93: Alexis Haselberger: How She Found Clients When She Was Just Starting Out

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Welcome to the Course Creators MBA podcast. I'm your host, Dr. Destiny Kopp and I help business owners increase the revenue with digital products and automated sales funnels. In this podcast we tell the stories of ordinary business owners just like you. We talk about their story and how they got started, the challenges they've experienced and how they overcame them. And these are discussions with real people who understand what it's like to own an online course or membership business. Before we begin our show today, I want to let you know that this episode is sponsored by our flagship Course in a Box program which helps you create your revenue generating course in less than a week. Course in a Box is available on AppSumo at a special deal and you can learn more about Course in a Box by visiting the link in the show Notes. Let's jump right into our show.

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Today I have a special guest. I have Alexis Hasselberger. She is a time management and productivity coach who helps people do more and stress less through coaching workshops and online courses. Her pragmatic yet fun approach helps people easily integrate practical, realistic strategies into their lives so that they can do more of what they want and less of what they don't. Alexis has taught thousands of individuals to take control of their time and her clients include Google, Lyft, Workday, Capital One, Upwork, and more. Alexis, thank you so much for joining me. I'm so excited about our conversation here today.

Well, thank you for having me. I'm really excited about it too.

So why don't you take a few minutes and walk the audience through your entrepreneur journey and how you got to where you are today.

Sure, I'd be happy to. So yeah, I'm going to go way back because I think that sometimes we.

Don'T know how we got where we.

Are and then we look back and we see the threads that go all the way to childhood. Right. And so for me, I think when it comes to time management and productivity, I was always just a very highly focused on ROI of my time kid. So I was a kid who was.

Always kind of breaking out. As an 8 year old I'd be.

Breaking out the graph paper to make myself a weekly schedule. I'd be cross referencing it with the TV Guide so that I could make sure to get my best half hour of TV that I was allowed to have in there.

I was always trying to figure out.

How can I make straight A's and also go to class as little as possible.

So always trying to figure out how.

Can I get the best use of.

My time and Fast forward.

So went to college, all that fun stuff. And then I worked for about 15 years in startups, tech startups in the Bay Area.

And I worked doing a lot of.

Basically like everything that wasn't sales and engineering in a startup. So that's everything from facilities, hr, operations, legal, finance, like dealing with, dealing with all of that stuff. And what I found in those really fast paced startups was that people worked really long hours and they burnt out. And like that was not something that was okay with me. Like I never wanted to work long hours. Like I, you know, one of the pieces of advice my mom gave me was never work more than 40 hours a week because then they will expect it. And I really took that to heart. And so, you know, going through working in these kinds of, and then having a couple kids of my own, I was always trying to figure out how do I streamline things so that I can make the best use of my time. And then people started coming to me asking for that type of advice. So, you know, I started to be asked to do productivity workshops, the companies that I was working at and people were asking me to set up task systems and help people to manage, you know, their workloads. And eventually when the last startup that I worked for went out of business, as many startups do, I realized that this area, area of time management and productivity, this was the piece that was most interesting to me. Like I geek out about all this stuff and also it seemed to be the most helpful and impactful for the people that I'd been working with and around. And so I just decided to see if I could somehow make a business out of that, about doing the thing that I loved that came easy to me, but that seemed to be hard for other people.

So I have to let you in on a little bit of secret. This is like my, I don't know, secret passion, if you will.

Yeah.

So I love everything related to time management and productivity. So definitely, definitely want to learn more. So you were at the startups you said for about 15 years and people at these startups started asking you to do like these productivity shops and workshops and started really just asking you about, I guess, how you were so good at some of the. When did you actually move into entrepreneurship and tell us a little bit more about that transition process?

Yeah, so the last company that I worked for, it went out of business and I basically, I mean, this is so ridiculous to say, but basically I just couldn't imagine having to go prove myself to someone else again. I had worked for the Same CEO at two different companies. He brought me with him over the last 10 years, and I had built up a lot of autonomy. And, you know, I felt like I did. I mean, I did have a boss, but it didn't feel like I had a boss. Right. I was able to do what I needed to do and kind of make my own decisions and all of that. And so when that company went out of business, the prospect of just, like, going to apply for another job seemed so distasteful to me that I was like, okay, what can I do? I guess I'll just start a business. And so that is literally what I did. I was like, I'll just see if I can make this work. And I gave myself, I think I told myself, I'm going to give it a shot for 18 months, and if I can make decent money in 18 months, then I will keep going. And if I cannot make any money in 18 months, then I living off the money that I had, right? If I can't make any more money, then I'll just go back and I'll.

Find another job and I'll know this wasn't for me.

And the reality was that I got a client pretty quickly and that I was, you know, by the end of the first year that I was in business, I'd replaced the salary that I was working for other people. And so it's only. It's only gone up from there. And so that transition for me, I really had no idea. I was like, I'm gonna start a business, but I had no idea how or what I would do. And so the first thing I did was just get a website domain, right? I got a domain Alexis Hasselberger.com because I didn't have any creative ideas about what to name this business. And I built a website on Squarespace and under a day, just using their templates and tools. And then I was like, okay, that's legitimate. Like, I have a website here. And then I started trying to figure out what the heck I was going to do. And I knew I wanted it to be around time management and productivity, but I didn't really know in what format or how that could work. And so for about a month, I just started writing best practice documents. Like, I just started writing, okay, what do I know? What are all the things I know? And I just started writing these documents. I, like, had a document about focus and a document about a task system and a document about how to prepare.

For and return from vacation and a.

Document about, like, just all the things I Knew about time management, management, you know, how to be efficient. And eventually I had a whole bunch of this stuff and then I started putting it together in groups. I started saying like, okay, some of this stuff is related to each other. And when I looked at it, I said, you know what, I think I.

Have a program here.

I think I have like, I have a modules. And so then I decided I would do coaching and I would say, okay, well, I'm going to just teach people the things that I know. And so that's how I started.

So you mentioned that in the first year you had replaced your salary. Did you start working one on one with clients or tell us a little bit about what you were doing? Were you going to the, you know, like Google and Lyft and Workday and doing workshops forums? Tell us a little bit more about that.

So yeah, I was doing both workshops and one on one coaching. And really what I did to get started was I emailed every single person that I knew. Like every single person, every email address I had. I think it was like 800 people. And I emailed them all with. Started with a template, but I customized it just to be a little bit nicer to each person. But basically I just said, hey, hey, I started this business. Here's what I'm doing. Here are the people who I like to work with. Here's how I can help them. If you know anybody, let me know, right? Or if you think I could help you, let me know. And that's actually how I got my first few clients, was just through that outreach. And it was incredibly uncomfortable. I mean, I emailed people I hadn't.

Talked to since high school.

I emailed people like I emailed the insurance agent of a job I had four years ago. Like four jobs ago. Like, I just emailed everybody whose email address I had. And then I also reached out to everybody, everybody that I was connected to on LinkedIn. And that's how I got started. And then once, you know, kind of once you do good work, then people start referring you to other people.

I love that. So I'm thinking about my kind of not my business work emails that I have for my business, but kind of my personal ones. I think I got emails in there from, I don't know, people on my baseball team, my kids baseball team, like 10 years ago. Is that the kind of people you were emailing?

Yeah, yeah, I literally I downloaded all the emails from all of the email accounts that I had.

Right.

And I emailed all of them. So it was. Yeah, it was Parents of kids my, like, kids went to preschool with.

Right.

It was literally every single person that I had their email address.

I love that. So tell us a little bit about your first clients. Some. I know you've had some big names that you've done work for. Did you find them through this outreach or how did you find them?

Well, my very first client, I think I was just really lucky. My very first client found me through LinkedIn. So, you know, he was an, you know, worked in engineering at Google and he found me on LinkedIn. I guess he was looking for a time management or productivity coach. And we had, you know, I remember being so nervous because it was my first sales call ever and he decided that he wanted to work with me. And that turned out to be just incredibly fruitful because he had such huge transformation in his stress levels and his, you know, his, his work that he just started referring me to so many other people. And so that's how, you know, with, with Google, that's how I ended up.

Having lots and lots of Google clients.

And then eventually did some workshops for Google for the, like, wider teams.

So tell me this, how long have you been in business? So from the time you, you know, kind of got your first client and you were that first year out where you replaced your salary till now, how long has that been?

Just about three and a half years. So it's really not been that long. Yeah, I just.

It hasn't been that long. Not at all.

Yeah.

So now you, and you're here, we're going to talk a little bit more about your online courses. At what point did you decide, you know, I should take some of this knowledge and put it in an online course or were your clients asking for it? Kind of walk us through that process and what made you go down the path of, you know, creating an online course?

Yeah, so it's, it's funny, it was actually very happenstance for me through LinkedIn. So my courses are on Udemy right now. And through LinkedIn, someone from Udemy reached out to me. My first, it was kind of the end of my first year in business and said, hey, we don't have a great time management course for our business product. Is this something you would be interested in doing? And I think, you know, that first year of business, you just say yes to everything. Right.

Like, every opportunity.

And so I was like, yeah, sure, I will do this. This sounds great. And so it really was something that I didn't think of on my own, but once it got brought to my attention, I thought oh, that's a really interesting idea. A way to make some passive income, A way to have a product out there that's less expensive than working with me one on one. And so it really came from Udemy themselves who had reached out to me saying that they needed something and they.

Saw my expertise there.

And so I really have to give the credit to them because I think my business would have turned in this direction if they hadn't reached out in the first place.

So tell. And I may have missed it, but how did they find you on LinkedIn?

They just reached out to me on LinkedIn. Yeah.

Wow, that's great. That goes to show you how important LinkedIn profiles are.

Yeah.

You know, and I, and I think that's important for a lot of people, you know, no matter what you're doing, whether you're just freelancing or, you know, in any type of work like that. So LinkedIn profiles, you don't necessarily have to be posting on LinkedIn, you know, but the profiles are so important. Okay, so walk us through a little bit more. Tell us a little bit more about your courses. And I know you mentioned, you know, before we started recording that you're in the middle of, I believe you said, launching another one or creating another one. So tell us a little bit more about them.

Yeah, so I have, I have two courses right now. The first one is the first one that I created when Udemy had reached out. And this is, this one's called Time Management Mastery. Do More Stress less. And this one is a really, it kind of gives you the foundation that you need to be properly managing time and task management. And it really goes into like a big thing for me and my business is let's not try to shove ourselves in a box. Let's learn a little bit about ourselves and then figure out which strategies are we going to use that are going to help support who we are already and to do things based on who we are already. Instead of trying to say just, you know, go read this book and do.

It exactly this way.

And so this course really helps you to, to identify different traits and tendencies you might have and then try to customize your, the strategies that you're using to that. It also really helps with prioritization and like how do we say no and yet like what do we say yes to?

And how do we say no to.

The right things too? Because I find that people are really often over committed and that's a huge source of overwhelm and stress. But it feels scary to say no and so that course really is kind.

Of a fundamentals course.

And then I have another course that I actually created at the beginning of the pandemic. And this one is about how to work from home without losing your mind, basically. And so this one came out of a direct need from many of my clients. Actually one of my, you know, one of my clients at Google had said, you know, you're teaching me all this stuff, I need you to create a workshop to teach my team all this stuff. And so I created a workshop and did that, you know, for a bunch of different teams. And out of that I created another online course that really covers like how do we stay connected to people, how do we stay, you know, in focus, how do we regain control and calm and all of that when we're thrust into a situation like working from home with our kids there and all these other different types of things. So those are the two courses that I have available right now. And then I am in the middle of translating my group, my coaching program, which I do both individually and for groups. I'm translating that into a really robust online course that I'm going to be selling myself, probably launching in the beginning of next year. And I'm really at the point where I'm trying to reduce a lot of the one on one work that I have because I have, you know, I have a lot of clients, but it takes up a lot of time and shifting more of that onto a self, you know, self serve model for my clients.

So I love all of these. So the one that you talk about, do more, stress less and say no. You mentioned that a lot of us are over committed. I think a lot of people, you know, listening to this can relate to that. Also the one on how to work from home without losing your mind, was that partly coming out as a result of COVID where everybody was having to work from home and they didn't really want to and they were coming to you and asking you what, how do they solve for this?

100%? Yeah, I mean I released that very early and I think I released that maybe April of last year just as a direct result of what are all the things that I'm seeing with my clients, what are their needs? And because I had specific clients asking me to produce content in those areas and I had actually worked from home for about seven years before that anyways. And so I'd led teams from home and I had worked from home for the most part. And so I had developed a lot of good strategies around that anyways. And so it was just a natural extension of the work that I was doing with people because people are having productivity issues, they're having time issues, they're stressed, they're overwhelmed. And now we throw no boundaries, right? All our boundaries got obliterated and we're now dealing with four zoom calls going on in the house all at the same time and trying to manage kids homeschooling at the same time as we're trying to be on our work meetings and all of that. And it would just, it really brought people to a breaking point. And so that's why I produced that.

And I think a lot of people too can relate to what you're doing with your kind of your robust or signature course, whatever you're going to call it, where you're, you know, putting it together to kind of reduce your one on one work and to give your business an opportunity to see scale. So, Alexis, let me ask you this. What do you see as next steps in your business?

So, yeah, so right now, in my business, I am actively saying no to things that do not fit within kind of what I want to do to scale, right. So I am turning down some work that I might have turned that I might have definitely said yes to in my first year of business so that I have more time to really put the effort into translating my coaching program into this content course. And so my goal is that I, you know, right now I think I'm probably 80% one on one and group work and 20%, you know, course wise and in terms of revenue. And I would really like to flip that. Right. So I still, I don't want to get rid of the one on one work and I don't want to get rid of the workshops, but I'd really like to have the bulk of my revenue coming from courses instead of the flip side.

I love that. I love that. And I think a lot of people listening to this podcast episode can relate to that. Is, you know, that's the one of the benefits that online courses give us. It allows us to kind of, you know, not necessarily completely move away from that one on one work, but move more of it to online courses to give us, you know, more time to do what we enjoy. So closing question for you is what advice do you have for other online course creators or entrepreneurs out there? You've been doing this for, I think it was around three and a half years. You've accomplished a lot, quite frankly, in three and a half years. What advice do you have for others who may just be getting started into all this.

I think that my best advice is just don't be afraid to get out of your comfort zone and just put stuff out into the world. I think that a lot of times we want things to be perfect or really good or all of these things before we put it. Just put it out there. And the reality is, like, at the very beginning, nobody's watching anyways. So it doesn't matter if you make.

Big mistakes or you fail or whatever. Right.

It's the best time to be trying things out because literally nobody's watching. And also that's how you get better. It's like, I look at things that I put out into the world a couple years ago that I thought were good at the time, and I look back at them and I'm like, oh, I see so many places where this.

Could be important, improved. Right.

But I think that that's necessary because if we wait until something's good enough, then we never get the feedback from people about how to make it better.

I love that. And as you were saying that about, you know, the stuff you had put out in the early days, I think about some of the early podcast episodes I did. I'm like, oh, I go. I won't even go back and listen to them now. It's that bad. It's literally that bad. But you do. You get better over time as you do it more and more. So, Alexis, where can people find you if they want to learn more about, you know, time, time management, productivity, which I know a lot of people are interested in?

Yeah. So the best places to find me are on my website. It's alexishasselberger.com and I hope you'll put that in the show notes, because that's a mouthful and I don't know that anyone will be able to spell it.

I definitely will. So they'll have the link and then.

Yeah, they can find me on Instagram at Do More Stress Less, on Facebook at Do More Stressless. And yeah, I have a YouTube channel.

As well, and I can send you.

The link to that to throw in the show notes. But I produce weekly content that for free so anyone can sign up for my weekly newsletter where I send out free tips every week and I put a YouTube video up there of the similar content every week so that people.

Can have access to that.

Perfect. And we will make sure that those links are in the show notes so people can learn some time management and productivity tips from you. Alexis, thank you so much for joining me. I loved chatting with you and hearing about your story and everything that you have accomplished in the past few years in your business. I wish you the best in launching your signature program.

Well, thank you so much.

It's been really a pleasure to chat with you today, so thanks for having me on.

Thank you so much for joining us today. I hope you enjoyed this episode. If you love the show, we'd appreciate a review on Apple Podcast or your favorite podcast platform and show us some love there. Have a great rest of your day and bye for now.