Episode 104: Embracing Change and Growth

After taking a break from the One Girl Travel Podcast since December 2025, Alessia is back with an honest update on everything that's been happening behind the scenes.

In this episode, she shares how her business has naturally grown beyond solo travel into content creation, social media consulting, affiliate marketing, and helping entrepreneurs show up with confidence online. She talks about why change is a normal part of building a business and why trying to stay in one lane can often hold you back.

Alessia also shares what it's been like to deal with unfollows, unsubscribes, and the opinions that come with growing in a new direction. She tells the story of how one viral TikTok Shop video completely changed the trajectory of her business, leading to new opportunities as a creator.

She also talks about setting boundaries, recognizing when relationships or communities are no longer the right fit, and learning to let go without guilt. Throughout the episode, she reflects on the importance of celebrating your wins, trusting yourself, and continuing to move forward even when the next step feels uncertain.

Whether you're building a business, creating content, or simply finding the confidence to follow a new path, this episode is an honest reminder that growth often requires change... and that's something to be proud of.

If you enjoyed this episode of the One Girl Travel Podcast, then I invite you to follow me on Instagram. That's where all the fun is happening! @ONE_GIRL_TRAVEL

Follow me here: https://www.instagram.com/one_girl_travel/

Transcript

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Welcome to the One Girl Travel Podcast, episode number 104, I think, because it's been a while. And I honestly didn't have anything planned, but I'm like, let me get back on the podcast because it's been a really long time. And honestly, I miss having this platform. I miss just talking openly, not curated. I never script my podcast episodes. I just kind of speak and see what happens. And that's what we're gonna do today because we have a lot to catch up on. My last podcast episode was. In December. It's been a while. December of 2025. It is now August 2026. So we have a half a year plus some to catch up on, which is crazy. I don't know where the time went, but it's been going and a lot's been happening. A lot has happened. And if you're new here, I'm Alexia. I am a full-time entrepreneur with my brand, One Girl Travel. I started as a solo travel-focused life coach with my brand. And it organically branched out into social media consulting, content creation, affiliate marketing. It, it has definitely evolved over the years. I am still a solo traveler. I still love sharing about solo travel, and I just, there's so much more, right? And I think that's one of the main things with this episode is sharing how it's okay to change. It's okay to evolve. It's okay to be somebody that people might not recognize because they might be comfortable and familiar with who you were years ago, 2 months ago, last week, whatever. But as a human, you evolve. And especially if you are pouring into yourself, if you're constantly, you know, trying to better yourself, improve, educate, you're going to change. And that's okay. And people might be upset that they don't recognize the person you are now. I know there's people out there that maybe they didn't sign up for my social media stuff. They just want solo travel and that's it. But that's not who I am anymore. That's not just who I am anymore. It's still a part of me, but there's so much more to me. And honestly, it has taken an adjustment just for myself to be okay with that because I'm human. I'm a sensitive human. And when I see people unsubscribe or unfollow or not interact with my content when they used to, I can, you know, be a little harsh on myself and question myself and doubt myself. And it's something that even somebody who is a certified life coach still can, you know, struggle with. Even though I have the tools, I know that it is not a reflection of my work. I know maybe I don't align with people who who once aligned with me, and that's okay. But still, as somebody who is sensitive, who is a people pleaser, it can still affect me. And that is what I want to talk to you about today. That's been top of mind lately because I realize that, you know, as I'm creating new things, not everyone's going to be along for the ride, right? And I personally have to be okay with that. I have to be okay with the fact that people who once went along with me or, you know, liked my stuff might not like the new version. And it can feel difficult. It can feel discouraging. You might doubt yourself, but you have to know deep down why you're doing it. And if that is good with you, if you know your reason for why you're moving forward, for why you're creating a new thing, for why you're evolving, for what you're offering, whatever it is, that's good enough. Your reason for doing it trumps everything else. It trumps people that aren't interested in your content anymore that, you know, you thought were your friends or online friends, whatever, and now they're not there anymore. Because you have to do what's right for you. And it is impossible to please everybody. Unfortunately, as a people pleaser, I wish I could make everyone happy. I do. Sad but true. I really wish I could make everybody in the world happy. And it is impossible. And it is exhausting just trying to even reach that goal because then, you know, if, if you are just trying to be in the middle to not, you know, sway in one direction or another, if you're not trying to give your opinion, if you don't want to rock the boat. And also, mind you, I'm a Libra and a middle child. So I am always, you know, trying to be the peacemaker, trying to be in the middle. But when it comes to business, like. It's impossible to be that person. You have to stay true to yourself and you have to go after the things that you desire and that you wanna create. And again, knowing your reason why is the thing that will pull you forward and keep you going. And so, like I said in the beginning, if you're not familiar with me, I pivoted my business into social media consulting because even when I worked with my solo travel clients, they always asked me. About starting a business and how they can show up online and social media and all of that. And that has been the thing that has honestly brought me the most income is consulting and teaching social media and visibility online. And I love it. It brings me as much joy as traveling does. And that's how I know I'm doing the right thing, right? Because it does light me up. It does bring me joy. And the newest thing that I took on this year, which I didn't, I haven't shared with you because I haven't talked to you since December 2025, is TikTok Shop. TikTok Shop has been the unexpected game changer of 2026. I didn't have it on my bingo card, but let me share with you that journey if maybe this is something you're interested in. But I signed up for TikTok Shop. While ago, like when it first came out, but I never like really did much with it. I did some stuff here and there, like UGC content, uh, which is all like, I'm talking about affiliate marketing. So this is where you're creating content for brands. TikTok Shop is basically another version of Amazon. Like they're selling products through TikTok Shop, you purchase it, and then they're using creators as their marketing. So creators who use these products is they're creating videos to market products and sell them. And then those creators get paid a commission. So I started like dabbling more and more into TikTok shop this year. And one day I'm taking a bath. I love taking baths. If you don't know anything about me, know that I love taking baths. Even when I travel, I will look for hotels that have the best bathtubs because I want to be like submerged in water in a bath when I'm on vacation. And one day I'm taking a bath and I just got my bathroom renovated and they put in this shallow bathtub. It's like 12 inches deep, so shallow. I'm sitting there like half my body sticking out of the water. I'm like, this sucks. Like, this is not relaxing. What is this? And so I start scrolling on TikTok And Amazon. I'm like, I need to find a solution. Like, how can I make my bathtub deeper? And I came across this portable bathtub and what it is, it's like this foldable bathtub for people who don't have baths. You can use it in your shower and then you can fill it up with water and take a bath. And I'm like, what if I put that inside my bathtub? Will it work? Like, I didn't know, but I was really desperate for a solution. So I reached out to the brand and they sent me one cuz I actually purchased a smaller version before that. And it worked, but I wasn't able to fully extend my legs. I had to sit with my legs crossed. Then I found the larger one and I requested the sample from the company and they sent it to me. And I recorded a video documenting my first time ever using it from out of the box into the tub, me in the tub, documented the whole thing, like textbook what not to do in a TikTok shop video because I wasn't being strategic or anything. I really wanted to show my full experience using it because I Wanted a solution. I'm sure there were other people out there looking for a solution too. And that video is sitting at currently 3.4 million views at this point. And immediately upon posting it, it hit a million views, I think within a week. But man, it, it picked up so quickly. It was crazy. I'm like, what is happening? The comments, like I never thought a bathtub could be controversial, but apparently it is. There were a lot of comments. I mean, I was making money off this. I, it was crazy. It was so exciting though. And I was like, oh wow, like this has potential here. And I, I just rode the train and I started making more videos with the bathtub. Actually, the same week that all that happened, I got invited by TikTok to go to their headquarters in Manhattan for an event where I got to meet other brands. They sent me home with a ton of stuff. I became a platinum creator. That month I made thousands of dollars from this bathtub sales. So many opportunities unlocked for me. I had like every day several hundred opportunities to work with different brands and products. It was crazy. And so that's something I still do now because I love it so much. I think it's so fun. I've always been somebody who loves sharing her favorite things, discovering new things, especially for the plus-size community. I love finding us really like Beautiful clothes that fit us well, and thankfully TikTok Shop has a lot of variety to offer for plus size ladies. And I have just gone all in on TikTok Shop, and I love it so much. So if you're not following me on TikTok yet, definitely go check me out. My handle on there is Shop with Alessia. I have so much fun on there, and I have so many great things. And the the thing I love the most about TikTok Shop is you are not required to post anything that you don't like. So as many videos that I'm posting, there are plenty that I. Will refuse to post videos about because I don't think the quality is up to par. I don't want to be associated with anything that's poor quality, that doesn't work, that doesn't fit right. So I will reject items and not make videos for them if I don't feel aligned with it. And that makes it feel so much better for me where I get to be authentic and I get to be honest and truly share my favorite things. And so that's the TikTok shop journey. And I'm leaning into it and I love it. So between TikTok Shop, between the social media consulting and hosting my workshop every other month, the Confident Creator Workshop, and then solo travel and travel and mindset, like those are all the things that make One Girl Travel, that those are the pillars of my brand. Those are the pillars of my life and not everyone aligns with it anymore. Not everybody cares about TikTok shop or showing up on social media. Maybe they only care about travel. And I want you to think about that for yourself. Like, if you're evolving and maybe your friends know you as the one that's always available for everybody else, but now you realize that you have to set up boundaries and you have to prioritize yourself and your needs. And so now maybe you're saying no to things that you Might have said yes to. Like, you have to be okay with that now because you know why you're doing it. And then they might not like that you're doing it. Most likely, when you start setting up boundaries, the people that benefited from you not having any boundaries are going to be the people that have the biggest problem with your boundaries. Because when you didn't have boundaries, they benefited. You were available to them. You were saying yes to them. You were their go-to. And when you take that away, you get to see people's true colors. Like, are they there for you or are they there because They want something from you. And so it's hard. It's a hard realization when you think that people are in your life for the right reasons and maybe they're not. But it's also a filter to weed out the people that might not be the best for you or for your business, whatever. And it's okay. Like, the moral of this is like, it's okay for people to release themselves and for you to release them. From your life, from your business, from whatever. It might be hard, but it's still a good thing. And I have to remind myself of that also, because it can be upsetting when you see people leave the mailing list, unsubscribe, unfollow, whatever. But that just means they're not in alignment with who you are now. And don't you want to have people around who are in alignment, right? Like, don't you want to keep the people in your life who are aligned and not feeling like, oh, they're staying for whatever. Whatever reason, just because they feel guilty. I don't know. Whatever the reason, you want the right people around you. You want the right people in your community, on your mailing list, and you got to be okay with releasing the ones that aren't meant for you. And like I said, this is something I have personally have been struggling with. I'm still struggling with it. I just hosted a workshop and I didn't even know, but I found an email after the workshop was over. Somebody emailed me saying you're sending out too many emails about the workshop, and I took that to heart. I'm like. Man, I'm bothering people. I'm bothering people by reminding them about my workshop. But then thankfully for the communities I'm in, the friends I have, they reminded me like, that's one person. You know, the thousands of other people that you sent out emails to, they didn't say anything. It's just that one person. And maybe that one person is not meant to be in my community anymore. Maybe I'm not for them. If you're too much for somebody, then, you know, I'm not forcing them to stay there. They don't have to look at the emails. They can delete it. But when I believe in something, when I believe in something like my workshop where I'm giving away so much information for free, I want to share that to make sure that the people who would benefit from it get the message and will attend because I know what I'm offering and I know how good it is. So again, you have to be okay to promote the things that you know in your heart deserve it, that you work hard for, that you know it can benefit others. It's okay to talk about it. You're not bothering anybody. If they're bothered, then maybe they're just not right for you. And as I say this, I'm, I am speaking to myself also. I am working through this live on this podcast episode with you because I've literally been dealing with this for, you know, the past few days, honestly. And that's why I love the podcast so much because I can talk things out to myself and hopefully help others in the process. Yeah. Documenting this journey because when I started my business and when I left my corporate job, I left my 14-year corporate career January 2024 to go all in as an entrepreneur. Nobody taught me how to be an entrepreneur. Yeah, I have my bachelor's in business administration focused on entrepreneurship, right? They're not teaching you how to be a full-time entrepreneur and running every aspect of your business. And it's something I'm learning every day. When you are the marketing department, the sales department, your copywriter, your, your own assistant, like social media creator, the creative, I am wearing every single hat possible and doing every single thing on my own. And when you're doing that, not everything's gonna be perfect. Not everything is going to be professionally there, right? Like there's gonna be There's going to be mistakes made. There's going to be duplicate emails. There's going to be things that don't get scheduled properly. There's going to be things that get forgotten because, oh my gosh, let me tell you, you, you think you have everything done, right? I'll use my workshop, for example. Got the workshop done, got the slide deck done. I got my emails written for people to sign up for the workshop. That's the tip of the iceberg. You think you're done and then it's like, oh wait, now I have to have the welcome sequence for when people actually register. Now I have to have my ascension emails done for after. the workshop. I have to make sure that people who bought the replay have their email sequence and that it's linked to a proper place and that the cart is open and the date is there and the social media marketing's there, the ads are there. Like, there's so much more. And then the only way you learn this is by doing it, right? And it's gonna take time. And I'm saying this to remind you, like, don't beat yourself up if you don't feel like you have everything down immediately. And Again, this goes for business and also in life. Like if you're doing something for the first time, it's not going to be perfect. You're going to figure it out as you go. So give yourself grace and know that you're learning. But by doing it, even if it's not the right way, you are still so much further ahead than the person that's not doing it. Because I know so many people that have these great ideas, so many ideas, but they are not doing anything to actually make it happen. They're researching, they're looking up stuff, they're writing down all these ideas, they're talking about their ideas, but they're not actually taking action. But if you have the idea and you start taking action, you are so much further along because you're just going to learn as you go and you're going to learn more and you're going to develop and evolve and get closer and closer to where you want to be. And it takes time. That's the main thing. It takes time. So give yourself the grace you need and also acknowledge your wins. I'll tell you another story since we're catching up on life right now. And you know, this episode is going to be all over the place. Again, I had nothing scripted. I had nothing even planned. I am technically still in my, I'm in my fancy pajamas, but I am, I am still in my pajamas. So that's how off the cuff this is. So bear with me. Okay. But this year I also hit a milestone for myself, a goal I've been Working towards for a very, very long time. Instagram, I hit 10,000 followers and I didn't even celebrate it. I didn't celebrate it because as soon as I hit the 10K mark, I started freaking out thinking about losing them. I didn't post anything because I was like, okay, if I post something now, what if they hate me and they all leave? And I know how irrational that is. Like, that's not going to happen, but my brain, our brains can be very irrational. And we can get scared. And what we're doing is we think we're protecting ourselves, but we're not. It's actually hurting ourselves because we're holding ourselves back. But it took me a while to overcome that fear and actually post something. And I have still yet to celebrate my 10K. I do want to do that. So I'll celebrate it here. I hit 10K on Instagram finally, after many years of working very, very hard to get there. So I am very happy that I got To that goal. But I just want to remind you that it happens. Like, you reach a goal and sometimes you get scared of something going wrong. And I use the analogy, not the analogy, but the example from Sex and the City when Charlotte gets pregnant and she's been trying to get pregnant for so long and she loves running and every day she would run. It makes her so happy. And then she got pregnant and she stopped running and she said she was scared if she ran that maybe something would happen. to her pregnancy that she worked so hard for. And I know it's a very different scenario, but that's just how I felt. Like, I worked so hard to get to this goal, and then if I start posting about, you know, the social media stuff instead of the travel, like, maybe I'll lose people. Maybe I'll— I won't have that goal anymore and it'll go away. And it felt scary even though it wasn't true. Our brains are very powerful and our brains love to make up stories. And The thing that helped me overcome that is realizing like, okay, this is not true. This isn't true. Like the more I post, the more I'm going to find my ideal audience. I'm going to find the people that resonate with my message, that want to learn from me, that enjoy my content. And if I do lose people, it's okay because that means I'm not for them anymore. And just being okay with releasing and letting go of the things and people that are no longer for you and no longer serve you. So that's another thing that happened. Also this year, which was very, very cool in, was it in April? I think it was April. It was asked by my mentor, April Franks, to speak on stage at her Marketing School Live event. And that same day on that very same stage, Brock Johnson, who is like the Instagram guru, spoke on that stage. And like, I just thought, how cool is that? That I get to stand on the same stage that Brock Johnson stood on. And taught on, and I'm teaching about social media also. Like, that is so cool. And I love doing it. Like, again, find the things that you enjoy and do that, even if it makes other people uncomfortable, even if maybe it isn't a part of your old identity, but it is a part of your new identity. The things that light you up, the things that bring you joy, that's what you need to just go all in on despite what people might say. Just do it. Just do it anyway. That's my biggest message here. And I do need to wrap up this episode. Because I have a call. So I just wanted to get on here, just get the ball moving, right? The first step is always the hardest when it comes to building momentum, building habits, taking that first step. And I could wait until I'm fully dressed, until my calendar is fully cleared out. That's never going to happen. I always have something going on. So it's like, let me do it now. Let me do it raw. Let me do it a little messy, but at least I'm doing it so that way. I can hop on here and record another episode and show up more consistently. So that's what we're doing here today. And I hope this inspires you to start showing up for yourself, to start focusing on the things that bring you joy, to allow yourself to release the people and the things that no longer serve you, or maybe you are no longer in alignment with, to be clear on your boundaries, which will also help filter out the people that no longer are in alignment with you, and to just celebrate yourself and your wins along the way. And so I thank you for being here. I appreciate you being subscribed and listening, and I hope to talk to you very, very soon. Thank you for your understanding in this very large gap between this episode and the previous one, but that's life, right? You learn, you do things, and then you get to make decisions on how you show up next, and it's okay. If it's not, you know, every week, every month, whatever it is, just do what you can do now. All right. I hope you have a great day and I will talk to you again soon. Bye for now.