Hey! Thanks for visiting. Here’s what you can expect from me on the regular:
- What’s Worked In My Career (and What Hasn’t)
- My Entrepreneurial Endeavors
- All About My Life (How I Think, What I Love, My Career Experiments)
I’ll have many topics (ranging from career to lifestyle stuff), but it’s all guided by one central belief system:
There is no one right way to accomplish your dreams.
Whether that’s creating micro businesses, think tanking the hell out of a project, or experimenting/doing cool things in your career.
I genuinely feel that. That’s not the corporatized B.S. version of me talking.
There is no “magic-formula, one-size-fits-all” approach to life.
I only ask that your way doesn’t cause harm to others.
That’s it. Oh yeah, and respect the Universe pleeeease. If we all kept its laws in mind, the world would be a much better place (👍 to ☮️& 💗).
So why keep reading? To learn and take away whatever has value for you (and leave whatever doesn’t). At the end of the day this is YOUR life journey. If my story can help you on the road to building your HAPPY life, then I’ve done my job.
Now, I do think I have some insightful lessons to give you. I mean, I’ve tried just about every book and course out there on productivity, life habits or self-improvement – and took away a Big Idea or two from some that I’ll be sure to pass along. But the truth is?
Today, those things don’t interest me as much because I would rather optimize for joy than productivity. And those experiences showed me that just because something worked for someone else doesn’t mean it’ll work for me (and vice versa). I had to forge my own path – which can be tough in the social media age, where everyone is trying to sell you THEIR dream, and sometimes you mistake their dreams for yours (speaking from life experience on that one)…
I fumbled around alot. I’ll be honest.
But I’ve learned that there are 3 Spices of Life that have allowed me personally to succeed the most (I promise there’s no upsell on the other side of this 😉).
🧂 Cultivating A Valuable Skill That People Want To Pay You For (a sense of security + challenges you, forces you to grow)
🌶 Doing Something That Keeps You Creative (can be a passion business i.e selling something on etsy, playing music, making tik toks, posting on Youtube, etc.)
🧄 Being Physically & Mentally Healthy
Now let me elaborate on 🧂.
For me, this is what entrepreneurship is all about. I love the idea of creating something of value and putting it out into the world (and being rewarded for it so you keep creating value in new and interesting ways).
I also love to think of entrepreneurship as lifestyle design – you’re literally creating your dream life out of your business ideas, self-motivation and deepest passions.
Here’s a short history on how I’ve added 🧂 to my life:
- First, I dabbled in copywriting (here’s a guest post on email marketing that sort of blew up – like 100 + comments as of this typing). I also wrote articles for some big names (like Entrepreneur, Business Insider or Huffington Post). I even worked with Daniel Dipiazza over at Alpha Mentorship/Rich20Something where I helped launch some of his products and even throw a killer live event.
- I was having fun cultivating value with others and working toward a shared vision at Rich20Something…but the next question was “how can I scale this up?” I was only making around $1,500/month on the side through my entrepreneurial endeavors and I wanted to make more – entrepreneurship at the time was always the end goal. Using the skills I developed from previous work experience on random Upwork jobs, I quickly reached Top-Freelancer status. An idea from one of those clients showed me a more scalable way to use my skills. So it was time for me to make the transition from working for someone else and doing part time freelance work to Business Owner – and ProspectUp was born!
But of course, we all need a little 🌶 in our life too. Check out my passions (and how I’m turning them into something amazing):
VELOCITY (Growing, Trying New Things) – With ProspectUp, I am helping connect small business owners with great leads. It’s a major value to these companies (which means they’re willing to pay) and it’s a major opportunity for me to grow (learning how to run my own company, hire out, automate tasks and keep clients happy). Now I’ll take this all with me as I keep making ProspectUp better and also moving into any other future ventures.
OPTIMIZATION (For Happiness) – Happiness > Money has become my mantra. So that means starting this website, writing blog posts and starting a YouTube channel. Whether there’s a pot of gold at the end of this rainbow or not, I’m just enjoying the process of getting my thoughts and feelings to you and having fun sharing my life.
I also make time for my favorite hobbies. I consider it essential for my mental health. My top hobby right now? Martial arts. I’ve actually been doing it since I was a kid, but I’m currently studying Jiu Jitsu (and loving every minute – it brings me so much JOY). Another new thing I’m doing right now is learning guitar (wish me luck!).
What’s your source of joy? It could be dabbling in interests you previously had as a kid – whatever it is, just get off the couch! It’s tempting to queue up your favorite Netflix show after a hard day’s work, but you will thank yourself for carving out time for a skill-building hobby that speaks to your passion.
EXISTING (“Be”ing In The Moment) – The more ME time I can have, the more I can think up new ideas and bring them to life. I believe we all deserve time to get our mind right, connect with the divine, write and reflect.
CONNECTION (With Family, Friends And The World) – I want deeper, more meaningful relationships. That’s why I’m posting relational stuff right here and on YouTube. I don’t want to “influence” you – I just want us to relate, find some common ground and help each other.
Last but definitely not least is the 🧄. I’m here to tell you right now, if you put grinding, grinding, grinding above your physical and mental health…it’s never worth it.
BUT the world’s changed alot since I first swore I’d never do a “train-into-work, cramped-cubicle, fluorescent-light” lifestyle. For one thing, no more cubicles! Remote work isn’t a dirty word anymore (check), which means no micromanaging boss culture (double check) and I still get to help an amazing team work towards a shared vision (triple check!!!).
So I’ve found a great opportunity with a Series A startup that’s pioneering a new category of software. I’m their Sales Enablement Manager and ready to make some amazing things happen. All while I still run ProspectUp and create exciting new businesses.
I’m totally an advocate for following your heart and pushing yourself out of your comfort zone even when it takes you to some strange places. Here’s where it’s taking me in the next 5 years:
🔮I want to be a small business owner working on cool sh*t (making this happen now with ProspectUp). That means working on artistic projects or starting more businesses.
🔮I want more time freedom. That means 4 day work-weeks, traveling to Jamaica (I have citizenship there) as much as possible, and spending stress-free quality time with my family.
This is a BIG one that I struggle with. I spent my entire 20s feeling like I didn’t have enough time, spending late nights on different projects. I’m grateful it gave me a foundation, but now that I have that (along with skills that people value and want to pay for, and traction/validation from a corporate job and testimonials from clients), I want to restructure my days for good.
🔮I want to keep optimizing my life for joy, happiness and love. That means changing my time-money relationship even more and being more in control of my life schedule (so I can be there for the people who matter most in my life).
Now the $1,000,000 question: HOW ARE YOU GOING TO GET THERE, ALICIA?
Exactly how I became a published business writer, Top Upwork Freelancer and owner of a digital business…
….ready?…
…This is the *exact* way, the secret sauce to what I do…
…
…
…I EXPERIMENT.
(*silence*)
🤷🏽♀️It’s true.
What, do you want me to tell you to wake up at 5AM each morning and get in a full workout before sunrise?
I mean, I personally like to wake up early, but none of those cliches are a recipe for success.
People want to package success up into an easy-to-digest pill (ie. expensive course or conference), because that is sexy to sell and makes the life hack gurus out there a lot of passive income.
It’s harder to sell “JUST EXPERIMENT” (imagine that tagline with the Nike swoosh 😂), but that’s really all there is to it.
Want me to prove it? Okay. I’ve really been experimenting towards success my whole life. Here goes…
I always knew I wanted to be an entrepreneur – ever since I was a little one. Yes, I was one of those kids – did the whole lemonade stand/garage sale thing (though in reality, I just wanted to find a pile of money buried somewhere in my backyard). To be rich was to have absolute freedom. That’s what I thought. Whether I knew it or not, that was my first introduction to entrepreneurship. But wanting something isn’t enough. I still had to put in the work…
Thankfully I had the two biggest role models of all time in my parents to instill that work ethic in me. You see, I’m a first-generation American, and I basically owe all the opportunities I’ve been given to their hard work and sacrifice:
Shout out to the parents that came here with nothing but gave us everything.
The next step for me wasn’t the “school of hard knocks”, but the best college on the planet – Howard U! The first flyer I ever paid attention to on campus was promoting a business plan competition hosted by rapper Curtis “50 cent” Jackson. I applied to many business plan competitions throughout my college career (winning over $20,000). I saw some incredible success from that – like ringing the NYSE Closing Bell with Mark Cuban and interning for Google (I’ll never forget the excitement I felt the night before my interview). So the rest is history, right? Not quite. There’s still more…
You see, my first job fresh out of college was at Yelp. I was learning how to get small businesses to give me their digits (that is, credit card digits) and invest thousands into Yelp’s services – and I was terrified.
I literally got so anxious over my first week of cold calling that I had my mum praying for me in the bathroom. Everything seems so simple when you’re just planning your first idea for a business…but when you start getting your hands dirty? Things can get tough fast.
My time at Yelp was as hard as it was invaluable, though. It got me comfortable doing cold calls and in-person pitches. In fact, I look forward to them (they are incredible opportunities to see whether your idea really works or not and to practice communication skills).
But guess what? A magical flip still didn’t switch for me just because I’d learned how to do sales. But that was the start of something special: Google intern (my introduction to working with top players + digital ads), Yelp saleswoman (becoming a confident sales person – intro to biz + sales), working with Rich20 (working with a small company, grinding and seeing what it takes to build a company) Upwork (me branching off and doing entrepreneurship for myself) ProspectUp, (my own brand and business), sales enablement professional (getting back into “corporate” and seeing if I can fit it to my needs).
And the experiments continue. I’ll continue to learn new skills and make more money.
But guess what folks: we are always BECOMING.
Life isn’t static or binary. No one part of my biography, work routines or personal ambition can be the #1 reason for all my success.
Everything in life is just an opportunity. Take advantage of them and you now have tools you can use to get to your dream (just don’t confuse the tools for the dream).
That’s it. Be open, be fluid and let ideas come to you. No need to do it my way, but I hope my journey inspires you on yours.
Want to tag along on the journey? (blog posts coming soon!)