Forging an Awesome Brand with Alison Faulkner of The Alison Show - 007

This is episode 7 of Law and Wit, my interview with Allison Faulkner of The Allison Show. Welcome to Law and Wit, Creative Counsel for Entrepreneurs. I'm your host, Brittany Rettell, mother of 4, entrepreneur, naptime lawyer, and attorney for creative entrepreneurs. I'm here to share inspiration and action so that you can tackle your business blocks and confidently own your business in every sense of the word. Thank you so much for being here. Okay, I have to throw my disclaimer out there. While I am an attorney, I am I am not your attorney unless you want me to be, in which case please go over to BrittanyRettell.com and sign up for a free consultation. I do free 20-minute by phone or Skype if you want to talk about your business, and I'd love to have that. But aside from that, anything I share here is just for your information only. Okay, so our episode today is with Allison Faulkner, and I was lucky enough to be able to have Allison here with me in my home office where I record my podcast. The only unluck that I had is that yet again I was foiled by my USB cord, which was not picking up my microphone. So I'm really glad I invested in a new cute pillow from Anthropologie that looks really awesome in my office. Allison even commented that she would also like one in her office. So that was All Square, which I'm sure you guys are really interested in. The sound is not as good as I would like. It's especially not as good for someone who podcasts herself, because Allison has her own podcast and her husband's a sound engineer. I really hope Eric doesn't listen to this and judge me for my skills. But needless to say, we're going to throw it out there anyway because information is so great. So I really promise that I will try to not make mistake again. And I'm going to get myself a new USB cord for 2018. I'm going to treat myself for Christmas. So with that, let's listen to the episode because it's amazing.

Hi everyone. I'm so excited to be here with Allison Faulkner of the Alison Show. You know, praise hands, all the things. If you don't know who The Allison Show is, I—

I don't know who The Allison Show is.

I'm sorry for the social media rock that you must be living under if you don't know.

I'm not a Kardashian.

You pretty much are.

No, there's like— I'm always saying there's like 12-year-olds with dance accounts who have more followers than I do. Like, I literally found this like 12-year-old dancing boy today who's He's got a brighter future, you know, he's—

but probably not as much disco ball jewelry in his life.

It's true. Give him a few years though.

Yeah. So Allison, I've had the pleasure of knowing for several years since college, actually. Actually, I'm pretty sure my husband and I had one of our first kisses at one of your slow dance parties.

So that's a true honor. Lots of beautiful relationships blossomed at our slow dance parties.

Right, because it was all in '90s ballads. So I mean, what other atmosphere?

So just so people understand, the whole premise of the slow dance party is college town, and it's a dance party, and we're in Provo, so there's not a lot of alcohol. Although people did bring some alcohol, they're bringing it in the back door, I think. But we weren't providing the alcohol. And so we would only play back-to-back slow songs. And so after like 3 or 4 slow songs, people are like, okay, like, what's next? And we're like, No, we're only playing slow songs. So you've got a lot of conservative, frustrated, single college students slow dancing for a couple hours.

The tension's high. It's palpable.

There's a lot of tension. But lots of people are like, I met my partner at a slow dance party. So it's honestly, I think, one of the greatest things, one of the greatest gifts I've given the world.

It has.

It has been. So after that, she has just continued to move on. Has thrown amazing female dance parties with hundreds of hundreds of women that have sold out in minutes, essentially, where it was like the hottest ticket in town. She has recently started doing branding workshops where she helps people build their brands. She launched audio courses a couple weeks ago. They're closed now, but everyone is hoping that they open up soon again.

In a few months.

In a few months, because they were amazing. So tell us about your courses.

They're really, really good. So one of the bonus highlights of the courses is an interview with an attorney you may or may not know.

Hair flip, hair flip.

But the courses are all about working with influencers and working with brands. They're honestly truly like relationship courses. And you know, when you talk about branding and you talk about marketing, I think that influencer relationships and relationships with companies it really kind of falls in the middle. Um, and so even though I really specialize in branding, I always say there's two parts to building your empire. The first part is that you create value and the second part is you get that value out there. So while I've been doing the How to Build an Awesome Brand workshop and helping people create their brand, that's been one side of it this year. The second part of it is how to get it out there and I only, claim to be an expert at what I've done for myself, right? We can only all ever be an expert at our own story. And I've used relationships with brands, relationships with businesses, relationships with other influencers. That's how I've grown my business. And so that's what the courses are about. And it was really exciting. We launched them, yeah, like a month ago, and they did really well. And the coolest thing about the courses is that people— when you buy the course, you get access to an exclusive Facebook group. And so there's people in the Facebook group who literally within the first week of buying the course had finished the course, already used principles taught in the course, and are finding success, finding full-time partnerships. One woman said, I've been emailing an influencer for 4 months with no response. I emailed her with what I learned in your course and she got a response in an hour, just like that. And the thing is, is like, you guys know, you do a business, you create a product. I don't do anything I don't believe in 5 bajillion percent, right?

But then you're also like, oh, I don't know, I'm just, you know, trying new things. Maybe it works, maybe it doesn't.

It's really uncharted territory. There's no set industry standards. That's why I thought it was so vital and important to have information around Working with partner partnerships with social media. It's just all so new and people will tell you there's a set industry standard, but there's truly not. No. And the thing is with money and with partnerships and with deals, people don't share information very openly a lot of times because they can't, right?

Because it's in the contract.

Yeah.

It's really what the aim of the courses was just to like shine a light on my experience, the experience of other people and share it. And what's been so cool is that It works. Yeah, and I do lots of things that don't work, and it works. So that was the courses. That's just one— that's— yeah, that's one aspect. I don't even remember where we were coming from.

Yes, but I mean, that's an amazing part of, yeah, your business development of where it's gone to. You also have a podcast, which is amazing. So you have a podcast, Awesome with Allison, which is why, of course, you can tell that she is so, so comfortable behind the microphone. She's also done voiceover work, so if you've ever heard any of her commercial work, it's It's amazing.

I'm so annoyed about that voiceover work. My husband is an audio engineer sometimes, and just, you know, we would make more money if he hires the voice talent, right? And my voice is just so sexy.

So it can be— hey, you know, you, you work it, girl. You know how to work all of the things.

So yeah, thank you.

Um, so kind of starting at your creative roots, you know, I know that you You graduated college, you kind of had, you know, taken skills and had some training in kind of creative arts and copywriting, and then you kind of worked at Hallmark. Wasn't that kind of your first gig? Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, but truly when you, when you like rewind all the way back, you know, a question that people will often ask is, did you ever think, can you believe, or look at this, did you ever think? And I work with so many entrepreneurs in my workshops, and I do hear this story from time to time when people say, I didn't mean to, I didn't even know, I never thought I'd be— I cannot relate to it.

Yeah.

Yes, I thought. Yes, I always knew. Yes, I assumed. And I'm annoyed it's not more. It's typically like where I'm— it's typically where I'm at. I'm grateful for what it is and slightly annoyed that it's not 10 times as big, right? At all times. So growing up, I honestly did exactly what I do now. When I would do a class project, I would turn it into this big themed thing, taking it way far, going, you know, missing the assignment just to create like an entire thematic concept around a magazine project, right?

Right.

And And then, you know, we just talked about in college I did advertising design, which very directly relates to the work I do now, but I also threw dance parties.

Right.

And in high school I threw the prom. And so like on the one hand, I like to think that I've matured and I hope I'm a better person and I'm learning lessons and growing. And then I'm also like, I'm just still the same idiot 12-year-old that, you know, like really like big elaborate thematic things with a ton of writing in between. And that's what I've always done. So yes, I went to BYU, I did an internship, my dad does marketing, I did an internship with his company, and then the next internship I did was with Hallmark. And I had an emphasis in copywriting, which I kind of just created, it was part of a creative track program in advertising. Uh, but there wasn't really a course for copywriters. I think they've since corrected that.

As they should.

As they should. If they called you, they would know. Yeah.

Yeah.

No, it was a really good program. And it's so funny, what I always think about school is I was always so annoyed with group projects.

Yes.

I just thought they were the worst. And then you start working and you realize, oh, oh, that is life.

Yeah.

Like that's the thing I couldn't believe about when I went and had my first job in an ad agency out of college. I had done my internship with Hallmark, which was more— you worked on teams, but it was more a writing job, you know. And then when I went and worked at an ad agency, I was like, this literally is a school project. And there was a really talented, um, graphic designer who we ended up getting a job at the same agency. And so we had worked on like our final college project together, and then we worked on real work together. And I was like, it's all pretend. And I still—

we're playing house here.

I still feel that way. After my last branding workshop in August, Brittany was there. Was it in August?

Yes. Or no, we did it in November. It was November.

I don't even know who I am. It was in November and there were 60 to 80 students. I can't even remember. It was very big. I started the first one this year with 12 students.

Right.

Um, we were loading my 8-foot shark head into the back part of the workshop.

You know, a traditional piece you see at a lot of business seminars.

Yeah, we're loading it into the back of my minivan, and I just started hysterically cackling with my assistant McKenna because I was like, people just paid and we have a shark head and we told them to throw their fears into the shark and they did. And, uh, yeah, it's all just one big giant school project.

Yeah, that's what it is. Yes, but I mean, that's your thing. You are a thematic storyteller. You're really good at doing that.

I guess I am.

Like, and I mean, I think people see that through your dance videos, through your writing, and that's been, you know, a common thread since, you know, with your blog days.

She blogs, she blogs, she blogs, she blogs. And that's when I really started with this, taking everything I'd been doing in college and high school and growing up and sharing it online as I started a blog. And I started the blog Shortly before I got the job at the advertising agency, and you know, I think one of the biggest lessons that any entrepreneur or any business person will tell you is consistency. Everyone says content is king, and I'm like, yeah, maybe, but consistency is queen. If you're going to start a business, if you're going to do anything, it's just so shocking how much consistency matters. And what's really cool is after I always say 10 years, but I feel like it's been like 3 or 4 years since I started saying 10 years. So after almost 15 years in this game, right, you get to see the businesses that have continued, the businesses that have grown, the businesses that have shut down, the influencers were huge and had huge blogs and who— no, and I'm not saying that because they failed, they probably changed their life plan and decided to do something different. Yeah, but the cool thing about being 34 and not 20 is that you see what the long game is and what matters for the long game and who's burned out and who's excited. And it's just really fun. It's really cool. I love being in my 30s so much. I'm excited to be in my 40s. The older I get, the more I think I'm, I'm just so smart, right? But then at the same time, such an idiot, right?

Like, yeah, you know, now know so much of how little you know.

I know that I know nothing, but I, but I know it. Which makes me feel smarter than when I was 20 and maybe thought I knew something, right?

When you had no self-awareness, all of us did.

And the cool thing is, is that I go back and I read a blog post from when I, you know, 10 years ago, and somebody was saying to me the other day, I just cringe when I see my Facebook post pop up from 5 years ago. And I read a blog post I wrote 10 years ago and I'm like, oh wow, I wish that I had actually implemented what I was saying in that post because I would be a lot better. You know, we can know the principles, but until we internally internalize them. I've been saying consistency is queen for 3 or 4 years and haven't implemented it in many parts of my business. And if I just friggin implemented it—

what is it? Inside is lovely, but inside is cute, but action is drop-dead gorgeous.

Yes, exactly.

Another Allisonism.

Yeah, but it's, you know, you gotta have lots of catchphrases when you give yourself your own show.

It's that copywriting, you know, it's a quote, you know. Yeah, quote unquoteable. Yeah.

So the interesting thing about Hallmark is that when Instagram came on the scene and I had my blog and I had been sharing content for a long time, and then I never really got into Facebook. I had too many ex-boyfriends on Facebook.

I kind of knew they were ghosts.

No, like, that was like the only point to me. It was like, okay, I'm not— if I get on Facebook, it's just like to talk to my ex-boyfriends, which I'm like, need to stop talking to because I keep getting back together with them, like, at the same time. Time. And so I didn't get on Facebook, but when Instagram came on the scene, um, it was just a really natural progression for me because I'd been creating content online. But then I had all this training at Hallmark with how to write captions to pictures.

Yeah.

So, so literally people like, I don't use my degree. I'm like, I literally went to school for Instagram.

Yeah.

Like it didn't exist, you know, when I was in school, but I pretty much the same thing. Literally have a degree.

Yeah, they could have put a little TM on their trademark and it's— yeah, yeah, that's what the thing is. So yeah, so, but I think, you know, for you, it's not— you found a way to be really introspective and look at your strengths and say like, what am I good at? What do I like doing? Yeah, what areas do I need to diversify? You know, yeah, what people do I need to hire to do things for me? I mean, I think you're a great example of someone who used to bootstrap and do it all yourself from you know, making the cookies and shooting the pictures and styling the table, and to now that you have a lot of help, you know, on your team.

So, and that was a really hard transition, and it's honestly something that I still, uh, suck at. Comparatively, my sister started— she does Tubby Todd, which is an all-natural bath company— and this is the difference. She started 3, 4 years ago Tubby Todd and has a couple full-time employees. They brought in an investor. Now again, what were our goals? We didn't have the same goals. We're not building the same thing. But the difference between my sister and I is my— and this is what I found out— is my ego is tied so tightly to the work that I do that it makes it difficult for me to hire. She doesn't have her— because I consider myself a creative, I've always been considered a creative, and so I take a lot of pride in that, and my ego's in it, right?

That's what makes you special, special snowflake.

And it was also what I was— I was a fat little kid, not good at sports, picked last for things, but I was always kind of funny because I had to be because I was fat.

And you know what, that's— you get the good personality. Yeah.

And, and I was creative, and that's what I was praised for, and I like praise. And so my ego was wrapped up in it. And when your ego's wrapped up, it's hard to hire for it because nobody could do it better than you. So you'll get these people like my sister, who is very creative and very funny and all the things, but her ego is not tied up so tightly that she can hire people because she understands that there are other people who can do the job. She can delegate. She's a very good manager.

Yeah.

And my husband's a really good manager too. And so I think that would just be something, you know, it was kind of a realization I had a year or so ago and I was having a conversation with my brother who has also always really created himself, has always considered himself as a creative. And we were saying, why has Andrea, my sister, now written almost 2 books? Yeah. And she doesn't consider herself a writer.

Yeah.

And he's a writer and I'm a writer and I don't have a book.

Yeah.

And we're like, it's because our ego is, if I write a book, It better be the end-all be-all book.

Yeah.

So I haven't written that.

It better be amazing, you know, and so you sit there and you're in draft mode forever instead of just done is fun and get it out there.

Exactly, and so that's why I had to teach myself another catchphrase, done is fun. And so, so I think for all you entrepreneurs, all you business people, as quickly as you can identify what your ego is wrapped up in, for you it might be the organization, and if it is organization, well then those are the type of people who dominate at business. Um, and, but, but if you are like me and your ego is really wrapped up in the creative aspects, you either need to get a business manager, learn how to delegate, get your ego in check, right? There's just whatever it is you need to do, you need to do it. And so at the end of this year, I'm making my first full-time hire, and then my next hire after that I know will be a business manager.

Yeah.

Because when I start to talk about numbers and when I start to talk about, oh, this is the profit for Q1 and what are we going to do to hit the numbers in Q2, I literally start going, oh, I get sad.

Yeah.

Not because I don't think I can get the numbers, not because I don't like money. I just legitimately, I don't know, it just makes me sad. It makes me not want to do it. I get like kind of rebellious.

Towards it. Yeah.

And so I need to hire for that, right?

Yeah. And you know yourself, you know that that's where that step is.

Yeah. But it's— my mantra has been do what you do best and hire out the rest. And but it's tricky when you get to the next level, and the next level is you have to hire for everything, even at what you do best, almost.

Yeah.

And so I, for the first time ever, I've had to hire someone to help copywrite, and I actually haven't really truly let anybody write anything yet, but I let somebody edit. So I was like, I'm baby stepping. Yeah, but it was, but it was a difficult move because again, I would consider myself a very advanced copywriter. So it's actually a very expensive hire. Yes, you get somebody who I think is as good as me, who's up to your level, who's had your experience.

Yeah, yeah.

And so that's, but at the same time, I really just have to say What is it that I want? Who is it that I want to be? And where is it that I want to take this? And I can't do it by myself. I can't do it by myself. And you might be able to do it by yourself, but that's just a different scale, right? And I don't want to be on that scale, and I respect that scale. It's just not where I want to be.

This is not the game.

It's not my game.

No, you are an empire builder.

I like the big numbers.

You're, you're Attila. You are Napoleon. You are conquering and you need ground support. Okay?

Thank you. Thank you.

That's the reality.

Pretty strokes that ego so well.

Hey, it's only because you pay the bills. No, so, but really, I, so okay, so I want to shift a little bit and talk about some of your branding work because you've done so much to kind of think and review and try to coalesce so much of what you've learned both in your own business and what you've learned from other people and helping. And you know, I had the benefit of being able to go to one of your workshops and I thought it was really helpful just for me because I'm kind of in an interesting spot as an attorney who's looking to offer legal services in a different way. And I mean, you, you're great because you talk about so much in your workshop and in other places online that a brand is all about value. You know, you said that earlier. So when you tell people, you know, a brand is all about value, what do you mean by that and what should they be looking at in terms of bringing value.

So just to kind of give brand a definition, because we can all be working from a different definition when it comes to brand. For me, brand is value, or brand is the personification of your business. Your brand is not your product. Your brand— branding is not marketing. I also— and by marketing, I mean quantifiable, your campaign. And the other way I say it is branding is who is talking, marketing is who you're talking to. So I never have anyone define their brand based on who they're talking to because I say that's like the desperate girl in high school. This is counterintuitive and counter to how most people will have a conversation about branding.

They'll say, look, think of your avatar, picture her, what does she read, what does she like, you know, find her, you know, yeah.

And you know, all roads lead to Oz. There's a million different ways to do whatever it is you're going to do. And again, this is what I do. And as I was reflecting back on what do I have to offer, what do I care about, what am I passionate about? Um, I was on a run and I was feeling really down and this, you know, I was going through my mind of which one of my driving questions is what should I be doing? What am I supposed to be doing? And you know, this guy drove by in his car and I was just looking at him and I was like, if he had an idea, a dream, a business, a product, I bet I could help him figure out how to get that message out better than almost anyone I know. Not better than anyone on the planet, no, but anyone I know. Yeah. And I had done a keynote on branding a few years back and it was something I had just been sitting on, something I was excited about, but I was throwing dance parties and baking cookies and I was like Who's gonna take me seriously? But anybody who knew me in person and talked to me knew that's all I talk about. That's all I talk about.

And that's what everyone always wanted from you is, yeah, can I talk to you? Can I pick your brain? Can I take you out to lunch? Yeah, everyone want a piece of the Alison pie because they're like, Alison knows how to do it right and we, we need, we need her in our life and in our business.

Thank you. And so I sat back and I thought Why can I sell a dance party in under 5 minutes? Yes, it's a good product, but lots of people have a good product. Why can I not only sell a dance party, I can sell how to make cookies and I can, I can change from vertical to vertical. And you know, what made this successful? What made this successful? What did I do here that was not successful? Like what was missing from it? And I realized that it was just, again, what I feel like I'm an expert on is a very strong brand. I'm not claiming to be how to build a multimillion-dollar business expert because the organizational side of it is something I'm working on and learning. But I believe the reason why I've always been so good at that is it's a natural inclination in me to have an existential crisis and an existential crisis. Which again is something I'm trying to stop doing so much of. But an existential crisis essentially causes you to ask why, why, why, why, why.

And the silver lining is that if you have those, then you know your why.

Yeah, and I know my why because I'm always thinking about it and everything. I'm such a freaking diva, precious pretty princess. I can't do anything unless it does— again, it comes back to ego. So my existential crisis and my ego helped me create a really strong brand, that strong voice, because it's you, and what I had to do, like you just said, it's me, but it's not, right? And that's where the breakdown started to happen, because in order to scale, in order to grow, in order to be profitable, profitable, and in order to not have an anxiety attack— and I'm not exaggerating, you know— an anxiety attack every single day, as it grew, I had to say, what is Alison and what is The Alison Show? So as I was creating this for myself and realizing what did I do correctly, what have I done incorrectly, how can I teach this to someone else, what are the universal principles here, I really started to realize so many universal principles, so many really philosophical places to teach and using psychology and philosophy, things that I really love, that I'm really interested in, to teach people how to do what I've done, which is start with their why. And you know, I'm a genius, start with your why. Oh, freaking Simon Sinek has a whole book and TED Talk about it, and then I think I've come to it all on my own, as always, my ego, right? And then I realized, no, Simon Sinek's not the first one. No. He has his way of doing it. I agree with him. I think he's amazing.

Right.

I have my way of doing it. I share my experience.

You throw your glitter on it.

Yeah, exactly. And, and again, I've created an entire system around helping people find their why, right, based on what has worked for me. And what's interesting, and again, I was like, well, Simon Sinek always tells everyone to find their why, but he doesn't tell them how.

Yeah.

And then he came out with a second book called How to Find Your Why. And I read it and you know what, it's super similar. It's similar. It's not the exact same though. Yeah. Which this, the reason I share this is I think it's applicable for Law and Wit and the people listening is, um, I like to create in a vacuum because I try to be so conscious of the fact that I don't want other people's work affecting me. I'm not saying that that's like the best thing in the world to do. I'm just saying I tend, my tendency again based in the, why do I sound like such an egomaniac? I'm just saying, No, no, no, it's like because of the ego thing, I have to come up with it all on my own, right? And I try to be careful of other influences. However, it's my own story, it's my own system, and my system resonates with different people. And that comes back to your product and your business. Yes, there's other photographers. Yes, there's other bloggers. Yes, there's other restaurants. Yes, there's other whatever. And that's why I think brand matters so much. It's what's your unique value proposition? What are the unique things that make you a person that you bring to the table? And that's what I continuously focus on for my brand. And I really believe that always our greatest strengths are also our greatest weaknesses. So just kind of like my existential crisis and my ego have been in a lot of ways a big weakness weakness in my life, they've also been my biggest strengths in a lot of ways. I always have my why as a center driving force. I take big risks. I do things that other people would be way too embarrassed to do because I'm like, eh, well, whatever.

Yeah, but the reason that you are, and you know, you talk about this in your branding workshop, that because you're willing to be vulnerable, you know, because you jump out of a cake at a large dance party, people feel okay in just really, really getting down and being crazy and coming with a really over-the-top costume with their girlfriends, and it makes it such an experience. And they can do that, and they feel like they have permission to do that because you did it first, because you were tied into what they needed. And a lot of people throw parties and events, but how could I do it in a special way? And what is it that I could provide and try to provide value in a way that only I can?

Yeah, and I think— and thank you— and I think Gary Vaynerchuk says that great product is empathy. And I believe you cannot have empathy without vulnerability because empathy is you're experiencing and you're understanding other people's emotions and their experience. And if you're not having any vulnerability, if you're not opening yourself up to any of that, I think you lose some of that empathy. And I always say that if you want authenticity, if you want connection with a brand, you need vulnerability. Now we're not using vulnerability in a way that makes makes you feel icky and like you're over sharing or something. Yeah, but you're, you're showing warts and all, and that is something— again, if people want an authentic brand that has connection, that roots them to their why, because they're not just looking to build a business, they're looking to do something that fulfills them and contributes to the world, then I'm the girl for them. If you, um, aren't interested in that I'm not saying you're a bad person, right? Like, that's not how I operate. Go to somebody who's gonna give you algorithm hacks. And I'm not about treating the symptom, I'm about treating the cause.

Yeah. And I mean, I see that people are always like, oh, talk to us about techniques. Should I— how long should my stories be?

How many hashtags?

How many days?

How—

when should I post? You know, what color should I make it? I mean, people really want to get down to the nitty-gritty as if as if there was some special formula. I think that there's— I'm not bashing you if that's your business, because I think there's a space for learning techniques and having tools. Obviously that changes so quickly in this game now and online that people—

there have to be people who are adapting and figuring that out all the time.

I really like what you're saying in terms of there has to be a bigger picture. I think you're great about that, about putting people into big picture thinking. What's your vision of where you want to go? And I love that you prompt people and ask, why did you start a business? And don't tell me the reason that you tell everyone else. Yeah, don't tell me what you tell people over like the Thanksgiving dinner table or to your grandma when they ask. Like, yeah, what's your real why?

Well, and the other, the other thing is that so many people say because I needed money, because I needed this, and We often don't even know our own story, right? Because we've limited our story or we haven't told our story. And so that's what's fun about the workshop. And people often ask if I'll do the workshop online, and no, because it's an in-person experience. You verbalize, you listen, you feel. One of my goals is to get you into a peak physical and mental state so that you can receive information in a new way.

Right.

If you, you have to change your pattern in order to change your state, and going to a workshop has you change your state. But then I did the online courses because that is a little more, like I said, those courses are a little more crossover marketing, branding, some more traditional business acumen of people who are like, I need to grow in this area. You can listen to the information and apply it and do the worksheets, and you don't— it doesn't have to be this big in-person experience, I don't think.

Yeah, I don't think it's requiring quite the level of thought work that your brand is.

No, it's, it's really a lot.

The, the—

what people keep saying that I like is I feel like I'm drinking from a fire hose. But you know what, I feel really good about that because I don't like you to walk away being thirsty.

Right? Let's overdo it, you know. Plus, I mean, yeah, yeah, who doesn't like— I mean, firemen are hot. So yeah, let's just— let's go with that whole imagery there. And yeah, keep that a really positive experience for everyone.

So, but this is a totally different direction than I had last year. And honestly, I love the brand work. I have Allison's Brand School, and this year I've had at least half a dozen multimillion-dollar one-on-one corporate clients. And next year I won't be taking many corporate clients. I don't, I'm not going to be making time in my schedule for that as much. I won't be doing quite as many workshops. I have a really big, one big corporate client that I will be doing multiple things for. Uh, but I will continue to sell the courses. It's just your business is always evolving. But the reason why I really love the brand work is it very deeply, directly ties to the work I do with The Allison Show, which is helping people find their awesome, feel their awesome, and do something with it. Now part of that is what do you feel called to do, you know, your business. That's part of it. For some people, they feel called to create a business. Business. They feel called to create a brand or whatever it is. And so that's why I love the Brand School, because it helps you if that's what you feel called to do. But the other courses and the other products I'm going to be working on for 2018 are going to take a lot of the same principles from Brand School and have it be about your life. Yeah. And what I did is I tricked everybody. They thought they were coming to Brand School to talk just about business, and I really make them talk just about their But it's been a really awesome place to try the format and, you know, the group sizes and the coursework and how to run a workshop with the business.

You know, people are more comfortable in a quote-unquote business setting, right, because it seems less personal, less intrusive, and they kind of put on like, I'm wearing my business hat and my business, you know, pants.

And also people are willing to spend more money on their quote-unquote business than on themselves.

And I just think probably because they can deduct it.

So yeah, well, there's, but there's that, but it's also, I heard somebody say this, uh, I can't remember who it was. They're like, we spend more money on grass than we do on our own, like, self-care.

Yeah.

We'll spend more money on blinds than we will on figuring out how to be happier in our day-to-day life. Right. Like, think about that.

That's insane.

Think about that. And so I'm super excited to take all of the cool, you know, workshop exercises and different things that I used in Brand School, bring them over to having people apply them for their life and continue to move forward. And that's what our podcast Awesome with Allison is, is all about.

Yeah, I mean, it's all about, you know, you guys have encouraging messages, you're giving real tools and tips for people in terms of how can they improve their relationships, their business, their family life, you know, what are ways they can get themselves unstuck.

Yeah, and I think it's interesting, sometimes I'll hear people say, I love your podcast, I'm not even an entrepreneur, and I'm like, in nowhere in any way, shape, or form did I ever say it was for entrepreneurs. I said it was for humans who want to feel a little more awesome than they did before. But I just think it's really interesting and it's reflective of human human experience. They see me as an entrepreneur, me as a business owner, so they think that's what I'm creating content for. The same thing also happens a lot with moms. People love to call me a mom blogger or a mom boss, and I'm like, no, yeah, no, I'm a human, right? I'm not— I'm a boss. I'm not qualified by mom. Now again, some people really relate to that. They really like those different titles. You know, I just think it's really interesting. And I— yes, most of my audience is women, but I don't speak to women. I just like speaking to humans. I don't speak to just— now again, we can get into the brass tacks of should you be niche, should you pick a more specific focus? Yeah, you should.

But, but you know, do as I say, not as I do.

No, here's the thing, is again, my brand Who am I talking to? I'm talking to people who believe what I believe, right? And the people who believe what I believe is that you can feel awesome, you should feel awesome about yourself, and you can live a life that you have control over. And so I am being very specific because that's a specific group of people, right? So I think that's something to take into account too, is— and that's a— that's part of a Simon Sinek quote— is people don't want to do business with people who have what they have. They want to do business business with people who believe what they believe. And that's, again, that's what branding is about. Who is your brand? What do they believe? And if you're not telling people what you believe, they'll just buy your crap from any person that they can get it from, right? If somebody wants a dance party, there are people who straight up took my exact model and created dance parties.

So they—

if somebody just wants a dance party, they can go to one of those other women's dance parties, and they're great. Yeah, but the, but the women who want to do business with me, they believe what I believe, they're the same women who are gonna buy my audio courses, come to my workshops when I launch new courses next year, right? They stick with the brand, right? I'm not trying to keep the person who only wants a dance party from me. If they only want a dance party from me, hey, shake hands, here's your dance party, here's your swag bag.

I hope you had a good night.

Yeah, I hope you found value in this, right? But that's, again, that is the power of the brand. You can jump from vertical to vertical. You innovate, you evolve. You think about Netflix, you know, the disc came in your mail and now they're producing their own.

I mean, they're using material.

Yeah, it's a completely different business. Yeah, but it doesn't seem different to us.

No, because we, you know, yeah, we equated them with good entertainment, with having choice and on your terms. Yeah, ease. I mean, they turn themselves into their own verb. I mean, Netflix and chill now. That's right. With their brand, the strength of their brand. Yeah, I mean, actually, really funny, a funny little thing I heard about Netflix is that, you know, they have like The Christmas Prince is like their Hallmark-style movie that came out for Christmas. Oh yeah, they released— they've been making fun of people on Twitter because Netflix discovered that 57 of their users have been watching that movie every single day since it came out.

57 people?

There's 50— there are 57 humans out there, or accounts, that have hit play on A Christmas Prince every single day since it was launched.

I actually respect that. Like, I respect— not Netflix, like, whatever for them— I respect somebody who is so— like, again, back to that consistency. I respect people who can be that consistent, right?

Right. They're like, I know what I'm looking for, and like, it's, you know, a woman who decides to eschew her journalism ethics and fall in love No, I do too. Now that you've heard it, my babysitter really loves it. So I love— like, someone gave the caveat of like, maybe it's like a salon who's like playing it in their background. And I'm like, maybe, but like, what about like the other 50 folks?

Like, I just— I kind of like this idea of somebody getting their like nighttime cup of sleepytime tea. They get in bed, they're all warm, and they turn that movie on on every single night for 57 days.

Like, yeah, Merry Christmas, You Feel the Animal. Like, this is what I'm looking for. I love that. I love Netflix that they have such a sense of humor about the whole thing. So they actually did something that's really fun. They had Stranger Things— someone had done like a pop-up bar in honor of Stranger Things, and they had like used the name, and like the drinks were called like the Upside Down. Like, it was so— I'm sure it was like super cool and swanky, also like complete intellectual property infringement. So, so their lawyers, Netflix lawyers, sent a cease and desist letter that was like, hey, like, we could tell you guys are really creative, but like, you know, don't get lost in the Upside Down. Like, when the show finishes, like season 2, like shut your bar down, you know, like we don't want to see you. And so, I mean, that's probably nerd alert on me that I'm like, oh my gosh, those lawyers were so funny, you know, like we have a really low bar, you know. In my group of friends. I'm like, what's good lawyer humor? But I thought that was so great that like they said what needed to be said, but like they were cool about it.

Yeah, yeah. Oh my gosh, like have your fun.

Yeah, good, you know, props for being creative.

Where are you seeing these stories? Are you like reading the news? I am. Like, what's the news?

What's the news? I subscribe to like a lot of like legal tech, you know, and like Internet Law Digest, and so I get news headlines about stuff like this. Like when the FTC does something cool, or usually not cool, I hear about that. Because I'm like, I need to know, because my people need to know.

Oh man, look at you, staying in the know.

You know, we've all got to fight this fight. I love it. Okay, so I mean, 2018 is coming up. I know a lot of people are going to be doing their business planning. If people can't get to one of your amazing brand workshops, if that's not in the cards for them next year, 'Can you send us out with something? What do you recommend they do?' Try to start that process for them.

You know, this is what I did for 2018. I've never been this organized in my entire life. I got a 12-month calendar, which by the way, I'm just about to launch my Year of Awesome calendar, which you can at a glance— I did, and I did this because I wanted it for myself— an 11 by 7 2017. So just like a piece of paper you can print out of your own printer, right? And I put the whole year up on my wall. I've never done that before. I put the whole year up on my wall, and then I said, okay, what are the things contractually that I have to do, right? And I put those up on the wall, and then I said, what are the things that I want to do? Because if you don't put it on the calendar, if you don't schedule it, it doesn't happen. And I put it up on the calendar, and then I was you know, and my assistant was there and somebody I work with on Brand School was there. And okay, we could do this, which means we need to get ready for this, you know, scheduling the whole year. And then for about a week after, I was just sad. Remember how I said I just get sad? Like, I felt like such a boss, like, yeah, I'm getting this done. And it was like, okay, we should do this here, we should do this here, we should do this here. And then I felt really sad and I was like, why am I sad? I'm being proactive, I'm planning. And I realized it was because I was looking at all of the things like I had to get done, the things I was putting on the calendar, and I wasn't focusing on who do I want to be, right? I was like, what— rather than just what do I want to do, what do I want to get done, what do I want to achieve, right? Um, what's going to bring me in alignment with the person that I want to be, with my values, with my goals? And so I think as a business owner, yes, There's things you contractually do. Yes, you need it. You need to meet the bottom line. Yes. What's the ROI? Blah, blah, blah.

Right.

Business, business, business. And hey, no joke, guys. I tripled my profits from last year. Like, I think, yeah, the thing is, it's like, I know it's easy to say, oh, she doesn't have to worry about money, this and that. Yeah, no, I tripled my profits. Get off my back. I care about money. We need money in order to make our businesses go round. Right? Energy. Money is energy. But I think the most important thing I can do— and I talked to my husband about this, I'm like, why am I sad? Why am I bummed out? I'm more organized than I've ever been before. And I realized it was because I had, you know, back to my unique value propositions, back to the things that make me me. One of the things about The Allison Show is, yes, it is— it's a brand. It's not me. It's not me as a person. But it is following my journey as a person. And as I change and my interests change, it ebbs and flows and changes with me. And I think the most value that I can put into the world is by staying true to, to that, to that, to that story, to those ideas of following my intuition on what do I feel like I could offer the most value. And you know what, I think that's what it is. Even, and that's why it's important to say things out loud. Yeah. Um, because I, I hadn't quite answered my own question until right now saying that. That was the question I asked myself at the beginning of 2017 that helped me create the Brand School and the workshop and the consulting and everything. Yeah. It was the same question that I asked myself at the beginning of 2017, is what is the most amount of value that I could put out? What do I have? What is the thing of the most value to the world, to myself, that I could create this year? And I, in retrospect, right, that will be the question I start with every single year. Rather than, uh, what contractually do I have to get done, what do I want to get done, what are my goals, put it on the calendar, right? It's that deeper existential philosophical question: what is the meaning of life? But instead of that, what is of the utmost value that I could put into the world for this next year? And have that be your guiding force for the entire year. Because if your focus is on creating the most value, you will make money. I tripled my profits, and my goal is to triple them again next year. I can't sustain that growth forever and ever, I get that. Do I get that? I don't know.

I don't know. Let's kick that can down the road.

Yeah, I'm not gonna worry about that today. But that's gotta be it, that's gotta be your driving force. So do that, or don't. I don't care. That's what I'm gonna do.

But I would listen to her. Yeah, I would do it. And I don't play it.

I'm always telling people, like, you don't have to listen to me. I mean, I'm a freaking genius, and other people have listened to me, have found great success, but you don't have to.

I'm paid quite a handsome amount. You know, you do you. You decide. Ball's in your court.

But I'm just saying, there are other successful people who don't operate the way I operate. I don't know what kind of humans they are, but, but, but no, do you know what I mean? But can you imagine if every business owner operated like that? Not how much money can I get, not how can I meet this and, you know, tick this off my box or do this, this, this, and this. But if they ask themselves, what is the greatest amount of value that I could put into the world, either for another person, for a family, for my own family, right? Like, what is the highest good I could serve, the most amount of value and started with that, even if like me it shifts the entire direction of your business, that's okay. Guess what? If you don't shift the direction of your business from time to time, you're not gonna stay in business. Yeah. P.S., by the way, that's a true story, right?

Yeah. So growing, and it's gonna be a little uncomfortable before it gets better. Oh yeah, okay. It's a little bit like childbirth.

Well, this discomfort is an invitation to step up. That's from one of my keynotes. But okay, I feel, I feel like we've, we've done all we can do here with these people. Yeah, we don't want to talk their ears off.

No, late. Yeah, but hey, so if people are not following you now and they need to be part of your life, all of your things, where can people find you?

So I'm calling it— this is new for me— I'm calling it the Awesome Empire. And so if you want to be a part of the Awesome Empire, come and join along. I'm the Allison Show, Allison with one L. On Instagram, theallisonshow.com, my new freaking website which I've been working on all year should be ready in January.

I don't know.

Yeah. And also our podcast Awesome with Allison is a really good time. And the whole goal of the podcast is that you feel a little more, a little more awesome than you did before. So if you're looking for something like that in your life, I think you'll have a good time.

You also have an awesome newsletter.

Oh, I do. I have my Thought Nuggets. Yeah, they go out weekly. 5 tasty treats to, again, that is my brand, a little more awesome than you did before. And that's the goal, and I keep you in the know, in the loop. And if you're interested in the branding workshop, in the beginning of the year is when the tickets will go on sale for the first one, and the first people to know about it are always the people who are subscribed to my newsletter.

So be part of the empire, sign up, you know, let her be your battlelord. And just follow you as you move forward, you know, and confidently conquer with, you know, disco and sparkles and, you know, dancing sharks.

All good things.

All good things. So thank you so, so much, Alison, for being here today. Yeah, I really appreciate me being able to leverage our friendship and our business relationship. And Alison is one of my— yeah, she is one of my best clients and greatest referral sources, and Yeah, I'm just really, really grateful that she's able to join us. So thank you.

Thank you for having me.

Okay, bye-bye.

Thank you so much for tuning in today. I hope that you enjoyed this gem of an episode. Allison is such a fun person, as obviously you can see. She's just a kick in the pants in all the greatest ways. So if you like what you heard today, please leave me a review in iTunes. I'm still a new budding little show, and that's really the greatest thing that you can do for me, um, is to share so that other people can find this content and they can also learn something new, solve a problem, maybe learn how to do something, um, and work on their business with more confidence. So I appreciate all the feedback I'm getting online, emails, direct messages from people, but, um, the most helpful thing is actually to leave a review in iTunes, and you can do that right from your phone. So if you pull up iTunes iTunes and search for Lon Witt, you'll see right in one of the tabs it says leave a review. So, and you can put in an anonymous name, that's fine. You don't have to put in your actual name if you don't want to. I am going to read someone's though, a really nice one. And this one is by Tasha. And she says that— she titles it, "So excited this show is being made." She says, "I've been looking for content just like this. Excited to follow Brittany and the knowledge she shares around building a business with a nod to the legalities involved.

Awesomeness.

So thank you so much, Tasha, for sharing. And if you've liked what you've heard today on this episode or on any others, please share a review on iTunes or share with a friend. If you've got someone that you guys— an entrepreneurial friend, someone in your family, friends, your circle of influence who you think this content could help, please share. I'd really appreciate it. You can find this show show notes on my website at brittanyratelle.com/7, since this is episode 7. So brittanyratelle.com, that's B-R-I-T-T-A-N-Y-R-A-T-E-L-L-E.com/e7. Thanks so much, and I hope you have a great day.