Nov 26, 2019
For biz owners and entrepreneurs, you know it’s about more than just building a business for the money. You want to live the life you want, and use the skills and superpowers that are unique to you. And you want to make a difference, right? Well, today’s guest understands that, and works with female entrepreneurs to make sure they’re living over existing.
Alisha Robertson is the creator of “Living Over Existing,” a podcast, a membership community, and a book all about reshaping what entrepreneurship looks like. Because she specializes in working with female entrepreneurs, note that this episode has more female-based language, but anyone can apply her advice to their life and work!
[00:39] Who Alisha is and how she serves female entrepreneurs
[07:39] Why Alisha doesn’t believe in “balance”
[08:53] What happens when you try to give everything attention
[10:29] How burnout is stopping you from leveling up
[12:29] The power of just starting
[13:06] The #1 concern most female entrepreneurs have about money
[14:22] Why a scrappy business is OK, too
[15:44] How your excuses are just covering up procrastination
[16:33] Strategic tips on pricing + charging what you’re worth
[18:13] The importance of getting clear
[21:38] The concept of “enough”
[23:21] How to extend local impact to global reach
[25:42] How Alisha structures her business for multiple revenue streams
[28:28] The power of community
[30:02] What Alisha would do in her revivement
During our chat, we dove right into the good stuff: talking about boundaries, priorities, and what Alisha tells her coaching clients who juggle life and work (read: all of them). First and foremost, Alisha explained that she doesn’t believe in setting boundaries; she believes in setting priorities. She had a baby less than a year ago, and the baby is her priority most days. But in this particular season (approaching the end of the year at time of our recording), her other priority was launching her membership community. On Friday nights, her husband and their date night is her priority. Of course, those priorities shift in a flash if something comes up — like a crying baby!
This is such a great tip to keep
in mind when you feel like you’re juggling everything and need to
put boundaries into place. Yes, Alisha, shared: boundaries are
great. But being flexible based on what takes priority in the
moment can prevent you from beating yourself up or putting
boundaries in place that don’t honor what’s most important. Things
change, and so should your priorities!
We also got to talk to Alisha about something we’ve seen a lot in the entrepreneurial space: this idea of shifting the definition of “Hustle.” Of course, if you’re reading this, it’s probably because you love what you do and you want to watch it grow — but you know that hustling endlessly can cause major burnout and damage to your business. “That way lies madness,” as they say.
Instead, we talked to Alisha
about how to hustle intentionally. It starts by working hard toward
your goals, yes, but also focusing on re-prioritizing. If you’ve
got things that are more important and move the needle closer to
your big goal, the other things on your plate may have to be pushed
further down the totem pole (or delegated). You’ll also need to
make sure that you’re making time for the tasks and projects that
move you forward, rather than just keeping yourself busy with
smaller money-making actions. We’re all guilty of it! We take that
last-minute project for the money, or say yes to a client we know
won’t be a good fit… instead of focusing on the big picture. All of
this, as Alisha talked about on the episode, is part of our money
mindset.
When asked what the biggest topic is surrounding money was for her clients, Alisha shared that most of them feel they don’t have the money to get started. They’re not willing to dip into savings, they don’t want to go into debt (or add more debt), and they don’t have money lying around to invest in growing their biz baby.
But she also gives an excellent
counterpoint to this argument — including tips to help you
bootstrap your business. She told us how she works with clients to
take the first step toward building their business, even if it’s
just finding a few bucks here and there to buy a domain name. We
also talked about the importance of prioritizing (there’s that word
again) what you need first — you don’t always need a fancy website,
or in a complex marketing strategy. A scrappy biz is just as viable
as one where you invest a lot of money.
Along the topics of money, we also touched on how many female entrepreneurs struggle to charge what they’re worth. “We all start in that space of not valuing yourself,” she said, but it’s mostly just fear. Fear is what tells you you’re not worth more, or that your business won’t succeed if you charge too much. The best way to address this, Alisha shared, is to get clear on what you need to make per month or year. Once you’ve got that number, break it down by how much you want to (or can) work a week or a month. Then, you’ll know what you need to charge per product or service to make that.
Breaking it down into numbers takes the emotions + fear out of the equation; it’s simply what you need to charge to live. Also keep in mind that you’re not serving yourself or your clients if you’re undercharging and over-stressing yourself. Of course, this led us into a conversation about what “Enough” looks like for entrepreneurs, especially when it comes to money.
Alisha explained that “Enough”
is important when first starting out, but it’s fluid and can
change. What’s enough for you might not be enough for some else,
and what’s enough for you NOW might not be what’s enough for you in
the future. You can scale up or scale down based on your definition
of “Enough” at any given moment, but she does recommend that you
start with a bit more than your current definition of “Enough” —
just in case something comes up. Sounds a bit like an
emergency
fund, right?
Last but not least, we also dug into Alisha’s business structure and how she’s diversifying her income through multiple offerings. She talked about her transition and how she’s supporting her business by offering services and products that her audience wants, while also focusing on ways she can serve them that aren’t offered in her niche. She also shared more information about her new community membership, which opened on October 22nd, and how she’s hoping to shift the majority of her biz income to that revenue stream.
There’s so much goodness in here, especially if you’re a female biz owner or an entrepreneur hoping to create a business that supports your life (rather than the other way around). Make sure to tune into the full episode and also check out all the great resources we referenced in the episode down below.
This material is for general information only and is not intended to provide specific advice or recommendations for any individual.