Bringing Dreams to Reality at 61 with bestie Allison Maslan

Showing up to the airport on the wrong day for our flight, almost missing a flight, being in Mexico with one of my best friends, and homeopathy, what that has to do with business growth and scaling and why this is all important for midlife. Today on Midlife Conversations, I'm doing a really fun bonus episode with one of my best friends, Alison Maslin. I wanted to get her back on the show for a while just because she's one of my best friends. I mean, not only is she brilliant, we're going to talk about all the things, but I wanted you to hear some real life interaction. One of the things that many of you have said to me through social and through podcast comments is you wish you had more friends that were leveling up in their life. You wanted friends that helped keep you motivated to level up. And Allison is that friend for me, and I hope I'm that friend for her. She's one of my best friends. We've known each other. I can't even believe we didn't know each other our whole life. Like, I feel like we've known each other.

We're like sisters.

We are. And in fact, you all, when we did our 23andMe, our DNA was 99.9 similar.

I think we're related.

We have to. I mean, if we're 99.9, we have to be related, right? It has to be. So we're sharing a mic for this, so hopefully you can hear us. Okay. But I wanted to go with this and I so much that I want you to learn from her today. From homeopathy to scaling a business to living your best life. She's in her early 60s. If you're watching on YouTube and video, you can see she looks phenomenal. So we're going to get into some of those secrets there. And thanks for joining us today.

I'm. This is going to be fun.

So let's start with this is so us. Okay, you all, we are definitely adhd. I think almost all my friends are adhd. And we have not made that a disability in our lives. We've thrived with that. But this is so typical. So I invited myself back to Mexico. I did. This is my fourth trip back.

Yes. Allison, I like when you come, so it's fun.

Allison and her husband have a beautiful. A beautiful second home in Ziwatnam.

If you move a little, they can see the water.

Oh, you can see. And I'm going to put some pictures in. If you're watching the video. Oh, I'm blocking your amazing view. Right now. But it is spectacular. She. They've got this incredible villa. I'll actually link it below so you all can see it in addition to putting some pictures here. But it's an incredible villa. And when she first shared how she was going to get this place, which we're going to get into, because this is part of vision and what I want you all to learn. I invited myself. I was the first guest.

First, actually, I think you were.

And then I invited myself back three more times. So this is the fourth. And I will continue to. So we planned a little girls trip and sort of last minute, her husband decided to come. They were working on some things down here, which is great. We love our husband Mike. But this is the best part. I had just gotten back from Vegas. I didn't even tell you from this perspective. I had been traveling for a few weeks back to back. I just gotten back from Vegas. I had a turnaround within like a six hour window. Like, it was very quick window to unpack, repack, get myself to San Diego so you and I could get to Tijuana to fly here. That was our plan. So I scrambled and I kept thinking, I wish I just had an extra day. I wish I had an extra day. That's what I was thinking.

It's your fault.

It's my fault. So I get to Allison's, we get like a very little amount of sleep. We have to get up super early. I think I set the alarm for 3:30am because we had to be leaving her house at like 4:15 or something.

In San Diego to drive Tijuana.

Some ungodly hour that we had to get up to drive. We get. Her husband's going, girls, let's go. Let's go. We get in the car, we get down to Tijuana airport, we go to check in. And the computer flashes a big screen. And what did the computer say?

It said, well, there was no number valid.

Yeah. So she says to her husband, Mike, no, no, try it again. Put the number in.

Yeah.

So Mike goes and puts it in again and still not valid. So we're like, okay, great. So we go up to the ticket lady and what does the ticket lady say to you?

Your flight's tomorrow.

What? We were on the wrong flipping day.

Oh, my God.

On the wrong day. Okay. So her husband did what my husband would have done. He puts his hands up like. Oh, like, not mad at her necessarily, just frustrated the situation.

Yeah. And would it, you know, And I am completely perplexed. Like, how did this even happen?

But what's interesting is both of you and I, we instantly shifted out of how did this happen?

To what are we going to do? And I. I was like, wait a minute. There's also a flight from LAX on Alaska Airlines.

Yes.

You know, the same day. Because only a few flights come here a week. And so at that point, it was about 5:30 in the morning. I. We could make it.

Okay, but.

Absolutely.

But hold on, y'.

All.

So if you don't know the geography over there, Tijuana Airport is three hours south of lax. So we found this flight that we could make, but we. There was no wiggle room. Like, we were gonna have to go get our car, get up there in three hours, and we were gonna make the flight exactly an hour before it was taking off if there was no.

Traffic, and haul butt there and haul by.

So Allison's husband did what my husband would have done. He's like, no, we're going to just go tomorrow.

Let's just go tomorrow. And I'm like, wait a minute. Let's pivot. We're entrepreneurs. Let's do this.

So me and Allison were on board because that's how we think. We're like, solution. And we.

And we thought, if we don't make it, we'll just hang out in it.

So we went right to Outcome. We're like, nope, we're making it. We're getting there. It's not an option. We're going to try. What do we have to lose? Worst case, we have a day in la. That's what we decided.

Right. But he's the one that had to drive, so we were. It's easy for us to think.

So we get in the car, and we not only made it exactly on time, we got to the ticket lady 15 minutes before the deadline that we wouldn't have made the flight. But we did it. But we're here.

We made it happen.

So we're here in Mexico, and we were joking about. Well, not even really joking, just sharing how that is how I think we both live our life. Like, we know our outcome. We're focused on the possibility.

Don't take no for an answer.

Yeah, don't take no for an answer. We were going to get here, and we're here. Okay. So that wasn't what this show was going to be about today, but I had to share that. That is. That is how we think that is what's alike here. Now, some other things that I want you to know about. Allison is so. She's in her 60s. What is your age? Are you? 61? 61. 61. She looks like she's 30. She's 61. She has a trapeze, a full trapeze in her backyard at. In her San Diego home. Like, she literally got a house that would have land to build a trapeze. She trapezes. Trapeze, like the circus.

You do trapeze for about 25 years.

25. It's crazy. It's amazing. And Allison, one of the things she's told me is that she wakes up every day and says it feels good to be 35. Right, that's. I do explain that, because you're not trying to really be 35.

No, I embrace my age, but my body knows that feeling of being 35. I mean, think about it. If you're listening, you can think of an age, and then you get this memory in your body. So I always say it feels so good to be 35. And I really feel like it's the best vitamin I can give to my body because my cells go, oh, yeah, I remember that. So, yeah.

So Allison is like a sister to me.

You're.

You're like my big sister because you're older than me. Haha. Yeah, you're my big sister. So I'm 53, she's 61. And I say that because she's very inspiring to me, and I'll tell you why. I look at what she's created in the last decade, and it makes me want to step into bigger possibility and bigger vision. It's super motivating for me. And I want you all to hear this because you listening are in midlife. And 10 years ago, even though Allison was very successful and we'll get into that and what she was doing, she, in that last decade, grew her business phenomenally. What was that actual growth?

Well, let's see. We're now 16 years in Pinnacle, at least over 15 million.

Okay, $15 million worth of growth. She also not only bought her dream house in San Diego and the really cool story of how that came to fruition, but she has a dream villa, Ziwa, Mexico. All because of her vision and what you've created.

Yeah, that was totally setting the vision and expecting it to happen. Because in these things, you might think, oh, well, yeah, you know, you had the money, you went and bought it. But that really wasn't. If you looked on paper, it absolutely didn't make sense.

Well, let's kind of start there. I have so many questions. I want to talk about homeopathy and business and growth and all that. But I want to start with this whole idea of vision, because they've heard me talk about vision, they've heard guests. But I want from your perspective, because you literally live it and grow everything operating from vision.

Yes, absolutely everything. And I started doing this many years ago, but it was really just in the recent years that I focused on it constantly because I saw the power of it so early on, Even in my 30s, when I was starting, I don't know, my third business at that point, which was the homeopathic practice. I would see myself there with patience, with a flourishing practice. I visualized a place where my daughter and I would be living together with a, you know, white picket fence and flowers and all of those things. And I would see it as if it was happening and then it would unfold. Same thing with meeting Mike, my husband, and we've been together 19 years. I had picked a round of not good fit relationships. I was really good at that. And then when I finally got to the point that, that I said, no, this is, I'm making these choices, I just really drew the line and said, I'm ready to meet my soulmate. And then I picked the date that I would meet him. I wrote it down. I visualized, I kept seeing him walking towards me. And then we ended up meeting. He actually lived on my street for 10 years and we'd never met before. And so it just. I've seen this over and over and over. So now it is a big part of everything I do.

I want to ask you a little bit about process here because like many listening, like any human, I know you've been here too. Circumstances can pop up that feel like they distract us from what we might want in life. And it's very comfortable to get stuck in a circumstance and say, it's not meant for me. It's not this. How do you actually interrupt that? And can you help us with the process that you've. I know you fine tune this over the years, but help us with like some actual things that you do to interrupt that and what habits you practice that you commit to.

I mean, look, life does distract us and life gets lifey and we get sucked into the minutia when things are challenging. But just like you talk about fitness, it has to become a practice, like a body memory. And so for me now, what I do is every single morning and it is like clockwork. Before I even get out of bed, as my eyes are starting to just connect to the day, I start thinking about what I'm grateful for. Like, because usually you wake up and you think about what was going on the next day, what was not working the next day. So I do that, too. And then all of a sudden I go, wait a minute. What am I grateful for? I'm grateful for my husband. I'm grateful for my daughter. I'm grateful for breathing. And your friend. My friend Natalie, of course. Of course. That's the first thing I think about anyway. And then I. So that's how I start. And then I pull out my journal.

And we had a question about this. So because you wake up with. I know you have the same brain as me as that, the ADD brain. You wake up with, like, the. Oh, my God. Do you handle any of that or do you just interrupt it and say, go to gratitude?

I used to pick up my phone and go right to email. But what I realized is that then my mood was going to be dependent on news that I got or, you know, that I received or didn't receive.

Okay.

And I wanted to set the tone for my day. And what I know is that when I do this, compared to when I don't is night and day, I've become a happier person. I am so much more resilient when things don't go right. And, you know, running companies, things like that can happen every single day. It just doesn't faze me. It will roll off my back. I'm still in a good mood. And even with things that breakdown that used to stress the heck out of me just don't anymore.

So you won't even look at your. Do you keep your phone in a different room? Like, what are you actually. I know you all listening. Yeah, you're guilty, too. You have your phone near your bed or you're grabbing it first thing. So what do you actually. Where is your phone?

It takes discipline because my phone is, you know, next to me but a little bit away. And actually, I do use it in part of what I'm gonna.

But you're not looking at any email or text or anything.

No, because I want to set the tone for the day. Because part of the practice is that I turn on some different YouTube videos, people that might inspire me.

After the gratitude or after the gratitude.

Then I really want to shift my brain into what I am deliberately creating in my life.

Okay. So I want to make sure. And I'm sorry, I'm going to go. I want to really understand because I'm going to start doing exactly what you talk about because I want to have Cynthia Watney. Like, I want the Villa here, so. And I watch her go through this. So that's. I went out really. So no matter what's in your brain, you shift to gratitude first. And how long do you do this gratitude part before you find a YouTube video?

Probably just for a minute or two. Because it doesn't take me long. Now, it might take you a little longer if you haven't been doing this, because it's easy for your brain to go, what you're stressing about, right? So the key here is moving your attention. You want to move your attention to what is good.

Okay.

There is always good in your life that you can find. You know, you could. You know, if you can walk, you could.

I woke up.

You know, things that we take for granted. So the practice is consistently shifting over now. If you're having trouble, it's okay. Just keep doing it. And the longer that you can focus on what is good, that will become okay.

So gratitude, then. We're going to usually go to YouTube. So, again, you have to, like, be disciplined to not go look at a text or go look at email. But you're going to YouTube, and I know you liked. What are some things that you recommend on YouTube? Like, do you have any specific channels or people?

Yeah, and, you know, you may have something that's inspiring to you. It could be anything. Could be something spiritual, like a sermon or whatever. Just be motivational. You know, recordings. I listen to, like, Wayne Dyer. I listen to Abraham Hicks. Abraham Hicks, Esther Hicks, I mean, those kinds of videos. And, you know, sometimes, depending on how much time I have, I might listen to it for 15 or 30 minutes. And I'm really getting in, you know, shifting to what I call is being in alignment, where your head, your mind, your heart, your body are all in alignment with the intention of feeling good.

Okay. So I'm going to keep going on what you do in the morning. But I do have a question. Let's just say you're speaking or you have a meeting early, or like, somebody listening is like, oh, I start work so early, or whatever. Would you personally be getting up earlier to get this in, or do you ever skip days?

I get up earlier, and let me just tell you, I'm not a morning person.

No, she's not.

I am so not a morning person. We're in Mexico. We're sleeping late.

She's, like, ready to go at, like, 11:30.

But we, you know, I run a company and, you know, we have a lot of team members. We have, you know, a lot going on. So sometimes there are early Meetings. But this has become such a big game changer in my life that I don't miss it.

Okay.

So I will just. And, you know, I have a very ADD brain. Like.

Yes.

So sometimes it takes me longer than others to really get into the zone.

But she's like, if we're planning to go walk or something or do whatever, even record this podcast, she'll text me and say I need to do my morning stuff first. So I just. I've learned that about her, which is great. And actually, little funny, cute. Side note, she's like, I love being in Mexico because it's two hours later. So my. It's like I'm technically starting earlier. I thought that was funny.

Yeah.

Because if it's 11 years, nine there. Yeah, that's perfect. Okay. So gratitude. You shift your mind into listening to this, and then you move right into.

What you want to create. Pull out my journal.

Okay.

And this is the process. And I call this process vision crafting.

I love that.

Okay, so I journal first. Again, what I'm grateful for. But there is energy with a pen to the paper that you're releasing. There's something about that. I know there's been studies around it. I don't know what they are, but it's definitely different than typing. And then I shift to what I'm grateful for as if it has already happened.

So give us an example. Like, before you had this house, how would that tie in?

Yeah. So we got engaged here 19 years ago and fell in love with this place in Ziwa Teneo, Mexico. And we've come many times over the.

Years, her and Mike, not her and me. If you're new here.

Yeah.

My husband Mike, they're watching YouTube. That's going to be like.

And so we always loved it. And then we were coming during the pandemic, and we said, you know, we should get a place here. And then we kind of went into, oh, that's crazy. Like, buying a house in another country. Why would we do that? And then I had this. Aha. Like, well, you know, I'm going to be turning 60 soon, so what am I waiting for? Like, till I'm 80. So let's do it. And so, you know, this is just an example. So I would write down. I'm so excited. Walking up the steps to our beautiful villa in Zihuataneo. And it feels so wonderful. And I feel so happy waking up, looking over the bay, seeing the boats, looking at the stars with my husband, walking into town, being with the community here, enjoying the Food and just slowing down.

Wow.

My life. And so, you know, that's just one of the things. But I would write those things down and I would read it, and I would literally see the picture in my mind. I would visualize, which is just thoughts with pictures. But then the next step of it was actually feeling it as if I'm there. Like you're walking into a movie and you feel it, and that's what creates the energy or raises the energy in your body or your frequency. Because we are energy. We are energy to the the deepest core. We're molecules and atoms. Everything, this microphone, this desk, everything is made of energy. And so if you can raise that up, you start attracting to the level that you're operating at.

Makes sense.

And so, you know, it's like when you're down and depressed, all you see in the world is things that are crappy, you know, and so that's just an example. Or it would be about my business because I have a big vision for our company, Pinnacle Global Network, and I would see, you know, millions of CEOs all over the world, business owners stepping up into their highest potential. You know, just, you know, I see my husband and I happy, growing older together and very active, seeing myself do the double back flip on trapeze, things like, yeah, anything. But actually, I would be writing what I'm grateful for, that this is happening and how wonderful it is. And then I write down the evidence.

And what is that? How do you do that?

So I call it the glimpses. Okay, so, you know when you have a vision for something.

Yes.

And it hasn't come to fruition yet, but you start to see hints of things happening. So for us, we had come to dinner here and, you know, maitre d next door to where we live said, oh, I know you guys have talked about possibly moving here someday. And then we hadn't even told him that we were really serious about it. He goes, I have a realtor that you should absolutely meet. So it's just like, things would start to unfold. Like, so I call those the glimpses.

Like when I told you. And you all know, because I've talked about this a million, million times, that I don't love living in Arizona full time. And I made this decision that I'm going to get a place in San Diego, too. And then, like that same day, one of my other good friends, Tracy, mentioned that she had an Airbnb that she would rent to me long term. Like, that would be an example of a glimpse. Okay, got it. Okay.

Yeah. So glimpses the evidence. And here's the other thing that I think is really important. To know your goals, or I like to say, you know, the knowingness. You've got to get to a place that you just know on a deep level that it's going to happen, but you want to enjoy the journey. Like, for me, just making the decision that we were moving here, then it was the fun part of looking and, you know, buying a property here, there's no financing right in Mexico. Literally have to do the cat. And we were like, didn't really know where we were going to buy.

Like, no one has that kind of cash.

Just around, just sitting around. And so you have to forget about the how know it's going to happen to your core. But also it's enjoying the journey. You know, it's like one of the mentors on our team. We have about 40 mentors on our team. And he said, when I interviewed him recently, he said, you know, Alison, when you're listening to a beautiful piece of music, you're not waiting for the last note. You're enjoying the music along the way. Totally. And that's, I think, a really important part of this because you're always saying, well, I'm happy when I get there.

Right. Oh, good point.

But if you're staying also not just in meditation, but if you're staying in that up mood as often as you can, then you're constantly attracting those things to you.

Yeah. Okay, that's it. And here's what I want you all to know. I have watched Allison evolve this vision journey since I've known her. Like, you've always done some form of this, but I've watched you really make a method out of this. And it's. I watch the fruits from it. Like, I watch what's being created. So after you do, like, this whole evidence section, which I love, that I'm going to start adding that the evidence. What happens next? Like what?

Okay, then what I do. Because now I'm really feeling in alignment, and I actually start to feel a sense of exhilaration. You know, exhilaration is like excitement beyond excitement. It's like you really feel bubbles inside of you, you know? So then I have a playlist, which is my vision casting playlist. And it's all really upbeat, happy songs. Yeah. You know, like Here Comes the Sun. And I have songs from Pink. I have, anyway, just uplifting, wonderful songs. And I turn those on and. And there really is proof that music actually can uplift your energy. And so I turn on Those songs. Then I close my eyes. Okay, Now, I think it's important thing to note. I've never been able to meditate in my life.

Yeah, me either.

Ever. My husband can just go right into a meditative state. And I'm like, bored. Me too. It's almost been painful for me. But what I love about this is I'm actually feel like I'm a deliberate creator. Like I'm creat something in my mind because with that intent, power of intention, we're able to do that. So this is like an active meditation for me.

But I think it's still. You're getting that same benefit because you're letting all that noise, the distraction, go away. And that's what I think is so amazing about people that meditate. They say that's what they do. So it really.

Yeah, so. But it takes me all these steps, then I get there, and then I close my eyes, I feel the music and what I do. And this is just a visual for me. You can do whatever it is that works for you. But I imagine all the thoughts because you know how the thoughts just sort of pop in totally. You know, that can be distracting. And then you start thinking, oh, I forgot to call this person. So what I do is I envision they're like a curtain. And the thoughts are on this side of the curtain and this side, and it's just opening up. So they're on the periphery of your brain, but they're not anymore. And when I do this, I literally feel. It's so wild, like the sun beaming in. It is just. And it's just pure happiness. It's just a feeling of pure joy. And what I realized is that we can get to that state of pure joy internally. It's not about something external. We all have the power to do that. And believe me, I've had lots of rocky times in my life, but this is truly a game changer. And then I hold that as long as you can hold that state. It might be 30 seconds, it might be a minute. You know, I'm able to do it, like for 15 minutes. My goal is to get there for 30 minutes. I'm not there, but I get into that state of complete joy. And then when I'm in that state, right. I'm in this sort of higher vibration. I start to see myself and my life and the people that I care about.

Wow.

With me in this circumstance or, you know, the intention of my business, because we're expanding globally, I actually see it and feel it happening. And it is such an incredible. It's like you feel that sense of accomplishment in the moment, even though it hasn't happened, but you're. It's like you're drawing it into your now.

How long does this whole process take? Because I know I've got listeners going, well, is this like a three hour process? Is this a 30 minute. Have you done it in different amounts of time, depending on your schedule?

Yeah, if I know I need to get someone, I'll move through it pretty fast, you know, but if you're just doing this for the first time, I mean, it could take you an hour to get all the pieces in. But I will just tell you this. If you would have told me this year, years ago, I would have said, there's no way. I'm tired in the morning, I don't have time. I mean, I was a single mom for 12 years, but I look forward to this.

Yeah.

Like, this is my happy pill.

Totally.

And so I really love to. And you got to get comfortable. Get your tea or coffee or whatever. Just make it a real feel good.

And do you, like, kick your husband out of the room while you're doing this?

Actually, he likes me to do it because, you know, I'm a nicer person. Do you like.

Like, where do you recommend people do this? Should they be in bed? Should they go someplace? Like, which. Where do you think?

I just do it in bed. I have my journal right next to me. I wake up and get some tea. I have my favorite tea. I have a little heater next to me because I'm always cold, which I don't understand. Blanket, like, you know, just. You get cozy because you want to feel good. It's part of the experience.

I love this. Okay, I'm gonna. I know we're bouncing a little bit, but I want to. There's so many things I want to talk on here about with you. Because there's something else you introduced me to recently. One of the things that Al gave me on my birthday, which is back in September, she said, when we're in Mexico, I'm going to take your case. And I was like, what do you mean, take my case? Like, what kind of case? She used to be a home. Well, she still is. She's a licensed homeopathic doctor, even though she does not practice right now. She had been telling me that she wanted to do, like, an actual process with me for homeopathy, and I knew nothing about homeopathy, so I got to experience that the other day here. So can you share a little Bit about what is that? Why is it controversial? Like, that's so weird to me. And why did you stop doing that?

Well, first of all, homeopathy has been around for over 200 years, you know, 100 years longer than allopathic medicine, which is traditional medicine. And I'm not against traditional medicine. I've worked with many, many physicians over the years, oncologists, cardiologists. And it is what Mother Teresa would use when she was going around, you know, helping people, healing people. And it's used by millions and millions of people all over the world. It's part of traditional medical school in Germany, where it was founded by Samuel Hahnemann. And what it is, is it's based on a law called the Law of similars, meaning that by taking something in a very micro dose, that if you were taking it in its pure form, it would actually create the symptoms that your body is already experiencing. But what we do with homeopathy, it's so diluted that it's just the molecular structure of it. This is where people have a hard time understanding it, but it still has the power of it. You're able to actually see that substance in a really powerful microscope because it's highly diluted. It is safe. It is safe for babies. It's safe for pregnant women. I mean, I help so many women through births, babies being born, all phases of life, all kinds of medical issues and so forth. And by taking a substance that in nature, so it's mineral, plant, or animal substance, like, you know, milk of a lion or milk of a dolphin or things like that, we don't harm animals or anything. But by taking that substance that if you were to take it in its crude form, it creates a bunch of symptoms. So you need to find the substance in nature that matches the. Everything going on with you. So you're not treating one thing, you're treating all the. The mental, the physical, the emotional, and you find that one homeopathic remedy. There are over 4,000 homeopathic remedies.

You've learned all these different ones.

Yeah, I mean, I practiced for over 20 years.

Oh, wow.

And I had a school called the Homeopathic Academy of Southern California, still runs today. And so by taking, we call it the. Your constitutional remedy, and you get to the core of the cause. It's so it's where you take supplements and so forth that gets into the bloodstream. Homeopathy is energetic, so it gets to the molecular level of the body, and then it just brings everything into alignment is what it does.

So you've taught me that it's kind of like the law of similars. But I know what you all have heard of for sure, which I definitely use is give me like the example of arnica. So arnica is a homeopathic remedy. Right. And it's pretty standard practice if you're having a surgery or you're bruising to do that. So.

Yeah.

How does that work?

That is more on an acute level. So let me give you an easier example. So there's a homeopathic remedy from the bee called APIs mellifica. All of the remedies are in Latin. And when you get stung by a bee, it gets red and swollen and it has like a stinging feeling. So if you were to have a sore throat that was red and swollen with a stinging feeling by taking the aphis mellifica and the homeopathic form, and they're just the little pellets, you know, in the, in a vial that you have at the health food store, it would then all of a sudden reduce the swelling, the stinging would stop and so forth. So anywhere in your body, if you're having edema or you have an injury and your ankle swells up, we would give APIs Mel.

But why does that, how does that work? Like so in allopathic medicine, you're like taking a symptom and you're countering it. Right. So how does homeopathy.

Because the body cannot hold two like dise same time, so one cancels out the other.

Okay. So if you get stung with it by a bee and you're going to swell up and all that, but you take the remedy and you're saying your body can't hold both in your body.

Yeah. How does that cancels out the others? Because that in nature that be. That's what it experiencing in your body. So it just is naturally drawn to it. Kind of like law of attraction. You know, you energetically what you're experiencing, you're going to attract to it. It's the same exact.

Wow.

It's like what they say, you know, the hair of the dog or something. When people say, yeah, you know, you're feeling hungover and then so you just have a beer. It's. I don't do that, but it's kind of that idea. Right. But you know, Hippocrates talked about law of similars. And so, you know, but in the constitutional what we're talking about, those are acute. So homeopathy is amazing and acute care. So, you know, if you cut your finger and you're bleeding. Like phosphorus is really good and that will heal it up immediately. But even for animals, you know, because sometimes people say it's placebo, but it works amazing for animals and they obviously don't know what they're taking.

Why is it even controversial? Like what, why do. Because it can be used with western medicine.

I don't think it's necessarily controversial. I mean it's not something that big pharma can make a lot of money at, but it's been FDA approved since, you know, like 1948. There were only homeopathic hospitals in the United States at the turn of the century. The biggest monument to a doctor, actually the only monument to a doctor doctor in Washington D.C. is the founder of homeopathy, Samuel Hahnemann. It's this, if you ever go there, it's this huge monument. But then when the antibiotics came on the scene, you know, things started to shift and so forth. But people kind of started getting back into homeopathy in like the 80s when they were starting to look for things that were more gentle and natural. There's just not side effects with homeopathy. That's the other thing, you know, and, and if it's not the right one, it doesn't do anything because it doesn't connect with you in your body. It's safe for children and things like that. And again, this is, can be very complimentary with allopathic medicine. It doesn't get in the way with what you're doing. And I am definitely not here to say, yeah, like don't do your medication or anything like that. I'm not practicing anymore because I've gone on to other businesses. But it's just a way of life for me and I share it with my friends so forth. My practice is closed, but I still like to help people. And it's what I have done, it's how I've raised my daughter. But I treated probably thousands of people.

So I had my first, other than using arnica, which I understand is very surface level, I had my very first experience and what I thought was cool is her taking my case was like a two hour conversation. So she was basically interviewing me. It almost felt like a combination of a psychology visit, like psychology and medical. So she's asking all of these questions and forcing me to go deeper. So like I, for instance, I had this clearing in my throat happening like, like it's happened for the last few months and I'm just saying, oh, it's because I had a cold. But she was going deeper and could get to like the root of what's actually creating that and tying that to other things in my life. So I thought that was a cool experience. If that's something to explore. Allison does not anymore take patients, but you can find homeopathic doctor.

Yeah. And here's the thing that's really important. If you are looking for anyone and you want to do this and there are homeopath pass all over, but sometimes people use the word loosely and they're not really credentialed.

So how do they find the right.

Yeah. So you want to make sure they have the letters CCH after their name. Certified classical homeopath. They have a website with the directory and so forth. But just make sure they have the CCH after their name. And then, you know, somebody is very well trained.

But she. When I was asking her how she went through menopause because she was not doing hormone replacement at the time, like I'm a huge fan of for me. And she said she treated herself with homeopathic remedies. So opened up a kind of a whole world of thoughts I wasn't really even aware.

Well, it changed my life. That's how I discovered it years ago when I was going through my divorce and somebody referred me. I grew up in middle America and my mom took me to the doctor for everything. So I didn't even know what holistic meant. So this was all new to me. And I was in a severe depression at the time. And it not only pulled me out of that, but my whole world.

Wow.

From then, so I was just. For me, it was just fascination. I wanted to learn and then ended up because I always start businesses with everything that I'm passionate about.

Now let's talk about how. Because you did, you are a true entrepreneur. You're a true business founder and you're really good at scaling businesses. And you're also really good at knowing when it's time to pivot or expand. You. And you've had multiple businesses, including taking this little side break to be a homeopathic doctor. And now you have this amazing company that you've scaled in the last decade and a half. Half.

Really? Yeah.

How do you know when it's time to, like, close a chapter, move on to the next and how. What got you into the decision to leave homeopathy and do what you do now?

Yeah. I think for me, I have to be super passionate about what I'm doing. Because if you're going to sell something and you, you know, everybody's selling in everything they do, right? You're engaging people into what you're interested in. I have to be in full alignment behind that.

Right.

And so with homeopathy, because, you know, just like with psychologists, you know, you're giving, giving, giving. And it. I was working with many people that were depressed and suicidal and all, you know, and after 20 years of that, it was like, okay, I'm ready for a change. But I didn't know what my next, this is going to be my 10th company. And I remember saying to my husband, I'm ready for the next thing. I just don't know what it is yet. And he said, well, you know, do what you do with everything else. Just put it out in the universe and say, send me a sign. So that's what I did. And then people just started saying, allison, how do you build these companies? Can you teach me? And even though I'd had mentors for years, I didn't really know the industry of mentoring or coaching or anything like that, but I just went with it and I started coaching people one on one. I helped a lot of people launch businesses. And then, because I understand the strategy of scale, which means that you ultimately can help a lot more people if you are replacing yourself in the day to day of your business. And I knew that if I was going to bringing other mentors on to work with my clients, like they had to be super high level, like they had to run very successful companies. And that's my team. So now we have 40 mentors that have all run very successful companies of their own.

So Allison's company, her company now works with seven, eight and nine figure entrepreneurs to scale. So it's another level. So I feel really grateful that you're on here with us because I've got some listeners that fall in the category, but a lot of listeners that don't yet hope to one day. But I would love to get from that perspective of what you've learned and what you know, what do people do wrong in business? And you talk about different stages, like what do they do wrong? How do they recognize and pivot quicker? And what would you recognize? What do you want them to know? Looking back now, because there's a lot of people listening right now that either run a business, they want to run a business, like they're in that category.

Well, there's five phases to scaling a business. So I think this way it will kind of COVID at all levels. So when you're starting a business, I call that phase one, which is the seeker. And this is when you're passionate you're excited. You know, you're getting that idea out into the world and everything is dependent on you. You don't really have a team at this point. And I think probably the biggest mistakes here is that related to our airline debacle was that you have to be willing to not take no for an answer. And I think when business owners struggle at this early stage, you get upset when things fall apart. You know, the website isn't working, you're not getting customers the little details. Right. And instead you've got to learn to go, okay, what can I learn from this and what can I do differently and keep moving forward? You know, this is where, you know, people can quit if they're not doing that.

Yes.

Phase two, I call.

And that's where I think a lot most startups over there. Right. That startup is in a secret stage. Okay.

Yeah. Then you're going to start to build a small team. You might have an assistant, you might have a marketing person and get somebody to do your own bookkeeping. And they have shown that when business owners hire, even just in assistant, within the first six months of growing a business, they will get to seven figures in half the time. And so that's the biggest mistake in the pioneer phase, is that even though you have a small team, you still feel like that you've got to have your hand in everything going on, your eyes on everything. And you're, you think you're keeping things from falling apart, but you're actually choking the growth of your business because you're, you're kind of a control freak at this point. Yeah, and I've been there. Yeah, I've been there. And it's exhausting. And plus, you know, your team doesn't like it either. And so it becomes a habit. You know, this is how you started the business. We are creatures of habit. So we do what we do and do what we know. But if you don't start letting go, your business will never grow beyond this point. So that's super important. And then phase three, we call the ringleader, and we call it the ringleader because it's kind of a circus is in phase three because you start bringing on more people, right? Your team starts to grow, and you might have teams of teams, so you might have a customer service team or a sales team or a marketing team and so forth. And the biggest reason that it is a circus in phase three is that you start hiring people before you're clear on what success looks like for the role. So, like, for instance, if I were to Bring you on the team. And I wasn't super clear on the results that I wanted from your position and my investment in having you. Then you're not going to be clear.

That's right.

And then I'm not going to be clear. And then I'm going to get frustrated because it's, you know, I'm investing this money and it's not working out. And then what do I do? Forget about. Forget about Natalie. I'm just going to jump in and fix it. And then this becomes that forever hamster wheel. And then you're frustrated with the people that you have on the team, but it's not really their fault.

No, it makes. I mean, I see this happen all the time, especially with, like, social media. Somebody will hire a social media manager, but they're not giving them direction or the vision. So it's like the social media manager thinks they're doing their job. Like, I'm just posting content. Every day, I'm posting content.

Yeah.

But the vision was post content to get applications or to whatever it is.

But you've got to be. We call these the North Star metrics. Like, you need to get it down to the clear key performance indicators. So you know by number.

Yeah.

What is it that you're reaching for? Whether it's number of sales or number of clients that you're going to serve or number of people that you're going to reach or number of posts that you're going to have, Whatever that is, they need to know. And so you're in alignment. And. And so what happens in phase three? And a lot of business owners, not business owners, Businesses die here. The business dies here. They could be stuck there for 10, 20 years and you're in the weeds. Like the business is running you instead of you running it. And this is where business owners get burned out, have all kinds of health issues. Millions of business owners suffer with this.

Wow.

It's like the silent disease out there and. Or relationship problems, divorce. You know, I mean, in San Diego, if I were to drive down the street and go into the restaurant, the dental office, you would see it happening in every single.

Wow.

Most of the businesses. And so the shift that has to happen to move you out of that is that you have to start stepping into leadership and out of being a boss, instead of telling people what to do in that way, they're dependent on you. They're always asking you questions. You just keep giving the answers and then they. You're so needed. But you need to become founder, independent. Yeah.

And as you're talking, I mean, as a business owner myself, that's a really scary step. Like people, they're, they're so scared. I've been there too, and I am there many times. Scared to go out back. Control.

Yeah. But I mean, that's how I'm able to be here in Mexico several months, months of the year. And the team's got it handled because the message that I give to them is I trust you. If I'm always doing it for them, I'm telling them I don't trust them and I'm missing out because they have all this creativity and brilliance to share and I'm always squashing it. And look, I learned from experience, from all the mistakes. Yeah, Continue to make mistakes, but you want to empower them to own it. So instead of always giving the answer, you want to say things like, like, well, what would you do in this scenario? Or why don't you pick three things and present it to the team and you all decide. And so if you can do that and you just bite your tongue from saying what you feel like you need to say, I think you're going to be pleasantly surprised that they may come with better ideas than that you could even share.

One thing I've noticed about you that I'm just going to add to with that is that you had to let go perfection. Because I've seen her let her team handle and then it doesn't always work perfectly.

Right.

And, but she lets, she sees that the process through and lets them see on their own that it didn't work.

Versus you learn, you know, and we're little, we, we're learning to walk. We fall, we get back up again. We fall, we. And so that's how if you're always fixing it, then no one ever learns and the company doesn't grow. What you need is we talk about vision. The vision has to grow beyond you, where the team takes it and owns it. And if you're always doing it or fixing it, it will always be your vision and they will never fully own it or get excited about it.

Makes sense.

And that's what takes you into phase four, which I call the co creator. And that's where you're building this company together based on collaboration and it's fun. And they start asking the questions like, how do we increase profits? They're figuring it out, how do we create a better customer journey? And we've literally helped thousands of business owners make this shift and it is life changing. Like I could share a quick story with you, like One of our clients, Constance Wanamaker, she's an immigration attorney. And when she started with us, she was in phase two. And you know, just like any attorney or whatever you do in your business could be accountant, could be, you know, coach. You learn that thing. Totally learning the business of it is totally different. So she was definitely bringing in clients, but it was chaos. It was a revolving door. People were coming and going and I think she was probably, you know, maybe a million five, something like that in revenue, definitely had created success. But once we helped her build this team managed company that didn't depend on her, got her out of the weeds so she could focus on the future vision of the company. Within two and a half years, she has 300 employees. She is going to do 50 million in revenue this year out. And in the Inc. 5000, which is a list for the, you know, fastest growing companies, she got number 215 and the number one law firm in the entire country on that list. And she said, I just, just talked to her a few days ago and she said, alison, it's just so exciting. All 300 are behind my vision.

That's amazing.

And you know, she's able to travel. And the thing is when you can step away, because so many business owners talk to, they haven't had a vacation so long. But when you step away, your head clears and then you come up with the best ideas.

Yes, for your company, but it makes sense. You kind of have to work through these phases to get to that point. You can't skip. You could do that and skip, but it wouldn't align.

Well, you kind of, you have to go through those growing pains to figure it out. And phase three, there's good stuff happening too. You're getting your systems processes in place, you're getting regular meetings and so forth. But when you get into phase four and you're all doing it together, it takes the pressure off your shoulders. You're not having to make all the decisions yourself. And then you move into phase five, which I call the visionary, and that's ultimately where you want to be. And by then your company's not dependent on you at all. You're able just to check in on the metrics, to know where things are at. And you have leaders in place and they're fully owning it, they can make decisions and so forth, forth. And you're definitely in touch. Maybe you're just on leadership meetings at this point, but now you're, the value of your company's gone way up. So only 17% of companies are Saleable. So by, by the time you get to phase five now, you've multiplied the value of your company so that, let's say you want to sell the company and start something else. Or maybe you're just like, you know, want to spend more time with my kids or, or whatever. Now you have this amazing asset because no one's going to want to buy it if it's all dependent on you.

You so good, by the way. And we're going to keep talking for a minute here because I've got some more things I want to ask her, but if that's speaking to you at all, I don't know how many of you listening are business owners or want to be one. If you're a startup, go get her book because she's got a book called Scale or Fail, which is, I've recommended it to so many of my clients. So if you're a startup, like, or actually not even if you're just a startup, but if you are a startup, definitely get that book. Scale or fail. I wish I had known some of these tips. But if you are that business owner that does over half a million a year and really you have to be at that point where it's over half a million a year.

So you're not really ready to scale till you're at that.

Yeah, not ready. But if you're at that point or higher. So especially if you're at a seven or eight figure mark, they do a free strategy session. It's like a strategy session and I'm going to link that below. But if you go to, if you're listening and you want to come back later, if you go to midlife conversations.com forward slash scale, midlifeconversations.com forward slash scale, it's going to ask you a few questions and then you can do a free strategy session with one of the members of her team, which is, is so good, it's so worth it. But if not, like, definitely get her book. And I'll link that up below. But Allison, with the, the theme with you, which I love, is that everything you've done, everything you've created, from your personal life to your friendships to like your businesses, like, it's literally ties back to vision. It ties back to vision. And I wanted to have you on so badly because my audience, my midlife women, we get in circumstances, we get in. It's our age, it's our hormones, it's our this. It's too late. I screwed up. I didn't do this.

Yeah.

What do you want that person to know because there's a lot of self beat up around that, thinking it's too late or we screwed up or it's these circumstances.

You know, I really believe you could start something at 80. You know, first of all, we're living longer.

Yes.

And hanging around with Natalie, you'll. You'll be living way, way longer. And every. Your past is your past past, and you just gotta let that go. Take the good things with you moving forward and things that you weren't happy with. I mean, to me, that's. I call it research and development. That's just part of our makeup. But, you know, I mean, I didn't start trapezing until I was 30s. I'm 61. I'm doing double backflips up there. I met my soulmate in my 40s. Everyone told me, you know, you're. You're not gonna find someone this late. Just settle. Yeah. I mean, you know, I feel like I'm just getting started.

You are.

I'm very excited. I feel younger and stronger and more resilient now than I did in my 30s.

You're going to be trapezing in your 90s. I already know it.

That's the plan.

She's got a third book she's working on right now. They're going to get a third property. They're going to this. You guys have to see the property. Right? Right now this her house. And see what? Now this is insane. And they're renting it out for retreats. Like this was. This was all part of her expanded vision. Okay, I got to tell that story about your expanded vision. So Allison first told me that they wanted place in Zioaneo, and she was working on this. They were looking at, like, condos, and they were looking at small houses. The next thing you know, they've expanded their vision into, oh, we'll have a villa with seven bedrooms and, oh, we'll rent it out. That I see her operating that way. It is wild. It's so cool how you do. You do that. You do that.

And then it just appeared. And I. It's just. The story was crazy. Won't have time for that. But this property was never for sale. They wouldn't. They did not want to because it's on a big development and they didn't want to divide it up. And we just happened to kind of, in our exploring, come up here and then meet the person, and it all just unfolded. And I'll tell you what, it. Then it was actually easy. It's So I was always under the belief, and this is. We've all been raised with this, is that if you want something, then it's. It's going to be hard and we have to just hustle and just. Just blood, sweat and tears. And believe me, I've done plenty of that. But what I've found is that when you hold the vision and you really believe it and open your eyes and just continue to have those conversations with yourself, journal, do all the things, you will just start to see the doors open. You know, people will introduce you to people that know people. You will start to find money in other ways that you didn't expect. Just get ready for the surprises and the delights to happen in your life when you start to hold the vision. And I've seen it not just with me, but obviously with you, but my art. You know, we have hundreds and hundreds of clients that practice this and. And we're very strategic in Pinnacle Network. I mean, it's not a woo woo. It's not a woo woo. It's. It's. We really get down into the nitty gritty of. Of building scalable models and doing those things. But when you take that, the strategic part and then you plug in the. The vision part and the energy part, it is like just adding rocket fuel to everything. How do you.

Well, I've seen you personally, you've had like, real circumstances pop up, real setbacks. Like, there's been stressful times that I've seen, not just in your personal life, but in. There's been. I've seen them in the business, I've seen them, whatever. But I know when you have been there, you're able to like, like push it out of your mind and still focus. And I've asked you when that happens, like, how are you doing that? Can you share a little bit about that? Because I'm still working on that and I know my listeners are.

Well, why don't I just give a concrete.

That would be.

I think that would be easier. So last year we were having a situation where I had a finance team on the business. And, you know, part of the team had been with us for a time, and. And we have over 60 employees now. But what I realized that things were starting to slip through the crowd cracks, right? Like they were missing things and making mistakes. And then all of a sudden, you know, they weren't really getting the right numbers of projecting of what payroll would be, and things were starting to be prize. You know, it was. It was this stressful. It started to Be really stressful. And then I realized that there were some people on the team that they had their own financial fears.

Okay.

Of lack, let's just say. And they were kind of. Of putting that out. They were projecting like, oh, my gosh, Allison.

Oh, no.

What if this happens? What if this happens? And, you know, I started tapping into that, and I started getting a little bit stressed out. And then I realized I was like, wait a minute. That's their energy and not mine. And, you know, we're growing and things are going well. I'm just going to focus on that. Even though we were definitely having some challenges here, even to the point when we would get into meetings and they would start. Start, you know. Oh. Because this. This is what financial people do. That's what they're trained. Yeah. Right. And so they start to say, oh, well, Allison, you know, this is a problem here, and if you don't fix this. I said, you know what? I really appreciate that, but I'm holding the vision.

Yes.

And this is what we're going, where we're going, and this is what we're creating. And so if you're going to be part of the team, I really need you to get behind that. I need all of us to hold that. And what I realized was that wasn't going to change. And so in one of my journaling sessions, what came up was we had outgrown this team. We had outgrown them. Nothing, again, nothing against them personally. And so I just made that clear decision, and we let go of that entire department. And as the glimpses happened, the doors started opening. Of course, like, two weeks later, I got introduced to this amazing cfo, and then we brought on a new controller and a new, you know, accounts payable, all this. And they were all people that have been behind the vision. And it happened so fast. But it took me getting first in alignment and listening to my gut. I think it was the biggest thing because I kept hearing these other things. Oh, no, this is, you know, you can't change this because you can't do this, because that will never work. And you're going to get so much of that in your business, in life. And I just knew this does not feel right, and I don't want to operate like this. This. And so we made the change, and then things started, and it just was soaring from there.

Yeah. And I see you actually do this in all areas. And she's not just talking business. Like, you do this in health. You do this with that. You're like, I don't even want to put that in my scope. I don't even want to, like, concentrate or think about it. Like, even there's been times I'll say something like, don't you worry about. Blah, blah. She's like, I don't even want to put that in my energy. Like, she won't even entertain the thought of it being a worry.

Yeah. It's not that I'm not aware of what's going on in the world and different things, of course, I very much am. But I'm not going to sit and obsess about it because then I'm just going to bring more of those things in. And so I just find a place in my brain of something that makes me happy or I'll shift my focus into something that is, you know, going really well. You can always find those things, even in the most dire times.

Now, one thing Allison and I really have in common, we have a lot of things in common, but this is like a really big one, is we're both huge fans of who we surround ourselves with. And. Yeah, can you speak a little bit from your perspective into that?

Yeah. I mean, you need to look at yourself and your life as if you have a red carpet around you and you only let the people on that red carpet, you know, because it's a. An important space that are people that are going to lift you up. Like I said, I'm in my early 60s. I've been roundabout all the different things, and I just. Life is too precious. I don't want drama. No, I don't want negativity. I am the most compassionate person. I'll be there for you. And people go through rough times, but when it is on autoplay and someone is just there and not willing to take responsibility forward, it's just not going to work for me. And I. I don't really have that as much because, you know, and in business, you know, I like to be around people that are accomplishing things and coming up with new ideas. It inspires me. And that's why in our company, we also, the business owners get that as well, because they're surrounded by all these.

That's so important. And all areas. And anytime we're talking, because we talk about anything and everything. And yes, we gossip amongst ourselves. We don't gossip to others, but we'll gossip amongst ourselves. But if there's a person that we have let into our world that is creating drama or sucking our energy or making us feel not our highest selves, like we joke that we move into Acquaintance box. Like they're. They're an acquaintance box.

Yeah.

Means you can still have them in your life. It's just you're not letting them into your inner, inner circle.

You cannot get thrown off your course. Whatever it is you want, whether you have a passion and you want to see that passion come into reality, you want to stay plugged into that. And it's very easy. If you're around people that are insecure for any reason, or even if they worry about you and they care, they could be saying, oh, that's not going to work. And who do you think you are? Don't get ahead of yourself. And then you start doubting yourself.

Yeah.

And it throws you off your track. And your dreams are too important. So for that to happen.

So good. Gosh, I love this conversation. I hope you did, too. Just a couple quick reminders at any place that you came in her vision casting stuff.

What could.

Have you ever done a video on that? How can they learn more about that?

Yeah. I can actually give you. I have a PDF I can give you steps. This is all going to be in my new book.

Yeah.

Okay.

We'll link down those steps. We're also gonna. I'm gonna link her Scale or fail book. That's her second second book. It's really, really good. I've recommended it to so many people. And then if you are in that you're at a half a million or more in your business and you want to do a free strategy session with somebody on her team, it's definitely worth it. There's. It's.

They're amazing. They'll dive into the gap, see what's going on, and give you the direction moving forward.

We'll also link that below the time of us recording this. I haven't even linked it over anywhere, but it will be by the time this airs. Midlife conversations.com/scale. That will redirect to their page. You'll answer a few questions, and then you can set up that call. Thank you so much, Allison, for being here.

This is so fun.

Thanks, everyone.