From Comparison to Confidence with Alana Hergert

A viral moment, a deleted TikTok account, and a pageant rooted in the Book of Esther all lead to the same question: who are we becoming while we chase “success”? I’m joined by Alana Hergert, a woman of faith, speaker, business owner, and Miss West Missouri, whose story holds both pain and redemption. We talk candidly about insecurity, healing, and the kind of confidence that comes from inner refinement rather than outside approval.

We get practical about modern pressure points: beauty culture that swings between vanity and shame, motherhood expectations that turn life into a race, and social media habits that promise “community” while quietly feeding loneliness. Alana shares a surprisingly powerful lesson sparked by something as small as a nail colour, and we explore how grace, compromise, and character can shape the way we show up in everyday moments. If you’re navigating comparison, burnout, or an identity crisis, you’ll hear language for what’s happening and a calmer way forward.

We also dig into purpose-led work, including Alana’s heart for Lavinity Publishing and helping testimony-driven stories get onto the page. Along the way we talk about seasons, capacity, and why measuring success only by money, likes, or visibility can pull you off course. The goal isn’t to do everything, it’s to do what God actually asked of you and let Him handle the results.

Find Alana on Facebook at alanaHergert21 or Instagram @alana_got_jesus

Subscribe so you don’t miss what’s next, share this with a friend who feels stretched thin, and leave a review with your biggest takeaway. What would change if you measured success by faithfulness instead of attention?

Transcript

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Welcome

Mel 0:18

Welcome to Beyond Organised, the podcast that helps you simplify your life and amplify your purpose. I'm Mel Schenker, life coach, speaker, founder of She's Organised, but, more importantly, a wife and mum of four little kids. If you've ever felt overwhelmed, like you're constantly juggling everything but never quite catching up, this is the place for you. Here we go beyond just the tidying up and creating systems. We're talking about real life strategies that bring order to your life, but also we talk about the things beyond the organising, the things that really matter, like your parenting relationships and so much more. So grab your coffee and let's dive in.

Mel 0:18

Welcome back to another episode of Beyond Organised. Today I have Alana with me. Now, Alana Hergert is a woman of faith, speaker, business owner, and Miss West Missouri. That's different. A survivor of childhood, molestation, and domestic violence, she shares a powerful testimony of God's redemption, healing, and restoration. As co-founder of Lavinity Publishing, she is passionate about helping bring stories from the heart to the pages of the book, believing that every testimony and purpose-driven story has the power to impact lives. Amen. Through her speaking, Alana encourages others to find hope beyond their pain and embrace the purpose God has for their lives. Unbelievable. It's so good to have you here, Alana.

Alana 1:46

Thank you so much. I really appreciate Mel.

Mel 1:48

Oh, I really connected with a lot of points on your bio, except the pageant. That is different. I would love to hear more about your story.

A Pageant Calling Despite Insecurity

Alana 2:00

Well, my pageant story, it's completely God-driven. I never thought I would ever be part of a pageant because I really grew up with a lot of insecurity of my appearance. And there was nothing I felt like it's need to be acknowledged. I felt I was very common, normal, so to speak. But the pageant, um, it was just a one post on my Facebook, and I was like, this looks nice. And I look into it. My first my husband said, I don't think so. You have time for this. I'm like, oh, that's right. I don't have time for this. And one day, as I'm just sitting on my couch and just looking out of the window in my quiet time, I just felt this peace just fall on me. And my every part of my body just went to this peace. And the Lord said, Go for it. And I was like, okay. So I I applied and I got selected. And it was definitely something that God it was, it's never it's never me, he never made this about what is outside. He always made it about what's inside. This uh pageant is actually based on Esther, the book of Esther, where she went through the mentorship, she went through the process, and that's why the pageant also has a mentorship program. The more I learned about it, the more I was able to like see how this was actually each part the month teaching spoke to me personally. It doesn't matter like when they posted this. Every time I listened to it, it spoke to me, and I realized that it's never what is being portrayed or refined outside, it's actually what's the inside. And then I realized that I don't have to go crazy for this pageant. All I have to do is just go through this learning process. I didn't I first in my mind was, oh, I need to get famous, I need to do all these things that the content creators are doing for me to sponsor, I need to do this product. And I did try, and you know, I got into this websites and this apps and all of the things, but in the return, all I felt was disturbed and disappointed. And I felt more insecurity crept in me because uh my pictures were not getting the liked, my posts were not being seen, I was not getting people talk to me about my pageant. And I realized that if Esther would have made this whole process of her meeting Zersex as her uh idol or as her identity, I don't think so. She would be the king queen that she became. I think she would be another person that been disqualified. It's always about the process that and the position of her heart. So my pageant journey was met with more sprouts that take encouraged me to do the business, encouraged me to talk to women, and actually encouraged me to learn how to carry myself. I I never knew what to wear on the right occasions. I always I have to have this fake humility on me to send me to fall into the pride of my beauty or this kind of thing. So I I did things intentionally so I won't fall into that sin. Instead of me really relying on the Holy Spirit and letting him tell me what I need to do. And then slowly, slowly, I really let go that um trauma on my heart, that toxicity, the beauty that's always been to me is superficial. And if you do anything good for you, for example, if you go get your eyebrows done, if you get pedicure, manicure done, that means you're um idolizing this you you shouldn't be caring about, and then you look outside, and we have our culture that actually promotes things that is fake, humiliating. Women we see our moms struggling to even brush their hair, they're struggling to even put clothes on that actually make them feel good, yeah. And they think my body is not that way, or I should just wear an oversized hoodie and be done with it. That's not that's not godly, and that's also not healthy. Whatever your body type is, whatever you look like, you have all the rights to embrace it and edify, edify for the Lord. You worship Lord for what you eat with, worship Lord, what you wear, worship Lord, how you take care of your outside of the body. Because the truth is, our Jesus, when he was here, the word said there was nothing

Inner Beauty And Honest Self Care

Alana 7:20

attractive about him. There was nothing that people didn't like stood and just be like mesmerizing. He was not charismatic, but what he did carry was the glow and the countenance of God, the joy, the love, the compassion. I am 100% sure, Mel, if you were there, you would have looked into his eyes. You want to get attractive, how charismatic his eyes and how what color his eyes is, I guess it will be, but you would be attracted to the love, to compassion for you, for your soul, for your you will see your creator in him and the way he created you. Because when we I like that when we go and be with him in heaven, he will give you the crown of gold, he will give you the cloth, the raw robe of righteousness, you will wear it and he will give you a heart, he will add into you. Our God doesn't subtract from us in a way where we we hate ourselves or despite ourselves or we self-afflict ourselves, he subtracts the per uh per perversion of this world, he subtract unlike, deception, ungodless, sin. That's what he subtracts and he adds in us the Holy Spirit, he pours in us, and then he turns our eyes and then he let us see because one time when I was praying to the Lord and I had this, I had this friend, and she was very kind to me. She was very kind to me, and she was a single mom. She was very kind to me. And so we went to get nails done. Now I I get my nails done, and whatever they do, I'm just like, even if I don't like it, I'm like, it's okay, it's all right. I'm gonna go over it. I'm not saying anything. Yeah. But she was getting a nail stone. Her nail color didn't come out the way she wanted. So we came out in the car and she said, um, no, they actually asked her that we can change the color, we can redo it. And she said, No, I want you to take this off and give my money back. And I was with her, I was looking at her and I was looking at them. And this is the people that they go like every time when I get money, I was looking at them, I was like, okay, I'm like, all right. And she she got her nails out because she didn't like the color. She actually got the money back from them. So when we sat down together, and I looked in my nails, and I was just like, and I looked at her, and she went and she got her nails done with some other place, which she always goes. And she said, that's why I never go to certain places. I only go to the people that I want to. I'm like, okay. I came home and I sat down and I was thinking about it's like, is this how we are living now? Is this how we are living in this way now? We forgot to appreciate the things that was given to us, even if it means just nails, even if it was a long color, even if she didn't like it, we forgot to have this little bit of compromise in our hearts about things. And I and I was sitting there and I realized that we have walked into in a very completely superficial beauty. We have entered into a ground that does not grow us anymore. We want and we want to force the other to grow into us. We don't want to grow anymore with people. We want people to match us. We don't want to be anymore. We don't down anymore. We don't want to be like, okay, all right. Well, I expect her, I don't expect her to like what she but uh the way I am, I don't or the the way I think. But in that moment when I looked at her, I felt like she was she called her friend. She talked about it, she give me the wrong color, da-da-da. And it's it's like it's almost like this hyper uh dramatic. And I it was and then and I asked her, so they offered you to change in a redo, but she said, no, I don't want them to do it. I don't want them to take them off and give my money back. And as I look at those people that were doing it, I I all I did was I apologize to them because in my eyes, they they are working, they are doing things. And I felt like when I I just I don't know, I just it made me think how much compromise we are willing to do in our place just because we love God, just because we are the representation of Jesus Christ. Of course, you shouldn't do compromise on a place that there's harm and anything like that, but just a small places where we can give our part of us to someone. It doesn't matter what is it, but it could be our time, our thoughts, our prayers, our worship to the Lord, thinking

The Nail Colour Lesson On Grace

Alana 13:00

about them. And even if that person does not know you, and if you do that, if someone give you a wrong color of nail paint, where we need to be, where we like, well, I guess I'm wearing this until they grow up.

Mel 13:15

Yeah.

Alana 13:16

You know, it just means a big part of my life. It's just a wrong nail paint.

Mel 13:23

It's not I really like what you're saying here because it doesn't get talked about enough. Actually, I think we as a society now get told not to put up with things, be strong, speak up. You know, you can be or say whatever is on your heart, and it's okay. And that's okay to a degree, but there are times when maybe we can take it as an opportunity to learn and grow and go, okay, I don't particularly like the colour. Um, maybe I will ask if they could redo it uh and be kind and gracious about it. Or you can go, you know what, this isn't the color I had in mind, but I'm gonna see what this does for me over the next couple of weeks.

Alana 14:16

It was a level. She she it she said it made her uh hand look way darker than it was. And it was more deeper than okay for me. I'm very white. It's deeper, but that's what the worlds tell us today, right, Mel, that um you have to have a palette. Oh, you go palette. This is the color that makes you look this way. And I'd done that before, and I kind of was very curious to find like, oh my gosh, yeah. I'm saying, don't wear yellow, it's gonna make you look dark. Don't wear white, you're you're gonna look more um what's wrong with dark?

Mel 14:54

That's what I don't understand. What's wrong with what's wrong with dark? Just cool. Like you are who you are, and if you like that color, wear it.

Alana 15:05

It's that's the thing. You grow up thinking like, oh my gosh, these all different colors doesn't look good on. And this is not some stranger telling me. My parents are telling me, don't and they buy me clothes that's actually black. I grew up, they said if you wear black, it makes you look more uh white or make give you make your skin tone lighter. Now I grew up in that kind of household, and now you see everyone, and and there is a like an uh for our mothers. Our mothers are doing so much for our children right now. We they are the ones who's raising the next generation. And we tell them or we show them uh a culture where there's the acceptance to some things that is unhealthy for them, and but there's no acceptance to the thing that should be healthy for them. That they should have things that they need. For example, have time at home more, not feel like they have to get out and match or feel guilty. Yeah. Match that race. And if they are spending more time with their kids, they feel like, oh, you're not, you should go out and do these things, or your kids should not have you around so much. We have just put this, this, there's almost like picking apart everything now. And our media is telling us this. We have some celebrity mothers who is like the super moms, they're raising kids and they're doing well blockbusters movie. Well, not at their houses, we don't even know how much time they're spending. We have taken away the ministry from our mothers the way they want and that God have desired them to walk into. Not all mothers are called to have a business, not all mothers are called to actually work for a firm or work for an uh enterprise. Not all mothers, some mothers are called to be just there for their children.

Mel 17:05

Yeah, which is beautiful.

Alana 17:08

I believe I am uh so grateful to God and to my husband that I am able to stay home and be with my stepson. Because every time something happens, he calls my name and I'm being I'm a label for him. And I know that means so much to him, and that means so much to God, because he realized that if he will call upon God, he will be heard because put these people in his life that listen to him. And I I might not have all the um problem solving skills for him, but I do know that even if he comes to me, oh, I did this happen, all I can say, I'm so sorry, buddy, I'm so sorry, and being there for him and help him be that safe space, yes, yeah.

Mel 17:59

It's uh look, I've had a lot of people even say to me, like, wow, you're you know, you do this and you do that, and you got four kids, and oh wow, and it's almost like they see me as the benchmark to get to. And I'm like, no, I I don't want to be this busy. It's a season, and I'm okay for it in this season. I understand I've got to grow the business, I've got to, you know, put food on the table and all that kind of stuff too. I understand it's a season, but this is not where I want to be forever. I do not want to be operating at this level forever. And yeah, I I look at people around me that are stay-at-home mums, and I feel like that's the goal to get to. Not because I want to be a stay-at-home mum as such. I I do love having my business and career and all of that. But I feel like the more I can clear things off my plate to spend time with my children while they're still young, that's the goal. You know, why else did God give me these children other than to actually be part of their life? Now, yes, I'm I'm fulfilling the providing side of things, and my husband is too, but I want to be fulfilling that the rest of it too. And and I'm very fortunate that in my work and everything, I get to work from home and I get to be around them more. Um I probably wouldn't do all of this if I had to be out in an office every day of the week. But uh it is quite the juggle, it is quite the balance. And it's funny how when you look at other people and you see what they've got and you kind of want it, but you don't sort of always stop to see that, hey, what I've got is good too. Like if you are a stay-at-home mum, you know, look look at the positives of that. The fact that you are able to stay home, yes, it might mean

Comparison Culture And Motherhood Pressure

Mel 20:00

some sacrifices. Maybe you can't live the life of luxury or anything like that, but you've got time and that's irreplaceable. And but then on the other side, if you are that working mum with a career and doing really well and all of that, then look at the positives there too. I think it doesn't matter what life you've got in this season right now, try and find the positives, even if it is hard, because you're just everyone, no matter what their life situation is, is going through something that is making it challenging. And everyone has different capacities. Like I have been grown and stretched, even just this year alone, has been enormous. And I wouldn't have even grown this much this year had I not taken the steps last year, the year before, and you know, made certain decisions and everything. But my capacity has grown too. And I've got some people that are asking me questions and looking at me and all the things I'm doing, and I'm like, hang on a second, it's okay that you're not quite at this point yet, because I had to walk through all these things just to get to here. And you are actually kind of fortunate to not have to find that out the hard way.

Alana 21:20

Yeah.

Mel 21:22

The capacity and and experiences and things are a bit different too. And you know, the Bible does say how comparison can be the thief of joy. And it's so true because when you're even even the example of your friend, she's comparing her nails to what she's used to, instead of perhaps appreciating the work of someone else, even if it's not to the standard she likes, going, you know, they they tried, or, you know, give them some grace or whatever it is. And not saying that people have to put up with things that they didn't ask for. It's okay to be able to speak up with certain things, of course, too. But maybe seeing it as an opportunity to be kind, not not walked over, not pushed over, not forced into silence and all of that too. There's a very big difference. But being able to balance that, you know what, these are fine. I can live with these for a few weeks. Maybe I'll come to like them. Yeah.

Alana 22:24

Especially when we love Jesus. I don't know. I just always feel like we we live in a very and when you talk about when you were talking about your things that you have to walk through, the Biophysist came to my mind was from James when James says that trial and uh trouble makes character. And the character is hope. It's the character of our lives that's the mark. And I was talking to one of my friends, and there was something to do with the character, and I kind of learned one thing. Every woman, every woman have relationships, they make relationships, and that's what is remembered when they go to be with the Lord. Every godly woman makes relationships for their kids, with their husbands. Yes, neighbor, and people like I remember hearing this story, this uh elderly woman passed away, and the people came to her funeral that her family never saw before, but because her relationship with them and what she did for them, and they all came and praised the Lord for her life. And uh then I was talking to her and giving her a comparison between a man and a woman. The man have the only thing that man has is a character. People remember the man of God through their character. Every the way they carry, the way they loved their wives, the way they raise their kids, the what what kind of uh employee they were, what kind of son they were, those characters that comes from a man that actually experienced grief, pain, trouble, and have compared himself to the things of the world and found himself Jesus Christ with the grace. And us we create nurture nurture relationships, and that's what we do. Now, my husband might not know many friends that I have, but they know him because we talk about them, right? Yeah, they know him, and he might he never might take my son for a plaid, but it doesn't mean that I I'm not able to take him to a played it.

Mel 24:46

Yeah, yeah.

Alana 24:47

I can make connection with moms, I can make connection with anyone because yeah, that's quality, that's what we are called to do. And when I came in 2023 in America, I was lonely, male. I was I was doing stress cleaning where you get that like closing the closet out and folding all back together. It's just like it's I was at that place, and I didn't know that America is a very lonely place. America is so easy for you to get lonely here. There are so many people that I see in stores, I see, and they're just just living their lives lonely. They they get sometimes I walk up to someone, they're just like all jumped, like we're talking, because they have haven't had like that kind of connection with people, probably like in a week or so. They haven't got out of their houses for a long time. But when I was here I didn't know how to make connections, and then I when I went to this Bible study, I heard the Lord said only relationships, and when I start sitting with women one-on-one, spending time with them, the Lord said that time is your currency, time is the only thing you can give someone. Yeah, I have nothing to give someone in order for them to pay me back. I really even the gospel is free, my story is free, my even the access to me is free. There's nothing that anyone needs to do in order to being able to talk to me because that's what Jesus has taught me in this journey, that I might not be lonely right now, but there is a possibility there's someone who is lonely in this in their seasons. And God brought me to women and I learned that wow, there is a whole lot of identity crisis, a whole lot of comparison, whole lot of not being satisfied and where they are. There's always a race. I am here, I can't wait to jump ahead. I am here, I can't wait to get there where everyone else is already like going. You open Instagram, you will see so many women try to post the same content that the other people are who is already who's already successful. I don't understand that, but yeah.

Mel 27:20

It's just trying to, you know, repost and do the things that are working rather than just be you, just show up and be you.

Alana 27:29

It just it's almost like, oh, this girl tried, for example, this crumble cookies thing trend that we have seen online, that all these young girls buying crumble cookies, they're running to the crumble cookies. I know it's you're unfamiliar. This is a cookie brand in uh America. Okay. I have never seen it before, but it's not just cookie brand, it's actually uh uh sugar uh narcotics. That's what I call it's full of sugar. Full of sugar. So there's like a trend here in um new generation that they they're reviewing these cookies and they're eating them. But for in order for you to get these limited edition cookies, you have to get to the store quick enough. And you see all these famous content creators doing it, they're getting the views, they're getting the likes, they're getting all these brand deals, and then you see our young girls following the first steps. They are waiting for their viral moment, they're going above and beyond on the internet to have their viral moment because they are not satisfied where they are. We have

Character, Relationships And Beating Loneliness

Alana 28:30

our young girls posting their kids' photos, making their videos online so they can have a viral moment, so they can make money from social media. They're posting, posting, and posting without thinking without thinking the future impacts on their life. We have men, we have men that completely so idolized on bodybuilding. We have this culture so focused on work and promoting it. Whatever, there's no more secrecy. Our lives are have more spotlight now than it was 12 years ago or more. People I I might know someone more than I should know them.

Mel 29:17

There's yes, it's not always a bad thing keeping some things, you know, to yourself or just within your family in it.

Alana 29:26

Well, and now we don't have to actually ask someone to come, hey, come have a barbecue. Now I can just go Google their name or put in a Facebook and I know exactly their kids, I know where school they go, I know what's going on in their life. I don't have to go host them, I don't have to friends them, I don't have to fund their trust.

Mel 29:48

I've connected enough online.

Alana 29:51

Yes, I know I already know enough about them now. There's nothing to hide and share with me that already everyone knows about them. We we have completely torn the barrier of secrecy, sacredness. That's why we don't want friends anymore, because we have so many people already looking at our lives. We don't want witnesses. We don't want witnesses of our life that will stand one day on a stage and talk about us, that intimate things that we shared with them that maybe we didn't share with anyone else. We don't have those connections because first, our life is just not busy, it's full of expectations. Our moms have expectations, our kids got their own expectations, our husbands are have their own expectations. We're living to fulfill those expectations that God never put on us. We are the one who did it. And now we have a social media that completely took away our community. We we sometimes we think, and I find it funny when people say social media is a community. And I always wonder, well, I'm not calling any of my followers when I'm sick. I'm not calling any of my followers when I need to talk. I'm I know them. They are not my community, they are the unwanted eyes that I want to have in my platform.

Mel 31:10

So I was peeking through the curtains. Yes, exactly.

Alana 31:15

You understand what I'm saying.

Mel 31:17

I'm glad we present at the start of the year, I ended up like completely archiving all my posts. And then I just had like a nine grid on my Instagram, and I just had that there for a while because I really wanted to just step back, still have the stuff there, still be accessible to people that wanted me. But I really just needed to step back because as a as a business owner and just trying to get myself out there, um, I'm like, I just want to coach. I just want to coach. That's all I do. But you you gotta learn all the marketing and you've got to understand all the strategies and all of this stuff. And I was getting caught up in it too, and you've got to post like three times a day or whatever. And it just it was just getting too ridiculous. And I'm like, I'm not a content creator, I don't care for that, I don't want to be that. I couldn't give a rat if I went viral or not. In fact, I almost don't want to go viral because I don't want people seeing me like that. It's like it just got a bit too much. And then and so I had that nine grid up for uh up until maybe a month ago. And then like through that process, I wanted to start posting again, but it was more of a I'm just gonna post when I want to post and what I want to post. And that's more intentional and more focused on what I'm doing. Now I understand everyone listening, not everyone is a business person or social media person. I get that. But through that process, I've changed a lot of my business in how I'm operating because I'm not just trying to do all the things that all the experts are telling me to do. I actually stopped and listened and went, okay, God, you told me to do this business. You wanted me to get this done. How am I supposed to do it? And I actually just went back to God and letting him direct the way I do it. Now, it doesn't mean that things have necessarily picked up or been made easier as such, but I within myself feel so much better.

Alana 33:27

Yes.

Mel 33:28

I feel so much better. And now I'm showing up better. And I think from that learning and that growth and me being just a better person for it, I do think I'm more ready now to grow and to have the business grow because I'm my foundation is more solid and stable and sustainable long term. And I think when we're always chasing what we think we should be doing because someone else has told us that's what we should be doing, and we don't actually step back and press into God and go, well, God, what is it you want me doing? Then you're gonna burn out. You're gonna be tired because you're performing and you're operating on a level that you weren't supposed to be. So it's important to step back and have that evaluation.

Alana 34:22

Yeah, I learned two things in my journey with my pageant and my business that I want to say I have two balls, and each ball needs my attention. But I also have a bunch of balls in my basket that have to do my family, my own self. For example, my birthday's coming this month. I'm turning 25, and my son is going to soccer the same month. I have my family coming in, and then I have to get the that house together for that. At the same time, I'm working hours of hours of time on my Love and Any Publishing, I'm talking to authors, I'm reading their 96 pages worth of manuscript, making notes, keeping in a contact, making um meeting them. But one thing I've learned when I am when I step into this role, I didn't step into this role because I know I can do it. I step into this role knowing that God will help me with it. So I have these four balls. My pageant has been the most amazing journey because it's been the most quieted, peaceful one. It has grounded me so much. I have not run after the look

Social Media Virality And Lost Sacredness

Alana 35:40

I'm gonna have on my pageant day. I haven't run after what other ladies are doing, I haven't thought of any of that. So I made this TikTok and I was posting my testimonies on TikTok, and one of my part of my testimony went got 30,000 views, which just never happened to me. Well done. I was getting so many comments and that of course people have a different kind of opinion, we all have that on TikTok. But there was a lot of things, and I heard the Holy Spirit said, I want you to delete your TikTok. And I was like, after 30,000 views. Oh if you would have told me earlier, I probably would have no pain no pain to do it because there was nothing. But now I have people following me. I had at least like 14 uh to 15,000 uh followers in just span of one week of the video. Wow, wow, that's incredible.

Mel 36:43

Lord said out.

Alana 36:44

I could see the struggle to delete this, and because he said you have lost the purpose of your social media that you have in social media like everyone else about you. And he said the moment you make your voice known on places where God's voice needs to be known, you lose the power, you lose, you attract people to you, not who is inside of you. You're not coming to you for Jesus, they're coming to you for you. And what happened when someone comes to us for us is that that adds into us, not in a good way, a bad way. That we fruits of entitlement and self-sufficiency um and pride. So when they said I deleted it, I never felt more peaceful after that. I felt like amazingly, I didn't have to worry about, I didn't have to uh answer the comments, I don't have to worry about like uh what else I'm gonna post so I can have the same interaction, engagement. No. After finishing that up, I have a personal Instagram that's completely private. That I don't I there's no one in my personal Instagram other than my family members that know personally. And then I have a separate one that I made it for my Miss Eternity. Now, as a mess, Miss West Missouri, I have shown to people only the part that needed to be shown that brings glory to God. My views, my whatever that brings people towards me, I have captured to the people that I know have a godly counsel, will not lead me astray, gonna bring me closer to God. And I have shown them that part of me. And that part goes to the people that need the most. Someone needs godly counsel, some people need a hug, some people need prayer, some people need us to just show up. Those are the those moments, it's not for social media, those moments that I share with people is not none of anyone's business. Those are for me and people that I'm sharing with uh personally and God Himself. So that separation got grounded me in my pageant. And my mentor in the pageant, her name is Carolyn. She is actually the big voice person for that. And her teaching, I learned from her that too, and mentorship. And after that, when I step into publishing company, and the reason I knew it, Mel, that this is it, like this is the only thing that I am ever gonna do in my life when God brought me in a place where I was talking to people. And when I was talking about their book, and I can see their heart is burst open with joy, knowing that what God has called them to do, it's going to happen. Like the book that they've been waiting or writing and asking for guidance is going to happen. And they don't have to worry about a thing because God has shown me how to do it. So these two balls are the only two balls that I have focused on. This is the only two that I need to work around, organize. This is the only thing my life is in this season is working towards too, to see the fulfillment of my pageant on August, in August, and seeing my uh publishing company go where the Lord wants to go. Anything else I will add into my life is only gonna be a disaster. If I go and send anything else, it's only gonna bring me more grief, stagnation, and gonna make me uh lose my focus and clarity and also gonna take the place of God. So recognize who you need to be in this season. What do you need to do in this season? Nobody has to be everything, even if you're nothing, even if you're nothing, it's totally fine. But what is that God wants you to do? Somewhere it might look like I have a school that I need to finish. Finish the school. Someone think I have a grooming uh career, dog grooming career. I need to just focus on that. I want to be a groomer. So many kids want to be a groomer. I talked to so many kids and they want to be a groomer here. So I was like, focus on that. Don't think about I don't get that.

Mel 41:29

But anyway, I don't want that. That sounds terrible.

Alana 41:34

Here's so many kids that love dogs here and they all want to be groomers. Okay, do that. Do not, and there's some moms that uh have uh LLCs, they're working on accounting business, some will have Etsy stores, some will have crochet, they're doing crochet and they're selling. Um, some of them as our speakers, some of them have podcasts. Do one thing the Lord desire for you to do. I don't this said, I will spend all my life if I need to in this publishing business, if the Lord wants me to do it. I don't have to do anything else. I need to know what He wants and how He wants it and how to do it. I'm not gonna give up on the seed that God have put it in the ground. It just because it's there's no rain, just because there's no fruit yet, just because it's not growing. It doesn't mean that God is saying it's not gonna work. God is just saying you just need to keep doing.

Mel 42:42

Yeah, definitely. And what are we measuring that success by as well? Because I know for me with the business, I was just measuring my success on what money was coming in. That's like that's one small piece of the pie. Like when I talk when I think about my character, how much I've grown, all the things I've learned that I can I can't unlearn. Like all these things, I mean, I'm really successful. I'm that way. And it's just like if if all I'm looking at is just the money side of things, then you know, I could even be saying that I'm possibly even failing because I'm not at a certain level that maybe I should be.

Seasonal Focus And A Better Measure

Mel 43:30

Whatever. I actually don't even care about that anymore. It's like, God asked me to do this, I'm doing it. I love what I'm doing.

Alana 43:38

Yes.

Mel 43:38

And I know that it's helping people. So the rest is going to happen. You know, it'll it'll happen, it'll be what it'll be. And I think maybe when we we need to look at what we're measuring our success by to, because if you are that stay at home mum, for example, and you're measuring your standard of success. Off other people and maybe that mums that are working, well, of course you're failing. Because you're measuring with the wrong measurement. It's not that's not supposed to be for you. You know, if you're if your kids are emotionally stable or they're even just fed at the end of the day and the house is somewhat clean, I mean, that should be seen as successful. You know, you having time with your children, that is successful. Like it's it's what you measure off, you know. But I feel like we could just keep going on and on and on and on.

Alana 44:38

But no, I completely agree. That's why, that's why when I when I work on my publishing company, I don't look any successful publishing company. Just dumb. I don't try. I my my goal is to do and work on the field that God gave me instead of looking at the other field that is already worked for almost 10 years work. That wasn't for you. Yeah. Yeah. I don't know how many drought they had. I don't know how many floods they had. I don't know how many pesticide aids they've harvest. I don't know any of that. All I know is I'm here, and I don't even sometimes I I can't even compare myself in a way that I think about, you know, in the end of the day, the Bible says there is we are all labor. Labor in Christ. We are all labor. That's all we have. And that's all we are all laboring for Jesus, moms doing labor, uh, wives doing labor. We are all our labor in the Lord. And being I think I tell everyone, my authors, I say, even the part where I can read your book before anyone else is reading, that is a privilege that I am so grateful for. I am so grateful that I get to be part of this pageant that it's not my identity. It's only gonna add into me because this is this is not my God, it's only gonna add into me. But being a part of the journey, be part of this whole pageant, and there's 20 women in there, and I'm gonna I'm gonna be able to see them. I get to be part of fellowship with them. And in this whole journey, and I don't know what I don't know if I'm gonna win, I I don't know what's gonna happen, but I know my kids, I can show them pictures like your mom was in a pageant, your mom took this, your mom learned something.

Mel 46:42

This is not put herself out there, tried, gave it a go.

Alana 46:46

Yes, so your mom grew up a certain way, but look, the Lord called her to be, and then showing the thing that I had received and making friendships and relationships that I earned from this journey, and even the confidence that I have now, it's have to do a lot with the inner refinement that I got from the pageant, and actually learning that okay, is I I don't have to work exterior, I have to work what's interior. Me being a Miss West Missouri is just a l it's a part of who God called me to be. It's not the only thing, it's a thing that God called me to be with everything that everything else that He added into my life, and yeah, that's why that's why you don't see me. I you know, that's why you will never find me like looking and walking around wearing my sashes like portraying cooking, dinner. Yeah, I'm like okay, look at me. That's our thing. That's not the because the the daughter of Christ.

Mel 47:59

Yeah.

Alana 48:00

Servant.

Mel 48:01

When you ground your identity in something that's actually gonna sustain you and grow you and and you know, give you fruit, then you don't have to worry about the other things. No. Oh my goodness. Well, that was amazing, and we covered a lot in that time. So if anyone listening is wanting to get in touch with you and maybe hear a little bit more about your story, where's the best place to find you?

Alana 48:33

Um, well, I have uh Instagram name. I think it's Alana Hergert. You can just find me with that name on Instagram or on Facebook, and you can connect with me. If you have a book that you want to publish and you haven't thought about it or you have written a long time ago, and you have fallen into the trap of this uh publishing process, and if you need someone who you want to be aligned with, I would love to hear from you, especially any women, women that have been through a story of second chances. Because every story, it doesn't matter how small it is, it doesn't matter

Finding Alana, Prayer And Closing

Alana 49:10

how many people know you. We want that story to reach out to people. And I would love to connect with whoever just want to talk to me. I just love hearing from everyone because everyone has such an important assignment on this earth. Small, big here, you have one. And I'm praying, and I would love to end this in a prayer that uh Jesus loves you so much, and I want to tell each one of the people that is hearing me is that you have what it takes because it's already given to you by the power of the Holy Spirit. It's already given to you, it's already written in heaven, it's already been spoken for you, and you just need to surrender your all will, all your heart to the Lord and let him work in your life. And let him be the one who judges the result, let him be the one who judges the process, and you just surrender and rest in him, just like Mary did by the feet of Jesus.

Mel 50:15

Amen. Jesus. Amen. Beautiful. Thank you so much for coming on today and sharing your story and all your wisdom at only 25 is incredible. I really appreciate having you on, so thank you again.

Alana 50:32

Of course, I am blessed to be here.

Mel 50:34

If you like this episode, don't forget to hit subscribe so you don't miss what's coming next. And if you want to continue the conversation, you can connect with me on Instagram @shes.organised or for some free resources, head over to beyondorganised.com/toolkit. Remember, organising is a tool to live the purposeful life beyond it. See you next time.