How to Build a Million-Dollar Business from Small Audiences | Alisha Belluga | Conscious Creators

Most people suck at creating an intriguing story for their product. Just throwing a bunch of things together and put it onto the market will not work. It's not a good idea to offer service. And I have like this talent to look at the market and find a gap. The way I prepare the lessons for people to be learned and integrated is more like cinema. This is why we have like such a deep relationship with people. Like they will buy anything we offer.

We met when I got an email from my friend James, and he was like, there's a creator that I want you to meet, and she has the craziest story ever. And so we met, and I remember when you shared what the business Interior Grace did in the last few years, I was absolutely blown away. And I've worked with some of the biggest creators in the world. So Just to start with, can you share some of the growth that Interior Grace has experienced in the last few years?

Yes, I would love to. So it was in 2020, something around that, when I generated on my own $1.5 million, summer 2020, I still remember. And I was super frustrated because I was hitting like an income ceiling back then. And I decided to do something very unusual. So I came up with combining business and marketing strategies with metaphysics, with Chinese metaphysics. And I generated almost €4.5 million in 90 days in summer 2020 on top. So I consider that my big breakthrough. Because after that, like, my business wasn't ready. I didn't have a team. I was struggling so much. I was desperately looking for a customer support manager and so on. But we managed to get there. And in 2021, I founded Integrace, like becoming a real company, like creating a new entity. And in 2021, we generated €8 million, something around that, with, I think, 6,000 clients. Like on Instagram back then, we had like 8,000 followers. So that's the fun thing about us. We have not many followers, but most of our followers are our clients. I think that's the biggest difference. And yeah, this year we are like in the first half of the year. I think even the first quarter we already did €6 million in revenue. And yeah, like we will, or we are already becoming an 8-figure company this year. And yeah.

One of the things that you mentioned that was really interesting is that you didn't know that much about business, and also that you joined this company and did $2-3 million in sales, which sounds like right away. So talk about that process. Like, if you came as someone who didn't know much, how much about that, much about business, what led to that? Was it internal? Was it something else? Was it something you learned about yourself?

I think it was definitely something I learned about myself. Because when I looked back at the company, like how they were doing the things, it was very old school. It was very strategic, and some things I didn't like about it. So back then, I just started to think about in pictures. And this is something I developed early on in my childhood to try to explain things I mean in pictures, because of my heritage, having like a Filipino family and a German family, always being like the mixed— person, whenever I was in Germany or whenever I was in the Philippines, I didn't speak the language back then. So I tried to explain myself in pictures. I was trying to paint them into the sand when we were at the beach. And somehow my brain got wired to pictures. And I think back then, in the early stages of my career, I was just using that ability to really create pictures in the heads of people. So my whole campaign was surrounded by the feeling of electricity. How can I transmit or translate the feeling of having electricity, the luxury of having electricity at your home? So that was the challenge, and I did it really good. Yeah.

And how did you do that? Because what I'm thinking in my mind right now is like, oh, electricity is just like a utility. This is like the power grid, right? Like you pay for it, you get like a certain meter. So how do you turn something that's like a utility like that into more of a picture and a story?

So for example, I just thought about all of the emotional moments one person might have throughout the day. And I especially focused on families. So for example, I came up with a picture of a little child crying at night and wasn't afraid of the darkness. and the mom being able to switch on like the tiny light we have as children in order to not be afraid, like having like those little lights everywhere, just because we have electricity at home. So I focused on a campaign that was surrounded by safety, giving your child safety through electricity, or being able to dim down the light whenever you would have like a candlelight dinner with your beloved ones. So I was Solely focusing on the moments, the special defining moments we have throughout the day in our private life. And I was just drawing so much attention to the fact that it wouldn't be possible if we wouldn't have electricity, so that all of the special memories were only possible because we have electricity. And that made all the difference.

So it was just creating that story and connecting it to moments that We all experience.

Yeah.

And another thing that you mentioned was sort of this idea of like that you started a business and you had $100K in debt, right? So can you make that jump from the electric company to where you did in business before into a grace?

Yes. When I started my company, I had savings because I got kicked out from my last employee. Like, it didn't end well for me and for them, but at least I got like a huge amount of money in order to go, to leave the company, which was cool. It was €50K back then. And yeah, I was in my mid-20s and I thought, okay, I could buy a car, I could go and travel the world, or I could start my own business. And I thought, okay, what would be the worst thing that could happen? I could lose all of the money. And I was like, okay, let's do it. So I invested all of my money, like the first I think 18 months only in learning. I think most people don't know. I didn't start it off right off the— I didn't jumpstart into business. I learned as much as I could about marketing, about storytelling, about techniques, why people buy. I was very into the behavior of selling things. That was so interesting for me. And after a while, I just started the web design business as a side hustle in order to cover my expenses, because I didn't know what I wanted to do, what kind of business it should be. And that's when it evolved into something else. And I started to collect debt back in 2017. It's been only 5 years. It's crazy to think about that. Back in 2017, I was more than $100K in debt. Because I got very sick. So my body was sending me clear signals I was ignoring, and I was just playing my role, being in my facade I built with my customers. And the truth was that I didn't like my customers back then. I was crying in the morning. I didn't want to work with them. I really hated the life I created. I got a lot of money for it, but that led to me not being able to fulfill some of the deliverables, or not finishing the web design, or you name it. And it got worse and worse. Weeks went by, and it got just to a very dark point where people were requesting to get their money back from me, or I was just so sick. I felt dizzy. I would pass out on the street. I just couldn't work anymore. So my invoices were piling up. I didn't have revenue, but I had a lot of costs to cover. And yeah, 10 months later, I was $100K in debt.

I'm curious why you think that was happening, because I think I've definitely been in that cycle of almost creative destruction, where I created something and maybe it wasn't what I wanted and had to destroy it to get to the next step. What do you think it was for you back then that led to that?

Back then, I fell in love in 2016, something around that. And like a very deep-rooted belief came up that I cannot have it all. So either I can have love or I can have success. Somehow I wasn't aware about like having this thought at all deep-rooted in my subconscious. But growing up, my mother was very often very sick, and she got a lot of attention. And somehow I didn't learn to receive love back then, other than by being sick. So I wanted all of his attention, I wanted all of his love, but I couldn't see a way being a successful person being loved. So I made myself super unsuccessful and sick in order to be lovable.

It's so interesting how we have these triggers and stories that get established in childhood.

Yeah.

And they sort of run our lives, right? I've certainly had these moments of learning, realizing why I supported creators is because I wanted to be like them. I remember that, I still know that moment where I realized the story and the change that it created for me. Can you talk about the moment where you maybe realized, oh, these were the stories that were running your business and what happened after?

So my thought behind everything, like being sick, receiving love, and all of the things, was that I was so afraid to end up lonely if I would be super successful. It was my biggest fear. It almost felt as if I would die immediately if I would be super successful, have millions, Like nobody would like me. I would be like a horrible person. Like the typical things you somehow have linked to rich people, like really rich. And when I found that out, I really went on to work on myself. I learned everything there is about the body, like the energetics, the whole metaphysical stuff. Like I integrated that into business back then. And I just could really see how I was working against myself. So no wonder I was always fading out, passing out, because I didn't have a lot of energy left for the things I wanted to do. And I also came up with this— how do I say— my new mantra back then was, what is meant for me will not surpass me. It will always find me. And if a love can only exist when I'm sick. Like, what kind of love is this? Like, what kind of man is this if he can only love me when I'm small and not successful and like the worst version of myself? So that really helped me so much. And it was really about allowing myself to have more in life. And back then, I had this huge aha moment that it felt like as if I would abandon my own parents and the whole lifestyle and my heritage. by stepping into something greater. And I think that was the thing I was trying to avoid.

It's so interesting that like, whenever we have these moments of transition, it's always like we have to like step into something and leave like XYZ behind, right?

Yeah.

When you're in that moment, can you describe like that moment for you when you were like, okay, I have to like leave this behind? What did that feel like? What were some of your concerns or fears? And what got you to that other side?

Okay. So what helped me was— okay, no, I will start with the fear. My fear was that my parents would feel sad if they would see that such successful life was possible for me by not working as hard as they did their whole life. And I think many people have this belief system. And what helped me so much was focusing on all of the things that would be possible by me being the most successful version of myself. And I would always ask myself, who is benefiting from me being super successful other than myself? Who else is benefiting from that? And that's when I started to donate a lot to charity. I started to help other people in need. I started to— I've always done that my whole life, but I started to send a lot of money to the Philippines too. It was It was feeling as if I was a little bit imbalanced. Back then, it was also sabotage I didn't know about. But back then, it helped me at least to get over that first hurdle of resistance. And yeah, then I was on that journey to learn everything there is about money and abundance and wealth dynamics and all of these funny things. And back then, it helped me, even though it was also sabotage.

So, so you've talked about a few concepts. Let's bring those in now. Like you talked about metaphysics, manifestation, identity shifting. For someone who's listening who like has no idea what those mean, could you describe those concepts? And then we can go into sort of like how they helped you change beliefs and identity.

Yeah. So Chinese metaphysics basically says that the day we are born, we have like a Yeah, like a potential given from the universe or whatever you believe in, from God. And this potential can be used if you want to, but you always have your free will. So there's this concept called cosmic trinity. And I really love that concept because when we talk about metaphysical science, like for example, Human Design or jinkies or astrology, so many people think like it has to be that way. And that is just not true. It's just Like it's I see it as an inspiration. Like my human design is my inspiration. Like I can play that role out if I want to, but nobody can force me to do it. So there is this aspect of your own free will. This is called human luck. There is this cosmic luck that is like the human design, the astrology, what you've been given. And then there's also like a very important aspect to it, like where you live on this planet. This is called the earth luck. These are techniques like feng shui, for example, like the chi that is being created by the earth. is different in certain areas around this planet. So it's, of course, also very important to look at the people you are surrounding yourself with. Because if I'm in a supportive environment, of course, I can use easily my given potential from the universe. But if I'm in a very negative environment, I might not even think about Human Design or astrology at all because my mindset is just not there yet. So that, in a nutshell, is Chinese metaphysics. And I started to combine that with business. So growing up, my father is an expert in Chinese metaphysics since more than, I think, 35, 40 years. And I grew up with all of the topics. I loved it. I was rearranging my childhood room, I think, every 2 weeks. My mother was crazy with me. She hated it, but I did it. I wanted to feel the energies. And what I came up with was really looking at the timing for me. And back then, being the rebel, being super stubborn, I was always going against what was good for me in that current situation. So you can have a look at your genetic blueprint, astrology blueprint, human design, gene keys, whatsoever. And you can see what is meant for you, what is easier for you, where is the path to least resistance. And manifestation Basically, it just means removing resistance from what you truly want. Like we say we want something, but if we would really want it, we would have it. So there is resistance to it. And like, I just love to play with these kinds of energies to remove all of the resistance there is in my life.

Can you give an example of a time where, let's say, you combined Chinese metaphysics and business to remove a resistance from your life or your business and and the growth it led to.

Yes. So when we look at my cosmic given potential, I have a very active 12th house in astrology. And this house is all about spirituality, retreat, about metaphysics, the things you cannot touch but only feel. And I was going against that. My biggest fear was that people wouldn't believe me that it's possible to create things like this, even though I'm the living proof of it. And back then, I didn't talk about Chinese metaphysics at all, Sachit. I didn't talk about it. I was afraid to talk about it. So in 2020, only my private clients knew that I was teaching that to other people, not in business, but just on a private side. And they were begging me to do a workshop about it. And I was just playing with the energies. I was looking at it. And every 10 years, pillar of destiny will change. It is as if you are changing a dance room. So for example, if I'm dancing cha-cha-cha for 10 years, suddenly the music changes, the speed changes, and you have to adapt to the new rhythm. And I was in the middle of it, like 2019, 2020, I changed the rhythm of my life. And I thought, okay, why not give it a shot? Let's do it in summer 2020, like I told you. And I was talking about Human Design, astrology, and Gene Keys in business in Germany, and nobody ever heard about that combination. And it completely blew up. Until now, more than 25,000 people in Germany took that workshop in the last 18 months. And yeah, I stepped into the 12th house, you can say. So I played with that kind of energy, looking at my divine timing, and it was effortless. It was as if everything was aligning, everything was falling into place. I had so much fun. I was not expecting it to go through the roof like it did.

So one of the things you mentioned was that this has been in your family for so long. And also that when you were starting to talk about it, you had a fear, right? What was that fear like? Why wasn't this something that you widely shared? And then What was the switch that flipped that for you?

Because I am like a mixed ethnicity of German and Filipino, I always had like this behavior of trying to fit in. So I have certain traits I only play out when I'm in Germany, and I have certain traits developed I only play out when I'm in the Philippines because it's cultural, like it's more accepted in either country. And talking about Chinese metaphysics felt so inappropriate to talk about in Germany, even though my father was so successful with it in the Philippines and Southeast Asia. But somehow that was my belief system. It felt dangerous to talk about it. It felt as if like, now they have the reason to tell you why you are wrong to be here in Germany. So it was really pure fear of being abandoned again by society. And yeah, maybe even trying not to relive the trauma of being kicked out of school at age 16. I was really afraid to be kicked out of the cool kids club of business owners 2, 3 years ago.

Well, you know what this reminds me of? Actually, there's a really great Pakistani actor, Riz Ahmed, who talks about this idea of code-switching where, let's say, he lives in England. At home, they would wear the salwar kameez in Pakistan, and when he's going out, you're wearing jeans and stuff, and you're really playing almost these 2 identities and code-switching between them, right?

Yeah.

And I think part of that journey of developing as a human is coming to an acceptance of that, where you accept both your identities. I'm curious, was there a moment for you that that happened? what that led to. And also, if you think about that dichotomy of creator and business person, going through that experience in your identity, did that help you accept the creator-business dichotomy also?

Yes, there was this moment where I could see myself with different eyes because one of the participants said that it was easier for her to get that knowledge from me being a half-Asian. And I never looked at it from that perspective. And simultaneously, we got a lot of feedback from the clients of my father also telling him that it's easier for them to receive knowledge about Feng Shui and all of the things from him being an Asian. So it's even like an advantage, to be honest. And I grew up thinking it's a disadvantage to be like a little bit like, I look different. I don't look that European or German at all. And like, I don't have blonde hair like my mother or blue eyes or something like this. And I still look Filipino. So it's always like, where you're from, Alicia? Where you're from? People are always guessing. So it was that moment in that workshop where I thought, oh my God, that's an advantage. There is a reason why I'm a mixed person. And I never saw that as something super beautiful until then. And that's when I really started to play with it. And now it's funny because now all of the Germans are doing metaphysics. I started a trend. Now I'm like, no, you know, back then, like, I was the origin in Germany, but it's fine. So I really started a trend, a huge trend in Germany.

You know, I remember when I moved to the US from India, I had similar experiences where like there were things that maybe we thought of or did in India that like you wouldn't talk about. And it's been so interesting now. Like, I'll use like an example from like not business. When you think of like things like yoga or like turmeric lattes, or golden milk. And it just is blown up in the US. And it's really funny to watch because it's like, oh, as kids, when my mom would give it to me, I'd be like, no, I don't want this. Right. And it's become this like fad. But what you talk about, like this idea of like turning something maybe which you thought is a weakness into a strength is so important because again, it goes to this idea of like identity and acceptance. Right. Are there other examples of things like that where You thought something was a weakness and then you now look at it as a strength?

Yes, I think my whole personality in general, like the whole concept about creating a facade with my first businesses, I was really afraid to truly be myself. Like, I am very straightforward. I just tell it like it is. I don't like to sugarcoat anything, even though I'm a very humble and very respectful person. But I have this tendency, when I'm really in my flow, in my zone of genius, I just talk. I tell it like it is. And I did it a couple of times because I couldn't really hold myself back because I was so passionate about the topic. And people were freaking out because they loved that style so much about me, so much that it really became my signature. People were coming to me for that straight talk, for that tough love. And that was mind-blowing to me because I was like, okay, you cannot be that way. You have to be like, I'm a very small person. I I look more cute. It's not like I enter the room and you're like, oh my God, the Greek goddess is here. I'm more small, I'm cute, and now people would listen to me. It was really interesting to see that I could be an authority to people. That was so weird. It didn't belong to my personality or my identity first, and now it's so ingrained in everything I do.

There's actually another interesting thing that happens is if you're not what people look like when they expect authority, it actually magnifies your authority because there's this thing like dissonance in their head, right? Wait, this person, I don't expect him to be authoritative because of the way he looks, but he's running the show. So he must actually be way better than what I expect because how is he doing that?

Yeah, exactly. And I didn't know about that. It took a while until I found out, like, it's such an advantage to look different than everybody else. Like, especially like on Instagram and Facebook, like, like, it's good to look different. Like, it's more like it's eye-catchy. Like, people don't see mixed people all of the time. Like, okay, maybe nowadays, but like a couple of years ago, it felt as if I was really entering a dangerous zone. But I only felt it that way. And people never saw me that way. It was just all in my head.

That's actually really interesting. It's— if it's in your head, it's not something that you have to go all these other people to convince or to convince them to see you. It almost sounds like it's like you have to see yourself. Is that right?

That's true. That's why I love metaphysics. Like, I found out about all of the people that love human design and astrology. These were the people or the children that were so misunderstood in childhood. They basically fell in love with all of the tools we have nowadays for personal development in order to understand themselves. And then they have this epiphany of, oh my God, nothing's wrong with me. So I'm completely fine. And I think that gives you so much healing because this pure self-acceptance of who you are and nothing's wrong with you, This was the most important step in building a business.

So you're having these moments of acceptance and identity shifting. Let's go back to that moment where you were $100K in debt. And obviously from there you went to that moment where you did $4.5 million in 90 days, right? And it would be really easy to assume that you decided, you started, everything was great. No, I'm sure there were challenges. Can you talk about that bridge of that story of going from $100K in debt To then doing a launch that did $4.5 million in 90 days?

So I think being in debt is an amazing learning opportunity because I loved that energy of it's now or never. And I think most people create a situation like this in order to have no other choice than to go all in. So did I. Really, I stopped living for a while. I cannot, like, it really, it's the truth. I know people don't want to hear it, but like, I was working around the clock constantly. I was just drinking, doing a little bit of sport, working. So it was really like a marathon. I did a plan, what, like how much money I needed. I planned everything out. I was really looking at my body. I was looking at my emotions. I was journaling about that. So that was a huge shift for me to really become like a, how do I say, like I was analyzing myself every day. And that was new. I never took track, like I was not documenting anything I was doing. And this huge self-awareness was the one thing that changed everything, because I could really tell if I was pushing myself in order to feel adrenaline, or if I was doing something that was really a good idea. So I think there is a lot of failure happening in creating something you think you have to do rather than doing the right thing. So I learned that back then, being so many euros in debt. And the moment I really got things rolling, it only took 4 months and I generated €500K. So I was out of debt within 4 months. I created €500K. Yeah, it was just pure discipline, perseverance, and grit.

Let's talk about that, right? Because when people hear like $0 to $500K in 4 months, what happened? What did you do?

I just thought to myself, it's not a good idea to offer service, being a service provider at all. So I thought, okay, what kind of choices do you have? You could either offer group programs. And I have this talent to look at the market and find a gap. I don't know where this is coming from, but I can just do it. I can look at businesses. I can always find the gap where you are missing out on so much money. We just fill the gap. It flows. So I looked at the market and I was like, okay, so I'm really skilled in storytelling. And I thought, okay, why not do a bootcamp? So I just came up with this back then concept in 2018 of doing like a free group for a couple of days, 3 to 5. And I think I had like 200, 300 people in that for free. And then I just opened up like my storytelling bootcamp. I think it was €3,000 or €4,000 per week. I don't remember. It's been such a long time. Mm-hmm. Then I think I had 50 people signing up for that based out of 300. That was a good conversion. And because that went so good, I just did it over and over again every week. I just continued to do so. So that generated a lot of money. And the funny thing is, after the bootcamp, the people wanted more. So because I knew what I was doing with the storytelling, I then could open up a 90-day coaching container, For a more elite group coaching. And then I sold them into that.

So let's actually get into the specifics of this because I think there's 2 kinds of people that are listening. There's maybe the people who already have audiences, right? I know people with hundreds of thousands of, let's say, fans or people in their audience and their business isn't doing anything close to what you're doing, right? And then on the other side, there's people who now, like, I think like 75% of people in the world want to be like creators and YouTubers. So people who are getting into this creator's economy, like, what are they missing? Because a lot of the things people that usually do, they're like selling $50 eBooks or they're trying to like sell like a membership. Uh, there was this thing with influencer who had like, I think millions of fans and tried to sell t-shirts and only sold 34. And it just didn't work. So what would you tell someone like that? Like, what are the steps they should take to start doing sales, start building business?

It's packaging. It's the story about the product. Most people suck at creating an intriguing story for their product. I see that everywhere. Like, people will just— like, for example, Human Design. And we have this happening in Germany at the moment. We have human design coaches left and right everywhere. And I'm looking at that and they are not successful. And they are like, oh my God, it was Alicia's biggest breakthrough. What is happening? I'm like, market saturation. Like, you cannot stand out anymore because, like, you have to innovate and there has to be an evolution to it. So I was watching the Victoria's Secret documentary last weekend, and I think we can learn so much about fashion. Because about Victoria's Secret back in the '80s, there was a story invented in order to really deepen the values of the company. Back then, they came up with this idea of Victoria being from Great Britain, having a French mother, and all of the things. And I'm like, why don't business owners— why don't you create a true story about yourself because they don't know what's outstanding about themselves. But we need this connection between you and the product. Just throwing a bunch of things together and put it onto the market will not work. So what I was always really good at was creating relevancy and intimacy at the same time. You have to be relevant and super intimate with a small audience. That's why I don't have a lot of followers, but I have super long, deep relationships with them.

So, so let's maybe, because I want to like actually in a sense like get inside your head on like how you create this. Yeah. For like a random product. So if you want, we can take like a random product and I'd love to like hear you walk through how you do that in your head.

How does that sound? Okay.

Yeah. So, so let's say like, I'll just take my example, right? Because I know my product. I'm targeting creators like you. I have a product called Creators MBA, which is a collection of like And I'm also describing this like how most creators would describe, which is I have a collection of courses and maybe one-on-one services, and maybe there's a group program and it's doing okay. So how would you take something like that, build a story, and really set it up for the kind of growth that you've experienced?

Okay. So when it comes to podcasting, what is possible the moment I launch my podcast? What is everyone's dream? That is the first question. So when I think about me, I think most people crave connection with the audience. They want to be like more part of their day-to-day life. Like the people can listen to it in the car, they can listen to it in the bathtub, like everywhere. Like it feels as if you have your own radio station. So that's cool. But I think like a hidden desire nobody wants to admit is fame. And I think this is something you should really point out more because of your proof record. You have so many amazing things, what you're doing. So you have this hero story you could tell. You can show what you created already. So now here comes the story. Why don't they think it's possible for them? And on the other hand, because we went through a similar process, Why do I want the fame? And where's the resistance to fame? This is where the whole money lies. Because saying I want a podcast, like nobody wants a podcast that is doing okay. Everybody craves something that is like a number one hit. So, but what happens if I would really hit the top 3 in the charts? What would happen? And I think that is the key why people hold back. on buying like the MBA, for example, like for podcast creation, because they would be so overwhelmed with a new reality if it would come true. So it's more about the after. They don't believe in the after.

And how would you get someone to believe that? And also, actually, is that the right question to be thinking about?

Yeah, it is. Because if they don't believe that it's achievable for them, like not only achievable, but it's only safe, like about the safety, it's also safe for them to be famous, then they will not— like, it doesn't matter how intriguing or how good the course is, they will not invest in it because like they will feel so overwhelmed after the whole creation process. So how can the whole product be more fun, more like an experience and how can we add like different modules that address like these kinds of fears. So for example, if you would be able to interview someone just around the topic of fame or really pointing out more like this, the scenarios, like what people go through, that would be super cool. Like an add-on for the product to really address that. Like, of course, I know you want a podcast and of course you're dreaming about hitting number 1 in your charts overnight. I get it. But at the same time, it's freaking you out. And I get that too, because this is what every one of my clients go through. So this is more about really hacking their mind, becoming their mind reader. And this is just like how you package the product. It's not about creating the podcast. It's about creating a connection to be at home with your ideal clients all of the time. And that's a whole different level.

So the first product that you did was the storytelling bootcamp, right?

Mm-hmm.

Can you share examples of how you did that when you launched the product? Like, what were some of the elements that you added for like fun and experience? And also like, what has been the evolution of that? Like, what have you learned about introducing fun, introducing experiences, introducing that like packaging element to have people feel safe in the product?

Yes. So I love to work with micro-commitments inside very ordinary courses. I love to shake things up and make them more fun. So I knew back then what they craved was being seen. In a storytelling bootcamp, you just want to be seen. And I can tell that your audience wants the same with the podcast product. They really want to be seen.

Easily build a big audience.

Yeah. They want to be accepted, and they want the feeling to— similar to back then, the storytelling bootcamp, they want to hear that their story is worth being told. That's what it's all about. That was their biggest fear back then. So what I did, I built in a livestreaming challenge where people could win a personal coaching session with me inside the group. So I love to do that. I still do it. to be honest. Spending time with me is one of the biggest incentives for my audience until now. And I really love to spend a lot of time with my clients, really live and in the group. So they had to go live and start sharing vulnerable moments every day, 5 days in a row, and really open up about things they were ashamed of, not in a traumatizing way, but in a way where they would feel empowered and feel seen. So it's more about the structure, how you set up the task for the people. And believe it or not, on Friday, I think all of the group was crying because it was over and they didn't want it to end. Everybody was so emotional. And this is the power of storytelling. If you open up a safe space for people, 100% of the participants wanted to go the next step with me. And that was just because how I set up the course. And what kind of stories and exercises I gave them.

So let's take a tangent here, actually. We'll jump around like Memento. Okay. When you're talking about setting up the product in that way, when you're talking about creating that safety where 100% of people want to keep continuing with you, right? Can you share examples of things that you did that like did work that were surprising and also things that you like maybe tried that like completely did not work and like You were like, okay, we shouldn't do this again.

The weird thing is most, most things I do work. Like, I don't have things where I say that doesn't work. Like, I don't know, I have a really good sense to what works well with people. So what I found out is that most people want to be seen, but at the same time, they are so afraid of hitting the livestreaming button. And Being online without one single viewer. So what I did, what was super time-consuming but paid off big time, I didn't work on anything else than this bootcamp the whole week. I was watching every livestream from them, every. And even though there were multiple participants and I think 80 videos per day, I watched every single video. I interacted with everyone. I gave everyone feedback for their video. just applauding them for showing up, sharing their story. Super time-consuming, but that was like the best investment anyone could do at that point. Because of course, I wanted to grow the company. And I think most of the time, people don't invest into the things that really matter. And the more you can invest into these moments of, oh my God, Alicia sees me, the better for the relationship of the— client long-term.

What you did really well there is you took a need that your students had, which was being seen, and you turned that into something in the product, right? I actually interviewed James, who you also know, and we had an interesting discussion where if you look at most course creators, they spend 80% of their time on marketing and 20% on their product. And it's just like the products aren't really good. And I know just from the research like we've done working together into Intuit Grace that people in your community and audience love your product. I remember like one of the questions we asked was, why did you buy the product? I think like 50% was because of Alicia. So besides this, I'm curious like what are other things that you did in terms of product that really like keep people coming back, that keep people referring, going to other products and all of that? Like, if you had to start Alicia's School of Product Development, what would be other things in there?

I think everyone has to develop their own style of teaching. I think most people are not good teachers, to be honest. And knowing something, having this extensive wisdom about a certain topic doesn't make you a good teacher. And I think what I'm really good at is Taking complex situations and making them super simple because the people don't want to feel stupid. So I mastered that level of teaching. Nobody ever feels stupid. It's quite the opposite. I use like a psychological effect here because people are so in love with my products that they will not talk about being my customer because they want to keep me as their secret weapon. So this is not, of course, it's not good for organic growth. That's maybe why we only have a small audience, but this is why we have such a deep relationship with people. They will buy anything we offer. I think one client might spend up to $30K within 2 years in our company, which is unheard of. And it's only online courses. It's not coaching. So I just took the time to really build out the relationship. How do people want to feel? How can I translate my values into the teaching? And what I do, I make it super fun. It's like an emotional rollercoaster learning with me. One day we cry together, the next day we laugh our asses off together. You will cry tears because of laughing so hard. The next day you will feel like, oh my God, this is mind-blowing stuff. So the way I prepare the lessons for people to be learned and integrated is more like cinema.

Can you give an example maybe of like a, like a, let's say like someone starts a course and actually looked at some of your courses. Thank you, Alex, who sent me logins because I wanted to be like, I wanted to have that experience before we did this. Right. Can you share, let's say like a 0 to like 7 days, like the first week of a course? Where you've done that, where you've almost structured it like theater and cinema?

Okay, how I develop products is a little bit different. I look at your business as a library. So you have your own library. Every product is a book. And when you write a book, how most people approach business is, oh my God, I have this idea for my book, and now I will tell everyone that this book is coming, but you don't know what's going to happen in the book, which is stupid. So basically, you first come up with, okay, what is the topic of the book? Then you think about, okay, what are the milestones of the book, like the chapters? Is there a specific order for the chapters in order to have a really good dramatic angle towards the story to really capture the people? And if you have the order of the chapters, then you will start to write each chapter, but sometimes you will not just write a book from page 1 to the end. You will take your time for different chapters and maybe switch some chapters in between. Only if you're done with all of the chapters, you will then write the foreword, or you will let somebody else write the foreword. This is how I approach product development. I think about every chapter as one mini book in general. I would think about, okay, How many aha moments are needed in order for the people to feel empowered after this chapter? And then I build, like an architect, the aha moments into my teaching within 60 or 90 minutes. So I have like 5 aha moments. And the way I structure the aha moment is by creating pictures. So I will use a very common situation we all know where people can identify themselves with. And then I will ask questions. I will invite you to self-reflect on what you're doing there in the picture. And then they will have like, they, it's super fun. It's super engaging. They're like, maybe this, maybe this is the problem. Maybe this is the problem. They will try to find a solution to the problem. And slowly but surely, I will give them more information so that it can settle down. And then at the end, I will bring out the big aha moment where everything shifts. And then they're like, whoa, mind-blowing. And then I will continue.

So it's almost like every video in the course is structured like that. And if you expand, like almost like every collection of videos, like a module is structured like that. And then if you expand that, like modules, which is a collection or courses, which are a collection of modules, is structured like that. And that floats up to like a library. Does that sound right?

Yeah.

So it's almost like a fractal where it's the same pattern that's repeating from the start to the end.

Yes. And I use live gamification because every course I create, I teach it live first because it captures the energy of excitement. People can feel that I'm talking to the other people, even though it's a recording, but they can really feel my excitement. They can hear, like, I will read out loud the questions of the people who are participants of the live round. And the cool thing about that is they will get my attention, they will get my recognition the moment they solve the problem. So this is something that's super cool in gamification or in the behavior of people, why some people will not commit to finish a product. So if you can capture that essence through live teaching and then make a product out of that, That is the secret.

What's so interesting about what you said is like, this is something I've identified in like almost all of the top performers I know, which is just this, like, it's this core ability. Like, you don't know where it's come from, maybe, or maybe you do, of being able to identify patterns. And then usually like the identification happens in some world outside and you bring it into your business, right? So I'll ask you 2 questions. You can choose, or you can answer both. This pattern that you're talking about, which is this idea of bringing theater to the courses, I'm curious, is that something you knew from when you were younger, or how did you learn this? And the second question is, what are other of these patterns that maybe you discovered from outside that you've put in your business that leads to growth?

Okay, so the first question, or the answer to it, is that when we look at movies, like, how come we can somehow summarize certain aspects of our favorite movies, like complete dialogues? We know how to do it. We know what's happening. We know all of the people inside that movie, like in that story, we can remember. So I just use that to my advantage when I'm teaching. So I will come up with a story for the problem. And I will just break it down into this feeling of being part of a movie, being part of a story. And this is how I activate more this childish curiosity within them so that their guards are going down. If you're in your childish, very playful energy, you are not that, oh my God, what is she talking about? It's not that skepticism that is coming your way sometimes when you try to teach something. So I use I have a lot of advantages when I use that. And the moment people relax and laugh about themselves is the moment they open up to new possibilities. So this is just what I'm using over and over again. That's why people are madly in love with our products. They love how they feel when consuming our products. So this is the secret. The next topic, like another pattern I could see, or what is really important, is for people to be invited to have something like a result by watching the video. So what I typically see happening is like you have a video where you talk about basically what's going on in the workbook, and then people can download a workbook and then do the exercises on their own. This is not very innovative. And this is not how people should learn, especially not entrepreneurs. So what they should do, or what you could develop for them, what we do, is having mini breaks in between where they have to do the exercise now in order to keep up with the training, because then the next layer is coming, the next layer is coming. So I just have 5 minutes in between every livestream. And I say, okay, now do this exercise. Otherwise, you cannot follow the next So this is like the micro-commitment level. And they are super proud because the moment the live stops, they have done their module. They don't have to sit down and fill out a workbook. They are done.

It's almost you've created this distributed classroom where instead of people just watching lectures and not completing the course, right? Like most courses have a 3% completion rate. You've built Executing on the course as part of the course journey.

Yeah.

Are there other changes or elements just from a product standpoint that you're putting in your courses that maybe like other people aren't?

What we're currently building out are like more like a point system. So in our membership areas, you can collect credits and points. So points are more for you to get to the next level and to collect badges for it. And get bonus modules that otherwise you wouldn't be able to access. So it's also like, yeah, a little bit like the adrenaline rush. So, oh my God, I got something new in order to motivate you to finish everything. And the credit system is in order to buy new things. So for example, live events with us, you can only buy them with credits. So if you are not like a disciplined student, no chance to see us live. Ever. So this is something pretty cool, I think, in order to really to get to the people who are really committed. What helps also really, like it's working really good, is to invite people to share their biggest aha moments. So I do that after every livestream. I will ask them, so what is your biggest takeaway in your words? And I trained my customers to think as if they are also a teacher. So I told them, if you were forced to teach the same topic I just showed you, how would you do it? What in your words was the most important summary? And then they— this is the exercise. And then they have to put it into the comments in the Facebook groups. And this is working like a charm. That's so cool.

One of the books that I just thought of that I think you would love is— I don't know if you've read this book called Actionable Gamification.

I don't know.

It's about like, the subtitle is literally Beyond Points, Badges, and Leaderboards.

Yeah.

So I have a sense you're gonna love this book. And again, when you were, even when you were describing the point system, the first thing I actually thought about was just like when I used to play video games, right? Like they do that really well. And it goes back to the thing of like finding something in other places and bringing that to courses. Are there other more other examples of like things that you've either seen otherwise, or maybe even like you innovated that you brought to courses that are working like a charm?

So what we want to do, I think, I don't know if we can finish that this year, but I think that would change everything. Like, that's my little secret I will share with you. I would love to set up different groups inside of Germany, like in the main cities, where we will form like little clubs where they can meet while learning. And I will surprise every now and then one of the clubs by being there. So I would just be the surprise guest because surprises are my love languages. So I would just surprise them and give them like an extra training, but they never know who, like, who's getting the surprise visit from me. And by doing so, it creates like this new form of connection and tribe within like main cities in Germany. And I would also let them compete against each other in order to win special things you cannot buy.

What I love about this is, and I remember one of our, like when we were working or in our work together, one of the calls we had, I think a few months back where you'd done a survey with your audience and you came back and I still remember what you said. You were like, we just had this big realization. People are coming to us for like community and all of these like things like connection and all. Instead of like making more money or whatever. Can you talk about sort of like what led to that and then how you've used that to implement community? Because again, this is something that I've seen like that you're really great at, which is you'll go on lives and there's thousands of comments. You'll post something and just people are responding, right? And then talking to each other. So how do you think about creating that community and the importance of it?

So the fun thing is I never wanted to create a community because it was my biggest pain, because I never belonged anywhere. And I think by learning throughout the years to really let my guard down and to talk about the things that truly matter to me, I somehow created that space for all of the people who don't fit in. So of course, all of the entrepreneurs, all of the rebels, all of the trailblazers, somehow find their way to me. And I think by openly talking about not belonging anywhere, questioning everything, I created a safe space for people to really connect with each other. Like, the biggest compliment we get over and over again, people love being part of our groups. They love it. They are telling us like, there is no other group that is so loving and so energetic and so really connected. We have so many friendships that have been formed through our group programs or online courses. It's insane. I sometimes get pictures from people meeting each other and say, oh, we are meeting like Alicia fan club. And I'm like, that is ridiculous. There's a mini fan club for me in Berlin? I didn't know. And then they will send me pictures. So that was never the plan. And I think the biggest thing you have to keep in mind is if you want to create a community, you will not be part of the community as the leader. I think that is like also maybe the most painful thing about it. You can bring people together based on your values and your mission in life, but you will never really belong to that community. You will be the leader. You will be the container that holds everything together and who has the vision for them. And I think I'm still learning to navigate that for me better, like from a personal perspective. But what led to having such a community? I think just me being so brave To really show who I am. I think that's the only secret. People really can tell that I am really me online. Like, the way I talk to you is the way I talk to the clients, is the way I talk to my friends. Like, there's no separation. I'm just more childish when I'm really in private. So I'm really childish. And I think because I'm such a relaxed person, very humble, and not someone where you would say, oh my God, that's of course, a millionaire. Like, never you would think about that when you look at me. But I think that is what's so charming about me. I think because I feel very natural, like more like a girl next door to them, and yet someone they look up to. And I think that is like the balance you have to keep in mind. It cannot be something where you feel out of reach and super unrelatable. I think it's important to have like this balance with your community.

It's almost like you're, you're sort of like leading and setting the tone of like, what is like the possible outcome, but also you don't want to be the only example, right? Like I've been in, I've seen so many like, sort of like, especially like personal brand businesses where someone creates a community and they function as advocates or champions, which is, this is the only way it should be. And like my way or the highway kind of thing. And then I've seen people on the other side, like mentors who are more like advocates, which is, hey, here's one example, but there's all these other examples. And I think in the former thing, there's element of obviously cultishness and stuff in it. And then the other extreme is communities where I have friends who run communities and their KPI for success of the community is the number of relationships that form that are not related to them. So how do you kind of like think about— I don't know if you think about it, this like one extreme of where like a lot of online communities are almost like creating, turning into cults versus the other end where it's about the connections that happen between the audience.

So I think about it that way. So I see myself in a huge position of responsibility because most business owners will never make more than €1 million or dollars a year. I think it's more than 90%. And I think what's so difficult about that is that most people who are not even at €1 million or above already try to teach people how to do business. And that is so toxic. So I agree that there are certain circumstances where you don't know what you don't know because you've never been there. So I have so much respect for people that are so much more ahead of me. And of course, I listen to them. And my mantra for that is just like, you cannot criticize someone that is further ahead of you because you don't know what they had to overcome, what they had to do in order to get there. So you don't know how the world looks like at their position. So don't you dare to criticize them. If you are at their level, you have your own opinion, of course. But when it comes to advice, I believe that everybody has their own intuition, and I think everybody has their own timing. And I don't believe that every person on the planet can build a successful business. I believe that 100%. Not everybody is built for that kind of energy and kind of responsibility and lifestyle. And I love it when people share different opinions. Like, we are super We have so many different nuances in our community. That is the word. But I would never say that my way is the right way for anyone. My way is the right way for me. And this is also, I think, why we are so successful, because I teach people how to listen to themselves and how to use their own metaphysical blueprint in order to create a business that matches their energy, not mine.

It's almost like you're one example and you're giving people the tools to become their own example instead of completely following your journey.

Yeah, I would never want anyone to follow my journey because I'm like, based on my worldview, based on my resources, based on my skill set and my strengths, like every person on the planet has different resources and different experiences. So like no one could ever walk my way. And that is also like, that was never the plan. So everyone has a reason for incarnating in this life. And I just empower people to to really trust that way.

And it almost, I think that is the journey to really accepting who you are because that is what belonging is, right? It's not change. I think Brené Brown has this really great quote, which is, true belonging isn't changing you who you are, it's being who you are and accepting that. One of the things that you mentioned was that you never felt like you belonged. And now you've created a community where you're creating belonging for other people. So I'm curious, like, just, just as a creator, like, for you, like, how does that feel?

Very fulfilling. I am very emotional because when I think about that, like, this creates the whole meaning around everything I do. Helping people, it was never my goal, but helping people to really feel part of something bigger and feeling home with people they've never met, just virtual connections. And sometimes they even meet in real life. This is something that will last longer than my existence. And I think this is what every creator wants for themselves, having an impact or creating really a legacy. I have people really sending me messages because they met 4 years ago through one of my workshops, and now they are best friends. And it's just because I did this workshop. So it's like you never know who you are influencing at the moment, who is watching you. And most of the people I don't know, I never heard their names. They are not the ones who are commenting all of the time. But they are still there and they still have like a connection or memory with me.

Are there any particular client stories for you that like stand out that you still remember? Because I do this too, and I know other creators where, because this journey is such like a roller coaster, right? There are times when maybe like things aren't working out and I like looking at testimonials or stories just to remind myself like why I'm doing this. So for you, like either like, are there other stories or other stories that like stand out? Or are there things you do to like really just like make sure that you don't forget that?

To be honest, I have still difficulties with receiving compliments for my work. It's, it's really hard for me to look at testimonials. We have hundreds, I think even thousands of videos from super happy clients, but I cannot look at them. Because it makes me feel like an imposter. Don't ask me why, but it's still the way. It's still like that. Someone from the team has to look through all of the testimonials because I really have these cringe moments. I'm like, you're talking about me? No. It's really still difficult for me. So I don't have these huge track record of people or one-on-one clients because I stopped working with one-on-one clients 3 years ago. I only do group settings at the moment. So I don't have this particular person. There are some people that stand out in my current programs who I really love and who I really admire for what they do. And I know why it's working for them, because it's exactly the client I had in mind when I created that. Yeah. But other than that, it's difficult for me sometimes to really receive all of the All of the love and the kind words from the people, but we are collecting that, like my team does it.

That is so interesting that you have trouble looking at testimonials. I had the same thing for the longest time. I think a lot of creators have this idea where if you just stop and let's stop and smell the roses and just accept a lot of the good coming, right? A lot of us get started because we have this chip on the shoulder because we're trying to prove ourselves. And there's this element that, like, we might lose that. And then if we lose that, are we still going to be able to create? And I think that that is something that actually, like, holds a lot of creators back. I'm curious if that's something you dealt with or if it's something else.

To be honest, I deal with that at the moment. So my life is very comfortable. We are making so much money, even though, like, not a lot of people know us. And it's a little bit, like, again, my fear of fame. That's also why we had a little bit of a longer project going on with my podcast. But to me, I have to remind myself that this calling and what I want to create in this world is so much bigger than just money. And then it really helps me to focus on changing people's lives. Rather than to think in revenue streams or money. Because to me, I hope this doesn't sound so arrogant right now, but money doesn't excite me at all. Not at all. If someone would say, Alicia, let's try to do an 8-figure launch, I'm like, okay, it's only mathematics. Of course, let's do it. So it's not exciting to me. It's more like, okay, I did so many amazing things when it comes to creating so much money in a short time period. that this is nothing that I crave at the moment. It's more like, how can I make sure that my product really makes a difference? I'm more into the evolution right now of the business side. I think the biggest trap for creators who are successful is that you think you have to double or accelerate your growth. You have to always be the one who delivers more and to create the next outstanding outstanding thing. And like, oh my God, now she did 25 million in 2 seconds. Like, you know, like this pressure, but it's only you who is putting that pressure on. And like, I think we have to be very aware about that trap of adrenaline rush. So I'm just taking it slow this year.

The other pattern I've sort of identified in this journey is for a lot of creators, I call this like from chase to craft, where when you're starting out, whether it's like followers, whether it's money, it's always about the chase, right? You wanna make $100K or $500K, then it's a million, then 5, 10. And what's interesting is like, I think 99% of the creators I've talked to, as soon as they hit that milestone, you might think, okay, like they're done, they're happy. No, it's like, it is. And then I think some of the best ones, it's like within a day, It's like, okay, I made $100K, $500K is next, right? And it's just like you're going up those levels, but at some point you realize it's more about the craft. It's more about what you're building. Does that resonate with you at all? This idea of going from the chase to the craft?

Yes, it does. And I think most of the time entrepreneurs who are super successful are running away from a life area that they don't want to look at. So it's more like business is also like our favorite distraction from things that are also important. So I can at least speak for myself and completely resonate with that.

Okay, so let's go back to your story. So we were at where you'd done this launch and you made $500K in a few months. Let's continue the story from there. And maybe in terms of some of the things that we've talked about, the chase of the craft or Looking at the personal thing through that lens, what happens next?

Okay, so that was 2018. I was out of debt. And what happened is I kept on running, because I felt so unsafe. And the moment I saw that I could create money so fast, like, that was so— that was fun for me. That was like, oh my God, how did I do it? I was really like, impressed by myself, and I just continued at lightning speed to create more and more and more. I was really not in a hustle energy, but in a really heavy creator energy. I just wanted to create so many things. I had so many ideas. And the moment I found out how to sell people into certain kinds of programs, I just started to create bigger group programs. So starting out with, I don't know, maybe 30 people in one group, I expanded that to 50. Then suddenly I had 60 people in a group setting for, I don't know, €2,000 or €3,000 each time for 4 weeks. And that continued to go on, I think, until 2019, the end of 2019. And that's how I generated my first million by the end of 2019, which was mind-blowing to me.

How many customers was that? Because I really want to underscore this point. How many customers were that? Was that that led to your first million and others?

I think for my first million, not even 1,000 customers.

And what was the price point?

It was varying. I think my most expensive thing was €6,000. But I think because I offered it multiple times, I never had one day off. I was just group program, next group program. So like many of my clients bought multiple different kinds of group coaching settings. So I did like the typical trap, like every coach does. I used a small amount of clients over and over again. So I really, like, it wasn't my intention, but I was just creating for a small audience. I didn't, I wasn't attracting new people. I was just trying to satisfy like the 1,000 people who knew me. I was focusing on the concept of 1,000 true fans. I was just wanting to spoil them, but I really, I wasn't really connected to myself back then. So that's why, like, they sometimes they bought 3 different group coaching settings for $6K each. So $18K in total. I didn't know, was depending on what kind of thing I was offering because it was all over the place. I was offering it all in 2019.

Everything. And again, just, this is so important to understand from like a creator business, which is your first million is always gonna be messy, right?

Yeah.

I think one decision that you made that I just really, I admire it that you made it. And I always tell creators to do this, which is you started with a higher price point. You're selling courses at $6,000 instead of selling the ebook for like maybe $50. Do you remember like what led to you making that decision? Because Most creators go the other way. They go like selling lower-priced products.

For me, like, I think I never had a problem with that because like, it was obvious, it was mathematics. I could look at, okay, I think my fear of people played into that. So I was just calculating how much people I needed. I was like, oh my God, that's too many people. I was just raising the price in order to be comfortable with the amount of people in my group. program, to be honest. I was afraid of people. I'm super introverted, but I didn't want too many people around me. It's still a problem in real life. Too many people, it's a no-no for me. And I think somehow that's why I was just calculating backwards. I was like, no, I will not have 100 people in my group, so I will just raise the price. That was my mindset back then.

I am not at all surprised It's so funny that we both had these similar things because I had the same thing, right? Which is like, I didn't want to be, I think at that point in my life, seen by a lot of people.

Yeah.

But I wanted my work to be seen by a lot of people. So my hack to that was finding people, Tim Ferriss, Seth Godin, all of these people with massive audiences, because I knew, I was like, and I always remember this writing this down, which is everything I do will have exponential impact because If I come up with one strategy that gets implemented on 2 clients that each have millions of people in their audience, then that thing reaches millions of people, right? Or do you have other examples of things like that where maybe you thought of it as a weakness or an insecurity where you're like, I don't want to deal with people since I did this, that turned into really amazing business decisions?

Yeah, I think also my fear of people led to me having such a small audience. Because, like, believe it or not, I would always delete my social media following. Like, the moment I had, like, a couple of thousand people following me, I would play the rebel, break the rules. I'm like, okay, let's delete it, start from scratch. I will be your case study. I will show you what we can do in 90 days. So I was trying to sell my journey, my fear covered, as something, like, people could benefit from. Even though it was my sabotaging behavior to start over and over and over again. But it ended up being something I learned so much from, because in total, I at least started 50 businesses the last 5 years, over and over again, always with a different client profile in mind. And that's why I could perfect or excel at my skillset.

And this is You're not just making the same improvements in your business. You have one business that's gone from $0 to $500,000 to $1 million. And while that's happening, you're also starting other businesses. I'm curious, what led to that? Or it was just like this idea of like, you just wanted to create zero to one again and again?

I just love the energy of starting something, to be honest. I love this energy of, okay, what can we accomplish? And I was a little bit addicted back then. Right now, I have 50 ideas of businesses that would be a 7-figure business in 90 days. I could do it, but I don't have the time for it. I'm just trying to come up with new ways where I could create situations where people would love to start a business like this, and I can just be an investor, for example. But I could play the entrepreneur for a while and just help them with my expertise in the beginning. So I really love that. But I'm also a lot into real estate. I love building a real estate business. I'm just so multi-passionate that I could see every euro I make within my business should make me more money outside of the business. So not being only an entrepreneur, but also being an investor, I think that is crucial in today's world.

Something I really like, even when we said it's like shifting this identity from an entrepreneur to an investor, right? Something you're really amazing at is this idea of identity shifting and just always evolving into the new level. And I'm guessing as we continue the story of what happened once you hit the million, there's a lot of identity shifting involved. So can you talk about just the concept of identity shifting and how you do that? And then we can See how that applies to your story.

Yes. So when we grow up, even though our parents love us, and they wanted us as children, they still do, of course, some mistakes, because like what they can give us is only based on what they could receive as children back then from their parents. So it's like an ancestral dilemma we are all going through. And by the age, I think, of 25 or 30, We are more like, we are closer to our parents than we think. So I think that is, that is a painful realization. So even though we had in mind, like, we don't want to be like our mom, or we don't want to live like our father, we end up in a very weird energy. So for example, if I don't want to end up like my parents, I will go the complete opposite of it. just to prove a point because I'm so focused on not becoming my parents that while doing so, I will neglect who I am by just playing out my rebellious side, being the opposite of my parents. So this is a game we play. Everyone does it. And by doing so, you never question what you really want. And I think most of the people don't realize that sometimes even until they, they are 40 or older, that they created something they don't feel home within. So they are just doing something to prove it to society, like I did starting the business, like I did in my 20s, proving I'm worth it, like I can have this career and all of the things. But I never questioned what I really wanted. So the identity shifting concept is just based around questioning everything you learned in your childhood. What did you accept as a universal truth, which you feel in your body is just not true for you. So for example, when I was struggling with my debt back then, like I had this belief system of being lonely if you would become super wealthy. And then I just started to find proof of people who were not lonely and wealthy. So I would look for couples who are wealthy. I would look for women who had it all, who are wealthy, like all of these things. So I would play with these identities And I would just emulate how they did it in order to feel if this feels good for me or not. It's more like playing a role for a certain time to really see if this feels good to you. And if so, you can adapt certain qualities of these kinds of people. So I have this exercise I always teach my clients where you can invite everyone you want, alive or not, to your conference table in the morning. It's more like a mini meditation, if you will. And you can talk to anyone. You can ask them any question, but you have to practice letting them answer. It's like strengthening your intuition. And this is so funny because I used it back then to get out of debt because I was talking to Oprah Winfrey on my table. I was talking to my grandmother, who is not alive anymore, but she would talk back to me. She would give me advice. And I would just listen and I would just see if that was true for me. And by doing so, you can just leave your ego behind and really play with different aspects that are active within you, but you don't give them any attention.

I love that. So what I'm curious about now is, and maybe we can use this, this lens of identity shifting to talk about the next part of your journey, which is you've hit that million. And then you like have like the numbers that we talked about, the 1.5, the 10, 20+ this year. Can you talk about that journey through the lens of identity shifting? And what are, let's say, like top 5 like shifts in your identity that you've made that helped you go on that journey?

Okay. When I had like this big breakthrough, I had this belief system of not being able to trust other people in my business. So I really, like, that was the biggest identity shift for me back then. I had to hire people, of course. I had to build a team. I didn't know how to do it. I was so overwhelmed. I hired so many wrong people. Like, I lost count of it. And it was really like a nightmare situation for me because I hired a bunch of people who didn't know what they needed to do. But I thought, oh my God, you're a virtual assistant. I think you know what you have to do. But they didn't. So I didn't have any time to train them, but nobody told me that I have to prepare everything to onboard someone. So it was just like a complete nightmare back then. And then all of my identity stuff came up of not belonging. Now you had a team and thinking about yourself that you don't belong to your own team is not a good thing. It's, it's, it was horrible. It was my nightmare situation. So I created tension in relationships in my own team, which I also had in my private life. And I think this is what nobody's talking about when you start your own business. All of the things that are going on in your private life, they will also play a big role in your business. You cannot be good as a leader in your team, but neglect all of the other relationships in your family or with your loved ones. This doesn't work. So that was, I think, the first big identity shift, becoming a leader for a team. And this took me a while, like, I think, 1 year in total. I learned so many lessons to trust people, to listen to my gut. I didn't do that in the beginning. And yeah, I'm really proud about that so far. I think the next big identity shift And that was a huge one for me, was relationships with friends. So I had, of course, of not belonging, never having a lot of friends, even not from childhood. I was struggling with having friendships because I was trying to play the hero. And the more successful I became, the more I was trying to use money in order to give them something. Like my self-worth issue would play out in my friendships again.

Mm-hmm.

So I had to work on that identity, Alicia as a friend. What does friendship look like to me? And I really had to think about what kind of friends are good for me, not who can I hold into my life, but what kind of friends would be good for me and who do I need to become in order to have friends like this on eye-to-eye level? So every identity shift always starts with working on yourself. Because every manifestation outside is just a reflection from something that's deep inside of you. It's rooted inside. So you have to find the root and then shift it from the inside out. And I started just working on manifesting friends. And I started with women after having so much heartbreak with the girlfriends last year. And now I have 3 to 4 amazing female friends, like I dreamt of having my whole life. And this is what you can do in order to elevate the quality of your life. It's not all about the money. It's not all about the business. It's more about the relationships and the love. And for me, the next chapter will be love and relationships, because I think, again, right now this year, this is again a topic that almost brought me to my knees because everything broke down after several years of being in a relationship. I'm now single again. And it's almost as if I manifested that situation, like being a self-made millionaire, but lonely, like as a female person. So this is my next chapter.

I'm curious, when you're looking at this next chapter or any chapter, like all these concepts we talked about, Identity shifting, Chinese metaphysics, we haven't talked about actually quantum leaping too. Taking all of these concepts, like, can you walk us tactically through how you apply it to jump to that next level for yourself or the next version of yourself?

So how I do it is I really sit down, I really drop into what is currently going on, and I make a list of resistance like I talked about or explained earlier. The whole reason why things will not show up like you want them, but they are not coming your way, is just because of resistance. So you have to be super honest about what is really going on, what you don't want to see, and what is not working for you. So most of the time, I think many people are lying when it comes to friendships, relationships, or family, and are afraid to just bet on themselves So I made a list of things I have resistance to, and I found out about myself that I am very resistant to creating real intimacy in a relationship. So having a relationship that was more working, how do I say, like a friendship over the years, because I was so focused on business, was beneficial for me because I had my excuse. I was working on my business. Everybody was so proud of me, but it also helped me creating distance in that relationship to stay safe. I could clearly see, to be honest, I'm super afraid of having a partner on my side that is challenging, that is super smart, that is inviting me to grow with him. That is something I'm afraid of yet. The way you quantum leap is to tackle immediately what you just found out. So I made a plan. I will self-isolate myself for 6 months. Yes, I will do. I planned everything out. I will move to a different town for 6 months because this also helps to readjust everything that is going on with your nervous system and not being available to everything that is going on in your private life. And I will just focus on healing that part within myself that thinks I'm not lovable.

It's really interesting that you talked about removing that resistance as part of the growth, because I remember actually interviewed a coach for poker players and he said something really interesting. He said that at the highest levels of performance, it's actually not about addition, it's more about subtraction, like removing things to get to that next level, right? The thing I was actually going to ask you is, as you're going from $1 million a year or whatever, that $1 million to now what you're doing, the question I was going to ask you before is, what are the things you added to get to that point? But let's actually invert that question. For that growth, what are the things that you removed that led to that growth?

What I let go of was comparison. That was a huge one. I was always looking what's going on in the market because I can find gaps. where you can make a lot of money. But even though that's a talent of mine, it doesn't mean that it's the right thing for me to do. I see so many opportunities to make a lot of money, but it's not the right business for me to do so. And because I was so in love with always overcreating anything over and over again, it was more like a trap. So I let go of that, this adrenaline rush of, oh my God, I found something, we can make another million. So I stopped that. And I became very honest about the quality. Like, if you want to scale something, you have to simplify and you have to focus on the things that are working. So I took a look at all of the products I created, and I was so honest with every product. And for example, I deleted some of them. I just took them off the market because they were not representing the quality and the energy I wanted people to feel when they would think of me. So that was really brave because they were also generating money. But by doing so, I would rather recreate the products with a fresh perspective, with fresh energy, which also took a lot of time. But in order to do so, it would create a different kind of attraction level to new people coming for that product. So these are the biggest things we did.

It's almost that, like, this idea of, like, what got you here won't get you there. You're removing that product energy from the past version of yourself. And this new version is creating a new product for a new audience almost. Does that sound right?

Yeah, it does. It's more like business to me. It's like I always explain business as having your own planet. Like your planet is like your business topic, for example, business. And then you can just think about like, how do you want to position yourself? Do you want to have your city near the ocean? Or is your city like, I don't know, in Australia? I don't know. Like, where do you Like, where's everything happening? So the moment you are positioned, you have to think like an architect. Like, how can you make sure that it's easy for people to go through magnetically, like being attracted towards your city by entering like a path, entering like a portal, maybe doing a masterclass, maybe then doing like a deeper online course, maybe then becoming a one-on-one client whatsoever. But it's important to reduce too many options. I see that happening over and over again. People are being bombarded with choices, and then people get tired of making a decision. Like, I want you to tell me what is the right next step for me to take, and not like, you could do this, you could do this, and you could also do this. In that moment, your conversion goes down immediately. And I was just focusing on reducing Overwhelm and confusion.

It's almost sort of like you're mapping your customer's journey in your head and you're removing the points of friction, right? So this question, again, the intent of this question is to learn. And also the surprise, like, is deliberate in the way I ask it, which is whenever I share your story with other people, right, it's like 10,000 followers or less and $10 million plus business and like I think a lot of people will find that unbelievable because it's just like you don't see that with what people are doing online and social media. Can you talk about how such a small audience can actually create that amount of revenue? Maybe in terms of like the way you've structured the customer journey or in whatever you want to talk about that, because for a lot of people it's very surprising in the best way. Okay.

So what I found out about my customer, speaking also from a metaphysical perspective, I attract a lot of people coming into my world in a Sagittarius kind of energy. Sagittarius is in astrology more like the explorer. It's more like an adventure. So these kind of energy, I don't know why, but I open this kind of energy for people when they find me. It's like, oh my God, I I'm exploring a new world. This is their style. They see me, so many adventures. So I play with that. And how I do it is very simple. I just came up with opening up an all-access pass to everything I create, because creating so many products and masterclasses and workshops is my biggest strength. So I'm not a person who only works 2 hours a day. I work a lot. Just to be super transparent about that, because people are getting mixed signals about that. I work a lot and I love it, and I love to create products. I love to create experiences for people. So since I knew that I would create so many things, my whole product suite costs about €45,000 in total if you would buy everything individually without coaching. It's only online courses. And I offered that for, I think, $20K, $21K. And at the moment we have 360, 380 people who bought that. And I'm just scaling that to 1,000 participants each year. And the moment you are done with, like, I call it the Year of Deep Alchemy, in short, YODA. I don't know if that's trademarked, but I just call it YODA. Like, that's the archetype for the for the clients. And the moment they are done with their year of Deep Alchemy, they can just become alumni for a reduced membership. It's like a high-class membership, to be honest, in a super high-ticket kind of range, but people don't perceive it that way. They just love it to be committed, to experience my growth over a year or even longer. So right now, out of the 360 or 380 YODAs, I already have requests for people asking me to have like a YODA for Life price. They want to stay forever. And I think that's just how we teach. I think that's how we create products. It's how we interact with the customers. They would just love to stay for their whole life. They want YODA for Life. So I don't know how to create that yet, but I will first off start with YODA alumni. And then under this umbrella of YODA, we have like, you can purchase everything Individually, of course, all of the products, but that's it. Super simple.

The interesting thing in here is that the fact that people are asking for like for life means the product NPS is so high. And a lot of that like happens, let's say, like I think like before the person is sold, right? Like setting expectations, customer journey, all of that. So can you actually like really tactically Walk through how someone would buy Yoda. Um, I also just want to underscore the fact that, like, again, you're charging higher price point, you're not playing in the $50 game. So let's say I'm someone random on the internet, what is the process from start to, like, me buying a $21,000 product from you?

Okay, here comes the fun thing. I don't know, because as you know, Sachit, like, I didn't have I didn't have a website for ages. Every time you wanted to look for me or search for me on the internet, you wouldn't find nothing. I don't know how people find me. I hope they will come through the podcast. I don't know. But it's like, I don't know. I think most of that was referral. People were talking about us. And we made it really hard for people to become a customer, to be honest. They wouldn't find any information about our programs. It was just, oh my God, here's an Insta story. You can become Yoda now. Book this workshop. workshop. So what I typically did, I just used workshops, like 3-day to 5-day. I was playing with different versions of it for a topic. Like the next one's coming up is called Money Intelligence, and we are opening up YODA enrollment again in September. And I will just teach that topic for 3 days, and then I will open the next season because I love to work with divine timing. I will then open the season in YODA, the season of abundance. Like everything will be about cash dynamics. how to create money, how— what abundance really is, how to embody that, the magnetism behind it. And then people can just decide to pay in full for $21K or pay in 6 installments. And they have 1 week to decide, and then it's closed. And we only open twice a year. That's it.

One thing I love about what you said, and I hadn't mentioned it because I was gonna see if you mentioned it, which is the fact that you didn't have a website. Because again, I just wanna underscore because it's so important where like creators get so distracted by all of this fancy stuff like a website, brand, all these things. And those things are important. But again, like Alicia's example is millions in sales without a functioning website and just social media profiles, right? So, so, okay, so let's say like someone, I'm watching social media, I find your profile or it gets referred to me. I start following you. I watch like a story or like see one of your photos. What is that process there from there that someone goes through to like then giving you their credit card and buying the product?

So what I do, and I'm really good at it, my free content is better than most people's paid content. I hear that over and over again. I'm just, I'm not holding anything back. Like, if I go live, I go live for 1 hour at least. People know that about me. So I think I have at least 20 hours, 30 hours of content, free content on my Instagram profile. So people would, like, they would literally find me today and tell me tomorrow that they watched all of my videos and now they want to be a Yoda. Like, it happens multiple times per week.

And there's, again, like in what you mentioned, there's also like what you didn't mention. So what you didn't mention is a very like secret hack to like get someone on a phone call or increase your show-up rate or like increase your webinar attendance or some fancy funnels. There's none of that, right?

No funnels. We like, we couldn't use, like, I was playing with Facebook advertising around, I think in 2020. But then I wasn't allowed to publish. I don't know why. I never got an answer. So we couldn't use advertising for 2 years. It was all organic.

All organic. Less than 10,000 followers on Instagram, less than 10,000 on email list, correct?

Yeah, I think we have 7,000 by now.

I just want to like just take space to appreciate that because again, This goes against everything people are trying to do online for creator business, just to sort of like one-person creator businesses. And the reason I wanted to interview and share your story is because people get distracted by the wrong things when the money, the business is sitting right in front of them. Because I think the other thing that people don't realize is if you're playing in that like $50 sandbox, maybe you'll make like $3,000 a month, right? You can barely support yourself. You can barely support the team. Now instead, let's say you go to a $20,000 product. You sell 1 or 2 people, you're good. You can start building a team. You can start reinvesting in business. And all of these decisions cascade that make your business better. So one of the things that you said in our research was people come to you asking about money, asking about how to make money, what is money, all of these different things. What do most people misunderstand about money?

I think most people don't understand that money is neutral. And like, the amount of money you have is also your willingness to look at your money. Like, I think that is so misunderstood by many people. So money has a lot to do with also intimacy. Like, I think most people are not good in taking care of their money, but still they want more. But if I see like people, like how they even treat the money, or how much time they spend with their money, having a plan for their finances and so on. I imagine money always to be like a person. So if money would show up at your door, like, can I come in? Am I welcome? Or are you ashamed because I didn't announce my visit? And what is your plan for me if I am money? Most people don't have it. So it's not only about generating money, it's also about the Ability to hold money. When I had my first, I think, 60k month, I was dying. I was crying. I wanted my boyfriend to take the money away. I was asking him. I was begging him. Can I transfer the money to your bank account? And he was like, are you crazy? I'm like, I just wanted to be gone. I don't want it to sit on my bank account. I was freaking out because I felt as if there was some danger happening, as if like, what if I lose the money? Like it was. my nervous system was breaking down. So this is what people don't understand. What you anticipate or what you have stored in your memory about money plays out in your subconscious. It's going to happen what you already think or expect is going to happen with the money. And if you're afraid of having a lot of money, guess what? You will not generate a lot. Of course not. Or you will generate a lot and then lose it immediately because you manifested a bill. So I think they don't understand the nuances to really becoming wealthy. That is a different skill set.

What are other things that people don't understand? Or what are identity shifts that you made around money that led to the success?

So I think when I was in debt, I think what most people find super interesting is that I wasn't ashamed of my debt. I think that's the biggest, biggest thing. Like, there's no reason to be ashamed if you have debt. It's just like a status quo. Like, it's changeable. Like, you can change it if you want to. Doesn't say anything about your, like, worthiness as a person. But people make it mean something, as if it means, like, being a failure or something. I wasn't a failure just because I was in debt. I was just struggling with my personal life and a lot of things that were coming up. But I proved that I'm intelligent, that I'm capable, that I could create success, but I couldn't hold it. Like, I wasn't able to hold all of the energy and love that was coming my way. So I think most people don't get that love and money is really similar energy-wise. So yeah, that's why it's my favorite topic.

It's almost like, because people can't hold it, they get it, But they either like, let it go or sabotage it or something else.

Yes. So for most people, it's easier, like somehow they expect something worse to happen the moment they rise. So like, if you rise, you will fall deeper than ever before. That's why they stay like in the middle ground. But what they don't understand is It's more like a roller coaster. You have more speed even in the dark moments. You have more speed in order to get up again. So it's all about perspective on it. I think most people underestimate what they could create in a very short time frame. And I think they are not really clear on how much money they really need. So they are making up this illusion of, I need to become a millionaire. Like, nobody needs to become a millionaire. You choose to become it. So it's better to enjoy the journey and not suffer from it. So it's all about attitude and the energy behind it. Some people, some entrepreneurs feel as if like, oh my God, I chose my own suffering. I want to help the world. I want to do something good. That is not true. You also want to make money and live a better life. And I think if you are not able to admit that, you will be in resistance to it. Like, that is the truth. Everybody wants it. If you start a business, anything else comes second. And I think that also plays into having self-worth issues.

Are there other beliefs besides that? Let's say like someone's making hundreds of thousands or maybe like has hit the million mark. Are there other beliefs that they need to either add or remove to jump to that next level of growth? Yes.

So most people think the more money they make, the more responsibility they have, which is just not true. It's just money. But somehow it's like, oh my God, now I have a lot. Now I have to be super stressed about it and to take care about it. And I'm like, no, you don't. Like, you just need structure. So most people lack like this young, healthy, masculine, structured energy. Like they don't have systems in place. Like, of course, You have to develop some sort of financial intelligence. You cannot expect only generating money through the business, like I said, and then thinking, I'm not financially free, even though I'm a self-made millionaire. If I would stop working, my business wouldn't function at the moment, because I'm the personal brand of the company. So if I want to be time-wise free, I have to think ahead. I have to invest that money into different resources in order to create time freedom for myself. And I think most people, they don't think about the bigger picture. They just think about tomorrow, but not what it really needs in order to get there. And what they don't have are things that generate money. They are so occupied with their own insecurities and fears that they just don't focus on one thing that's working. Just focus on the one thing that's working. And if it's working, bridge. If you imagine your client standing on the beach and you are on an island and screaming to the people on the beach, come on over, and they say, there's no bridge. How can I get there? Just build this one crappy bridge. The moment they can enter that, you can decide, oh, I want to make this bridge stronger to generate more, automate it or whatever, or I want to start over. I want another island. I want a different bridge. So I think this is why most people Don't get that.

Yeah, I think especially as creators, we're so good at like finding the one thing that makes money and then we're like, this is working. Okay, cool. Like, I'm gonna go do something else completely over there, ignore this and not focus at this, right? So that idea of like focusing on that is so important. The other thing that's also interesting with creators is like, we're really great at generating money, but not at keeping money. So are there lessons you learned around that? In terms of generating versus keeping versus investing?

Yes. I would feel as if somebody was coming after me the moment I had more money on my bank account over and over again. And that was so interesting because it was just my nervous system. It was like in my childhood, some stories, like when you look at the movies, who's the bad guy typically? Most of the time, it's the single man who is super rich. He's a little bit, I don't know, dangerous or planning something, having a bad plan. I don't know why that is. But the poor people always are the ones who have a super amazing family, have the friendships, but they will never get successful. So just a basic core concept we have in movies and TV shows. And somehow I really felt Undeserving of so much money. Like it felt the moment I got it, I was like, what should I do with the money? What should I do with it? What should I do with it? What do you do with 60k? What do you do with 500k? So the moment it was here, I was already making plans in order to spend the money. And most people do that because they cannot really strengthen the energetic container to just hold the money. Just let it be there without freaking out. But I was so nervous about the money. I was like, okay, I could buy a car. I could buy this. I could send money to the Philippines, because that felt better, doing something good, giving it to charity. And I did. But that also creates problems, because I see it now very differently. I pay myself a salary, like every employee in my company, I get a salary. And then there is the money of the company, Mm-hmm. that I am reinvesting into systems. So that changed the whole game for me.

It's almost this idea of separating your identity as a creator and a business, which is perfect because it segues into the next section, which is a lot of creators have this almost 50/50 version of things in their head, which is creators think they're not good at business stuff, right? And business people think they're not good at being creative. And so I'm always curious about, as someone who has built a business as an entrepreneur, where do you see yourself? And you said something really interesting in our research. You said, everything I do, I see if it'll make money. I cannot turn that off, that filter of thinking if it will make money. So in this regard, I think as a business person, and I love this line, but I'm an unstoppable creative machine. Can you talk about that? Just like how you think about the business creator dichotomy?

I think the 2 archetypes are not separate, to be honest. Like, to me, they are linked. So when it comes to me, how I see business or creation, there is no business if there is no creativity. So the creator is the fuel in order to keep everything alive. And the business person for me is more thinking maybe ahead or structuring the creation in a very, how do I say, very abundant way. Like how to use the creation of the creator in order to make more money. So the creation has to generate some money, otherwise there is no sense for the creation, in my opinion. And the business person just knows how to utilize that innovation from the creator. So this is my Perspective on it. That's why I'm both. I love to create. Sometimes I'm really unstoppable. We had a call earlier with my team. I was like, I have an idea. I have an idea. And they have to stop me because I have another idea. I'm really so excited like a child. And then we are writing everything down because I'm so in overflow of creating. And then I have to put on my big girl panties, like the business person. Okay, does it make sense? Or is this just for fun? And that's how I started to filter out what kind of creation is really like a smart investment of time and money.

And when it comes to creation, there's all this advice around like rituals and habits. And I'm curious how you think about those. And like, I'll ask this question, which is like, how do I become an unstoppable creative machine like you are?

I think that the issue is the ideal client profile.

Like, period.

I think we think that the moment we know everything about our ideal client, that is somehow like the compass for our ideation process and creation process. And that is toxic because you will outgrow your clients. Like, it happens to me every couple of months where I really have to go through a detox phase and even push some of my clients away through my social media content to show them, like, I'm going further. Like, I'm— that's the next chapter. And I think you're not ready, but some other people are. And I think the evolution is key. And just allowing yourself to start over inside your business, not destroying it like we do as a creator, burn it to the ground, start over because it's so fun. No, it's not. It's a waste of time. So what you can do is Take every product you have and just do like a reinvention process. Go through it again and just ask yourself, is this really the best way to explain this kind of topic? Am I missing something? Do I see it differently now? Like, most creators will not allow themselves to change their minds. So you are allowed to have a different opinion 3 months later, like I did. It happened to me multiple times. I was teaching on a topic, and half a year later, I said, oh my God, I would never explain it in that way ever again. We have to reinvent the product. And I think this is where we can really thrive as creators if we just reframe our creation process. And when it comes to really coming up with new ideas, what I really love to do is I would create always like a matrix. Like, and I would just come up with very funny combinations. So for example, when we think about business, there is this one line of bro marketing funnels, analytics, KPIs. And on the other hand, there would be like the spiritual Bali goddess, you know what I mean? So that is like one, one axis. So another axis would be, what could it be? For example, one-on-one coaching compared to group coaching, for example. So I could really look at the market that way and see, okay, the spiritual goddesses are doing a lot of group coaching. I'm not like a bro marketer, not at all, but maybe in the middle somewhere like this. And I will position myself to offer a new offer in the area of spirituality for one-on-one coaching. So this is how I just look at the market without falling into this comparison trap by overanalyzing everything that is going on, but by finding the fun stuff for myself. So I'm just combining different kinds of pairs.

I want to reflect back and make sure I understood this correctly. So when you're thinking about, okay, how do I become more creative? The first thing you're doing is you said ideal client profile. And it's really interesting, actually. Seth Godin has this question that like he asks us in like on like every project, which is like, who's it for, right? So like you're thinking about the customer or the audience in mind. And then the other thing that you're doing is you're sort of like mapping out everything that's happening in the market. So let's say like bro marketing, spiritual goddess, like you said, and then you're finding how do I create like a counter positioning to those 2 things with the ideal client or the person in mind? Does that sound right?

Exactly. Like I'm just thinking about what is my new ideal client, like my upgraded ideal client version hearing, seeing on the market? And what do I think is like the wrong way to go about that problem? So I think the best products are not being sold because they are better, but because they can create a better connection about the context. Like the more context we can create, like for example, using bro marketing and spiritual goddesses as like trigger points, the better, because then the marketing becomes more remarkable.

Because you've then like anchored it to something that people already understand. And now you can be like, hey, like, we're better in this way, or like, we're different in this way.

We're different. I've always focused on different. So for example, what I did, spiritual goddessy energy, for example, all about the feminine, the feminine, the feminine, I would just go in and say, like, imagine the feminine to be like water. Like, if I would take this bottle and just pull it over my desk, what will happen? Like a lot of mess. So if you don't have the masculine energy in form of like maybe a cup, you don't need the feminine, like always the masculine first, then the feminine. And just a simple post like this, or a simple workshop about feminine and masculine energetics. And people remember that concept.

I love that. What are other elements that lead to someone becoming a creative machine? Or like, what are like environmental factors, like things around you that lead to like you having the space and the safety to become an unstoppable creative machine?

So around me, and I love that, like my environment really respects that, I need a lot of time alone. Like, I think I spent 90 or 80% of the day alone by myself. And I am a very— how do I say this? I love to hear, I love to listen to podcasts. I love to listen to audiobooks all of the time, because most of the time it's just a very different perspective on a topic. So what I do, I read books, for example, like what I said about the Victoria's Secret documentary. I look at that and I just ask myself, how can I apply this to my business? How can I create the Victoria story? What is the Alicia story behind my personal brand? And then I was like, I don't have it. I didn't build it. So what would happen if I would create an Alicia story for Alicia's Secret? So I just play with different scenarios, different niches, different— not competitors, but for example, we can learn so many things from other successful companies that are completely in an opposite area than ours. So I would go there and listen to what they have to say. And I'm just really, I just love to experiment. I just try and test everything smart people say, and see if it applies to me too.

And I'm also curious, like, this is something I've actually, I don't think we've ever talked about this. But I've noticed in your content, I'll actually, I'll quickly share the story of like where I noticed this. And I'm curious, like, if you think like this. I remember we did a call with our friend James, who's also been on the show, who actually brought us together. And you were showing an example of this like map that you'd created with all these like different products and stuff. And I realized like, this is something that actually like Marvel does, right? Like Marvel's creating this world where you basically have like different like stories, characters, and elements. Does world building play a role in your creative process? And if yes, how do you think about this world, your ecosystem that you're creating?

I think in worlds, I think in cities when it comes to business, and I imagine myself to walk into a store. So when I think, for example, about your brand, Sachit, I would try to figure out how would the store Sachit Gupta look like? The creator store, like when I would walk in, what would be the first thing I see? How would it feel? What is missing? And if you create like worlds, because most of the people don't do it, like there is no competition. Like you can really make competition irrelevant by going the extra mile when it comes to customer service, customer journey, and customer surprises. I'm all about the surprises. So I think A lot of product innovation happens through the lens of how can I surprise my client? How can I make it more fun? Because the emotions are so important when it comes to consuming a product. For example, I think it was Bugatti. I think they said, we don't do commercials on TV because our clientele doesn't watch TV. They don't sit there and watch. That is a whole— it's a bold statement, but What is your world about? What is your shop about? Like, what do you want? What want people in their arsenal of skill set? Like, what would they make? What make them proud? I am always about promoting the desire. I'm never using their pain. I think that's also something that's very special. I never talk about pain. I always talk about desire.

Can you give an example of talking about pain versus desire?

Yes. So of course, for example, if someone is overweight, I would just use that example. So if someone's overweight, of course I could go and say, oh my God, so you gained weight. Does it sound familiar? You don't fit in your favorite jeans anymore, even though your most favorite date is happening next week. So how can you fast lose these last 5 pounds in order to really look super amazing next week without feeling like I don't know, like, does he see like my tummy or I don't know what. So this is more like shaming someone. It's more like something's wrong with you. That is pain. This is attracting like victim mentality clients who are like, oh my God, something's wrong with me. I need to fix me. So creating desire is something super different. Creating desire is more like, okay, so you gained 5 pounds. So what? What if the man of your dreams you're meeting next week doesn't care about your weight at all? What if the 5 pounds are exactly needed because you just want to feel more grounded than ever before in your body? That's why you need a little bit more weight. And what if you could just really learn to really embrace your body at any level of size, no matter how tiny or big? big you are at the moment. So this would be more like a desire to feel good, rather than fix me. So this is how I do it. I always talk about like, from the perspective of desire, like, what do you want to add? Not what do you want to let go of?

It's almost like kind of like what we started with is you're helping instead of shaming people, like you said, you're helping them create a picture or vision of their positive future in their head. And their desire and getting them bought in through that.

Yeah.

So actually, let's connect to— this is one of my favorite things to do is connect topics and take weird segues. So let's talk about connecting the topic of worldbuilding and desire. So you're running a successful business, it's doing well, and at some point, and this is how we met, you decide you want to start a podcast. So I'm curious, like, especially if you're already running a successful business, it's going well. What made you want to start a podcast? Like, why a podcast?

Okay, the moment of truth. Why did I want to start a podcast? I know that I'm barely scratching the surface for what is possible for the company I built. I know that it's like, I know there's since 2020, I know this. I'm playing so small because I don't see anyone in the market who is already successful at my level, especially in Germany, with such a small audience. My biggest fear, I just had to face it right now. I don't want to be afraid of something that could change everything around. And I think I really wanted to be part of the lives of my customers more. I wanted I wanted the possibility for them to listen to me in the morning when they are walking their dogs. I wanted to drive with them in their car when they were picking up their children. I wanted that connection. I wanted these moments of creating really like a deeper level of intimacy by sharing more things people don't talk about, like we do right now in your podcast. And this is like a new stage for me to really use because livestreams are more like entertainment and fun. And I use the aha moments. But also challenging, challenging myself to create something new in an environment where I'm not good at yet because I'm a beginner. This is something very healthy. Like, it was painful. It was very stressful at some points because I was so stressed out about myself. But it was so— it was so worth it. Like, going through that, I found so many new nuances about myself. things I wanted to hide, where I thought like this might not be good enough. So this whole podcast thing was a true journey of self-acceptance because you, like, your voice is in the center of attention, not your mimic or what you do with your hands. I'm really good at distracting people with my Filipino crazy face. But, um, I think that is why I wanted to create a podcast. I wanted to create another level of impact on people.

And I certainly like, I think the, we've already seen examples of the intimacy it's creating with your audience. And this is actually really cool because I've never interviewed a client like right after where we've sort of like are coming to not the close, but like a milestone in the project, right? Where we are actually publishing the podcast today. I think people have this really interesting expectation where they think of podcasts as You show up, you start recording, and boom, like it's easy, right? And we've certainly had like a really interesting journey from when we started to now to like creating the show and publishing it. Can you describe the journey and process from your side, maybe in terms of like what were your expectations initially before we started? How are they different and how has that journey been?

I have so many things I could talk about, like where is the problem? Like, let's just start a podcast, of course. And I just thought, okay, it's similar to live streaming. You just sit in front of a microphone and you just talk. And then, like, what's the deal? What I didn't expect to happen was also facing myself. Like, I had to face myself while recording. So when I'm live, there are so many people watching. When you are on your own, because like mine is like more like a solo show, I don't have like guests. It's also a very intimate moment with yourself. Like, what do you really want people to listen to? What do you really want to talk about? Like, is this really it? Is this really the topic? Like, you get so selective, you get so— you get a little bit trapped in perfectionism because it's also so much more vulnerable than going live on Instagram or Facebook. So that is my experience, and that was really overwhelming. And I was just so afraid to disappoint people because they were used to me being the fun, bold, tough love kind of person on camera. But there is a whole different side of me when I just talk with you, like with a microphone. And again, I was afraid that this version of myself isn't good enough.

And how do you feel about that now?

I'm getting so much amazing feedback everywhere, like only good feedback, amazing feedback. Like people are blown away. People are emotionally so touched by what we created with the first 4 or 6 episodes. I get crying voice messages on Instagram from people who listen to the podcast, thanking me for being so brave to share the stories, to tell it like it is, to not hold back, to address taboo topics. And I don't feel as if this version of myself is not good enough. It's more that I have such a deep respect for that kind of version that is now evolving through the podcast, like what will be created through that. I am just in awe.

Well, if you could, let's say, like imagine 3 years out, in your ideal case, like what does that podcast look like?

In 3 years from now, I would have guests also being interviewed on my show. I would have some international guests. I think I will be international, like in an international company in 3 years from now, I'm pretty sure. And I think that, like, that show will be something like a behind-the-scenes kind of extension of a TV show I'm dreaming of. And also, I think my main— how do I say this? My main point is to create connections with people. That is really my goal. And I don't know about numbers because I really don't know how this will work in Germany. I really don't know. I don't have numbers in my head. But I think that I will have at least an audience of more than 100,000 people. In 3 years from now, yeah.

And I can say as someone who's working with you on this, we're definitely gonna hit the numbers and we're definitely gonna go global. And I actually, if you notice, I kind of switched from interviewing mode to code/customer development mode when I asked that question. I'm just gonna run with it because it's something I would usually ask you offline, but I'm very curious. You described sort of like the What you expected before you started the process and what it ended up being, right? I'm curious, like, how would you describe— because I think a lot of people, when I talk about like what we do with creating podcasts, they have that same expectation and they don't really understand what it takes. How would you describe working with us or working with me to a friend or this process that we went through?

To me, the whole experience was a journey to pure self-acceptance. I was blown away by the patience you were giving me. Like, I was so— I was even nervous about not delivering, like always postponing, and I'm not ready, I'm not ready. And like, you were so patient. Like, it was unbelievable for me because I'm not that patient with myself. So I could also take a look into that. Like, why do I put so much pressure on myself. And I also found out that I have this pattern of promising to deliver certain things, but in the end, if I cannot fulfill that because I manifested certain situations where I just couldn't, I will beat myself up against it like you have no idea. So I think that was really healing for me. I don't do that anymore. I started to promise less, which feels good because I tend to promise so much so that it feels like this adrenaline rush again, like, oh my God, I have to deliver. So this is really something I learned from you and this experience, and that is so healthy. And I think I have felt so special. I have felt so seen by your support. That was really surprising to me. I wasn't expecting that to feel so— like, I felt like a little rock star all the time. It felt like, oh my God, like, Alicia, you can do it. Even all of the topics, you were so motivating me to really go for it and to be vulnerable, to really share my process. Like we did in one podcast episode, I was talking about my struggles creating that podcast, and people love this transparency about it. So it was really magical. This will be something like a huge milestone, I think, for my whole life. I was crying today already multiple times because everything is so emotional for me because I've waited for this day. And being interviewed today by you in your own podcast, like, this is like a dream come true for me. And even doing that, even though English is not like my first language, and since, you know, that is always like my biggest fear, I feel really good. Like, I could let go of all of these perfectionism ideas.

Yeah. And I think the fact that you've done this in English is proof we can go global. I remember we were talking about, there was a time when you were trying to get to the point where you would feel comfortable recording, but you weren't able to. And I remember, I think I mentioned this to you and I've actually thought about this like many times with other clients, which is especially when you come to podcasting as a medium from another medium where you've had success, the success means that you've earned the right, I think, to be indulgent in the process to experiment, right? you have proof that you can take something from 0 to 1. So it's not a question of like, are you gonna be able to do it or not? You're gonna do it. Which is where like the patience comes from. 'Cause like from the point when I started, like there was no question that you were gonna do it. It was just, okay, how do we set up the right environment where you feel comfortable to do it? But then there's also the other side of it, which is even though you've earned the right, just because you've had success in another medium, Does not mean that like all the challenges that you get with like facing your own voice or facing your own self because of the nature of the medium, like you still have to go through that 0 to 10 episodes, 25 episodes journey. And for you, like one of the things that was there was this idea of becoming famous. So can you talk about what you felt about it before and how that changed for you in this process?

Yeah, I think the whole concept about fame and my fear of people, it didn't go well together. So yeah, that was my biggest fear. Somehow I had this, I don't know, vision in my head that it felt so different and a little bit uncontrollably to have a podcast. It felt as if, oh my God, a podcast can be listened to anywhere. And it felt magical and at the same time super dangerous at once. Because I was like, I don't know who's listening to it. I don't know what they will think about me and all of the things like maybe they will leave a bad review. And like all of these negative thoughts came up. And it was about like thinking about being recognized on the street really scared me thinking about that. Or if someone would ask me for like a signature or something like this, I would feel so awkward. Like, That was my situation back then. But what really changed everything for me was the perspective on, you cannot leave only a small impact on the world, only a small legacy. You either do it fully from your heart or anything else is just a compromise. And we did it in a coaching session. You helped me through it. I could really see how I was minimizing, like, I cannot say that I want to help people and at the same time be afraid of so many people hearing what I have to say. So that doesn't work together. And I just had to make a decision, like, what do I really want to accomplish in this lifetime? And I want to play full out. So that is, I think, like, the biggest gift from the journey with you. Like, I am so ready to play full out. Like, even though I had many struggles on a private side this year, I feel so calm. I feel so ready for everything that's coming. I know that it's going to be a huge success. It feels so weird to say that, but I know it. Like, even today, like, all of the feedback we're getting, I know that it's going to be a huge success. And I'm already really excited. And I'm so grateful for all of the opportunities that are coming my way. Yeah.

And I think just like the amount of work you've put in through the amount of sort of iterations we've done. I have to say this to you like live, right? Like, it's like, I think sometimes people use the word proud and I feel like it can actually kind of like patronizing. So like, not proud, but like, I am personally so inspired by the way you just like kept at it. And we tried all these different formats to get to the point where we are now. And I think I can definitely say that we've earned the right now for the podcast to be a huge success because of all the work that we put in.

Yes. Yes. How many scenarios we played through, how many angles we talked about, how many plans we had, and then started over again. And then all of the emotions we had to go through because everything, all of the things that were coming up for me, that was so special. At that moment, it was painful. And I was also embarrassed and ashamed that I couldn't really function like I wanted to. But it was so, it was so interesting to be in that situation. Like, it changed so many things for me to be more patient, like I said, with me, with myself, but also to trust the process. Like, it was really an experiment of surrender, like the divine timing will be there when we're ready for it. And also to not give up, like what we said early in the beginning, like the universe is testing us, because the bigger the thing is we're working on, the bigger the tests. Yeah.

Definitely agree. So James actually asked an interesting question, which is like, for you, now that you've achieved this financial number or goal, what does it look like to have financial freedom, especially in your, let's say, in a country where you might be in the top 1% or around that? It's like, what does it feel to Or look like to have the financial freedom?

It feels super special. Like, there is not one day where I take it for granted because, like, the way I grew up, like, with not having money at all, always being in a financial drama. But I can tell that people treat you differently, like, a lot, because I don't look like money. I don't really present money a lot yet. Like, still an identity I have to evolve into, like being a wealthy woman. I'm not there yet. It's still difficult, but I'm learning that. But it's giving you the opportunity to see the world really like it is. I very often have times early in the morning where I watch people heading to work in their cars. Everything is so hectic. And people are just waiting for the day to be over, for the weekend to start. And I'm just sitting here in my beautiful home with all of my dogs and thinking like, oh my God, thank you that you did it a couple of years ago, that you went all in when everybody else was starting a family and whatsoever. I was really just betting on myself. And I think right now I am so impressed by what I could create in such a short time period. And at the same time, I know that, like I said, I'm barely scratching the surface. Like, just imagine having the processes and systems in place like a real company does, because sometimes it feels as if my company is a scam because you cannot find us online. But just imagine that, and I'm just dreaming bigger. And what helps me in order to overcome the comfort zone of having so much money is just thinking also about my team, because every team member represents its own family, its own wishes, its own desires, and its own mission in life. And that's what I like. I don't take that lightly. I really want everyone to be super happy in my company. So I always reinvest in everything we are building. And I'm so excited to take so many people on this journey with me.

Yeah, and I would definitely agree. I think we're probably like at the start of the beginning right now. On the flip side, you basically achieved what like James calls like 1000x growth, right, in a couple of years. And it would be really easy to assume that everything is perfect because of that. But it also, I think like everything, there's positive consequences and negative consequences. So how has that growth affected your life, personal or business? And James asked this question, which was, is it worth it?

Yeah, it is worth it because It's a painful journey, I have to tell. And I lost so many things I wasn't expecting to be lost along the way.

For example?

Relationships. Like, I lost almost all of them. Because the problem is, just because you create so much abundance and so much wealth, and you take care of like your inner identity issues and all of the sabotaging behavior, doesn't mean that the people around you do the same work. And when you're an entrepreneur, you are in a personal development loop on steroids. You cannot grow a business without growing yourself. It's not possible. It goes hand in hand. So what I couldn't see in the last 2 years is that some of the people were mad at me for being so successful. Because it also was showing them what they didn't do, even though they were related to me or in a relationship with me. And that's why sometimes people cannot stay in relationship to you, because it's just too painful for them. And I wasn't expecting to have like these lonely times again. I wasn't. Yeah, I think that is the only thing I— I think that was painful. But also it's really good because now there's room for the people who love to develop themselves too, and I don't have to shrink in order to fit in.

I love this idea of like not shrinking in order to fit in. As you think about your, let's say, like next level of growth now, is there any fear or anything around that, or is it more just fully— do you feel fully positive about it?

I think the level of wealth I will create next next is nothing compared to what I did already. I know that I can create a 9-figure company easily. I see that happening. Don't ask me why. And the whole lifestyle will be upgraded to a very different level. And I think there will be also a level of discomfort again for me, like it was with this level. But I think I'm more aware now. I'm more prepared. I have different boundaries right now. And I worked so much on my, like, my self-worth issues I had so many years that I don't take it that personal anymore. It's more like, it's okay, like it is, like only the things that are not relevant to me anymore will fall away, fall apart. And yeah, so I'm not afraid.

I love that. I'm not afraid part. Seriously, I love that. Because I know, like, The growth that we're going to see. As you're thinking about what are the elements of that future growth that now that you're going to go on, or let's say the growth that you've had besides all the stuff that we discussed, like, is there anything that we didn't talk about in terms of what caused or can cause and trigger this kind of massive growth?

I think it's just like a compound effect. that will start to take place. Because like we discussed, there is not a clear path how people find me. It's more like I attracted a lot of people with my energy. I manifested a lot of people. But just imagine combining a clear structure with no confusion and me being very magnetic in my social media content. That will be an explosion itself. And I think most people don't see that coming yet because I was very silent this year. I didn't do a lot of launches and all of the things because I was focusing on the big picture long term. And I think like it just adds up, you know, like the podcast, then working on a website and developing more products that everybody can buy that are not only in the live experience available. So I think that will add up. And other than that, I would just focus on building out Retreat centers in Southeast Asia. That is something I'm focusing on, and especially my business manager Alex is super in love with that idea because of his background and experience. So I really love to involve my team into different businesses in order to really create different streams of income, to diversify the kind of money we make, because I see a big trend especially in Germany, going more into the direction of meeting people in real life. People crave that, especially after COVID. So yeah, that is also something I would like to explore.

Yeah, it's all about community, right? It's even like, I think you might have used the phrase for the first time, but I think it's a huge part of what you do, which is creating magnetic content. So this is another question from James, which is besides metaphysics and human design, What do you feel is your core skill set? Like the thing that like you have 10,000+ hours in and that like you do better than anyone else and that like what makes the company go?

I think it's product development or even like launching. I am masterful in launching. I really know what kind of puzzle piece goes where in order to see the big picture. So when it comes to my skillset as a business person, I'm really masterful in product development and launching, or innovating products. I'm really good. I can create so much momentum for a product where people just take out their credit cards and run to the store. People even compared me to Apple at some point. People don't even know what you can buy at the store, but they're already standing there waiting in line. So this is the kind of hype I can create around products.

What have we not talked about so far around doing that? What have you not talked about already about doing that, about creating that hype, about doing that launches?

I think it's so multilayered to be really good in that specific field that, like, I don't teach that, to be honest. Like, even though I'm so skilled in that, I don't teach it yet. I teach product development, yes, but only like more as a beginning stages, like not for like advanced people. I don't know why. It's a good question. I don't know why. Like, it's— it was more like a given. It's just so much fun for me, but I, I don't know if it's so interesting for people to learn.

I can bet you that's interesting, and I already have some ideas on how we could tackle that, which we'll talk about offline. Okay, so I know we're almost towards the end. Thank you so much for staying longer. We'll end with the 5 questions we always end with. I call it the Fast 5. The first one is like, what are 3 books, or could actually be like movies or podcasts or any kind of media that have been the most impactful for you, let's say in the last 2 years, and why?

Okay, I love the podcast of Manifestation Babe.

Why?

I just love her as a person. I don't— I cannot tell you why. I just, I am just attracted by her, how she approaches everything. She has a very, I don't know, light side to everything. I love how she explains manifestation. And it's more— it feels like it's my kind of Sex and the City listening to her podcast, you know, like, it's like meeting a friend, like a, like a secret friend and talk about all of the taboo kind of topics. That's, I think, why I love her podcast so much. Books. I read so many books. I think the book I love most is Brianna West, The Mountain Is You. I don't, I don't even have words for her. She is so talented in expressing what's going on inside of us. Through words. It's like poetry combined with personal development combined with spirituality. It's just, it's so magnetic. Like, I could read that for hours. It's just so, it's very comforting. And oh my God, like, my whole library is open in my head right now. There are so many. Or a movie. Like my most favorite movie in the world is— I don't know it in English. In German, it's called Der Streben nach Glück. It's a movie with Will Smith, The Pursuit of Happiness. Yeah, I really love that movie.

Yeah, that's a great movie. And I definitely like— I've read The Mountain Is You, another plus one for that book. Amazing book. What's, what's one piece of wisdom that changed the game for you?

I think the most profound thing, super simple, but I am not my business. This concept changed everything for me. I'm not my business. I'm in relationship with my business, and my business has to support also my needs as the creator and the business person. That changed everything for me, because when you start out, everybody tells you, just imagine your ideal client to be a former version of yourself, and it's just not true. Because if they were like you, why would they need you? It's just very simple like that. Why would they need you if they are like you? You found it out yourself. No, that's not true. And also this concept of energies in a business. Your business has needs, like in every relationship, and you just have to be really honest about the give and take ratio between your business and yourself. You cannot always take out of the business without investing back into it.

It's, it's so interesting. It's like, I think like one of those things where people just accept that it's true, but like maybe it's not right. Like creating that separation, like the, what's that phrase? Like how you do one thing is how you do everything.

Yes.

And then someone gave me a great example of like why this isn't true because they're like, well, let's say you love your mom and your wife. Are you gonna love them the same way? It's like, no. And so people just accept these things.

Yeah.

I love that one. Next question is, so for all of us, especially when we're getting started, there's always people who give us a start or believe in us before we believe in ourselves and all of those things, right? That we're always grateful for. So if you could give credit or thanks to one person in your life that you don't give enough credit to, or maybe someone you've never thought to thank, who would that be?

That would be my former coach, Zion Kim, who helped me through all of the messy situations back in 2020, especially, and also in 2021. I am beyond grateful for what he did for me because he was really training me in the area of quantum leaping. We were going back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. And he was the first one who believed that I could collapse the timeline in creating multiple millions within 90 days. So that was his idea, to just play with the idea. And I was like, yeah, sure. And it was all his idea, to be honest. Back then, he said, why don't you go for it? Why don't you just try it? Why don't you just play? So back then in 2020, I was very stubborn. I was very like, I want to hit the next milestone in revenue. And it wasn't happening for me. Months after months, it wasn't happening. And then I just ended up booking him as a coach. And at that level, business coaching is not like the typical business coaching. It's more like finding the mistake within the human. Because science says, Every problem in business is a personal problem. That is what I learned from him. Like, yeah, he was the one who believed in me and he holds space for me when I was really freaking out with my nervous system. That was really cool.

Yeah. And Zion is also a friend and I can attest to his coaching abilities. One story that I probably haven't shared here is he's actually a huge part of this podcast coming live too. it. Because I remember before I was starting the show, like I'd had, I'd spent all of this time like behind the scenes. And I remember, and doing a podcast myself was a huge decision. I remember calling Zain and I was like, I don't know if I should do this. Do I step out behind the scenes? And he goes, why don't you just record like 6 or 12 episodes and publish them and just do it for 3 months and then see how you feel after? And I was like, yeah, why don't I just do that? And that's what led to the show. So can definitely attest to— Science genius and just simplifying things in a very simple way for people.

Yeah, he's always that way. He's always like, so what is the problem exactly? And then like, after every call with him, you are like, where was the problem? Like, what was going on? I don't know how he does it. I love that.

He just makes it go away. Second last question is for you, like, what does it mean to be a conscious creator?

To me, It means to be very selective about where my energy flows and my skill set. Where do I invest my time and energy in? I imagine it to be every person who comes in contact with my creation gets the energy I was in while I was creating it. This is how I look at it. So that's why I am super aware of the creation process as a whole. I think that's also a secret of our success. I would never create in an energy that I wouldn't want to be amplified by my customers. So being a conscious creator is also being about super, like, being picky and not going for every idea there is on the planet, but being resourceful with your own time. That is it for me.

And just respecting that, right?

Yeah.

Last question, we're actually going to modify this a little bit. So usually what I ask is, what are you most excited or optimistic about in the next 5 years? But I'll ask it a little differently here, which is, let's take all the concepts that we talked about, like identity shifting, manifestation, quantum leaping. With those in mind, what are you most excited or optimistic about in the next 5 years? And how are you going to use those concepts to jump to that next version of yourself?

Oh, what a question, Sachit. Like a next episode now.

Okay.

I am most excited about becoming really like this new version of myself. Like I can feel so many things change within the last 2 years. And this year was the feeling of not being able to catch up with who I am right now inside, as if the reality couldn't really mirror that back because I was still in resistance. As we learned today, there was still resistance to my new truth inside of me. And I'm just looking forward to really being super brave and trusting who I am. That is also something I learned through the podcast. process with you. I will just trust again who I am and not question it again. I will just let it all unfold. And I see myself creating a huge international lifestyle brand for entrepreneurs. I want to connect more creators. I want to create a stage for them. I would love to have a Netflix show. I would love— I would die for a Netflix show. That's the next— talking about fame, Sachit. Now I want a Netflix show. Now she's turning crazy. No, but I would love to have a Netflix show in order to really show the behind the scenes of entrepreneurship. That would be something I would be super excited about. I would be super excited about— yeah, I would really love to marry, finding real love. I feel ready for it. I want that for myself. Yeah, I think these are the top 3.

And how would you use the concepts we've talked about to grow into the next version of yourself that gets all of those things?

So my first step is to really look at, like, at the moment, why don't I trust the company to be ready for the growth yet? So this is always the question, like, about anything you want. Like, why can't I have it right now? Like, immediately, like, within 2 seconds? Why is that not possible? What do I believe? About my current situation to be true that it's not possible to have it immediately. Then I create my resistance list like I always do, and then I just put it into order. I will cluster these topics and then I will just tackle that as mini projects. So I have becoming the real version of myself, being more authentic, being more like an uncompromised life. What does it look like? So for me, it's a huge step to just, as you know, I have many dogs, but I set it up in a way where I can just The first time ever in my life, I would just think about myself for a couple of months and just focus on myself and withdraw from everything and just focus on me. And that is a huge step in not compromising again by taking on too many responsibilities. So I would just choose me. And then I will develop something very new inside the business. I already have multiple ideas. It's already boiling, especially after this podcast episode, I have so many ideas. And I really have to develop and evolve my team, like we need a bigger team. So I know all of the action steps, like I have to take them and then just to wait for the perfect alignment and everything will fall into place. So this is how I would go about it.

And I can't wait to see it unfold, but also support you on that journey. Because we're definitely going international.

Yeah, I know.

Awesome. Um, any last words or anything you want to leave people with before we end? Or if people have questions or want to learn more about you, where can they go find you?

At the moment, I'm only doing things in German, so it's a problem, but we're working on going international. What I just want to— my last words would be just so much, such a big thank you for you, Sachit, for having me on the podcast, for really pushing me to the edge talking in English, even though you know I am so afraid to do so. But it was so fun. You make it seem as if we are just having a private conversation. It's really like it's your zone of genius. be so relaxed in your energy and the way you structured the whole interview was amazing. And yeah, for the whole process, like we launched my podcast today. I am so thankful that our ways have met, that we were introduced by James to one another. And thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak to your audience here on your podcast. That was really like my first interview in English. And I will always remember that. Same with the whole journey of creating my own podcast. Yeah, but I, I am so thankful and grateful for you. Thank you.

You're welcome. And it's been my pleasure to be part of that journey. And just, we're at the start and like, I can't wait to see where this goes, where we take this.

Me too. I'm so excited. Yeah.

Awesome. Thank you for doing this, Alicia.

Thank you.