Alison Wheeler's Tale of Gratitude and Business Triumphs

Embarking on a journey from occupational therapy to the entrepreneurial realm, Alison Wheeler brings a tale of courage and transformation that is as captivating as it is instructive. Hailing from Australia, this business coach weathers not only the literal storms of her homeland but also the metaphorical ones that accompany a bold departure from the safety of a salaried job. Alison's story is a testament to the power of financial autonomy and the profound impact small businesses can have on communities and generations.

Through heartfelt conversations, we uncover the invaluable role gratitude plays in achieving personal success. I extend a personal thank you to the pillars in my life - my family, my steadfast husband, and mentors like Grant and Alaina Cardone - who've stood by my side, fuelling my entrepreneurial spirit. This episode doesn't just share stories; it aims to inspire you to create your own gratitude board and to recognize the champions who've made your journey possible. It's about acknowledging those who light our paths and the profound difference their belief in us makes.

In this exchange of stories and wisdom, we confront the essence of resilience and courage, sharing moments of defying the odds in network marketing and fitness, and highlighting the internal fortitude it takes to transcend perceived limitations. The episode is a rally cry for anyone yearning to push past their boundaries, whether it's through public speaking, writing, or seeking financial independence. Join us as we discuss embracing challenges with tenacity and viewing every obstacle as an opportunity for growth, setting the stage for a future rich with ambition and achievement.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

there, ladies and gentlemen, good morning, good evening and good day, wherever you're from, wherever you're listening to. Welcome back to another episode of Rise from the ashes, and if you're just tuning in now, please subscribe, share and give someone an opportunity to hear a positive message today. My next guest here. Her name is Alison Wheeler. She is in the land down under in Australia and at the moment she is struggling with floods and chaos all around her. Alison, please introduce yourself to the world. And what do you do?

Speaker 2: 0:36

Thanks, thanks for having me on your podcast and, yes, we have had some very treacherous weather, to say the least, over the last week.

Speaker 2: 0:45

Basically, so I am a business coach. I'm a wife, a mum, a dog mum as well. I've been an athlete for most of my life as well, and so what I do predominantly now, or what I do now as I am a business coach, I help people build their businesses, create more revenue, ultimately create more freedom in their life. And for me, the reason that I'm extremely passionate about helping people create more freedom because I think it creates generational change for me, that's changing the, the family unit, to be a more positive unit, to be a more successful unit, to be a more stable place for people to enjoy each other in their home and to demonstrate to your children of what's possible. And I think when businesses, when small businesses, are going, wow, our communities do better. They provide better jobs, all of those things. So that is why I do what I do, and I've been doing that for about 13 years now in various shapes and forms and iterations along the way.

Speaker 1: 1:56

Awesome. So why did you first start the business of coaching? You said mention legacy, which I love. I stand for, create legacies and help people create over wealth, not just for themselves, but for the companies and for their future, building that legacy. But why do you focus on legacy and building the communities?

Speaker 2: 2:15

I think because so my original background going back several years I'm an occupational therapist by profession and when I finished my degree I didn't just want to do what everyone else was doing. I did that through uni and I thought, wow, this is not what I'm on this planet for. I appreciate what everyone else does, but there's got to be a bigger. We need to be able to impact more people. We have to be able to work with people to the center of your own universe. So help more people to create what they actually want and live the way they actually want. Because as an occupational therapist, really ultimately you're helping people be the locus of their own control, so the middle of their own, and know that whatever that is whether that's putting on a pair of shoes through to building a multi-million dollar business, whatever the end point is different for everybody as to what they want to achieve. So I guess that's always been helping and that has always been something I've been passionate about. When I grew up, my also watching my father's struggles. He had two kidney transplants. He was a runner and he really wanted to do so much more, but he was held back from being able to do that. So in seeing my family not have the freedom that they wanted to, for all of those holdbacks they think set me up to want to do things differently and I've always just had that inner drive to want to do that, to want to do things differently and to know how much particularly financial freedom makes to a family. I certainly saw what it does when you don't have it and how that can really cause so many problems within a family and within a household and cause arguments and cause things that just don't need to be there if you can get that area of your life dialed in. As an occupational therapist who I worked with in a lot of businesses within the change element and saw a lot of businesses not doing the right thing by their employees or not causing environments that were positive for employees to flourish and do well Throughout all of those experiences, the thing that's just caused a drive to be able to move forward.

Speaker 2: 4:42

And then one of my experiences as an occupational therapist as well I was working for someone else. I felt like they weren't necessarily being true to what they were and what they were saying they could provide versus what they could provide. I left that job. That didn't. When I left that job, it didn't. They weren't very happy that I was leaving and just seeing how, when the importance of standing up for what's right as well, no matter what the consequences, are. I think those experiences have me to where I am today and I started coaching out of leaving that job originally because after that I was like I'm not working for people like that or I don't even know that I'll ever work for anyone else again. After that experience I thought this is ridiculous. Right, like people. What are people thinking? Like surely I can do a better job than that? So that's where I've been branched out on my art and have taken several different business iterations.

Speaker 1: 5:45

As a lovely story and I like the fact you stood up for what we were right in you and you felt within your heart. It's a very challenging thing to do sometimes when the whole world is against the narrative and you're like, I believe in this and then you've got to step forward and say this is what I truly believe.

Speaker 1: 6:03

What were the key lessons in that for you? When you experienced that in one fall, what were the key takeaways for you within that from going to corporate and the occupational therapy into entrepreneurship? Because that is a big shift in not just in your personal life, but also in every space of your life.

Speaker 2: 6:24

Yeah, the key takeaways was it.

Speaker 1: 6:29

What did you learn from it? What was the inspiration afterwards, looking back on it now, a few years later, saying, oh, that's why I did it, that's what I did, and the evaluation of what did I learn from that experience, because it may help someone else going through this transition right now.

Speaker 2: 6:46

Yeah, so I've done this more than once. So the first time was leaving job security to create my own. That was the first phase. And then I was involved with a network marketing company for many years and built that to be the top distributor in the world in that company. And then similar situation found that my values were not in alignment with where the company owners wanted to take it.

Speaker 2: 7:15

The higher you often get up in a company, like that too, you can see a lot of things that you can't see when you're in the beginning. Like you can live off into faith for a long time, but then there has to be things that come after that. So I did very well, successfully. But, yeah, it was time to do a values re-alignment. So I left that, which was again very difficult to do. I think in both of those situations there's this golden handcuffs that tie you in this hope of oh, I think it could be better, Maybe I could sweep those things under the carpet and not notice them.

Speaker 2: 7:50

But what I've learned, and what I learn out of those, is those out of alignment values. They cause a level of irritation within yourself, spiritually and then physiologically, and often then will lead to things like burnout or my way of coping with that. What I learned, my way of coping with things like that, is I just work more because I try and overcompensate for what it is with more work. Now, that's great for results, but there's consequences to that to every other area of your life Health, my relationships, those that were more important to me and both of those times there were very serious health consequences and relationship consequences in those as well.

Speaker 2: 8:38

Losing friends the second time around, my marriage was strained because I just wasn't spending any time in that, creating that. My daughter thought I was angry all the time. So be able to be willing and have the courage to sometimes jump without a plan and it's scaryly like, very scary to do. I would always leave have to. Also, for me, what I've learned is not to jump without knowing I've done everything I could to sort that situation out, Because that's part of it's just part of an ethical practice for me.

Speaker 2: 9:14

I think golden handcuffs are something that ties people quite heavily to something and it can also keep people very miserable. I had a huge learning curve because there's a big difference between being an employee and being an entrepreneur they are not the same thing at all. Learning about delayed gratification as well. So putting that work in all the time been uncomfortably comfortable with uncomfortable, although I do think that most people I speak to people all the time right. So there's people who are uncomfortable in their life anyway, but they've just got used to it. They've got used to living that. I'd rather choose to be uncomfortable in growing something that I want versus uncomfortable when something that I don't really want right when I can change it. So just I think learning that one, I can take a stand for what I believe in and that's really important to go on. Handcuffs are not a good enough reason to stay somewhere when it's not in alignment with your values, and if you stay out of alignment with your values for long enough, you will burn out.

Speaker 1: 10:26

No, I agree with that. It takes courage to be vulnerable in any situation, and I love entrepreneurs like yourself because you are uncomfortable. It's gonna be difficult and the road isn't gonna be straight and easy, but you do it anyway. What is one of your company's distinctions that makes it so unique to you and how can you recount specific incidences that highlights the unique aspects of what you do for your clients and in your life.

Speaker 2: 11:01

I think it's part of probably one of those uniqueness is assisting people to be very clear on what they want, because I ask people all the regular business owners regularly, well, what is it that you want? And so often the answer to that question is either I don't know or I want to be successful, neither of which are very defined. What does that mean? And I'll say that, what does that mean? Oh, specifically, how can you have a goal that has no specificity? What does that actually mean? Because success to everybody is so different. What is success to you as an individual?

Speaker 2: 11:41

So, for me, one of the most important things, I think, is helping people really define what an earth it is they want specifically, because, as it's been an athlete my whole life, I know how important it is to have a specific goal that you are heading towards.

Speaker 2: 12:01

Now you might have to take multiple roads to that goal and knowing that is generally the case, like you said, it's never success is not a straight line.

Speaker 2: 12:11

One of those is getting is helping people get very clear on the goal, very clear on their strategic pathways to that goal, and taking the time to make to do that like not brushing over that, being able to ask the uncomfortable questions, being able to sit there with a person through their difficulties but see their greatness and not buy into someone's BS, for one of a better way to put it, because often people will throw up a lot of cloaks and daggers of what they can't do or what all sorts of reasons to not pursue what they want or so.

Speaker 2: 12:50

That's important, that's something that I will, that I do focus on and that I have people focus on a lot, and that I know people can achieve way more than they think they can, and that, again, that it's just a pillar of that. And then, obviously, you've got the actual mechanics of the sales and marketing training leadership training, so elevating people as an individual, because a business will never outgrow an individual. So working with people on their mindset as well as their actual strategy, because both go hand in hand, of course.

Speaker 1: 13:27

I love that because what you're doing is combining your knowledge and skills as an athlete in your former life into what you're doing today, and it's a part of being that successful entrepreneur. And I love what you said about define what success is to you, because that is an individual comprehension of a lifestyle that you want. And if you're going through that stage now and you're listening to this game, what the hell's success? I tell you what it isn't. It isn't money, it isn't fame, it isn't a flash car. Ask yourself the question, a deeper question, to figure out what it is for you, without being materialistic. Gratitude plays a major part in our lives and in our growth and elevation. Is there anybody that has had a pivotal role in your life, whether it be a mentor or a former colleague, family member, that you are really thankful for? That helped you gain the clarity you have on your life today, what you share with the world today, and could you please share that story?

Speaker 2: 14:35

Yeah, so probably more. I couldn't say one, there's a few. So I would say I would have a huge amount of gratitude to my parents, particularly my mum, who is very stable. Her purpose in life was to have kids and to rear her children, and so we always had a lot of love. I could never say we didn't have that, and I'm forever grateful for that.

Speaker 2: 15:01

My dad was my athletic inspiration and we had a very tight unit around sport. There was that was. Although we didn't necessarily have a lot materialistically, we had that, and so I think he inspired me in a lot of ways. He also taught me because he had different viewpoints in life. I think that's where I learned to stand up for my own viewpoint as well, even in the face of adversity, because that's what he did. So I have a lot of gratitude to my parents.

Speaker 2: 15:37

I have huge gratitude as well to my husband, because he puts up with me, but he also believes in me as well, even when I don't. And you need champions right, you have to have a champion in the corner, and he's like the stable datum in my world, whereas I can be up and down all over the place Welcome to the life of an entrepreneur. But he's like he can keep that kind of status quo of no matter what's going on and he's like, no, you can do this, keep going. So I'm very, truly grateful for him as well, and probably one of my more recent mentors getting through when I jumped from my last business or left.

Speaker 2: 16:16

My last business was Grant and Alaina Cardone, and the 10X mentor book was something that saw me through that tough time and having been able to meet them and spend time in Florida. But just, I think, normalizing the way I live my life and when you feel validated as an individual and the way that you live your life becomes normalized, it allows you the space to do more of that instead of fighting again. What is the thinking of average thinking really and thinking, wow, I must be broken, something's wrong, right, like, why is my level of this seems to be so far from what is the norm, but I think most entrepreneurs are painted with that brush to some greater or lesser degree, or at least have that within them. They would be the people that I would pay gratitude to.

Speaker 1: 17:14

I've actually had the privilege of meeting Grant. The organization is phenomenal. So I'm glad you mentioned that. People who have mentors any successful people, businesses or celebrities have always had mentors guiding them into a level of success that they've defined for them. Now I love what you mentioned there about the gratitude for the people, because a lot of us who are elevating and are unwells forget to pause and go. I'm really grateful for and actually speak it out loud, and then realize and accept where they've come from and what they've achieved. I do this three or four times a year. Every quarter, I'll sit down with a chart, a flip chart, and I'll just go through what I've achieved, what I've done, what I've missed, but equally well, I want to go to the next. It's not a vision board, it's a gratitude board, because when I'm writing it, I write it as it already is. This has been done. This has been done. I'll go back to the next quarter and assess that. It's a very powerful way of having a brainstorming session with yourself but also accepting the gratitude of what is and what is going to be before it actually physically takes place.

Speaker 1: 18:34

You mentioned something earlier about energy. Before it's manifested, before anything comes into this reality. It has to start from somewhere. It starts with a thought of vibrational frequency and the study is done by people like Joe Dispenza. Who else A few others, greg Braden, rob Wuergen, some others as well in that space have really been instrumental to people's successes. But equally is resilience in all this as well, and courage. This is why this podcast exists. It's to resilience, to rise from the ashes, because we all have one of them stories. How would you define resilience in your life?

Speaker 2: 19:13

I think that I learned resilience through growing up and early and through sport. For me, it's been able to lose gracefully and come back from a loss quickly, because it's not that you won't lose, it's that you can come back from a loss. You will lose and you will lose again and you will lose again, understanding that a loss is not a loss of dignity or yourself, or it's a loss of something, but one can come back from that. I think resilience is your ability to come back from a loss and redefine it quickly. Resilience is also tying yourself to your goals and not the vehicle, because if you have your identity tied up in a vehicle the thing you are doing you can suffer far greater in a loss than if you as an individual. If we tie ourselves to the goal and tether ourselves to the goal, then we can move more fluidly through those losses.

Speaker 1: 20:27

I love that Courage and resilience. Courage is frequently compared to resilience in a lot of aspects of your life. How do you perceive the similarities and the difference between these two qualities?

Speaker 2: 20:39

Courage and resilience. Courage, I feel, comes far. It's a drive right. It's a drive, internal drive, that comes deep from within and which I do think is quite different from resilience. Again, I think resilience is your ability to continue. Courage is your ability to start. Courage is your ability to do, to stand up and to find your why, and often, again, it can be no one else might understand what it is. It's that courage to go, to take the step, it's the energy that goes yes, I'm going to take that action step despite my fear, despite all of that. And then the resilience is the part that helps you continue. I love.

Speaker 1: 21:25

That Is there. Anything that you would have ever been told is defined as impossible. Yet you've gone. I'm going to do it anyway.

Speaker 2: 21:36

Yep. In terms of impossible, yes, in my network, when I was in network marketing, I had a goal to have a $200,000 profit month and even the company owners told me that was crazy, right, Like it's not even possible. I'm like, all right, watch me. So I did. So, that number one, I've done that. And that was like they didn't even believe they could do that.

Speaker 2: 21:59

And then, in terms of impossible, I think in my sporting, my probably came from my own thinking, but then the voices in your head are not your own right, there's someone else's that you've agreed with so clearly. I'd heard that before. I thought it was just sporting pursuit. I started to figure bodybuilding. I wanted to transform myself, my life, my body, blah, blah, blah. I wanted to be comfortable in my own skin. I didn't want to teach my daughter bad body habits. So I thought what a better way than to have to stand on stage and heels in a tiny little bikini and be judged by someone else. And I'm like, surely that's going to get me over my stinking thinking. And so why not go to the extreme and see where that goes?

Speaker 2: 22:45

And I wanted to win my Pro Guard. So I thought that is the, because that's the further, as far as you can go in a Federation until you go overseas. So I thought, all right, that seems like a great way to overcome this. And so, against a lot of people thinking I was completely nuts, what are you doing at 40? Doing this as if you can change your body because hormones blah, blah, blah. So I know buggy you. So I did and I won my Pro Guard with Miss Fitness Australia and that was against a lot, of, a lot of nacing.

Speaker 1: 23:20

I love that. It's one of the common traits, for I often see people say you can't do it, and there's an underlying of hold my beer, watch me, and ultimately, the person that says you can't, yes, told to sit down and have a conversation with himself eventually, but the person who is going through the journey of I'm going to do this, the growthy exponential and it's not just about proving somebody else wrong, it's about proving yourself to yourself that it is possible.

Speaker 1: 23:57

And I won't go into the story now. There's a story of Roger Bannister. When he broke the four minute mile blood blah. Up until that point, everybody who tried it failed. And when he was asked afterwards in the interview privately, someone said to him so what made it possible? So up until that moment I knew it was possible. I'd never done it, but I had an underlying feeling that it was possible and consequently he went to break it. And then many other people have broken it since then because they've seen it done once. What the mind does and it collaborates with the body and the physiology and the energy from it comes in and you become invincible because someone told set you a challenge and you've gone and I'm going to do it. That's it. But it is adversity, is overcoming something that is difficult but not impossible. How have you developed, how other of you developed, right rebellious resilience within your life, and has there been an informative experience that really contributed to your success today?

Speaker 2: 25:02

develop. I think again, when I was, my first sport was athletics. I would have been. I started. We started athletics as a family and my dad was a runner. I was about trying to think how old I would have been maybe around eight or nine, so quite young and I, we were pretty good running team. I was in a four by 100 relay and we were dreaming it like and this was too qualified to go to, like a equivalent of a state championship type thing from our little town, and I damaged my archery tendon in that race and I was the first runner and we were so far ahead and then I couldn't run in this we qualified because we won and I couldn't go because I could go and I could watch because I damaged my archery tendon so badly. Now that was devastating because I was also in the top netball team and I couldn't play anymore. And that was when I had to develop something deep within me. And I think that too, because that was when, also back then, standardized treatments for things were pretty normal, right and a bit of strap it up she'll be right too, which it wasn't. Later I've had to have an Aakali's reconstruction because it was so damaged, but that was when I had an amazing physio. My parents found an amazing physio and through that was a couple of physios later and got me back to be able to play sport and run and do all of those things.

Speaker 2: 26:49

Long road, but got there and I think what I really learned out of that is there is always an answer. There is always an answer. You might have to find multiple people or multiple ways, but there is always a solution to a problem and it is a matter of if you do never, ever give up on the goal and the knowing that you can find a solution, you will find a solution. And I learned that at eight or nine through that adversity and I've held that strong, I think, ever since. And I said to them just, and it's an unshakable belief that I will find an answer, and that was something that was through an adversity at a really young age.

Speaker 1: 27:36

I love that I find athletes. I've coached a couple pro athletes at my time and I love coaching people like that because they're a different breed. They just won't take no for a goddamn answer and they'll just continue and continue until they get the job done and I have. I've also suffered an Achilles tendon incident, so I know how painful that is and I know how long the recovery can be. So I sympathise with that.

Speaker 2: 28:03

Mastering your dream.

Speaker 1: 28:04

You mentioned earlier that things you have, dreams, you have aspiration. What's the next level for you? Where do you see yourself? I know you're an author and the book is called Living Inside Out. Is that correct?

Speaker 1: 28:16

Living From the Inside Out the Modern Day Wonder Woman yes, so I would love the links of that to put into the description and send it out for you. If you all listen to this now and you're this far in, go and live in the link, don't hesitate, pause it. Click on the link. Go and buy the book. Stop being stingy and get something else out of somebody else's knowledge, because it may change your life. But please continue. I always say this because people don't do it. They'll. Yeah, I do it later. Do it now, pause. Come back to this, go and get the book. So what's your next level, alison? What do you want to achieve in your world, in your life, for yourself?

Speaker 2: 28:57

Yeah, look for me building up my speaking side of things as well to be able to impact more people. I am heavily involved in the 10X community as well as a 10X coach, as well as my own coaching. I would love to see and bring that vision or that way of thinking into Australia and well, australia and New Zealand, because I go to both. So being able to impact Down Under for really changing people's lives from that level. So I think that's where I'm heading. Obviously, my own financial freedom as well is a huge part of that, and continuing to build and do that Really again, because I think having a strong family unit that's a part of it and then being able to impact more people in local communities. So that's my vision and that's where, too, I'm sure another book will come out of that at some point in time as well. I know that I feel that's on the cusp, but not right now, but soon.

Speaker 1: 30:03

Well, one thing at a time. Don't try and over the lever with the things. You can't follow through with Another 10X community. I know Pete Vargas, I know a couple of yourselves. Guys, the coaching is phenomenal. I've coached with some of him. I've personally been involved with Tony Robbins ownership, gary Vee and many others. But Lake Bob Proctor there's so many. Jim Rowan, there's just so many to count. When you have collaborated with this level of personnel or people who are over successful, they can pick up the phone and get a restaurant in a table and any restaurant. That's all successful. Pete, these sorts of successful people, do you ever feel dwarfed or do you feel as if you could aspire to be an asset to them?

Speaker 2: 30:49

Yeah, for me. I would rather be a small fish in a big pond than a big fish in a small pond because there's no expansion.

Speaker 2: 31:00

Where are you going to expand if you're a big fish in a small pond? You can't Dwarfed no, intimidated slightly. So, because it makes me uncomfortable. I'm like what is this? These people are like next level, but they're not.

Speaker 2: 31:15

The thing that I love and that I've learned is that the people that you've mentioned and again I've studied with a lot of them also they're so humble. So, no, because of the humbleness, not intimidated or anything, no, or feeling like a dwarfed, no, inspired absolutely because of the humbleness. And when people I've found genuinely very successful, people simplify everything because they know how they have achieved that. And then if, because the truth is in simplicity, right, if someone's overcomplicating something, you definitely know that it is not true because it's not that complicated, like success is not a complicated thing, it's not, it's just runs off basic truth.

Speaker 2: 32:08

There's basic laws of life, right, not easy, but simple, no, intimidated definitely, but I don't mind that because that's a straight that's going to stretch, like I have to stretch, I have to become more of who I am and go into new areas, which is one of my assets and faults, because everything's a double-edged sword is that I am driven to by growth and if I'm not growing I am. I know from my own self that it's very detrimental to myself. I will find a game that is not very useful to my life, and I see that with with a lot of people. If you're not playing a great game of creating or growing, you will play a game of destroying, because you're either growing or destroying that. There's create or destroy. There's only those two things.

Speaker 1: 33:04

I love that. Is there anything else you'd like to share with the audience that you may find a bit of a benefit to them, or a call to action, whether you would like to send them to discover more about yourself?

Speaker 2: 33:17

Yeah, look. I think that, no matter what this is rising from the ashes, no matter what adversity you are facing right now or it may just be that dissonance of the discord within you something's not right and you need to change something. Listen to that. Listen to that internal voice or that, that intuition, because there's so much value in that. So trusting ourselves, trust yourself and then back yourself as well, because sometimes you can't actually see the next step into. You've taken the first one, like you won't necessarily see how it's going to unfold. So often we want security of how it's all going to unfold, not onto your vision. Listen to your intuition and step forward, because sometimes the rest is only unveiled when you can take that next step. And in terms of people finding me, the best way is either on my socials or my website. My website is theallisonwheelercom or my social handle is the Allison Wheeler coaching, so I would love people to reach out.

Speaker 1: 34:23

Awesome. Thank you very much for your time today and your love and dedication for what you do.

Speaker 2: 34:28

Thanks so much for having me, Bez. You're welcome From myself.

Speaker 1: 34:31

thank you very much for joining me. Please share this message and inspire someone else's life. You never know, you may change their course and trajectory of what they're doing From myself. Have a blessed day and thank you for watching Rise in the Ashes. See you soon.