Ep 08: Simplifying business: doing less to do more
It's so easy to get caught up in all the flashy objects out there and all the strategies that you see. But, they aren't all right for everyone! Alex and I talk about how to move from that moment of trying on various external strategies to becoming the ultimate "lazy CEO". As our conversations tend to, we also wander into the various reasons to hire a coach and how those change over time and end with a controversial take on the ICA.
Alex’s Bio
Alexandra Ramirez is the owner and founder of The Facebook™️ Ad Freedom Agency dedicated to helping coaches scale their businesses and create freedom through Facebook and Instagram Ads. After her husband was diagnosed with Lupus along with two other blood disorders, Alexandra, who goes by Alex, began her entrepreneurial journey to serve as a breadwinner for her family.
Over the course of nearly five years, a VA business, a trip down Fiverr, and starting her own ad agency, she is now generating multiple 6-figures annually with one focus –freedom for her family and her clients. Along with operating a successful ad business, Alex serves as the host of her YouTube channel and has been featured on podcasts including Fully Free with Taylor Lee, Savvy Podcasting For Entrepreneurs, Advanced Freelancing and more. Alex is a woo-friendly, mother of two who loves a good Netflix binge and dismantling the hustle culture.
Loved hearing from Alex? Here's where you can find more of her:
Website: Freedom Ad Agency
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Episode Transcript
Podcast Intro
Welcome to probably bothered the podcast that cuts through online business so that you can redefine your version of success. Because I believe if you aren't a little bit bothered, you probably aren't paying attention.
Episode Intro
Can I be honest with you, I hate the ICA with a burning passion. I think the way that it is taught is just, it does a disservice to the process. And it makes something that should be really simple and tangible, very abstract. Alex and I talk about the ICA and doing less simplifying more and trusting more in your business. On today's episode. Alex is the founder behind the Facebook ad freedom agency. And this conversation is one you don't want to miss.
Becca
I am here today with Alex Ramirez. And she is a Facebook and Instagram ads guru. And I'm so excited for our conversation today, because we have a lot of similar views about running a business in the online space. So before we jump into anything else, Alex, I'm going to turn it over to you to introduce yourself and how you got here.
Alex 1:27
Yeah, so my name is Alexandra Mira is I'm actually super excited to talk to you guys about all the things that we're talking about. But yeah, I am a Facebook ads and Instagram ads expert, and I really focus on helping my clients which are normally coaches on being able to get more leads more income and more freedom using advertising. Super simple,
Becca 1:52
Very simple!
And so I know, that's one of the things that I definitely want to cover with you today. Because I feel like we are in this space of more is better. And the more offers you have.
The more I guess complicated your business model is it seems like everybody's telling you to do more, and you have chosen to do less. So do you want to kind of talk about how did you start there in your business? Or how did you get to that point?
Alex 2:20
No, I feel like I've been unlike a lot of the other people in this, you know, coaching industry or just like this business, small business industry. Where we look at others we look at our mentors are possible mentors, we look at people that were inspired, you know, by we look at competition, you know, we're looking at all these different things.
And I started out with I think I started out with simplifying, you know, I would Nish and I did all that kind of stuff. And then as time grew, especially nowadays, like you just said, especially starting in 2020 2021, and now maybe even go into 2022 2022 A lot more people are, you know, focused in on creating more offers, creating more different funnels, creating all these different things, which is great and wonderful. And I love it for the people that it works for.
If you are that type of person that loves that hustle that loves, you know, being passionate about your business, and you like creating new offers, and it feels amazing for you to create and create and create. That's you like you do you, you're amazing at what you do. And I love that. And I have clients who are like that, and I would never tell my clients like No, to having that passion.
But at the same time, it doesn't work for everybody else. And I'm one of those people where it doesn't work for me. I know myself enough that if I continue if I if I do it, like those people have created new offers, you know, you know, creating content on the daily doing Instagram Stories, I've done it all, I've done it exactly how people have told me to do it.
And I've learned for myself that it burns me out, and it doesn't feel good to do that, especially at the end of this 2021 And going into 2022 really simplifying the heck out of my business, to the point where I'm the CEO, and that's all I am. I'm the visionary of my business, I get to see where it's going to take me take us and like my entire team and where it's going to take my company.
Um, and you know, maybe eventually I get rid of it or whatever, I don't know. But at this point in time, it's like my freedom weight, you know, puts more weight onto anything else, then then money.
Becca 4:48
Absolutely. I completely agree with you. And I think the interesting thing that I noticed in my own journey as well is you almost have to try I write like, there are people who are successful and they're successful for a reason.
And maybe their methods are valid across the board. Maybe they're valid for just them. But you go through that phase of trying on different things that you've seen other people do when you start your business. And only then can you really hone in on what works for you, and what makes sense for you in your life.
Alex 5:23
100%. I mean, I definitely would say the beginning of your business, like to definitely try different strategies, seeing what's going to work for you. I just think I'm at the point in my business for myself, where I'm like, I know exactly what I need to do. But I'm getting distracted, you know.
So that's another thing, too, you have to really think about, even if you're in the beginning of your business, like, am I just being distracted by again, this like the shiny object syndrome situation? Or do I really want to, you know, try out the strategy, do I think that it's going to work for me, you know, so it's really just like trusting yourself more than anything else?
Becca 6:01
Do you know what I call that? Productive procrastination, because you can spend time trying all these little things that everyone tells you to do. Or you can hone in on the thing that you know, that works, and stay super, super focused.
Either way, you feel like you're busy. But I think sometimes we use that concept of productive procrastination to feel like we've earned success or earned a result. Because look at how I've done all of these different things.
Alex 6:30
Yeah. And I think that's what I've been getting back to sometimes too, or it's just like, I'm, I'm constantly asking myself, What do I want? What does Alex want out of this?
You know, instead of going, Oh, look at what Stacy's doing and and she's making millions and millions of dollars. Well, what if Stacy's also burning herself out? What is she doing right now? You know, or maybe she's doing fine. Maybe she loves what she's doing. Either way, it's like, you have to really think about what do I want in my business more, you know, and that's super important.
Becca 7:08
I think that you also hit a point in your business where the emphasis becomes so much more internal than external. Because I've also noticed that a lot of my friends and colleagues, I feel weird to say, colleagues when I'm not referencing corporate
Alex 7:27
Business besties?
Becca 7:28
Right, business besties! My business besties have done something similar, where, at the very beginning, it's like, you're just trying to soak in so much information and see what equals success.
Alex
But I think the hardest thing to figure out is how to coach yourself, and what that looks like, and how do you really start bringing it back to you, like you were saying, what feels good for you what feels successful for you can only do so much,
Becca 7:55
Exactly! Whether or not you have one. I mean, there there are 100 different ways to be coached. Right?
But so I know that you are big on this concept of the lazy CEO, is that right?
Alex 8:07
So I don't, it's such a negative connotation, the word lazy, but I can only think of that word, when I'm thinking of it, because when we think of CEO, especially in our industry, we're thinking of the person who is doing everything. We're thinking of the person who is, you know, writing content, you know, creating YouTube videos, creating, you know, doing all these podcast episodes, and, you know, coming up with new ideas for all of those different things. And like the new next offer that you're going to be promoting or, like the what's the Instagram stories that I need to put together all these different things, that's the kind of like the CEO.
We're taught in the beginning of our business like, this is the things that you need to be doing inside, right. But, again, you get to a point in your business later on, when you need to start putting in the CEO mindset, you need to start delegating, you need to start putting in in like, you need to be only the visionary of your business, and delegate the rest as much as possible.
And you can do that slowly, doesn't have to be automatic, you don't have to hire, you know, three virtual assistants and, you know, a graphic designer or a copywriter, like right now, the second but it's good to start having that CEO mindset of what should I be doing in my business that's going to ultimately, one, increase the sales of my business because that's ultimately what I want, but at the same time, being able to create a business that prioritizes what we want for our business.
So for me, that's like freedom and, you know, being able to have memories with my children and my husband and you know, those things are even 100% guys like, the most important thing more than anything, is figuring out what you want. If you don't, if you go after the money, it will never work out. If you go after your income goal that you're thinking about for 2022, you're going to lose out 100% You're going your mental capacity, your mental health is going to go down.
I've done it so many times the last crash I've done. I've done my business for so many years. 15 2016 Six years? Yeah, it's been a long time. And yeah, I think that's the number one thing that like, people need to stop focusing on is the money.
Becca 10:38
Yes. Oh, I just dropped my pen, because I got so excited.
But absolutely, I, I have two points on this. The first is, yes, we're so focused on money, because it is. It's such a like, I don't know, it's such a sexy topic, right?
To say like, look at me, I made all this money. And if you work with me, you can make all this money, too. And that is great. And all of these things, but it skips it skips the middle, it skips the:
How are you working on what you're passionate about?
And how are you working with your clients?
And how are you providing a great experience?
And are you yourself having a great experience along the way?
Just focusing on that tiny little detail at the end, which I totally understand. And I don't want to like wash over the fact that if you're building a business, because you need more money, like I'm not, I'm not trying to minimize that fact, at all. But also, if you're skipping over the vision and the goal to get there, it's going to take so much longer.
Alex 11:45
Yeah, but I think there's another connotation there. Like, if I don't work hard, I won't make money. And if I don't make money, then I can't have what I desire. And whatever that is, like the new car than the new house, the whatever you're desiring out of it. Like if you want to go on vacations, and sipped cocktails, whatever.
You know, we just need to stop for a second. And think about, again, what do I want in my business? Yes, I want money. But I'm not going to sacrifice my ultimately desires in order for me to, you know, just have the money.
Yeah, that's what what a lot of us are losing out on. And I think that's the reason why, you know, I got I got rid of my social media platforms on recently, I think Becca just was talking about before, she's like, I went to your Instagram to go check you out. And, and you were guide, you were like, added, like, I have a little post on there that says like, I don't have it on my phone, if you want to contact us this is how blah, blah, blah.
But again, it just comes back to I get distracted very easily in terms of looking at others and what they're doing in their business. And so I had to literally go if I need if I want to stay focused on my ultimately, you know, goals and my income, because I get to have both, I get to have the freedom that I desire, and the financial income that I want. I don't I don't have to compromise either of those, unless I allow it to. So that's why I had to get rid of social media platforms off my phone, or I'm sorry to get distracted.
Becca 13:20
Yeah, focus area. So all of this comes down to setting the vision. And I know there are so many different ways to set a vision and there are so many different types of visions to set.
So I know that you mentioned that your goal moving into next year is to be the visionary for your company. So do you want to talk about how you set your company vision, but also your personal vision.
Alex 13:45
Um, to be honest, like, I don't have a huge vision for the actual business. I just don't, it's more of just to be honest with you guys, it's I'm not one of these people who and not to knock down anybody because I think it's beautiful that some people are like this.
But with my business in particular, I don't want my business to be my number one priority at all, whatsoever. So that being said, I don't have a huge vision in mind where I'm like, Yeah, I'm ready to take this to millions and trillions of dollars. Like that's not what I'm looking for.
At the end of the day, my ultimate desire is that I create a business that allows me to have the freedom that I want. I want to be able to go on vacations with my family. I want to have an amazing home that my kids get to bring their friends over to and get to have fun with I want to be able to not be able to worry about bills, you know those types of things like I used to.
Yeah, so I think we just all I just you know, that always comes back for me, but that's my personal you know, you know, those are my personal you know, goals for my myself in my business just allows me to do those things.
And I create my business around my life nowadays. Whereas other people, what I used to do is creating a business, or creating my life around my business. And that just it completely burned me out. It completely mess with my mental health, like I was my anxiety was going like every night. And yeah, that that's just, that's, you know what's going on now?
Becca 15:31
Yeah. So I very intentionally… a little back backstory on me, I started my business when I had a nine to five. So it was my side hustle. And just two months ago, I went full time in my business.
Alex
Yeah!
Becca
Full transparency. It was not it was not a plan, decision, circumstances happened and I had to make a call.
But one of the things that I was super intentional about was making sure to make this commitment to myself that my business will revolve around my life and not the other way around.
So one of the ways that I have done that is to put very strict times like I don't start working before 10am. And I'm done by for at the absolute latest. I'm never working on weekends, I might like check a message here or there. But I'm never like sitting down for hours to do work outside of those times.
So do you find that having strategies like that help you to keep this kind of like, space between your business and your life? Or
Alex 16:35
better at it to be honest with you, I am not the best stuff that I don't I, I have boundaries. But I'm, I'm good at breaking my own boundaries. And I'm very great at it, I get an A plus that boundary breaking if it was.
But no, I, I definitely noticed that when I create those boundaries, and that I stick with them that yes, 100%. It helps out so much. With your mental health with everything, like it literally helps everything. But also on top of it too. It's like when we break our own boundaries. Let's say a client comes in, we break the boundaries with this one client, because we think that this person is going to be really super cool.
They're exciting, wonderful, most amazing client. And then what ends up happening is that this client saw that you broke the boundary before, it's not that you can continue doing that over and over and over again, to the point where you go, Oh, crap, what did I do? Yeah, boundaries, I try my best, but I'm getting better at them very much. So like, for example, I have slack for all of my clients, we have a Slack channel for every one of our clients. And lately, I literally put in that I, I don't want to see any messages until 9am. I even sometimes will get in Slack, you can schedule messages as well, too.
So I do that as well, sometimes even with my team in because I want to make sure that not only my clients know that I have this boundary of not working until 9am. Monday through Friday. And but I also want my clients to know, I want everybody to know, my team and my clients don't at the same time.
Becca 18:24
That definitely makes sense. I feel like it's tough. It's tough, because you're the one who sets the rules. But it's also tough knowing that no one but you is keeping yourself accountable to maintain those rules. So that's why
Alex 18:38
it's kind of good to have a coach sometimes to Yeah, I mean, I've just recently hired a new coach. And she's actually my client as well, too. And it's for that factor only I told her, I said I want my goal it for 2022 is for me to start being the CEO of the Freedom ad agency.
That is my goal. And so we're really together like she's keeping me accountable of like, some like the other day, I messaged her because she's a client and I messaged her at 8am, I think or something like that. And she said, she goes, Why are you on here, blah, blah, blah, like get off? Like, okay, I'm sorry,
Becca 19:20
my goodness, our clients like that the best. I had a web design client recently who she was like, you know, she'd booked my four to five page site, like kind of normal package.
And then she was like, Hey, can we add like this? And can we add that? And can we add that? And I'm like, oh, yeah, that's small. And she goes, that is outside of the scope of what we agreed on. So please tell me what your rate is to add that to our contract.
And I was like, “Oh, thank you so much” cause I was just gonna like let it fly because it would have taken me you know, not too much additional time but clients like that are the best and I feel like when we operate within our boundaries and show that respect to ourselves, we attract people who show that respect to us as well.
Alex 19:59
And then you get in what happens to it's like, every time I get rid of a bad client, I get two more good clients, which is so funny. And I'm like, Okay, this is great.
Becca 20:11
But it's awesome. So I know that you just mentioned your coach. And this is one of the things that I think, I think it's an interesting conversation to have.
Because when we talk about going back to the name of the podcast, things that bother me a little bit in the industry, I think there's this proliferation of messaging that you have to have a coach to succeed, or that you have to work with this specific coach, whoever's in your DMS, like they are the one person that can solve your problem.
So my question to you is, why do you hire coaches? And what do you look for above and beyond? You know, kind of the obvious, like, check-in times? And you know, things like that?
Alex 20:57
Yeah, I mean, when I first started in my business, the first coach that I ever signed up to is actually a client of mine. I was doing, I was virtual assistant at the time, and I was moving into like, nation into funnels.
And the reason why I hired her, in the beginning, was that I really wanted to have someone actually helped me with the strategy, like, I really just wanted to, I want to get more clients, I wanted to increase my rates. I really at that time, I didn't, I didn't feel like I needed a coach. And if I say it now, yeah, at that time, I definitely needed to go. Because I didn't know what the heck I was doing, what I needed to do, or any of those things. So I just wanted to get that started.
As time went on, and as I started to experience more of the marketing world myself of like doing ads for clients, and doing funnels for clients, and launching for clients, I started to figure out, okay, these different marketing strategies, I know what to do. So as I began to experience all those different strategies, I know all of them. If you if you ever heard of any other marketing funnel out there, I've probably most likely either done it, or I've heard of it, and I know how to do it.
And when it comes to nowadays on why I hire a coach, it's accountability. 100%, it's accountability. That is it. I could kit and you can talk to my coach now.
Because when we first initially, you know, decided to work together, as far as her being my coach and her also be my client. I told her, I said, I'm not going to watch any, I'm not going to sit down and watch any of your trainings. It's just not going to happen. And, you know, I'll be on some of the group calls. Some maybe, maybe not, I don't know, but, but I also told her, I said, I just need someone to tell me exactly like what to do not even just necessarily like not a particular strategy, but just more of along the lines of what can I do to make sure that I stay focused on my ultimate goals.
So having that accountability there is really important to me nowadays, versus when I first started the beginning.
Becca 23:14
Yeah, I experienced kind of a similar shift to the first coach that I hired was very much like, I had a full time job. So I was like, I don't want to have to spend time YouTubing hundreds of hours of how do I start this business, I want to jump from like where I am to working with clients and figuring that out.
So I hired her before I even had a client, it was very much strategy. She's brilliant, and I love her and I learned so much from her, but at this point, it's community and accountability. For sure.
Alex 23:44
And to me, it will never be community really, to be honest with you. I'm a lone wolf, I'm a loan type of worker. Yeah, and I work a lot better that way. To be very honest.
And you know, it's good to have I do have a business bestie and we did talk but the same time even that and that distracts me sometimes a bit having a business bestie that and my business in particular she does a mazing and and it's hard to watch your business bestie and seeing how great her business is doing and not be and not be able to go wow I wish I had that.
But the same time it's like But Alex that's not gonna work for you. So why are you trying to pursue that that doesn't make any sense is it just because the money okay it is because of money so let's just let's that's not going to work out so let's move away from that. So you know, that's that's the situation.
Becca 24:39
Yeah, you when I said community I thought that you were gonna say that was it you because you know, deleting Facebook. kind of saw that one cut Alright, so we covered what bothers me so I'm curious. In this industry, what would you like? to see change?
Alex 25:01
Oh Gosh, there's so many, right? You can't, you can pick more than one we can, we can go deep here all day. I mean, number one that comes to mind, it's not a big one it but I would say we could go down the road marketing worlds, you know that area of that's actually kind of dying right now especially with the femininity that is kind of happening in this coaching industry right now, we're going we're leaning towards more of a feminine type of marketing versus the masculine type of marketing.
So if you're listening to this, you're like, What the heck is she talking about? The masculine type of marketing would be more towards, like, the strategies that we've been taught of, you have to get the you know, get the call, get the sales call, right, then once you get the sales call, you have to immediate when you have to, like ask these particular questions.
And then you need to close them on the call, you know, get that credit card on the call, or else you lost them forever, or like, you know, make sure that you create a follow up or make sure that they put at least $100 deposit in or something like that, you know, or the cost, there's so many masculine type of marketing.
And I'm not gonna, I think that it serves its purpose, especially in the masculine world, on any side of marketing. But femininity type of marketing is starting to come in. And what that looks like is allowing people allowing clients to chase us, allowing clients to create their own decisions, right, instead of pushing them and pressuring them to those decisions, right?
There's so many, you know, different ways that you can, you know, have this feminine type of marketing inside of your business that allows you to do that. And that's what I've been creating for myself, too. It's like, I got rid of all those bro marketing strategies.
And now I'm bringing in more of like, allowing the person to see me with my ad. And but allowing them to make that decision if they want to book a call or not. And then when I, when I actually, gosh, even last 24 hours, I had two sales calls booked and I cancelled them.
Because in the questionnaire, these people said that they it wasn't a good fit, I knew it was not a good fit. But I could have done the regular birthmark and strategy of just getting that person in. And I could have and I have I have done that before.
Many, many times. So what does that end up for me, that ends up having a client that's unsatisfied having a client that's about to give me a bad review, having a client is asking for refunds, having a client that's feeling so pressured into getting results ASAP, instead of thinking about the sustainability that advertising can bring to their business.
So that's one thing that definitely does bother me in this space of, of just only using masculine strategies when you could do the other side and it does perfect.
Becca 28:17
Yeah, I definitely have noticed a similar scenario where you're talking about leaning more into that feminine energy. One of the things that I've noticed in this industry, but also just like generally in the world is oftentimes when we start to correct an industry, the counter correction almost goes just as far the wrong way.
So that's one of the things that I'm trying to be really aware of in my business, because when you talk about the feminine energy, like there are people I think that I see taking advantage of that too, like if you just trust then you'll make money if you just like trust and buy into this program, the universe will support you and, and things of that nature.
So I think it's really important to always ask yourself, Does this strategy feel aligned to me and who I am as a person and blend that you a little bit in a way that feels comfortable to you. And that line is going to be different for everyone.
Alex 29:20
Just like you said, there's an extreme to the feminine side to where you are, you know, have an eye and I've had clients like that, that I just does. I don't I don't like to bring those clients in anymore. Because they don't take responsibility.
They're actually like, have their results. And it's good to have a blend of both and thinking about whatever I'm coming up with. How can I make it in a way where it feels amazing to me, and it's gonna feel amazing to the perfect dream client that I want to attract.
That's it. That is it, boom, bam. Stop thinking about like what Sarah saying, or Susie or whatever. I can name off any names, right? But like you have to hone in on? What do I want to create? How is it going to attract the dream client that I want to bring in
Becca 30:22
100%? So if somebody's listening to this episode, isn't six years into their business or isn't even one year into their business? And they're wondering how to do just that? How do you know what is gonna feel good to your ideal client? How, what would you recommend to help them get their
Alex 30:42
I would say start with yourself. Most times we're attracting ourselves at some point in time. Especially because bottom line, when you're trying to find clients, especially for like your one on one of some kind, or any type of high ticket program, you're gonna want to bring in people who you might consider best friends, that's it, you're gonna want to consider that.
And so that's when personality comes in mind when you're trying to find these clients, you have to attract people who are going to be interested in you and in your personality. So you have to pursue that 100% You need to be yourself 100%, maybe even 115 or more, or whatever, you need to be yourself.
And I think that the cool thing, I feel like nowadays, versus two years ago, I feel like the pandemic really did shift a lot of mindsets, especially in our space, to be able to create that trust for in ourselves. And, and I feel like anyone that's listening to this, I just want you to start trusting yourself. And it's not it doesn't hurt to go and hire that person that you might be thinking of hiring.
That's not, I'm not saying don't hire that person. What I'm saying is, is to first trust yourself, and that you know, how to attract the person that you want to bring in? What are the words that you need to say, you know, what are the things that you need to be doing inside of your content? What What, what are those things?
And what does the experience of the customer journey need to look like from the point that they see your face to the point where you get them to, you know, hand off their credit card? Right? So you need to have a great balance of what feels good to me to create that customer journey.
Becca 32:41
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Becca
Going back to the beginning of our conversation when we talked about simplifying business. I absolutely love that advice. Because when I first started my business that was two and a half years ago ish. It was all about this ICA, right? Like you create your ICA and you figure out, you know, if it's a woman who's 25 and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And it was all demographics at that point. It was very heavy demographics. And then it shifted into Okay, a little bit of demographics but psychographics to right, which are important pain points, happy points it right.
Becca 33:53
I think, honestly, I feel like I'm gonna get a lot of shit for saying this. I hate the ICA. I absolutely hate it. Because they think that you're right. Most of the time. We are our own ICA. So why don't you just say like, do yourself?
What would you look for? What would you like, and what would make you buy? And that makes that takes it from this like this exercise and that is so frivolous.
Personally, I'm going to get flack for this. I don't care. It feels frivolous to me, but also one that feels so what's the word like? Abstract, like it's hard to express when you start your business and it's hard to think through all of those things. So just make it yourself and go from there and then learn as you go as you have more of these conversations with actual clients.
Alex 34:48
And I'm sure there might be someone here listening to this and going and saying like, Oh, but what if my ideal client is completely opposite of me like I don't know.
For example, I can't even begin to come up with an example. But basically, if you're thinking that at all right now if you're thinking that, like, my ideal client might be the opposite of me, especially with them happy points and pain points, that's fine. Those different things are fine.
But what I'm saying is personality-wise, yes. Make sure that you at least start with personality, you know, are you sarcastic? Are you funny? Are you exciting? What are you or you mean, upfront, bitchy? Are you super outgoing, nice, friendly, are you those types of things, what constitutes you as a person in terms of your personality, and start writing content that's going to attract you as a person to because many times.
And I don't know if you notice this, too, sometimes, Becca. But if we come at it from a very, if we come from a content of a very robotic type of sound, you're going to attract everybody, everybody in anybody.
And the problem with that is, then you're going to end up with clients who might not like your personality. And you might attract all different types of people, that might not be the best fit for you to be working around. And it's not to say that like, because there's millions of clients out there you there's tons of clients that are looking to work with you. It's not like there's only one or two, there's more, go find them, go track them, go find them. It's not that big of a deal.
Because I think in the beginning of our business, many times, we oftentimes just think of, I don't know what I'm doing. I can't trust myself. I you know, what, I, this is why I need to hire a coach, because I don't know what the heck I'm doing right now.
So I'm going to go watch 5 million YouTube videos on how to do XYZ. Instead of just again, yourself, talk like yourself, and know what you want. Ask yourself what you want.
Unknown Speaker 37:02
I have a friend who is a web designer. And I'm going to paraphrase what she said, and I'm probably going to butcher the idea. But she basically is really big and division boarding.
So she uses Pinterest, which I love, highly recommend using Pinterest to create vision boards. But she basically said, I my vision board is going to be the exact same vision board is my ideal client has. And then and then she curates her Pinterest for her Pinterest, her Instagram and her feed and all of her external content.
So that when her ideal client sees that, because she's a designer, so she's very visual, right? When her ideal client sees that they go, oh my gosh that's on my vision board or oh my god, that's so me. And it resonates so deeply. Because she knows exactly who she's talking to you because she's talking to herself.
Alex 37:58
I have a quick question. So for you to kind of get into this because so I used to do websites and stuff too. But I mostly did like funnels, like sales pages and all those types of stuff. This friend of yours, and I'm any do you feel like there's a lot of website designers that listen to this podcast?
Becca 38:18
Oh, that's a good question. It is so new. I'm not sure that it's necessarily heavily website designers.
Alex 38:24
Okay, so the reason why I'm asking is because of anybody. So this is a great idea that I can give you guys or any even if you just don't like it, even if it's just not graphic design, you can kind of cater this to virtual assistants, stuff like that, but it mostly works for graphic designers.
Okay, so I used to do this thing where if I wanted a client like really badly and a specific client in mind, so let's say I wanted to work with a specific client and and I don't know if she's gonna be okay with this, but I did have a client named Genevieve Beckham.
And she constantly was like not wanting to really she she would say that she wanted to work with me, but then she decided not to so it just kept on like happening like that over and over again.
And eventually I was like, You know what, I'm just gonna try something new. And what I did was was I I redid her entire brand and I and I and I posted it, but I didn't put her name in it whatsoever. But I put all the colors. I put it in like a bunch of like a logo that had like GB I think it was like Genevieve Beckham so i think is what it was I put it up I don't want to just stuff in there of the brand new and I posted and I was like “I'm selling this Does anybody want my new template” she was gonna see it and she she loved it and that's when she first hired me.
So if you guys are ever listening that something like that is always cool. Like if you want to attract a specific client to come along the lines like make something specific for that person to
Becca 40:00
I absolutely love that. And it just goes back to showing you that I that is not a strategy, I have listened to endless podcasts. That is not a strategy that I have ever heard anyone mentioned before.
And I absolutely love it. And I absolutely love that you just probably had this idea and just acted on it without overthinking it and just knew exactly what to do and trusted yourself. So it just goes to show you that we often have the answer within us and don't need all of the I say this, as I as I host a podcast, you guys don't need this?
Alex 40:36
Well, you don't you literally get to listen to these things to get some ideas to pop up in your head. That's why I like watching YouTube videos or listening to podcasts or, you know, back when I used to watch, you know, webinars and all those types of things, right?
It gives you an inspiration or idea but don't allow it to take over your entire situation, or your entire you know, brain and allow it to completely be that important thing in your life that you have to create, like you have to create that funnels, or else it's never going to work.
Like you're never going to make a sale off of that course if you don't create this funnel-like that's the thing. You could do whatever like you could go talk to somebody right now and have a conversation with them. And you can make the sale off of the course. So it's just a matter of thinking about what do I want to do? What does my client want? What would I want out of it? If I was the client stuff like that? Yeah.
Becca 41:33
And I also think this, the emphasis that we all tend to have on the external is kind of what gets us into trouble. As an industry like the the proliferation of bro marketing that we were talking about just a few minutes ago. Well, why do you think it became so widespread? Because people talked about it on podcasts on YouTube?
And then somebody learned that and then maybe they were a coach, and they taught their clients that exact method. And there's kind of this effect of, are we taking the time to think through? How a certain strategy affects us and our business and the industry overall? Or are we just repeating it because it works?
Alex 42:17
I think it's the second option that people are tending to go towards. And that's why I'm I'm trying to get most of my clients and or even just potential leads or, or even just like people who watch my YouTube videos, right? I tried to really pursue allowing people to trust themselves and allowing people to create something that is unique to them.
So for example, like, I'm telling, I've been doing this for a while, of telling a lot of my clients to create webinars that are not based off of the regular one have like secret number one, secret number two, secret number three, shift number one, shift number two or step number one, oh gosh, it gets tiring.
Instead, a lot of my clients are creating workshops now in days and doing challenges that they're not just like information that's being thrown at the consumer, but more of just like allowing them to allow the consumer for my client to be able to experience that variance, right experience, what it's like to work with my client.
Becca
Right.
Alex
And I think that that's what people need to start doing nowadays is creating content that is going to create that experience of what does it like to work with you?
Yeah, that's all the client wants to know, at the end of the day is, can this person help me? And how are they going to help me? That's it bottom line, so give them that information? That's all they need. And if they decide to go with it, they'll decide to go with it. If they don't like it, then you move along, and you're going to find another one?
Becca 44:01
Absolutely. Do you have any YouTube videos on that? Because we can link it below if people are interested?
Alex 44:06
I don't think I have made that? Maybe? I mean, maybe I need to!
Becca
maybe by the time we publish this episode,
Alex
Maybe I can get one out there. Most of my content on YouTube is more educational type of content, you know, like the how to type of things. I'm starting to try and get into more of the Oh, would you call that?
Becca
Thought leadership?
Alex
I guess so. Like, I don't know, you know, just my thoughts and putting those thoughts out there because, and I don't know if anybody's listening to this, if you're I don't know. Are you into human design at all?
Becca 44:39
Oh, yeah. I just I don't know a lot yet. But I just started
Alex 44:43
I'm the same. I'm starting to catch up on it. I'm mostly just I'm starting to catch up on what I am and which is the manifester. And that actually goes in and if you guys are not into human design yet, I would recommend to possibly go to it you can get like a free chart that gets called Jovian archive or something like that they just look up in Google look up a human design chart or something like that.
And you'll be able to put in all your information and get your information as far as what your human design is. But there's it really just determines who you are and what you're made on this earth for.
So manifestos in particular, were made only to, to come to, to open the door of opportunity. That's basically all we're here for, and to create these ideas, and that's why back in the day, many, many, many years, we were manifestors, in particular, were the hierarchy. So we're like kings and queens, and emperors and all these types of things.
That manifestors are there to like, open the door, and to create these ideas, but I'm not meant to really work, which kind of goes into the fact of like, when I do work, for long periods of time, I burn out. And it's because of my human design that I tend to do that.
And so I am known for bursts of energy. And that's pretty much it, I have to take, I have to take time to relax, or else my mental health goes down. So like, that's, that's something that I've been doing a lot to is like, just learning what my human design is, and how can I utilize it for the best of my business in my life.
Becca 46:25
But even if you haven't learned your human design chart, and you're listening to this, and if it feels like one more thing to figure out, you can still do this without looking at all of the extra Right?
Like you can ask yourself at the end of a 10 hour day, how do I feel? Versus at the end of a two hour sprint of time? How do I feel? And you can start making notes of the ways you like to work even outside of length of time, there are plenty of other ways to work.
But you can you can reflect and I think that's one of the things. Gosh, I don't know if we have time for a whole nother topic, because this is pushing. We're we're almost over 45 minutes.
Alex 47:05
Whoever is Listening at this point, you don’t care, right?
Both laugh
Becca 47:09
But I think that's one of the other things that we need to commit to as a group is just reflecting overall, just even outside of how we like to work. But how was the strategy working? How can I do better for my clients? How can I do better for myself?
And I think a lot of times we get stuck in this, like, gogogo mentality in this hustle mentality, and we forget to stop and reset and think, was it good? Or was it bad? Was it neutral? And how do we make it better?
Alex 47:42
Yeah. And again, we go back to the fact of what we talked about with the income, you know, if you're constantly thinking about the income, you're going to end up burnout.
Because let's say you only focus on the income, let's say you make a million dollars next month. Now you have to figure out how to satisfy all the clients that you just brought in with that million dollars. Yeah, how are you going to do that. And like, that's what I always come back to, because I've had, I have some business besties that literally had an amazing, like, 150k a month.
But now they have clients that they have to figure out how to satisfy them. So they had a great sales month, but they don't know if they're gonna be able to deliver correctly. So that's another thing to keep in mind as well, too. It's like, you got to think about the overall thing of your business, what do you want it to look like?
And that's why I'm constantly thinking as a CEO, too, it's like, I'm not just thinking about how to make more sales, I could do that all day, I can make more sales right now. The second if I really wanted to, I can go back on Instagram On Facebook And find clients this second.
But what that does for me is that now I just compromise my boundary of of what I've been wanting to create, but also to what it does is to is that if do I have the capacity to bring in these new clients right now?
Becca 49:09
Yeah, and serve them at the level that you would like to? Yeah, yeah. All right. We're pushing 15 minutes and I feel like we've talked about so many things.
I think this this is the theme of my podcast is that I think that we're going to go down one path and then we go down a totally different one. And it is always way better than I imagined. Alright, I before we hop off, I want to give you the chance to let everyone know not to find you on Instagram.
Alex 49:39
If you ever want to go check out my Instagram or or anything like that. You're welcome to but I'm not consistently on there anymore. I don't do Instagram stories don't do any more content on there.
But yeah, if you guys want to get to know more about me or like really just want to get more information or anything with science. I do have a YouTube channel where you especially in 2022, I'll be posting more content onto there.
And you can just find me by looking up like Alexandria Ramirez and like Facebook ads, or something along those lines that you knew that we usually get it all we get all down below. I also have a $27 Facebook ads course for anybody who wants to like do it yourself, they just wants to like learn a little bit more about Facebook ads are.
And by the way, Facebook and Instagram, two ads work together in the ads managers just for everybody else to know. So if you buy my twins on our Facebook ads course, it's going to teach you not only how to create Facebook ads, but also how to create successful profitable Facebook ads. And in a very simple process.
It's not something that's very, super difficult. And then if you just want somebody to do it for you, you can always hire agency. And you know, we're amazing at what we do. And my team is amazing. I love them.
Becca 50:50
Perfect. Well, thank you so much, Alex, for coming on. I really enjoyed our conversation. And I feel like we might need to do around two at some point because we ran out of time for having me.
Alex
Of course,
Becca
I think I end every episode, I'm probably bothered saying how this is my favorite conversation. But it's always true. If you had to take one thing out of this episode, I would say simplify and do less.
Make sure that all of that advice that you're hearing out there really makes sense for your business before you take on one more thing to do. I also wanted to say a quick thank you to Aaron and Erica for shouting out probably bothered on your Instagram this week. I appreciate it more than you know.
Alright, thank you so much for listening to this episode. As always, if you resonated with this conversation, if you would like to pass it along to a friend, I would be endlessly grateful. And if you want to subscribe or leave a review as well. That would make my day it would make my week if we're being honest.
Until next week. This was Probably Bothered
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