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Cover Interview: Business Heroine Alexis Neely Shows Up Naked
After achieving massive “conventional” success, including national television appearances, a best-selling book, and building two million-dollar businesses, Alexis let it all go on a quest to deconstruct what works in business and what needs to be massively transformed. She has since helped thousands of entrepreneurs build the businesses they really want – ones that allow them to do what they love every day, be more of who they are, and achieve new heights of wealth and success on their own terms. Enjoy her exclusive Business Heroine interview…
BH: What does it mean to SHOW UP NAKED?
Alexis: It means being transparent. Totally. It’s about being real with yourself about what you really want, and about what’s holding you back. And it’s about being real with others. In everything we do, we are REALLY real. We make our weekly team meeting available to our members to listen in on. And we don’t hold back. We come as we are, we talk through our challenges, we talk numbers – we really put it all out there. Being transparent is just what works in business now. The things we are most afraid of or don’t like are actually hiding our true desires. I teach about Business as a Path to Awakening, and it starts with showing up naked.
BH: You achieved some pretty wild success by the young age of 35. What did a day in the life look like when you had all the conventional success in the world?
Alexis: Conventional success was extremely busy and isolated. I was working on computer from 8:00 in the morning until 9:00 at night, every day. If I wasn’t on the computer I was traveling (not fun travel like I do now). All of my decisions were made from the perspective of, “Will this make me money?” That included relationships and how I spent my time and, frankly, I thought that’s how it was supposed to be. I thought that was okay. But it wasn’t okay. There were a lot of false relationships, because they were built on this idea of, “What can we do for each other,” rather than, “Do we enjoy each other?”
BH: And how did things shift as you became aware of what was no longer working?
Alexis: First, I had to go through massive letting go process. I shed a lot of tears, and went through a lot of confusion, uncertainty, and fear. I had to let go of my identity to find out what was left afterwards.
At one point I thought “financial freedom” meant $40 Million in the bank. That would kick off $2 Million per year, so I thought that’s what financial freedom was. But it’s not. It’s a lie. When I was making millions a year, I didn’t think it was enough. I was still in lack and scarcity and, from that context, it’s never enough.
So I had to discover what was true for me if I wasn’t making any of my decisions based on money. If I’m making decisions purely based on desire, how do I want my life and business to look?
The money part does need to be handled. But once I got in alignment with how much I actually need, space opened up to be clear about what I really want. That is what I have now. My business is on my terms because on a daily basis I choose what to do, not based on how much money I need to make.
BH: You are passionate about awakening a new economy perspective. What is the new economy?
Alexis: The new economy is a reality where we are no longer having to work a job that is out of alignment with our purpose. Working just for the money is the old economy – go to college, get a job, and work for 40 years so you can retire and THEN finally do what you really want to do.
The new economy perspective is, there is no later there is only now. It’s retire today. I don’t mean retire by stopping working – I mean retire by building an income stream around work that you love to do and would happily do until the day you die. It will actually keep you living longer.
The call is for all of us to tap into the gifts that we came here to give so that your day-to-day life is not drudgery, it is the giving of your gifts. And, you build a sustainable income based on that. To me, that is the heart of the new economy.
BH: How does one begin down this path toward having the money part handled?
Alexis: The very first step is to get into right alignment with how much money you actually need. Your “minimum-to-be-happy number.” This is such an important step. People often avoid it, because it is not easy to do. It takes a high amount of consciousness to look at how much money you actually need.
But once you are meeting your minimum-to-be-happy number, you are opened up to a new level of freedom, because you are no longer blinded by how much you think you need. Then you can start to focus on your “preferred-if-you-can-afford-it number.” Once you do that, you need to ask how much time you are actually willing and able to put in to reach that number. We often overestimate this.
Once we know these things, then you can calculate your Money Map number, which is the smallest number that you can do your Great Work for in the world and be sustainable. It’s the lowest amount of money you can exchange your time for and meet your financial needs. This all comes from a process I created called the “Money Map to Freedom,” which is a program to discover what you really really REALLY want, and how to get it by building an income stream and business model that’s in alignment with the truth of who you really are and how you want to be in the world.
BH: What does the future hold for women entrepreneurs?
Alexis: Where are things going? I see a whole universe of women who are independent, and now our work is to learn to become interdependent.
We went from dependency on men and jobs, to independence. We are no longer dependent on men, and are breaking free of needing to rely on jobs. We can create our own income. Now, our biggest challenge is to find that inter-dependency where we can come together with each other and with our partners to support each other, rather than maintaining this fierce independence that can create separation. Now is the time for us to come back together in partnership and community.
BH: What last insights do you have to share with the Business Heroines reading this?
Alexis: A lot of people shut down when they are in debt, and if you are in that situation, I want to offer you a bit of freedom. I ask you to not wait… don’t put paying back debt ahead of living your dream. This is it. Life is NOW. We cannot afford for you to waste your life struggling and scrambling to pay off debt while you put off your dream. What is going to get you the resources to pay off that debt is to get in alignment with your desires and dreams. It might even be that you temporarily release the debt and then pay it back to society in a whole other way, by doing the Great Work that you came here to do. Don’t put that off anymore.
The truth is, when we’re clear about our desires and on a path that’s in alignment with who we really are, all of the resources we need show up. I’m really excited for you to discover your Money Map number and know you can bring your Great Work out into the world without having to worry about not having enough. I’m excited for you to tap into the abundance that is absolutely here for you right now, as soon as you get into alignment with the truth about what you really want and how you really want to be in the world.
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