then went more and lent more and more and more into coaching business as well. A network marketing business built that up to seven figures. That was great for the time that it was as well, uh, and helped a lot of other people do extremely, [00:02:00] extremely well in that industry, and I've worked with.
I don't know, hundreds of businesses over the, over the last few years, uh, helping them to, to grow, to scale, to be successful, but to have a little bit of calm and the chaos as well. 'cause in a, as a business owner, you know, you can often feel like you think about scaling and you, you already feel like you're drowning.
That idea can be very overwhelming. So helping people navigate that world of how do I, how do I get what I want? Uh, in business. But how does that translate to my life? How do I, how do I do that without drowning even further? 'cause I don't think that is necessary to go down that pathway.
Having gone down the burnout pathway several times with myself, Allison, I think that really will resonate with so many people trying to get that business life balance. It seems almost impossible sometimes. [00:03:00] You know, something's gotta give, whether it's your exercise or your diet or, you know. Then we go into self-sabotage and everything feels like it's, I.
Out of control. Absolutely. And I think the fact that we try and have work life balance is half the problem. I think it's work life blend, but how do you blend it? What do you wanna blend? What's a priority? I think if we keep fighting for balance I don't think it exists because if something in balance isn't moving, think about the, think about a seesaw.
If it's balanced, it's not moving well in life. There's always movement. That in a business there is always movement. So if we're trying to force something to be stagnant and stationary and balanced and never moving, we're actually looking for something that can't exist. There's no such thing. So then if we go to, okay, well how about we put that idea to the side and we go.
How do I prioritize? How do I schedule, how do I scale? How do I put [00:04:00] systems in place? How do I put supports in place so I can actually put time into the things that I value and I wanna prioritize which, and then what do I need to give up? What do I actually need to give up and say no to? Because as soon as you put, we just keep putting more things on our plate, but we don't say no to anything.
Yeah. And it is okay to say. No. A hundred percent. Absolutely. And it's essential. It's essential to know what you're saying yes to and what you're saying no to. Yes, absolutely. Now, you have used Bartercard as a platform to help you grow your business, and you have achieved some amazing things through being a member with us.
How has Bartercard impacted your business and your lifestyle? Yeah, look, absolutely. It's, I think Bartercard is an absolutely awesome platform to open doors perhaps that you may not have ever been able to open yourself or introductions because the network is so vast and large [00:05:00] that you really start to, it's kind of like going to networking group, but you don't actually have to go anywhere.
So it's very time effective and time efficient as well, which I love very much so, you know, tho those doors that it's opened have been phenomenal. That's so great to hear. What are some of the more innovative or strategic ways that you've been able to use some of the trade that you've earned through being a member?
Look, probably one of the, well, one thing that I'm very much looking forward to, which is I'm on the countdown to, uh, is we are actually going on a, a holiday over to Queenstown. And that's, that's through Bartercard. Uh, and that. Is allowing me to bring my entire family together. Uh, yes, I'll do some business when I'm there, but my whole entire family together and that's my wider family.
And at the moment that mean that I can't get that time back. I dunno the last time that my actual family, [00:06:00] family is in my sisters, my mom and you know, my husband, my daughter, et cetera. I dunno. The last time we actually had a time where we were all together all at once for something that was positive.
Not a funeral or a health thing or a, you know what I mean? Mm-hmm. Like often you get together for these, only these specific kind of things. And because we geographically spread, it makes it much more, more sparse that we do that. So for us to actually come together, I literally cannot remember. What year we've actually celebrated something together.
Like it has to at least be 10 years ago. Yeah. And you're so right. I love speaking with you because so much of what you say, say, so much of what you say, um, is like so real. It's real. Like when was the last time your family was. Like your extended family was all together for a positive thing, and that's gonna create [00:07:00] memories that'll last.
A lifetime for everyone in your family. Exactly. And then we've got the photographer coming to take photos because I'm like, well, well we are there. We, we need to capture this opportunity. That's through barter, right? Like, so there's all these, these flow on effects and then, you know, you've, I guess, more standard kind of ways of using barter in terms of printing for the business or graphic design for the business, all those kind of other.
I guess more standardized ways as well. Catering for events that I run, through Barta. So I guess they're a little bit more standard kind of trade, options. But in terms of, I guess the holiday side of things or you know, 'cause to me you can't get time back. So those experience, that experiential side and being able to use it for, within that realm is huge.
Yeah, absolutely. Now, from your experience as a business coach specializing in service-based businesses, what trends or opportunities do you see for business [00:08:00] at the moment? , I think that there are a lot of businesses that are struggling at the moment. Mm-hmm. , And I think one of the, something that businesses we can, we can no longer wait for customers to come to us.
There used to be, I think, you know, circle back several years ago, we could be a little more complacent per se. And. It was an easier market, but now we need to be known. We actually have to be actively going out and finding clients and seeking clients, and not just waiting for, for clients and people to come back to us and with things that, you know, people love.
I don't have time for that. It's like, yeah, but your business. We can't, if your business is stagnant or staying the same, your business is really in a lot of trouble with the invention of things like ai. You know, there's a lot of ability to leverage some of the basic AI tools. You don't have to [00:09:00] be a genius with it.
I'm not talking invent chat bots and stuff like that, which may be way out of what most people can think with, but it can speed up the ability to respond to people and it can speed up your ability to produce content and get. Information out to the world because we are fast digestion, digesting beings now of constantly having stuff come at us.
So, you know, you do need to have a rate at which you are now producing and outflowing information. But that I still think, never, ever, ever underestimate real connections. Utilizing those relationships sometimes going and doing some of those grassroots building relationships, picking up the phone, talking to people, asking current clients for referrals.
All those basic sales basics which people miss because they're trying to get fancy and, and you know, it's like, well. That, how did you build your business in the first place? Repeat the successful [00:10:00] actions and keep them in place and keep them going while you develop new things and new technology and new marketing.
I love that. So valuable for so many business owners to hear that, especially in our current climate that we're in. And it is a season seasons pass and you know, we do need to get ourselves in front of people and keep building visibility and credibility. And you've done that incredibly well. Be well before I met you, I knew you.
Because of your presence on social media alone. So I hadn't even joined a mailing list or anything at this stage. And then your reputation preceded you because I had so many people, ha, I can't believe you haven't actually met Allison yet. You need to book a meeting with her. And then, you know, having that connection via a face-to-face meeting.
Gave me a lot more understanding and trust that you are [00:11:00] great at what you do. So getting in front of people is vital, isn't it? Yeah, it is. It's that humanization and your, you may have heard that term or it's a big term that's been thrown around more and more now, is you gotta humanize your brand. The business owner can't hide behind the brand anymore.
You know, people wanna know that people exist behind the brand, and particularly with the development of ai. People wanna know you are real. Not an ai. So more and more I think that is going, that humanization of brands is gonna develop stronger and stronger. Yeah, absolutely totally agree with that.
Um, we can't hide behind a website anymore, and I am so shocked at how many businesses you go onto their page and it's like. Where's your origin story? Because that's what makes people connect with your brand, not just your product or service, but your brand. And that's where people are more likely to remember you and refer business to you.
Even if they [00:12:00] don't need your services, they're more likely to recommend you to someone else. Exactly. So if a business owner was thinking about joining Bartercard and you're very qualified with being an amazing business coach, what advice would you give them? , I would say jump in because it. Like I said earlier, to you, it will open up doors that perhaps they hadn't thought of a way of doing business that they hadn't thought of.
And you know, depending on your business, depending on the style of your business, it might be that you utilize it for quite a times or gaps, right? So you don't have these big ebbs and flows. Maybe you want to use it as an exit strategy out of your business to to develop a growth strategy. There are so many different ways to utilize.
Bartercard for the growth and sustainability of your business, I cannot see any negatives. Thank you for sharing that with us today. Now, do you have an offer for Bartercard [00:13:00] members? Today. Absolutely. Look, I have just launched, uh, my course for, so I obviously, as you said earlier, um, I am, I have a book that's number one bestseller, so I have just literally launched my course for that book.
So it's a digital course that goes through nine modules, so the nine superpowers that people have and really harnessing the, the actual power that you have as a human being to be able to live the life that you want as well. I'm a big. Advocate for people finding their voice. And I think the way we do that is, is through all sorts of different me methodologies.
Some people it's art, some people it's sport, some people that creative outflow is actually business, right? So whatever that is, but you deserve to live that fully and. Actually be doing it at the level that you want to your full potential. 'cause otherwise, I think you're kind of ripping people off if we are not living to our full potential and being able to give that to someone else [00:14:00] because you're also giving it to yourself at the same time.
So the course kind of walks you through how to do that, how to identify that whilst also making sure you don't burn out at the same time. Uh, and it is a step by step guide that you could go through over and over again. So I've just launched that. Usually it's valued at 9, 9 7. Um, but I'm more than happy to offer that, uh, to Bartercard viewers for free.
They'll just need to grab the code. Oh, Allison, what an amazing offer for our members today. I thank you so much for being here and for sharing so much with our, um, listeners. I'm sure that there everyone's taken notes and, you know, got some amazing takeaways. If you are a member and you wanna get in contact with Alison to find out more, check her out in our directory and give her a call and find out how she can help your business.
Survive, but not only survive, thrive. Thank you so much. Thank [00:15:00] you for being with us today and sharing your stories and expertise. If you wanna find out how Bartercard can help your business, or if you wanna be a guest on our future podcast, contact our team at hello@bartercard.com. Make sure you tune in for our next episode of the Barta Edge.