Join us in WyzeCast™ Season 2, Episode 15, as we dive into the entrepreneurial journey of Alyssa Williamson, a dynamic business founder, coach, and marketing strategist. Alyssa shares her incredible story of building not one but multiple successful businesses, starting with a graphic design & marketing venture she established in college. From navigating the challenges of the Bay Area tech scene, Alyssa mastered the art of streamlining her business, eventually achieving consistent thirty-k months.

In this episode, Alyssa unveils the proven techniques she developed to transform a business from ten-k months to twenty-k-plus months, all while embracing greater fun and freedom. Drawing from her own experiences, she has crafted a repeatable system that she now shares as a coach and mentor to empower female entrepreneurs. Discover how Alyssa’s mission to redefine luxury and fun in both life and business can guide you toward creating a successful multiple-six-figure empire with ease.

Watch on YouTube – Premieres December 5th, 10 AM ET

Listen on Spotify – Premieres November 22nd, 4 PM ET

Melanie McSally
Welcome to another episode of WyzeCast™, the show that elevates the voices, shines the light, showcases the gifts of our heart-centered guests, and amplifies the positive differences they are making in the world.

Listeners, I have a special treat for you today because our guest is a two-time successful business founder, coach & mentor, brand consultant, and marketing strategist. She helps female business owners who are already experiencing ten-k months transform their businesses into twenty-k plus months, with greater fun and freedom.

She started her first business in college- a graphic design & marketing business- and built it up to consistent thirty-k-months. She may have built a thriving business on her own in the Bay Area tech world but did so the slow and hard way.

Through her challenges, she mastered the techniques to streamline her business. From her experience, she crafted a repeatable system and now coaches & mentors other businesswomen to achieve that same success in a shorter timeline and with greater ease! Her mission is to support entrepreneurs in defining their own version of luxury & fun in both life & business.

My name is Melanie McSally, your host for today’s episode, and without further adieu, I would like to give a warm welcome to the talented, the inspirational, and the fun Alyssa Williamson. Alyssa, Welcome.

Alyssa Williamson: Thank you so much. I’m so excited to be here

Melanie McSally
The pleasure is mine, Alyssa. I’m excited for our listeners to hear about your journey as a business owner. It sounds like you had some challenges to achieve the success you did. Can you tell us about your journey and how you were able to achieve thirty-k months consecutively, which sounds amazing?

Alyssa Williamson
So yes, hitting thirty-k months did not happen overnight at all. As with anything, there’s no overnight success; it is all the work that goes in the background. So, I started my business fresh out of college, and by my second year of business, I hit ten-k months. This is because I’d set a goal. I’m a high achiever, and I want to make things happen. That’s pretty much everyone’s common goal, I think. First off, let’s get to ten-k months in my business. So I did it by hustling. I did long hours. I was working eighty-hour-weeks when I hit this to achieve it. I had great clients. I had built a business. I’d gone from working part-time the first year to eight-hour weeks the second year. So, that was successful on some level, but I didn’t feel successful. I just felt overwhelmed. And I had no idea how I was going to sustain my business, how I was going to grow further. The process of becoming a business owner really is a journey of evolving and up-leveling yourself, especially if you’ve come from the corporate or business world. Or, like me, I came straight out of college. I just had to learn confidence. I had to learn how to run a business. I had to learn how to market. But really, I had to learn boundaries too, and get the confidence in myself. So, I started out I was lower priced. That was one of the reasons I was working so many hours to make that income. But I also didn’t have boundaries. I was letting clients call me on the weekend. Give me assignments on the weekend. And I’d be like, oh, yeah, let me get on that; I know it’s urgent, I’ll come and do it for you. And so that’s why I say I made a lot of mistakes and challenges along the way.

I then joined with a business partner. He was a great guy, but I joined for the wrong reasons. I joined because I was just so stressed out. I was so burnt out. I had no idea what to do with my business. If I’d had the right business coach, I had someone who was like, Okay, let’s go and let’s look at your business systems and your strategy; let’s look at your pricing; let’s work on your confidence in yourself; let’s work on your mindset; let’s get some of these things so you don’t have to work so hard for money- you can make money easier; let’s change some of your beliefs around that- I probably wouldn’t have done that. But I joined with a business partner and learned a lot from that experience. Eventually, I went back out on my own because we weren’t moving forward in the direction that we both wanted to be going. So, that’s when I moved into building more of an agency-style business. When I first started out, I was a freelancer. I did subcontract some work to a friend. She later became an employee of my business. And so when I went to an agency, I had two to three employees working for me while running my business. I eventually built up to thirty-k months, which again is amazing, nearly a quarter million dollars in one year. Again, I wasn’t happy. I’d hit my goals. I’d hit success. But now I was like, this isn’t what I wanted to be doing. I’m just managing people. I’m building systems and processes. I’m answering emails all day long. I felt so disconnected from the work. I know the reason I did this was from Robert Kiyosaki’s Rich Dad Poor Dad; that when you build a business, you can either trade time as a freelancer or you can trade other people’s time. That’s what I wanted to do. I wanted more of that passive income, but I had to realize, what did I want in my business? What did I want my lifestyle to look like? And that’s when I came to realize that there was actually something else I needed to be doing to make sure that my business grew to what I wanted it to be.

Melanie McSally
I can totally relate. When I first started my business, I started out coaching, but honestly, most people do not want to learn about technology. They just want you to do it for them, so I quickly pivoted to done-for-you services, which was great. However, paying commissions on done-for-you services is not the best strategy. I was also spread so thin managing my team, delivering done-for-you services, and doing all of the sales and marketing myself for the business. It wasn’t sustainable and yet I wasn’t making enough money to hire more people. Because of this, I wasn’t being selective about which clients I took on, and I found myself with some clients I did not enjoy working with. Eventually, my team and I went back to the drawing board, basically hitting the reset button. We redesigned everything from the ground up so that we could deliver high-quality services and scale, all while still maintaining the values that we had grown to appreciate as a business, such as being able to work from anywhere on the schedule we desired working.

Melanie McSally: OK, so you hit your goals, but you weren’t happy. What happened next? How did you pivot?

Alyssa Williamson
Yes, exactly. So, I hit my goals. I had all of the work that I wanted. The type of work that I wanted. And then I realized that I no longer enjoyed it. Or that I’d been building someone else’s dream. And this is actually a huge philosophy because of my own experience, a huge philosophy of what I work with my clients on. What are your lifestyle goals? Not just what is the money you want to make, but what is your lifestyle goal? What do you want your business to look like? How can that support your lifestyle? Then, we work backward into that. So I had to realize, I did not enjoy the disconnection from my clients. I built a firm that was large enough that, yes, I didn’t want to be doing the day-to-day work, but I wanted the day-to-day interactions with my clients and connection to their projects. I just had so many projects going on that I wasn’t connected to anyone. And what actually happened was a couple of things. So I moved. I moved out of the Bay Area up to Oregon, to Eugene, Oregon. Just being in a different environment, being out of that rat race, that got to work all the time mentality, helped me slow down.

Two, because I was moving, I shut down my agency. I let go of my employees. And I just went back to being on my own. Because I was back on my own, I had to reduce my client load/client services. And I looked at things, and I was like, Does this bring me joy? Do these services bring me joy still? This was my business as a graphic designer marketing business. And I had to look at it and go, SEO is great recurring income. It’s a great revenue, but I just don’t enjoy it anymore. I’m actually at the point where I’m almost dreading each month having to do this work. And so I’m not going to give my clients my best work if I dread it. And I don’t want to spend my days dreading the work and projects that I have. So I had to release those clients and those projects that I had going on as well. But it was the best thing ever because then I got to focus on the pieces that brought me more fulfillment. I was living my purpose. I was more passionate about it, and then I could dive deeper into the services that I offered in that area. I loved marketing strategy. So that’s where I started to expand my services. Building around that. Helping guide people. Helping develop strategies for them.Not having to do the sort of, just ongoing backend work that some of the pieces required, such as SEO.

Melanie McSally
I love this idea of reverse engineering, from what kind of lifestyle do you want to how to construct your business to build that lifestyle for you. You know, there are people out there who are so clear on the passion, purpose, and zone of genius. They know exactly what they want and what they’re meant to do, and they just go for it. And I celebrate them. I, on the other hand, have lots of things I’m really good at but not necessarily passionate about. For instance, at WyzeTribe®, we offer done-for-you technology services.

I, too, reached a point where I was wondering if I was on the right path because I wasn’t feeling passionate about technology anymore. I even expressed to my friends that I was much more passionate about the lifestyle I was creating for myself and my team, but in that conversation, I realized that technology was just a method to achieve my goals. What I was truly passionate about was building a better tomorrow and living a life of freedom. Now, we offer many diverse services, but they all fall under the umbrella of helping heart-centered business owners who have a mission to build a better tomorrow.

So, I love this concept that you’re giving our listeners. I love that you’re giving them another perspective. Sometimes, it isn’t about doing it the quote-on-quote right way. Sometimes, it’s about doing it the way that will bring more of what you desire into your life. So, what can our listeners do if they want to make the same type of shift in their business?

Alyssa Williamson
I love this because this is exactly what I help my clients do. I help work with those business owners who have hit a level of success in their business, and they’ve lost their passion. They’ve gotten so caught up in those day-to-day tasks, or they’ve just, they’ve outgrown their old goals, and they need to be developing new goals. And that’s where creating those multiple six figures. Some people grow to seven figures. It’s not about the money. It’s about the lifestyle that you’re living. And so there’s a couple of steps to that. I moved, so I changed my environment so I wasn’t in the rat race. I also started doing a lot of mindset work. I realized that myself, as the business owner, was the only thing holding me back from achieving more success. And so I did a lot of mindset work. I’m from a family of immigrants, two generations of immigrants. So one of our inbuilt beliefs is you can be really successful when you work really hard. I was the epitome of living that. So, I had to discover beliefs like that. I have to work really hard to make money. I was like, No, I don’t. I don’t want to have that subconscious belief anymore. So, I spent about two years doing some in-depth work on myself. Processes that I now work with clients on. So, I got Theta Healing training. As a practitioner, I can help my clients with this, but at the time, I did the training just to do the work on myself. I would spend every morning. The thing about personal development mindset work is that it’s simple, but you have to have the time devoted to it, and you have to want to dive into it. And so sometimes you do need that extra support. Sometimes that’s when my clients, I give them the tools to do mindset work, but then when we work on the calls, they have someone digging deeper into the base of what is the root cause of their challenges. It’s harder to do the mindset work on yourself. Sometimes, you do need that guide or that support to take you through the process to do the mindset work. And then, I became more connected to my intuition. I actually did an intuitive success coaching program. So what this does is it helps you in daily life, just being more connected to your business, your marketing strategy, and your energy. But it helped me get clear on what my purpose was. What did I really enjoy in my business? How did I want to serve clients? Oh, a meeting with a client doesn’t feel like a good fit. I’m going to let them go.

So what do you need to do if you want to make that shift to multiple six figures in your business? You need to look at it as there are multiple areas of your business. This is actually the base of my coaching program, mindset, and intuition. It’s the foundation of everything you do. You have to have a mindset that supports your goals and challenges and is not sabotaging you. Some people are like it’s not safe to have money. So you can make tons of money each month that somehow, at the end of the month, it’s all been spent, or you struggled to make money. That’s the other opposite of that. But finding those beliefs, I actually work with clients a lot of times on personal stuff. Even though we’re growing their business, some personal challenges come up that have to be cleared before their business can grow. Next are business systems and marketing strategies. What are your services? How is your business set up? What does your pricing look like? What’s your pricing model? How are you running and operating? What do your sales calls look like? What’s your marketing message? Do you really understand your client? Are you speaking to their heart and soul? Or are you just giving them surface-level content? Surface-level content gets you surface-level clients? It doesn’t move people?

The third piece is how are you showing up as a business owner in your daily life and business. Do you have goals that you’re setting, but you keep putting them off because this email comes up and this phone call distracts you? Or are you making specific time for the CEO tasks in your day that will help move your business forward? Every business is different, but it’s looking at those three pieces. What can you do to support your goals? What are your goals in your business, and how can you support them? Sometimes, you need that clarity. Sometimes, you need that outside insight to come in and be like, you know what, I don’t know. I’ve had clients come to me multiple times over that. They’re like, I don’t really know what my goals are now. I’ve hit them, and I’m trying to figure out what that is. And that’s where we work with them and get clarity. Clients working with me see results. They start to see results within the first and second month and then continue through the program, of course, but those instant results help change the trajectory of their business and their lives.

Melanie McSally
Amazing, I love all of that. I am a big champion of personal growth. I believe in continuing to learn, grow, and develop into the best version of yourself for that moment so that you can show up as the best version of yourself for yourself and for others. I find it fascinating that you tie personal growth, intuition development, and business success all into one. Since you’re looking at the business owner and their business holistically, it’s no surprise, to me at least, that clients can start to see changes so quickly! What are some of the results clients have as they make these shifts in their mindset, business & habits?

Alyssa Williamson
I know that’s what I love about this process. It really is so powerful. And everything I teach and share comes from my own personal experience, in addition to what I teach my clients. So that’s why I consider myself not just a business coach but a mentor. I’ve had fourteen years of business experience running a business myself as a business owner, in addition to four years of being a coach to other business owners.

Some of the awesome shifts that I’ve seen. So, I had one client who was lacking direction in his business. He’s like, I’m just cruising along. Life is good. I think I want more, but I don’t know what it is. And so we needed to connect him back to his passion and his purpose. What was his reason for his business? We found he wanted to do more with his family and be able to take more trips/more vacations. Suddenly, this had a more meaningful purpose for him. Okay, now, if I want to do that, okay, I need to make an extra five or ten thousand a year so that we can go on vacations together. That has more meaning than just being like, Oh, and making an extra five or ten thousand this year just to feel more successful. Now, it’s like, okay, this could be a trip to Disneyland, this could be a trip here. This could be a vacation in which we have new experiences in another culture. So, really getting clear on that purpose, passion, and why in his business so that he could move on to the next level. And maybe if he had been okay with that, where he was at, we would have discovered that too, and I maybe would have given him some personal goals. Because a lot of the businesses I work with are high achievers, and they want to be working towards something. But it doesn’t have to always be in their business. What is going to fulfill you most in your life? That’s what it really comes down to. How are you living your best life? What is the lifestyle you want? How can your business support you?

Another client, so I love this, is that clients, they pick on it, pick up on it so quickly. I’ve had within three months of coaching together, one of my clients actually went from almost completely losing a business deal. She thought it was completely done to buying this book of business. And then within three months of that, two months maybe, she retired her husband from his job so he could be stay stay-at-home dad. This was her five-year goal. She didn’t even think it was anywhere near possible. But just with the shifts, we made both with her as a business owner. And in her business and how she was showing up. She was able to create that.

Another awesome client story is, again, within about two or three months of coaching together, we hit June, and she realized she’d already hit her year-end goal in business halfway through the year. But we didn’t just go oh, let’s double your income goal. Instead, we looked, Okay, so you’ve hit this goal. Amazing win. Celebrate it. Let’s achieve. Let’s celebrate what you’ve achieved. What do you want to create from here? What is that lifestyle? Do you really want to double your income? Or is it now about maintenance? Is it about changing the way you show up at work? Maybe we need to make your business more efficient so you get less time in the office and more time off. Exploring those. What did she really want? What was the next level for her? It didn’t have to be more income. Maybe it was opportunities. Maybe she could take Fridays off. Or maybe she finished in the afternoons to go home earlier to her kids. So, looking at all of those pieces.

Another client again. Within the first month, I shared some tactics and strategies with her that were already helping her so that she was no longer working till 10 pm Every night and weekends, turning off by 5 pm and spending her weekends with her grandkids and making time for them no longer having to always be in her business. So it’s amazing when you make these shifts strategically, the impact and the results that they can create.

Melanie McSally
That all sounds wonderful. I think one of the positive shifts society made during the 2020 COVID pandemic was reducing the emphasis on business and putting more on balance, self-care, and connecting back to what matters most to you. So, I love that you’re showcasing examples that showcase that you can have financial success while prioritizing personal goals, needs, and desires. What is something that a business owner can do to expand their business from their current level to create new success while reaching multiple 6-figures?

Alyssa Williamson
Great question, because I’m all about what can we do to take action now. How can someone start moving forward on their goals today? And so there’s a couple of things. I’ve talked about mindset. But really, there are two initial steps. One is clarity. What are you happy doing? What do you want your business to look like? You can’t grow into the next level of business until you have clarity on what you’re moving towards. Is it a simpler business? Are you growing into what I call an agency or solo from my background as a graphic designer? But are you expanding to have a team? Are you hiring more employees? Are you delegating? Or are you simplifying? Maybe you’re going to stay small. Maybe you just stay solo, or you’re going to have one or two contractors supporting you. What does that next level look like? What do you enjoy in your current business? What do you want to keep? What do you want to move deeper into? I find that for a lot of business owners they’ve hit this level, and now they want to get into deeper, more powerful results for their clients. That means deeper projects, higher ticket projects, programs, and services, and more comprehensive. So, creating something more that elevates to your next level of purpose and passion.

The other thing is knowing who you’re talking to. You can’t keep speaking to your current level of clients when you want to get to the next level of clients. You have to change your messaging. It feels safe because you understand your current clients so well because you’ve got testimonials and you’ve got case studies, but to get to that next level of client, you have to dive into what that next client is looking for. You have to dive into what that next-level client is looking for. Who they want to be working with. What are their desires? What are their pains? How can you position your business so that you are the best solution to help them address those pains? I’m all about being the best that you can be at serving your clients. It’s not about convincing them to work with you. It’s about being the best. Answering their needs. Answering what they’re looking for. So that it’s a no-brainer for them to work with you. And you speak to that. You speak to that level of elevated client. But you have to be comfortable and feel safe stepping away from your current level. And that requires support or being surrounded by people who are moving to the next level. You can’t grow to the next level without also changing your environment, whether mentally or physically. And changing who you’re around. And who you’re associated with. Who you’re learning from. Who you’re elevating with as well. If you don’t have anyone physically close to you, you can learn from those who are elevated. You can get connected with others. Sometimes, that is a coach. Sometimes, that is being around other business owners at that next level. But finding a way to step into that so that you can be your better self. You can serve your better level of clients, go deeper, and be more powerful.

Melanie McSally
Such great advice. We’ve probably all heard Jim Rohn’s quote: You’re the average of the five people you spend the most time with. This quote is often used when people are talking about achieving goals that they might not know how to achieve – surround yourself with the people who have been where you want to go; who have achieved what you want to achieve, and model what they did. I love this new spin, though. Target the new level of client you want in your business. We do this at the start of business when we’re first setting out to acquire our first round of clients, so I don’t know why we don’t think about redefining who we’re targeting as we and our businesses grow so should the type or level of client we’re serving.

Well, Alyssa, this has truly been enlightening and inspiring. Do you have any final thoughts that you would like to leave our listeners?

Alyssa Williamson
So I just want to say this: you can do this. You can absolutely grow your business to live your ideal lifestyle. You have created some success in your business already. Now, it’s just about fine-tuning and tweaking. Finding those little pieces that will elevate you to the next level. What you know has gotten you to where you are today, and it’s learning new things to get to that next level. I’m always available to chat. My name is Alyssa Williamson again. And I believe in the power of education. So, on my website, you can access my free training, three simple secrets to 25k months. This will give you tangible insights that you can make in your business immediately. And I’m always available to have a conversation. Mentioned that you heard me on this podcast. You can visit me AlyssaWilliamson dot com to get access to that training. And then you can also DM me on Instagram, @AlyssaWilliamson_Coach. I look forward to chatting with you and sharing your successes in business.

Melanie McSally
You heard it hear, folks. If you’ve lost the passion in your business, are looking to up-level, or are just looking for direction, I highly suggest you reach out to Alyssa and take her up on her free training. Click here to visit Alyssa’s site and access that training. Alyssa, thank you for taking the time to be on WyzeCast™ and bless our listeners with your wisdom, experience, and positive outlook on business and life. It has been such a pleasure having you and an honor interviewing you, so thank you.

Melanie McSally
I want to thank our listeners for tuning in. If you like what you’ve heard here today, please do like, share, and comment. We are trying to get WyzeTribe™ to be a hot new release. So if you feel inspired, if you feel moved, if you feel called, if we earned it, please do like, share, and comment. It is free for you to do so and really helps the podcast grow. And we really do love your engagement.

This was another episode of WyzeCast™, the show that elevates the voices, shines the light, showcases the gifts of our heart-centered guests, and amplifies the positive difference they’re making in the world.

If you want to learn more about WyzeCast™, you can visit our wyzecast.com. We dropped ten episodes every month on the 21st, so you can binge-watch or spread them out over the month. Whatever suits your mood and lifestyle.

Once again, my name is Melanie. It has been my pleasure being your host today. Thank you for listening. Thank you for watching, thank you for your engagement, and I invite you to come back and join me once again for our next episode of WyzeCast™.