Boss Talk with Chris Ellis

Interview with a Success Story - Alonia Taylor - Episode 5

July 26, 2022 Chris Ellis Season 1 Episode 5
Boss Talk with Chris Ellis
Interview with a Success Story - Alonia Taylor - Episode 5
Show Notes Transcript

In this episode, I interview a client Alonia Taylor. She’s a dreamer with a day job. We talk about how I helped her finally take the necessary steps to becoming a professional writer.

Today’s episode is...
“Interview with a Success Story - Alonia Taylor”

Or

From “Fantasy” to Reality in 25 Days!

What happens in this episode?
I have my first interview on the podcast with a client and aspiring writer Alonia Taylor. We talk about how she went from being too afraid to even call herself a writer, to having a fantasy novel and a marketing strategy fleshed out in less than a month.

I drop a lot of gems about how aspiring artists can make tons of cash from what they do. If you’re an aspiring artist of any kind, you definitely don’t want to miss this one.


Why is this episode so important?
Alonia is a regular grown ass person, with a day job and a burning passion to do more with her life. She was stuck in the muck of her everyday grind, probably just like you. My hope is that by seeing what’s possible for her, you’ll be inspired to finally say, “YES!” to your dream.

This episode shows the power of actually working with a professional business coach. You’ll see in this episode that my aptitude for “getting shit done” gave Alonia a set of solutions she never even knew were available.

Episode Highlights

  • Trying to launch a “practical business” is a recipe for disaster. It’s smarter to go after impractical dreams than boring, seemingly attainable ones. 
  • “Starving artists” are just people who only have one revenue stream for their business. 


IMPORTANT NOTE

Don’t forget about the “312 challenge”!

Like I said in this episode, I’m giving every listener the same opportunity as Alonia got when we first met.

Meaning, I’ll let you pick my brain about whatever business idea you have -- FOR FREE

Just text / call me at 312-521-0509

Introduce yourself and say, “Hey, I got this big idea. I want to get off the ground. Can we  talk about it”

I am going to give you a link to a FREE 20-minute mini-coaching session and I’ll talk with you all about your idea.

Don’t be shy. You’re one text away from a breakthrough!

Thanks for listening to Boss Talk and I’ll see you next episode.

P.S. Please remember to share this episode with a friend. I really appreciate you.

Chris: [00:00:00] Hey, it's Chris Ellis, your friendly neighborhood business coach. And welcome to "Boss Talk with Chris". So this is a show where I help you avoid common mistakes that people make when following their dreams, especially in regards to turning their ideas, talent, and expertise into money.

Chris: [00:00:40] This episode is for people that have a really big dream and you're not going after it because you think that it's too hard. I'm going to prove once and for all that, with the right support, it's way easier for you to accomplish your dreams than you can possibly imagine. So to help me prove that, I have my first ever interview on the podcast.

Chris: [00:01:00] It is a client of mine. Her name is Alonia Taylor. Alonia Taylor is an aspiring writer. And today we're going to talk about how she went from being too afraid to even call herself a writer and go after that dream, to having a fantasy novel and a marketing strategy fleshed out in less than a month. You heard it right. Fully fleshed out novel plus marketing strategy in less than a month of working together.

Chris: [00:01:24] So, if you are a writer, artist, photographer, aspiring filmmaker, whatever. I urge you to listen to this podcast. Plus, stick around to the end, I am going to give you an amazing free resource to start getting a dreams off the ground ASAP. You don't want to miss this show, so stay tuned. Let's get started.

Chris: [00:01:46] Welcome Alonia. 

Alonia: [00:01:48] Hey! Glad to be here. 

Chris: [00:01:51] I don't have… like sound effects yet. Cause I'm not fancy like that, but I'm going to clap. Yay. Thank you very much for coming. All right. All right. So just to talk to my audience a bit, ah, Alonia wants to write fantasy stories for young black girls that want to see themselves genuinely represented in that genre.

Chris: [00:02:13] When I sat down with her, she told me that she believed that black girls deserve to have well crafted fantasy worlds, that they can truly be immersed in worlds where they truly feel like they belong. Is that correct? 

Alonia: [00:02:27] Yes. 

Chris: [00:02:28] How long have you been writing and what kind of stuff have you written over the years? 

Alonia: [00:02:34] I feel like this isn't a trick question. Cause I feel like I've never not written anything. I've always been a writer. I just, it's hard for me to pinpoint when I actually began to get serious about it.

Alonia: [00:02:44] Um, but I guess I'll say, to answer your question, high school is when I started. 

Chris: [00:02:50] Okay. How long have you wanted to specifically write a fantasy novel?

Alonia: [00:02:57] I would say in the last five or six years or so, it's been heavy on my mind to write one. I had lots of ideas, but too afraid to go after any of them.

Chris: [00:03:08] I understand. So that actually brings, so my next question, so being a writer has really been a lifelong dream for you, is that correct? 

Alonia: [00:03:15] Yes. Yes.

Chris: [00:03:17] So you're not a professional writer. You work a regular nine to five job. Can you tell me what you do for a living? 

Alonia: [00:03:24] So I'm a director of sales at a hotel. Um, I won't mention a brand, but it's very popular.

Alonia: [00:03:31] Um, and I kinda got into that by accident. I went to apply for housekeeping at a bunch of different hotels. And every time I would go in for an interview, the people at the front desk say, "You should really consider front desk". Um, so I ended up applying for a front desk position. Long story short.

Alonia: [00:03:51] I ended up at a hotel. I didn't even apply for it. And then within the first, I guess the six months I was promoted twice and I ended up with sales. 

Chris: [00:04:02] So understood, it's just like you fell into this. 

Alonia: [00:04:05] Yeah. 

Chris: [00:04:05] At the risk of sounding rude, how old are you? 

Alonia: [00:04:10] 31.

Chris: [00:04:14] I wanted to ask the question because it was important. Because it's like... there's always that stigma of like, "You're not suppose to ask a woman about her age", but you know. 

Alonia: [00:04:24] I don't mind. Right now, I don't mind. I guess when I get older I'll start to mind. 

Chris: [00:04:28] Okay, cool. Thank you. Thank you for not minding today.

Chris: [00:04:33] Yeah. That's that's funny. Um, so fun fact, you recently bought a house, is that correct? 

Alonia: [00:04:39] Yes, yes. 

Chris: [00:04:40] Okay. How long have you had that? 

Alonia: [00:04:42] I bought it in August, honestly. The process literally fell into it, like I did with my job. The process started all my birthday, July 2nd and August 23rd, I closed and I still don't know how that happened.

Chris: [00:04:55] That's right. That's right. Get a house for your birthday. You better do it! Hahahaha!! The reason why I asked those questions here is because I want to recap something very specific here. So to recap, you are a grown ass woman. You work a full time job, you have real responsibility, real grown up bills and you have a dream and a talent that you wanted to fulfill since you were a child, correct?

Alonia: [00:05:21] Yes, correct. 

Chris: [00:05:22] Okay. So I feel like I need to recap all of that because this is a situation that so many people are in their real life, adults. You don't really have the lifestyle, the free time or the extra money to really go after your dream full time. Is that fair to say? 

Alonia: [00:05:38] Yes, that's very fair. 

Chris: [00:05:39] Okay. All right. And yet with all of that said, you now have a fully fleshed out premise for a novel that you're now developing as a result of working together. Is that correct? 

Alonia: [00:05:51] Correct. 

Chris: [00:05:52] And with all of that going on, not only do you have a fully fleshed out premise for a fantasy novel, it only took a few weeks to actually accomplish that, correct?

Alonia: [00:06:04] Correct. 

Chris: [00:06:04] Before we get into how that's possible, I would like to go a little bit deeper here. So here's my question. How has it felt for you being such a creative person, living a life where you weren't free to pursue your passion? 

Alonia: [00:06:21] I will honestly say it was kind of crippling.

Alonia: [00:06:23] I always felt like I wasn't doing what I was supposed to be doing. And the feeling never went away. And I kind of like buried myself in work. You know, I was getting promoted so fast. I didn't have time to even think about what I wanted to do. But the pandemic is really when I was able to take a step back and be like, okay, um, "Everyone's changing jobs, everyone's pursuing their passions. What do you want to do?" 

Alonia: [00:06:50] And I really feel like 2020 was a year. And I was like, okay, this is, this is where I see myself end goal. Like me being an established writer with several novels under her belt, maybe even a franchise. A whole world. A JK Rowling world, if you will. And, I came to that revelation and I was like, okay. So how is it going to get done? And then the rest of 2020 and 2021 was me trying to decide how the heck that was going to happen. 

Chris: [00:07:18] And it's crazy that you said though, because when I got connected with you, that's my, that was what I saw... is like having that path, having that kind of a career, having your stuff adapted into bigger things. Merchandising and stuff like that. Me as a business coach I always want the biggest dream, but at the same time, and it was weird because I was just like, "I don't know if that's what Alonia wants." So hearing you say that. Yeah. Such crazy confirmation for me personally. Thank you for that moment.

Alonia: [00:07:50] Hahahaha, Thank you for getting me here. 

Chris: [00:07:56] You're welcome. Okay. Follow up question. Has there been a point in your adult life where you felt like you were watching other people achieve their dreams? Almost like sitting on the sidelines and how did that make you feel? 

Alonia: [00:08:12] All the time and it made me feel like a failure. If I'm going to be blunt.

Both of us: [00:08:26] Hahahaha

Alonia: [00:08:31] I felt like I was helping people accomplish their goals. And it was, for instance, I think I shared with you before that my boss is a writer and during the pandemic, she finished her book and published it and got me to help her publish it.

Alonia: [00:08:47] And I was like, "Why the hell can I do this by myself?" Cause she was a writer. But I, you know, I have a tech background. I was a backup designer. Um, I went to school for it and, but she knew none of that stuff. Like I helped her design, her book. I helped her get it published on Amazon. Um, and like, I was like getting a glimpse into this world and I was like, "Okay, I made this happen for someone else. And what's my excuse when I can do what she does and more because she's asking me for help?" And she encouraging me. She was like, "You know, you have a gift. You need to be doing this too." And I'm like, "Yeah, I do. But how do... I don't know?" I just felt lost in a dark. 

Chris: [00:09:33] Yeah. Yeah. That is a common feeling for creative people and people that want to get stuff done.

Alonia: [00:09:38] It's like, you feel like you're helping other people get to the high places, but we're not able to get to it ourselves. And it can be a very powerless and also frustrating feeling, you know? 

Alonia: [00:09:50] And there's like, I didn't have enough main character syndrome to, to put myself in their shoes. So I just was like, always the sidekick. I guess that's why I felt compelled to write a story where we as black women are the main character and because we feel like the sidekick in everyone's story except our own. Including our own, rather. Yeah. So, yeah. Yeah.

Chris: [00:10:16] What was the point in your life when you finally prompted you to say yes to following your dreams?

Alonia: [00:10:25] I feel like it's an accumulation of moments, but I guess the final moment was signing up for your class. And I was like, "Okay, either business is going to come out of it. Or my passion's going to come out of it. Or I'm just going to be done." That was my now and never a moment.

Alonia: [00:10:42] I was like, okay, I'm a sign up. And you remember, we had a completely different idea of what I wanted to do

Alonia: [00:10:50] It's now or never. I was like, I keep talking about it either I do it now, or it's not going to happen. 

Chris: [00:10:57] So it's like the feeling of urgency of, "I need to get this done or I'll never do it."

Chris: [00:11:04] So let's talk about us now. Uh, cause it's funny that you're about to, you mentioned that, but we're going to get into that here. You tell everybody how we met and what happened when we sat down and got through it the first day. 

Alonia: [00:11:18] So a little backstory before we actually met, I had an email in my inbox at work about this meeting.

Alonia: [00:11:27] And I really did not read what they said. All I saw was "free refreshments and drinks and cocktails." And I was like, sign me up. I don't know what it is, but I'm going. So then I forgot about it and then I got a reminder saying, oh, it's tonight. And I was like, oh yeah. So I went, I actually met your wife, Sarah.

Alonia: [00:11:45] Lovely. I love her so much. And she mentioned offhand. I was like, "Girl, I don't even know why I'm here." I said, "I don't got no business." I said, "I got ideas, but I don't have a business." And she was like, "Well, actually my husband helps people take their ideas and make them into businesses." And I was like, "He sounds cool. Can I meet him?"

Alonia: [00:12:05] And I was like, no, I'm serious. I really want to. I said, because I've had so many ideas and I just don't know what to stick with. And she was like, okay. So I got her number. She got mine. And the rest of the meeting went on. Lalalalah. And then she reached out. She was like, "Hey, it was nice meeting you. Um, I'm doing a blah blah blah, but we can meet up such and such date." I was like, okay, cool. I was waiting for it. And then we finally met and the vibe was just vibin'. We sat down, we had fun. I felt like, I know you guys, my entire life. I was just like so excited to have new fire lit under me. And I still, at that point, I thought I knew what I wanted to do.

Alonia: [00:12:51] Um, I came to you and said I wanted to open a crystal business. So I was like, okay. Um, and then I spoke to my boyfriend and he was like... This is when I started like getting nervous because he was asking me, he was like, "Okay, what is It was about?" And I was trying to tell him and he was like. He's like, "I'm not trying to be rude, but you don't sound too sure yourself right now."

Alonia: [00:13:14] I say, well, he's going to help me with that.

Alonia: [00:13:22] He was like, okay. He was like, "Well, whatever you do, I 100% support it. Even if you don't know what it is." I was like, "Thaaaanks".

Chris: [00:13:32] Shout out to your boyfriend for the support.

Chris: [00:13:38] Okay. So for the audience, I would like to stress something very important... that Alonia and I are like... total strangers.

Chris: [00:13:44] Like we did not know each other. I feel like that has to be said because like, like, I didn't know what your idea was going to be when we sat down to talk, you know, like... But I feel like, as soon as we sat down and you start telling me all of the ideas that you had in your head, it was like a magic moment where I was like, "Okay, you could do this. You could do that. You can do this. You can do that." 

Alonia: [00:14:04] Yup. Yup. 

Alonia: [00:14:06] Yeah. It felt like you had an answer for everything. And I was like, oh my God, who is this man? And I was like, yeah. I said, I would have never thought about some of the things you suggested. I was like, oh yeah, I could do that.

Alonia: [00:14:18] I could do that. I never thought of a pop-up shop for a crystal shop. Yeah. I can do that. And then, and then we started really getting deep in going through what I wanted. "Girl you don't want no crystal shop. You want to write." 

Chris: [00:14:34] Right? So, so that's... I wanted to stress that. Yes, we don't know each other. So it's like, I didn't have any background information here.

Chris: [00:14:42] So what was it about our interaction that day that made you go, "Oh, I think this guy can help?" 

Alonia: [00:14:52] It was a story you told about your friend, the photographer and, sorry, I forgot his name, but... 

Chris: [00:14:57] Um, yeah, I'll talk more about it, but tell everybody a little bit about that.

Alonia: [00:15:03] Yeah. So you were saying that your friend came to you about a business idea, he wanted to open up a business selling something. So once this business is established, you asked them, what does life look like for you?

Alonia: [00:15:19] And he said, oh, well, he said, "Don't laugh, but I want to be a fashion photographer." But first he said, photographer, and then you started talking to him and he disclosed, you want to be a fashion photographer. And he was like, well, just try and see where it goes. And then long story short, he's a whole fashion photographer.

Alonia: [00:15:41] And I was like, wow. So you were able to pinpoint his passion and he didn't even really know. He couldn't tell you his self when his bachelor was, or he would. Yeah, and you said something that was so profound. It was like, "We create these convoluted businesses to make money to pursue our passion when we can just pursue a passion."

Chris: [00:16:03] It's funny that you were inspired by him because you were doing the same things here. So here's, what's crazy... to the audience. When Alonia booked and paid for my services. I had no idea she wanted to be a writer. Like, I didn't know at all, because we never discussed it.

Chris: [00:16:22] Like she said, we spent the whole night talking about her love of crystals and rocks. And I thought that I was going to be helping her create a business, making money off of crystals. Like that's what I thought. And then, I said, " What does life looks like once your business is successful?"

Chris: [00:16:42] And when I said that, like, you got to understand Alonia like, lit up? She was like, "oh man, if I get this off the ground, I'm just going to write. I'm just going to write all day. And I'm going to write maybe about my travels and I'm going to write about this. I'm gonna write about that. Cause you know, I liked to write and stuff like that."

Chris: [00:16:59] And at that point I was like, "Oh, you're a writer."

Chris: [00:17:07] From the answer I got from you about what you would do after you started that successful crystal business. And you said you wanted to write… I was like, "oh, Alonia is doing this thing called Slingshotting." And can you guess what Slingshotting is? 

Alonia: [00:17:21] You told me and I can't remember.

Chris: [00:17:25] Basically slingshotting as I call it is wealth tactic that we try to do as regular people. We try to do something that we don't care too much about, but it's lucrative.

Chris: [00:17:37] It's practical. And we plan on using the money from that to actually pursue our real passion at the end of the day. So we're trying to Slingshot our way from that practical thing to the thing that really moves us and inspires us. So in your case, You thought owning a crystal shop would be much more practical for making money than being a professional writer?

Chris: [00:18:02] Am I correct? 

Alonia: [00:18:05] Yes.

Chris: [00:18:07] I'm glad you said that because, in our show, I always want to highlight mistakes that we make when it comes to pursuing our dreams and actually becoming financially independent, wealthy, whatever. This is not only a mistake but slingshotting is one of the worst strategies when it comes to following your dreams.

Chris: [00:18:21] Why do you think that is Alonia? 

Alonia: [00:18:24] Because your energy is no longer on your passion. It's all making money. And you can easily lose sight of your target and then sideline that you actually want to do. 

Chris: [00:18:35] That's a good answer.

[00:18:39] Actually. There's two parts to this answer. It's either going to be a situation where you're going to quit, because you don't care enough about it, right? In order to be good at something you really have to like it, and you have to care about it, to want to put it in both the work and the time to do it. So you've got to sink your money into something, get it started, get tired of it, and then just drop it. That's nine times out of ten what's going to happen. Or if it's successful, you're basically going to be stuck at a job that pays you well, but you have no time for your passion. 

Alonia: [00:19:12] Yeah.

Chris: [00:19:13] Right. So it's either one of the two. So it's ironically a lot easier and more profitable to pursue your dream directly and find clever ways of getting paid for it. So if you're saying to yourself, "Well, if I had a million dollars, I would sit around a paint all day. It would just be smarter for you to just paint all day and find a way to make a million dollars from doing it."

Chris: [00:19:35] Right. And we talked extensively about this here. Like for those who are thinking about being a creative person, or especially being a writer, you have to know, like you really don't get paid much from being a writer. You know, especially, you're going to be a novelist you're going to get an advance, but the advance is for you to sit down and write the book.

Chris: [00:19:56] So you're going to take that advance, and you're going to divide that by however many months or maybe years, it takes to actually write the book. And the longer it takes for you to write the book, the less money you're essentially making. There are a lot of writers out there that are getting paid maybe a little bit more than the minimum wage because it takes them so long to write the book.

Chris: [00:20:15] So a lot of times it's not really a lot of money to be made as a writer directly, but there's plenty of money to be made. As far as the intellectual property-- the IP. So not necessarily your books, but it's in the merchandising, it's in the clothing, it's in toys. It's in the special edition releases. It's in the adaptations. All the money is in what you do with that IP. 

Alonia: [00:20:39] Yeah. Yeah. I'm with you and I think you asked me, " How come you never mentioned writing when you sign up for my class?" And I said, "To be honest, I didn't see how writing could be a business." And you was like, "Well, I'm going to show you how." And here we are.

Chris: [00:20:58] Yeah. A starving artist to me is a person that doesn't know how to create multiple revenue streams for what they do.

Chris: [00:21:09] When somebody says, think art is not practical. It's not profitable. I've been an artist for years and I'm not making a lot of money here. What is happening here is you're thinking too directly. You say I'm a painter. So what you do here, do you only make money when you are painting something for someone and giving them that painting.

Chris: [00:21:30] Because that's what we think a job of a painter is. We don't think of ourselves as being business people. We don't think about extra revenue streams. We don't think about taking the things that you paint, turning into a photo and printing it off and sell it a print of what you do.

Chris: [00:21:48] So you have multiple, multiple copies of the same thing that you could just sell to everybody. You don't think about taking those images and putting them on a coffee mug or a t-shirt or notebooks. And then giving customized versions of your artwork out. A lot of times, as a painter, you have to mix paints. And some people want to be painters, but they don't have the skill of mixing paints.

Chris: [00:22:14] So a lot of times you're missing out on opportunities to take paint, mix it, put it in a bottle and sell your own brand of mixed paint. Yeah. If you're a painter, you have the ability to say, Hey, these paint brushes are really cool. I'm going to partner up with this company that sells these paintbrushes that I really like. I'm going to send you a personalized link. Would you go to there? They're going to give you a discount.

Chris: [00:22:40] And then on the back end, I'm going to get a finder's fee and some money for recommending all these people. I just named my five or six different revenue streams just off. So when you're saying you're a starving artist, you need to ask yourself how many revenue streams are you passing up or not looking at when you're talking about being a professional.

Chris: [00:23:04] Yeah. So that, is the business side of things here. So that being the case, do you think that knowing all of these different ways that you can monetize your talent... did it help you finally say yes to move forward professionally as a writer? 

Alonia: [00:23:20] Absolutely. Like it feels possible and not scary.

Chris: [00:23:24] Yeah. That's great. So we're going to switch gears a little bit. Let's talk about the service you got. So Alonia bought the business starter kit service that I offer here. So let me talk more about that. That's basically when I sit down one on one for like 30 minutes at a time, over the course of a few weeks, and during that time, we create three critical things that are necessary for starting a business right away.

Chris: [00:23:47] So here's what she paid for. Here's the first thing. One, she paid for the Boss Ass Introduction or what I call it, the "boss ass intro". So what that is is a million dollar description of what you do, who you do it for and how you do it. Now, the reason why that's important to have is if you can't describe what you do well, no really pay you to do it.

Chris: [00:24:08] So that's the first thing that she brought. The second part is we had an idea for a perfect starter product. So a starter product is basically a scaled down version of what you ultimately want to do. It's something that you can do for cheap, and you can do a quick. So for example, if your goal is that you want to be a chef, which you work a day job, you probably don't have enough time, money, resources to open or manage a restaurant.

Chris: [00:24:36] But what you could do is create your own cookbook or your own YouTube channel, and go from there. In Alonia's case, we knew that ultimately, she wanted to make a fantasy novel, but we wanted to start with something scaled down.

Chris: [00:24:52] So the perfect starter product for her was a short story that could be expanded into a full length novel. So that was her starter product here. Now the third thing that she needed was really just a roadmap for creating that short story slash novel. So what I do is I ended up giving a loaning of fleshed out premise of her fantasy novel, along with some tips and tricks for completing it here.

Chris: [00:25:19] And those were the three essential tasks that we had to complete. Our biggest task was fleshing out the premise for the fantasy novel that she wanted to create. Now, in order to do that, I had to sit down with Alonia, for like 30 minutes at a time. And just ask her a bunch of questions about where she does and how she does it.

Chris: [00:25:40] Then I use that information that she gave me to craft the premise for the story. Now that she has that she's hard at work, turning that into a short story, which will be turned into a novel. So Alonia, is that a decent summary of basically what happened?

Alonia: [00:25:59] As a perfect summary of what happened.

Chris: [00:26:02] That's what we like. We're like perfect.

Chris: [00:26:06] Now, before we go further, I want to do everybody a favor and I want to actually share what we've come up with, uh, you and I here. So what I'm going to do right now is I am going to, uh, read over a premise of the fantasy novel, because it's like, "Yeah, you helped with the novel but what's the novel about?"

Chris: [00:26:33] I don't want, like, I want to do this because I don't want to people, "But what if it sucks?"

Chris: [00:26:40] Like I don't want people to think we made a bum novel. Like it's really good. So I'm going to read it to you guys here. So, uh, in this story, uh, the protagonist is a young black girl. Her name is Gigi. She is the oldest of three sisters. She has a different father than our siblings, and he is a guy who has seemingly left her and disappeared under mysterious circumstances.

Chris: [00:27:01] She's very spirited and highly imaginative. To the point where she seemingly interacts with people and creatures that aren't there. She's also very intuitive to the point where it's actually kind of creepy. For example, she knows family secrets that have happened years before she was even born. And when people ask her how she could possibly know things like that, she says, "Well my imaginary friends told me." This kind of stuff, pretty much makes her an outcast in our family.

Chris: [00:27:28] Until one day while she was fetching something from an attic with her sister, she discovers this really old... let's call it a poetry book. Now she reads a poll and suddenly one of her imaginary friends, like briefly materializes in the world. Proving once and for all that Gigi, isn't just some girl making up stories. So the sisters confront their mom about what happened in the attic. At which point Gigi is finally told that those imaginary friends that she has are very, very real creatures that exist on a spiritual plane that only Gigi can see. Because as it turns out, she comes from a bloodline of witches on her dad's side that stretches back like generations. These Seers, as they're called, have the ability to see and harness energy from the spiritual world and literally materialize things out of thin air using that energy. The bad news is, she also finds out that Seers like her are being hunted and brainwashed to use their powers, to enrich this Illuminati-like group called The Zealots.

Chris: [00:28:30] So now that she's activated her abilities, she's now on their radar and next on the list. So now she has to quickly figure out how to use those powers to do feat The Zealots before they could find and capture her. So that is the premise of the story. Um, did I nail the summary?

Alonia: [00:28:50] Yep. Perfect. 

Chris: [00:28:52] Can you walk me through what you were feeling when you saw the ideas that we talked about together transformed into this story? 

Alonia: [00:29:05] I was completely and totally speechless because I was like... this is... I was like, "Oh yeah, yeah. That's yeah. That's, that's what I was thinking. Yeah." 

Alonia: [00:29:15] Like every time I see something, I was like... but it was based off the conversations that we had. It just literally pulled my ideas out of my head and put them on paper for me. And I still honestly can't really explain how you did that, but you did it well. 

Chris: [00:29:30] Thank you. 

Alonia: [00:29:33] Thank you. And, um, yeah, so it was just like, hear my words come back to me.

Alonia: [00:29:40] And I was like, this is what I've been trying to do, but just I couldn't see the forest for the trees. So I... I'm still speechless, honestly.

Chris: [00:29:57] All right. You want to hear a funny story? I was going to tell you this. Okay. Okay. Okay. My wife like read the children of blood and all the stuff like that. She's into like you know, black centered fantasy too. So here's what happened. Um, I wrote the breakdown and I was like, "Dawg, I think I nailed it." 

Chris: [00:30:14] But I wanted to be sure. So I sent Sarah, my wife, a link of the summary, right? So of the summary. And I'm like, I'm expecting her to read over it and like hit me back, like immediately. Like... I'm expecting a phone call. I was so confident. I was like, "Man, I nailed this shit." Right? So I'm like, all right, cool.

Chris: [00:30:33] So I send her the link and for like a fewww minutes I don't hear nothing. Like no one calls me back bro. And now I'm super nervous. Like, "Oh damn, maybe it's not good. Maybe it's sucks. 

Chris: [00:30:55] I reached for my phone to like hit up Sarah. And as I reached for my phone, a notification, came up and it was my wife and all I saw was like, A text message of her saying, "Yoooooooo!"

Chris: [00:31:14] With like a hundred O's. She was like, "This shit is fiiiiire!"

Both of us[00:31:30] Hahahahahaha.

Chris: [00:31:31] It was really funny for me. Also, just like a little funny aside, but last week I was laughing because you looked at the breakdown and he was like, "Man, like, I don't know how he does it. And like, If I had come up with something that good I wouldn't be giving it away for something for someone else. Like I'd be doing it myself."

Chris: [00:31:56] So with that said, to be clear, you did not expect to get such a completed version of the story. 

Alonia: [00:32:06] No! I was expecting you to give me like a couple of bullet points on where I could go and then just like, okay, now let's do what you do with it. I was not expecting an entire outline. And I was like, wow, this is like, actually something I can work with.

Alonia: [00:32:22] Like, I could turn this into a novel. Like, all before I felt like that was trying to create something out of thin air. And then all of a sudden that thing, I was trying to create a thin there just metastasize in front of me. And I was like, "Yo, okay, here it goes like now I got homework. I can actually do this."

Alonia: [00:32:38] Like I don't have to... Like I said, I don't even know. I don't have words and I'm a writer.

Chris: [00:32:51] I'm glad you said that because I think that was an important point for people that have worked with me yet. Um, when I say I'm going to help you flesh out a starter product, I really mean fully flushed that out. Like you are going to leave with a real blueprint for your product service or artistic creation.

Chris: [00:33:08] So I'm glad that you made that comment because I was like, yeah, that's what we do. That's what we do over here on this side.

Alonia: [00:33:20] And I didn't know what I was paying for, but I didn't know what I was paying for. And that was a good thing. 

Chris: [00:33:28] Yeah. Yeah, you didn't. That's funny. 

Chris: [00:33:31] Here's a question. How alive do you feel now that this novel is out of your head... it's a real thing that you get to work on everyday? 

Alonia: [00:33:42] I feel like Lazarus. I feel like I was dead and you breathed life into me, man.

Chris: [00:33:50] And that's a nice biblical reference for everybody that doesn't necessarily go to church or it's not a Christian. But yes. 

Alonia: [00:34:00] Yeah. I felt like I've been raised for the dead. When I met you, I hadn't written anything in like the past eight, nine months, almost a year, honestly. And I was just like, "Girl, how are you talking about, you know, writing and you got writer's block like a mofo?" But not anymore. It's like talking to you. It helped, it helped that create a block unblock. So I literally feel Lazarus right now, like, "Whew, Thank you Lord." 

Chris: [00:34:29] That's awesome. Okay. So like slowing it down a little bit, I want everybody to be clear, like you're not going to make a million dollars tomorrow because you still have the right to book, right?

Alonia: [00:34:42] No, no, no. 

Chris: [00:34:45] I want to highlight that there's power in having something exciting to look forward to every day. 

Alonia: [00:34:53] Yes. Yes. Like I wake up it's on my mind. I go to sleep this on my mind. I go throughout the day... I just have this renewed sense of, okay. I know what I'm supposed to be doing right now. 

Chris: [00:35:05] I'm so glad you said that because like people say no to their dreams for the dumbest reasons.

Chris: [00:35:12] And one of the most common reasons I get is, "Well, it's not going to make a whole bunch of money right now, or it'll take like three years for me to get done. Like, what's the point?" The point is finally being aligned with your calling. Like, that's like half the reason people hate their lives is like, like they don't feel like they're aligned with their purpose.

Chris: [00:35:34] So there is power to having something that's exciting to look forward to every day. So thank you very much for highlighting that for me. 

Alonia: [00:35:43] Thank you very much. 

Alonia: [00:35:44] And I feel like everything has new meaning now, and that's so cliche to say, but like, somebody said the other day at work, if you find your passion, you'll never work a day in your life. But like truly, I feel like I found my passion. And like, even if I make a dollar off this novel, it's not even about that anymore.

Chris: [00:36:02] Although we want to get you paid.

Chris: [00:36:15] The overall vision is, "We still need that coin.". 

Alonia: [00:36:18] The passion is saying, "I don't care" but reality is saying, "Yes we do." 

Chris: [00:36:23] Yeah. As we've established, you are a grown-ass woman with real bills. We need that money.

Chris: [00:36:32] So we have talked about who you are, your circumstances and what you were able to accomplish. Now, it's time to reveal the secret behind the magic trick. So as I recall, even though you said that you wanted to write a fantasy novel, one of your biggest hurdles was that you didn't know how to write the story. Is that correct?

Alonia: [00:36:57] Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I was chasing different worlds, the build. And you told me to focus on the character, not the world, the world would come. And I was like, okay, that's so true.

Chris: [00:37:11] It's like, you're taking the podcast notes that I had and like saying them. Now it's the reverse. Now it's like, she's in my head. And now she's saying all this stuff that I wrote down on all the paper here, but I was going to ask, "Hey, do you remember how you were going about it and what I told you to do?" And you hit the nail on head.

Chris: [00:37:30] So I'm going to go back to my other point in a minute here, but listen, while we're still here, let's talk about it here. To your knowledge. I am not in your field. I'm not a professional novelist. I am not a fantasy author. Is that correct? 

Alonia: [00:37:46] Correct. 

Chris: [00:37:47] Now yet you were still able to get a lot of great pointers from me to write your novel. True or false?

Alonia: [00:37:54] True. 

Chris: [00:37:55] Where are you surprised by it? 

Alonia: [00:37:58] Yes. Um, yes and no, I was confident in your abilities, but I was like, you far exceeded my expectations. So I was like, wow, holy crap. Like, even though you have that creative background, but still I was like, "Yeah, writing is something different." Like, and I guess I had that in there in the back of my mind, but I never doubted you for a second. But you just basically went above and beyond what I anticipated.

Chris: [00:38:29] Thank you very much. But let's hone in on a surprise though, because I want to talk about that for the people that are out there, listening here. Dreamers are often convinced that knowledge is the key to success. They think that in order to break into the industry that they want, they got to find somebody that is already there and get some type of insider information.

Chris: [00:38:50] Um, but I want you to hear this. I want you to hear this. I want everybody listening to this to hear this. Contrary to what you've been telling yourself for years. Lack of knowledge and talent are not holding you back. Wow. Yeah. Real problem is you just suck at getting shit done.

Alonia: [00:39:12] That's it, man. 

Chris: [00:39:15] Like, most creative people just make shit more complicated than necessary. And that's why you can't get off the ground. And Alonia kind of proved my point because she said something that was a way that she was approaching it. She was trying to flush out these worlds and you would do an Egyptian world and then it was like a fantasy world and it was like a Sci-fi world. And she couldn't pick what direction that she wanted to go.

Chris: [00:39:38] And this was stalling her writing process. And the simple advice that I gave her was, "Hey, just write the character and then just pick a world that is natural to that character that makes sense." You can write around the character, but it's very hard to create a whole bunch of worlds and pick one. And that immediately solve the problem. Is that correct? 

Alonia: [00:40:03] Yeah, that... I mean, instantly. 

Chris: [00:40:06] That is the power of a really good business coach. We are experts at keeping it simple to get shit done. 

Chris: [00:40:15] And this is to the audience out here. If you're listening to this and you're saying to yourself, "Oh yeah, that writing thing that you helped with, you know, that's cool but you know, my thing is different, man. You know, I'm going to be a coder, you know. And you know what... found somebody online, they got this like a 15 month program. We paid $2,000 a month. It's like an academy, man. They're going to teach me the ins and outs and all this other shit and blah, blah, blah, blah." 

Chris: [00:40:37] If you're saying something like that, do me a favor. Don't waste your money. Do not waste your money. That is not your problem. Because here's, what's going to happen. You're going to learn all that stuff and then you're going to be back at square one, getting out of that academy. And you're going to be like, "How do I get started?"

Alonia: [00:40:55] I feel like your lack of knowledge of my writing background, helped because you not knowing gave you a fresh perspective... and you was like, "Don't even worry about it." And I was like, oh, "How do I not worry about that?"

Alonia: [00:41:11] And you were like, "Focus on this." And I'm like, "okay." 

Chris: [00:41:15] The value of a business coach is that they are someone who's going to take a very complicated thing in your head and we're going to turn into a simple game plan. That's what you need. You need somebody, who's an expert. It just getting shit done. Making it simple.

Chris: [00:41:30] That's what you need. You don't need more knowledge. You don't need more training. You don't need more experience. You just need to keep it simple. 

Chris: [00:41:37] Let's put it all in perspective. I keep saying that we got this done in about a month, but that's not… like super accurate because we only met up a few times over the course of several weeks here. So right now, what I want to do here is I want you to see how long it technically took for you to achieve this breakthrough that you did.

Chris: [00:41:56] So let's say it was 30 minutes narrowing down what you wanted to do. And we spend another 30 minutes asking questions about your goal. And then after that, I was like, okay, based on this information, I'm going to take a week myself to come up with a dope ass concept for your novel. Then we came back a week later and I gave you the concept for the novel.

Chris: [00:42:18] And we spent 30 minutes basically, uh, getting instructions about turning that passion into a career. Yeah. So 90 minutes together you got world-class description of your business, a detailed template of fleshing out your fantasy novel from start to finish. And instructions for how you can give fans and get paid from your craft as soon as possible.

Chris: [00:42:44] And you don't really have to lift a finger to do any of this. You just answered a bunch of questions and I pretty much did the rest. 

Alonia: [00:42:50] Yeah. I think the hardest thing for me was just being completely 100% honest. And it wasn't really that hard once I started opening up.

Alonia: [00:43:00] So, and I want to use this to segue. I feel like you're so unique because any other business coach, I felt like would have tried to force me to keep with the crystal idea because that's what I originally signed up for. And that's what you originally planned to coach me on. But no, you are so unique and you say upfront, as long as you're 100% honest with me, we're good.

Alonia: [00:43:25] I was like, okay. So I was 100% honest and say, what I really want to do was writing. That was the key to unlocking all of this. So I thank you for going with the flow basically. 

Chris: [00:43:39] Awesome. Awesome. Um, yeah, we love these moments on the podcast, man. Just thank you for that. So knowing, the time that we took... That 90 minutes of working together, you gain pretty much the ability to do what you love and get paid handsomely from it.

Chris: [00:43:57] Isn't that crazy? 

Alonia: [00:43:58] Yeah. Yeah. I still can't I believe it. It's still sinking in. I'm like, "Wow." 

Chris: [00:44:05] Yeah, it was very quick. All right. So we'll end this pretty soon, but I got some lightning round questions for you here. 

Alonia: [00:44:13] Okay. 

Chris: [00:44:13] Okay. Now, if we hadn't worked together, and be honest, because honesty is our policy here, would you even be on track for making this dream come true?

Alonia: [00:44:25] No. Not at all. 

Chris: [00:44:28] Now, thinking about the service that I provided to you think my services were expensive? 

Alonia: [00:44:37] No. I will be honest in the beginning. I was like, "Whew, who am I getting this money from?" It wasn't even that much. Now that I think about it, I was like, ah, "I didn't even miss it." But, but like gaining what... I like getting what I got. I'm like, "Man, that's the best money I ever spent." 

Chris: [00:44:55] This follow-up question then. Knowing what you know about my services, how much would you expect to receive from someone else given the amount of money that you got? 

Alonia: [00:45:06] Oh man, like five times as much. Well into the thousands.

Chris: [00:45:14] Okay. So you're saying that for the service that I provided, you would expect to have to pay thousands of dollars for it. 

Alonia: [00:45:20] Yeah. Like… astronomical.

Chris: [00:45:27] You're not far off. 

Alonia: [00:45:30] Um, I'm like, I feel like I would've never stopped paying you, like...

Alonia: [00:45:42] I feel like I'm going to have probably had to take out a small loan just to afford you. Probably not even a small loan. Like a big loan.

Chris: [00:45:50] Maybe I'm severely undercharging myself. I'm going to ask this question. Now, how much did you actually pay to get all of that? 

Alonia: [00:46:03] Okay. I paid, it was a $347. 

Chris: [00:46:08] You got it down to the dollar amount!

Alonia: [00:46:26] And I will say, going into it, I was nervous. I was like, "Ooh, this 347 kind of steep." But I feel honored that I just... and if you know me, uh, Like I am a cheapskate. Like I am a tightwad. I have to be. I own a home. I drive a nice car and I'm, like, "Whew", I said, "This 347 gonna break me". But it didn't. I survived.

Alonia: [00:46:53] And I'm glad that I made it. 

Chris: [00:46:55] Yes you survived. I feel like you thrived, but I mean, that's just coming from me.

Chris: [00:47:03] With that said, what would you tell somebody if they were on the fence about getting my services? What would you say? 

Alonia: [00:47:12] Go for it. Like, I mean, the man has got skills and even if you were like me, it was. And, um, like I had like all these like negative thoughts, like, "You don't even know them people and you about to give them money," you know?

Alonia: [00:47:29] And this and that. But I felt good about it. Like, even though I was unsure, um, I felt good about it. So right before I paid the money, I saw a quote from Shonda Rhimes. I love her. And she said, "Don't step into the darkness with the fear of the unknown. Step into it with the excitement of what could be."

Alonia: [00:47:52] And I was like, "Yep, that's my sign." And I just signed up and oh man, boy was she right? That changed my life.

Chris: [00:48:02] Great. This is all great shit.

Chris: [00:48:16] Now that you have a game plan, what are you most excited about moving? 

Alonia: [00:48:23] Seeing that finished product and... like right now... Yes, I'm excited about where it will go, but right now I'm excited to just read the story that I write. 

Chris: [00:48:33] That's amazing. Yeah. I'm not going to lie. I'm very excited to see what you wrote too.

Chris: [00:48:38] Even if it was like my last day, like, even if, "This is our last day working together." Like, I'm hounding you about this story. You got to show me what it looks like when it's done. 

Chris: [00:48:49] It's too dope for it to not be developed. 

Alonia: [00:48:52] Yeah. And I appreciate that kind of move because yeah. I love it.

Alonia: [00:48:57] I'm I'm excited to... oh, I'm like so excited. I don't even know what else to say. 

Chris: [00:49:04] Okay. So I need your help here. I want you to correct me if I'm wrong here. Okay. All right. Our first meeting, thinking about that. From my perspective, I think that being able to sit down with a actual experienced business coach to explain your idea and having it revealed that 1), your obstacles that you thought were roadblocks have really simple solutions. And 2), there are numerous ways for you to accomplish your goals.... I feel like that was one of the most critical moments that was needed for you to finally go all in to follow your dreams. Is that accurate? 

Alonia: [00:49:51] Very accurate. 

Chris: [00:49:54] Thank you. Thank you for that alley-oop. Hahahaha..

Chris: [00:49:58] Because here's what I want to do today. I want to give everyone who's listening to this, the same opportunity to have that same breakthrough experience. So here's your call to action. I want you to take out a sheet of paper or whatever, and I want you to write this down. I want you guys to write this down.

Chris: [00:50:17] 312-521-0509. I'm gonna say that again. That's 312-521-0509. This is going to be special. I want you... right now listening to this podcast... I want you to text me. I want you to introduce yourself. I want you to say, "Hey, I got this big idea. I want to get off the ground. Can we get." That's all you got to say, "Chris, I got this big idea and I want to get off the ground. Can we talk?" 

Chris: [00:50:53] I am going to give you a link to the 20 minute complimentary "Boss Sitdown". And it's basically going to be the same experience that Alonia got when she sat down with me. 

Chris: [00:51:08] And here is my guarantee. For as long as I have that number, you can call... you texted me... asking me, "Hey, Chris. I need help getting my dream off the ground. Can you sit down and talk to me?" And I will honor that. How's that sound on you Alonia? 

Alonia: [00:51:25] That sounds good. 

Chris: [00:51:27] Yeah. Yeah. I feel like that's more than what other people would do in this industry.

Alonia: [00:51:31] Yeah, yeah man. 

Chris: [00:51:33] Yeah. So yeah, you have no excuses now. This is my whole thing. Like... even the product I sold to her was called, "The No-Excuses Business Start-Up Kit".

Chris: [00:51:45] Yeah, that was my whole thing is now you have no excuses. You can't say that, you don't have enough resources; that no one got you back; ain't nobody trying to give you nothing. You don't have any excuses. You literally have my number. I am world-class, as you can hear and as you've heard it for the last hour or whatever, right?

Chris: [00:52:03] That's what it is. So Alonia, I like to thank you for being here. Thank you for being my first guest. Uh, my hope is that we'll have you back before the end of the year with an update, along with details to how to access, buy your new book, become a fan of your fan club. Everything else. Do you want to say anything else before we leave? 

Alonia: [00:52:24] Man, just go for it. You have to be in a place where you finally just say enough is enough and go for it. Make yourself get to that place sooner than I did.

Alonia: [00:52:35] Just do it. Like, I know that's like cliche to say, but they had it right. Just do it, man. Just do it. 

Chris: [00:52:43] So thank you very much again, for just being a guest on my show and love you for doing this. Thank you very much for being a part of this and we will see you. So All right, everybody. See you when I make another one of these, I'm not giving you no answers on when the next show is coming out. So stop asking me.

Chris: [00:53:08] I'm gonna try to be back. All right. Love you guys. Goodbye.