The G.E.M. Series EP19: How to Gain Entrepreneurship Momentum With Alex B. Sheridan
[00:00:00] Blake: Welcome to the G.E.M series powered by rocket level. On this podcast, we empower entrepreneurs to succeed by setting big goals, executing like a pro, and having a fearless mindset. The G.E.M series is all about investing in yourself. We're here to share the path to getting what you want out of life. By sharing the stories of entrepreneurs who have.
[00:00:21] Themselves providing thorough research from our team on what careers and habits are yielding the best results and discussing the mindset it takes to overcome the obstacles that all future entrepreneurs will face investing in yourself, starts with putting in the work every single day. And this podcast is here to help you do exactly that.
[00:00:39] My name is Blake Chapman. I'm the vice president of the ambassador program here at the rocket level. And I am thrilled to be your host for the G.E.M. And welcome to the G.E.M series today. I am honored to have an incredible guest, Alex Alex B Sheridan to be a little more specific Alex is the founder of Impact where he creates video content that allows you to win clients.
[00:01:03] And honestly, just from a glance on LinkedIn, you'll be able to see the proof for yourself. Alex is popping off. Welcome Alex, how are you doing man? 
[00:01:11] Alex: Doing great, man. I'm doing great. Glad to be. 
[00:01:14] Blake: Hey, glad to have you on. So for anybody that doesn't know about you, which frankly, I don't know how they couldn't at this point because you are looking, you, you look great on Instagram and I gotta say.
[00:01:25] Your hair looks great too. I need a cut. I'm gonna have to get your barber after this, but tell, yeah. Tell the audience. I'd love to hear a little bit more about your story. Just generally 
[00:01:34] Alex: speaking. I just lost my barber three weeks ago. So I a new, oh, it hurts. It's okay.
[00:01:40] It hurts. It's okay. The new ones. All right though. But no, you know, I worked in corporate America for six years. I was in B2B sales for 10 years. Mm-hmm, and in 2019, I always had this kind of like entrepreneurial itch that I wanted to. And in 2019, I was going through a lot in my life, my career wasn't going the way I wanted it to.
[00:01:59] And I decided that I was gonna make the change. I was gonna make the shift and go for and start a side hustle. Yeah. And one thing I realized was I was gonna do sales consulting and teach people how to make calls, email and s, and how to conduct meetings. And I started to realize that the way I was selling was misaligned with the way that my customer was buying, meaning that I was trying to go out and try always try to capture demand and get people to go on a call with me, meet with me.
[00:02:21] And I was always entering from a place of being a commodity being just like everyone else. And I realized that buyers actually wanna do research. They wanna have communication there. In their channels, their groups, there, whatever it might be. They wanna watch things educated. They wanna consume videos.
[00:02:36] They wanna learn about things before they make a decision. And so I decided in 2019 that I was gonna focus in really early 20, 20. I was gonna focus on content creation and video specifically on LinkedIn. And I was gonna help educate buyers along their buyer journey. And therefore, when they were ready to buy, I would be a natural selection for them.
[00:02:53] So that was creating demand versus having to go out and try to capture some of it like everyone else was doing. 
[00:02:58] Blake: Man that's, that's pretty great. Cuz a lot of people miss that opportunity too. Yeah, align what they're doing with what customers want. So have you always just been kind of naturally curious and uncovering things or how'd you form those habits, man?
[00:03:13] You know, 
[00:03:13] Alex: I mean, I was even when I was in corporate like I would get to the office at five 30 in the morning, I was writing my book on how to sell better. Like I always had that very inquisitive and. Wanted to kind of have a, I was almost obsessive with whatever, whatever I was into. Like, I got really into it and wanted to be like great at it.
[00:03:30] And so as soon as I figured out entrepreneurship was the path and I was gonna start doing video content naturally, that was my craft. And that was what I became obsessed with. 
[00:03:39] Blake: That's incredible. So growing up, have you always had this vision? Starting your own thing or did like what? Yeah. Tell me a little bit about that.
[00:03:49] Alex: Well, when I was growing up, you know, entrepreneurship was not like a, it wasn't like, that was a thing, even like sure. No one was like, you know, that I was around was like, start your own business. You know, it was like, if you owned a business and you were like an insurance broker at the local town, you know, so but I'd you grow up by the.
[00:04:04] Sorry. I didn't mean to interrupt those cases. No, you're a good man. Down in. So I live in St. Charles now, which is a Western suburb of Chicago. Yeah. But I grew up down St. Downstate in the capital of Illinois, which is the Springfield area. Okay. So I grew up down there, but I mean, you know, there was always like little signals.
[00:04:18] Like I would try to sell things when I was 12 years old, I would go to construction sites and like pick up nails and random shit and try to sell them back to people. Like I always did, I got into music and con and content creation very early. 1314. I started making a ton of music and then got my friends involved.
[00:04:35] And so there were always like creation and signs. I was maybe destined to go this path eventually, but it wasn't until probably 2018, or 2019. Tor hat it really, it hit me. 
[00:04:45] Blake: That's no, it's funny. I, yeah, it's not like we're all on like baby boss mode 
[00:04:49] Alex: when we go, when we. Yeah, we go either 
[00:04:52] Blake: thinking about entrepreneurship, but yeah, I, it's funny you talk about like selling nails and things like that.
[00:04:56] I remember being a kid, and my thing was flipping a Pokemon card. When I was a kid. I, yeah, it was I would show up at garage sales, I'd save a little money buy donuts and be like, all right, Hey, have a free donut. And then, and then I'd get the kids to come, come buy the Pokemon card. So I love finding like everybody else's story of how they got to where they, where they are today.
[00:05:18] So now you're two years deep into this thing now, right? 
[00:05:21] Alex: From, from leaving my corporate job and doing this full time. Yeah, 
[00:05:24] yeah, 
[00:05:25] Blake: yeah. Yeah. That's pretty incredible that you've. You've gone so far with this, cuz I mean, your stuff looks really, So you, you kind of explained a little bit of what drew you to video, but what else kind of brought you there?
[00:05:40] I mean, there's just so many different channels and, and methods that are out there to get in front of people. 
[00:05:44] Alex: I just felt like for me, I always, since I was a little kid, I felt like I had a message that I was, I wanted to deliver to the world. And then I was gonna be speaking in front of millions of people.
[00:05:53] And then I just wanted to make a positive impact. Yeah. While I was here. And I didn't always know like what that looked, what was gonna look like, or what I was gonna talk about. But I always had that feeling kind of inside ever since I took a speech class and I got the speaker in front of like 12 people.
[00:06:05] And I was like, this is cool. Like I'm gonna speak in front of millions of people. One. And I just started seeing people on video, like, like, you know, more celebrity business, people on video and YouTubes and stuff like that early on. And I was like, man, this, this might be the way that I can speak to more people.
[00:06:19] And if they're doing it, there's no reason that I can't do it. 
[00:06:22] Blake: That's right. You know, and the key thing there though that I always wanna know about. A lot of people, I think have big dreams for themselves. You know, people want so much out of life and, and they, they know what they're drawn to, but people have a hard time executing and, and anytime I see people executing like you're doing, like, I'm always like, tell me what it was like at the beginning.
[00:06:44] Like getting things ready to, to be able to, you know, launch, you know, launch impacts. 
[00:06:50] Alex: I mean, everything about entrepreneurship is tough, you know, like you have to really, you have to really. Enjoy kind of the day-to-day type stuff. It doesn't mean you're gonna enjoy every part of the process. But to me, I wouldn't do it every day.
[00:07:04] If I didn't truly enjoy helping my clients, making video content, working with my team, like, cuz it's just, you run into so many challenges. I mean, you're constantly getting hit with challenge after challenge, after challenge and you know, you get knocked down sometimes and you feel like, man, what am I I'm putting in the work?
[00:07:20] I'm doing everything I should be doing yet. I'm still getting my ass kicked. Yeah. So it's very, very challenging. I think, in the beginning, it was a little bit easier, honestly, because it was just a side hustle. So there was no like pressure to like, provide with that income, or like make it work.
[00:07:33] Once I left my full-time job in July of 2020. I was on a, pretty good rise cuz LinkedIn was becoming popular. The video was becoming more popular. Yeah. And I, I had like one product and that's what I sold and I did pretty well at selling it. And then I got a year in and like the the the lack of having reoccurring revenue.
[00:07:51] started to take its toll. And I was like, I had a couple of slow months and it became tough. And luckily I had money saved, so I was good financially cause I had done well. Sure, sure. But it just smacked me in the face and I was like, all right, this is my first real big entrepreneurship challenge is that my business model mm-hmm is kind of one dimensional and that, but you know, at that moment I was like, I know this is the toughest challenge I've ever gone through as an entrepreneur, but as I was going through it, I knew that I, I kept telling myself you're going through this for a reason.
[00:08:17] Like this is going to, there's something you need to learn here that you wouldn't have learned if you don't go through this. And it set me on a path to figuring out. How do I come up with a business model that has more reoccurring revenue, retainment services, and other offerings? So now we've got four different revenue streams.
[00:08:33] And so we're working on our fourth, but three different revenue streams right now. And so, and we're gonna build from here. So, it never would've happened. Had I not hit that challenging part? 
[00:08:42] Blake: Absolutely. Absolutely. I gotta say, yeah, I love your mindset of just anytime you've discussed a certain challenge or anything like that.
[00:08:50] You're you, you're extremely humble about, you know, being able to, to approach it head on and grow from that experience and take that as something that you can turn into your strength. I mean, I feel like in entrepreneurship, especially there everything, if you're not willing to learn from the things, that get you down, then you're gonna constantly just be at a deficit.
[00:09:13] Fail out, you know, it's like we gotta fight for every single thing that we've got, you know, it's, it's, it's tough. It's 
[00:09:19] Alex: so tough. It's the reason most people have these very big dreams, but then when they get hit with the very big challenges that come along with those dreams, all of a sudden, that stops 'em in their tracks and they go, I don't.
[00:09:30] know if I wanna do this, right? Cause if you're gonna, if you're gonna shoot for something big or you've got this vision and this dream and you wanna accomplish all these things, chances are that's going to come with a lot of struggles, a lot of challenges, a lot of self-doubts, a lot of, you know, pain, pain points along the way.
[00:09:46] Like you're gonna go through some shit and most people don't wanna go through shit. They just want the rewards, the outcomes, the dream, but they don't want everything all the day-to-day stuff that comes with it. And that's the stuff that. You kind of have to, you, you kind of have to really, you have to accept that stuff and you have to like embrace it and wanna do it and be okay with mm-hmm
[00:10:05] I like the fact that I'm constantly challenged, that I'm never comfortable, that, that I get punched in the face sometimes that, you know, I'm forced to pivot my business because of certain things in the marketplace. Like you have to own that and you have to be excited. That is extreme of a challenge.
[00:10:21] And if you're not excited about that and the innovation that comes with it, and if you're not excited about that, then it's very okay. And very great to go out and get a job where someone else is running a company and you're contributing a successful employee to the build. 
[00:10:36] Blake: Yeah, that's right. I couldn't agree more with that.
[00:10:39] I mean, Something that I, you know, whenever I, I hear about that too, I'm you? So you officially went on your own in July 2020. Tell me, like what, what made you wanna make it, your thing, you know, from a side hustle that pivots like cuz I think a lot of people are starting to do that these days. So I I'd love to hear that from your perspective.
[00:10:59] Alex: I, I mean, At the most basic level, it came down to, I just started making more money in my side hustle than I was in my corporate job. so like, that's a good indicator. So that's a great indicator. And I didn't think it was gonna happen so soon. I thought it was gonna be early 20, or 21. That's kind of what I was planning for.
[00:11:14] I was like, man, if I could leave my company, my full-time job in early 2021, and have a little nest egg, I'd be happy. And then it just started happening so quickly and I became obsessed with it. I put in a lot of work. I was getting clients. I was getting results for the clients. And it had this snowball effect.
[00:11:28] Mm-hmm and I, I remember there were a couple of weeks where I was making more than I was in my corporate job and I, and like significantly more. And so I just thought to myself, I'm like, you know, both of 'em are like this, like I'm kind of trying to juggle both of 'em and you know, it's an entrepreneur like it's impossible to try to grow a business and then have, you know, to a, to a certain level, when you have a full-time job, that's demanding that's, it's like, exactly right.
[00:11:50] You can only go so far with that. One of them has to give, and I was like, I kind of gotta kill. One of these rights now and what it is gonna be my full-time job, or it's gonna be my business. And I was like, there's no way I came this far, put in this much work, made this much progress and I'm just gonna like, get rid of my business.
[00:12:05] I was like, I'm killing my full-time job. And I put in my two weeks notice and went full-time. 
[00:12:10] Blake: Man. That's awesome. Cuz how many hours do you think you're probably having to put in, in that season of life? I'm sure it was brutal. Like, and not even brutal, but like to be like, okay, I'm making all this money from something that I created.
[00:12:23] Yeah. Wow. And it's, I'm, you know, I might be losing 50, 60, 70 hours a week just because of. Having another job. So yeah. What, what was it looking like at that season? 
[00:12:34] Alex: I mean, I would probably say like I was working from home with my full-time job. Yeah. Cuz it was like right after COVID it was like, you know, this is, this was April, May, June, July 2020.
[00:12:44] So we're right in the thick of COVID where no one knows what's going on while we're going back. And before I would've been working 60 hours, 50, 60 hours a week, easily in my corporate job at home. Cause I was my side hustle. I was probably working closer to 40 and then maybe some weeks 30, 35 like I was trying to do what I could yeah.
[00:13:01] To be. to contribute to my team, but also I was mainly focused on my business. And then it got to a point where my full-time job was starting to suffer a little bit. And then I had to make a decision. I was like, it's not fair for me to keep this job, knowing that someone else would love to take my role at my corporate job and that we did, we promoted my recruiter.
[00:13:19] He took my role and now he's doing, he's still in the role and he's doing great, which is awesome. Nice. But I had to make that decision of like, one of them is gonna go and it was very clear to me that it was the. Yeah, 
[00:13:29] Blake: That is pretty exciting, man. I I gotta say. I think that a couple of lessons that I've learned talk and getting to have the opportunity to talk to people that are doing something like what you do, not specifically what you offer for people, but leaving the corporate world to go and, and start their ventures that everybody kind of says like, man, it's, it's something where you reach a point to where you gotta, you gotta get comfortable with working crazy hours for a little while, and you probably shouldn't just jump immediately.
[00:13:58] Into it, if you're not doing, if you're not thriving at your other job too, just because like, I don't know. It's just an interesting topic, I think because like a lot of people think, oh, well, you know what? I'm not even gonna dedicate any time to a side hustle. And I'm just gonna do this idea that I have.
[00:14:14] And I feel like that's, ah, there's high risk there, man. Whereas you. You're like you built a proof of concept. You showed everybody. Hey, cuz I don't know. I'm sure you have a network of people around you and like a family that you know cares about you. And like it gets hard whenever people are like, I'm throwing it all to the win.
[00:14:32] I'm gonna be a full-time DJ now or whatever, 
[00:14:35] Alex: you know what I mean? So I was a single mean, I'm a single dad of two daughters. I mean, I had like a people that take care of. So like for me it was, yeah. I couldn't just be like, all right, well screw it. I'm gonna go try this. And if it doesn't work out, I mean, I mean, there were a couple of things.
[00:14:48] One I had the belief system and that, that actions that were like, I'm either making this work or I. That was my mindset going into it. I was like, there's no, if and or buts there's no, I could go back to a job if I need to. I was like, this is the vision, this is the goal. And I'm gonna do whatever it takes to make it happen.
[00:15:03] But I do think that it depends on your situation, right? Cause you have no mm-hmm if you have no kids or you have no response, not many responsibilities, or if you live at home or maybe you're a little bit older, but you've got like great, you've got, you know a couple of thousand, a hundred thousand dollars in the bank, or you can kind of have a nest egg.
[00:15:19] That that allows you more freedoms and more flexibility. Sure. Where for me, I was like, I kind of need to replace my income and then, and then make the move. Right. I've replaced my income. I was making more at this than I was at my corporate job. I had built up a nest egg of tens of thousands of dollars as a reserve.
[00:15:34] And then I was on a trajectory that would show you that I'm gonna keep going up over time, which we have we're up 70% this year alone more than 70. So from last year, and then last year, we're up from the previous. So it. So I think I look for those signs, like, are you on the trajectory to go forward?
[00:15:51] Do you have something in the bank as a nest egg? And then have you at least maybe made the same or hopefully more as your full-time job, but I don't think that's the recipe for every single person. 
[00:16:02] Blake: That's great. And you know, the reason I ask that stuff is we. That's all of our listeners here, right?
[00:16:07] They're people that have realized that maybe the traditional path is not necessarily the route that they're trying to go as much as you know, some people do have the side hustles do have the full-time options and wanna figure out, Hey, I wanna learn from somebody like you, that that is seeing those 70% increases year after year and, and, and made it happen.
[00:16:26] So I think that's super great insight for anybody that's listening right now. Another thing that I always talk about. Battling the fear, you know? And like, I think that that hearing you mention you know, that you're like I'm gonna, it's done or die. How do you, yeah. Is there anything else that you kind of tap into to battle the fear whenever you're feeling, insecure about what you're doing, if you do, you know?
[00:16:49] Cuz I think that's cuz I mean, it's just the reality of it. It's like we gotta motivate ourselves, validate ourselves. Everything. 
[00:16:57] Alex: I think there's a big difference between doubting what you're doing and doubting yourself. Yeah. So for me, it was always like, I was rooted in my values, my work ethic, the fact that I was out to make a positive impact, and I was willing to do whatever it takes ethically.
[00:17:11] And I believed in that I had, I was building this right skill and, and working on my craft every single day, beating on it religiously. That that gave me the confidence that y that, Hey, I, I don't know if I'm going the exact right way here. Like I may be going in the wrong direction for this moment in time, or I may have taken on a new service or offered a new service that I think it's, I need to tweak some things.
[00:17:33] It's not, it's not quite the right service, but I always believe that I would figure out a way to get it done one way or the other. And I still feel that way today. where there are when I'm like, should I take on this extra thing? Should. Join this business partner and start this company together. Mm-hmm, should I tweak my services?
[00:17:48] And there are times when I'm right. And there are times when I'm like, yeah, that wasn't the right move. I gotta go back. But what I never doubt is my ability to figure it out and get it done because I know my work ethic there. I know I'm talented enough to do it. I know my intent is good. I know my I try to service the hell out on my clients.
[00:18:04] And so I think when. The way that you build more confidence in yourself is by making yourself proud first, like waking up every day. Wow. And doing the, doing the things that you commit that you say you're gonna do when you come through for yourself day in and day out, builds confidence in yourself that no one else can build for you.
[00:18:21] People can give you praise and tell you things, but. You have to earn it inside here first. And then when you have it in here, typically that relays back out to other people, they start to have more confidence in you cuz they see the way that you're going about things. You're typically getting results for your clients and other people you're making an impact with because you've made that impact on yourself first.
[00:18:39] So I think that's why for me, I'm always confident in myself, like, I'll, I'll get it done, man. Like, unless I die, I'm moving forward with this thing. Like, I'll find a freaking way outside of a zombie apocalypse, but even, and then I'll be teaching zombies how to make videos, you know, that's, I love to find a way 
[00:18:55] Blake: that is that's fucking awesome.
[00:18:57] I I think that's the kind of mindset that more people need to take on, cuz yeah. People are capable. You know, that's the thing that I 
[00:19:07] Alex: think people don't realize is exactly how capable and let me preface, let me preface it with this. Cause I think this is something I've learned over the last few years.
[00:19:14] That's very important. I am very as I mentioned, I'm very obsessive and addictive. All like, like Boston, the wall, like, like I'm gonna go for everything, swing for the fences kind of guy. And I think there's a lot of, there is a lot of guys and gals like that out there, but there's also probably 95% of people that are not that extreme.
[00:19:33] And maybe entrepreneurship wouldn't be the best route, but they see stuff and they're like, you know, and I think it's worth testing and trying mm-hmm start a side hustle. See if you enjoy it. But. I say that and I think it's great to have that conviction and that confidence, but I'm also like obsessive with my work and my craft.
[00:19:49] And, you know, I try to make I make time for loved ones and things like that, but I think sure. It's really about like knowing yourself and what you want outta life and how you wanna operate and roll day to day, and then trying to build something from that based on what you like. As for me, I get up at five 30 in the morning, every day, and I'm at the coffee shop at 6:00 AM putting in.
[00:20:10] Like getting my content, writing video stuff, like, yeah. That, but that's what I love. Even on the weekends. I wanna go do that. I just love it. Yeah. Like it's my thing. Yeah. Some people may hate that and they may wanna spend the first-hour doing meditation or watching a show or reading a book or something like that.
[00:20:23] And so I think you gotta figure out your rhythm and what you're into, but it's important to understand. Don't just listen to what I say and be like, man, I'm gonna do that. I'm inspired. Think about what you want outta. and then try to create a business that fits that life versus going out and try to create a business and then figure out how your life's gonna fit in there your business.
[00:20:42] Blake: What do you think are some of the hard questions? People probably need to ask themselves to figure out what they want out of life. You 
[00:20:48] Alex: know, I think you can ask yourself questions, like, you know, picture a day, picture a day in the life of maybe like a dream life. Like what would it look like? Yeah. Be realistic.
[00:20:57] I hate to say be realistic, cuz don't be realistic. But in a sense of like, it's not gonna be like, like, you know, you wake up and you know, there's just some reliving fairyland where nothing goes wrong. Like that's not gonna happen. Mm-hmm but picture a legit like day in the life of what you'd want. Like what would you wanna be doing?
[00:21:13] Who would you wanna be doing it with? Where would you wanna be doing it? What would it look like? Like what would you be, you know, just excited to do? And I think then you got, at that point, you gotta go test and try different things and figure. Is this something that I'm, that I'd wanna do? Is this a path that I want to continue to go down?
[00:21:29] So I think it's. asking yourself questions, looking yourself in the mirror, and being very honest with yourself, but it's also about pushing yourselves out of your comfort zone too. Cuz you may, you may not understand fully what you want until you get outside that next layer of comfort, that next layer of comfort.
[00:21:46] And then you reach a point where you're like, whoa, this, this whole world I don't even know existed, which is kind of how I felt when I got into entrepreneurship, I was like, Thank God. I pushed myself because I didn't even know that this whole world existed and that I was this passionate about this thing.
[00:21:59] Unless I would've pushed myself. 
[00:22:01] Blake: Yeah. That's I mean, I, I, I think there's so much truth and that's something that I. Always encourage people to do, you know, anytime that they're, they're wanting to get to the next level is, you know, just, think about like, you know, when you, when you wake up in the morning, one, remind yourself of what you like about yourself, but then two, you know, what are the things that you want to, you wanna be able to achieve?
[00:22:24] Like, If you were to do anything, you know, and then figure out step by step work, rework it backward, you know, and see, okay, where am I at right now? And how far off course am I right now? I think that's, that's you know, 
[00:22:35] Alex: yeah, here's something I also discovered along the way too, is no one cares about your success.
[00:22:40] I mean, really true at the end of the day like that's true, you know, your loved ones will be happy for you, your friends, and you'll be happy for you and people that support you. People aren't sitting around. Like I thought, like when I made, you know, when I built the business and I started making this money and I do start doing this and my content got more exposure that like, you know, there were things in my, my head that I thought would happen and a lot of great things have come from it.
[00:22:59] But what I realized is once, once I built it up, I was like, Yeah, I guess people kind of treat me this, like, it's kind of my, life's like, not all that different, you know what I mean? Like, cause like I thought I thought building a business and being an entrepreneur and having a team and that making good money, like I thought a lot of these things like I was looked at was like, man, that's so cool.
[00:23:17] And then once I got there, I was like, it's, it's cool. It is cool. But I'm like, it doesn't, it, it it's like, it's not that big of a deal for me anymore. And so I think you have to, you have to understand that like once you get to the next place or the next place or next place, it's not gonna change.
[00:23:32] Like, people just don't care that much, that you're super, if you're successful or not successful, the people that care are you, how you feel every single day and your loved ones and the people close to you. It's like, I don't feel the need to even talk about it, I used to be like excited when I first started my business to tell people like I'm an entrepreneur and I'm my own business.
[00:23:52] I think it's super cool. And now I'm still excited about it and passionate about it, but I don't feel the need to like tell people that, or, you know, I'm not braggadocious about it. Cause I don't feel like it's like, people don't care anyways, dude. So it's, even more, the reason just to do your shit.
[00:24:06] Because no one cares anyways, if you fail, they won't care if you succeed wildly, most people won't care. So just do, whatever's going to make you happy. 
[00:24:14] Blake: Yeah. Yeah, exactly. Time is your most precious resource and at the end of the day, you know, I mean, I think the best thing about it is probably at least most people that I talk to the best part about having their own business is their capacity to help.
[00:24:27] You know and I, I, I, you know, not that you're gonna be shoving it in everybody's face or anything like that, but I'm sure you run into scenarios pretty organically all the time now where you're like, oh, maybe I could help you out with that. You know, I do this. And, and it ends up turning into a scenario where you your, your, your network turns into customers and they turn in, you turn into their customer and all this kind of stuff.
[00:24:48] It's pretty cool. You also touched on your support system, your, you know, your family and friends around you tell me. Were they always, whenever you're going to make this switch, was everybody pretty like on board the whole time? What was your support system? Like whenever you're navigating through that?
[00:25:04] Alex: I don't think anyone was supportive, honestly. Yeah, either people didn't quite understand it or they kind of understood it but weren't super supportive. Like my parents didn't support me becoming an entre. They were like, cuz and I, I understand why, as I get it cuz they're coming from a place of love and they, and they don't want me to have to go through hardships and I had a good corporate job.
[00:25:26] Sure. And I have two daughters and they're thinking, well, why wouldn't you just stay there? It's more comfortable and you're getting paid well. And why would you leave and risk everything? And to me it was like, it's a risk to stay and not go for my dreams and not follow what I believe in, in my heart.
[00:25:38] That was a bigger risk for me. Absolutely. But yeah. I mean a lot of people, and then I had coworkers and stuff that maybe thought it was cool, but didn't understand what I was doing. They were like, yeah, you see your videos on LinkedIn? Like, so is LinkedIn paying you now? Or how does it work? I'm like, no, LinkedIn's not.
[00:25:52] Yeah. Like what you like. Yeah. Like, so I think there was, I didn't have, I mean, when I started to meet entrepreneur friends, like other people that were business owners and advocates, and they were putting themselves out there through content, through clients, I think that's where a big. Motivation and, and support system came for me was my clients.:
[00:26:10] Cause when I started, I was not charging what I charge now naturally I was just beginning and they would see things in me and say, man, you're gonna take this somewhere. Like I can see this is gonna be big. And I can see that I'm early on the train, you know? And I understand that element of it, but I see where this train's going.
[00:26:26] And that inspired me. It told me like, oh man, I'm on the right path. Like, keep, keep doing what you're doing, Alex. Like you're, you're gonna make this work. I would say that was my biggest support. 
[00:26:35] Blake: Isn't it incredible? How big of an impact does feedback like that has? I mean like, holy cow, I, I I, I mean, anytime somebody's willing to like, especially somebody that's been down a road of doing it themselves and mm-hmm, give you that extra little push.
[00:26:50] It just goes so long. I so I'm like, anytime, if you feel something true and honest like to encourage that, that you feel would encourage somebody. I feel like it's so, I mean, I feel like it's so good to do. It is hard though, when. I 
[00:27:03] Alex: was gonna say, it's funny, cuz my dad is almost the opposite thing cuz my dad will be like, when do you, when are you going back to your job?
[00:27:09] Like when are you gonna go back to working as an employee? And I'm like, dad, I'm not doing that. Like I'm never going back. That's that's motivational too. I've got this business now. And he's like, yeah, but you know, like he'll say all these things and stuff. And again, I think it's coming out of a place of love obviously, but of course, but And, but, you know, he sees me going for my dream and, and maybe he wonder, should I have gone for mine a little bit more, you know?
[00:27:28] And I think there's, yeah, all kinds of thoughts that probably happen with inside that, and that pushes me too. Cause I'm like, man, I'm gonna, and, and I don't wanna have my motivations be I'm proving you, the wrong dad. Cause I think that's unhealthy. To have a chip on your chip, too much of a chip on your shoulder, and trying to prove everyone else wrong.
[00:27:44] I, I don't need to do that anymore. I don't come from that place anymore, but it is sweeter when you do make it and you do reach these milestones. It is sweeter to be able to help, you know, take care of them or buy something from them. Take them out somewhere and, and show them, love. That is pretty amazing.
[00:28:00] That's how I would do it. Not like in your face. I did it, but just like, Hey, we're, we're going on vacation. We're doing something we're taking care of it. You don't have to worry about paying for anything. And then just knowing, like, remember when you told me to go back to, you know, I think that's the that's a pretty sweet part, but again, I'm not, I'm not basing, I'm not basing.
[00:28:16] Why get up every morning? It's not for that person or somebody else it's for me, because I love it. So validation, I believe it because it makes me excited because I want to teach my children that they should be, they should go for the things they want outta life that I believe I'm making a difference and the opportunities are endless.
[00:28:33] That's my driver. And then there are lots of bonus byproducts that come from that. Yeah, 
[00:28:39] Blake: you're right. I. It, it has to just like any, any decision that you commit to, you know, it's you can't do it for anybody else, 
[00:28:46] Alex: but yourself, because if you do it for somebody else, you'll end up getting there, and then they won't care that much anyways.
[00:28:54] And so then you, then you look in the mirror and you're like, shit, I did all this stuff to prove those people wrong. And now those people are like cool, good job. You did it. Yeah. Well now what, what's all the motivation for now? That was the whole reason, I went up the mountain now I'm at the mountain top.
[00:29:06] Yeah. And they don't even care anyways. So that's what I'm saying. People really don't, people are not living your life every second of the day. They're not with you in your darkest moments or in your best moments. At the end of the day, you've gotta do things for you, like worry zero about what other people think.
[00:29:20] Or if they think you should do this or be a lawyer or be a doctor, or be an entrepreneur, or do anything with your life at the end of the day, those people do not sit with you every second of the day. You probably see those people once a week or once every two weeks or once a. And so like, and then they have this big influence on you.
[00:29:36] Like they shouldn't because they don't, they're not that big a part of your life. So I think, again, it it's something that I've learned in the last couple of years is like, you gotta do it for you, make decisions based on where you want to go in life and the person that you want to be and let everything else fall into place from 
[00:29:50] Blake: there.
[00:29:50] Hands down, hands down. That is no, I, I completely agree with that. So take me back a little bit. I was kind of thinking about this too. So February 2020. Months before COVID starts. Like, did that impact you guys in any, did, did impact you at all? Like what 
[00:30:09] Alex: what happened with that? It, it, it was part of the reason that the business took off and did so well because that's kinda what I was wondering yeah.
[00:30:16] What happened was like people instantly, you know, right away. I mean, at first, everyone went into a turtle shell and they were like, oh my gosh, I don't know what to do. I'm not spending anything. I don't know what to do. Then once everyone came out of that a month or two later, maybe three months later, Yeah, its business has to go back to normal, right?
[00:30:31] It has to like pick back up. You have to do business again. You can't just ignore your entire business life. So once people started saying, all right, we gotta like come out of the shell and start doing things again. Then they realize that now they had to be smart with the decisions they made on how they went and acquired customers, and how they had a digital presence like on LinkedIn, they thought about video content.
[00:30:50] They thought about social selling. These were all things they thought about, cuz you couldn't get a hold of prospects or clients. They weren't in the office. Mm-hmm and they weren't answering. They didn't even know their cell phones. And if they did, they weren't answering theirs. So you had to have some type of virtual or video or social presence to be in the places where your customers were.
[00:31:09] And again, I was like, if you're trying to cold call and email and, and, you know, run an ad to get somebody to sign up for your e-board, whatever it is. I'm not saying none of that stuff can work, but that's constantly trying to go out and grab a customer versus hanging out where they engage on the channels that they're at and creating content that helps educate them through the buying process.
[00:31:28] Therefore getting them to come to you and drawing in more inbound leads. And that's exactly what most of our clients wanted to help with. And that's what we did. So it worked out well for us, but it worked out well for them too. That's 
[00:31:38] Blake: No, that's, that's pretty cool. I mean, I've heard a lot of like, obviously, you know, COVID impacted tons of people's lives negatively, but there were obvi you know, there it's just like anything you can, you can find your silver lining and adjust to, to what's out there and, and sometimes make the best of a bad situation.
[00:31:55] And it sounds like you, you were able to able to do that through this mm-hmm. yeah, man. That's I think that's, I think that's so incredible. And what do you think, you know, makes all of this? I, I, I know we've talked a lot about like gratitude and everything, but what do you think makes it all worthwhile for you at the end of the day?
[00:32:12] You know, now that you've found that success and you've, you know, taken impacts to where it is right now, 
[00:32:19] Alex: I, I think for me, like it's just waking up every day, being able to do something that I'm excited about having the creative freedom to take the business in any direction that I want to be able to hire people and provide salaries to them.
[00:32:32] And especially some of the folks on our team without that salary would not be able to live the kind of life that they're living now. So it's making a giant impact on them. Their families. So the impact then reaches that you can have with content I've, you know, had 1.3, 9 million impressions on just on LinkedIn alone in the last 90 days.
[00:32:51] So like I've reached like my content's come in the feeds that's amazing 0.3 million people in, in 90 days. So, I mean, I think the impact of being able to do what you wanna do, is the creative freedom to make the adjustments and like put out the type of content I want to, without any risk. A company, not thinking it's the right content, you know, I think, yeah, those, those moves those types of stuff inspire me to be an entrepreneur.
[00:33:12] But because you know, the reality is you're in the driver's seat and you've got all the responsibility and it's all resting on your shoulders. I enjoy that. I relish that where, you know, a lot of people would not, and that's perfectly fine, too. Sure. There's plenty of roles and great careers you could have where it's not all resting on your shoulders and you're driving the car and you've got people in there and you've gotta take care of them for some people.
[00:33:34] That's a big burden and you may not want that. But for me, I really, I love that. 
[00:33:38] Blake: And what is your next kind of big goal that you have for impacts? Do you have, and even just like a general from a general sense, cuz I love that every step of the way you've set these goals and just like. Plowed right through 'em.
[00:33:50] So I'm sure you got something out, maybe a hundred things, but 
[00:33:53] Alex: well, there is, there are a few things there's and there's one that I, I, I wouldn't, I can't talk about it cuz it's a partnership opportunity with another person that we're gonna build something new. So I'm excited about those things.
[00:34:04] Those business opportunities are gonna come up where I get to partner with other companies, but I'm excited for this. Video content, creating demand, building a brand movement. And I think in a lot of ways, we're in the very, very, very, very, very beginning of it. You know, where if you pulled 50 companies and maybe it's small, medium size, but even larger companies, you know, maybe one out of 20 or 30 are creating a video or have a social presence.
[00:34:29], mm-hmm, building a brand, you know, and so sure. I, you know, I've just recently partnered with a billion dollar company and we're training. 11 of their people on how to create content on LinkedIn, to attract clients, to attract candidates, things of that nature. And that whole movement is coming.
[00:34:44] Like these bigger companies are gonna start to, they're already starting to figure it out that they need to take LinkedIn and social media and content. Seriously. They need to meet their customers where they're at. And educate them on the buying journey versus sitting on the sidelines and doing nothing and hoping to cold call and reach them one day.
[00:35:00] So they're, they get it. Like these companies are getting it. And they're now finally in a place where they're making moves and because they don't have, they don't have experience in it. In most cases, they're hiring people like me to come in and give them some strategy, give them some services, like video editing and that kind of stuff.
[00:35:17] And. I think we're just entering like a golden era of video content, building a brand creating demand, and it's a rocket ship and, you know, we wanna continue to be at the top of the rocket ship, helping other people 
[00:35:29] Blake: travel. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I was gonna say, your business model is so on point for what people need right now.
[00:35:36] I mean, even Gary V mentioned it, like, I guess maybe like a year and a half ago. There's gonna be way more job listings for even content creators, people doing exactly what you're doing, but guess what? The knowledge gap is huge in these places. Yes. Like that's the thing. There's no like, great. Yeah. You, you can like hire a kid and be like, all right, go ahead and make videos all day.
[00:36:00] But guess what they're gonna do, they're gonna probably have like a year or two of ramp-up time to figure out how to make something that's effective. So coming with the pre. And all of that. I mean, that is just massive. That there's so much demand for that right now. I feel like, 
[00:36:12] Alex: yeah, in most companies, that's exactly right.
[00:36:14] The gap that most companies have with creating a really solid content strategy and creating demand for their company is that leadership at the highest levels doesn't understand the content or social media or video mm-hmm, they're a little bit worried or fearful of it because of that. They don't know how to manage or lead around it.
[00:36:31] They don't know what to expect for performance or KPIs. And so what it does is it just forces them to say, Well, I mean, this, it goes against everything I've ever done in my whole career. So I'd have to like wipe out a lot of that and start over and learn something new, learn a new skill set, get in social media, do it myself, learn how it works, learn with it.
[00:36:50] Like with my team, hire somebody to help. And a lot of times those executives and CEOs hire level folks. They just aren't willing to do that. At least at this moment. They're gonna say now let's just kinda look the other way or let's ignore it or let's not worry about it. Cuz I, as a C-level person, don't know how to lead the company around this and it's a little nervous mm-hmm, I'm a little nervous to do it.
[00:37:09] Sure. And so the companies that are winning though right now are putting their ego aside. They're getting outside of their comfort zone. They're diving in learning about it, studying it, bringing in people that know that, know their stuff that has expertise in those areas. And they are equipping their teams, them, and their teams to be able to go out there and create content that attracts clients, attracts candidates, and builds the brand of the company and the individuals.
[00:37:32] And those are the companies that are gonna dominate over the next three to five years. And the other companies are gonna be sitting on the sidelines. Like when the first, when the internet came out, and for 10 years, certain people did not move on it at all. And they got left in the dust. They didn't adapt.
[00:37:45] They died. 
[00:37:47] Blake: So, and absolutely. Yes. Yeah. It's, it's, it's the same thing as, as anything else. I mean, this is such a dominant way to reach people that if you're not doing it, you are gonna, I mean, I, I, I, I agree. You're gonna, you're gonna get left in the dust fully. It's something that you do need to, you do need to pivot right away.
[00:38:06] So what's. One of your, you know, if, do you have any kind of just general advice for somebody that is starting to create content on their own? Like what you do as just a rule of thumb for, for being able to, to be successful or maybe even a do not do this? 
[00:38:22] Alex: yeah. I mean, there's, there are two things with content.
[00:38:25] I mean, I would always encourage everyone. That's creating content for the first. Just sit down for a second and, and figure out the game plan. Like, where are your customers hanging out? You know, what channels, where are they at? It's probably LinkedIn for B2B, right? Maybe it's some TikTok, maybe it's, you know, they listen to podcasts, whatever it is, figure out where they're at.
[00:38:43] What do they care about? Study your customer. I was on a call yesterday. What they. Soon to be a client. And I learned, I was just picking his brain and I learned some invaluable things, man, that I'm gonna turn into content and I'm gonna be able to use on other meetings because I asked questions that like were inside what he was thinking.
[00:39:00] And so I think people oftentimes don't study their customers enough to even know. What content would hit them and what would not? So you have to talk to your customers, like, go communicate with them, ask them questions. Don't just say, what do you need right now? Or what are you looking for? We're looking for this.
[00:39:16] Got it. Cool. Yeah, we do this. Do you need to say why what's going on? How are you doing something different? How is that working? Why have you guys not tried this yet? What is the team think about this? What does leadership say about this? How come your CEO hasn't implemented this yet? Man. That's where I get all my data.
[00:39:30] I collect so many insights from those convers. Sometimes they're live on zoom calls. And other times they're in the comments of content. Like they show up everywhere, but so I'd figure out where your customers are at. What are they talking about? What do they want to hear about? What's the unique perspective that you have on their questions?
[00:39:46] Cuz you're answering their questions. They're thinking about buying something or purchasing a service or a product and they've got questions. And a lot of times, if you can supply the answers with your unique perspective and stories. That is what they want. And they'll take that. They'll educate themselves.
[00:40:00] And as they're going along that buyer journey, now they can better. They can make a more informed, more successful, and more likely to succeed decision because of you because you educated them. So when they think about purchasing now, and they're like, man, we need need to buy. We need to, you know, equip ourselves with a supplier.
[00:40:18] We need to hire somebody, bring them in to help us implement this. Who do you think they're gonna? They're gonna call the person or the company that has been educating them along the way of the buyer of their buyer journey. And so it's just that simple. So 
[00:40:30] Blake: yeah, that's, I, I. I can tell you were probably a pretty killer sales rep back in the day with your discovery skills.
[00:40:39] I mean, those are some great discovery skills right there, dude. Like it's, 
[00:40:42] Alex: it's it's game changing, man, for example, like I was just, just to go a little bit in depth with this, I was asking that potential client. I was like, cuz we were talking about it's it's a company I used to work for. And I know they're gonna, I know they need help with this stuff, but they're, mm-hmm, again, leadership, maybe a little stubborn, maybe a little bit unknown.
[00:40:58] There's a bunch of different factors. And I was just asking 'em I was like, how is the cold calling working? Like when I was back there years back, I remember we used to do X, Y, and Z. And he told me he was like, it's, it's honestly, man, it's just not as effective. Like people aren't answering their phones.
[00:41:12] And he is like, I'm talking to leadership, I'm trying to get them to be reasonable with expectations. And they're thinking we're not lower at expectations. Like, keep it going. He's thinking, man, there's, there's better ways of reaching people now. So now, yeah, now that I know that I can create amazing content from that, just knowing.
[00:41:28] Like I can basically story, tell that message back in a LinkedIn post and I can have a CEO read it and go, oh my God. I just had that conversation with my executive yesterday. Like, and so when that hits, man, yes, that, that company's gonna reach out and be like, mind, you said something yesterday that we talk about in our meetings, it was like, you've been in those meetings.
[00:41:49] Can we set up a time to talk? And at that point, man, you're, you're 90% of the way sold because you've already built the credibility and the. Through the content. 
[00:41:58] Blake: Absolutely. Wow. I, I can't imagine that's gotta be such a, such a, a gratifying feeling, like getting, getting to realize that you're like, oh my gosh, like people are taking my content and I've like, studied them enough to where I'm finally seeing it all clicked together.
[00:42:11] So I think that seems like you have a real mastery of that. Pretty cool, man. So, you know, in kind of wrapping this up here, I always like to. Is there, like, you know, anything, anything that you know, for, let's say that somebody's wanting to live life the way that you do right now? Is there, well, anybody that's curious about it, is there anything that you'd say to them 
[00:42:33] Alex: that wants to live life the way I wanna, what do you mean?
[00:42:35] Oh yeah. 
[00:42:36] Blake: Yeah. So you know, go down the entrepreneurship road take the risk, rip the bandaid off. Maybe they have a side hustle that they've got going on right now. Yeah, I gotcha. You know, maybe not specifically content creation, but you know, anything like that. 
[00:42:49] Alex: My advice would be that, you know, again, I think, look in the mirror, be very honest with yourself.
[00:42:53] Why do you want the things that you say that you want? Yes. Is it because, you know, you've heard it somewhere else, is it because you think it'll make you feel good cuz everyone else will see that you have it now? Like those are all not good places to build something from. But if you look in the mirror and you honestly say to yourself, I re I want this for me.
[00:43:10] Like, I'm excited about this. Like I wanna build this. This is gonna make me happy. Then at that point, you've got two options. You can go out there and give it a shot, or you can never give it a shot and always wish that you did 10, 15, 20, 30, 40, or 50 years later. And so my advice is always to get outside of your comfort zone.
[00:43:27] People are like, oh, I'm a little nervous. It's making me uncomfortable. Good. That's how it should feel. If you feel like, like everything's going smoothly and you're never uncomfortable, then you're probably not growing. So I think once you decide that it's for you and you're gonna do it and you wanna give it a.
[00:43:42] then go out there and, and do what you gotta do to make it happen and get support where you need it and study and beat on your craft and do whatever it takes. And, you know, you'll probably end up making it work or you'll discover something else as a result of going down that path that maybe you didn't even realize was a part of your journey or life that you find because you took action in the first place.
[00:44:01] So most people want clarity first, and then they wanna take action. I think, go take action. And you'll find clarity as a result. 
[00:44:10] Blake: Discomfort is so essential too, to be able to, to get where you want to go. Yes, I reflect on the first one of these that I did this podcast, even, you know, and I'm like, holy cow.
[00:44:22] I was like, why? As a sheet, I had this guest on it, cuz it's just something so new. But I was so excited because I was like, you know, It's gonna keep getting better and better. I'll get to challenge myself. And now I'm like, I think I'm, we're on the 20th one and I, every time it gets a little bit better, but I'm like, I it's still that discomfort that pushes you forward.
[00:44:40] Totally. So you're you? I, I love it, man. Well, Hey, it's, it's been an absolute pleasure having you on Alex. Like I know you pump me up and pump so many people up I'm I'm so excited to see everything that you continue to do. Is there anything that you wanna plug right now in terms of like what you are what you're working on, what people should be looking out.
[00:44:58] Alex: Yeah, definitely. So if you're driving on the go or working out or whatever you're doing and you can listen to something, we've got a podcast called brand in demand. It's a newer podcast. Wonderful. We release episodes every week and they're anywhere from 10 to 20 minutes in length. So it's. Pretty easy to consume, but I lay out the frameworks, everything we talked about today from a business standpoint, from content creation, content strategy, building a brand, creating demand.
[00:45:22] I lay out all of those things and the, but they're super valuable. It's like a free consulting session. And so check the podcast out. And then if you wanna see daily videos and content for me LinkedIn TikTok a little bit on Instagram, but LinkedIn and TikTok are the two main channels. Alex B shared and.
[00:45:38] Blake: Awesome. Well, Hey, thanks Alex. It was great to meet you, brother, everybody. This was the G.E.M series be on the lookout for for more from Alex and I hope everybody has a great day.
[00:45:54] Thank you for joining us on this episode of the G.E.M series, the podcast for anybody dedicated to investing in themselves. If you'd like to see the resources mentioned in this episode, learn more about what we are up to a rocket level or come over and join our team. Just click on the links below until next time.
[00:46:10] This is Blake Chapman, and remember to be awesome and do awesome things.