56. The boundaries feedback loop | Alexis' win-win story

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Transcript

Janice: Joining me on the podcast today is Alexis. Alexis is the founder of Laugh Eat Learn, a business dedicated to helping solopreneurs, especially Teacherpreneurs, create standout WordPress websites. With over a decade of experience, Alexis specializes in making website design feel easy and stress free for busy entrepreneurs.

Alexis is passionate about collaboration and enjoys helping others feel confident in their business through small steps that lead to big results. Outside of work, alexis enjoys working out, camping, spending time with family and friends, and curling up with a good book. In today's conversation,

alexis shares how she balanced her teacher business while she was still in the classroom, and how she started to make capacity decisions over time as her business went through different seasons.

Alexis is extremely talented and many people are vying for her time to access the support they need [00:01:00] within their businesses. Alexis is the queen of boundaries and really understands her time capacity. She knows how much time she wants to be at her desk, how much money she needs her business to earn for her family, and is always able to create a win-win plan to get there.

 Thanks for joining me today, Alexis.

Alexis: Yeah. So glad to be here today.

Janice: For anyone who doesn't know you, could you tell us how you got started with your teacher business?

Alexis: Sure. So my name is Alexis. My business is called Laugh Eat Learn, and I originally [00:02:00] started my website slash blog when I first started my first full year of teaching in the classroom. So it was kind of my way to share, finally getting my own classroom, setting it up, doing all of the crafts that I was doing to set it up.

And eventually it kind of turned into the resources I was making for my class and also TPT too. So like, this is back in the day. I mean, this is like, I don't know, I don't think I started in 2012, but it was, it was maybe 13, 14.

Janice: But that's what blogging was

in that era. It was very much a journal about what happened in my classroom this week.

It was not like SEO keyword driven.

I have some blogs that I've read, beginning to end

like a story. 

Alexis: Yeah. It was so different. I mean, you took real pictures of your classroom and they would be so blurry and cropped weird and [00:03:00] have beautiful borders around them. And yeah, it was authentic and that was, you know, what it was during that time.

Totally. So I started doing that and I kind of just started to blog on the side, make products, sell on TPT on the side too, while teaching full time. And I then kind of started dabbling in designing, like fixing up my blog the way it looked. And I did this back in middle school with like a live journal.

 And MySpace, all those, you know, that was like the beginning of website design 

Janice: Yeah. And you were there for it, watching

Alexis: Yeah, so I kind of did that back then. So I started playing around with blogger, which was what I was on, and kind of played around with that. And someone messaged me, um, Angie messaged me from Lucky Little Learners, and I had another person message me and was like, I really like your blog.[00:04:00] 

Can you design mine? And I'm like, yeah, sure, why not? I'll try it. You know, give me $50 and I'll do it or 

something. It's like 

Janice: Can you imagine? 

Alexis: I was just more excited to kind of play around and do this more, so that's kind of how that sparked. We did that and we launched those two sites, and then more people trickled in and it just started becoming more of a for sure side hustle on top of teaching, and then it became a okay, this is getting really big.

I don't know if I have the capacity to do both and also have a personal life. And so I made the decision to switch down to halftime, half day, move schools to a different . And then the year after that, I went full-time. And so it's been about 10 years now since all that happened.

Uh, kind of a whirlwind situation. So [00:05:00] when I talk to my clients now, i'm like, I've been there. I know what you're dealing with. I still have my products on TPT too. I don't focus on TPT exclusively anymore, but I'm very hands on with those people who are selling on TPT and who work in the classroom still, or people that have side hustles or full-time businesses.

Janice: And as long as my TPT store is making more in a year than my premium seller membership,

like if I've made something and it can help a teacher, I love that for them.

Alexis: Yes. Yes, Exactly.

Janice: You don't have to take down a TPT store. But

it's interesting how the universe tells you where you're needed most.

You would've been happy to keep teaching if that's where you were needed the most. You'd be happy to keep making resources for your classroom and posting them on TPT if that's what the market and the universe told you they

needed from you. But someone tapped you on the shoulder and said, I actually need something different.

And

if all of the things [00:06:00] bring you equal creative joy, then why not?

Alexis: Yeah, exactly. And I've always been a very creative person. I always took tons of art classes, too many art classes growing up and a DIYer and stuff. So it kind of just fit into my natural path slash journey for me to kind of go more this freelance. I still am working with teachers every single day.

I talk to teachers every day, so it's really nice. It's a good balance between both of them and I have found a passion of continuing teaching with my clients through tutorials, courses, templates, those type of things. So I'm not teaching the kids anymore. I'm teaching adults, 

Janice: Alexis is such a patient teacher. As a client on her roster. I can confirm. She teaches us things every day.

Alexis: Yeah, so it's a nice balance. It's like the best of both worlds,

Janice: I think as teachers, we like to learn from other teachers because we are frustrated when [00:07:00] people don't lay things out clearly and take us on a good learning path. I think we all have a short fuse for that.

Alexis: Yeah, for sure. For sure.

Janice: So that is so exciting. I also wanna give you the overachiever badge. When I think back to my first year of teaching, girl, there's no way I could have also been blogging about it.

Alexis: Well, it was technically not my first year. I had spent two years doing, like a half day position. I split a classroom with another kindergarten teacher who's working half day. So I had two years to get my feet wet. 'cause I can't even imagine trying to do that full time. So once I went full time is kind of when I started blogging. 

Janice: And that creative space is so, so important. I know that there were years that, although it made me feel like I was drowning, creating my resources, creating my lesson plans, creating my curriculum, all while I was teaching it,

there was also a point in my career where although the students were different and they needed different things,

there were times where I was like, I don't wanna go back to the beginning and teach this unit again.

I don't wanna teach this course again. I already did [00:08:00] this. Like, what else is there, here for me? Um, 'cause I get itchy. The creative side of me needs to rock and roll too. And we hear from that in the TPT space. There's optimizing resources and then there's like, I haven't made something in a long time. I really need to.

Alexis: Yeah, I really just experienced that myself this year. 'cause I recently launched a new course and it has been on my to-do list for years. For Years. And I kept putting it off it and putting it off, but I found this year that I needed that space where I could kind of have more flexibility within my work schedule and, just like put my head down and really create something.

I hadn't done that in a while, and as soon as I just let go of like the perfectionism, the perfectionist in me 

Janice: Which is so hard! 

Alexis: I know it's so hard and just started, I literally just started doing it, baby steps, one step at a time. I found so much joy in creating that [00:09:00] course, and it really helped me finish it and get me excited to share it with the world and everything like that.

It was a nice breather and it was a nice refresher to myself too, that I need to let myself be creative too. I can't just be admin all day, or emails or, you know, quick task and all of these other things. I do need to lean into that creative side too, which I think is something that is in every single teacher out there.

So I wanna lean into it a little bit more.

Janice: And I think while those feelings are so raw and memorable, there's such a gift to learn about when you make your schedule saying like, well, I can't give it all away. I have to hold a container

for this creative piece. It's really important to keep me at my best and to

keep me enjoying this and not burning out.

Alexis: yeah, exactly. And I did that exactly. I literally put in my emails that I'm not checking emails until so and so time, and I just carved that space in my schedule so that [00:10:00] I could still meet my clients where they were at during a certain time. But I could also dive into the creative side .

Janice: You do such a fantastic job modeling those boundaries and expectations as a win-win. Your subject line always tells us when you're going outta office unapologetically, you

are like, I'm not gonna be here. You gotta stuff to me by this day,

here's what happens if you don't.

It's just very, if then. Here's when I'm here, here's when I'm not.

 ' Here's when you'll hear back.. And I love it because then we don't have to refresh all day and wonder what's happening. And we know that when you're in office, you are at your peak productivity,

at your peak creativity, you're all in.

Alexis: You know what? As soon as I started really implementing boundaries, I found like the anxiety, the stress, the self-doubt, everything like washed away because there was such a response from my clients or anyone that emailed me. They were just so eye opened by my boundaries that I set, my hours that I set, everything, like it changed everything.

I would come back on Monday and have like a billion [00:11:00] emails and now I don't have a billion emails because people know I don't check my email on the weekend. Or like you said, like vacation time. I just got back from a trip and I said exactly when I would be in, I give myself grace when I get back so that

there's time to actually go through emails.

I have never had anyone message me or say anything to me like, how dare you, da da da. But I always hear, I love your boundaries. Like, that is so good. I'm gonna take that away with my own business and everything like that.

So boundaries are important people. As a independent entrepreneur, you gotta set your boundaries and it's okay to do that.

Janice: And at first you think people are going to be mad, but I've had the same experience. You do. It's the opposite. People are like,

yes.

Take a trip, go on vacation, take your weekend. People are

so proud of you.

And they take it as that reminder to be like, I also need boundaries. [00:12:00] Thank you for modeling

that for me.

And once you see that loop go through a few times and realize that no one's mad at you, nothing terrible happened, it gets easier.

I imagine boundaries were a journey but yours are absolutely chef's Kiss.

Alexis: Thank you. Thank you.

Janice: So I would love to hear about a time before you had Chef's Kiss boundaries. Was there a time in your business where it did not feel like a win-win where something was not working for you or not working for customers or both?

Alexis: Yeah. There's lots of times like that. The one that just popped in my head though, is there was something that was popping up with email marketing. Like the email marketing, 

Janice: The big compliance shift when everybody needed help

Alexis: Everyone was freaking out and my inbox was Truly insane. I've never had it like that ever before . And it was maybe like a month or two, a solid month or two. [00:13:00] And I did have boundaries in place. I had office,

people freak out and it's at like emergency type level basically. And most of the time, especially with the online space, websites, TPT, whatever, selling things, it's not an emergency. But when there's something brand new that can affect so much and there's just this much amount of time, just a tiny amount of time that you have to do something about it really cranks up, like the anxiety level. 

Janice: That particular time I feel like was the closest to an emergency that we've had in a long time,

Alexis: Yes, I agree with you. It popped outta nowhere. 

Janice: And like there were bad things that happened. You even said in your emails, this actually one is not one you can ignore.

You cannot put this on your next year vision board.

We can't skip this one.

Alexis: And I think it's so funny, I think it happened in January. So it was like right after winter break time, the holidays, [00:14:00] you're going into the new year, all like refreshed and, and then you're smacked with this. So anyways, long story longer, my inbox was insane and it was only me.

It was only me managing, doing all the compliances 

Janice: Oh my goodness. You were all by yourself.

I didn't 

know that. 

Alexis: Yes. Yes, and managing my inbox during that time. So I was working overtime. It was like all hands on deck, let's get this done. I almost started teaching my husband how to do it so he could help out 

it had to be done.

There was a deadline and there weren't a lot of people out there that were doing it that could do how to do it the right way. So it was all hands on deck. Um, I don't know if I messaged you after we had a whole conversation. I don't know if it was during, after, it wasn't before, but it might've been after.

And I was telling you about my inbox and everything and I'm just like, what is going on? Like, I don't know what to do. This is so [00:15:00] overwhelming, blah, blah, blah. 'cause we have many conversations about all things, but

Janice: And I love to connect people to the person that digs them

out. We don't want anyone to feel like their business

Alexis: yes. You were the one to give me my wonderful VA's information and she specialized in inbox.

I'm pretty good at my inbox. A lot of people tell me that. So I will take that as a badge of honor. But I needed someone to start managing it so I could do other things. And she jumped right in. 

Janice: You didn't need a beginner that needed to be trained like

you needed the queen bee

of 

inboxes who was a self-starter. And I was like, well, there's only one person.

Alexis: Yeah. So, you know, we got, I got her all set up like we met, I signed the contract, we got her in, she took over. It was great. And it was worth every single dollar. It was worth every single anything to get her in there and get her helping manage my inbox. She still manages my inbox.

I think we're coming on [00:16:00] two years, probably in the new year. Um, and does tons of other things for me. But at the time before this, I didn't have a va. I just did everything myself. 

Janice: And it was working until it wasn't,

Alexis: Yeah, it was working until it wasn't, and then, you know, you have to find a solution. 

Janice: You don't always get to plan out on the crystal ball. And in Q3, I will grow my

business and need support.

It almost never goes that way,

Alexis: No, no, no. You have to be flexible as an entrepreneur. There's just no other way. You can't be a perfectionist. I'm a perfectionist, but you can't be in this business because one day everything's working, the next day everything changes, and then, then it goes back again, and you just have to flow with every single thing that happens.

So I think that was the biggest thing is just getting my inbox under control, hiring a VA to take off some of the stuff off my plate so I can focus on the things that my clients needed me to do 

Janice: You felt like you were pretty strong at inbox management, but there were other things that only you could do.

[00:17:00] And so even if you like your

inbox and you think you're pretty skilled at it. There are moments where you're like, I don't wanna give this part of my business away, but I gotta do something.

And I think the big thing that we learned in that season was the importance of white space. So many of us jam pack our calendars. If we have four days to work, we fill them like morning till dusk.

And then that's an invitation for something to go wrong

when we don't leave ourselves white space to do the professional development.

To even figure out what this email compliance thing is.

To do the PD when every software raises their prices at the same time. And you have to make a big business decision.

So many of us pack our calendars so full that there's no time to do those popup things. And like you said, this will always be how the world of online business rolls.

You will need a research block. You will need a problem solving block. You will need to hop on a call with someone and put two heads together and [00:18:00] figure it out.

And very few of us feel comfortable leaving white space for impending doom..

Alexis: Yeah, yeah. 

Janice: And you in that season easily could have just been like, guys, I do websites. I am booked and full with websites. Someone else is gonna need to solve this problem.

I'm sure you considered that.

Alexis: I like helping people. I'm a people pleaser, so when people started like blowing up my email, like, I wanna fix that problem for them. Unless it's absolutely not something I can do. But most of the time I just teach myself how to do it and then I'm like, okay, I can do it.

Janice: And I think because clients trust you so deeply.

I didn't think Alexis was gonna solve that problem. I just knew you were fully booked with websites out for months and months.

I didn't think you were ever gonna have capacity. But the moment you said to the world, okay guys, I could solve this if you need help.

I think all of us were like, oh, that

would be amazing. yeah. 

Alexis: No, it was fun. I mean, it was a rollercoaster, but um, it did teach me a [00:19:00] lot about adding space to your calendar. Buffer time. I do wanna say that I did, once things calmed down, I did kind of tweak my schedule a little bit more,

Janice: Oh, I bet

Alexis: some more space in there. 'Cause now I have three client focus days.

I have a business day for myself or like open loops day. I need to get stuff done day, anything like that. And then I have a meeting day 

and so my days are focused during the week, and there is, and I, but I still leave white space I've never heard white space before. I just say buffer time, 

like, 

yeah. 

Janice: buffer time. I'm

here for it. 

Alexis: in the afternoons too. So if it's a client focused day, then I work on them in the morning, in the afternoon, I either have more time to work on my client stuff, I have more time to work on my stuff that I didn't get done on Monday, I have time to prep meetings for Fridays, or I can walk away from the computer and go [00:20:00] fold the laundry that's been sitting in there for days on end.

Janice: You can't focus on a project if the laundry's nagging at you

and you can't step out of the office if you don't see a nearby block on your calendar where that thing can get done.

It's so important to be able to see, if I step away from this now, when am I gonna do it? I have to be able to see where the task is sliding to or like I just can't.

Alexis: yeah, yeah. 

Janice: So there are definitely times that, we're in a push season for a small period of time. We can't run on all eight cylinders all the time. in those seasons that I'm holding on white knuckling for dear life, I always say, I'm here to learn the lesson.

That's always my go-to state. 'cause like you said, as soon as I get out of this hot mess, my calendar will never look this way

Alexis: Yeah. I mean, you learn from every experience you experience, right? Like you take little pieces away from them, good, bad, ugly. You're like, okay, well I'm not doing that again or, [00:21:00] or. You know what? That wasn't so bad, but I think this would make it better, and that is literally every single time I do anything, that's the thought process I have afterwards.

How can I make this better? How can I make it not suck as much? What can I do next time? 

Janice: how can it be a little bit more comfortable the next time I go on this ride?

Alexis: Yeah. Yeah. It is definitely a ride 

Janice: Yeah. And so your schedule looks nothing like it did when you were like 50% in the classroom and 50% not, and the worlds of online business looks nothing like it did in 2012 Live

journal days, you know? 

Alexis: Yeah. No, no, no, no. 

Janice: I think that that's a really important, character trait that a business owner has to have.

You have to like, be smiling when you tell this story. You have to appreciate the growth in the way back machine, in the

rear view mirror, and you have to know that like the curve balls aren't going to stop.

Something fun is going to pop up an online business. We don't know what it is yet.

But you have to enjoy the problem solving of [00:22:00] it and the joy of being nimble if you do not enjoy that, this is not the place to be.

Alexis: No, no, no, no. If you don't enjoy that, like flow, like having to be in this flow state and you get to your computer and something's not working, so you have to pivot. I mean, you can have hard boundaries within your business, but you definitely have to have a lot of flexibility too, and be open-minded

to having that flexibility. 'cause if your mind's not connected, it's just not gonna work. 

Janice: Absolutely. So when you were in the email compliance Trenches, how long were you like really in that sprint season? How long did that take you A loop for?

Alexis: I really think it was the beginning of January when I came back from winter break. Like the first week of January through I think it was the 19th of February, that was like some random day in February that was when it was gonna start. So I was literally working full-time. 

Janice: Every moment that you had.

Alexis: Yeah, at first I had just a notebook with people's information in it, and then it got like [00:23:00] pages long and I'm like, okay, I gotta do a spreadsheet now. 'cause it's getting too crazy. 'cause of course it's not just a one step, you'd click this on and turn it, da, da da. No, there's multiple steps and there's days between, so you have to let it cook and then you come back to it and then you check it again.

So, it was a lot. It was fun. It was rewarding to get so much done in such a short amount of time. 

Janice: So it was like a solid 60 day sprint. 

Alexis: I Don't even remember what happened on the 20th of February, I probably just 

took a 

nap. 

Janice: you still helped some stragglers at

the end who were like, I promise I won't send an email until it's fixed, but I'm not done and you have to help me.

Alexis: Yeah. 

Janice: And then so what are some things that took the backseat, like during the 60 day sprint where you were like, my attention has to move to this.

What could you backburner?

Alexis: My inbox definitely got shooted over to

Lisa. And then, I don't remember how many projects I had during that time. I probably just worked alongside with my [00:24:00] clients there and just did things on top of, between everything for the compliance.

Um, I definitely changed any products that I was gonna make, any tutorials I was gonna create, newsletters, blog posts, I'm pretty good about being one 

month 

ahead.

Janice: Yeah.

Alexis: Batched ahead with that. So that wasn't a worry of mine, but literally I just reworked everything other than booked clients, everything got pushed 

because that was the priority.

Janice: It's like I usually eat dinner with my family. Okay. Well this week I don't.

Alexis: Yeah. It was like, okay, we're gonna eat dinner, and then I'm gonna have to come in here for an hour or two 

Janice: yeah, it won't always be like this,

Alexis: yeah. 

Janice: today it very much needs to be.

Alexis: Yeah, It's like, okay, I gotta take, I'm going my walk now, but I have to check, like check my email while I'm walking and respond to emails 

Janice: Right. My dms are coming

with me. 

Alexis: Yes. Yeah. 

Janice: I'll sometimes when I have like a whole bunch of like professional development stuff that's stacked up, like I need to go to this replay of this [00:25:00] important call. I need to listen to this specific podcast that solves this specific problem that is related to a project..

I'll make myself like a little playlist and hop to the gym.

And I never see anyone at the gym watching a webinar. And also, I don't care.

Alexis: I don't care either.

Janice: I don't care.

Alexis: I mean, that's the biggest thing though, too, is especially as someone that has their own business. You can't just, when things start to blow up, you can't just drop everything else. Like things still need to be done. You still need to get sleep, you still need to brush your teeth, you still need to take a shower.

You still need to go on your walks. You need to work your body like you have to eat. Like all those things are super important. Now, you might have to do it with your phone in your hand a little bit more, or a headphone, or a notepad, whatever. And you're always thinking about work, but it's such like you said it earlier, it's like a push season.

Like you just get through it and then you can take a break 

Janice: And you tell yourself and everyone around you like, this is not the way it's

always gonna be. This is a short sprint. [00:26:00] It's

an intentional choice.

Yeah. I know that my dog does not like to be down in the office after a certain hour. And I watched, like a PD summit on replay.

I threw it up on our tv, like on YouTube music or whatever upstairs. 'cause he was like, mom, this is my lap snuggle time. Why we down here? And I was like, okay. I guess we're doing PD upstairs. It's fine.

Alexis: Yeah. Yeah. You gotta do what you gotta do 

Janice: Yeah. We appreciate the boundaries from the doggos. And I like that you made that list of things that went on the back burner and you were like, no, but like I still gotta eat.

I still gotta fuel my body. I still get movement. Like

Alexis: Mm-hmm. 

Janice: made the list and I really applaud that. I think that's a huge deal.

Alexis: Yeah, that takes a long time to kind of maneuver and figure out, especially 'cause, I mean, we live in this like hustle, hustle, hustle, culture, and every moment should be filled to the second of you're doing something or processing something. Especially when you run your own business, your head is on all the time anyway.

So [00:27:00] having that space for personal is a big thing that I've learned over the last couple years and that I've dedicated the time to. Even during my push season, it's just like when I was doing my course launch and getting my course done, I still went on my walk every day. I worked out, I still ate what I needed to do.

I took my breaks. All those things that's like non-negotiable for me 

Janice: And there are so many tools and tactics and shortcuts out there to try to help us get like more done faster with that hustle mindset that you mentioned. But so many people that I surround myself right now are like, I don't wanna go faster. I don't want anyone to put more things on.

I don't want you to squish more in,

please, please stop.

Alexis: you can't. You can't. 

Janice: I want to go for a walk. I want to move my body. I want to stop and smell the roses. I want to enjoy my day. I don't want it to go by in a blur. Like the hustle culture has gone so far in the wrong direction.

Alexis: I know. I agree. It definitely is something that, you know, [00:28:00] everyone needs to work on and not every day is perfect. You just get better the next day or the next hour, the next minute you do, you make a better choice 

Janice: Amen. 

Alexis: Yeah.

Janice: So you went through your 60 day sprint. Everybody's email was okay. Your inbox finally got quiet, and then like, what did you do? Like when you could finally take a breath and you've learned the lesson, what are the changes you made to be like, the next time this happens,

Alexis: Yeah. Yeah, yeah, 

Janice: the storm better?

Alexis: The main thing was just putting in. You know, my VA in place and holding onto her for dear life and getting her all set up for things that, I don't need on my plate. So 

that took a lot off of it 

Janice: and

you could have off boarded her, right. And only kept her on for that sprint.

Alexis: yeah. Yeah, I totally could have just kept her for that short amount of time. Um, but she's so good 

Janice: And she, was able to open up space for you that you needed.

Alexis: Yeah, Yeah, exactly. Um, freed up my schedule a little bit more so I can focus on things that I 

love. Um, which [00:29:00] is something I tell my clients or potential clients all the time when they're trying to like DIY their own website and they're just like, I hate doing this.

I don't know why I'm doing this. I'm like, well, that's why I'm here. 'Cause I love doing that, so let me do it and you can do the things that you do love. 

Janice: And 

like, I don't want my website built by someone who hates building websites.

Like at some point I have to step away from tasks like that and be like, I don't think I'm helping here.

Alexis: Yeah, it's just more frustrating taking so much time. So it was nice to see myself in that situation too., Where yeah, I'm good at my inbox, but it takes me so much time 'cause I'm so invested in it and I could be building a website or I could be, you know, setting up an online store for someone or making a sales page.

Like those things that I do enjoy doing. Not that I don't enjoy my inbox. 

Janice: Well, but

there's a moment where. You're like, no one else could prioritize my tasks. Yes, I

can. Um, nobody else could treat my clients with the care I do. Yes, I can.

You know, and there's 

so many examples of templates of things you've [00:30:00] written in the past, how you normally handle things. It's so interesting.

Once we start to relinquish that control, we're like, oh, actually there's lots of ways to do this.

Alexis: That was, that wasn't that hard. Yeah. So, um, that was one. I always try to reflect back after like a push season or a launch or anything and just write notes of good, bad, things I would change, screenshots, look at analytics, data, those type of things, and just kind of write it all out on notion that I keep for anything I launch or do something big for.

And, step away. I did it for this last course. I don't know if I did it specifically in my last, during that time, during the email marketing, but the course I just launched. I had heard on a podcast. Another podcast that I listened to, Hustle Sanely.. She had said like, you know, after a push season, you should schedule like a week or a few days after to just [00:31:00] decompress. Like you don't have to completely sign out of your work or your business or something. Like still show up, check your email, do like minimal things, but make it so like light.

Make it light. Get your house back in order. Get your life back 

in order. 

Janice: things you neglected

during the 

Alexis: the things, 

Janice: Go circle back.

Alexis: Go hang out with your friends, your partner, whoever. So I heard that before I finished my launch and I was like, oh, I'm doing that. So I like rewrote my week after my launch based off of, you know, that podcast I heard.

And, it was very nice. It was very nice to kind of move into it without burnout and kind of like. Get back in place, get back in my routines, get back into normal life 

Janice: yeah. Your real life that was Still there the whole time, 

while you were 

glued to your computer. People aren't used to you taking a whole expansive week or time for reflection, but they don't [00:32:00] judge when you do it.

They're like, okay, that's really smart.

That's what the smart people do. I need to be like

Alexis, and so many of us don't have that buffer space, don't have that white

space and that reflection piece that we miss out on. That's gold. The next time you launch a program or add a service, the ability and wisdom to be able to go back into notion. And read the Raw one week after launch reflections of past Alexis,

that's business gold. You can't pay for that.

No Instagram ad is gonna serve that up to you.

That's not available anywhere, if you don't capture it in that raw moment. You that you need that reflection

space. And so many people skip it and they just go back

to what they were doing.

Same old, same old. And that's the business gold.

Alexis: And it's worth the time. I mean, it doesn't even take that long to do. It's literally just that all your thoughts you've been having all week. Just put it down, put it down somewhere, wherever it is. 

Janice: Well, and you probably have a reflection shell at this [00:33:00] point with some specific questions that you take yourself through.

Alexis: Kind of, it's really raw. There's no real questions that I kind of follow. It's just kind of what I'm thinking in my head. Any things that popped up, any feelings that popped up. Um, responses that I got from people in, like, I always do like a post survey, so I kind of look at 

Janice: Yeah, 

Alexis: too or reflect on that.

Janice: I thought people would love this, but what they actually loved is that. That

happens to us all the time in market research land, right?

Alexis: Exactly. It's all good reflection. Um, and I really started doing this a few years ago with Black Friday. It is really good to start a practice like that on your, whatever your next big thing is, black Friday

if you do Black Friday, do this afterwards so that you can reflect back to it the year before. So every Black Friday, I write out exactly my thoughts and everything, anything I wanna tweak, and I like look at the calendar and I already plan out the [00:34:00] next year's Black Friday 

Janice: You're 

like the first one out of the office on Black Friday too. 

Alexis: I'm outta here, 

Janice: you are gone. Before people even start talking about Black Friday, you're like, if you want something from me, you're getting it today

Alexis: Yeah, so I learned a long time ago, and I won't gate keep this, but there's so much noise online space during Black Friday. There's so much noise. And it's even worse now because Black Friday starts in like September. The people are saying, black Friday, this what? No. Stop. 

I learned. That I really wanted to enjoy that time, that Thanksgiving time with my family and the days off. And this really did start when I was teaching too. Um, I wanted to enjoy that break. I didn't wanna work during that break. So I don't do Black Friday during Black Friday.

I always do it before Black 

Friday. 

Janice: there's no rules

Alexis: There's no rules. So I do it before Black Friday, and I take thanksgiving off, and I don't add to the [00:35:00] noise during Black Friday. I add to the noise before Black Friday.

Janice: Yeah,

Alexis: and it's so peaceful for me. It's nice for my clients, like they don't have to worry about it.

Janice: and it's such a different type of urgency. It's like, Ooh, if I need something from Alexis, like it's right now,

wait a second. She is not gonna be here next week. It's not gonna be the 15

days of Black Friday. 

Alexis: and I've been doing it for so long now that. I feel as though people know like she's not gonna switch it up.

Janice: Especially because you're so consistent about boundaries all 12 months of the year. I think that's what makes the difference. She's not gonna slide back in with one more bonus. One more bonus. She's like,

No,

guys, this is it.

Alexis: no. This is, this is it. This is 

Janice: But you're right. People are sitting down to write their launch emails and you're already gone.

You're like, no, I'm taking the whole week. Sorry. Bye. And business is still okay, right? Math still maths? You don't get in trouble with the imaginary internet business police?

That's so funny. The first time we take that [00:36:00] uncomfortable risk and we're like, oh, it was totally fine. 

Alexis: It's so funny. It's so funny because people really do, they're like, oh wow, that's so great that you do this because I'm gonna be on a airplane during Black Friday, or whatever sale, and I'm just glad it's done now. I've never received any negative anything

from someone about something I did early, a vacation time I was gone, you know, working after blah, blah, blah. 

Janice: We rescheduled this podcast interview. Your little invite came back in. You were like, actually, I got an invite to go somewhere cool. Smell you later.

Alexis: I, I really did. I was out of town. 

Janice: Go live your life.

Alexis: Yeah. I think, you know. It's, it's 'cause everything's on our shoulders and it took me a long time to feel this way. It took me a long time to work through all the feelings of everything's on my shoulders, but it feels so much better now that I.

Don't hold myself accountable to this imaginary police, like you said. I can make my own rules. I can decide [00:37:00] when and what I wanna do with my business, and that's okay. And the best part, and I tell this to my clients all the time, is you can change your mind. 

If it doesn't feel good, like try it and it doesn't feel good, you can change your mind.

I've changed my work hours, like 18 times, 

Because it's just different seasons. I'm in, so, you know, some seasons are more and some are less. And that's okay. As long as you bring the quality and you show up and you help people or whatever you do. 

Janice: And you have dialed in like, how many people can I help in this month? Right? Everyone you say yes to is gonna get an A plus experience,

but you went through the growth of maybe some weeks I can say yes to five people.

Alexis: Yeah. 

Oh 

yeah. 

Janice: maybe some months it's not five.

Alexis: Yeah. I mean, I've been working at this and carving it for years 

Janice: Yeah. and

learning a lot of lessons along the way.

Alexis: Yes, exactly. 

Janice: I think the reason I love hearing this positive boundary story from you is [00:38:00] because you do not have one of those B minus brands. You are not lazy and phoning it in. That's not the story here. You are a perfectionist. You do like everything to come out at the a plus level, visually, technically, customer service in all the areas,

and also you'd like to have some boundaries and enjoy your life.

Alexis: Yes, for sure.

Janice: So you're not saying phone it in, you're not saying don't do a good job. That's never been the laugh, eat, learn story.

Alexis: No, I've never, never wanted that to be the story. I don't, I don't wanna be known that way. I've said it multiple times. I am a perfectionist, but I'm a perfectionist with boundaries.

Janice: Yeah, and

that makes me so happy too because like I don't wanna turn on my website for the day and see how beautiful it looks, but know that someone was like crying in their Cheerios last night to fix it.

I don't want Alexis to be crying in her Cheerios. I want her to find a mutually [00:39:00] beneficial energy time slot

where she could please use her unicorn magic to

fix one thing in my website whenever she gets around to it.

Alexis: yeah. I mean, it's just working smarter than harder too. Like if you work within your capacity you're gonna produce better work and you're gonna be happier and want to do that work instead of forcing it all the time.

Janice: And I think that you're very reflective as a business owner when you sit down and you see your schedule for the day, for the week, for the month, and you just have to like stop and say like, am I excited for these tasks?

What tasks feel like I'm dragging myself through the mud? They have to go.

Whether they go to another team member or you sunset a service or you

just stop that product line and don't continue down the path. If you get those visceral feelings that this is not something you're excited to do, life is just way too short.

Alexis: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Janice: Yeah. So you have found ways in all of these seasons to make the math, math. [00:40:00] You took that risk to be half in on your business and then you went all in and how long have you been full-time?

Alexis: Um, it's over 10 years 

now. I think it's gonna be 11 years in January maybe. 

Janice: And so I just wanna call that out, that every year your capacity looked different. Every year your boundaries looked different. Every year how you scheduled your time and what you wanted to work on looked different. But the bill still got paid,

the math, still math, and you still enjoyed what you were doing.

Alexis: Yeah, for sure. For sure.

Janice: And I just think we need to hear more of those stories because I think in the end that's what we're all looking for. Since we are just talking about Thanksgiving. I was chatting with someone this morning about how it's the worst when you sit down at the Thanksgiving table and people like ask how work is. 'cause nobody knows what your job is. Nobody. But when people ask like, how's work or what do you do? At the core, what they wanna know is, are you happy? Are your bills [00:41:00] paid? Or like, do you need a networking suggestion or a connection or an idea? They don't really care what you do all day.

They just wanna be like, are we good?

Alexis: Yeah. Are you doing okay? 

Janice: Especially when you don't have like a traditional like nine to five W2 job.

Alexis: You just say, yes, it's doing great, unless it's absolutely not doing great and you need to talk to someone about it. 

Janice: but we all have that like little handful of people that we actually could like cry

And be like, no, really help me.

Alexis: Yeah, for sure. For 

sure. 

Janice: not usually the people I eat Thanksgiving with. 

Alexis: They just don't know that world. I mean, the online space is such a unique space. What kind of popped in my head is when you're like asking your husband or whoever, your best friend about your logo or this product that you're creating

oh, what, how do you, do you think this looks good and does it make sense? Well, they're not your ideal client. They're not your ideal audience. They're not your ideal customer. So it, it doesn't make sense to tell them or show them.

You can [00:42:00] show them to say like, look what I accomplished. 

It is the same thing.

So find people online that you can talk to and that can save you when your inbox is swamped.

Janice: Mm-hmm.

Alexis: Good recommendations.

Janice: Know, they're not gonna judge you. Like no one comes in my inbox and says like, I'm drowning in my business. And I'm like, Hey, you

stink. Like, it's never like that.

I'm just like, oh no, that's the worst. We've all been there. Let's, let's see what we can do.

Alexis: Yes. And then, but also talk about the positives too.

Janice: Yeah. This was such an uplifting conversation because yeah, there are people around us that have figured out one little thing that is working

Alexis: yeah, 

Janice: we, we don't talk about it enough.

Alexis: we don't talk about our wins enough. Like as a whole. We don't talk about those things. And, 

Janice: And it's not even bragging, right.

It's just like, wait a second, I found something and it's working. Oh

my goodness. Let me tell people. 'cause

maybe their day could be less awful.

Alexis: I like doing [00:43:00] that 'cause when I figure something out, I'm excited about it. So I wanna tell people like, oh, you could do this, if you just do this, you can find this success for whatever.

Janice: Yeah, and we love to celebrate and lift other people up, but if they don't share their wins,

then other people don't get to celebrate with you.

Alexis: Exactly. Exactly.

Janice: So I think this is gonna be the year where we're not just going to like trauma dump in the Facebook groups. We need to circle back and share the wins also, because there are people who have figured out one little piece of the puzzle. We gotta share the wins more often.

Alexis: Yeah, I agree. And it could be a win that doesn't make sense for you, but it could spark another idea that does make sense for your business or for your next step, whatever it is. 

Janice: Or even the things that I don't resonate with, because there's been a lot of that in this particular calendar year. Um, it just makes me feel more strongly about the path that I'm on. Like, I see a road, someone's going down and I'm like ooh, that is [00:44:00] so not for me. Love it for them, but it makes me feel stronger in my direction that I'm going in.

And that's valid too, right?

We're not out here to be cookie cutter businesses of everyone else's, but you see people starting a new venture and you're like, how cool for not me.

Alexis: Good job. Have fun with it.

Janice: right? Tell me everything.

Oh my goodness. I would hate that.

Alexis: Yeah. 

Janice: And so sometimes seeing things that aren't for us, can be really validating too.

Alexis: Mm-hmm.

Janice: Alexis, if anyone who is listening today needs help with logos and branding and visual perfection and all the techy, techy things, how can they get in touch with you?

Alexis: So you can find me@laugheatlearn.com or just laugh, eat, 

learn on Instagram, and send me a message there. But I'm happy to chat or, you know, if you wanna pick my brain, I have options for all the things that you might need help with, with your online space.[00:45:00] 

Janice: Yeah, and Instagram is a wonderful place, but you should definitely go to Alexis's website, because sometimes she undersells all the amazing things she helps people with, and she's very good at making her own website show all the ways that she can help you. You have a ton of content and tips and tutorials and freebies on that site that I don't even think people know about.

Alexis: Yeah, yeah. I send a lot of it out to my newsletter list so you can join my newsletter list. I think, the URL for that is just laugh eat learn.com/subscribe. And I try to publish a blog post twice a month, but I'm always sending emails with tips about WordPress, WooCommerce, marketing, anything with that in mind.

Janice: You're always showcasing what other people are doing too, like the glow ups of others so that we can see what other people are working on and you're like, oh yeah. [00:46:00] I do need to add a store to my site.

Oh, yeah. I probably haven't refreshed my templates in a while. Oh, yeah. My WordPress plugins.

Alexis: Yes, for sure. I like to celebrate my clients and, anyone that, you know, supports me, I try to support 

back. I wouldn't be able to do what I'm doing if it wasn't for my clients. 

Janice: I 

think one of the cool things about the service provider space is we see so many people that are working so hard to serve the world of education in such a unique way.

And every time you get that like little honor to peek behind someone else's brand,

you do, you step away from your desk and you wanna tell literally everyone you

know. 

You're like have you seen these task cards? Have you seen these morning slides?

I want to start a science lab. I know nothing about it,

but these are adorable and I absolutely need them.

Alexis: yes, 

Janice: Yeah. There are just so many hardworking people in this niche, and if you can do anything to make their [00:47:00] day just 10% lighter, um, all for it because if they can help make a teacher's life easier

and can help them, keep them in the classroom one year longer to help a few more students,

Alexis: Mm-hmm. 

Janice: it's just really impactful.

Alexis: Yeah, it totally is and it's totally worth the time to stay focused on that and allow, you know, other friends to come in and help you, know, make that impact.

Janice: And you can sometimes feel lonely working from home, like you're just at your computer all by yourself. But I think hearing about what's going on at other people's desks. And that's one of the powerful things about your email list too, is just the remembering that you're part of a bigger community.

And it's like other people are working on the same things you are too, and it's going well for them, and celebrate the wins. I think we all need to hear those wins as often as possible.

Alexis: Yeah, we really do. We really need the wins as much as possible in our ears.

Janice: Alexis, thanks so much for joining me today.

Alexis: Yeah, it was so much fun. Thank you for having me. I. [00:48:00]