She Reinvented Her Body, Career & Life After 50 (Here’s What Changed) with Alicia Erickson

What if your strongest, most confident, most successful years are still ahead of you? In this episode, I sit down with Alicia Erickson to completely flip the script on what life can look like in your 40s, 50s, and beyond. Alicia shares how she transformed her body, rebuilt her confidence, got sober, and stepped into an entirely new career that took off in her 50s. We talk about breaking the beliefs that tell you it’s too late, building habits that actually last, surrounding yourself with people who reinforce what’s possible, and having the courage to go after a new version of your life before you feel ready. If you need proof that you can become stronger, healthier, more confident, and create an entirely new chapter at any age, this conversation is for you. Check out our Sponsors: Shopify - Try the ecommerce platform I trust for Glōci. Sign up for your $1/month trial period at http://Shopify.com/happy. Monarch Money - Get your first year of Monarch Core for half off at http://Monarch.com with code EYH. Northwest Registered Agent - Visit http://northwestregisteredagent.com/EarnFree and start using free resources to build something amazing. Indeed - Indeed is giving Earn Your Happy listeners a $75 SPONSORED JOB CREDIT to help get your job the premium status it deserves. Just go to http://Indeed.com/podcast right now and support our show by saying you heard about Indeed on Earn Your Happy. Momentous - If you want to try Momentous Signature Spec Creatine, head to http://livemomentous.com and use code EARN for up to 35% off your entire first order. SmileSet - Listeners of our show get an additional 35% discount when they go to http://SMILESET.com/earn. Faire - Sign up today and get 50% off your first wholesale order, up to $100 at https://faire.com/happy50. Terms may apply. Life at the Speed of Play - Go to http://getmarksbook.com/earn to get two copies for the price of one—one for you and one for a friend. HIGHLIGHTS 00:00 Why your 50s could be the beginning of your biggest chapter. 04:00 The lifelong relationship between movement, mental health, and confidence. 06:30 The 90-day experiment that changed Alicia’s relationship with alcohol. 08:00 Breaking the belief that your body has to decline as you age. 11:15 What Alicia learned after giving up alcohol for 90 days. 14:15 When getting “obsessed” with a new habit can actually help. 16:15 How to know when discipline has become too restrictive. 17:30 Going from portrait photographer to a brand-new career in her 50s. 23:45 How sharing her real story helped Alicia’s social media explode. 27:45 Breaking free from worrying about what other people think. 31:45 Why your mindset can make or break your transformation. 36:30 How to create a supportive environment when the people around you aren’t changing. 38:15 How your transformation can impact your entire family. 44:15 What happened when Alicia’s family started adopting healthier habits. 48:00 Building an entirely new business and career in her 50s. 50:45 Why you don’t need to feel ready before starting your next chapter. RESOURCES Get on the waitlist for Mentor Collective Mastermind HERE! Try glōci for 40% off your first order with code HAPPY at checkout - head to getgloci.com FOLLOW Alicia: @aliciae Follow me: @loriharder Follow glōci: @getgloci

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• 2:44Speaker 01

  I've done all of this scared, shizless. I just started doing it. I started, I was like, I'm going to create my first programs. I'm going to launch them. It happened really quickly with social media. Everything started taking off literally, I mean, kind of overnight in my 50s.

• 2:59Speaker 00

  In your 50s, this is why I'm obsessed with this is some people are like, what do we do? It's the second half. I'm like, you could legitimately be just starting.

• 3:13Speaker 00

  Alicia, welcome to the podcast.

• 3:15Speaker 01

  Thank you so much. I'm so excited to be here.

• 3:17Speaker 00

  I'm so excited you're here in the flesh to anybody who is not watching this on YouTube, you guys. She has come in person to my home studio, which is so fun because we also are sitting here with two big sheepa doodles.

• 3:30Speaker 01

  They're keeping us company.

• 3:30Speaker 00

  Yeah, they're cute. They you when you first come in.

• 3:32Speaker 01

  Just showing my, they're showing their love for me.

• 3:35Speaker 00

  I love it.

• 3:36Speaker 01

  They just want to give me a nice warm welcome.

• 3:38Speaker 00

  And I love this because you built this into your travel. I'm actually telling people right now, like when they go travel somewhere, see what podcasts are in the area. Like make it a trip, you know what I mean? Make it a thing because these in-person clips, you get so much more out of podcasting when you're in person. And then also the fact that I actually get to like sit, meet you, feel your energy, talk to you, which is amazing. By the way, you guys, I know you'll feel it on this podcast, but

• 4:04Speaker 00

  so welcoming, so nurturing, so open, so just awesome. So thank you for coming in person.

• 4:09Speaker 01

  I'm so excited. It's, it truly is different when you can do something like this in person as opposed to on a Zoom call.

• 4:15Speaker 00

  Yeah, it's totally different.

• 4:16Speaker 01

  There's a total difference. So I jumped at the opportunity.

• 4:20Speaker 00

  I love it. You look amazing today too.

• 4:21Speaker 01

  Thank you.

• 4:22Speaker 00

  You look amazing.

• 4:22Speaker 01

  I clean up.

• 4:23Speaker 00

  We clean up real nice every once in a while. Okay, I'm, I'm so excited to dive into your story because I was just telling you, we have such, I feel like whenever I meet another fitness person, I could talk to you for days because there's so much that goes into a fitness journey. Especially when you are as, when you've gotten to a place as serious as you are, and when it also becomes a career and you start helping so many other people, you just get to see the gamut in how much of our identities, backstories, trauma, joy, pain, happiness is all associated to food, bodies, environment,

• 5:02Speaker 00

  the people that we're with. I mean, it goes so deep that this topic could, I mean, we, we're going to go there. So.

• 5:10Speaker 01

  And I think that's something people don't realize how deep it goes, you know?

• 5:13Speaker 00

  How deep it, how deep it goes. And I didn't, I didn't understand it until I realized even as, even as a teenager, I started to, to get this is that if I want to change my body, my mood and the person I am, which I didn't know that could technically all be done at that age. But in the beginning it was, I just want to change my body because I was an overweight kid. My family was very overweight and what ended up happening was the realization that my environment was keeping me in a certain position in my body, in my life, in my mood, and how I was feeling and even the weight that I was holding because of our habits. And so while I was a teenager, I tried to, you know, change that, but you can only go so far. Until I was like, I'm going to have to leave when I'm 18.

• 5:58Speaker 00

  And so I would love to hear your story of kind of the beginning that you had to, you know, what were some of the beliefs and habits that you had to break in order to be the person sitting here now?

• 6:12Speaker 01

  So you want to hear from the very beginning of everything?

• 6:14Speaker 00

  I would like to hear, I mean, tell me one of the main stories that you can look back on. That was a catalyst for where you are.

• 6:23Speaker 01

  I'll give you some points, some like pivotal points.

• 6:25Speaker 00

  Yes.

• 6:25Speaker 01

  Because it's, like I said earlier, it's really, it's always been part of my,

• 6:31Speaker 01

  like what I do and how I live from a very early age. So my dad actually was into triathlons and Ironmans. And he was always very active. He brought me to my very first ever fun run. I think I was like second or third grade.

• 6:44Speaker 00

  Oh, my gosh.

• 6:45Speaker 01

  And I know, and I remember feeling a little twinge of that runner's high afterwards. And I thought, even at that young age, I thought this feels good. I like this. This feels good. And so it became a part of just my regular cadence of life. Like I knew not just for the, you know, the outside, obviously it makes you feel good on the outside, but it made me feel so good on the inside.

• 7:04Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 7:05Speaker 01

  I felt like looking back on my life, it got me through so many times of my life, just even adolescence, having kids, when the kids were little, needing that little break, that little time for me to pour into me to get movement in my body. So it was always something that was a priority throughout my life.

• 7:20Speaker 00

  So you associated that that young?

• 7:22Speaker 01

  Very young. I remember specifically very like thinking at a very young age, I need to do this for my mental health.

• 7:28Speaker 00

  Like when you were stressed out, you'd be like, I need to go.

• 7:30Speaker 01

  I need to go for a run.

• 7:31Speaker 00

  You work this out of your body when you do that.

• 7:33Speaker 01

  Yep.

• 7:33Speaker 00

  That is such a gift.

• 7:34Speaker 01

  Yeah, truly. Yeah, it really did click with me very young.

• 7:39Speaker 00

  Okay.

• 7:39Speaker 01

  And I could sense that even after having kids, that a little bit of that postpartum coming up. And I thought, I need to get out and sweat or I'm going to go insane.

• 7:48Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 7:48Speaker 01

  So I was really into running. I ran six marathons. I did a half Ironman. So that was kind of my thing was running. And probably in my 30s, I got a little bit acquainted with lifting weights and, but really kind of gravitated more towards like the bootcamp classes and circuit training classes. Started doing CrossFit in my 40s. So I did that for about eight years. But what another real pivotal moment of my life was in my mid 40s. And I think, I do believe this was when I was starting to really come into perimenopause and I noticed my body was changing. And at that point I had had a real love hate relationship with alcohol.

• 8:27Speaker 01

  It was never something that I felt like, you know, I think a lot of women have a hard time explaining this because they think, do I have a problem? Do I not have a problem? Is there an issue? Like I would look up and Google AA, you know, what's an alcoholic? Am I an alcoholic? And I really deducted that that's not what I was. I just didn't like my relationship with alcohol.

• 8:48Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 8:48Speaker 01

  But it seemed to always kind of rear its ugly head. And I felt very misaligned because it was like, I love doing CrossFit and I love being active and doing the fit things. But then I also loved my nightly wine and it just felt like I was constantly battling with myself about it. And then as I was coming into perimenopause, I really felt like my body can't do this anymore. My body can't handle this anymore.

• 9:09Speaker 00

  Like you knew it was just telling you.

• 9:10Speaker 01

  Yeah. And it was just kind of on every level, spiritually, mentally, physically, emotionally. I felt like this was holding me back in so many ways. And so I decided to commit to 90 days. And that was October 1st of 2018 and I never looked back. I felt so freaking amazing. I, it was literally like feeling chains fall off. Felt so good. And I, I noticed how I felt better in the gym, just in my body in general, like my mind, like the mental clarity, the energy skyrocketed. So that was a pivotal point, but I did feel again, like that slightly morphed into a bit of a sugar addiction for me.

• 9:48Speaker 00

  Okay. Something like kind of came in and replaced it a little bit.

• 9:52Speaker 01

  Exactly. It's like you kind of trade one for the other.

• 9:54Speaker 00

  One vice for another.

• 9:55Speaker 01

  Exactly. And so that was at that point that I was dropping my youngest daughter off in college. And I, we had already dropped our oldest off. So two girls out of state college. I was 48 or sorry, 49, was going into my 50th year of life. And I just thought, I've been working out my entire life. Like I've been moving my entire life, doing some type of movement, working out, working my body. And I looked at myself and I thought, I don't really have anything to show for it. I just didn't feel like I looked the way I wanted to look. I didn't feel the way I wanted to feel about my body. And I do believe that women, especially in my age group were brought, maybe, you know, all women can speak to this,

• 10:38Speaker 01

  but just feed, fed this belief that as you get older, it just goes downhill.

• 10:43Speaker 00

  Oh, yeah.

• 10:43Speaker 01

  You know, you can't do anything to reverse that.

• 10:45Speaker 00

  Our birthday cards at 40 are like, you're over the hill. So.

• 10:48Speaker 01

  And now I look at that and I think that you're literally babies at 40, just getting started.

• 10:52Speaker 00

  I love that. Keep saying it.

• 10:54Speaker 01

  It's so true, but I had had that narrative replaying in my head and I thought, I'm 49. I've worked out my entire life. I don't feel like I have anything to show for it. But I had seen other women online in my age group making that change to their physiques. And I thought, what are they doing? I'm going to do that. And my body responded so quickly. When I stopped doing certain things and started doing certain things, it was like instantly. And that was when everything just really pivoted and changed for me in the way I felt.

• 11:28Speaker 01

  And then this whole movement that started with my life and the whole business part. That's when I was like, I need to let every woman in my age group know that she can do this. That it's not too late. She can change her physique. That this is the time you can make it happen. And that's kind of when everything pivoted and changed. That was a long answer to.

• 11:47Speaker 00

  I've heard a lot longer.

• 11:48Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 11:49Speaker 00

  No, I love it. Okay. So you said that there were these things that you stopped and these things that you had started. And it sounds like you truly hold a belief that any, anyone can become fit. Over fifty. I don't know how old you are. How old are you?

• 12:08Speaker 01

  I'm fifty three.

• 12:09Speaker 00

  Okay, love.

• 12:10Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 12:10Speaker 00

  Thank you for blazing trails.

• 12:11Speaker 01

  Oh, yeah.

• 12:12Speaker 00

  Showing us what's possible.

• 12:12Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 12:13Speaker 00

  Forty five and all I'm doing is looking at women in their fifties right now.

• 12:15Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 12:15Speaker 00

  Literally going, thank you for showing me this because I'm excited.

• 12:19Speaker 01

  Yep. You should be.

• 12:21Speaker 00

  So I'm very excited. It's whenever I meet a woman and I just like, tell me in my fifties, I'm going to pop off even more. So here we go. Thank you so much.

• 12:29Speaker 01

  Oh, this is literally when everything catapulted and just took off for me.

• 12:33Speaker 00

  I love hearing this.

• 12:34Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 12:35Speaker 00

  I mean, we're just gonna, you guys put this on repeat.

• 12:37Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 12:37Speaker 00

  This is what we need to hear. And I'm sitting across from you and I'm like drooling at you and your physique.

• 12:42Speaker 01

  Oh, you're so sweet.

• 12:42Speaker 00

  Your energy is, is incredible.

• 12:44Speaker 01

  Thank you.

• 12:45Speaker 00

  That, that, you know, I have some friends who are in like their fifties and sixties and they're some of our best friends and they live in Italy now and they, um. When I sit with them, I have this realization that your energy is really what keeps you useful your whole life. Because I look at them and I'm like, I see no age. I'm obsessed with these people. There's, they're incredible. They're attractive. They're awesome. Like I, energy. Keeps you young your whole life.

• 13:10Speaker 01

  And I think that's why I'm here in this space with you. I think that is a huge reason why I'm here, what I'm doing with my life, everything that's happened up until now has been energy that I've honestly worked on and cultivated.

• 13:21Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 13:21Speaker 01

  Entire life. And then it's just come, everything's come to fruition now.

• 13:26Speaker 00

  Makes me so excited. Okay, so things you stopped, things you started, somebody listening is like, I, I don't know. I don't know if I could do that. Number one, let's talk about a couple of those things. And then I also want to talk about what like mentally changed for you, environment, friends, but let's start there. Some of the main things I know you had said that you quit drinking. Do you believe people really need to do that or not?

• 13:49Speaker 01

  So I think it really, um, obviously it's up to each individual person and their journey. But for me, I knew that when that ninety days was up, I, I always say this, I say, try it for ninety days.

• 13:58Speaker 00

  Try it on. Yep. I love that.

• 14:00Speaker 01

  Don't say, I'm doing this forever. I'm never gonna drink again.

• 14:03Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 14:04Speaker 01

  Whatever the vice is, say, I'm gonna remove this for ninety days and then I'll reevaluate. I feel like that's a good enough chunk of time to where it's a decent chunk of time, but it's not too long.

• 14:13Speaker 00

  Yep.

• 14:14Speaker 01

  By the time you're done, you have a clear, like your dopamine receptors have reset. You have a clear vision. Whereas that might've been clouding your vision a little bit before.

• 14:23Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 14:23Speaker 01

  Now you have more clarity and can say, hmm, well, I could try to add this back in and see how that goes. If it doesn't go well, then I'll remove it because I know I can and I know I'm able to, I'm capable. So for me, I just decided, I feel so freaking good. I feel better than I felt in my entire life. I have so much clarity. I have so much energy. Why would I want to do that again?

• 14:44Speaker 00

  Yeah, like the payoff was far better than, than without it.

• 14:47Speaker 01

  One hundred percent. And so I say, you know, some people still have a drink or two, you know, even after doing something like that a month. If that works for you, that's great. That just wasn't for me. That wasn't what I wanted. And so it really comes down to your own personal decision. I mean, at the end of the day, alcohol is kind of a poison, but, but I think, I think also people, you know, like my husband drinks and it's fine. I don't mind. It's okay. I'm around friends that drink. I don't mind. It doesn't bother me at all. It's just the right decision for me.

• 15:16Speaker 00

  Totally.

• 15:17Speaker 01

  So I'm okay with it. I mean, obviously I, I, I just, like I said, try it and see how you feel.

• 15:23Speaker 00

  I love that. That's been a motto for my husband and I like is just try everything on for size and especially, uh, with alcohol ninety days is, I used to do fitness competitions. So I'd go like three, four months at a time, all the time.

• 15:35Speaker 01

  Exactly.

• 15:36Speaker 00

  And it is a good amount of time to, you know, kind of create new habits within there.

• 15:40Speaker 01

  Yep.

• 15:40Speaker 00

  And you start just leaning into, to different things, but I love that trying it on for.

• 15:45Speaker 01

  Yeah. I think with any vice.

• 15:47Speaker 00

  With, with anything.

• 15:48Speaker 01

  Yeah, just to prove to yourself, I don't need this. I can actually go without this.

• 15:51Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 15:52Speaker 01

  And that, that's what builds confidence, like proving to yourself that I don't need this. Okay, I'm good. I'm fine.

• 15:57Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 15:58Speaker 01

  Because we get in our heads thinking, oh, I can't live without this. I need this.

• 16:01Speaker 00

  No, great. You can go back to it.

• 16:03Speaker 01

  Right, exactly. But, you know, to me, it was like, I was holding on to something that I thought was good. When there was something so much better.

• 16:10Speaker 00

  Yeah. I feel like when we do the thing where we put things off limits or we're like, we're never doing that again, or I'm gonna, now I have to go to the gym every single day and I'm never gonna be the, you know, I'm never gonna go back to this thing. I was such a, um, and I'm sure you see this with people. I'd love to hear your thoughts around things that keep people kind of stuck. For me, some of the things that, um, kept me stuck in patterns for years was like such all or nothing. Like it was like, if now I'm lifting, I'm, I can never go back to this thing and now I'm lifting forever and it has to be this way. And if I miss certain days, then it would just feel like I ruined everything.

• 16:46Speaker 01

  Right.

• 16:46Speaker 00

  So like, tell me some of the all or nothing habits that you see with people. Why do you think that keeps people stuck?

• 16:54Speaker 01

  So I think this is kind of, this is where there is nuance because

• 16:59Speaker 01

  and this might sound a little off, but I do believe when you're first really establishing healthy habits and establishing new habits for yourself. I kind of say you almost need to get a little obsessed at the beginning.

• 17:10Speaker 00

  No, I agree.

• 17:11Speaker 01

  You know, and then.

• 17:12Speaker 00

  I could have never done it without it.

• 17:13Speaker 01

  Right? And then after a while, that's when you get the flexibility and the balance, but obsession and like just that locking in. Really getting laser focused on what you're doing because there's always so much noise, right? Whenever we're trying to do something new and figure something new out and learn something new, it's like block out the noise, focus on the thing, get obsessed with the thing. Once you've got it dialed in and you've nailed it, then that flexibility and balance comes in. Does that answer that? Kind of a little bit, it's.

• 17:43Speaker 00

  I totally agree. And then it's, but then it's like, okay, because I've absolutely been like, okay, you have to be obsessed and you do, you do. Because I think what happens is that you have to be like undistractable. Because it's very easy to get sucked back by, you know, friends or.

• 18:00Speaker 01

  Old habits too.

• 18:01Speaker 00

  Old habits for sure and people around you even reinforcing those. But then there, uh, became a point in my fitness journey for sure where I just created this like cage of routine. And it was like, I, I was having trouble even traveling because I was like, I can't, it's gonna throw my routine off.

• 18:19Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 18:20Speaker 00

  And I don't know if that's because it was a fear of me always being one bad month away from like spiraling and becoming the family that I grew up and seeing.

• 18:29Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 18:30Speaker 00

  I think there's a lot of, there was a lot of fear around that for so many years.

• 18:34Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 18:34Speaker 00

  Now I'm in a place where I'm like, oh, you'll never go back there. But I do think that some of my habits of extreme obsession started to become like a cage.

• 18:44Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 18:44Speaker 00

  So tell me.

• 18:45Speaker 01

  I can see where that can happen. And I think that, I mean, I would say that I do have a bit of a, I mean, I guess you could say addictive, addictive personality.

• 18:53Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 18:54Speaker 01

  You know, like obviously I had the wine habit.

• 18:56Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 18:56Speaker 01

  And I traded it for a gym habit.

• 18:57Speaker 00

  It's a better habit.

• 18:58Speaker 01

  You know, it's a better habit, but it's like at the same time, you need to know how to live your life.

• 19:02Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 19:03Speaker 01

  Too. And so it's really learning how to be self-reflective and being self-aware. And understanding when it, when it starts to affect the people around you and it's limiting you and what you're doing and becoming your entire life, like. You know, I can travel. I do go out to eat. I do enjoy my life. I do have that flexibility and that's okay. But I, I do think that you have to check yourself. You have to learn how to be self-reflective and say, okay, what like, like, you know, do a self-audit. Of what's, is this too mu, is this taking over? Is this too much? Do I need to, I don't know, reel this back in somehow? Does that make sense? Yeah.

• 19:43Speaker 00

  What's been like the biggest challenge for you throughout creating this new life for yourself? What's been a belief that you've really had to work on that you kind of see show up in different ways over and over again?

• 19:59Speaker 01

  I mean, I think probably, uh, self doubt a little bit or like a little bit of. I mean, as far as with this most recent chapter, you know, I was a portrait photographer for thirteen years.

• 20:12Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 20:13Speaker 01

  And so I was doing portrait photography and then once this, once my, I started transforming myself, I said, okay, I'm gonna go get my certification. So I went and did, you know, my own certifications, but it happened really quickly with social media. Everything started taking off literally. I mean, kind of overnight. I had, I don't know, four thousand followers in December of twenty twenty three.

• 20:35Speaker 00

  Okay.

• 20:35Speaker 01

  And then by March, I was at like three hundred thousand. I mean, it was, it was like, I was like, why are all these people following me? This is, so it was, happened very quickly, but I do believe that I was in this place, like God put me in this place for a specific reason and for a purpose. But it was me getting myself caught up to speed with how I'm, how am I, how am I gonna help all these people and figure out what I'm doing and what I'm offering and how I'm helping? And getting that all into position and be confident with what I'm doing. So that's, it's happened so quickly that uh, getting myself into the right place and the right mental space to be like, okay, I got this. I can do this.

• 21:12Speaker 01

  I'm doing this. I've had a lot of people help me to put everything together, which has been amazing, but I think probably just being thrown into a completely, even though it's been a passion, a passion of mine, my entire life, it hasn't been my job, it hasn't been my work. And so all of a sudden being thrown into that out of nothing from being a portrait photographer, that was a big shift.

• 21:35Speaker 00

  It's a lot to hold. A lot to hold.

• 21:37Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 21:38Speaker 00

  I don't think people, I think, I think everybody is wishing for what just happened to you. But people don't realize what happens to your life and your capacity and everything that you now do, just you have to view it through multiple lenses.

• 21:53Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 21:54Speaker 00

  And there's so much self-preservation and protection and family protection, relationship protection, like that has to happen.

• 22:02Speaker 01

  Yep.

• 22:02Speaker 00

  That people don't realize that you have to become a totally different person, like overnight when that type of thing happens. That's why whenever people are like, no, I want to go viral. I'm like, there, just be careful because your life will absolutely change and not be careful. I want anyone who wants that to have that, but I want you to be prepared for what comes with it. And so.

• 22:21Speaker 01

  You gotta have very thick skin.

• 22:23Speaker 00

  Very thick skin, especially, you know, a lot of us are on fitness journeys and, and weight loss journeys and a lot of us get into fitness because we probably had a lot of self-doubt. We lacked confidence. There's something that we're trying to work through.

• 22:38Speaker 01

  Yep.

• 22:40Speaker 00

  When I launched Glossy, my drinkable skincare brand, I was obsessed with the formula. The product was my baby, but the store part felt way more intimidating. And that's a big reason we built on Shopify in the beginning, because you really don't have to be an e-commerce expert to get up and running. And that's a big deal in the beginning of a business. And here's the biggest lesson I learned about the holidays. You do not want to be building your store in the middle of the rush. You want to be set up, you want to be tested and ready before the traffic hits. So two things I love. First Shopify mobile app. I'm on planes, I'm on stages, I'm here recording with you and I can still check my inventory, help a customer, see payments right from my phone, which is so much fun. And that's the second they check out.

• 23:24Speaker 00

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• 24:04Speaker 00

  There was a stretch in my early twenties when I was chipping away at credit card debt and it honestly felt like it was never going to end. I'd make a payment, I would feel good for a day and then I'd look at the balance and feel like I did nothing. And what changed everything was finally seeing a finish line. That's why I love Monarch's debt pay down simulator and visualizer. It shows your exact debt free date based on your real balance and payments. And you get to watch that timeline move. Every extra payment, the date gets closer. That kind of visible progress keeps you going. And my favorite part is playing out your options. You can run different payment scenarios side by side and instantly see which one gets

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• 25:28Speaker 00

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• 26:55Speaker 00

  What did you notice that maybe there was something? I know that you said confidence. What did that all of a sudden show you that had to be worked on?

• 27:03Speaker 01

  Well, I needed to like double down on my confidence and also boundaries. Because I do think that I'm a very, I'm an empath and I

• 27:17Speaker 01

  love people and care for people and I trust people. And so I definitely saw myself trusting people and making friendships and, and through online. And that kind of came, would come back to bite me. And so I just understood, like, I really realized I need to have boundaries for myself and not be as trusting of people, if that makes sense.

• 27:44Speaker 00

  Because it's exciting at first. Yeah, it's a lot of things coming at you.

• 27:47Speaker 01

  Mm hmm. Yeah. So it was, it was like protecting my peace, protecting my space, protecting also my family and my husband too. For me, I mean, this was a lot for him, for all of a sudden, everything to be on blast. You know, people making comments, trolls, things, different things that we were not used to. So that was a huge adjustment. But definitely it's given me some serious thick skin. I still have a soft heart and a good heart, but it's very selective with who I give that to.

• 28:16Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 28:17Speaker 01

  And I, I, I believe it's given me even that much more confidence. I've 10x my confidence.

• 28:23Speaker 00

  Tell me about that journey though, because I know even still for me, you know, I'll get comments and it's like, I have to take a second, metabolize it. I think of the things I want to say, let myself say them in my head, maybe say them out loud to Kaylee, to my husband.

• 28:37Speaker 01

  Yes. You gotta flush it out with the people that you trust, you know?

• 28:40Speaker 00

  Then I kind of block, delete, do whatever. And it's very quick now. Like it's for the most part, it's very quick. And then sometimes when I see different things, I'm like, oh, why is this one really bugging me? And then it's like, what do I need to look at or what do I need to think about? Or sometimes I'm like, no, you don't get to do this to me. You don't even get to have access to block, delete, whatever. Block, delete, mute, all of the things. For you, how do you get through that, metabolize it? Because I'm sure you get, I'm sure you get a decent amount, especially because body stuff is so triggering for people. So what would you say you do now to kind of work through that?

• 29:17Speaker 01

  I have people that I'm very close to that help me digest and work through all that. Okay. My husband is amazing. We've been married for 28 years and he's just, has a very solid head on his shoulders. And he also can call me on my stuff, you know? And so I just trust what he has to say. I trust his judgment. And so I always filter stuff through him first and foremost, because I just really, I trust his judgment on things. And then I have amazing people on my team, my coach, my, you know, people that will, there are my sounding board that I can work through that stuff with. Cause it's, you can get in your own head. When you try to work through those things by yourself, you're thinking, am I wrong? Did I do something bad? Did I, am I wrong on this? Did I say?

• 30:00Speaker 01

  And then you need the people that you trust, that have good heads on their shoulders that can help you filter through this stuff to make sure and, you know, digest all of this and break it all down. Okay, no, this is actually how it is and help you to see things more clearly because it can get, it can feel like, wait, what?

• 30:17Speaker 00

  Yeah, we need people and we need not be in our own like silo, you know? It's, it's so important to have those people to pull you out.

• 30:23Speaker 01

  A hundred percent. Yeah. And I, I trust myself too, at this point, you know, I trust my judgment. But I do think it's important to have those people.

• 30:31Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 30:31Speaker 01

  In your life.

• 30:32Speaker 00

  So you're telling me you're grateful for the challenges. That's what people really need to hear is I think is, I think as women, we're obviously, usually, I'm not speaking for everyone, but more sensitive. And so as we get out in the world, as you get the success, as things start happening, it's, you know, you open up yourself to all of this criticism. And I do think that that stops women from being successful before they even start, is they're so afraid of what are they putting out there, the content, that what are, you know, how are people perceiving them? Were you thinking of that while you were doing this? Or you just, you kind of were doing videos. Tell me how that happened and why you think that happened? Why did you blow up overnight?

• 31:13Speaker 01

  It's so crazy because I've been on social media forever.

• 31:17Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 31:17Speaker 01

  I've been posting on Instagram forever and for me it was fun. I enjoyed it. It's a great way to connect. It, it's a creative outlet. I love connecting with people. I started to share about my sobriety about a year in. I kind of waited for a minute before I started sharing about that. But I noticed how many women would send me messages and say, thank you so much for sharing. This helped me so much. And so I just thought, if I can help even like even one person, just a few people and that they feel seen and they feel not so alone. Cause I feel like so many women with that or any, any other kind of thing in their life that they hold guilt or shame around.

• 31:52Speaker 00

  For sure.

• 31:52Speaker 01

  Like, once you bring it out into the open, it loses its power. And then you can start talking about it. And so I just thought, if I can share about this and make a woman feel empowered and feel okay and feel seen and like she can work through this too, then my job is done. And so I kind of always shared from that space. And then when I really started to transform, I thought, this is freaking amazing. I'm going to share about this because I want women to be inspired, that they can change, that they can do anything that they want with their lives. And I don't know what the heck. It was like the law of, what is it latent potential? I don't know if you, like Atomic Habits, James Clear talks about, there's an ice cube and it doesn't melt until 32 degrees. And it's still heating up at 25 degrees. It's still heating up at 26, at 27. You don't see it melt though yet.

• 32:35Speaker 01

  You don't see it, you don't see any, any of the. Work progress happening with it melting until thirty two degrees, but all of that work that was put in up until that thirty two degrees was still there. So it's almost like I was doing all of this and then all of a sudden it just started taking off. So I don't know if maybe there weren't as many women in that in my space in this age group making content. And so it was it was like, oh, somebody who's, you know, it's always the twenties and thirty year olds that are putting out the fitness content. This is a woman who's fifty is putting out this content. This is insane. This is crazy. And so maybe that's why it took off so fast. And I think it was at that time, it was like,

• 33:12Speaker 01

  we were really starting to speak up about perimenopause and menopause and all of that was just kind of taking off. So it was like the perfect storm of everything coming together and it just, and I think people saw that I am who I am.

• 33:24Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 33:25Speaker 01

  I don't, and you meet me in person, I'm the same person in person that I am online. There's nothing different. I'll show up without my makeup on. I'll show up with you, just like me, who I am. And so I think people can sniff that out.

• 33:36Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 33:37Speaker 01

  You know, people can, people can sense that. They can see if somebody's being not themselves. And so I don't, I think it's like a mixture of all of those things.

• 33:45Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 33:45Speaker 01

  That just drew people to me, maybe somehow. I don't know. I kept saying to my husband, I don't know why all these people are following.

• 33:52Speaker 00

  Yeah. I mean, I think a huge part of it too is like, I, I think it's being able to see someone, which I hate even saying your age because you're so young and you look amazing. But I think it's like giving hope at that level that it's like, no, it's not just like, hey, we're doing okay. We're thr- thriving.

• 34:08Speaker 01

  We are thriving.

• 34:10Speaker 00

  Thriving.

• 34:10Speaker 01

  I feel the best I've ever felt in my entire life.

• 34:12Speaker 00

  And I feel that and I see that.

• 34:13Speaker 01

  Like my physique is the best it's been in my entire life.

• 34:17Speaker 00

  And I think that that narrative is so different.

• 34:22Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 34:22Speaker 00

  Than anything we have ever seen or heard. And I still think it's new. Like I, I know it's getting out there a lot.

• 34:28Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 34:28Speaker 00

  But at the same time, it's nothing like, you know, what we're used to right now, we're being trained for. It's just like twenties and thirties and all the marketing and all the different things.

• 34:38Speaker 01

  Mm hmm.

• 34:39Speaker 00

  But this is the, it's crazy to me because this is the age forties and fifties and sixties, the women who are spending money. Like, why are we not?

• 34:46Speaker 01

  Mm hmm.

• 34:46Speaker 00

  Why are more women not going for it? And I think there's so much around, you know, we were raised in a, a generation of women who was still like, it was a lot if you put yourself out there, you thought that you were like, you had an ego or, you know, women should be humble, all of those things. What, what did you grow up? Seeing your mom like, what was a belief that you just feel like you've busted through for a woman your age?

• 35:13Speaker 01

  For sure. Being concerned about what other people think or what other people say. I've definitely busted through that because I know who I am. I know what my identity is in. I know what I'm rooted in. And so I'm good.

• 35:26Speaker 00

  But how did you do that? Was it books? Was it events? Like, what are some of the?

• 35:29Speaker 01

  I mean, probably some books, but I feel like, I mean, I am a woman of faith.

• 35:33Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 35:34Speaker 01

  And so I, I just, like, I am so deeply rooted in who God says I am, that that is like, that's the core. So it's, I feel so good with like, me and God are good. I'm so at peace with that. Obviously, like the books help, you know, the different, you know, mindset books that I've read, but it's like, that is the core of who I am. And so I'm so good with that. I, I don't, as long as me and God are good and our relationship is good, I know that I'll be corrected if I need to be corrected or called out on anything.

• 36:05Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 36:05Speaker 01

  But I, it's, you know, I, I don't have to be worried about what people are saying or what people, I.

• 36:11Speaker 00

  Hmm. Has your faith always been that way? Or did things, what are some major catalysts that kind of strengthened that faith along the way?

• 36:18Speaker 01

  So I actually came into faith at age twenty four.

• 36:21Speaker 00

  Okay.

• 36:22Speaker 01

  I met my husband. And I think just life happening, life circumstances, tough things, going through things, tough, really tough stuff in our marriage.

• 36:31Speaker 00

  Hmm.

• 36:31Speaker 01

  Tough stuff with friendships, losing my dad.

• 36:34Speaker 00

  Yep.

• 36:35Speaker 01

  He passed away uh in twenty thirteen from cancer, just going through life stuff that just brings you to your knees.

• 36:42Speaker 00

  Yes.

• 36:42Speaker 01

  Where you're to the end of yourself and you just feel like, I don't know how I can do this. And you know, God's there. He's been there all the way to strengthen me and to um bring me through it. And so I just think that's, that's where your faith is tested. You know, it's not really faith unless it's tested. And so it's been tested. And I know that's where my strength is, you know? And so I didn't grow up with that faith. I didn't grow up with that. Um, that core belief. So I, you know, I feel, I wish my family like had that too, you know, to raise me with that, but it's okay. You know, it, it's okay. But I definitely think

• 37:21Speaker 01

  the older generation is, was very much wrapped up in what other people think and what other people say. And I, I think it's a generational thing.

• 37:28Speaker 00

  Mm hmm.

• 37:29Speaker 01

  I don't know if you have experienced that with.

• 37:32Speaker 00

  Oh, yeah.

• 37:32Speaker 01

  Yeah. Like very much about putting on a certain image and putting out. I think it's, it's, it's a generational thing. You know?

• 37:39Speaker 00

  Even I, I, my husband struggled with perfectionism because I think it ran, it ran so deep in his family. Like what? It definitely was in my family and for sure with my mother, um, just needing to look a certain way and indefinitely with my religion. I think in my husband's family because of just um, kind of just the, the stature that they were raised in. It was a little more like upper middle class for where they were. I think there was a lot of just pressure around that and like the friend groups that they were in. So when I met my husband, that was like, kind of new to me. He had this perfectionist thread through him that in our marriage kind of kept us. It was really interesting. It's,

• 38:17Speaker 00

  it's completely gone now because we've worked so hard on it. But just seeing how that trickled down to him from, you know, his parents and kind of what he saw as well. So I do think it's just a generational men, women. It was kind of just what, what was expected and kind of keeping up with the Joneses and how were you out in public and how did people perceive you? And you know, you keep everything swept under the rug in your family and everybody needs to think that everything is perfect. And I think that's just, just gonna make you explode.

• 38:45Speaker 01

  Mm hmm.

• 38:45Speaker 00

  And um, that's not, that's not useful at all. And it's not useful for, you know, your relationships, for your friendships, for your body.

• 38:54Speaker 01

  Mm hmm.

• 38:54Speaker 00

  I actually think that's why we, um, in my personal opinion, I think it's why we see a lot of like, um, I just see like a lot of autoimmune with certain ages and women and suppression.

• 39:04Speaker 01

  Your body keeps check. Your body keeps score of what's going on. It's not, it's not just, it's the emotional. It all is connected.

• 39:12Speaker 00

  I was gonna ask you, so that's my next question. Like, how much are you finding with people like in your, I know you do like subscription based model for fitness, right? Okay. How much in your business do you find you have to do mindset work or is it mindset work?

• 39:29Speaker 01

  So, so we, I, I currently offer three different things. So with my subscriptions, it's really just like my lifting programs. Um, I have my recipes in there. I have a community in there. And then once you get into group coaching and then one-on-one coaching, we really go deep on mindset.

• 39:44Speaker 00

  Hmm.

• 39:45Speaker 01

  And that's something that actually a lot of the ladies make comments about when they come in and because they have done previous programs and they say, I've never done a program that goes so deep into mindset. And it's so important to get your mindset right because how many people start something and quit two, three, four weeks later? Because, oh, this just doesn't work. And oh, I can't do this. It's because your mindset was not right coming in. You gotta get your mindset right. You gotta understand how your mind works. Then you're going to understand why that's so important to have that part established before you even start working on your nutrition and on your movement routine. Because you need to start believing and understanding how your mind works and how your mind is going to play tricks on you and how it's going to try to self sabotage you

• 40:27Speaker 00

  Hmm.

• 40:28Speaker 01

  and hold you back and keep you, you know, preserve you, keep you safe with your limiting beliefs. So you're gonna have to understand how you can break through all of that. So there's a lot of mindset work that we do in our coaching, which is super powerful. It's super exciting. The ladies just go, this is so amazing. Yeah.

• 40:45Speaker 00

  I, I owned a gym years ago and I, when people would come in, we would first have to just be like, what do they even believe about? What's possible?

• 40:54Speaker 01

  Mm hmm.

• 40:54Speaker 00

  But what, what is there? Like, I would kind of dig into like, what are the family beliefs? Like, what are the family habits? What does this all look like?

• 41:00Speaker 01

  Hmm.

• 41:01Speaker 00

  What are some of the things that you just see on repeat? Like, especially, do you work mainly in that midlife?

• 41:08Speaker 01

  Mm hmm.

• 41:08Speaker 00

  With midlife women?

• 41:09Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 41:11Speaker 00

  What are some things that you see that you could just know, sitting down with a group of a hundred midlife women?

• 41:17Speaker 01

  Mm hmm.

• 41:18Speaker 00

  What are the things that if they don't have what they want right now, why, what are they thinking?

• 41:23Speaker 01

  Well, for sure, thinking that they can't do this, that it's not possible for them, that they don't deserve it, that they might not be capable of doing it. I think that's probably the, like, the main.

• 41:34Speaker 00

  Mm hmm. How many of them are you like, oh, my gosh, they have to change their environment or who they're around?

• 41:41Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 41:41Speaker 00

  What does somebody do?

• 41:43Speaker 01

  Mm hmm.

• 41:44Speaker 00

  When they feel like they can't change their environment or who they're around?

• 41:47Speaker 01

  Well, that's why I, we have communities.

• 41:49Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 41:50Speaker 01

  You know, with our coaching, we have, it's Circle is the name of the platform that we use. But I always tell them, you need to plug into this community. Like, you need to, this, this might be the only time that you are connecting with other women that are doing what you want to do and want to accomplish. Plug in and connect with the women here, because that is, that is your accountability. That is your community. And because who knows what's going on at home, what they're, what they're dealing with at home. And we talk about those things regularly on our calls and in Circle, we chat about that regularly. Like, I'm having this issue, I have an event this weekend, I'm going to be with people. What do I say? We talk about, okay, this is how you can talk, this is how you can say, this is what, this is what you can communicate to your family. But it's a huge struggle.

• 42:31Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 42:31Speaker 01

  It's a huge struggle for a lot of women, but I, I say, get plugged into our community. Really connect in here and reach out to the women that are going to be able to walk you through it and hold you accountable.

• 42:42Speaker 00

  That's my literal theory on life success is you have to, you know, when I, um, when I wanted to go be in fitness and fitness competitions and all the things, I got a coach and plugged into that community. When I wanted to write a book, I then changed that community once those habits were solid. And I did that part of my life and I was like, okay, now I'm plugging into the book community, authors, meeting with them, taking their programs, going to their events. Then when I wanted to do events, I went to the event community, went to events, uh, made friends with people who had events. I go and immerse myself in the lifestyle, the culture and the people who already are doing it. And people who only believe that's possible. And then all the other people who have the same desire as me.

• 43:25Speaker 00

  And you become your environment. Like, your environment is stronger than your willpower, because you by osmosis will become your environment. So how do you create that environment? And that is how you have to, and online totally works, because I've done it, I changed my own life with fitness online.

• 43:43Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 43:44Speaker 00

  But you can still have the husband you have, still have the kids that you have. But if you immerse yourself enough in an online community or a community, like, you do get, it's like, it is truly brain, brainwashing yourself, kind of like what we said. Just saying, this is possible for me and I'm, I'm borrowing the belief and the stories of other people. So I always would go do that.

• 44:06Speaker 01

  I love that.

• 44:06Speaker 00

  Go find.

• 44:07Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 44:08Speaker 00

  The people who are fifty-three, who look insane, and that's the story that I'm going to use. You know, I'm not going to use the other stories.

• 44:15Speaker 01

  A hundred percent.

• 44:19Speaker 00

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• 47:07Speaker 00

  There was a stretch in my early twenties when I was chipping away at credit card debt, and it honestly felt like it was never going to end. I'd make a payment, I would feel good for a day, and then I'd look at the balance and feel like I did nothing. And what changed everything was finally seeing a finish line. That's why I love Monarch's Debt Pay Down Simulator and Visualizer. It shows your exact debt-free date based on your real balance and payments. And you get to watch that timeline move. Every extra payment, the date gets closer. That kind of visible progress keeps you going. And my favorite part is playing out your options.

• 47:47Speaker 00

  You can run different payment scenarios side by side and instantly see which one gets you debt-free the fastest. You're in control of the plan. Monarch takes that heavy endless feeling and turns it into a plan with an actual end date. And a quick check-in on my phone means I always know where my money is. Going from this will never end to a date you can circle on the calendar, that feels like freedom. Write your own money story with Monarch. Use code EYH at Monarch.com to get your first year of Monarch Core half off at just fifty dollars. That's fifty percent off your first year at Monarch.com with code EYH. It's like how you have to change.

• 48:31Speaker 01

  And I encourage the women too. I say, you have no idea, if you really lock in with this and you really connect with this community and you really go all in with what you're doing, you are going to start to change, because I don't want this just to be surface change for you. I want this to be from the inside out. I want you glowing from your innards to the outards.

• 48:49Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 48:49Speaker 01

  And so you have no idea the kind of impact that you might have on your family that maybe is questioning you right now. You know, maybe you're getting Snickers or you're getting, people are snickering at you like, what is she doing? And why is she measuring her food? Or why is she working out so much? Or why? Then all of a sudden, you start to change, you start to transform, they see you're changing and they say, oh, okay, what, I want to do what you're doing. And then all of a sudden, it has a trickle effect.

• 49:13Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 49:13Speaker 01

  And then your spouse, your partner, your kids, your community, your friends, all of a sudden want in on what you're doing. So do not give up, keep going, because you have no idea what could come of all of this. You know, it could be amazing.

• 49:25Speaker 00

  First they laugh, then they ask.

• 49:27Speaker 01

  Yep.

• 49:27Speaker 00

  I had the same thing happen to me, you know what I mean? It was, I remember one of the biggest challenges, I'm not sure if this was for you and your family, but holidays, like, it was just like, this is how holidays are, you have just mass amounts of food, everybody's eating, everybody's drinking, you get together, you stay at their house for a week and you're just going to eat till you pop. And obviously, in, in my life, my goal was to be on Fitness Magazine cover. So having those conversations around the holidays and my shows were always like, right after Thanksgiving.

• 49:57Speaker 01

  Of course.

• 49:58Speaker 00

  You can imagine.

• 49:59Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 49:59Speaker 00

  Like, the shit that I had to endure at Thanksgiving with a show like a week later, which, who does that? Like, awful.

• 50:06Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 50:06Speaker 00

  Um, and sitting at holidays and being like, this is my, this is my life dream, can you support it? And still, they could not support it, which now we talk about it and now they can, but they're like, oh, sorry about that. So sorry that we did that.

• 50:22Speaker 01

  Did it take for them to?

• 50:23Speaker 00

  Um, years, years and years of, of conversations, because for them, that was, and, and I can't blame them, like, because they love through food. Like, that is how they were programmed is, you know, um, accept me, love me, I'm cooking for you, this is how I show love. And there's no, I don't know other ways of doing that. And if you reject this food, you're rejecting me.

• 50:45Speaker 01

  And yes.

• 50:45Speaker 00

  You'll either get that or you don't get that at all. Like, I mean, like, if you're listening, you're either from a family.

• 50:51Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 50:52Speaker 00

  Who feels rejection through, like, not, you know, partaking in their, in their habits or whatever that looks like, because we haven't developed a different way of connecting.

• 51:01Speaker 01

  Right.

• 51:01Speaker 00

  And so to other people, it can often, when we're going for our goals, it can often just feel like rejection and disconnection. So when I was creating different, um, goals, I remember we, I did a lot of self-development. And so thank God I had, you know, other people telling me different things too that we could do. But we were trying to create new ways and new traditions that we felt very connected. So I started doing like all of these, um, you know, at Christmas, instead of just sitting and eating the whole time, we would play different games, or we would get these ornaments and write, like, little sentiments on them and make like two-hour game out of it, so that we were starting to bond over doing things.

• 51:39Speaker 00

  Like, when we'd go on different hikes and we started to be more active, we started to bond over, like, experiences over food.

• 51:47Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 51:48Speaker 00

  And so we started to have these conversations in our family about how do we create experiences at holidays over food, which was super helpful.

• 51:57Speaker 01

  It's amazing.

• 51:57Speaker 00

  Um, and that started to kind of change, change some narrative. And also, like, telling people, what really helped me is, is saying, you know, I feel. Like very unhappy and miserable because I'm not becoming the person that I want. Or like this is a huge dream of mine and I really need support around it. Like maybe this is just a year, I don't know, maybe this is two years. But if I could get support around this and here's what support would look like. So I started telling them it would look like always having two or three really healthy things there, whether I bring it or whether you want to try cooking it. And then it ended up changing so much that my mother-in-law actually started cooking all healthy and we made a healthy cookbook together.

• 52:35Speaker 01

  Oh, my gosh.

• 52:36Speaker 00

  And this was the person that kind of gave me the most shit. And it just like over the years transformed. So how about for you, what did you see in your family that's kind of like changed the most and become something that's like a really cool experience?

• 52:49Speaker 01

  Well, I mean, they're all lifting weights now.

• 52:51Speaker 00

  That's so cool.

• 52:52Speaker 01

  Which is pretty awesome.

• 52:53Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 52:54Speaker 01

  Um, and I think, you know, for my girls, it's been a huge eye opener. Like they, they love lifting. They're also getting into a little bit of running now, so they're enjoying that. But just understanding, you know, um, like nutrition even better and food is fuel and how it's so it's how you can't really build a physique and under eat, you know, it's not, that's, I think that's such a common misconception, but really understanding how important it is, it is to feel properly. If you want to put on muscle and understanding about putting on muscle and so that's been kind of exciting. And then watching my husband get back into the gym. Cause he was, you know, and this all started for me, he was not in a great space. He's in real estate and it was a very stressful time in 2022. And, you know, I told him, this is what I'm doing.

• 53:37Speaker 01

  He said, okay, I said, you don't have to do this with me, but I'm just going to do this. And he was drinking quite a bit more and he was on blood pressure medication. And, um, about a year and a half in, it kind of stuff kind of clicked for him. And there's actually somebody from my gym that said something to him at an event that I was speaking at. It's like, weren't you working out at the gym? And he, something clicked for him and he got back into the gym and he, so he actually, he's always been pretty active too. So he was a D1 football player at Boise State. So he's been active, he's been fit in his life, but he was not in a good place, you know, when this all started for me. And, uh, he just went, he surpassed his one rep max for his bench press. So he did three 15 in college, he just did three 20 this year.

• 54:21Speaker 01

  So he's in totally back in the gym lifting like five, six days a week. We love to walk, we love to hike together. Um, that's been kind of our empty nesting thing as our girls have gone is getting out and hiking. And so it's just, that's been awesome for my family. That's been so good. Me, we weren't as entrenched with the food situation as far as like extended family. But I definitely think like my lifestyle is something different for most people as far as how I live and how I operate. But I like what you said, just about how you communicated that to your family. Um, and I, I talked to clients about this all the time, just being very communicative, like this is what I'm going to do. I love you and I'm not expecting you to do the exact same thing. I'm just going to do this for me and my health because I want to feel my best.

• 55:06Speaker 01

  And so this is how you can help me and this is how you can support me. And I love that you said that, you know, and how can they refute when you say, I want to feel my best?

• 55:13Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 55:14Speaker 01

  How can, how can anybody come against that? Like, I just want to feel good.

• 55:17Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 55:17Speaker 01

  You know, it's not anything about them, you're making it about you.

• 55:20Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 55:20Speaker 01

  But then they start to see that and they say, I want to feel good.

• 55:23Speaker 00

  They're like, wait, I want to feel good.

• 55:24Speaker 01

  Yeah, I want to feel good too.

• 55:25Speaker 00

  Yeah. So this has turned into a really big business for you.

• 55:29Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 55:29Speaker 00

  Were you expecting that at all?

• 55:31Speaker 01

  I had no idea.

• 55:32Speaker 00

  No idea. What did you think you were going to do in your life?

• 55:35Speaker 01

  Well, I just, I, I, I knew that when I started to transform, I knew for myself, like this was the next chapter. I wanted to be done with photography. I wanted to help women somehow, which is when I said, you know, I'm going to get my certifications. I don't know what it's going to look like. I got like a website, donate, domain, the midlife maven.com. And, uh, I didn't know what it was going to look like, but I was doing workouts in playbook, which is the app. Okay. I was doing lifting programs in playbook and I said, I don't see any other women in midlife doing this. Like I don't see, I didn't see any, at the time, I didn't see any midlife women as creators in this app. And I said, well, guess what? I'm going to do it.

• 56:12Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 56:13Speaker 01

  So I did, I was like, I don't know what the heck I'm doing. I'm going to figure this out and I'm going to do all the research and like me to throw myself into this, I'm going to figure it out. And so I just started doing it. I started, I, I was like, I'm going to create my first programs, I'm going to launch them. It was right coinciding with the, the social media taking off. But then, right when everything was, it was like within, like this whole storm of stuff was happening. And the CEO of playbook reaches out to me, he, he, um, emails me, he's like, hey, I'd love to get on a call with you. I see that, you know, everything's really popping off for you and I see you're actually already one of our creators. I really love to help support you. And so we got on a call and he's literally like playbook has changed my life. Changed my life.

• 56:56Speaker 01

  He's helped me create every single thing that I'm running right now. He helped me totally build up my app and all my subscriptions on my app. He helped me build my group coaching. And he's now helped me build my VIP one-to-one coaching. So I know I have a team of coaches that work under me. And we do, we do one-on-one, so we handhold the ladies and we take them through a program and it's been amazing. And it's changed my entire life and my entire family's life. But he's been, you know, he's, he just said to me, I will never forget that first phone call. He said, I've been working with creators in the fitness space for years and years. He said, there's something different about you. You have something different. I don't know, you, you just do, I know, because I've worked with people forever and I would love to help you grow your business as much as you want to grow it.

• 57:40Speaker 01

  You know, I'll, you'll let you lead, but I'll tell you what I can help you with. And he has been my connector that has put me in touch and connecting with everybody that's helped me along the way. And it's been insane.

• 57:50Speaker 00

  Sometimes when you step in.

• 57:52Speaker 01

  Amazing.

• 57:53Speaker 00

  It was really, the thing that I want people to know is like, it was extremely brave of you to step in. Like no matter what, for anybody who's going to go create and put themselves out there, especially

• 58:02Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 58:02Speaker 00

  Uh, in fitness, people don't understand, like it's, it's not only like getting out there, it's getting out there and your body getting out there, judge. So personality and body, which is kind of like

• 58:13Speaker 01

  Which is again, why knowing who I am to my core is so important because I know who I am. But I've done all of this scared, shizless. Like I've done it just like, okay, we're doing this.

• 58:26Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 58:26Speaker 01

  Let's, let's just go for it. And I haven't had to know everything that I'm doing along the way. I'm just, I'm trusting because I trusted Jeff. He's, uh, CEO of playbook. And he's just, he's like, we're going to do this, we're going to do this. And I'm like, I'm trusting you because nothing, he's never led me the wrong direction. Everything he's done, he's totally led me in the right direction. Everything's been amazing. So I'm like, okay, I'm trusting you, let's do this.

• 58:46Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 58:46Speaker 01

  Let's go, go, go, go, go. I'm on it. And it's just been a wild ride and it's been amazing.

• 58:51Speaker 00

  Wow. I'm like so excited that that has happened for you in that way.

• 58:56Speaker 01

  In my 50s.

• 58:56Speaker 00

  In your 50s, this is why I'm obsessed with this is some people are like, what do I do? It's the second half, ma. I'm like, no, you're, you're, you could legitimately be just starting.

• 59:05Speaker 01

  Right? And I look at my past and what I was doing before, and I've done other businesses besides photography, like we did Airbnb and all that. It's all that experience that I had with that lead has totally poured into what I'm doing now.

• 59:19Speaker 00

  All of it.

• 59:20Speaker 01

  You know?

• 59:20Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 59:21Speaker 01

  Even on, even if that was on a small scale and on a small level, I was building the skills. I was building knowledge through those years to what I'm doing now. And, and to have the bravery to do what I'm doing now, you know?

• 59:33Speaker 00

  Nothing is never for not, like not, nothing.

• 59:36Speaker 01

  Exactly.

• 59:37Speaker 00

  I'm just thinking of your faith journey too, like all of the, you know, all of the pain that you went through to strengthen that connection to God, like you have to have that to be where you're at. You really do, like for sure. There's no way I could even do what I do without being able to be like, okay, fully surrender. I, I'm, I loved what you said. I, I don't think I'd put it her that way, like you were at the end of you, like you are out of human power.

• 1:00:01Speaker 01

  Yep.

• 1:00:02Speaker 00

  Fully.

• 1:00:03Speaker 01

  Yep.

• 1:00:03Speaker 00

  So you have to rely on a strength that's outside of you.

• 1:00:06Speaker 01

  God plus nothing equals everything.

• 1:00:08Speaker 00

  Hmm. That's so.

• 1:00:10Speaker 01

  You know?

• 1:00:10Speaker 00

  Love that.

• 1:00:11Speaker 01

  It's, it's just like you come to the end of yourself with certain situations, but I think God allows that so that you can fully rely on him and say, okay, I'm trusting you. I know you got me. You know, whatever it may be, I'm going to trust you. And that, that, and that is like why I am who I am to my core and why I am solid with who I am.

• 1:00:30Speaker 00

  Hmm.

• 1:00:31Speaker 01

  You know?

• 1:00:32Speaker 00

  Yeah. Thank you for that sound clip. We're just going to click.

• 1:00:36Speaker 00

  Loved it. It was so beautiful.

• 1:00:37Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:00:38Speaker 00

  Um, well, I'm so grateful for you coming on. I would love for you to share, um, how people can work with you and find you.

• 1:00:44Speaker 01

  So if you go to alicia erickson app.com, that's a website that you can go to that will give you all the info on the app, on coaching, and then alicia E. on Instagram. Alicia E. on TikTok. And I think on YouTube as well.

• 1:01:00Speaker 00

  We're going to put that all in the show notes. We're going to make it so easy for you guys. You can just scroll down. We're going to show you all the stuff that she just said where they can find you. So thank you so much for coming.

• 1:01:09Speaker 01

  Thank you for having me. This has been so fun. Fun. You're a delight.

• 1:01:11Speaker 00

  Oh, thank you so much. And you guys, until next time, earn your happy. Bye, everyone.