Interview with Alexis Teichmiller | Finding your calling, trusting intuition, & involving community

But then I need to go nap for a day on my own.

Yeah.

Hey everybody, and welcome to this week's episode of Brand Your Passion. I am so excited to be joined by the wonderful Alexis. Welcome to the show.

Thank you so much for having me. I feel like, one, I'm so honored to get to chat with you and your community today. And two, We're finally chatting in real life after being internet friends for years. So this is like a double whammy of loveliness.

Yeah. I'm so, so excited. Like Alexis said, we have known each other online. We know each other through other people. We both have worked at ConvertKit, which maybe we'll talk about a little bit in the episode. But so we've known each other for a long time, but never had a real live conversation. So this is really, really nice. And actually one of my favorite things about the podcast podcast so far is being able to do that with people that I've followed and engaged with online for so long. So—

Right. And what a true, like, millennial internet friendship thing to do is the first time we do chat, it's recorded on a podcast.

It's on a podcast. Yeah, for sure. Yeah. I love that. Don't waste that first interaction.

Absolutely not.

Yeah. Well, thank you so much for joining us. Do you want to tell the people a little bit about what you are up to. What do you do? What does your kind of creative life look like?

Absolutely. So like anything, and I'm sure everyone listening can understand this, is it's just been such an evolution. You know, like what I started out doing in my entrepreneurial days, you know, at 17 is very different than now at 27. So through the decade of what I would consider being a creative entrepreneur, I've done a lot of different things. And I think what that gives you is it gives you experience and it also gives you space to figure out what do I want to do? Who am I? What am I interested in? How do I want to serve people? And so throughout that like interwoven journey, right now what I do is I kind of have 2 businesses. So I have a business called Deeper Life and I am a coach for millennial women and I help them create deeper connections with themselves through one-on-one coaching. I also have a podcast called Deeper Life, and I'll be coming out with courses. And my long-term goal is, especially like post-COVID, you know, whatever that might look like, I want to host small intimate retreats for women in the mountains. So I want to— yeah, that's like my long-term goal is to be more of an event-based business, which is hilarious because event-based businesses right now aren't, you know, as prevalent. But I would really love I thrive on intimate one-on-one interaction. And so I want to have that be a big part of my business model. So that's one part of my business. And then the other part of my business, which is not connected at all, but it's rooted in my expertise, is I was the affiliate manager at ConvertKit for over 4 years and helped them build a really successful affiliate program. Like if you're not familiar with an affiliate program, think of it like a referral program. And so over the course of those 4 years, ended up helping bring in about $23 million of revenue through the affiliate program and really built out an expertise in affiliate programs, acquisition models, all of that. So I do affiliate management consulting for tech companies in the SaaS space. So those are like, again, so random. They're not connected. My passion is deeper life. I love vulnerability and connection and really giving people permission to interact with their emotions in a healthy way. And so often we want to label things as good and bad. And emotions are just signals. You know, they're neutral signals that give us an opportunity to explore and be curious, what is that emotion trying to teach me? And so I love working with millennial women and giving them the permission and the space to show up for themselves. And that's like what I'm really, really passionate about. And then I've built this, you know, 4 and a half year, 5 year experience in acquisition and, you know, affiliate management and referral programs. And so that's been interesting to see that play out now as a freelancer and have those opportunities come my way that I'm not necessarily seeking out, you know? And I do believe that sometimes things chase you down and, you know, when things chase you down, In terms of opportunity, it's important to ask yourself, what is this trying to teach me? And be curious. And so right now I'm in a state of curiosity towards that side of the business, which I love the framing of being curious because it gives you an opportunity to not put labels on something and not try to come up with a definitive answer. It's just, I'm curious. Let me explore this with no judgment, With no expectation, with no labels. And there's a sense of creative freedom and empowerment that can come from curiosity too. And so that's been really fun to just kind of give myself the space to be curious.

Amazing. I love that. And I love that I feel like so many creatives have that kind of duality of like, well, this is what I'm really, really good at and I have this experience and this passion and I have this career in this one thing, but then I also have this other thing and there's Always this duality of passions because I'm sure even the affiliate thing, it's not your main passion, but you must like it and enjoy it.

Right.

So there's this duality of passions and things that we are curious about, like you said, and want to explore even though there's always many ideas.

Absolutely. And sometimes monetizing your passion looks different to everyone. Sometimes monetizing your passion, you know, doesn't work out. Maybe something that's a passion is just meant to be a passion and a hobby. And that's why that curiosity, you're not, you're not, you're putting like expectations on something to be successful. And I think that's something I've given myself a lot of space and freedom to just figure out what's working. And which can be really hard because we live in a society that lives off of defining things and labels and we want to categorize where they fit in.

Mm-hmm.

that can be really hard as an entrepreneur because you're like, what is my goal? What is my plan? What is my strategy? And I totally believe in systems and processes, so don't get me wrong. But there's this other level of energy that you bring into your business where you wanna stay curious because it keeps you agile. It keeps you willing to adapt and figure out what's working, what's not working. And it's allowed me to pivot in ways I didn't really expect.

Yeah.

Which kind of comes back around to like branding and, and who am I and what does this business look like? So it's all connected.

Yeah, for sure. Yeah. And I was just thinking like, it's always a thing that I hear from other creatives and that I've experienced about like branding yourself, like your personal brand. How do you do that when you have like a multitude of passions, right? It's like, I, yeah, like for you, it's like, okay, say you have a Alexis website that's like, here, who I am. You have like these 2 wildly different passions and 2 wildly different businesses that you have to kind of put under your branding umbrella of Alexis.

Mm-hmm.

So it can be, it can be a challenge if you have, yeah, different, different passions or different parts of your career or your businesses that you have to, yeah. try to explain.

Yeah. And I also think you have to ask yourself like, what kind of marketing power do I want to put behind different projects and different passions? And so like, I want to put a lot of marketing power behind Deeper Life. And so I'm going through a rebrand right now. And then once that rebrand is finalized, then I'll start recreating and redesigning my entire website. You know, new podcast art, new like social media elements will change. And I just noticed that my brand with Deeper Life wasn't very cohesive. And then stuff on the affiliate management side is word of mouth and referral based. And I really like right now, I don't want to put marketing power behind it. So if things are coming in, awesome. But if things aren't coming in with that, it just gives me more time to focus on, you know, the business I want to take off. And, and with that, it kind of gives you clarity too, of even just what What do I want to build a website on? What do I want to build a brand around? Building brand templates and logos. And if it organically leads you down a path to one business, that kind of also gives you an answer.

Yeah.

And so when I was asking myself those questions, I was like, no, I don't think I want to build a website for the affiliate management consulting. It might live on my about page somewhere on my alexisteichmiller.com website. But no, I don't think I want to continue to try to put a lot of like marketing and promotion power behind it. And that can give you so much clarity too when you're actually like making those things happen. You can decide what do you want, what do you not want to, you know, move forward and put energy into.

Yeah, yeah, for sure. So tell me a little bit about, um, how you kind of got to where you're at now and got to Deeper Life.

How—

what has your creative journey look like, I guess, to get you to here?

Yeah. So I am going to try to shorten this.

Yeah. It's always a big question to ask. I'm like, tell me your life's journey. Yeah.

All right. Let me just, all right. Okay. So I would say I have always been an entrepreneur. I, in 3rd grade, I remember, this might be like dating me a little bit, but like I used to burn CDs for classmates. So I would like buy Shania Twain, Britney Spears, NSYNC, Backstreet Boys, and then I would burn them and I would sell the copies of them at school, which is illegal, you know, like a low, a low misdemeanor for an 8-year-old.

Yeah.

But still, like, I was like, ooh, how can I take this? People want it. How can I take it and like sell it to them? So I'd sell like these copies for 50 cents and get, you know, money for candy. during recess and things like that.

Amazing.

And that was just something I was always like looking at of like, where are the gaps and where, you know, what do people want? How can I give it to them? And so in my senior year of high school, I took a class called Creating Entrepreneurial Opportunities. And that through that whole class my senior year, we toured different businesses in my small town and we had all these entrepreneurs come in and it was every single day my senior year from 7:30 to 9 in the morning. And so it was like this huge immersion into entrepreneurship of, You know, multimillion-dollar businesses, business owners coming in and sharing what they've learned. And, and it was such a great opportunity to hear the realistic side of entrepreneurship at a young age.

Yeah.

I will say that I have, from that point on, I never romanticized entrepreneurship. And I think that's something that we can easily do when we see people doing it online, or we see people being able to work remote and travel the world. Why, you know, running a 6-figure business and we can romanticize that. And, um, as much as I think sometimes romanticizing things gives you, gives you like the motivation and the energy to do it, it also needs to be coupled with reality. And I think, you know, at 17 years old, 17 years old was getting like a very heavy dose of reality.

Yeah.

And so one of the goals of that class was to create your own business and you had to create a service or a product and sell it. at a big trade show that was like, you know, at the end of the year, your graduation, around graduation time, they had a big trade show and about 1,000 people from the community came to the trade show. And, you know, we got to talk about our businesses and sell our products. And so I wrote a book. I've always loved reading and writing. And so I wrote my very first book called Investing in Human Capital.

Wow.

And it was all about, it sounds very, very fancy, but it was all about relationships. And, you know, from the perspective of a 17, 18-year-old girl, what I had learned through the class about entrepreneurship and relationship building and mentorship, which is kind of ironic because so much of the deeper life is relationship and connection, is very full circle.

Yeah.

So I ended up writing that book and sold that, never got it published or anything like that, but got a bunch of copies. copies printed. And it was just such a unique experience writing something, printing it and having a physical thing and then having someone pay you money to read what you wrote.

Yeah.

You know, that, that's like such an incredible experience. And that was whenever I was really hooked on this idea of I could create something that people thought was valuable enough to spend money on. Yeah. And that was really amazing. And then throughout college, I studied marketing with a creative nonfiction writing minor. And I always knew that I wanted to do something more. And without sounding, without sounding like arrogant or facetious— facetious, sorry, that's a hard word to say.

You got it.

I kind of at moments found college to be a little bit boring.

Right.

'Cause I wanted application, you know, I wanted the education and application together. And so I felt like I'm learning about marketing and writing and all these things. I didn't have a way to apply it. And so going into my junior year of college, I started a women's clothing company. So I got my business license, borrowed $2,000 from my grandma and just like dove into having an online boutique. And I did trade or trunk shows. So I would go around people's houses and these was like clothes I had picked out from New York and LA.

Yeah.

And I'm from a very small town in the Midwest. And so I wanted to bring unique fashion to the area. And it was my way of just going all in, I guess, an idea. And so I ran that for 2 and a half years and did fashion shows and like charity events and photo shoots and just like crazy stuff that I never expected. And that was when I really got into blogging and social media marketing. Because I was— had an online, you know, the boutique was in person, but also had an online element, running all the social media accounts. And then when I built out my website, I had my web team, I was like, you know what, just buy alexisteichmiller.com and just like throw a blog up there for me. And this was it. This was in 2015. 2014. And so kind of right— no, yeah, 2014, right around when like blogging was becoming more popular.

Yeah.

It had always been a thing, but it was like really more mainstream. And then I got into fashion blogging, moved to Nashville after I graduated college. You know, started working in tech, in online marketing, email marketing, got the job at ConvertKit. And as a side hustle was doing fashion blogging. And then that kind of transpired into travel blogging, worked with tourism boards of cities and states and hotels and car companies and clothing companies and was really doing that like side hustle travel blogger vibe for a couple of years. And while still working at ConvertKit as the affiliate manager full time. And I think what I learned through that experience was how much I was chasing Validation and chasing popularity and wanting to feel important and wanting to like you know social media can be very addictive and it can be very unhealthy emotionally and you can put a lot of your self esteem and your worth and your confidence in followers and likes and and we know this and we hear this and we know that it's a thing that happens and but when you feel it yourself and you really feel like your identity starting to change your the way you feel about yourself and your narrative starts to change about yourself, it can kind of break down how you see social media. And it actually, unfortunately, one of my best friends passed away in 2018.

Oh.

And it took losing her to— for me to kind of wake up and see the areas of my life that weren't authentic, that weren't very deep, that felt very shallow, felt rooted in a lot of vanity and a lot of like you know, chasing down popularity. And I really kind of went on this path to self-discovery. And, you know, who am I? Am I becoming who I want to become? How do I value things like kindness and vulnerability and connection with myself and other people? And that's what really kind of launched the Deeper Life thought process.

Yeah.

And I actually thought about Deeper Life 2 years before I ever launched it. Yeah, I've been marinating on this idea for so long. And through that whole time too, I forgot to mention this. I started a podcast in 2016, like during the travel blogging, working at ConvertKit, the whole thing called The Laptop Lifestyle. And I ran that podcast for a little over like about 2 and a half years.

Wow.

And that built a great community of, of individuals who were working remote and wanting to learn about online business and learn about how people were living a lifestyle kind of nomadically. And, you know, working remote myself my whole career, it can be lonely. And so I wanted to have a podcast about like the laptop lifestyle and what that looks like and how do you build community and how do you combat loneliness and anxiety, like working alone. And so that was really fun, but it still kind of lacked the like depth that I wanted. And so then I launched the Deeper Life Podcast in March, like right after quarantine.

Yeah.

Um, after quarantine started, um, my husband was like, hey, you've been talking about this Deeper Life podcast idea for a long time. When are you going to do it? Couldn't think of a better time because everything's canceled and we're in our apartment 24/7 for weeks, you know? Um, like we quarantined hard, didn't leave for 10 weeks out of our apartment. And I was like, all right, I'm going to just go in on this idea. Still working at ConvertKit at this point. in March of 2020, started the podcast, and I just felt this organic click of, yeah, this is what you're supposed to be doing. And I had been praying and journaling and thinking and asking for clarity. Give me clarity, give me clarity. And I journaled for about 7 months, starting in November of 2019 until the day I quit in June. Yeah. And I just was like, I don't know what I'm gonna do. I don't know what I'm gonna do. But I know that I'm being called to something. I know that there's this energy, you know, pulling me in this direction. And I'm curious. And I want to know what it looks like. And I don't know. And again, like that being curious gives you that freedom to not define something. And I just, I just use that curiosity. And I followed that thread. And it led me to coaching. And I didn't even know that I would love coaching. I had no idea. And started doing one-on-one coaching and working with millennial women, you know, between the ages of 22 and late 30s, and just really connecting and seeing transformation in their lives and seeing the Deeper Life Framework, you know, my intellectual property, as Rachel Rogers calls it.

Yeah.

Like, you know, implementing it and really seeing it come to life. It made it feel real. It was like, this is a business. There's something here. And people are hungry for connection. People are hungry to know who they are. And that's a common thread in a lot of my work is, you know, who am I? What do I want? I don't, you know, I don't feel like I can voice my opinions. I don't feel like I can speak up for myself. I don't feel like I can ask for what I need. And so just working with women through those different things has been such a gift to me and also has given me so much clarity on where I am now. So that's where I am right now, friend.

Amazing. It's so, yeah, so I love hearing people's stories because it's so funny how those things that happen, yeah, when we were younger, when we were kids, and they just come full circle and they all are such a huge part of who we are today, even if we don't think about it at the time. And then, yeah, like you said, that moment where you find the thing and you're like, oh yes, this is the one. And you can feel it physically, I feel like.

Mm-hmm.

Once you find it, you're like, you like come to life. And I love that so much. I just, yeah, I think it's amazing. And, um, so I was already gonna ask you about, um, like how you finally came to start Deeper Life. So that's awesome that, um, you know, quarantine, it's encouraged a lot of people to, um, to make things happen. So I'm like, yeah, great. That's amazing that it You know, finally encouraged this to happen. So when you started Deeper Life, um, how, like, in terms of the branding side of things, did you just start making like the— your podcast artwork yourself and things like that? How did that all start?

Yeah, so one of my best friends is a fantastic photographer, and she had taken some headshots for me back in January, and I knew like the vibe of the show I wanted it to be very cozy and conversational. And so I was shooting for that. I was shooting for that a little bit. And I created my own. So I used the photo that she took of my headshot. And then I made my own podcast thumbnail, like cover art using Canva.

Nice.

And I'm not a designer. I love aesthetics and I am very in tune with the way things make me feel. I deeply appreciate good branding. Like I can see it and I know what's happening because I'm a marketer.

Yeah.

Can I create it?

No.

Can I create it? Can I create the vibes? You know, can I, can I create the cozy? I just, I couldn't. And I tried really hard and I had some friends like help me and give me advice. But at that point I didn't really want to pay someone to do it. I just wanted to do it myself and get it off the ground. I didn't want to use the resistance, like the potential resistance of this isn't good enough to just get it out into the world. And so it was kind of that progress over perfection mindset. And so I knew, hey, if this takes off and this turns into something, I will take the time and money to invest in good branding.

Yeah.

But right now I just need to get it out into the world. And so that helped me get started. And so from there, I just did everything in Canva.

Yeah. Thank God for Canva, honestly. Really.

No, it's like, if you just want to get something out into the world, get something off the ground, test something, experiment, Canva's great, especially for my non-designer friends. Like, don't be afraid to go in there and just play around and see what works. And I created my own, like, one thing I do like about Canva is you can save save your brand color palette. And so in any design that you ever create and you go up into the colors, your brand color palette is right there. So you can just easily access all of your colors. And I just, I love that. All those little things that I don't need to buy a fancy designer software to be able to do, because I find those intimidating. And that's one thing about Canva. It feels very DIY, easily accessible. And there's there's a free version, which is like even better. Yes. Um, so then I had a friend reach out and I guess I should say an acquaintance reached out. Now she's a friend.

Yeah.

Acquaintances don't stay acquaintances very long with me. Um, and she reached out to me and she had been following me on Instagram for years and had really seen the evolution of my brand, you know, like clothing boutique to fashion blogger to travel blogger to laptop lifestyle to then deeper life.

Wow.

And so like, you know, quite an evolution of a personal brand. And, you know, my personal brand was interwoven, but those were all different projects, you know? And it's like, how do those all come together? And like, there, there was really no succinct brand. You know, my photos, I guess you could say, are very They're very aesthetically pleasing and there's a brand element to my photography.

Yeah.

But when it came to fonts and color schemes and my website, please don't even go to my website right now. It still says I'm a travel blogger. I'm waiting for this rebrand. And instead of like working on the website and then needing to go back and overhaul things after the digital, the brand redesign. But a friend reached out and she said, I've been following you for a long time and I would love to offer you like a collab deal where if you, you know, we can figure out what works, but if you can share with your community like who I am and my studio, 'cause she works at another company full-time, but she wanted to build up her side hustle portfolio of like independent work.

Yeah.

And she's incredible. Her name's Kristen and her studio is called Soulbeam Studio, which Soulbeam is like, you know, you just feel that connection to that. And it felt very organic to, you know, Deeper Life working with Soulbeam Studio on like a big rebrand. And she really understood me and understood my vision.

Hmm.

And so I, I was like, yeah, that sounds amazing. Like, I, I knew that I needed it, but having someone seek me out and say, hey, this is what I can do for you. This is how I'd like to work together. It was like an easy yes. And so I was like, I'm all in.

Let's go. I love that. And so how you're right in the middle of the process right now, right? You've seen mood boards. I've seen it on Instagram and you've been choosing directions with your followers. So how's that process going?

It's been really good. That was one aspect of the rebrand that I really wanted was I want my community to feel like they're a part of the process. And I think so often we hold change so close to our chests and we don't give our community an opportunity to be a part of it. And then when the change happens, you know, they're like, oh yeah, we were a part of this whole process. We did it together.

Yeah.

Like this, you know, kind of feeling emotionally removed from the rebrand of like, Oh yeah, new podcast art. Cool. But it's like, no, remember whenever we picked out the aesthetic and then we voted on the color palette and then we voted on the logo. And so everything that Chris and I are doing together, she then creates story, custom story graphics, and then I upload them to my story. And so I asked my community which brand aesthetic they liked in terms of design. And so we went through that voting process, narrowed it down, and it's It's so funny because the ones that my community are picking that win are the ones that I like.

That's great.

Which just shows that there's that connection. It's like we're on the same page. My community's voting for this brand aesthetic. That's the one that felt the most organic to me. And then the same with color palettes too. Then after we did brand aesthetic design, then we did color palettes. And then actually last night she just sent me her first rendition of logos. And so she sent me 3 different logo designs and I get 3 iterations of like logo designs that's included in the brand, like the rebrand package. And so then my community will vote on those and it's just been really, really fun to see her capture my brand essence. And, you know, we, we did a, like a 2-hour long meeting of she's just understanding my vision and understanding And so we really got into what I do and who I do it for and who my ideal client is and what my long-term vision was, not just in the next year, but 5 years, 10 years, because her and I are both on the same page of, I want your brand to not only be elevating where you are right now, but I want it to be able to grow with you as you scale and as your business really takes off. And we even got into like, how much do you want to be charging for coaching? What's your ideal charging rate? How much will your retreats be one day? And so as we're talking about these prices, you're attracting a different kind of clientele and design attracts a, you know, a certain kind of clientele. We know this. And I just didn't connect those things. You know, I would have never thought in a rebrand of, hey, you want coaching to be X amount of dollars. Let's elevate that design to really attract that kind of client. And that's just been a really lovely experience and has gotten me outside of my head in the here and now and the work that's in front of me and really thinking about what's the evolution of my brand in 5 years. And I want to be able to carry this color palette, logo aesthetic with me as I grow.

Yeah, yeah, that's amazing. I always tell people to think about, yeah, like the future and also like different things that you want to do in the future, like Do you want to write a book in the future? Do you want to be like an international speaker in the future? And think about, is your brand going to look great on stage behind you as you're like doing a presentation? Is it going to look great on the back of your book cover? Like you have to think about the future and how your brand's going to apply long-term because otherwise you're just going to keep having to do it over and over and over again.

Totally.

Totally.

And I don't want to do that. She said something that really struck me is, you know, I'm kind of in like the early stages of this business. And even though, you know, it's taking off in its own way, it's still very like baby business, you know. And she said the beautiful thing is that a lot of people don't think about brand design in the beginning.

Yeah.

And then they, they wait until, you know, a couple years down the road where they're like, okay, now I guess we need to do a rebrand. And she said, the beautiful thing about like the timing of this is that you are elevating your brand visually at the beginning.

Yeah.

And you can really grow into that. And you have so much room and capacity to grow into that brand instead of, you know, waiting years and years and maybe not attracting your ideal client, you know? And now it's like getting everything honed in so well, um, gives me confidence too.

Yeah, yeah. You don't want to miss out on 2 years of like, yeah, reaching that perfect audience for you and growing into where you want to be. It's like, no, I can do that now. Make the most of that. I love that. Um, and so you mentioned that, um, Deeper Life is kind of like the point at the moment that's like the most recent point in a journey that your kind of personal brand has gone through. Um, and so All of these different projects have been under, yeah, like you as a person, Alexis, right? So has that been like an intentional decision? Is your plan to have Deeper Life become a separate, its own brand? Or, you know, people always ask, should I have my name as my business name, or should I keep things under my personal brand? What have been your kind of thoughts on that?

Yeah, I think, you know, it really depends on It depends on like what you see the future of the business becoming. And so I always think that my brand will be Alexis Teichmiller and then everything underneath that will be projects, just like Seth Godin. And, you know, Seth said, he said, um, I live my life in projects.

Mm-hmm.

Everything has a beginning, middle, and end. And, but everything lives under Seth Godin.

Yeah.

And I loved that. I loved that mentality because it gave me freedom to think I can continue to build my personal brand and, you know, pour gas on whatever project I want at whatever time I want. And, and then if I end up like, just like The Laptop Lifestyle with Alexis Teichmiller was a 2 and a half year project and I closed that chapter. That podcast still gets daily downloads. You know, it's still there. And I can reference it. I can point people there. But it's not something I'm actively working on.

Yeah.

And I like that. And I, you know, Deeper Life with Alexis Teichmiller will very much be that too. And any book I write, any podcast, any other podcasts I might start one day, or products. Right now, I really see me going all in on Deeper Life for a long time. Um, and, and creating a life and a business that feels really sustainable instead of this like rushing to launch all the things and make all the money. And not that making money is bad, like at all. I think I'm at a pace right now where I want to, I just want things to feel sustainable and protect my energy and protect my creativity in a way that's not going to like create more burnout. 'Cause I've definitely been in a lot of seasons of burnout. I know what it feels like, and I know that my energy level and how long it takes me to bounce back from that. And I'm like, how can I create a life around a business instead of a business around a life?

Yeah, I love that. Wow, yeah, that's amazing. I think, yeah, so many creatives are, You know, I used to have had that experience of burnout and there's been such a rhetoric around like hustle and being a creative entrepreneur and like, yeah, all that hustle and hard work and working all the time and that kind of intense like masculine energy.

Yeah.

But actually for a lot of creatives, slowing down and creating a life that allows you to Create and be inspired and not be burned out. Yeah, yeah, is incredible. And if you can intentionally build your business that way from the beginning, it's a lot easier than having to retroactively like break your business apart or, um, you know, start from scratch.

Totally. Yeah, I think, I think working at ConvertKit gave me a front row view of, you know, I was the affiliate manager. So I worked with 6 and 7-figure earners in all aspects of online business and helped them, you know, sat at their house, in their offices with them building out affiliate strategies and really got an opportunity to build really close, meaningful relationships with them and also see how they ran their businesses and if they were happy. And what energy they carried. And, you know, I've seen really successful entrepreneurs have a team of 20 people and then a year later have one assistant because they just didn't want to have a team anymore. And, you know, it's like, you know, the rush and the open-close cart and the, the energy around that hustle culture.

Yeah.

I think that there is a season for that. And I think that, you know, when you're in a season of getting a lot done, working with a lot of clients, I don't want you to find shame in those seasons or judgment in those seasons. And also just be really mindful of your pace and your mental health. And I think seeing that at like a— I was removed from it and I was seeing it happen in people's lives.

Yeah.

It gave me an opportunity to ask myself as I started this business, what do I want to— what do I want to do? You know, does this— is this how I want to feel? You know, do I want to feel exhausted and anxious and nervous about hitting payroll? I don't think so. You know, I don't think I want to feel that way. And not every one of their businesses was like that. But there were certain entrepreneurs, and some of them thrived in that environment, you know, and some people love that. And so do that, do, do whatever it is that you want to do and at a pace in which you want to do it. But I think it gave me an opportunity to recognize like, that's not for me. And that's okay. And I don't have to be lesser than or have, you know, like, I don't have to play small. I'm just recognizing like, this is my game that I'm playing with myself. And I don't have to like play it with anyone else.

Yeah. Yeah. I love that. Yeah. Amazing. And so what are your plans What are your plans for Deeper Life going forward? You've mentioned that there's retreats, maybe virtual ones in the meantime. There's more coaching coming out. What are your plans?

Yeah. So I mean, I can walk you through my funnel because I feel like that is really helpful for creative entrepreneurs to hear what is the process in which you lead a potential customer through. And I always, especially working at ConvertKit email marketing, I was thinking in a funnel. So my freebies are journal prompts and the journal prompts are focused on self-connection and connection with, in relationship and in community. And so that's the freebies giving away on the podcast, giving away on Instagram. And so it's people's first opportunity to print something off and think through questions about themselves.

Yeah.

And then from there, um, I launch a 5-day challenge. It's a 5-day self-connection challenge. It's a paid challenge, but it's at a lower price point at around like $60, $70. And, um, I run that. I ran that, um, this summer, late this summer in July and August, and it went really, really well. And so I'm probably going to do that every other month. as the lead gen into my paid content. And then from there, the next step is a group coaching program where I, it's a 3-month program going through the Deeper Life Framework. And so there's 9 pieces of the framework and going through each one of those. And then from there, after the group coaching program, next up is one-on-one coaching and working with people one-on-one and really going deeper into the Deeper Life Framework, giving them additional support, custom journal prompts, and kind of being— it's very complementary to therapy. And so I really love working with clients that are in therapy and doing coaching with me, because therapy is very much past-focused, focused on past trauma, past experiences and healing. And coaching is really focused on the present, looking towards the future. And so I love like working with clients one-on-one on those action items. That they aren't necessarily getting from therapy, and I love that that like dynamic. And then after one-on-one coaching, and anyone can like sign up for a retreat, is my goal to have small intimate retreats with twenty women at a time. And I'd like to host two or three of those a year, I think. And those will be heavily focused on self-connection and. Yeah, I, I'm still building out that, that what that can look like.

Yeah.

But I'm picturing a lot of time in nature, a lot of time in like full body movement, whether that be dance or rhythmic movement or yoga, and a lot of journaling and a lot of like vulnerability conversations in small intimate groups. And I've been to a lot of conferences and a lot of retreats and masterminds and A lot of those are focused on what you're going to do, and not enough. I feel that not enough events focus on who do you want to be, and how do you want to feel? Not what are you going to do? You know, like action-oriented, production-oriented, you know. But who do you want to be? Let's focus on being. And so that's what. my in-person retreats will eventually look like. Yeah.

Wow. It sounds like a dream. I want to come.

Yeah, please, please. I'll fly to the other side of the world and I'll come. Yes, girl. I would love that. I, I would love to, um, like right now I think I'll probably host a lot of retreats domestically in the States, but I would love to host international retreats. I mean, I'm such a, such a travel like lover. So I think that would be like a long-term goal. Yeah, I would love to have you. And also, like, I'm so open to hearing what women want at self-connection retreats too. So this is kind of what I envision, but I mean, I am such a big advocate of asking your community, what do you want? What do you want? What do you want? And then asking, asking them and then creating it for them.

Yeah.

So that's been like the big thing that I've tried to focus on is not like keep things so close. You know, I'm like, hey, what do you think about this? How many days would you want it to be? What would you pay for it? What would you want to learn? And then just getting all this feedback is amazing. And sometimes we can be scared of that feedback because we're like, what if it doesn't match our vision?

Yeah.

But I think one of the best things you can do as a marketer above building a list, above everything, is knowing your community really well. And knowing how to serve them. And so you get to know them well by asking them questions. And so that's been something that I'm continually learning and tapping into.

Yeah. Amazing. I love that. I think, yeah, like you said, there's a lot of— as a creative, it can be quite difficult to put your work out there, especially if you are just in the early stages of thinking about an idea or you've worked on it a bit and you're a little bit precious about it because you're like, I love this idea and I just want everybody else to love it.

Yeah.

But it's awesome when you do get your community involved and they can see it coming to life, see the process of it coming to life and get excited about it with you. And yeah, like you said, with your branding and everything, be a part of it and see their influence in it too is amazing.

Yeah. The community, my Instagram community, because that's where I hang out all the time and that's where I'm— they're always voting on Instagram stories. I had them vote on the podcast cover art. Like, like everything that I've put out in the last year, my community has a say. Does that mean that I'll always do what they say? Not necessarily.

Yeah.

You know, because at the end of the day, like I need to feel like there's alignment with, with my choices, but I love the idea, um, of them being involved and there's just so much buy-in. You know, they're excited for you. And at the end of the day, you're creating it for them. And so when there's excitement from them towards whatever you're creating, you know, there's immediate buy-in and action that they're able to take instead of always feeling like you have to do a big launch. That's the secret. It's like, what if the launch was like, you know, there was already so much energy around the process that now the, the outcome is, is so much greater than you could have ever expected because you didn't have to hype it up in 24 hours. You hyped it up over a month. Yeah.

Yeah. I am getting more and more interested in that kind of launching and less interested in the open-close. You have to give all your energy for 3 days or whatever it is. Yeah. I'm like, let's just All enjoy this awesome journey for, yeah, like a month. And then if you want it, you want it and come and join me and that's it. Yeah.

And if you don't, you don't. Love you anyways.

Yeah. Yeah, exactly.

Yeah.

Yeah. So words. Words are hard.

I don't know what happened then.

So through this journey of creating a deeper life and you've had experiences building other brands, different projects as well. What is— what do you think has been the biggest, like, lesson that you've learned about branding your passion and turning something that you love into a brand or a business or a project?

Hmm. Never underestimate your intuition. And, you know, intuition is something that needs to be stretched and built over time. And intuition builds confidence and builds security. It builds this belief in self that I can do it, that I, that I believe in myself enough to know myself enough and be in alignment with my values enough that things are organically a yes or organically a no. And sometimes when you're building brands and building businesses, there's a lot of doubt and there's a lot of second guessing and there's a lot of Well, I don't know, you know, and this is— this might sound contradictory to me just saying you should ask your community what they want.

Mm-hmm.

But I think that, you know, you're the one that has to lay your head on your pillow at night and go to sleep with your choices. And so as much as it's great to ask for advice and ask your community or ask mentors, never underestimate the power of your own intuition and the direction that your body, that your soul, that your mind and your spirit is leading you. Because sometimes that can be more powerful than anyone else telling you where you should go. And I think for a really long time, I, I felt this pull, like this natural force pulling me in this direction. And I didn't go because I was seeking affirmation. Do you think I should go in this direction? Do you think I should go in this direction? Instead of just being like, Alexis, intuition, like trust yourself and trust the fact that you're having these feelings and these desires for a reason. And they're pulling you, not pushing you. They're pulling you naturally into this direction that's organic. That's not forced, you know. And we oftentimes want to get that, that affirmation or validation. And as much as that can be really helpful with launches and prices and all the things, that's great. But when you can really come down to this like grounded, rooted feeling of knowing that you're in a direction that really aligns with you, it really aligns with your values and your dreams and, and you're becoming who you want to become every single day. Like, you can't learn that from someone else. Someone else can't teach that to you. That's something that you really have to tap into yourself. And I think that's been the thing I've learned the most over the last 10 years is, is that confidence and trust in myself and valuing that equal as someone else's opinion, you know, or even more. Instead of putting someone's opinion or affirmation or validation, you know, 50 steps ahead of what I think I should do.

Mm-hmm.

Instead of just kind of evening those out and seeing, you know, I'm still open to feedback. I'm still open to, you know, other people's thoughts. About where I should head. Um, but at the end of the day, like, I'm making the choice and there's power in that.

Yeah. Wow. I feel like I and everybody else listening needs to work with you immediately.

Oh, thank you.

I just feel like that is, you know, thinking about yourself and your own feelings and your own intuition, like you said, is quite Kind of contrary to what a lot of the industry says. And when you are running a business online, there is such a feeling that your success is aligned with how many followers you have or how many people are buying your thing or who's voting on your Instagram stories or all these things.

Totally.

And not a lot of people are doing what you're doing and talking about, okay, Okay, that's fine. But also, how do you feel and how do you build something that is aligned with you and what you're all about and your vision and your mission and everything? So yeah, I just, I love that so much. And I think it's a really refreshing approach to business and life. And yeah, it's wonderful.

Thank you.

And I think everybody is going to love listening to this. hearing that. And well, yeah, it will hopefully be like a cool way to look at them building their own creative business. So I love that. Thank you.

Thank you. And the beautiful thing too is that mindset of building intuition and security and self, and it's really rooted in connection with yourself. I feel so connected with myself. I know myself so well that I know You know, this is the choice I want to make, and whether that's in business or your brand or your life. Yeah, you know the the questions of you know what are you going to go to school for? When are you going to get married? When are you going to have kids? When when are you going to do it? And like everyone has these thoughts, this path that they put you on. I call it the path of should. You should do this by this certain age. You should should should, and that's. That is fine and in its own right, but I don't subscribe to that anymore. And I ask myself, you know, what path am I on and what pace am I on? You know, when do I wanna get married? When do I wanna have kids? When do I wanna start my business? Do I even want any of those things?

Yeah.

And if I don't, and if I don't, that's okay.

Yeah.

You know, and that intuition that's calling you, you know, away from motherhood or into motherhood or away from marriage or into marriage or away from your dream job or into your dream job, like following that energy and really learning. Because if you push yourself into an area of life or into a decision, um, that you feel like you're being pushed into instead of pulled into, you know, you are compromising yourself and you're compromising your values. And you know, there's no shame or judgment there, But just be conscious and aware of, you know, who you want to be versus what society or your family or your partner or whoever is pushing you to be.

Yeah, yeah, I love it so much. So good. Okay, well, thank you so much for this conversation, Alexis. Like I said, I just— one, yeah, amazing to just have a conversation with you and like just hear more about you and your businesses and everything that you're doing is so exciting. And I like honestly can't wait for those retreats and for everything else that's happening. Do you want to like let the people know where they can find you or what's going on right now that they can check out?

Absolutely. So you can check out the podcast if you just go into your podcast player, literally wherever you listen to podcasts, and just type in Deeper Life. my podcast will pop up and you'll see my face. I'm wearing a big white hat in the, in the, in the podcast cover art. And, or you can follow me on Instagram, which is where I'm most active aside from the podcast. And my Instagram is just @AlexisTeichmiller. And on the podcast, there's 2 episodes a week. There's a solo cast with me. And then there's a recorded conversation with a friend. I don't like to call them interviews because they're really conversations about all different kinds of topics.

Yeah.

But yeah, check out the podcast, follow me on Instagram, or you can email me too at alexisteichmiller@gmail.com. Love hearing from people, helping people, mentoring people, jumping on random Zoom calls with strangers from the internet. That's like the stuff I live for. So always happy to help there too.

I love that. I hope everybody enjoys this episode. I'm sure that they will. And please everybody go and check out Alexis online everywhere that you can.