#22 - Dayana Aleksandrova: How to constantly reinvent yourself to stay ahead in business.

00: 00:00Julia: So perhaps we just start right in. Um. You know, my podcast is called Hidden Champions. You are not exactly a hidden champion. You have 18,000 followers on Instagram. You post daily. Um, you're very, very good at this. You have your own email list that you, I think, write to twice a week. So and you have your regular customers and clients. You are a certified business coach and copywriter. But and that's why I invited you today, What is part of my mission is also showing unique path in life. You know, people that have a unique perspective in life. And if you look at your story, which is fantastic, I think, I don't know, many people that have had more twists in their path than you. It was very obvious that you fit perfectly in the Hidden Champions podcast, and I'm very, very happy to have you.

00: 00:54Dayana: Thanks, Julia. Really happy to be here as well. And I think that, you know, we all have to start somewhere. So I was hiding my whole life for the first 27 years or so, and it's only in the last couple of years that I've overcome my, you know, fear of being seen online, fear of judgment, things like that, to be able to show up. And, you know, this made me feel really good. I was out for a walk today and I was thinking, huh, I am just the most ordinary person ever. So, you know, because I'm currently in my hometown and the whole story began here. So for me, it's the most, you know, normal thing in the world. But you saying that just now actually made me feel really good. So thank you for that.

00: 01:32Julia: You're welcome. Yeah, I've also had I've made the experience that, you know, when you start out, there are so many ups and downs and you think entrepreneurism is something and then it's a completely different thing and you discover more about yourself and you go through these ups and downs. And after a while, what I found out at least, is that you find your balance and you actually you don't have that much of like high emotions and that much of these low, low emotions. I think when you found this neutral space, that's where things get exciting. I don't know how you feel about that.

00: 02:08Dayana: I am nodding my head so hard right now because I was just thinking about this yesterday. But my goal for 2024 is not actually any amount of money. It is a grounded nervous system. So I, you know, I've been prone to different emotions. I'm naturally Scorpio ascendant, Libra for those who are into astrology. I'm pretty impulsive and so I used to get so excited every time a lead would reach out, whether for me to coach them or somebody that do marketing for. And then I would just get devastated if they were to ghost, if they were to decide not to work together. And over time, you kind of reach a point where you're like, why am I spending all this emotion? And I know that it's easier said than done to not be so emotional, but you nailed it right there. It is about reaching neutrality because there is this idea when you look at Instagram, TikTok, that everyone has to be so happy and so hyper and so high vibe all the time, actually. And I've studied this stuff. It was a part of my coach certification. But there are four quadrants of emotion. So super high emotion that is positive. This is known as high vibes. Very intense emotion that is negative which is known as anxiety. Normal positive emotion that is low energetic spend. This is being grounded, being neutral, being in acceptance and then low energetic spend negatively, which is depression. So I think that one aspect that entrepreneurs need to pay more attention to is actually grounding our nervous system. And that means when you get a new client, you just say, okay, great, of course I'm getting a new client. I'm good at what I do, why wouldn't I? And when someone decides that they don't want to renew your coaching services, or they don't want to enroll into your program, you say, okay, it wasn't meant to be moving on. And that is it. That's neutrality. It's actually so under understated.

00: 04:03Julia: Yeah. And it comes to back. It comes back to the this phrase of like trust and relax. I think this requires a lot of um, abundance mindset. You know, like this really like okay, letting it go, knowing your self-worth. And for those who listen regularly to my podcast episodes, I have had an interview with Annika, who lives in New York, and she works in influencer agencies. And her message was we, especially those in Germany and, you know, yeah, I guess in Eastern Europe as well, should really tap into their passions more often. You know, we love following people that stand for something and that share, like when they're excited. So now that you you said that and we talked about this neutral state that you want to reach, you know, being grounded, being. Yeah. Trusting in life. How do you think that fits together with showing your passion? Like, you know, when do you. When can you tap into this and when is it better to step back?

00: 05:12Dayana: I think that tapping into your passion, you should definitely still do that. But don't think like you have to be dancing on Instagram or TikTok to get sales and to get clients. That is not the point. You can absolutely dance on Instagram if you want to because it's fun for you. I love that if you go to some of my old highlights, if they're still there, like I've got probably 20 videos of me just dancing for no reason, no nothing. But the point is that you show up excited because you genuinely are excited. So for example, when I launch a program, you've been in Online Entrepreneur Accelerator. That's one of my programs. Every time I launch it, I'm just so excited because I get to talk to people I've never spoken to before, so I might show up more on my stories on Instagram. I might say, you know, hey, I'm walking to the gym here in Sweden or wherever I am at the time. I'm really excited. Look at how beautiful the sky is. There's a rainbow. It's the best thing ever. But I do it because I enjoy that. So for me it's a creative process. So I think that if you are a creative, which most of us really have, that that side of us and you want to be excited, definitely do that for your own sake, for the fact that it feels good, but don't. If you don't feel super high vibe. If you don't feel happy, don't feel like you have to slap a smile on your face and do the whole song and dance just for the internet, you really don't have to.

00: 06:32Julia: Yeah, exactly. I think it's because people expect to be entertained much more, and once you let that go and really live your authentic self and yeah, try to have fun on these platforms and test yourself out. And yeah, if you want to dance, dance. And if not, then don't do it the other side, the darker side as well. Makes sense. Absolutely. You said you're back in your hometown. So you are in Bulgaria at the moment. That's where everything started. And. I have seen a reel of you showing all the steps from like, I don't know when you were born to where you are right now and it is a lot, so perhaps you just pick. What would you think are the biggest milestones in your life, or the things that really made a difference for you, made you change as a person?

00: 07:26Dayana: Sure. So I'm going to recap this very quickly, but I was born in Bulgaria, in a very small town that no one's ever heard of, and I've always had this ambition that I really wanted to leave this hometown. So I lost my dad when I was 11, and that gave me even more motivation to go and see the world in my lifetime. So one of the pivotal moments was when I was 16, I won a scholarship to study in the US as an exchange student in high school. And then two years later, as I was finishing high school in the US, I won another scholarship to go to college. So fast forward, I spent five years between Boston and New York, and after that, another turning point happened. I graduated, I had three degrees like double major and a minor grade. GPA, could not get a job because everyone wanted me to be an American citizen, which I understand the paperwork is expensive. So I saw that movie eat, pray, Love with Julia Roberts, which was it was famous at the time. And I went to Bali thinking, okay, I'm going to be an influencer, I'm going to be a writer. And I lasted about four days. I realized that it was really hard that I did not have an audience. I didn't know what I was doing with my business. I didn't really have a business. So I moved back to Europe.

00: 08:37Julia: Can I literally ask one question just because you were mentioning that you want a scholarship going there. I assume that must have been a huge thing, because, I mean, it wouldn't have been possible if you hadn't won the scholarship. So getting this as a girl from Eastern Europe, I don't know. Were you the only one where there are lots of your friends that actually got something like this? Or how did that work?

00: 09:02Dayana: Yeah. So without the scholarship, I never would have been able to leave. So I had this dream of going to the US since I was a little kid, and my family always told me that we would find a way to make it work. So when the time came and I was like, So Mom and Grandma, how are we going to make this work? They were like, oh, you were serious. We're so sorry. And I just felt so heartbroken. So I applied to three different organizations, and it was funny because the first time I applied, I didn't get in. The second time I got the wrong day. So I went on a Sunday and missed the whole exam. And then the third time it was between me and 25 other people or so, and three of us were selected to be allowed to go to the US. But I was the only one who won a scholarship. And the reason for that is I was in a discussion with everyone else and someone had to speak up. And I knew at the time I was so painfully shy. I was crazy, but I knew at the time an inner voice told me, if you do not speak up now, this is your ticket. You are done. You are lost. And so I like got out of my comfort zone. I literally feel like I got out of my body at the time and I started speaking. I started leading the discussion. My English was really good because I've been studying and in the end, I was the only kid that won the scholarship. And I think the high school scholarship must have been a couple thousand dollars. And then the college scholarship ended up being $250,000, because college in the US, for those of you who are familiar.

00: 10:29Julia: really expensive

00: 10:30Dayana: crazy Expensive. Yeah.

00: 10:31Julia: Do you think it was your your mom that showed you this that it's like worth Yeah. I don't know, going after these opportunities because you weren't what, 19.

00: 10:41Dayana: No, 16 at the time.

00: 10:43Julia: 16. I mean, you know, that's again it's not something usual especially than studying English really going for this. Um, I have a little brother. He's 21. Yeah. And he's he's really good at what he does. But he, you know, with 16, I can say for sure he wasn't like that. And I and when I look at myself, I also Didn't. Well, that's not true. I also had some things that I pursued and really got, but because my parents told me or taught me how to do this. Do you think that that was also in your upbringing?

00: 11:20Dayana: So this was actually when I was about seven. My dad had this colleague of his who was an English teacher, so he hired her for, I think it was $1.50 per hour to teach me English. And she kept coming to my house twice a week for a couple of years. And it was her who gave me the idea. She said, hey, you look like a smart kid. You know, I've actually had a student and she won a scholarship in high school to go to the US and in Eastern Europe back in 2000. I don't know, like in the 2000, it was like America. If you go there and you've made it, obviously things have changed a lot since then, but it was my first English tutor that gave me the idea. And then my mom actually did help me because when I got rejected twice, I was so defeated that I almost didn't want to apply for the third opportunity. And my dad was gone by then. So it was just her. And she said, hey, let's do this. I'm going to help you with the paperwork. I'm going to sign the permission slips. Just go and do it. So she really did push me to apply because if I hadn't, my life would be probably very different. I would probably be selling easy credit somewhere, you know, behind a plastic desk. Somewhere in my hometown.

00: 12:29Julia: Yeah. No. And I think these little points, you know, you don't know, it's a pivotal point, but it is because you described it as an out-of-body experience of really like knowing somehow your intuition tells you, like, I have to speak up, even though it's not at all who I am right now. And those little moments of success, I think they paved the way, really. And. So afterwards you had a couple of setbacks as well. You just said you went to to Bali because the dream of becoming a US citizen didn't work at first. What happened then?

00: 13:04Dayana: Right. So I went to Bali and I got a harsh reality check. I was like, oh my God, eat, pray, love. It looks nothing like this. So I get out of the airport and there's scooters everywhere, traffic, you know, it was very hectic and I just didn't have the groundedness and the patience to see it through. Also, I didn't really have any savings. I had about 700 bucks or so left to my name. So I was like, oh no, I better use this money wisely. So I went back to Europe and I had always wanted to live in Spain, and when I was in college, I had done one summer interning as a hotel receptionist in Spanish, and I spoke some Spanish because I studied. So I got to Barcelona and I ended up struggling really bad for about two months to find a job. Eventually I did, and I ended up doing this desk job for about seven months. And that's probably the first time when I realized that I'm really not meant for desk work. This was 2017. I started getting these migraines, and I just started getting really depressed, and I didn't know what the problem was until I realized that I didn't want to do anything else but sleep besides being at work, so.

00: 14:14Julia: Burnout or is it a bore out? I don't know.

00: 14:16Dayana: It was. I think it wasn't exactly burnout because to be honest, I wasn't doing too much work. But I just had such disconnection from, you know, my my purpose in life. I had no purpose at all. And I decided that I wasn't going to stay at this job. So I left and I booked a one way ticket to the Dominican Republic to live in a tree house. And the reason why I chose that is because I wanted a solution that was free. So there was a website at the time that would match up volunteers with places to stay for free. And I got matched up with this tree house and they said, hey, get over here, pay your plane tickets, will give you a house for yourself and two meals per day and wifi. So I went and I booked myself in for 30 days and I said, okay, you've got 30 days to figure this online thing out and get a client. And if you don't, you don't leave. Or if you do, you're going to be 9 to 5 forever and just don't complain about it.

00: 15:11Julia: So that was your plan B? The plan was really you could go back to the corporate world that wasn't really feeling you.

00: 15:20Dayana: I really didn't want to, but it was like, if this really doesn't work out, you're going to have to do something, so at least don't complain about it. So on day 21, I got hired by this guy in California and he hired me. Yeah. It was he was pay me the exact salary that I was getting at my desk job, which wasn't much anyway, but he was paying me to write articles for his company, and I ended up doing that retainer for about two and a half years. And this was my first official online retainer. And from there I just kept writing blogs here and there, travel articles. So that was between 2017 and 2020. And then when the pandemic hit, I decided to focus on copywriting because, again, I had a lot of clients in the travel industry. So overnight I went from, you know, income to zero. And luckily I was visiting my mom at the time. So I just stayed here and I canceled my apartment. I told my roommate I wasn't coming back and that she could keep my deposit. And so the copywriting business that I started ended up growing into a six figure online business within 13 months. So that was another kind of pivotal stage that forever changed my idea of what I was capable of.

00: 16:34Julia: Yes. And what is possible. Yeah. Yeah. That's again interesting because when sometimes, you know, you are hit with restraints like no money or there's no real other option for you because you know, otherwise you are unhappy. You have to learn to let go of the identity of your old self. So when I quit my job at SAP to just try out this adventure South Africa, I realized pretty quickly like, ooh, who are you really? Without this corporate identity of being a trainee in a in a fortune 500 company, you know, like, and then that happened when I became a copywriter and then all of a sudden decided, like, okay, that's not what I want to do for the rest of my life, like, but can I let that go? So, like redefining yourself also, the more often you do it, I guess the more used to get to you get to it, and then it's easier to do so.

00: 17:31Dayana: I think so. And look, things have changed so much over the last three years at least, and in the last year with ChatGPT and all that, we're seeing that we really have to shift our skills. Because even for copywriters, if you're the best copywriter ever and you are getting even like 100, 200 bucks per hour if you are doing hourly now with ChatGPT, everything is. Slash. There's a lot of competition, first of all. Secondly, there's a lot of AI taking human jobs. So you have to become an all rounder, which means that you have to be someone who has a couple of core skills. So for example, you know, you could speak, you could be a coach, you could create content, you could be a course creator, you could still write copy. But if that is your main thing or if any one skill is your main skill, you're actually at a disadvantage. So I think that becoming comfortable pivoting is something that we all need to to know how to do. And another thing I'm noticing is that people don't stay at jobs for much longer. So I just finished a seven year retainer with a company in the travel industry, and I moved on to another retainer, which is in Web3 and technology, in decentralized finance. And so what I'm seeing is that a lot of these people that had been at these travel jobs for literally 15, 20 years are now all of a sudden changing because because nobody is safe in their job right now. I mean, ever are we really ever safe? But knowing how to switch hats, how to do multiple things and how to build a business for yourself where you don't see your job as your job, but you see your job as a client that is one client that you serve. And then you can serve multiple clients, either yourself, or you can hire someone and train them for your business. But we really need to become more adaptable because that's the only way forward.

00: 19:19Julia: Yeah, exactly. That's when a lifelong learner really becomes the truth. Like the core of not just an empty phrase. I'm reading this book at the moment. It's called The Anatomy of Breakthrough of a breakthrough from Adam Ulta. I don't know if you've read it.

00: 19:38Dayana: No, but it sounds great. Yeah.

00: 19:40Julia: It's fantastic. It's a really good thing. And what he said is that there is no real unique idea. There is only shapes or like forms of recombination. So that is very liberating for those of us who want to always find like the thing or the, you know, you all want to be unique and authentic, but that doesn't mean that we have to reinvent the the wheel. We really have to focus on. Yeah, finding a unique combination, as you say. And yes, our jobs are not safe. But the more we learn and the more we are open to the changes that are happening, like you did now with like becoming a Web3 marketer, that's essentially it, right? And applying the knowledge that you have and and pivoting, that's how you can become unique and Sold after the market.

00: 20:34Dayana: Exactly. And people take this so seriously, they're like, I have to have this brand new thing. It has to be revolutionary. No it doesn't. People say, oh, I don't want to be a coach because there's so many coaches out there. Oh, I don't want to be a copywriter because there's so many. Yes, there are, and there will be many, many more. That's not of your concern. There's nothing unique. Like you said, it's only our way of doing things. So here's a marketing practice for those who really want to to appear more unique, just create a unique framework. Okay? If you think about people like Mel Robbins, she's a motivational coach. She's got the five second method and she's known for that. If you think of who else is an example, um, there's so many examples, like anytime you watch an infomercial, anytime you watch any kind of product video sales letter, there's always a unique method of how the thing works. So this is just a combination of how you do things. So for example, for me my framework is clarity copy and sales. It's very simple. I'm not using words like, you know, supercharge or ignite or what does it mean? Keep it simple. The way that you present your services to potential clients should be easy to understand, and that could be your unique approach. But don't feel like you have to go and change the entire industry. Because what happens is, when we feel like we have this huge burden to reinvent, we actually end up doing nothing and playing really small, and that's not what we want.

00: 22:05Julia: Yeah, that's true. And at the same time everything is changing. So when you look at the marketing as it has been so far, um, lots of us have produced or created products and courses, you know, and then afterwards, once they, the people have bought it. You show slowly but surely, you show your values and who you are. Whereas now people want to see that much more, much, much earlier. Then there's this whole trend of like communities, you know, people. I have the feeling. They want more connection. Like real connection. So now with you moving into this Web3 space, how do you think that is going to be tackled? Like, what should the average entrepreneur and market be aware of Like yeah, of these changes.

00: 22:53Dayana: So community is everything in Web3. This is the building block. The way that Web3 is very different from Web2 is in Web2. There's a there's almost like a pyramid hierarchy. So there are the top community leaders, the top performers, the people that call the shots. Web3 is actually it goes sideways. So imagine the pyramid going sideways and it's all even. So it starts from the bottom up, and you have to have a very solid community to back up your project. So you'll notice that in Web3, everything is referred to as a project. So even though I'm working for, you know, a company that is run by a CEO, I'm working for a project. So in Web3, keeping your community happy and having trust is key because there have been so many scams when it comes to crypto. And by the way, Web3 is not all about crypto. It's about so many other things that isn't money, like art and so on. But you have to be able to create trust for your community. You have to show them why they should stick by you. So I think it's a world that is very much democratized in Web3. The whole point is that you keep your data and if you're a creator, you actually get paid to create courses, to be engaged, to show up on different platforms. Whereas in web two, also known as Facebook, Instagram, so on. Somebody does get paid for our data, but it's not us. It's not the user, rather it's the owner of that company. So I think it's community is definitely a huge thing. And it has really been a trend, I would say in the last two years or so, everyone's starting their own membership, everyone is starting their own group. But as a result, I'm also noticing that there is a really big need for 1 to 1 attention. So I ran a poll on LinkedIn about two weeks ago and I said, hey, what type of learning do you prefer right now? So out of 20 votes, 80% said 1 to 1 and only 20% said group. And I think that on one hand, entrepreneurs want to maximize their time, so they would rather have 20 people in a group, but the people in the group, they actually want to have a space to tell you something in private. I was actually speaking with someone, one of my clients, yesterday, and I said, hey, if you were to choose all over again, how would you work with me? And she said, 100% 1 to 1, because I've told you so many embarrassing things and I do not feel comfortable saying that in the group. So I think it really depends. Some people do enjoy community, and I think that bringing people together is a necessary aspect, so we feel less lonely. But if you're able to create a membership where you give people that community aspect as well as 1 to 1 time, you're going to see better results for your community, and your community will enjoy it a lot more. That is my prediction.

00: 25:39Julia: Interesting. Very, very interesting because, I mean, in the end, the the purpose of every company is to create value. And that's why it's awesome to listen to your to your customers, what they really want to achieve. And 1 in 1 obviously makes it much easier to achieve results. So. Um, so, yeah, it's very interesting what you just said about, like, how you combine these one on one, this one on one attention with a group because everyone is craving for community. That is how at a certain point, as a an entrepreneur, you really get further ahead by having a group of people that think alike, especially because we are all sitting across the globe in our home offices or traveling and being in some tree house and need some context. So I think everyone that masters finding solutions that integrate both. That's where you succeed. Um, I was interested when you said. In the Web3. It's about everyone showing up, so you get incentivized for participating, for example. Why is that a positive? Why is it cool that everyone you know gives everyone their 0.02€ on a topic or something? How does can you describe perhaps how a project looks like and how people interact with with each other?

00: 27:06Dayana: Sure. So for example, if you have a project that is in decentralized finance, let's say that you have I'm going to try not to get too technical here. So every project is going to be on the blockchain. The blockchain is just a number of computers around the world that send information to each other. So if you are a part of a of a decentralized finance project, for example, they might have their own currency. So this might be a token and a token has value. So let's say that you are a part of Julia's project. She might say, oh Diana, you come to Twitter because this is still a platform that everyone in Web3 uses, and you post uplifting messages every day. Here are ten tokens for you to thank you for being a positive force in my community. Or maybe you'll say something like, oh, I need a brand new website design, and then somebody will say, hey, I can do it. And you say, thank you so much. Here are 100 tokens for you. So by people being able to provide value and get rewarded for it, they have more incentive to be engaged. Now of course Web3 does not have like an arbitrator does not have anyone in the middle saying, oh, you can't speak or there's no censorship, and this could be a good and bad thing. I have seen that people are a lot more, let's say, feisty. This is what my boyfriend Jay calls him, feisty and Web3. Like. If they don't like something, they will send you a message right away and be like, hey, why are you doing this? Why are you saying that there isn't censorship? It feels like they're very we're all very close to each other so they can message, but at the same time, it's much easier to have your voice heard. So I think that by giving incentives to people, you just encourage your message, your values to be enforced. So let's say that you're building a, um, let's say you're building a decentralized finance project for people to be able to manage their money all around the world without needing to jump through hoops because they're from Nigeria or Bulgaria or somewhere else. That's great. If your value is to make money available to everyone globally, then having an engaged community to spread that message is super beneficial for you. And as thanks to spreading that message, you will probably reward them with your tokens. And if people are wondering, okay, our token is actually worth anything. Yes. Somebody sent me 300 tokens for my birthday two weeks ago, and the value was, or actually might have been more. The value was $300 in US. And then the next day I woke up in the valley had gone to $900. So if I choose to, I can sell my tokens and collect the money, which in Web3 is known as fiat. Fiat is currency that is backed by the dollar or something like that by actual currency. So yeah, they could be very valuable actually.

00: 29:53Julia: Okay, cool. So it sounds like it's not a one way street like it is in social media right now. That's what a lot of my customers actually complain about. That's like, it's cool. You show up, you show everything that you have. But what people do is either criticize you or sure, they communicate through shares and likes and comment if you want. But this sounds really like a two way street. You know, like you're helping me to spread my message. You're actually becoming a cool entrepreneur. So if I think about it like, you know, every company, when they hire someone they want and I think you call it entrepreneur, right? Like someone that takes over specific jobs and things as an entrepreneur, entrepreneur in the company, that sounds pretty much the same that the customers now become. Art part owners of, they actually get shares. So can I imagine that it's like this?

00: 30:49Dayana: Yeah, that's exactly right. So if you are an early adopter of a project, let's say that somebody started a fashion company on the blockchain. Let's say that she said the first 50 people who want to beta test my app are going to get, you know, the first, like AirDrop and AirDrop is when you just send tokens to people in your community, you're going to get the first ever airdrop. So maybe these tokens are going to be valued higher than everything else. So yeah, you definitely have an incentive to be first, to definitely have an incentive to be supportive. And usually people, if they stick around in a community for long enough, they get to be known as OGs, which are people that have been there from day one, and that garners you a lot of respect as well.

00: 31:30Julia: Yeah. Okay. So is there an amount of tokens that every project holds that can't be exceeded? So is that like is it really like a share that you say, okay, because a fashion founder doesn't really have that much money if it's created in real life? I say real life, even though it's also real life or on the blockchain. So, you know, if you start from scratch, you don't have any money. So that's a cool way of actually including people or. Yeah. Helping. Helping yourself get the message out there.

00: 32:06Dayana: Yeah. So think about it this way. So let's say you actually start and don't have a ton of money. You can create the idea. Obviously your project is your idea. And then you can create a token or a coin around it. So if you think of a big company that goes public in an IPO and Web3, there are such things as an ICO. So initial coin offering. So you can debut your coin, your token and then it will get valued. So when it does get value, people in your community are holders of that actual value that could be then traded for money. But I know that in regular finance, whoever holds 51% of the company does hold the power of the company. So what happens in Web3 is when you're the founder, obviously you're going to have the most tokens. That's that's kind of, you know, understood. So people like that are called crypto whales or, you know, they're holding the most of a token. And then other people in the community will have tokens depending on their engagement in the project. So let's say that I post in your project every day and you've got ten other people that post once a week. So I'm going to probably hold more tokens than any of these other individuals. And then if you say, okay, it's time to make a decision, what should we change? The name of our company to my my vote is going to weigh, you know, more heavily than these other votes because I hold more tokens and I've been engaged more. So this is more or less how it works. And it's a very, very communal process.

00: 33:36Julia: Yeah, that makes sense. But if you are incentivized through tokens to participate, then there must be an unlimited amount of tokens, because otherwise it's at a certain point it's empty.

00: 33:48Dayana: Right. So there is a very interesting practice that happens in Web3, which is a little bit of a of an interesting thing to wrap your head around. But when you have a certain amount of tokens or a certain amount of, let's say Bitcoin or Ethereum at one point to avoid inflation, you're going to burn some of them. So there is something that's known as the Bitcoin burn, which happens on a grand scale every eight years and smaller scales every four years. So in order to avoid having a crazy surplus, infinite money, which becomes less valuable, you're going to then kill off some of these bitcoins so they no longer can be used. So that way we can control inflation. And I think that if you have a project, you can definitely do that. At least that is my understanding. So that these tokens don't become infinite and don't become worthless in the end.

00: 34:39Julia: Okay. Okay. Cool. Yeah. I guess it's a it's a very interesting world. I know that you're also diving in right now, so thanks for sharing all what that you've learned so far with us. You're very, very interesting. Do you think there will be a Diana token in the in the future?

00: 34:54Dayana: That's actually a great idea. If I were to have a token, it will be. It will be. So what's known as a cash tag is a dollar sign. So it'll probably be cache that day because I spell my name Diana. But yeah, that would be actually very cool. I would like that.

00: 35:08Julia: Yeah. Let's see what the next. You know, I wanted to say 5 to 10 years, but in this fast paced world it's probably in the next year or two. So let's see what happens in the next year or two. Yeah, yeah. Super cool. So you have been in your treehouse, you've got your travel job. You have Let me recap. Um Gotten replaced your income with the blog writing. Then you became a copywriter and now you are a certified life coach. How are you doing at the moment? Like what? What? Who are your clients and what have you learned being a coach so far?

00: 35:47Dayana: Sure. So the reason why I decided to become a coach was that I kept writing copy for coaches, and every time I would write for a coach, I would be like, huh? I've said these exact things that she has said, maybe I could become a coach. So this was in 2021, and I thought, If I'm going to be coaching people, I better get certified. Now, this is to say, you don't necessarily have to be certified, but I really wanted to have that extra reassurance. So I decided to take a program. It was about six months. I had to have 50 practice hours, which I did, and I became my specialty Was general life coach, actually intuitive life coach. So they taught us how to use our intuition as well. But then I thought, huh, okay, so now that I know how to coach, what do I actually want to coach on? Because I don't really just want to do general life stuff. And I said on Instagram and I use Instagram for everything in my life, but I said, what do you want me to coach you on to my audience? And people said, can you help me be better at getting retainers? Can you help me be better at sales? Can you help me be a better copywriter? So I said, okay, business coach, it is. And I'm explaining it as if it happened right away. But it was maybe a 3 to 5 month process of crystallizing my niche within coaching. So right now I serve two ideal clients of mine. So type number one, this is the person who wants to build a business. They are still a freelancer. They want to get more confident about their sales process. They want to know what offers to put together. They want to know you know how to negotiate better. That is number one. Number two, I'd like to think of that person is the same type of person, but at a more advanced stage. So I have other coaches that are coming to me and business owners and saying, hey, can you help me with my marketing? Can you help me put together a content vault? Can you help me, you know, sound more authentic? Can you help me with my masterclass content? Can you help you with my email? So it really is about messaging and positioning. So like I said, I like to think of this ideal client avatar is the same person, just at a different level. And I know for myself as well, I have been the person who was the freelancer. I really wanted to get better at sales and all that. And also I have been the person who wanted to get better at positioning in business. So now I'm at a stage beyond these two, which allows me to take a look back and just help the person wherever they're at. And I think it's really good for me. I often joke that I'm like a tutor. I'm like a love coach. I'm like all the things because I believe that coaching and anything should really be holistic, because I've had clients that come to a session and I would say, why are you down today? I can feel that you're not feeling well. And they'll say, oh, something with my boyfriend, something with my father. And I'm like, you know what? Let's take that. Let's talk about it. Let's just talk about this, see how I can help you move on. And then we'll talk about your content calendar. Right. So I think that when you become a coach, you just have to be prepared to just be there for your clients. And if you enjoy doing that, then you really enjoy having that career.

00: 38:52Julia: Yeah, absolutely. It's all interconnected in the end. So I mean, if you do in the beginning of the year, you have your wheel of life and you think about the areas that you want to tackle, and it's always one that sticks out, but they're all interconnected. Otherwise it doesn't really work. So one is like completely depleted. If your health is not looked after, then you will realize pretty soon and no matter what goals you had, you you can't really show up for the for the other things that you want to achieve. Exactly. So you've worked with a lot of entrepreneurs that started out and have been further along in the journey. One question that I ask often, and I'm very curious on the different perspectives on this, is really like, do you think that everyone can be an entrepreneur?

00: 39:40Dayana: I think that everyone can, but I don't think everyone should. And this might be controversial, but for the longest time I resisted the idea of being an entrepreneur, and that is because I really wanted to be safe. And I always said, look, I'm going to be a service provider. I don't want to be an entrepreneur. I'm just happy providing my services and clocking out. But with time, I realized that it boils my blood. When someone says, these are your work hours, you must adhere to your work hours. And I'm like, phew! I quit, which I have actually done. So I think that being an entrepreneur, anyone could do it because as humans, we are naturally adaptable and we're naturally creative. But for the people that actually prefer being in an office for a couple hours a day or a space with others that prefer being a part of a larger organization, instead of having to find their own clients one by one. I think that providing your services and being a freelancer is just as good. I don't think that we should feel superior because one is an entrepreneur and the other one is a freelancer. I know a lot of people who have fantastic freelance businesses making a lot of money and they, you know, work their work hours and then clock out. So don't feel like because society said, oh, it's cool to be an entrepreneur, you have to if you really like to have the same job for a number of years. If you really love your routine, if you like going into a space or clocking into a zoom meeting every day, then that's totally fine. You have to do what's right for you.

00: 41:13Julia: Okay? And the the things that really define an entrepreneur for you. I think what you described is that you discovered these parts in you. I assume it's it's one for one being creative and inventing yourself, being able to take risks and learning how to trust in yourself. Those are the things that I came up with for myself. Do you have anything else that you would say makes And breaks an entrepreneur.

00: 41:44Dayana: Yeah. Your reaction to failure is everything, because I know that it is so sexy to talk about. I'm ready to fail. But when it comes to failure, people really don't want to fail. So, for example, you could say all you want that you're okay with failure, but if you refuse to put yourself out there and sell your offer because you're afraid of being embarrassed or fail, then that's not really you being okay with failure. So I think for me, because I've had so many situations like, you know, not being able to get a job badly was a failure. Corporate life was a failure. That I'm just kind of desensitized by it right now. And I think that one really important aspect mentally is to disassociate our safety from what is in our bank account. So I used to yeah. You know, when I was looking for clients a couple of years ago, I used to think, oh my God, like, I would be so unsafe. What will happen if I don't get a client? And then I would rush to my bank up and I would look at how much money I've got there and be like, oh, okay, I've got some money, this is fine, but I really need to get a client within the next couple of days or weeks. So I think that finding a way to feel safe, that doesn't depend on how much money you have or what is coming into your bank account every month is key. So for me, the way that I tackle this was I thought, how can I how can I become more safe and feel more safe regardless of money? So I had always had this weird relationship with my hometown because I felt like coming back here will feel like a step backward. But then I realized a couple of months ago I was in Sweden and I was reflecting and I was like, you know what? I've got a place to live in my hometown. I don't have to live there. Obviously, I love traveling, I travel every month, but why don't I come back here, totally refurbish my apartment, set up my own studio that I'm owning and not renting, and just find this groundedness in my roots. So for me, that was a big game changer, because I know that if I decided to not work starting tomorrow, I could just put everything on hold. I have a place that I physically feel safe in regardless of my bank account. I could have whatever I want. My portfolio could be kicking ass regardless. So I think for anybody listening, I would ask you the question what is a way for myself to feel safe? Now, I understand that not everyone might have a place or might own any property here. By the way, it's like it passes from your grandparents to your parents because Eastern Europe. But even without that, if you ever were to decide that you wanted to do something different and not work and take a break, do you have a plan B? Could you maybe stay with a friend for a while? Could you maybe find an opportunity, like I did in the treehouse, to travel for free in exchange for giving them some kind of help for me? The Treehouse I was writing a blog post for the hotel, so that's what I did. I use my skill that is writing, so anything that gives you that tangible safety will be very, very helpful on your entrepreneur journey. Because if I came up with an offer tomorrow and it was a total flop and nobody bought, my livelihood doesn't depend on that. So I think that we need to secure ourselves mentally and if we can tangibly so that we can be prepared for this failure and use it as a learning experience if and when it comes.

00: 45:05Julia: Yeah, it's all about building your own security net, and sometimes it's really just what happens in your mind by thinking about like, what are really the worst case scenarios of me Failing. What I've discovered also is knowing that you are able to build something from scratch. That's what I did in 2020. There was zero income to now a six figure business. So that's that's a really cool achievement to to know like okay, cool. I in my case I even acquired the skills on the way. So I used what I had but I really acquired new skills. Even that is possible if you don't reuse what you have. But it takes this experience to have done it, obviously to trust more in yourself. And we're back in back to this, the self trust that really comes from taking risks. So my question would be how can you train yourself to take risks. Do you have any suggestions of how you can you can do that.

00: 46:06Dayana: Who are. So number one is to really, like you said yourself, what's the worst case scenario. So this is an actual exercise. You take a piece of paper or you speak to someone. I make my clients do this all the time. I'm like, okay, what is the worst case scenario? And you might think, okay, well, I'll earn less money. Okay. So what happens then? Well, maybe I'll have to renegotiate my mortgage. Okay. What happens then? Well, you know, and they go on to the spiral and eventually it comes down to a place where it's like, okay, let's say that I'm homeless. Okay. What would you do if you're homeless? Oh, I'm going to call up my friend Amanda and say, can I stay on your couch? And until I get back on my feet, I had someone, a client of mine, who said, I am deathly afraid of the fact that I may not get another client because I will end up homeless and I will get eaten by rats. And I said, you know, this is actually something that I understand a couple of years ago, like I've had that fear as well. So when this client of mine came to terms with this fear, they were able to land, I don't know, like it's been 3 or 5 clients already and like ten discovery calls that they're still working on. So the point is, think about your own worst case scenario and see how at the end of it all you will find a solution. So that's number one. Number two, in order to be able to take risks we talked about this earlier. You have to be very grounded and feel very secure in your skin. So for example, if you're launching a program and you feel oh my God, what if people judge me and they say, who is he or she to be launching this? Then what you need to do is actually do breathwork, go walking outside, just get very comfortable, very grounded in your body to understand that this fight or flight emotion is really just in your head. So risks are are triggers in our head that make us feel as if we are in flight or fight or flight, when in reality we're actually safe. So really think about what could happen if you took the risk and failed. In the end, in most cases, you are likely to get back on your feet and figure it out. So it's about differentiating this fear that is in our head from the actual physical threat. So, you know, if someone is saying, oh, I'm going to, you know, leverage my house against this one thing. I mean, really think about big decisions like, don't take this lightly. But at the same time, if you're excited but nervous to launch something new and whatever you're investing in will not affect your your life or your kid's life negatively, then go for it.

00: 48:48Julia: That's a very good advice. Yeah. I think what also helps is looking at your fears, like what are really the fears that you have so that you can perhaps come up with little projects to overcome them or, you know, try it out, do do the smallest little thing. And what attracts you, as you just said, like you mentioned, the there's a course creator and that's that somehow really attractive for me. Okay. That's something that you want interesting. And then perhaps that helps to find the fear. And once you found the fear you can define like okay how would risk look like. And then then go for it. I think, you know, sometimes you have to trick yourself to really find a way of get yourself going.

00: 49:32Dayana: Totally.

00: 49:34Julia: And another big thing that entrepreneurs struggle with is content creation. And you have created over 3000 posts already. As I said, you're posting daily and you have your strategy and your routine to do so. There are a lot of resources out there that show how it's done. So I guess even though a lot of people wish they had a strategy, that's not really the bottleneck. Why do you think it's so difficult for people to show up?

00: 50:04Dayana: I think that it's you're absolutely right as the consistency of it because the strategy is simple. You want to create the reel you record a video, and then you put text over it and you've got a real. It's not the strategy that is obvious. I think that when people start posting and then nothing happens, immediately they feel discouraged. And so they think, why am I spending my time doing this and pointing at bubble boxes with text in it? This is so stupid. So I think that really you have to be in it for the long game. So I started, I remember that I joined Instagram maybe in 2012 or so, and I really didn't want to at first. I was like, oh, what is this? And I've seen Instagram over the years evolve from a platform where we used to share pictures of food and trips to a proper business platform. And so with that, I keep, you know, producing content consistently. And even if I don't get sales every day, which in my position as a coach, if I'm offering 1 to 1, I do not want sales every day because I can't take 30 clients per month. But, you know, it's about understanding that you're building something for the future. So I'll give you an example. I've had people who joined my latest six week program who said to me, I followed you for the last two years, and finally you've got an offer that feels like it's just designed for me. So I'm joining. So people are always looking, people are always following. They're watching even if they don't buy right away. You are sowing. You're putting down the seeds for what will come off of your business in the future. So I think that's think about a long term. You're just planting the seeds now. And of course it will take some time for your prospects to mature. It is not common that someone finds your Instagram and they book you the same day. It could happen. It has happened to me, but that's usually not the case. People need something like 65 touch points before they decide to book you for anything. So like you said, the more content you produce in a multiple platforms, if you can, let's say that you're on LinkedIn, on Instagram, maybe you have an email list. The better because you create more touchpoints and you really just have to be in it for the long game.

00: 52:16Julia: Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. I see the same with my podcast. People are listening and sometimes I get it through like, you know, second hand, like a friend of mine is like, oh yeah, true. I wanted to tell you, my friend, the friend of my friend was listening to this, and the episode was so nice and learns so much like, okay, great. The only thing I see is like numbers of people listening. So it's really difficult because on the other side, there is some anonymous person that is watching and that is not interacting. So I guess the question is really like, how is the content changing or how does it have to change even in the in the web tool space so that you get more interaction? Do you have something that you do to really force or that helps people to interact with you more? Is that you inviting them to to, I don't know, write you a message or show up. Do you have any anything to say on that?

00: 53:17Dayana: So it's really about making people feel an emotion, the type of content that I post the most. There's three things. So number one is before and after. So when I had a launch about a month and a half ago, I got two clients enrolled because of one post, and the post was a picture of me from 2016 where I'm looking disheveled, like I've got no job, I've got no money. I'm like struggling to figure out my life and then a post of me. In 2023, I'm at the studio, I'm dressed nicely, I know what I'm doing. And I wrote it wasn't, you know, it wasn't a real as a static post. And I wrote a caption saying things can change really quickly for you. This is me before this is what happened and this is me now. So people love seeing this before and after because it makes them feel like if you can do it, they can do it as well. So don't try to be someone with a perfect life with everything figured out. But do be relatable, because relatability is the number one superpower when it comes to content creation. So this is post number one. The before and after post number two is behind the scenes. The reason for that is that people are actually quite curious and quite nosy, I would say. So. People always love when I take them inside my Canva and show them what I'm working on. When I show them what other people are, inboxes me on LinkedIn when I show them you know how much money I've made in a month and what it came from. They really just want to know the little nitty gritty stuff. So that always gets a lot of attention. And they always come to me and say, oh my God, do you? Thank you so much for being honest. Most people talk about this but don't share how they do it. So now that you've shared how you've done it, I feel like I can do it too.

00: 54:57Julia: And then there, you're breaking quite a rule because everyone says like, share the share the what And not the how. So you're already perhaps giving away more than than other people think?

00: 55:08Dayana: I think I do, and I think that sometimes I overshare. But the thing is that for me, I want to see my potential clients, my current clients, the way that I see myself as a as a client. So I'm sick and tired of people being coy and people being like, oh, do you want to know how to do this? Here's my 997 offer. I'm like, hey, here's a voicemail. Here's how I did that. Now if people are listening and thinking, but will that actually cost me sales? Not necessarily, because the fact that you told someone how to do the thing doesn't mean that they'll do it. A lot of the time when I tell someone how to do the thing, they're like, oh, okay, this sounds great. And then a couple weeks back, they like later down the line, they come to me and they say, I know you told me how to do it, but my imposter syndrome won't let me, or I still don't know how to do it for me. Can you help me? And this is when they come and book a session. So I think that you have to really treat your audience the way that you want to be treated, because there's so much vague messaging out there. There's so many posts of like, oh, imagine what it's like to be making a million a year and to travel whenever you want. And then it just kind of stops and I'm like, why don't you do that to me? What was that? Do you have anything else to say? Like, yeah, I imagined it. Now give me the thing. Right. And if someone shares a post like that, the last thing I'm doing is going to their DMs and being like, yes, please tell me your offer. I really want to know, like, some people might do that, but for me, it's like, you're such a tease. I don't like that. So think you really have to be comfortable with how much you're sharing. But for me, I've always enjoyed keeping it very real, being an open book. And that I don't think has hurt my business in any way.

00: 56:51Julia: Yeah. And also trusting that the knowledge, as I said, is out there and what people are not capable of, otherwise they would have done it is actually doing it themselves and perhaps having some encouragement, having someone that's serious from time to time can get it done. Yep. And I don't know if you know, Andre Chaperon is very famous in the marketing world and he. Shared ones like how he sees customers and he sees them as a customer from day one, that he interacts with them. So he has such a trust that what he does is great and that it will lead to a purchase eventually. So he is sharing and giving and handing out advice as if it was a real customer. So I think, as with lots of things in our life, it's all about the intention behind something and who you really want to be as a person. And yeah, that's why I find this web three space very, very exciting because it really comes back to what is the value of a company. Because people won't interact with you, they won't participate if they don't believe in it, even if they get tokens for it. But I think a scam will pretty quickly, you know, phase out. My last question for you. And yeah, there is so much that we could talk about, but I, I read that you said you crave to have not to worry about money for a long, long time. So now that you don't have to anymore, I was wondering what changed for you now that you don't have to?

00: 58:32Dayana: Oh, man, this is the best thing ever. So again, this is me coming from Eastern Europe, where I grew up with parents that were making, I don't know, about 300 bucks per month salary at the time. So I'd always been worried for about money for the longest time ever. And in the last three years I, you know, with copywriting and coaching where I was able to build a base and then what I do with my money, in case anyone's curious, I invest heavily. So I keep very little liquid. Everything is diversified across different, you know, assets. So I was thinking yesterday, what is my goal for 2024? And I thought, you know what, it's not having a certain number in my bank account or monthly. It's actually doing what I do because I love it. So if you are a course creator or a coach, imagine just putting out the program that you created because you're so excited about it. You're so in love with the process that you don't care if one person enrolled or ten people enrolled, or 100, or nobody at all like I want to create for creativity sake, that is one part. And secondly, I prefer at this point I'm really happy to be giving a lot more individual time to my clients, because I've seen some crazy breakthroughs this year alone. And people's confidence, people's income, just people's ability to be secure within themselves that I really want to offer that. And if you're constantly thinking, okay, I need, I don't know, like 20 more thousand dollars, how many people is that? It really takes away the humanity of it. So I'm no longer thinking I need this much money. Like a bag of cash. I'm thinking I'm looking for, let's say, a woman who wants to finally start feeling good about herself and put out this coaching program she's like been dreaming about for the last two years. This is what I'm looking for. And by not having the pressure of I need to earn this much money, I'm able to take my time to really select the people that I work with and to create for the love of creativity. And then, of course, this isn't to say like I never have to work in my entire life. That is not the case. But comfortably. If I wanted to not work, I could take a whole year, if not too often, just not worry about it and not never be online. And of course, this is never going to happen because I like being online and creating. But yeah, it definitely opens up a lot more room for creativity and for enjoying the process rather than being so focused on outcome.

01: 01:04Julia: Yeah, yeah. Thanks very much. I think it's very good to look at the different stages as an entrepreneur, because this is why we're doing this, that at a certain point you have the flexibility to really, really focus on doing what you love and create for creativity sake. So once like step one, get the pressure of somehow create some stable income, diversify. Look where you invest your money and focus as early as possible on the things that you love, so that you don't have to start from scratch three years later. Really follow the joy. I think that's that's one thing that we all can learn. And then afterwards, yeah, just continue and see work as something different than what we've been taught. It is because it will, I think, company, you and me for the rest of our lives. It's nothing that you just want to stop at a certain age, but that you want to refine and really personalize. To use a degree, we all can create our little world that you decide the rules and decide what it's going to be or look like.

01: 02:17Dayana: Oh really? That was so well said.

01: 02:20Julia: Any last words? Otherwise.

01: 02:23Dayana: I think that is it. Thank you so much for first of all, for everything you're doing, because you're giving so much value and you're asking all the right questions and you're very inspirational as a person. So that is, you know, a huge reason for people to tune in. And if anyone has any follow up questions or wants to hear more about any story in particular, absolutely feel free to message me on Instagram. My name there is Diana, Diana, underscore, Alexandrova, underscore. And I'm always happy to send you a voice note. And yeah, thank you for listening. It's been a pleasure to be here.

01: 02:55Julia: Thank you so much for being here.