Should I Quit My Job, Move Abroad & Start an Online Business? With Alex Kennedy

Should I quit my job and move abroad to start an online business for a better quality of life? 💭This is the question so many high-achieving freedom-seeking women are asking.

In this episode of The Remote CEO Life Podcast, I’m sharing a real-life expansion story from my guest Alex Kennedy, a solopreneur, mindset coach and shuffle dance teacher who quit her job and started an online business so she could move abroad to thrive in life in Costa Rica.

We talk all about choosing yourself and why that’s the most powerful thing you can do if you’re dreaming of creating a freedom-filled lifestyle for yourself. We get into the reality of what it takes to actually quit your job, move abroad and start an online business without burning out. Even inspiring her parents to move abroad and start a business themselves!!

Alex’s story is proof that when you’re brave enough to choose yourself and start an online business - “everything is figure-out-able.”

Wondering, should I quit my job? How do I start an online business? This episode is here to inspire you towards your life of freedom!

We talk about:

• How to know when it’s time to quit your job and go all in on your dreams
• Why choosing yourself is key to building a freedom lifestyle
• The mindset shifts you’ll need to move abroad and start an online business

Connect with Alex Kennedy:

Instagram: @alexnicolekennedy

Shuffle Dance Account: @shuffleshred

Website: shuffleshred.com

👉 Want to quit your job and start an online business? Download my Freedom Founder Playbook to guide your transition out of 9-5 into entrepreneurship. You’ll learn practical mindset tips, financial planning advice, and solid action steps to get you moving closer to your Freedom-filled life.

Transcript

Sophie Biggerstaff (00:00)
Are you choosing yourself? Are you choosing to live the dream life that you want to be living?

Are you choosing to take care of yourself by allowing yourself the opportunity to put yourself in situations that you never thought possible for yourself? I think this is a question that you really need to start asking yourself. If you want to live a life that feels fully, fully in alignment with who you are and who you want to be. This is something that not many people do. Not many people will go after their dreams, but actually chasing your dreams and allowing yourself to choose yourself.

To go after them is the biggest act of self-love and self-care that you could ever give to yourself.

And so many people will never go after that because actually they don't, they don't look after their own needs. They maybe put other people's needs first, or they don't back themselves to be able to see through something that they don't know if it's possible for them or try something new and step outside of their comfort zone because it feels scary. But choosing to step into your dream life, choosing yourself and to put yourself first, your needs first, to be able to live a life that you want, to be able to set up the business that you've always been

dreaming about, that is the biggest act of self-care you could ever do because that is going to set you up for your future and be able to really step into this new life that you've been dreaming about for yourself. And in today's episode, I'm speaking to someone that was able to do that for themselves.

Now, I've actually done this for myself, so I know how big of a transformation my guest today has gone through. I once worked in the fashion industry in a nine to five job, lived in a small flat in London, and I completely transformed my life by starting an online business and going through the self-development process, the mindset blocks, the limiting beliefs that I had to allow myself to transition from employee to entrepreneur and actually go after my dreams of becoming a digital nomad and living a life of freedom.

in tropical places and I now live in Thailand whilst running my online businesses. So I've been through a whole transformation because I chose myself.

I chose what life I wanted to live and I went after it. And like I say, that's the biggest act of self care and self love you could ever do for yourself. Now in today's episode, I'm talking to Alex Kennedy. She is a solopreneur, a mindset coach and a shuffle dance teacher who completely redesigned her life and her business on her terms. She was once a hairdresser and she turned into a shuffle dance teacher online and a mindset coach, which I think is such a huge and amazing transformation. She now lives in Costa Rica and

we had a really great conversation about that whole transition and how she's actually influenced her parents to move to Costa Rica as well because a good part of being able to design your life is seeing that it's actually possible for you to see that somebody else has already stepped.

in that route that you want to take, in that path, so you've got somebody to follow. And Alex was able to redesign her own life and then show her parents how to do the same thing, which I think is super, super cool. And one of the things that I aim to do through this podcast is inspire you, is to expand you into what is possible for yourself. If you see part of yourself in me or any of my guests, maybe you're going to look at that and be like, I didn't know that I could go and become a digital nomad and move to Thailand.

⁓ I didn't know I could start my own online business using skills or experiences or passions that I had from something that I was doing in my nine to five career. I want to be able to show you that anything is possible. And in today's episode, you're going to hear Alex talk about the fact that anything is figure out a ball. If there is a will, there is a way we can find a way to get you to where you want to be. So for example, you're in a nine to five right now and you want to become an online business entrepreneur. There is a route to get you there.

There is support to help you get there. And we're to talk a lot about how you get that support and the mindset shifts that you might experience when you take that transition. I actually have a brand new resource that will help you if you are in that current situation where you're in your nine to five and you want to transition into starting your own online business as an entrepreneur. I actually have the Freedom Founder Playbook. It's just launched. It's an online comprehensive resource that is going to walk you through how to navigate that transition and not just from a practical step-by-step this is what you do basis.

but also reframe the mindset work that you are going to have to do to take yourself on that journey from being an employee to actually starting your own thing. We're also going to look at your finances and figure out how you can build that stability whilst you build your online business so that you can quit that nine to five and feel really comfortable in your decision to do so because a big part of the reason why many people don't take that is because they're scared of losing their stability.

I'll pop the link to that in the show notes so you can check that resource out.

And in the meantime, take a listen to this episode where you're going to hear about how Alex has been living and working remotely from Costa Rica for the past few years, whilst running her online business after a very successful career in the hairdressing industry.

This is an amazing story, an expansion story to show you what could be possible for yourself. And what makes Alex's story super powerful is how deeply rooted it was in inner work and mindset work. She navigated so much fear and uncertainty as a solo entrepreneur, but used dance and embodiment as a tool for self trust and authenticity. Alex represents a real version of what it looks like to build a freedom based business without pretending it's all easy.

She went through burnout like myself and she managed to turn that around because what she didn't do was prepare for that transition from nine to five into entrepreneur because she carried on working in that hustle culture that the hairdressing industry promotes. And she carried that through into her business and she ended up like myself building herself a job instead of a fully functioning business. So this conversation is really for anyone who feels called to create more freedom in their life.

but knows that mindset, identity, and nervous system strategy are gonna have to be implemented as part of you actually getting the life that you desire. So let's jump into the episode. I think you're gonna love it. I loved this conversation with Alex. Costa Rica is also one of my favorite places, so definitely if I ever head over there, I will be visiting Alex for sure. And I think you're gonna find this episode really expansive and take a lot of inspiration from it.

Sophie Biggerstaff (06:14)
Hey Alex, welcome to the Remote CEO Life podcast.

and you are in my favourite place in Costa Rica. So I'm very, very jealous of where you're at right now. and I'm sure you're going to tell us a little bit about your move to Costa Rica in this episode. But do want to tell us a little bit more about you, your background, how you've ended up where you are today?

Alex Kennedy (06:28)
Yes.

Yeah, sure. So yes, I'm in beautiful Costa Rica. I've been here since 2021. I'm originally from Toronto, Canada, and I needed a change from the cold. Basically, my background and how I kind of ended up here was I used to be a hairstylist and was, you know, doing all the right things, checking all the boxes, etc. And once COVID happened, I think this is a similar story for a lot of people. I realized that I wanted to make a change not only in my job and

my career, but also in my location. And that's basically when I started shifting gears into having a career that was more online, which was a mixture of shuffle dance education. I don't know if any of your listeners are shuffle dance fans, but I became a shuffle dance teacher as well as a life and mindset coach. And that path allowed me to basically work online and move wherever I wanted. So my fiance and I had a situation where our

landlord back in Canada was like, hey, I'm gonna sell the house. You guys have, you know, I think he gave us three months to move and we were like, I think now's the time that we have to make the leap. And so we basically just said, where is remotely close enough to Canada that we could get back home pretty quickly if we needed to, but like.

checks all the boxes of a beautiful culture, nature, sunshine, palm trees, and something that was just a change. And so we ended up in Costa Rica and we've been here ever since. Yeah.

Sophie Biggerstaff (08:03)
I love that for you and it's so cool that you've been able to build

a online business from shuffle dancing. Tell me a little bit more about that.

Alex Kennedy (08:11)
It's pretty crazy. really, really is. it has been, yeah, I started teaching ⁓ July of 2020 and it is like, it's one of those communities that when you don't know about it, you're like, what is that? It seems like it's so random, but inside our community, is huge. There is a global community, tons of online educators, teachers who literally tour around the entire world to teach people. And so I've just been one of the lucky ones to establish myself in this niche.

which is so very small. But I feel like my kind of unique edge as well has been blending the mindset aspect with it because learning a new skill, I mean, it brings up all of the all of the self-consciousness, the self-doubt, all of those things. So it's just been really awesome to like teach people, number one, how to dance. Yes, there's obviously a skill element, but how to connect to themselves, how to kind of bring out that inner child. Like I have students of all ages.

who are, you know, maybe they're in their 50s or 60s being like, wow, I never thought that this was possible for me, but I am a dancer. Like it's a huge transformation kind of mind, body, and soul. And yeah, I'm very grateful to have a career out of that.

Sophie Biggerstaff (09:25)
That's so cool. That's so cool. I actually first came aware of travel dance when I was in Bali because I had a friend that was part of that community as well. So I've seen it and I think it's incredible. I think it's really, really cool. So it's amazing that you've been able to build a career off of the back of such a passionate interest of yours as well. And I can totally relate to what you're saying around the mindset of it because yeah, as adults, it's not so common that we learn new skills or take up new hobbies and for a lot of people anyway. And

Alex Kennedy (09:27)
Mm-hmm.

Nice!

Yeah.

Totally.

Sophie Biggerstaff (09:53)
pushing yourself outside your comfort zone, particularly with something like dancing, which can be judged and is seen to be done in a certain way, is really, really intimidating. So yes, I can absolutely imagine that there is a lot of mindset work that needs to be going around that. Like actually, I danced a lot as a child, but as an adult, it's completely dropped out of my life and I would love to bring that back in. But there's definitely some mindset blocks, like just stopping me coming back in. And there's where I live in Thailand, there's so much.

Alex Kennedy (10:17)
Hahaha

I'm like, you gotta start shuffling.

Sophie Biggerstaff (10:22)
I don't know about Shavlyn, but like I really want to like try something. Yeah, and it's definitely been a like, I really want to go to like a Bachata class, for example, but I haven't quite got the confidence to go yet. Because I'm like, well, what if I'm crap? Like, what if I don't know what I'm doing? Even though I've done it before, I know I can do it. It's just like this like going to try something new in that capacity, which feels like I think dancing is a little bit more.

Alex Kennedy (10:24)
Hahaha

Sophie Biggerstaff (10:47)
Latin dancing for example, if I went into a Batrass class it's quite intimate right? So it's like building that mindset to go into that and then even like shuffle dance, I feel generally dancing is quite like intimate even with yourself thing, it's quite a vulnerable thing right? Yeah so I can see totally why the mindset side of that is needed definitely.

Alex Kennedy (10:59)
Yeah, it's very vulnerable. Yep.

Yeah.

Sophie Biggerstaff (11:10)
For you personally, what mindset shifts did you have to go through to like, obviously you were a hairdresser, you were working physically with customers in a store, which is quite a unique position in itself to then obviously, I assume COVID shifted that completely, you then going and working online. I assume there was like a really big mindset shift that you also had to go through in order to take that transition.

Alex Kennedy (11:32)
Yes, it definitely was. think that

Most hairstylists can agree that there is this like unspoken hustle culture in hair styling like we used to glamorize You know never sitting down never taking breaks always overbooking ourselves we don't eat lunch like it was this really glamorized hustle culture. Meanwhile, we were all like super burnt out Even though we loved what we were doing. We were super burnt out most of us anyway, and so it was really challenging to take like

to shed those beliefs and those mindsets about work when I became an online entrepreneur. Because in the last couple years of doing hairstyling, I was my own boss. So I was already in the entrepreneur world, setting my own schedule, et cetera. But as we know, that can kind of be a blessing and a curse because you're the only person that tells you to close your laptop at the end of the day or not to book that extra appointment on a Saturday at four. That's kind of the mindset that I had to switch. And so when I started

my other businesses, my online businesses, I was really dragging a lot of that hustle culture in there and I actually ended up burning out even in something that I loved because I was not like taking care of myself. I was kind of operating out of like scarcity. It was COVID, life was uncertain. And so it really took a lot of deep soul searching to figure out like what do I need to do to actually choose myself within this choice? Like I've made the choice

to switch my career, to go online, to have more of a location freedom, time freedom, etc. How can I actually make that happen? And so I really had to just take a good look at what my work habits were like, what my relationship to finances were.

Right? Like we're always trying to hustle, hustle, hustle for the next thing. So it took a lot of deep inner work and healing truthfully. believe it or not, shuffle dance actually helped me do that. Like giving myself a safe space to release, to move my body. It was a really beautiful practice, even when I was just a dancer and not even a teacher yet. It helped me have those shifts. So yeah.

Sophie Biggerstaff (13:44)
think it's not spoken about enough that shift from doing something and then completely changing your identity as a human being, actually, like you were a hairdresser, now you're a shuffle dancer and entrepreneur. Like it's quite, quite different. And I think that there is not enough education. And this is something that I'm really trying to educate on with the work that I'm doing around how difficult it is to actually navigate that transition. Like you just mentioned, you were doing something new that you loved, but you didn't adopt like the healthy work practice.

because you'd come from maybe a slight...

not saying toxic work environment, but you didn't have the boundaries in that hairdressing environment because that's just what the industry is like. And I was the same, I worked in fashion and that was just the same. Like you would just burn yourself out. You'd work yourself to the ground because that was what's expected of you. I imagine it's very similar in the hairdressing industry. And unfortunately, there's not a lot of education out there that shows you how to actually navigate that transition in a really healthy way, which is why so many people and entrepreneurs then end up building themselves just another job.

Alex Kennedy (14:26)
Yeah.

Sophie Biggerstaff (14:47)
Right. Rather than building themselves a business, they've actually just built themselves a fancy glorified job, which is great. It's getting you into that online space. There's a purpose for it. But I think with a bit of education, with a bit of guidance, with a little bit of like learning from other people's mistakes, people can build businesses that work for them better off of the bat, come out of that, out of that employment or come out of that first industry, go into their next, their next online venture.

Alex Kennedy (14:49)
Yes.

Sophie Biggerstaff (15:16)
and set it up with solid foundation, set it up with the boundaries, set it up in the right mindset. But I think a lot of people come to that maybe like a year, two years down the line when they've had that burnout, when they're so stressed, things are just hitting the fan kind of thing and nothing's going as they imagined it to be. Like they're not got the freedom that they desired that they thought they were gonna get from starting their own online business. And this is something that I'm actually really trying to help people with now in the work that I do and all of the coaching programs that I offer. It's all about like...

How do you step into your new role as this founder of this online business and make sure that your business is built to work for you, not you actually work for it? Because I can see you've just said it. I went through exactly the same process. Most of my clients have gone through that exact same process as well. And it's just from a lack of awareness around it, I'd say.

Alex Kennedy (16:07)
Totally. Yeah, it's like that saying wherever you go, there you are. And when I think of that saying, I think like all of your habits, all of your everything, you can change careers. But if your mindset, if your belief system around work, if your literal strategy and how you approach work doesn't change, just as you said, you're going to create another job. I used to call it entrepreneur jail because I was like, I'm putting myself in entrepreneur jail. Like it's

Sophie Biggerstaff (16:30)
Yes.

Alex Kennedy (16:34)
you know, entrepreneurship is really the space where you actually do have all the time freedom, all the money freedom, like the sky. There is no limit, right? The sky is the limit. But we place these perceived, you know, invisible jail bars around ourselves and we make up rules that don't really exist. We force ourselves to work, you know, at least at a job, let's say someone works a nine to five before you have two weeks vacation or something like that. You're going to take your two weeks vacation as an entrepreneur.

it's most of the time, especially at the beginning of your business, you're not giving yourself two weeks vacation. You're going on vacation. Your laptop's going with you. You know what I mean? So it's like even those small breaks or like moments of reprieve that you would have had in a nine to five, most beginner entrepreneurs don't give that to themselves. And so I think that the work that you're doing is very, powerful because people need to learn that the identity will, the identity needs to shift.

as the career shifts as well if you're wanting to make that big of a change.

Sophie Biggerstaff (17:39)
This is the thing, isn't it? We're always evolving. Doesn't matter if we're brand new entrepreneur, doesn't matter if we're two years in. We're constantly evolving as entrepreneurs, even as human beings. But one of the things that I think is lagging behind is our businesses to follow up with us. And the way that I've been looking at it recently is like exactly how you just mentioned in employment, we have all of these benefits, but we also have a career progression plan and our career doesn't just stay in one line, right? Like we might get promoted.

Alex Kennedy (18:06)
Hmm.

Sophie Biggerstaff (18:09)
and move sideways and then do this and then do that and like go left and right and keep climbing up a ladder in a different way but quite often people build a business that literally is that jail because that they can't get out of that jail because they haven't built that progression plan for themselves they haven't allowed their business to

build as they've grown at the same time. And I think that that is a really important lesson. And it really does come back to choosing yourself and choosing what you want for your lifestyle and making sure that you are taking conscious decisions on a daily basis to align your business with you as a founder and the lifestyle that you want to live. And obviously, that's something that you've been able to do off of the back of the burnout, off of the back of shifting through.

through that move. So talk to us a little bit about like, how did you come to that realization that you could choose? You could figure this out for yourself. And it's almost like an act of self love as a founder to be able to create your business to give you that dream life, which you are living now, which you're living in Costa Rica, you're running your online business. Talk us through that, how you managed to re navigate that career choice of yours.

Alex Kennedy (19:15)
Mm-hmm.

I think that for me, was the first realization was kind of when I was doing hair styling, like, you know, I loved making people look beautiful. But ultimately what I was really passionate about was the conversations that I was having behind the chair. Like when people say, ⁓ you tell your hairstylist everything, like that's true. I was basically doing unsanctioned mindset coaching before I even knew that I was doing it. And so in that moment, I realized that like, when people, for me specifically, when

people left my chair, yes, they felt beautiful, but they felt better. And I think that's what really made me realize like, huh, I think there's more to this, at least for me. And so that was kind of the first realization. And then after that, like, so I actually went into mindset and life coaching first before I, you know, put shuffle dancing with that. So when I originally made that transition, I was just like, you know, especially in 2020, that was like the boom of life coaches.

But I was basically like this is something that I know I already have skill and knowledge Let's just get that certification and let's just start testing things out I think that the initial fear of I don't know what I'm doing. I don't know if this is possible for me I don't know if I'm even gonna make an impact like I really had to push those things aside and realize that my desire to Continue helping people feel better

from the inside out, that had to be stronger than my fear of what was going to happen. And it's not that it was easy, but it really came down to all of the small choices, the smallest choices. And it really had to start with like how I was living my life. How was I going to help other people and coach them and talk to them about their big changes and big decisions if I couldn't make those micro choices that were going to stack and lead to a change for myself. So it really started with like

like

hiring my own life coaches and mindset coaches and business coaches and like allowing someone to take me under their wing and realizing number one, I don't have to figure it all out alone. That was a huge thing. But also my fiance always says this phrase and it's basically like just be dumb enough to try. And so that's kind of the playful energy that I brought to it. And I was like, I just need to try it. And I just took step by step by step. I was in a unique position where

the hairstyling industry through COVID, it was very uncertain. We had no idea when we were gonna be allowed to touch people again, let alone be six feet apart from them. So for me, I was just like, I don't really have a choice but to pivot. So I was in a unique situation where...

It was, I'm going to call it a forced pivot, but I feel like it was a divinely forced pivot. It just said, there's no room to be uncomfortable here. Go try it and figure it out. And so that was, yeah, a few of the major shifts where I had to like really make those decisions out of self-love. Yeah.

Sophie Biggerstaff (22:13)
I love that. And it sounds like you've obviously made those decisions for yourself and you've been able to choose how you want to live your life. But it sounds like that also had a ripple effect in your family because then your parents also moved to Costa Rica, right? And kind of followed in your footsteps. So talk us through like how that how that happened.

Alex Kennedy (22:28)
Yeah.

Yeah, so it was an absolutely amazing situation. Like I lived here for about, so I've been here.

1. That's not my strong suit. I've been here for a few years now. And after the first couple years of being here, my mom decided she was going to move down. My parents are actually separated, but they're really they're still very close, which is awesome. I'm in a very unique situation there too. And my mom moved down here first. And it was really nice just like having family be close. I'm an only child. So it was really, really cool to like have a direct member of my family somewhere that you know, they're literally five minutes down the road. And after that, my dad was

was

just kind of like, what am I doing here in Canada? He came to visit a few times, and you've been to Costa Rica, so you know, once you get here, it's like a vortex that sucks you in in the best way possible. The way of living is incredible, but also both of them really saw possibility in what I was doing. At the beginning, when we first told our family, hey, we're moving abroad, people were like, are you crazy?

Are you crazy? You're moving abroad. You don't know anything. You don't speak the language. Like all of the natural fears and concerns that come from family. My parents were a lot more chill about it, but even our extended family. But after actually seeing what our life was like and where the potential was growing and growing for us, my parents both in their, I guess they would have both, yeah, been in their 50s by the time they made that decision. They're like, if you can do it, so can I.

And that's incredible because even similar to what I was saying before about people, you know, not wanting to learn to dance as an adult, imagine starting a whole new life as an adult. So they basically were like, okay, we have your guidance. we can figure it out. And now we're actually all building businesses here on our own, which is awesome. taking, yeah, they're taking their geniuses and being able to establish something here as well to help the greater community.

So it's been a wild ride.

Sophie Biggerstaff (24:35)
That's really cool. That's so good. I love that so much because it's, it's yeah. I mean, I've lived abroad for the best part of the 10 years, right? So I completely understand like one, how lovely it would be to have family just living down the road from you. But two, you've expanded your parents into a completely different life. You've shown them what could be possible and look at what the results are. And I think that there is

Alex Kennedy (24:37)
Yeah.

Sophie Biggerstaff (24:57)
so much power and expansion and like sit leading by example and showing what could be possible for someone, which again is also why I do what I do because it's like, okay, I've not lived particularly an ordinary life since my early 20s, the past like 10, 12 years, I've not really lived a normal life or a normal career.

trajectory. I've traveled so much, I've moved around, I've built businesses, I've been in a nine to five, I've gone through the burnouts, like I've gone through so many different life experiences. And I think the only way that you can help other people sometimes is just to show them that that is possible for them. Like if other hairdressers are looking at you right now and saying, Jo, I want to move to Costa Rica, I want to start working online, I want to start shuffle dancing, I want to go and do something for myself and do it as an act of self care of like something that I actually want to do.

you're the example. Same for me, if there's fashion buyers out there that are like, actually, I'm sick of this 9 to 5, I feel burnt out, I don't want to abide by the corporate politic rules anymore, I want to go and move to Thailand, cool, here I am, here I am showing you that it is actually possible for you. So I absolutely love that. think expansion is such a big...

part of it and your story is really clear to show that how powerful that can be. And obviously, very luckily, they're very close, my family members of yours that you've been able to influence to go and and live there, which is super, super cool. I assume they also had some mindset blocks that probably they had to work through. As you say, they're a little bit older to go through that level of change. But for people that you work with specifically,

What kind of mindset or emotional blocks have you had to work through with some of your clients in order to help them shift through that and be able to pursue something that they really want to do?

Alex Kennedy (26:37)
Hmm, yeah, this is an awesome question. And if I had to narrow it down to a few, think the first one is like, these two kind of go together, but it's like overcoming the fear of failure and then simultaneously believing that they can figure anything out.

And so I, whether it's my shuffle dance students, because this literally happens on a more micro scale when you're learning a new skill or mindset coaching clients. And of course, all of those things intertwine. I feel like in order to be truly resilient, to make these changes, to live a life that you want to live, you have to slowly, but surely start to develop the belief in yourself that everything is figure out a bowl. Even things when life throws you a curve ball that you have absolutely no control over.

even if you can't change the situation, you can always change how you are adapting around it, what your pivot plan is, how you're handling it emotionally. And I think that anytime we're taking a big risk in life or even a small risk in life, like fear of failure is always going to come up. We never know what's going to be on the other side of our next decision. And so for me, it was really helping them develop that solid, solid belief in themselves, which helps

them overcome the fear of failure because they know no matter what happens on the other side of this, even if it doesn't work out the way that I imagined, I know that I'm going to figure it out. I have full unshakable self-belief and I'll be able to pivot. And so I think that's probably one of the major ones with my parents, with myself, and then also with my clients and my students.

Sophie Biggerstaff (28:14)
definitely agree that everything is figure outable. If there's a will, there's a way. I think that that's a really powerful statement that you've just made there. think a lot more people need to recognise that everything is figure outable. There is a solution for everything. It doesn't matter what your circumstances is. I really do believe that there is a way out of it. Yes, it might take some people longer to get where they want to be than others. Or yes, it might be a more difficult road for some people. everybody has...

a way of doing something, in my opinion. I really do believe that everything is figure outable for every single person and as say, everyone's different, got different circumstances, but there is a solution for everything. It's just going to be your unique path to get to where you want to be. So I really love that. And for someone that's like...

struggling right now, they know they want more freedom in their life, they know that they want to change something, maybe they are stuck in that 9 to 5, maybe they're a hairdresser, they want to go and start working online or change their circumstances in some way, what advice would you give them to someone that is struggling to give themselves that permission to actually go for it?

Alex Kennedy (29:17)
Hmm. I think the first thing that I would say is don't try to figure it out on your own. And you know, it's easy for us to say as people who have had mentors who are mentors, but that's really what every single huge pivot I've had in my life. There's been a catalyst as a result of someone guiding me and

At least on those first steps, you know what I mean? Like you start to learn and adapt, but when you're taking that initial leap, it is so helpful to have someone to lean on, to have someone to support you, to have someone to answer your questions, the fears that you have that you you think are irrational, but they can actually work you through it strategically. Like when I first started this journey for myself, I don't until I had that experience of like having someone guide me, I don't think I realized

realized how powerful it was and how much I was actually struggling to figure things out on my own and just getting in my own way when it wasn't required. Right. And I'm sure you can even attest to this when we're on the coach side of things and our clients are coming to us. Like sometimes things that feel so out of reach for them are so unfigurable. We are just like, you can do this, this and this and come to that solution. And it opens their perspective so much and it saves them

It saves them the concern, saves them lying awake at night trying to figure it out themselves. And so I truly believe that is one of the most major steps and all of the tools, the mindset shifts, everything. You're going to get that from there through experience.

Reading 500 self-help books is not gonna get you there. Listening to only ever podcasts and never actually taking action on things, it's not gonna get you there. But really accepting guidance from the people who have come before you who are literally here to make it easier for you, that's what's going to fast track your journey and avoid as much hardship as possible.

Sophie Biggerstaff (31:20)
Yeah, I think if you're in the position where you can afford or you can have access to a resource that's going to support you, particularly if it is ideally somebody that has been through the same journey as you, obviously you're going to get there 10 times quicker and it'll save you a lot of hardship. It'll probably cost you less money in the long run. You'll probably get a return on your investment very, very quickly because you have made that investment. think so many people get scared at that early stage to be able to invest in support or a mentor or a coach or just generally help because they don't

see. ⁓

the return come in very quickly, right? But I can tell you now, if I had had a mentor or a coach in that first year that I was working in my business, I would have been a hell of a lot richer because I was really undercharging. I had no boundaries. And I really wish I had taken that initiative because in the first year that I started my business, I was more freelancing and consulting. So I hadn't really explored yet the coaching and the mentoring world at that point. I was just winging it. And plus, I'm a kinesthetic learner.

So I learned by doing, learned by failing, unfortunately. So it is actually quite hard for me to sit and take advice and help from other people actually. because I don't learn in that way, I actually learned by doing it, not getting it right and then repeating the process. But it has been as I've developed in my business, as I've learned a lot of hard lessons, as I've failed a lot, I have then gone on to get more support, get help and ask people almost more as a soundboard or accountability. They've been the two things that I've

Alex Kennedy (32:32)
Right.

Mm-hmm.

Sophie Biggerstaff (32:50)
really loved having coaches or mentors for. Because for me, they're the two things like sometimes I know what I need to do, but I need it from another perspective to show me in a different way for me to be able to spark an idea that just lets me then run with it and take out action. And you mentioned it there, like you have to take action, you have to integrate the things that you've learned, because yeah, you can read all the self-help books, you can listen to all the podcasts.

it's going to help you in a sense of like, you're going to expand your brain. Like I mentioned expansion earlier, all of those things are going to expand you into opportunities that you could potentially do. But unless you take the action and unless you integrate and implement all of the things that you are expanded into your learning, nothing's going to happen. Right. So that is really amazing advice there. I love everything that you said and fully back it and agree with it as a fellow coach.

Alex Kennedy (33:33)
Yep.

Yeah.

Sophie Biggerstaff (33:42)
And something that I'm really passionate about, and the reason why so many people start on their businesses, particularly myself, is to generate more freedom in your life, whether that's financial freedom, time freedom, location freedom, emotional freedom. What motivates you to keep going after your dream life? What is your freedom goal?

Alex Kennedy (34:02)
Hmm, I think for me my freedom goal is

Being able to like create whatever I want and pivot whenever I want. I'm the type of person that even if I'm staying in one lane, for example, like let's say I'm always, I'm always going to teach shuffle dance or at least for the foreseeable future, because you never know what the future holds. But I like knowing that I can always do it in different ways. If I really want to work closer with people, I can focus on doing more one-to-one lessons. If I really want to help a lot of people at once, I have a membership. If I

Like right now my thing that is lighting me up so much within this little world is like helping total beginners. Like I love taking people from I've never danced, they say they have two left feet, you know, and turning them into a successful shuffler no matter what their circumstances are. And so for me, my freedom goal is like having the freedom to just follow what excites me within my path as much as I want to. And yes, there's always strategy behind it because we are a business at the end of the day.

but I love the freedom to just be creative and like allow all of those ideas to you know throw spaghetti at the wall and then strategically scrape it off and figure out what's going to be next for me. I think that's the most rewarding thing for me right now.

Sophie Biggerstaff (35:22)
Yeah, creative freedom. hadn't even really thought about that one because my brain's not that creative. So I struggle sometimes with that, but that is also a level of freedom, which is really cool. Yeah, absolutely. Entrepreneurship is like a playground, right? You can try so many different things. Like you say, throw this spaghetti at the wall, see what actually sticks and then keep rinse repeat the same batch of spaghetti if it does work. So love that. Thank you so much for sharing that.

Alex Kennedy (35:26)
Mmhmm.

Yeah.

Yep.

Sophie Biggerstaff (35:46)
And thank you for sharing

all of your wisdom, expertise and experiences today on this episode. If anyone wants to connect with you further, how can they get in touch with you?

Alex Kennedy (35:55)
Yeah, thank you for having me. It's been absolutely amazing. So if you would like to find me on Instagram, I have two Instagram handles. My my like normal personal one is at Alex Nicole Kennedy spelled how it sounds. And my other one if you want to learn all shuffle dance stuff, it is at shuffle shred shu FF le sh red. You can find anything about shuffling there just connecting in general. If you're coming to visit Costa Rica, let me know I'd

to connect but yes those will be the best places to find me.

Sophie Biggerstaff (36:29)
Amazing. Thank you so much for joining today. was a really great conversation.

Alex Kennedy (36:33)
Thank you, I appreciate it.

Sophie Biggerstaff (36:35)
Thank you so much for listening to today's episode of the Remote CEO Life podcast. This conversation with Alex was super expansive, super inspirational. I love to hear Alex's story. It's very similar to my own story, going from that nine to five, moving into starting your own thing, but burning out along the way, creating yourself a job rather than a business. And that is why I teach what I teach now. One of the big things I took away from this episode, from Alex's advice, and I want you to really keep in mind is that everything is figure outable.

So if you are in that nine to five right now, but you can't see a way out, there is a way out. There is a way out for you, but in your own unique way. We mentioned it a little bit in the episode today where there is a route for you. You just have to find your own path. Your path might not look like my path. It might not look like Alex's path. It might take you longer. It might take you shorter. Whatever it looks like today, there is a route for you to do, for you to be able to step into the life that you desire.

and create the online business that you want. If you are currently in that nine to five and you want to transition into entrepreneurship, check out my resource, the Freedom Founder Playbook, which is a comprehensive resource that is going to help you guide you through that transition, not just from a practical standpoint, but also create you the mindset that it takes to really step into a new role as a founder and be able to quit your job with confidence and stability whilst you build your online business. So check that out. The link is in the show notes. And for now.

and I will see you soon for another episode of the Romo Sierra Life podcast. If you love this episode, don't forget to like and subscribe on your favorite podcasting platform.