Ali Brown – Founder & CEO of The Trust

Kara Goldin  00:00

Hi everyone, it’s Kara Goldin from the Kara Goldin Show. And I’m so excited to have my friend and mentor and just lovely, lovely, bad-ass entrepreneur, coach. Just amazing, amazing. Fellow Arizona. And although she doesn’t really call herself in Arizona, I feel like now though I’m kind of Wild West. Yeah. So she I grew up there and then left and then Allie went there. And, anyway, Ali Brown, thank you so much for coming on. This is so great. And I was actually showing my kids your picture today. And Jordan was actually saying, who’s that? And I said, you know, that hint water we have? He said, What? And I said it in words. I know he’d understand. I’m like, she invented it. He’s like, Oh, my God. Wow. The inventor, the inventor. Right?

Ali Brown  00:55

I need all these questions, which I’ll tell you over. Marguerite, at some point, is so cute.

Kara Goldin  00:58

So funny. So Allie Brown is the founder of the trust, which is a private network for $1 million women entrepreneurs and up, and as I said, She’s a coach and a mentor, and a host of the top podcast, Glambition, radio, and just this amazing, amazing force of nature that I met through this amazing program, actually, that eBay has called the winning women program. And Allie and I were plunked down next to each other, you know, those conferences that you go to, or those meetings that you go to that you just kind of sit down next to somebody and you turn towards him and say, Hey, what do you do? That was Ali and me, nine years ago now, which is insane deer last nine years. I know because it was 2012.

Ali Brown  01:51

My, I was pregnant. So it was for eight, maybe eight, eight-ish years?

Kara Goldin  01:55

No, I met you before you were pregnant.

Ali Brown  01:57

You did.

01:57

Okay.

02:00

It’s like a blur, man.

Ali Brown  02:01

It’s all a blur.

Kara Goldin  02:03

And the trust is, as I mentioned, her private network and I am officially a trustee Is that what

Ali Brown  02:14

you’re an official, special guest advisor,

Kara Goldin  02:16

special guest advisor. And I’m very, very excited about the next conference, which is coming up in March, and very, very excited to attend. So excited to have you here. In addition, Allie, is, as I said, the glam Bishan radio, she had me on there just a few weeks ago. And that was just a ton of fun. And Ali doesn’t do this. She isn’t get interviewed as much as she interviews and coaches and I convinced her that this is really what we need to do today. So. So this is a lot of fun. So I’m going to ask you a bunch of fun questions. But anyway, thank you for coming on. And the first thing so your journey is so inspiring. Can you share? Who is alley like as a little kid? And how did this whole idea to kind of start not only glam Bishan radio but just how did you get going? and just start working and doing anything?

Ali Brown  03:21

I think looking back, you know, and I was asked on another show to like, what were you like in high school and I’m like, Oh, dear Lord, like who wants to know what they were like? I was always kind of restless. And I look back now I realized if I had had like a business to channel that energy in or something, I just remember being so bored and like, you know, just partying a lot. And, you know, I’d still make honor roll and do all you know, kind of play the game and stuff. And I just kept thinking, you know, once I was finished with a school like suddenly I would be happy and then went to college and I enjoyed that a lot more at you know, at least then got out there. And then um, you know, I just thought I’d have liked the corner office job and be happy and I don’t know, I don’t I didn’t know what I wanted so that I get out in the working world. And remember just being grossly disappointed kind of with the world in general, you know, and working. I think I had six different jobs in about six years.

Kara Goldin  04:15

What was your first job out of college first? The

Ali Brown  04:17

My first job was I took a receptionist position at this little office with three people in it. It’s back when they were doing film color correction. So you know today it’s all digital and we’ve to retouch ourselves before we even post a family photo right, back then, companies like Talbots and Victoria’s Secret like the catalogs, right they would send their film in for retouching or color-changing so I’ve managed all these projects actually enjoyed it. It was just a weird place with nowhere to go. And then from there took a freelance marketing assistant position like I always moved forward or moved around or moved up. But the last job I had actually really liked was at this little weird ad agency in Midtown, New York and I worked for these two Orthodox Jewish guys. They didn’t know what to make of me. You know, they hired me Because I had experienced in the healthcare field, and it was kind of like a perfect fit for the job I liked because it was a small office and they were gone all the time. And what I liked about that, though, is I got to kind of run the place. And I was actually the youngest person in there but seemed to be the only one who cared. If you’ve ever been in that situation, you know, I’m the one going guys like, clients are coming, we have to end on 26th. And like, we got to clean the conference room and like, Did someone call Christie and tell her like the, you know, I suddenly just took over things that you cared about. Yeah.

Kara Goldin  05:27

And

Ali Brown  05:28

there’s like, you know, six guys, and they’re like, okay, and like, just, I just kind of fit right in. And it hit me one day. I’m like, maybe I’d like to do this for myself. And there was a freelancer who came in and out of there. And his name was Eric, and I’ll never forget this because I asked him I said, How do you work your own schedule? And I know you make good money, you know, I saw some of your invoices Would you mind let’s go to Dunkin Donuts right in New York. And I’m like, let’s come in here. I was asking this 50-year-old man like how do you freelance? And he said, Well, you know, you’re a pretty good copywriter and I’ve seen what you do and you could work for other agencies You know, a lot of them don’t hire copywriters full time so you can get these gigs and probably make twice as much as you make now. And honestly, Kara, that was the moment I just made a plan. I just made a plan. That was the moment I went to Barnes and Noble. Got a few copywriting books by Bob Bly. Still around is still copywriting guy took a little marketing course, like, you know, like a local New York as I think was at the learning annex. Could you remember that?

Kara Goldin  06:28

I remember the learning. I think the learning Alex is still around actually super

Ali Brown  06:32

great. Until they got they got kind of weird. They started having some weird class. And, you know, I, and I just I figured, like, Look, I’m young, I’m broke anyway, like, I have no pets, my kids, no boyfriend, like, I mean, it was the worst that can happen. Oh, I miss those days, it was so simple. And most of all, I missed, there was no one to compare myself to because there were no social media. There. I didn’t even know anyone doing it. So I just figured it out. I just figured it out. And I missed those days. So you know, fast forward a bit. What happened very quickly, is while you were probably at AOL, you know, making millions I was looking at the AOL CD going, Wow, what’s this? What’s the internet, right? So plugging this thing in, and realizing Wow, I could do maybe some marketing, like newsletters, or just start I just like to write so I started a newsletter from my AOL like address book and collected people’s cards and asked if it was, okay, started this newsletter with little marketing tips, like really basic, but people stayed on the list. And that led to me getting more clients. And, you know, building probably about a six-figure business, let’s say to start, what happened next is I started getting women, especially asking me at these networking groups, how are you marketing with an email newsletter, so I literally just bought an Ebook on how to write an E-book and sell it and, and just did it and, and started making money online. And that started the whole info product thing. And you all got to remember, if you’re new to this, like, I mean, 20 years ago, this was groundbreaking, like to be able to sit there and make money selling ebooks, and it was teleseminars. We didn’t do webinars, we did big group line calls, selling that, I would just learn something, you know, use it, and then sell it, teach it. And started doing that until eventually, was having huge workshops. We were having conferences in Vegas with acrobats. I mean, it was wild. Like those were really fun times, built that company to inc 500 had a big team, the whole shebang. You know, there was a transitional period there, which is a longer conversation. But the short of it is, you know, I finally met a great man, Brett, you know, as at 41. But at that point, I was starting to think a little differently about what I wanted, and did a show called secret millionaire, which is on ABC, I was gonna mention that, yeah, some transformational stuff happen, which really got me to want, I had to give myself permission to change my model. And so today, just fast forward, I run a small coaching group of high-end women, you know, seven and eight figure women are the ones that are my sweet spot, love working with them ongoing. And then I founded the trust this year, or last year, which is my network, and just really boiled down to that 20% that I knew that was going to be my passion, and it was going to be my legacy work. The rest was a little hard to let go of. But I knew that this was what I wanted and needed right now.

Kara Goldin  09:26

I feel like you in sharing the story. You didn’t have it all figured out. Right? You were just looking at where you were. How did you think about goals? I mean, yeah, you were putting your ebook together, for example. I mean, what was what were you kind of thinking about?

Ali Brown  09:42

I mean, I’m not ashamed to say back then it was really about the income. Like I enjoyed helping people and all that jazz, but like, like, back then I was like, I mean, I was in New York like I was eating bagels for dinner. I’m like cheese. I’d like to make somewhat of a normal lifestyle, normal income. So I would set money goals. What started to shift over the years is your vision changes. And to me the visions are revealed, unlike, you know, impact and making change and all that. But I think I always like sharing that, because I want to let people know, it’s okay like that, those goals are worthwhile. I mean, you need to have some type of target or scorecard or a way to like, measure, and celebrate your success, and that’ll change over the years. But yeah, actually, I think it was a benefit at the time that I didn’t have too much information today. What would happen, it’s different. And I do this now is I’ll sit there and try to get online and research everything before I do it. I’ll look at what people are doing, right. I’ll start downloading samples and templates and ideas. And, and there, there’s a power in that isolation. We used to have that I think that I didn’t question what I was doing. I didn’t compare with others. what I was doing, I didn’t have to post about it and talk about what I was doing. I just did it. And I missed those days. I think more of us need to do that. today.

Kara Goldin  11:02

It’s so interesting that you talk about what my 15-year-old son said to me last night, just totally out of the blue. It’s like, Mom if you had the choice to have electronics back when you were growing up, like the electronics that we have today, like, you know, the internet and your access to the sort of just being on all the time do you think you would have wanted those things? Or are you happy? Well, actually, he said, Are you happy? You just had a fax machine,

Ali Brown  11:33

and Atari. You’re like, I’m not that old.

Kara Goldin  11:38

I’m like, we thought the fax was just standing and watching that thing. You’re like, Oh, I mean, I remember, you know when I was prior to AOL, and I’m at a little startup, the Steve Jobs company that was to market that was the spin-out of an apple. And that was how we got orders through the fax machine. And we would hear the fax machine-like, and we were like orders coming, you know, and we’re so excited about it. It was like, wow, it’s coming, you know, or you’ve got mail, right? Like,

Ali Brown  12:13

just roll it like a visual. And that was a thing. And

Kara Goldin  12:16

you know, yeah, there was a thing. But you know, it’s interesting, because I think I think about that, and maybe we had more time because there wasn’t the stress to sort of, there was no way to research things. There wasn’t posting on five different platforms and all of these different things. But sometimes we have to manually kind of take ourselves back to, you know, those days. Right? And yeah.

Ali Brown  12:39

Are you like, are you in the clubhouse? Like, everyone’s begging me to come to my house? Just

Kara Goldin  12:43

I just went to the clubhouse? And actually, the clubhouse has some really interesting aspects about it. That I think is, I mean, in many ways, I haven’t really, I haven’t really listened frankly, to other people talk about kind of how they why they think it’s great, necessarily, but I think that the interesting thing about clubhouse that I think could, you know, you’re a sponge-like I am and information-wise, it’s just talking to a lot more people, right, it’s part of what I enjoy, you know, even doing podcasts or going to conferences, when back in the day when we went to more of those it’s just you just meet people and you don’t know who you’re gonna meet. So yeah,

Ali Brown  13:26

it’s interesting though, it’s talking it’s just it’s touching. So it’s it that’s the only thing that’s interesting and appealing to me. But otherwise, yeah, I’m desperately trying to be offline more. I really think I got I go through phases like I’ll realize I’m on my phone way too much just like to look around you know, watching YouTube stuff. Or like seeing what everyone else is doing or and you’re on tik tok. Right alley? Oh, God. No, you’re joking, right? Yeah, I will never be dancing. And if you’re not a good dancer fighting

Kara Goldin  13:56

to talk, dancing, no other. No, I’m not. I’m on there for no other reason. Then I a couple of my videos went viral and it’s very upsetting to my Jen’s, my for Jen’s ears, and so I just think it’s hysterical. Like, dude,

Ali Brown  14:13

your mom’s on tik tok. Actually, you

Kara Goldin  14:16

know, what is interesting about Tick Tock for me that actually, you will appreciate? It’s a younger audience. Yeah. And who follows me on LinkedIn or Twitter,

Ali Brown  14:29

we cool hip brand.

Kara Goldin  14:30

So that makes sense. And they drink it. And so many of them have said, Oh, my gosh, I, you know, my parents bought it for me for the first time or had it in school. And I’m like, you know it, and then they hear my story about being an entrepreneur. And they say, That’s why I’m working hard in school. That’s Yeah, right. And so I love it because I feel like I’m talking to high school and college audiences. It’s definitely younger. But I actually really, I think you would appreciate it for that because you get to see the future, right and what they care about, and but I’m not on there dancing, I said, you’re not gonna have me doing the dance. And, you know, it’s just I introduced everybody to my favorite taste tester, my husband, Theo, and he’s got a funny video on there because like, everybody was like, laughing at it. I said, What do you think? Cuz he goes, I know.

Ali Brown  15:30

We just do it live to see that live?

Kara Goldin  15:32

I know, you have to see it. So anyway, but getting back to Allie. So so the Ebook, you didn’t have it all figured out. And you just started doing and figured out what was working along the way.

Ali Brown  15:43

I mean, I don’t think there was ever a variation in my business where I said, Okay, here’s what we’re doing. Here’s maybe once or twice that there was a model that we could instantly plug into and follow. And even those times, looking back when we did that is when it probably didn’t work because I was following. Mm-hmm. Instead of pioneering it. And that’s too kind of the bad news when you’re a pioneer. Just like with your story, Kara. Like you didn’t have some, some company to look at and say, that’s the way we’re gonna do it. I mean, you had pieces that you saw people were taking and doing things, okay, they’re doing that, right. They’re doing that, right. We want to kind of do that, but much differently. You know, that’s what I’ve done with everything.

Kara Goldin  16:20

And, and, and that’s a loss.

Ali Brown  16:22

Yeah, it’s a lost art. It’s, it’s a lost skill of courage. I think for many people when they’re getting started.

Kara Goldin  16:30

Yeah, but you’re great at looking at things and pulling from different things, and then creating your own thing, which I think a lot of people, you know, they think that it’s a giant mystery of how you sort of went from, or took ABCD and then all of a sudden got to this, but yeah, it just made sense to you. And you had that vision but I think more than anything, you went out and tried and then from the first time I met you, I was just inspired by you know, you were just this badass girl boss lady who was just, you know, going and figuring it out. And yet you Can you think of any call it a failure, or a mistake along the way that you look back on and, and maybe, you know, you learn the most from I do

Ali Brown  17:20

think when things were really at their peak when things were just amazing, we stopped looking at that point, there was more competition coming on the scene if you want to call it cuz I was running these big programs. And you know, it’s not like I was coaching people personally, it’s big stuff going on. And there are people who kind of came up on our tails like starting to kind of not I don’t want to say copy, but doing the same thing. Right. And different programs. Remember, this was the beginning. All you people see the online courses now of courses are everywhere. You can learn all this stuff, it’s great, different programs back then there wasn’t a lot, right. So and we just weren’t paying attention to the landscape, I’d say. So there was some competition coming up. The other thing we weren’t really looking at was social media and social media. So when you look at it, I’d say this was maybe 10 or 11 years ago, but at Facebook been around for I mean, for the average user two years, maybe like most people didn’t jump on that until now. What do you think like 2007 2008? You guys are in tech. So you probably were way earlier?

Kara Goldin  18:17

Yeah, maybe even later, like 2009? Yeah, for like mainstream, right?

Ali Brown  18:21

So we were kind of seeing this thing. The one thing we just grossly underestimated is how social was really going to delete the barrier to entry for the people in my industry for like to start selling programs and get started. And here’s your formulas. And here’s your template. And it’s like it came out of nowhere. And we kept just assuming people would see the difference. I mean, because to me, it was really obvious. And so just a quick, a quick story that lays it out in a second is that we start getting calls from people saying, okay, you know, what’s the difference between Ali Browns programs and this other coach who dances in her videos, and I’m not making this up? They may have not worded it that way. But it was kind of that question. Yeah. So they weren’t even following along that I built an Inc 500 company that I had all this credibility. And they were like, starting to compare on price and, and that’s when I stepped back and said, Wow, we have not been watching what’s going on at all. And it means I’m not leading. If people can’t see the difference right now, if we have to sit them down and explain what the difference is between our program and someone else’s then our marketing’s not on then I’m not leading where we need to go smart that Yeah, so and I told my team start my team that jumped to Well, let’s watch it what these people are doing where everyone’s going. I’m like, No, no, no, no, no. We go this way. We go the opposite way. If you could see me right now I’m pointing the opposite way. No, no, no. They wanted to start chasing what they were doing. Well, if she’s dancing in her videos, maybe you should I said absolutely. Not.

19:57

I am not. I’m

Kara Goldin  19:59

I’m malleable. Probably a better dancer just wouldn’t work. I used to

Ali Brown  20:02

teach hip hop in, in Boston though, to a bunch of like, I’d say, like, middle-aged white women in Boston. So it was not like urban, hip hop. But anyway, I

Kara Goldin  20:16

go the other way about alley Brown.

Ali Brown  20:18

Yeah, like if your market is is like, if your competition is all doing x, you got to go do y, like, like, and I see so many people saying, Oh, well, if this is working, I need to do more of this. So maybe there are some pieces you take, but I know when I start getting either copied or modeled or start feeling like I’m lost in the crowd, it means I am not doing my real work. It means I am not my real purpose. What am I resisting? What have I been avoiding? And for me personally, that was that wake-up call from the business point. That is when I was starting to think you know what, I’m not really enjoying this anymore. This whole thing has been about the clicks come about the clicks and the conversions. And if I don’t want my epitaph when I die to say online influencer, like I, what is my real work here in the world? And that

Kara Goldin  21:07

started, you take a break at that point. Like, what did you how did you get that

Ali Brown  21:12

I felt trapped by my team. Mm-hmm. Interesting. I felt trapped by the model, we created these programs that I didn’t want to let the clients down. I didn’t want to let the team down. But what I did was say yes to that show. And what’s interesting about secret millionaire is this is really relevant to what we’re talking about, and it woke me up is, if you haven’t seen the show, you can actually still see the show on it’s on Amazon, I think, or Hulu, it’s like four bucks on Amazon, you will see me transform on that show. That show basically pulled me out of my life, they do this with everybody on the show, they pull you out of your all that life. You go completely offline for a week, you live on welfare wages, and they put you in some very hard volunteering situations where you’re kind of waking up to the world. And then you give away $100,000 This doesn’t sound like something you would instantly say yes to right. But when I saw what they have done, the producers really sat down with me, they showed me past shows, I really felt the show was done integrity. And I actually thought I could use this. I could use this right now. And I will tell you that. People asked me if that was hard, you know, and of course, they make it a little more dramatic on the show than it was but it was really a strange and emotional experience that week. I said the first two days were really hard. I said, but the third by the third day, I actually did not want to come back. And people are like, what do you mean? I said, No one was calling me. I didn’t have my phone. I didn’t have five minutes scheduled, I could stop in the street and talk to someone. I mean, I was enjoying this may sound wild. But I really enjoyed that week. And it gave me the space to think. And I mean, even my workouts were timed. And you know, before like everything was on a buzzer are doing are. And I’m just the space car, just this space. And when I came back, like what they didn’t show on that show, the last scene, you’ll see me go back into the big beach house and shut the door. They did not show me fall on the floor and cry. They did not show me say, God, I’m ready. Just use me. I’m I am so open. Like I’ve reached all the goals that I had. I show me what is coming. And that was a special day for me. And and and people didn’t see it right away on the outside. But if you follow me over while you saw me kind of quietly dismantling things that didn’t feel like it was going to be my future, having some hard conversations with the team saying, you know, we’ve had a good run, but I’m really feeling called to something different. And here’s my plan for the transition. I still have some team members that won’t talk to me. I think I did my best though. I really really did look back

Kara Goldin  23:55

well, and you needed to change in order. You know, there was the world was changing around you. I mean, look, I talked about our industry, the beverage industry. And you know, I used to worry about the big guys, right? I used to and people would always, you know, every time I sort of shared any type of doubt, then I would have constantly I’d have people say like oh yeah, if you’re really successful isn’t, you know, the big soda company Pepsi or whatever, and they gonna, like crush you. And, you know, I’m not gonna lie like at first you sort of think like, yeah, maybe the competition will get me but exactly to your point. You figure out how to innovate yourself because you can’t do anything about what they’re gonna do. If they’re gonna go develop a beverage or they’re going to go develop a coaching program or whatever they’re going to do. You figure out who you are. And yeah, that’s what I saw you doing. And unfortunately, sometimes you have to You’re the boss. Right, you’re the CEO, you’ve got to make some really hard decisions.

Ali Brown  25:03

Yeah, no one ever said this was easy. Do you know?

Kara Goldin  25:06

No, and they might not be the most popular decisions. And I think, unfortunately, that’s what I heard you do. And but I do believe that you know, really chasing after others and trying to explain yourself, I think what you really did there too, was also figure out who is your customer? What is the confusion here? And what do I need to be doing? And how do I, you know, how do I change? How do I pivot? Yeah. And how do I blow this thing up and start over again? So, right, it’s a lot of courage to do what you did to and, and especially when you’ve got the naysayers around you. So just another thing that I admire you and adore on so many fronts, but thank you, I think that the other thing is, is that you’ve obviously been in a lot of different business situations. And you’ve, I mean, frankly, dedicated your, your life, your business to helping other entrepreneurs. And you and I were talking before we got started, about, you know, kind of this middle that a lot of people are, that’s really your focus. So will you talk more about that? With the trust?

Ali Brown  26:15

Yeah, there’s, it’s interesting, because there’s, um, so what was happening, you know, so so my, my target market, when I made that decision, this leads into what you’re asking that where I knew I was a category of one. And that was my biggest source of joy is working with these women, the seven, eight-figures. But what I noticed what was very interesting is, as they’re getting close to that, there’s a big lack of the networks that they can look at when they’re at those levels. So there are a few things are happening was making these observations, you and I’ve been very blessed to be, you know, invited into these circles that many women can’t do to revenues, or the situation or whatever it is, and like, you know, there’s kind of these little clubs that open up. And so I was in these and then my clients were asking, Well, great, you know, I can’t go to these, I can’t walk into these big groups anymore. And, you know, these ladies are lovely. And there, you know, I’m helping them a lot. But where do I get fed? You know, they’re following me to the bathroom asking for advice, and I need to, I need to get some advice to where do I go right at it. And so that I’m hearing that over and over and over from these women, then I’m like, well, maybe these other organizations and they come back and they’re like, No, you know, they were nice, too, and maybe good information, even, but they’re just not my flavor. You know, we want kind of women like you, they’re like more women like you. And then I started thinking, you know, how can we bring these together? The second thing I noticed was Amex released, the state of women-owned businesses report that came out the last one that was released was from 2019. We’re waiting for the new one, we’ll see what happened in 2020. Right. But it revealed that the fastest to two fastest-growing segments of women in business women entrepreneurs are either 25 grand and under. So we could assume those are super new startups, maybe part-time, it didn’t elaborate, or million dollars plus million dollars plus was the second-fastest-growing segment of women-owned businesses. And when I saw that I just showed the team I said it’s time, it is absolutely time. This is actually an underserved market. Right. And the women there often get there or as they get close to there, and they say like, okay, where do I go to be with women like me? Because it’s different questions. It’s different challenges. It’s a different conversation.

Kara Goldin  28:20

So it’s like one to what, like, generally

Ali Brown  28:23

over the group right now, yeah, in the trust, the average revenues, around 5 million goes up to 50 million right now at this point. So it’s just such a great range of women and, and women who could help each other because even the ones that the higher levels have resources or needs that like the lower levels are still there’s just something magical happening there. Like for example, in a call last week, we had one woman who had a really good year last year, she’s actually in more of that construction area. She said I’m actually going to I want to invest now in it and commercial real estate building. And someone across the zoom, you know, it’s like The Brady Bunch. Now, someone from the lower-left corner is like, oh, there’s this great SBA program for commercial real estate lending or something, I’ll hook you up and so different industries, right, I mean, but with the same vibe of like thinking and resources and just being different than you would usually you walk into these networking groups and, and I hate to say it as well, I’ve heard this over and over. Let’s take that may be an industry that has two networking groups, maybe one is men and women are allowed and one is more female-focused at a client in Canada. It’s telling me that as an experiment, she went to the industry-specific coed versus the women’s. And she said the coed one had great content. She said I didn’t like it was mostly guys, but it is what it is. But the content was great. There were high-level conversations and great contacts. She said I went to the women’s one with high expectations. It was dumbed down content. more of an inspirational speaker, really nothing to do with business. And I hate to say it, but this is kind of the You see that more often than not? Yeah. And, and if you like that great, but I know there are women who need something more, they needed something different. And I think that, um, you know, I don’t blame anyone I think really just the systems and networks and frameworks for women have not caught up to where we are. This has happened so quickly. I mean, when you look at women in business in general, and the evolution of who we’ve become, and the opportunities we have, and the courage that we have, the things to plug into are not there yet. So we are creating them. And that’s, that’s what hit me when I did this. I’m like, I’ve been waiting for someone to do this. And my, I guess it’s me, so let’s do it. And,

Kara Goldin  30:41

and here we are. And, you know, as you said, it’s not just about you, but you’re bringing great people together and quality people that it’s I think that that’s the other thing that sometimes you join some of these groups, and, you know, you’ve got people in there that are just not on the same page. And yeah, unfortunately, I think so often, you really do have to look at it for from the standpoint of how big their businesses or have some sort of metrics around it. And yeah, may not be perfect, but I think it just starts to make sense because you care about, you know, the same things, right. You’re worried about, you know, SBA loans, or, you know, what is an SBA loan? Right. And, and you’ve, I think that that is something that is just so, so needed, and I’m

Ali Brown  31:28

so glad it carries, it’s not about me, you know, yeah, it’s so nice, because, for years, it’s been like Coachella Valley Brown, or alley, brown stain or alley Browns event. And now it’s about the trust. I mean, this is my legacy play. I remember I was talking to Brett about this, when I had the idea, and I just got teary and I got chills, I’m like, this isn’t about me, I will hold the space, I will leave the space, I will attract the women. But this is going to be around. I want this to be around long after I’m gone.

Kara Goldin  31:54

Now. I love it. And I believe that too, because I think you’re you know, bringing the same skill set that you’ve taken for years. And in doing one on one into this group of you know, let me pick the people that you’re going to learn from, which I think is is just there just really aren’t that many groups, great groups that do that it sort of like you said, it really hit that mark. So what is the best piece of advice that you’ve ever received along the way?

Ali Brown  32:25

This is on the spot a bit? Do you do this to everybody? No.

32:28

Come on. Oh, gosh,

Ali Brown  32:31

business advise. The best piece of advice I ever got was the worst number in any business one. And I heard that from a marketing mentor named growl explain that old marketing mentor named Dan Kennedy. He’s still alive by the way people think he’s, he’s dead. he’s not. He’s alive. He’s in Cleveland. And I was in one of his first masterminds in his organization, the only woman to 21 guys and me, I suffered through this. But he gave this advice. And he said, I mean, the jokes, I mean, way before me to the stuff I tell her, it was just like, Oh Ha, ha, ha, you know, anything. But here’s what that means. The worst number in any business. One is that you can never have one person, the only person knowing how to do a certain thing. You can never have only one type of client, one method of marketing that you bank on one person who knows all the financials of the business, right? And that always stayed with me, always. You can’t just have one person who knows how to use the blah, blah, program. I mean, always, always, you want to have the backups and multiple, team multiple. And it can be applied to so many other things, too. But he meant it. He meant it in business.

Kara Goldin  33:41

Well, I talked about that all the time. But what saved us during the pandemic was the fact that we had multiple revenue streams. Yeah, coming into the company. And, you know, if we sat there and did exactly what beverage companies do, we would basically be screwed. You’re right.

Ali Brown  33:57

Yeah, our hand subscription never stopped. Right? I mean, we didn’t I think we dialed it up, because we were humbled, you know, home all day.

Kara Goldin  34:04

Exactly. And so our direct tickets, I mean, our business, the direct to consumer business, triple Wow, and 2020 and almost up 50%. And in a time when, you know, and again, if we sort of put all our eggs in one basket of just having one revenue stream, so it really does apply to so many not just people but also the ways that you do business. I’m always looking at suppliers and you know, when I only have one person in the company that knows how to do a certain job, I’m like, Listen, I gotta have a backup for you. You know, I don’t think you’re gonna get hit by a car. But you might, you know, and I mean, I hope not. But we always need to be it applies to so many so that’s an amazing one. Actually, Ali, I love that lesson for sure. We’ve all been through a crazy I don’t even know how many months now is it? 10 months something I don’t know. It’s almost a year old. I know exactly where all a year old is here. Like, how do you know you’re ready to just go and, and get kind of coaching to get into a group? I mean, where do you find people? I mean, they learn about you a lot of its word of mouth right now they’re learning about you. And then how do they ultimately decide? Okay, it’s time I need to do this, because sometimes that they’re not ready, as you and I have talked about.

Ali Brown  35:30

Yeah, well, I’ll tell you what, what we’re hearing from many of them when we talked with recently because we just did a big enrollment is that they’re saying, I have joined other groups, and I still just don’t feel fulfilled, or they’re having they’re not having the conversations I want to have, or, you know, kind of like I’ve been around the block. And I know that now it’s time to join Ali’s group. It’s funny that you see here that we’re coaching as I’ve coached with everyone. And now I’m ready for alley-like, now you’re ready. That was always a compliment. The trust, some people are saying that, but other people just found out about me and said, This is what I’ve been looking for. And that’s the wonderful thing to see here. I will say that I think that the downside of last year, there were some upsides. And of course, to the year, I think, for a lot of people, but the downsides are, has been this incredible isolation for the women business owners, especially because of the additional weight we’ve held with our families with the home stuff. I mean, it’s this. And yes, we have great partners, and they help too many of us, but I don’t know how the women, especially those who are single. And I mean, it’s just so many situations that I’ve had clients, and members of the trust, I said, I don’t even know how you’re doing this, like what you’re doing. And so, you know, where do you get fed? Where do you get nourished? And, and sometimes society is not enough, right? Like your friends may not be understanding what you’re going through. And so my answer is kind of just you’ll know it’s time. And even my team tells people that when they’re like, gosh, this sounds great. And I just don’t know, if I’m ready, we’re like, take your time. Take your time and come back when you’re ready. Because you’ll know this is something that you need and a group that you want to be part of because I’m and I know I created this honestly, just as much for me as these women blow me away. And like almost at the end of every online gathering we have every month we call the zoom boardroom like I’m in just tears. I’m like, I need you, ladies, just as much as you need this. So thank you.

Kara Goldin  37:28

I love this. It’s so it’s so great.

Ali Brown  37:31

Yeah, the support and camaraderie. And I’ll tell you half the conversations we ended up having last year weren’t planned, but very personal, very personal ones, just especially the ones with young children figuring out what to do with school, how do I handle, you know, I want to lay off an employee but I still need to get this loan and let you know, like these types of situations that you have at these higher levels. Just it’s some I think this year though, there’s a great new energy that a lot of people are tapping into. It’s kind of like, you know what, it’s still weird. So let’s just do it. Like, you know what I mean, like last year was kind of a little Limbo, like, if their business is working was pedal to the metal awesome. But some people were kind of waiting. And I think the waiting is over. I’m like, you know what, there’s all this weirdness outside anyway, let me just do what I was thinking last year. It’s time it’s time to just do it. I’m gonna lead myself forward. I’m not going to be followed. I’m not gonna wait for something to happen. Well,

Kara Goldin  38:24

I think also what you’re alluding to is just this, it’s time for us to innovate. Right. And people are, are definitely I was on do you know, Chris Locky? I was on his podcast recently. And YouTube should definitely meet but he talked about and, you know, 2021, it’s just its time, it’s like people will be innovating. And I think so many people are, you know, feeling like, Okay, I’m ready, I need to go figure this out and figure out how to move forward. And I think the other thing that you’ve said, I don’t know if I’ve ever said this to you. But one thing that drives me and it, frankly, drove me to you know what I was energized by when I started hint. But then also when I launched my book, I started hearing this from so many people that between hint helping and then the book helping people and again, it’s not sort of it may sound like it but it’s not a shameless plug for me. When you’re doing something where people are telling you, you are helping me. Right, and that is what you’re doing. And I’ve like privately talked to people I remember I’ve spoken at a couple of your conferences, and I’ve said you know if you’ve been before just kind of, you know, probing asking, like, you know, how long have you been a part of alleys group? I mean, people say alleys helped me so much again, I’m not like trying to oversell you. I think it’s fascinating because that’s what you feel when you’re in a role, where you’re hearing other people saying thank goodness for this group, right that or, you know, thank goodness for this advice or this product or whatever. It’s an incredible feeling. And it’s not one, I don’t think I could ever be in kind of a, you know, a type of business where I wasn’t getting that kind of feedback loop. I think it would just really, you know if you were just launching a product, then yeah,

Ali Brown  40:27

okay, devoid of meaning a bit,

Kara Goldin  40:30

right? It just wouldn’t have meaning. And I think that that’s something that, you know, really probably drives you, when you, as you said, the boards that you do at the end of the month. I mean, people are, they drive you to tears at times, because it’s just, you know, what you’re doing, right, you know, the power of this. And I mean, it’s an incredible thing, and to be a part of a group and a community like that, where you’re feeling that it’s, I mean, it really, it really is amazing. So I love it, I love that you’re doing so much to help people. So I thank you for doing that. Because it just, it just brings the world up in so many ways. So what do you think is what’s like, what’s next? I mean, obviously, the march conference, and so excited about that. And, and, you know, just, what’s next for Alli?

Ali Brown  41:25

I’ll tell you, the conversations that I’m loving the most right now are about all the opportunities that are going to be coming up in the next few years with all this disruption. It’s exciting. And so I don’t have a business idea for that yet. But I’m just I’ve loved thinking through things. Because all the old systems are blowing upright? Everything that has been outdated and corrupted is it’s all coming to light to like be disrupted, right? Well, we’re tolerating it like education, right? We ended up pulling our kids out of school, because we’re like, we don’t know what’s happening. But this is kind of weird. So let’s just bring them home this year. And then suddenly, we’re talking in the group like, wouldn’t it be great to start our own school one day, like an entrepreneurial school for kids the way we want to do it? And so I’m in this exciting phase of like, you know, growing the trust, working with a few private clients, but then thinking about Okay, what else can I do either

Kara Goldin  42:15

outside the box

Ali Brown  42:15

alone, or with some of these women to like, I just have a feeling something else percolating. And so I’m just reading a lot, I’m thinking a lot about what’s going to be around for years and what’s not. And wearable people need new solutions. wearable, people need new ways of doing things. And I’m really into education right now. And just learning more about that. And so, I never thought I’d be homeschooling. Like when I heard homeschool, I thought of like the Duggars you know, are gonna be wearing matching denim with our Bibles or I don’t know, I never knew any normal homeschooling people like, yeah, and here we are. Now, here we are now, you know, and we’re not doing online, make it clear as we pulled them out, and we’re doing it ourselves. And we’re having a ball and the kids are like, I’m not doing it all day, we hired someone to come four mornings a week, this great college girl, and she goes through academics with them in the workbook stuff. And then we do fun stuff. And I don’t know, I think it’s I wonder I want to leave everyone This, this feeling of like, like where we’re going right now is so actually magical and electric, that when you tune into that vibe, and that frequency and shut the news often shut the doors and, and really tune in, I think when we look back, this is going to be a real Golden Age, it’s going to be more exciting than when the tech came out just anything. I think we’re about to witness a lot of reinvention, build bit messy, but some reinvention in some categories. So if you’re a creative problem solver, if you see a new way of doing things start playing with those ideas. Now. I think there’s gonna be a lot around the corner than we realize.

Kara Goldin  43:45

I love that idea. And I totally agree. And I think it’s it is, you know what I love most because I have a terrible I have such a hard time remembering yours. And I think it’s from working in media for too long and doing like upfronts or something I just yours for me. I

Ali Brown  44:03

don’t know what year it is, like,

Kara Goldin  44:04

you know, I know what year it is. Now, it’s not that bad. But I mean, like when you go back or Yeah, that I just I know, you know, roughly when I don’t know Michael Jackson’s Thriller was like, uh, you know, I know, like points along the way, but then I lose track of, but I love the fact that it was basically this, you know, crazy. The unprecedented year 2020 because that’s not that hard to forget. You want for a 2020 Yeah, no, we’re not gonna

Ali Brown  44:32

2020 hindsight.

Kara Goldin  44:34

Yeah, like before you’re trying to figure out was 1984

Ali Brown  44:38

I still don’t know what year we know. Apparently. Boy.

Kara Goldin  44:40

Yeah, like I got that. You know, we’re good. So anyway, I love this. So Ali Brown, the trust and glam Bishan radio and where do people find you?

Ali Brown  44:53

Ali brown.com and I mostly play on Instagram. That’s my happy place. It’s Alli brown official. I’m not in the clubhouse. I am not on Twitter. blew up my Twitter account. I had it with Twitter at 50,000 followers. I don’t care. I hate Twitter. Sorry if Twitter’s listening and I’ll get shipped out. Are they? Are they sponsor? Sorry?

Kara Goldin  45:10

No, but I’ll bring you back

Ali Brown  45:13

to me. I had to just lean out. I had to, like, lean out and narrow like, Where do I want to play? What’s bringing me joy? Where am I enjoying being right? And it’s a longer conversation maybe but so I’m on Instagram and my show, you know, it’s a fun name Glambition But we have really intelligent you do really good conversations with women. So if you enjoy the conversation today, you’ll love that show. glimpse and radio and yeah, and join the trust.org. Very cool. Well, thank

Kara Goldin  45:38

you so much, and everybody gives five stars and all that good stuff. And we’re here every Monday and Wednesday at the Kara golden show. So thank you so much, Ali. I really appreciate this and go listen to her show as well at Glen Bishop radio. Thanks, everyone.

Ali Brown  45:55

Thank you on You’re the best