Allison Maslan – CEO of Pinnacle Global Network and Author of Scale or Fail

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I am unwilling to give up that I will start over from scratch as many times as it takes to get where I want to be, I want to just sort of making sure you

Kara Goldin  00:10

will get knocked down. But just make sure you don’t get knocked outly choice should be go focus on toat you can control control control. Hi, everyone, and welcome to the Kara golden show. So join me each week for inspiring conversations with some of the world’s greatest leaders. We’ll talk with founders, entrepreneurs, CEOs, and really some of the most interesting people of our time. Can’t wait to get started. Let’s go Let’s go. Hi, everyone, its Kara golit’s with the Kara golden show. And I’m so excited to have my next guest here who is not only a guest, but also an amazing, amazing entrepreneur and founder and CEO and friend, and, and just an awesome person, Allison Maslin. And we actually both are Arizona State University grads, but we did not know each other. There. We figured it out much, much later. Lots of fun, but she is the CEO of this amazing company that called innacle global network that she has built. And it’s just a world leader in scaling companies and empowering business leaders. I mean, just this amazing company that while you may not have heard about it, we’re going to talk a little bit more about her company and kind of what she’s built from scratch. And I what I lovabout Allison is that she’s really about lifting other people up, and, and just incredible. I actually met Allison, when she invited me to speak at her conference, or scale conference a couple of years ago, which is really, really incredible and actually,y asked me to be a part of her Wall Street Journal, best selling book, scale or fail, which if you haven’t picked up that book, it is such a great book, it was also endorsed by daymond, johDaymondarbara Corcoran, and just really, really incredible what she’s done. And even more interesting. Well, I’m going to save that as a surprise, just so that nobody actually leaves quite yet until they actually hear the surprise. I’m going to talk about her passion. And a little bit of her hobby, which I think is is really unique. So very, very excited to have you here, Allison.

Allison Maslon  02:35

Thanks, Kara. I am so honored to be here. And I just love chatting with you. So this is another great opportunity to do that. And love your show. So thank you for having me.

Kara Goldin  02:48

I love having you here. So let’s talk a little bit about Allison. So you built a little bit of background, where did you grow up and kind of, how did you get to be Allison?

Allison Maslon  02:59

Yeah, I grew up in Tulsa, Oklahoma, saying y’all to everybody. My, I grew up in a very entrepreneurial family. My grandfather started a women’s clothing store called Maslin in Kansas City. And then they won another store in a poker game. True story, my dad and my grandfather went to Tulsa, Oklahoma to check out this store. And so they ended up, you know, saying, Okay, well, we’ll take it and move there and then build 50 over 50 locations across the country. So my whole childhood was really being around this energy, of passion and innovation. And you can do anything that you set your mind to. And so that’s all really that I that I knew d I couldn’t hold a job for more than two weeks. So I knew I was really unemployable. So I better figure out this entrepreneurial thing. And I started my first business when I was 19.

Kara Goldin  04:06

That Arizona State University Yeah, so what was this business? I don’t know this about you?

Allison Maslon  04:11

Yeah, it was called expressions by alley. And ithe t was I loved writing poetry. And so I was doing it for gifts. And then people started asking me Oh, could you do it for my friend’s birthday or for my aunt or their anniversary? And so I would find out things about them nicknames little things. I write these custom poems do calligraphy and boom, I made 25 bucks. I was like, Oh my god, this is so cool.

Kara Goldin  04:41

That is awesome.

Allison Maslon  04:43

That was That was my iness and then you know, I went to my wife. I don’t actually really count it. But that was my first entry into entrepreneurentrepreneurialismmber telling my dad Hey, Dad, I I’ve found my calling. I’m going to be a poet. And he’s like, oh, Allie, that’s just so great. I’m so proud of you. But did you know poets don’t really become known until they’re dead? That’s what he said to me. I was like, Oh my God, that’s a sad You’reuch a buzzkill. You know, that’s how it all started and then evolved into being a full servicefull-service and PR firm by the time I was 25. So I had people saying, Well, I don’t really want any poems, and but you know, do you do brochures? And then it was do you do radio, then do you do television? Do you do PR, and I didn’t know how to do any of those things. I was a journalism major. So I didn’t really I probably took one advertising class, something like that. But I had a knack for it. I had a an I was aangreat, great first run, learning about marketing and so forth. And the business just took off. I just kept saying yes, and then asking for help. You know, I would hang out at the radio station, TV station, say, you know, teach me everything I need to know. And I had clients like Ben and Jerry’s and Supercuts and all stay Merrill Coronavirus. Yeah. So that was, that was my first entry to being an entrepreneur. And it’s so interesting care, because you and I, being women, founders at the time at that, at that age, it was really unusual to see there weren’t that many business owners at my age, especially as a woman, and I remember, you know, mostly talking to men and older men who would look at me like, you know, does this girl know what she’s doing? I remember trying to put on a lot of makeup, trying to look older, you know, things like that. But

Kara Goldin  06:47

that’s hysterical. And where were you? Where were you based at the time? Well,

Allison Maslon  06:51

I actually I started, Ient moved back to Tulsa, actually, I got married to my then husbandthen-husband 23 years old, a baby and kind of started the business there and build some relationships there. And then we moved to San Diego in 89, where I am now. And you know, just it really took off here. One of my biggest accounts that I got right off the bat with Charlotte Reuss and the clothing company because I knew the business I grew up in it. And I remember I called one of the CEOs or three brothers that owned Charlotte Reuss based in San Diego, I just kept calling and calling and calling. And he called me back one day and said, I’m calling you to tell you to stop calling me. You know, and and then we it off, and it became my biggest client and help them grow from 15 to 50 stores at the time, you know, they ended up getting hundreds of stores and sold the company. But

Kara Goldin  08:02

that’s that’s wild. And so you had 10 successful companies in in between w was the most fun you had in building these companies? Obviously, I’m sure you had challenges along the way.

Allison Maslon  08:15

Oh, yeah. I had along the way. Well, I’ll tell you the the companied then I’ll tell you like some of the biggest challenges that I had many over the years, right, that’s how we grow. But I’ve had gosh, I’ve really had a blast with the the businessI had a scuba diving certification company, jewelry manufacturing company love that. And we imported jewelry from around the world. hair salons, three salons. homeopathic have been a hasopathic physician, I was for 20 years. Wow. And then also started the first homeopathic College in Scollege California and still runs today. So started that in 99 and sold that in 2005. It’s the homeopathic Academy in Southern California. So yeah, it was kind of just whatever my passion was at the time.

Kara Goldin  09:12

Yeah. But I mean, I love that, that you allow that to really drive you to I mean, something that I talk to people about a lot. I have four kids, as you know, and for Gen Z years, and people are always asking me Are they going to take over hint? And I’m like, I don’t know. I mean, I kind of doubt it. But I mean more than anything, I just want my kids to be happy, right? And I want them to figure out what they want to do every single day because they they’rethey’reed to work and it’s and there’s I think that that is really kind of the driving thing and what I see that people are if you allow yourself to get stagnant or not really enjoy what you’re doing. And I mean the most successful people today are also in my mind happiest right and are doing what they want to be doing every single De and that’s really the key thing. And I love that you really put that in the forefront in all of these companies.

Allison Maslon  10:08

Yeah, for me, I really learned that once I lose the if I if I don’t hhe passion, I just that’s everything. For me. That’s my driving force in creating success. So if I’m not feeling it here, then it’s it’s time to on.

Kara Goldin  10:25

Yeah, I love that. And I think that that’s so important. So you decided scale or fail obviously is a fantastic book. And it really so which came first the conferences or the book? I mean, the the? And yethe scale method versus I mean, of the three I guess, is there three really key things there. Yeah,

Allison Maslon  10:47

I mean, the scale Well, I think probably for this to make sense is when when I tell he wall that I didn’t, so that I igured out the formula to scale. And back when I was running the agency, I created success very quickly. And I was young, I was making a lot of money I was traveling around, my daughter was not quite to yet. And so outwardly, it looked like Wow, she’s just created the perfect life. But what happened Kara is I didn’t know how to scale. I didn’t know how to delegate. I didn’t know how to build the underpinnings of the foundation of the company. I was like that rogue entrepreneur, that I was great at getting clients helping clients. But I was kind of the control freak, I thought I had to do it all. And so what ended up happening was, I was like, I was just falling apart. Internally, I was exhausted, I was doing ad campaigns at two or three in the morning, I felt like I was suffocating in my own success, which is crazy. But I thought I should be happy. And I’m not happy. And I didn’t want to get up in the mornings. And, and so I was felt kind of like I was slowly dying, creating success. And but I was so afraid to leave because I thought well, what if I can’t recreate that success. And I ended up from the stress of it all and being so exhausted, I was late one day to pick up my daughter from daycare. And I was you know, rushing to get her and I ended up having a horrible car accident. Not I didn’t hit any cars, but I actually ran over myself with my own car. When I was getting out running out, you know, to get her which is a great soun like a crazy story. But it actually does happen when we’re trying to stop a moving car. And so I survived that. I mean, it was it was terriAnd just from that, from that moment that coming out of that accident, I was like, okay, like, you know, I don’t care how much money I’m making, I can’t live like this. And so I ended up walking away from that business, I basically handed it over to a partner that I had taken on. And then I ended up leaving my marriage, which was also, you know, challenge vea ry challenging at the same time. And so from walking away from that I felt such, a sense of freedom, and reallyembraced that time to say, okay, there were some things I was doing really, right, obviously, and there were things that I was really not doing well. So I took the time I took a year and really dove into all of that. And I began to study the companies that I you know, like Ben and Jerry’s, like Charlotte Roos, to understand how a company truly scales up. And that’s when I started developing my formula, the scale up metscale-up so all the companies since then the nine companies beyond that, I set them up to scale, where it’s not all about Alison, you know, like I really build a collaborative team, bring in other experts and things like that, which we’ve got today. So that’s really where I’m so passionate about this because Kara, so many business owners get stuck. They have great traction, and then they hit a wall. And they have no life. And they have this big dream of running business, bua t the business is running them into the ground. And they don’t have time with their family. And you know, they just don’t know how to then how do they multiply the growth beyond them. Right. So I always say you know, a successful business is one that you can actually leave for a good period of time and it is capable of running without you. And so that’s really where the inspiration then to writthane book scaler fail. And the work we do with in Pinnwithinobal network with the business owners that we help to grow and scale, and many come in with those exact same pains. And

Kara Goldin  15:20

I’m like, I’ve lived I’ve been here, I know this, and we’re Where do you think the pain really starts? Is it? Is it the realization? Or is it based on the number of people or the dollars? Or, like, Where? Where is it? Where you feel like it’s, there’s a consistent threat?

Allison Maslon  15:37

Yeah, I think it’s kind of like, it’s like the Bermuda Triangle, it all sort of comes together. I think they get into business, they really have a passion, and they have a great vision. But and I think the focus is like, let’s just get business, let’s get clients which you know, you have to create cash flow, you need a revenue focus company. But I think the real challenge is that when you start a business, you’re used to doing all the things and even wh,en you get employees, you still have your hands and everything, because you’re you don’t want things to fall through the cracks, you’re so afraid that something might fall apart, and you’ve worked so hard to get as far as you can. And so you don’t ever really let go. But realistically, once a company starts really expanding, and you have these different departments, there’s no way you can get your hands around everything. And so you start to choke the growth of your business. And you also send a message to your team, like, I don’t trust you, you know. So it’s more of this top down mentop-downinstead of a collaborate teamwork, which actually would take pressure off, ecause the team actually wants to help, right? And then you know, cash flow really gets tight. Because, again, you know, you are the bottleneck, and you are having to approve everything. And so it’s just it just slows down everything. And so I think it’s, you know, it that saying what got you here, won’t get you there really says it all, what got you here is everything that you the reason you got into business, anthe d maybe you were in a place of survival when you started the business, but that’s not going to take you here, you need different, you need a different mindset, you need different operational practices, different marketing practices, you really need to like restructure your business at this level.

Kara Goldin  17:39

I remember, the E y organization said something to me years ago when I was one of their entrepreneurs and their program, and you know, may sound really simple, but they said that the key to success is actually working outside of your company, when you cn actually work outside of your company. And I guess it’s to some extent, what you’re talking about that you can actually leave your company for a little while, and then you know that it’s successful, but I think actually working outside of your company, that that’s where you’re going to make the biggest impact, right, whether that’s connections or whatever, that those are the things that your company really, ultimately needs. So I think that it’s super interesting to think about that now. So what are like a cisle of the steps of your step program? So the first two steps, what do you suggest?

Allison Maslon  18:28

Yeah, so well, with the scale, that method encompasses five phases, and five pllars. So there’s fivethere are to scaling from startup to being the fifth phase, which I call the visionary. And that’s where, you know, you’re working outside your company, basically, you’re working, I call it, it being in the clouds instead of the weeds, surgery business.

Kara Goldin  18:53

So true.

Allison Maslon  18:54

And then the third phase, I’ll just share you I call twith he ringleader, because it’s a circus, you know, as you start building teams, at first, you know, some of the biggest mistakes that the business owners make, is being the boss instead of a leader, and not being not really clear on the type of roles that you need, and you start hiring out of bandwidth loss instead of strategic decisions, you know, but these are phases that phrasesould go through, but a lot of business owners like, they jalikenever leave a phase like they’re there and the business kind of lives and dies there. So that there’s the there areases, and then there’s fivethere ares that you need to shore up in each phase to move forward and those are in its in an acronym for scale. So the S is strategic via sion. You have to have a strong vision so that you know where you’re going. And the vision is everything. But business owners spend an insane amount of time on vision because they just Want to get right into strategy, but it tells everybody where to go. So it’s critical. And it’s also the why it really infuses that inspiration to keep you going and taking the big leaps. The C is cash flow, which is the oxygen of your business, as you know. And anything that drives cash flow is in that pillar. So marketing, sales, finance, of course, you know, getting a handle on your money, especially as you grow, you can lose it as fast as you make it. And then the a is alliance of an the team. So Alliance so that everybody isn’t in alignment with the vision. And you’re creating a collaborative culture. So you’re hiring your team building in your culture, and then l is leadership. And that’s our work on ourselves. And I know you do a lot on yourself and me as well. Every every challenge in business gives us an opportunity to grow as a leader, but it’s really how we show up in the world, how we show up with our team, and then our own mindset, you know, our success, money, mindset, money, mindset, things like that. And then the E is execution. And that is, you know, the vision tells you where you want to go. And then the execution tells you, how are you going to get there. So it’s the KPIs. It’s the benchmarks, it’s the delegation systems, processes, things like that. So all five of those pillars need to be shored up. And they’re, youtherephase one, challenges of cashflow are very different than phase four challenges of cash flow. So moving through each of those five phases with those five

Kara Goldin  21:49

pillars. So you started this program, you wrote the book, and then you people wanted more. And I guess the conference kind of came around the same time as the book, right?

Allison Maslon  21:59

Actually, I yeah, so I started Pinnacle back in 2010. And I actually wrote a book in 2009, called blast off, right? That was my first book. And that was to help people start a business. And then as we help business owners grow through Pinnacle, it was like, well, we weren’t really helping people start businesses anymore. Because with the type of experience that I had, and we have 14 CEOs that have grown and scaled their own companies, as our mentors for our company, we will, I was like, gosh, we’re doing all this great work, I need to put this in a book so that people can really understand the scale and method that had evolved over 37 years of business. And so the book came out in 2018. But we started doing events back in 2011, was our firswhich t big three day event. We just did our I mean, we’ve done many 3d events since then, I think, probably like 16, or something like that. But our big one thet we do in January, we just did. And it was our 10th year ev10th-yearn’t believe it. You know, when I started doing these, I was terrified, terrified, I want to just tell you. And so I you know, to thank here we are now 11 years in with Pinnacle. And, yeah, it’s definitely. It’s definitely a labor of love.

Kara Goldin  23:34

Well, it’s incredible. I mean, you had asked me to speak at one a few years back, and I’ve spoken at another one back in November. The other thing that I’ve been just so proud of you for doing is just not stopping. So the pandemic hits, and there are many people who rely on these events who were really struggling to try and figure out how do you move forward? We were actually in Hawaii at a group we’re part of a group together called the unicorn club. And it was it was this st year. And I remember I mean, there were a lot of conversations with a lot of the people that are part of that group trying to figure out exactly what to do and do they hold the conferences, do they not hold the conferences, and this ws while everything was just getting ready to kind of shut down. And I think that there’s two there areabout your business two that I’ve just been so impressed with is number one, how you handled 2020. But also just the fact that how you get people to know about you. I mean, you’ve really just engaged with social in a way that maybe a tradmay beal kind of businesses, they don’t know how to do that. Right. And I think that you’ve just been able to grow through, you know, Facebook and Instagram and maybe some other LinkedIn and some other platforms that primarily Facebook that Right.

Allison Maslon  25:00

Yeah, I mean, I think that’s what we have been at the longest, you know, like most people.

Kara Goldin  25:06

Yeah. But so doing groups along the way. And and yeah, jurowing that. But anyway, talk to me about so so this fso-sog last year trying to figure out what you were going to do with your conference and just talk to me a little bit about that.

Allison Maslon  25:20

Yeah. So we, you know, like everybody else, when everything shut down, I actually was leading a client event. So the members of Pinnacle glothe bal network, we do three private events for them a year. And so we were in person in a hotel in San Diego. And literally, we walked out of that conference, and it was like, okay, everything’s shutting down tomorrow. And so I was so glad that I got to meet with them then. And, you know, of course, everybody was healthy. So we were everything was good there. But I knew I sensed what was coming. And so we really, with our community was like, Okay, guys, you’ve got what it takes here. Like, I don’t want you to pull back in fear, like we knew it was, was coming. And so we actually created a webinar in that very first week that were shut dowasn how to thrive in upheaval. And it was really just for just entrepreneurs out there to know like, this is game time, this is what you were built for. Okay, it’s one thing to grow business whea n, you know, it’s easy. It’s where it when it’s easy. It’s never easy in business, but you know what I mean? Yeah, totally. But now it’s really going to separate those that are, are willing to do what it takes. And so for me and our, we have, you know, a couple 100 business owners in our community from all over the world, and it was really out of like, Oh, my gosh, we have to help them, we are not letting them go under, you know, and so the whole team got together and said, Okay, what are we going to do here, and so we immediately, so this was mid March, smid-Marchst week of May. So six weeks later, we lead our first three day vithree-daynt, we had never done anything like that. And we’d been on zoom, because wedo coaching calls on zoom for a couple of years. But this was in my living room. We had an everybody was virtual because nobody was getting together. And we had we we must haved 20 of my team and you know, behind the scenes, like just the the walkie tes that were going behind the scenes, and we had Barbara Corcoran speaking. And that was wonderful, because sh’s just such a lovely lady. And it was we had hundreds of people on I think maybe we had 700 in that first event, virtually cruises. And it was the most amazing experience. And what I it was it put everybody in this creative bubble of Hey, don’t get sucked in to the naintove that like, you know, it’s over. This is time to pivot and reinvent yourself, you know, so I want you to really pay attention to what are the demands of your market? What’s your customer need right now? What are some new revenue streams that you can create to serve them? How can you reach out to them and say, Hey, I’m here for you. And we jus? really helped them to get on top of the game. And so, you know, here they were at first in panic, and we all were, let’s just say I was like, is this really gonna work? And it ended up being unbelievably successful. And so many of our clients Karaclient’sup having their best year

Kara Goldin  28:42

I when you told me that, it was just amazing to me. And but I just really think that it also just the way that you activated social, too, and the way that you just got out in front of it, because there were plenty of people who really relied on events who just said, you know, the stores closed, and you didn’t, yeah, and I just think it’s incredible.

Allison Maslon  29:05

Yeah, you know, I think about sometimes where does that comes from? I don’t know. I mean, I think that, for me, I’m just so connected to my vision. And I know you’re really connected with your vision for the hint. And I’m so determined to help these business owners thrive that I was like, I was like mama bear going there is no way under on my watch, that these businesses are going under. Yeah, we’re gonna do whatever it takes. And of course, my team, just stepped up. I didn’t even have to ask them. They were like,

Kara Goldin  29:37

what was your pivot?

Allison Maslon  29:39

Yeah, whatever, whatever it took. And so we ended up doing last year we normally do two live events in person we did for virtual events, and it’s just about as much work to do to do a live but you know, people are home and they needed the support and support You came. And when you were on stage, which was awesome Weaver,

Kara Goldin  30:05

we had that event back in September of last year, and you were just so phenomenal. So, as always, or you’re so sweet, I loved that you when I went, to that event to what I realized is that, yo,u know, maybe the the cost forually producing an event, right, where you’ve got people coming in, and maybe you’re taking up more space in a hotel. And I bet that the costs actually shifted, right, because the quality of I mean, you’ve always held really high qualityhigh-qualityI think that the game changed a little bit like that, there were, I mean, obviously, I felt totally safe, like socially distanced and, and, you know, I felt like, there were limited people in the room, and I was talking to a group and I was telling somebody that I felt like even through the though, I could feel people wrestling in their chairs, you know, you you really fthat there was a room. And, and so it’s, you know, HDTV kind of quality, I don’t know if it’s called that. But it was really that. And I think that it’s it just yournference was really the first place that I’d seen that level of detail. And of course, if you’re a speaker, you want to be at that level of detail, as well. And I think that you guys just did a phenomenal job.

Allison Maslon  31:28

Well, thank you, we really wanted to look at people are dying towho  get together, right, they miss one another, they, they miss the being inoom. And so we really want to create the experienanfor them. Like they’re in a room. And especially you’ve got business owners, men and women that are home with their kids, I mean, there’s a lot of demands on them, and they’re trying to focus and so forth. So we’re really helping them like, Hey, take this three-day break with us, which I know is hard for people to do. But when we can help them to see that, hey, you’re going to be working on the business and not in it, and it’s going to help you grow so much faster. And they just, it’s just like we make it fun, you know, we helped we get them out of their chair, we get them moving, we’ve got the big screen behind us, you can see everybody and you know, we send them swag boxes. to So they they get thiu know, gift before the event. And I was the same event team that we did in person. So really making it a monumental experience. But I just think you’ve got to, you’ve got to do these things for yourself, you’ve got to charge your batteries. You know, as entrepreneurs, we put out so much energy, right. And you may be like so inspand so motivated, and then something happens and you get deflated. And so it’s important to be around that energy. Yeah.

Kara Goldin  32:51

And be around people that are also challenged. That doesn’t they don’t have to be in the same industry. They’re I think that that’s now that that is so so key. So well, I love it. And if you guys have not seen the conferences that Allison is doing, we’ll definitely put a link in the in recording and and let everybody have a look at it. Because it’s they’re super incredible. And, you know, if you are, for example, trying to figure out exactly what you want to do moving forward and your business and just scaling it overall. I mean, I think just getting into one of Allison’s conferences, and you know her The great thing about her conferences, too, is they’re at different levels. Right. So there were people that had at that conference I spoke to that was the first time that they had come to your conference, right?

Allison Maslon  33:42

Yeah, so we do, we do three big events a year that are open to the public. And our clients love to go to those too because we bring in some of these top business experts like you from around the world. And the thing that is different about our events is that we’re helping them build the blueprint to scale their business, and they actually leave with a plan, you know, at all levels of their business. So it’s a working plan is it’s like a working event. It’s not just listening to speakers, it’s actually developing a plan for their company. And so they can leave with that. And then if they are wanting further support, then you know, we let them know about Pinnacle global network. And that’s where we do ongoing mentoring and support and masterminds and, and we have some clients now with us for 10 years. So we have, you know, a lot of our clients just it’s like we are their community. They don’t want to leave. I love that. We feel very, very fortunate. That’s so great. So

Kara Goldin  34:49

the last thing I want to talk to you about is is what I wainting at early early on, so this this little on of yours That you have set up in your backyard. And hobby. I don’t know how you define it. But she Allison ally has a trapeze that she’s been performing for 20 years. And it was funny somebody, I wrote something on Twitter the other day and said, what, what you wish you could do and somebody said that they wish they could be on a trapeze or something. And I thought about you and I was going to share some of your videos. And it’s I couldn’t find it right away. But I just said, you know, you just always look like you’re having so much fun. And so how did you get into having a trapeze in your backyard, but I think also just enjoying that.

Allison Maslon  35:44

Oh my gosh, well, I was a gymnast growing up, I was a competitive gymnast. And I had a gym teacher, Mr. Wilcox, who built a set of uneven bars in my backyard out of plastic tubing. And I used to just swing on those for hours and hours. As a kid. It was like my happy place. And I always loved the circus. I always looked at the trapeze artists and thought, Oh my God, that’s just so incredible, you know, but it wasn’t until my early 30s. And I actually had broken up with my boyfriend at the time and went to Club Med to get over a heartbreak. Okay, and I’ve never done anything like that before. My sister actually, pushed me out the door to go. And they had the whole flying trapeze there. I was like, You gotta be kidding me. And so I got up there. And I, I just immediately was hooked. And they were like, oh, you’re a gymnast. So they, I, they had me in the show that night, okay, like, I don’t even know what I was doing. And I said, I’ve got t do this at home. And so I found my coach who ended up being my coach for 20 years, five generatfive-generationly, the flying guy owners, and they flew for Ringling Brothers for 25 years and performed for the queen and all this stuff. And so they’re in LA. And so I used to drive up to LA every week, sometimes three or four hours back and forth, depending on traffic on the 405. And so yeah, that was for 20 years, and then we moved into this house that has a lot of lands. Now five years ago, and part of like, I was just telling my husband, I really want my own Trapeze and he was like, seriously. And so whenever we would look I go walking around going, where would a trapeze fit, you know? And so when we moved into this place, and then I was like taught I remember just saying to myself is this absolutely nuts to build your own trapeze, but I found somebody that build things for circus delay. And and I had thuilt and I you know, I fly on it probably two or three times a week. And the thing about this and fleet any anything that you’re really engrossed in let’s say you’re playing golf, or you’re a motorcycle rider or whatever it is that you do, or you’re a painter, you know, it takes you in the momenat So when you’re up on that trapeze, you have to be present. You cannot be thinking, you know, you will you’ll have what am I eating for dinner or

Kara Goldin  38:22

anything? Yeah, you have to be Yeah, no, no,

Allison Maslon  38:24

it’s like, and I actually, as I’m climbing the ladder, I’m telling myself, Allison is here be in this moment because you need to really pay attention. And I can be all over the place like most entrepreneurs, so but just every time I’m out there, I faced my fear. Every time I’m up there, I break through to another level. And I’m loved. I love it.

Kara Goldin  38:45

Yeah. And you put yourself into positions where maybe they’re a little scary, but then it becomes relaxing, right? And I love that you seek out these opportunities. So and you just added I saw on one of your videos, you added some different things to it. I’m guessing that those were things that were sort of taking it to the next level. Yeah, I

Allison Maslon  39:06

started taking the safety lines off a few years ago. And because where I train these safety lines, so yeah, it’s like I have to do it right. So that I actually land in the net and things like that, but I love you know, training smart. You know, I have a good coach, right? I really believe in having a great coach that stretches you but also makes sure that you’re safe. But yeah, I love it. And you know, I might my intention is that I’ll be flying on the trapeze till I’m 100. So I love that love to quote me on that one. Yeah,

Kara Goldin  39:40

I will. And I am quite sure that you will as well. So this is so great. So where do people find out more about Alison Malin, and also just all of your conferences as we?l.

Allison Maslon  39:54

Pinnacle global network.com is where you’ll find everything. About Me, we have our podcast on there, which you’ve been on, called the scaler to fail show. And you’ll find our events that are there. And we actually have one coming up here called scale it lives. And that one’s at [email protected]. But yeah, Pinnacle global network and, and that’s where all our

Kara Goldin  40:24

happenings are. I love it. So this is so much fun. And I so much appreciate everything about you, Allison. And it’s so great just hearing more about your focus on helping others scale their company. And you’ve certainly seen through building all of your companies how to do it, and what the challenges are. And before we sign off, I mean, I think more than anything, we you mentioned it a couple of times, finding what you’re really interested in doing every day, but also just dealing with your fears head-on and putting challenges on purpose into your own life and a lot of what I talked about in my book undaunted as well. And just if you haven’t picked up a copy, definitely pick up a copy of that as well. But also, if you love this episode, which I certainly did, definitely give it a five-star rating. And if you have a question for me or want to nominate somebody great for the show, who’s a founder or CEO, definitely get in touch. And I’m at Kara golden, and with an AI. And that’s it. And we’re so excited that you joined us today. And we’re here every Monday and Wednesday, by the way, and very, very excited that you guys joined us. So thanks so much, everyone. Thanks, Alison. Thanks, Kara.

Allison Maslon  41:45

This was awesome.

Kara Goldin  41:46

before we sign off, I want to talk to you about fear. People like to talk about fearless leaders. But achieving big goals isn’t about fearlessness. successful leaders recognize their fears and decide to deal with the thehead-on in order to move forward. This is where my new book undaunted comes in. This book is designed for anyone who wants to succeed in the face of fear, overcome doubts and live a little undaunted. Order your copy today at undaunted, the book calm and learn how to look your doubts and doubters in the eye and achieve your dreams. For a limited time. You’ll also receive a free case of hint water. Do you have a question for me or want to nominate an innovator to spotlight? send me a tweet at Kara golden and let me know. And if you liked what you heard, please leave me a review on ApplPodcaststs. You can also follow along with me on Facebook, Instagram, Twitt,er and LinkedIn at Kara golden thanks for listening