Episode 003: The Fearless Entrepreneur: Alease Michelle

Hey there, Fearless Family! This is Will checking in with you with the Fearless Entrepreneur Podcast, where I interview some of the most influential people who have conquered their fears to pursue their passion in entrepreneurship. So kick back, relax, and let's unleash your fearlessness.

Today we're speaking with Alex Michelle. Alex, are you prepared to show us how you became a fearless entrepreneur?

Yeah, I'm so ready!

Yeah, so, uh, we'll dive in with Elise in one moment, but right now we'll take a second to thank our sponsors.

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So what's up, Fearless Family? Today we're chatting it up with Elise Michelle. She's an online marketing and branding coach. But before we dive into your business, Elise, I want you to tell us a little bit about who you were as a kid and what was your biggest fear back then.

Well, as a kid, you know, I grew up in a really small town, Rock Hill, in Fort Mill, South Carolina, and I am my mom's only child, so I am very to myself, very private kind of person, a very strong introvert. So I didn't intermingle with a lot of people back then. So as a child, I was really to myself. And I think one of my biggest fears as a child was not coming across being strange to other people, not being different because I wasn't so outgoing, maybe because I was a little quiet. I didn't want people to always see me as, oh, she's a little sheltered, or she doesn't know anything. So having that fear really kept me even more sheltered and staying within myself.

How were you able to get over that fear?

Well, you know what, it really helped when you have friends who are very outgoing. So I think a lot of that helped when I went off to college and I decided to pledge. Pledging wasn't about partying for me. Pledging was that I needed to be more sociable. With people. I'm also an artist. And if you know any of you who are graphic designers or fine artists, we can be in a studio by ourselves for days and have a great time. So pledging and forcing myself to surround myself with people really helped me blossom.

Awesome. That's an incredible story. Definitely can relate to being an introvert and a creative. A lot of us in a creative space tend to spend a lot of time alone in a room, locked in, creating, right? And you can miss out on awesome opportunities of networking and just being exposed to different people, understanding how different people work, operate, think by being to yourself. But thank you for sharing that with us. Let's talk about a little bit about your business today. How do you make money in your business as of right now?

All right. So I am, like you said, I am an online marketing and branding coach and I help women start and grow businesses so that they can leave their 9 to 5. I've been there, I've done that. And so I know that I want to give women the opportunity to be able to grow a business and have choices. So if they want to stay at the 9 to 5, great. If they want to leave, I can help you do that. And I do that by offering private one-on-one coaching. I do offer group coaching. I have a membership, and I also offer like products that you can just download and digest on your own.

How did you get started in your business?

It really came about because I had a lot more free time on my hand. I used to be a department chair for a fashion program, uh, at a college. One day I was asked to step down from that position, and I was working 60 hours. I went from working as a department head to a full-time college professor, which I only worked like 25 hours a week. So that gave me a lot more free time to really concentrate on my artwork. And so I took a hobby and turned it into a business. That business did so well that my peers and other people started to ask me, how do I— how did you do it? How were you able to market yourself? How were you able to get in galleries? How were you able to get inside magazines and on the COVID of magazines? And so that translated into me teaching them and coaching them on the techniques that I did, those strategies that I used to grow both businesses.

Great. I think you covered both questions. So how did you get started into the business? And it sounds like things kind of led you in that direction. And when you're on the path, you just have to pay attention to where the direction is. Right.

And your customers and clients are always going to— they're going to tell you what they want. And I listened to what they wanted. So many people were coming to me and I was like, you know what, let's just do a workshop, you know, because I'm tired of repeating myself. A thousand times.

How old were you when you realized that you wanted to be an entrepreneur?

Man, the best thing is having a very open and spirited dad. My dad used to say to me that, you know, two jobs are for two people. Well, for me, one job was for somebody else because I was never meant to work for somebody else. I always used to joke and say, who came up with this 9-to-5 kind of stuff? Who said I have to do this? And so in my mind, I was already an entrepreneur because I don't follow the rules very very well. I'm a rebel in some ways. I like to, what is it, dance to my own beat kind of thing. So working for other people just was not in my DNA at all.

What did you have to figure out once you started pursuing your own entrepreneurship?

What I had to figure out was who do I sell to? Who is going to buy my products and services? And what is the price point that they're going to buy it at? One, I never wanted to overprice myself that people, and in particular I'm talking about my artwork, I did not I did not want to overprice myself so that people who have never experienced real art in their home could not afford it. But I did not want to undervalue myself and not get paid for what it was worth. So pricing and finding the right people were one of the things I struggled with and finding where my niche was.

I think that's one of the things that a lot of entrepreneurs struggle with in any aspect of business. So for those entrepreneurs, just to touch bases, is figuring out, you know, Who do you sell to? And then also, what is the value that you're worth? And present that to your audience. A lot of entrepreneurs tend to undervalue themselves just so that they can make the sale, which is a whole nother topic. And learning sales is a whole nother topic as an entrepreneur, but you have to understand your audience and then understand how to price your audience as well. Well, we here at The Fearless Entrepreneur, we talk a lot about taking that leap into pursuing your dream. Take us to a moment when you started your entrepreneurial journey, that point in life where you realized Hey, this is what I want to do. What was the biggest fear you had to confront when taking that leap and explain what that felt like for you?

Well, I've worked and ran my business on the side for a very long time, and it worked very well. And I don't know if your listeners are spiritual or whatever, but I am. And God spoke to me and told me that it was time for me to leave my comfort zone, which was my full-time job. I fought it for a very long time, but then he pushed me. Things happened and opportunity opened and I was able to step down from my full-time position and leave. The scary thing for me was not to tell my husband that I was going to leave my 9-to-5, but because he is very supportive, but was to tell my mom that I was leaving this comfort, you know, get a good job and I was leaving it to start my own thing. That was the most scary thing for me. And literally for about 6 months, I did not tell her. I faked it and told her I was going to work every day. Until I said, you know what, I can't do this because I'm lying to her. And you know what, she took it better than I thought she did. So that was probably the most scary moment for me.

So with some people out there that may be struggling with, you know, how to break the news to people that they're going to pursue their passion rather than go this normal route of school and from school to a good-paying job to being comfortable, and doing something that, you know, the expectations that someone else had on them. What tip would you give them to help overcome those fears or hesitations that they have?

So one of the things I do with my clients who are— that I do work with, most of all my clients do work a 9-to-5 right now and they do want to transition out. I said one of the things that we need to do is to surround yourself with people who have already made the leap and they are going to support you and give you the verbiage or whatever you need to do so that you can make this transition easier than you need to. That might be hard for you in your current environment. You might not have anybody who's making this decision. So I say to them, if you don't have a coach or mentor who you can talk to who's already made this transition, not someone who is still working a 9 to 5 and have this side hustle, but someone who's literally made the transition to do this, then I say find a group of people on Facebook groups, look for people on Instagram who have like-minded, find someone that you might not know, but you can follow their posts and things like that. So you need to be plugged in with people who are already doing it.

Awesome. Yes, fearless entrepreneurs, what I got from that is change your environment. Those people are going to be the people that you need when you take that leap. Make sure you're surrounding yourself with like-minded people, but also people that have taken the leap of faith on their own. I'm actually an avid follower of Alysia's channel already. One of the main reasons why I took action to do some of the things that I'm doing now. So you can definitely follow her on her Facebook, her Instagram, which she'll tell us a little bit later.

So you guys can follow.

So great tips. Great tips. Tell us how you took your business from just open to actually thriving.

I thought about that when I saw that question, and I want to say that I'm always in the open stage because I'm always feeling out what is working for me, right? So when I first started this entrepreneur journey, it was about making the money. Okay, I need to make the money. I need to pay the bills. I need to get, you know, stuff for my artwork. So it was about money, money, money. But then as the money started to come in, it's more about my work-life balance. I want to spend more time with my husband. I want to spend time with me. I want to spend time doing the things I want and not always working in my business. That's why I started a business and became an entrepreneur, is to have more freedom, be able to travel, be able to— if I needed to work, I can just plug into an internet service and/or use my phone to to do the work I needed. So to me, I am always in the open stage because I'm always working, trying to find out what fits me at this point in time in life. And the one thing I want to say to anybody, while you're starting a business right now, I can tell you 2 and 3 years from now it will not be the same business that you started with because your life is going to change. And if it doesn't change, then your business is going to be stale and it's not going to grow. It's not going to thrive.

A lot of nuggets in there too, Fearless Family. If you're trying to transition from working your 9 to 5 and then you get stuck working your personal business as a 9 to 5, it's not what you want. You have to figure out ways to systemize your business so that you're not trading one for the other because the trade isn't going to be a 9 to 5. It's going to be a 9 to 9, 11 to 11, no days off.

Right, and even sometimes, like, I can work all day on something It's because I like doing it. It's not work. But when you start to dread certain things, a part of your business, it's time to drop that part of the business immediately because you're not going to give them your 100%. And knowing that you are an entrepreneur, you have that freedom to drop it. You don't have to tell people no. You know?

Yes.

Yes.

Last nugget I got from that is be flexible. You know, the business is going to change. It's always ever-changing. You just have to, I guess, keep your eyes open and not be so stagnant. In your own views that you don't allow that opportunity to, uh, come and flourish in yourself, right? Good deal. What's been the most successful story you've had as an entrepreneur thus far?

Oh, most successful story are my clients' success. I worked with hundreds of women, okay, but in particular, when I started my coaching business, I started working with about 4 women. They were in a range of different age brackets, 25, 30-something, and then a 45-year-old. And And every last one of them have left their full-time job and are working their business full-time. My beauty bar, she started off with zero followers. She now has over 60,000 followers. Her products are selling like crazy. I have a spiritual and life coach who wrote her first book. She became an Amazon bestseller and now she does one-on-one coaching. And then I have a stylist, a fashion stylist who was working in the fashion industry and stepped out on her own to open up her own fashion styling business. So that to me is an example of a thriving business when you get the results that your clients want.

That is mind-boggling to me. That's awesome when you can have a testimony like that where you have people that have actually followed your advice to the T and now have been able to do exactly what they've always wanted to do, pursue their passion. That's what being a Fearless Entrepreneur is about for me, you know, being able to do exactly what you want, being able to have that freedom, and to have guys like yourself provide that type of knowledge so that we can actually take those steps to pursuing our dreams, our purposes, and give the world something awesome. So yeah, that's Fearless Family, you heard it.

There it is.

So that's what it's all about, and definitely something to be extremely excited for. Well, adversity happens no matter the amount of achievements and the success that you have in life, and it's usually when we're able to get through that adversity that we're able to, to, to come through those challenging moments. Take us to what you consider to be your pivotal moment where your business went from stress to success.

Well, I think when it went from stress to success is when I stopped listening to other people who did not know my business, and I stopped trying to be like other people who were in the business, and I started to to follow my road, my journey, the journey that God had put me in place for. Because I know sometimes we start, we're always looking at what other people are doing. We're always like, oh, we can do a little bit of this and do a little bit of that. And that was really stressing me out because that wasn't my personality. You remember I said I'm a person to myself. I grew up as an only child. And so things that were deemed very extrovert does not work for me. I like to produce products. I like to do one-on-one coaching. That's where I work best at. And when other people would make these suggestions, you need to add this, you should do this, you should work this and this, I became overwhelmed. I have a tendency to have panic attacks. When I was young, I would have these in my 20s because I was trying to fit myself into somebody else's box. And so once I realized that I can do what the hell I want to do when I want to do it, it such a freedom. It's such a release. And that's when things start to blossom.

Awesome. So what is for you is for you. It may not be for everyone. And as an entrepreneur, you're going to be on a path that most people don't walk on. And it's okay. Sometimes you got to create your own path because it doesn't exist. Definitely some great advice. Elise, what are you most excited about in your business today?

Oh, what I'm excited about is I now have I have two levels of coaching, well, three levels of coaching that I offer to people. The three that I'm really excited about, the one that I'm excited about probably the most is my membership called the Lady Boss Club, and that derived from my quarterly Lady Boss Socials that those women wanted to be in a group that they got monthly training. So my Lady Boss Club is one of the things that I'm really excited about. It's a monthly membership that you get masterclasses, you get monthly group group coaching with me. You get workbooks, you even get things sent to your home. I know that's unheard of now, but you, you get some training that's sent to your home also. And then my two coaching programs, I do have a 4-week, uh, VIP coaching program that we work with each other one-on-one. And then my last coaching program is a done-for-you service. I do a lot of the things for you to build up your brand and get your business off the ground.

A lot of great information there. We'll make sure we have all those things in the show notes so you guys can be able to go follow um, check in, see about the Lady Boss Club and all the other things that Alysse has to offer. Well, we have the Fearless Five Questions coming up, but before we do that, we'll take a little time to thank our sponsor.

Fearless family, if you're looking to start a business, one of the things that you need to have is an online presence. Well, I have a secret for you. Right now you can go and purchase your first domain for 99 cents at godaddy.com. .com. Just visit our link www.thefearless.co/godaddy and you'll have the opportunity to purchase your first .com for 99 cents. Again, that's thefearless.co/godaddy.

Hey Elise, are you prepared for the Fearless Five?

Of course!

Okay, what was holding you back from becoming an entrepreneur?

Not knowing where to start. I had all of these ideas, but I just didn't know which one I should start So that's what was holding me back. But lo and behold, I just started with one and went with it.

What's the best piece of advice you've ever received?

To do your own thing and stop listening to other people because they ain't got their stuff together, so you ain't got to follow them.

The one book that changed my mindset and just opened my eyes was The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho.

Which is a good book, great book.

If you could recommend one book that, you know, opened your eyes and changed your mindset, what would it be and why?

Think and Grow Rich. It took me a couple of days to read because it is not an easy read. But the process that anybody can be rich, you just have to, you have to change your mindset and how you think, who you surround yourself with is key to that. And so being successful is not a major secret. It is about taking action.

Name one app resource that you use the most as an entrepreneur.

That would be Evernote. I use it for absolutely everything.

Okay, this is the last question. Imagine you woke up one morning, except you were your younger self, you know, at that point where you realize, you know, you really wanted to be an entrepreneur. All the bills are paid, you have food and shelter. Now you still have all the knowledge that you have now. You have a laptop, you have all the experiences of overcoming your fears thus far, and you have $400. What would you do in the next 10 days?

All right, so day 1, I would go into certain groups, Facebook groups or forums, and look at what people are complaining about. And I would take the next day coming up with a free offer to help solve one of those problems that I saw within that forum or group. Then I would do a product that is an extension of that free offer. So that free offer might have been a report or checklist, and then I would do a product that would be like a mini course, an hour something, solving that one problem in more detail that I found in that forum or group. Group. Once I got that together, hired a graphic designer, I wasn't going to spend that much money on graphic design, so I spent about $100 getting my, you know, packaging together. I will build a one-page landing page. I wouldn't do that myself. I will pay someone to do that, so let's say another $100. And then after all that's done, I would run Facebook ads. I take the remaining $200 and run Facebook ads to that same target group that I found on Facebook. Who said that they were having this complaint, right? That's what I would do. And I will run that ad with a $200 budget for the remainder of the time. That would be about 5 days.

That was a great answer. Alys, let's end this interview with a piece of advice you'd like to give to the Fearless Family and the best way they can connect with you, and then we'll say goodbye.

So my advice to anybody, wherever you are in the entrepreneur journey, is to do it. Do not overthink the process. I got this quote from you, is to do— take imperfect action. Perfection does not exist, and so stop trying to strive for it. Just do it, get it out there, and fix it as you go. Okay, so if you guys want to find me anywhere, you can find me on alisemichelle.com. All of my social media sites have the same name, Alise Michelle, so you can find me on Instagram, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, all under the Alys Michelle handle.

Good deal. Well, I end this the same way every time, guys, because I want you to really embody this and understand it. The fear of the unknown can kill your dreams and aspirations. You've been replacing fear with knowledge today with Alys and Will. You'll be able to head right over to thefearless.com and type in the name Alys Michelle in the search bar. Her show notes page will pop up with everything that we talked about today. Alys, I want to thank you for sharing your journey with the Fearless family today. And we look forward to seeing you continue to create with no fear.

Yeah, fearless family, thank you for joining me for another episode of the Fearless Entrepreneur Podcast. Take a moment to visit thefearless.co/podcast, like, share, and comment on our channel.