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I’m inspired by these badass human beings- how amazing are they all? I’ve had sooo many incredible people on This is Life Unfiltered (many who aren’t in the graphics below- so make sure to check out all of the This is Life Unfiltered guests) and I walk away from every interview with a new piece of wisdom. Check out all of their unique and inspiring stories on all podcast streaming apps! And don’t forget to always live life unfiltered.

 I truly can’t believe 50 episodes of my podcast This is Life Unfiltered are live today. 50 weeks ago I was living in Boston, in a relationship!, not anywhere close to knowing where I envisioned my company going over the next year. Then I moved to LA. I landed myself a show on Radio Disney. I left my perfect apartment, my family and best friends on the East Coast and did what I do best: got out of my comfort zone and started completely fresh in a new city. And let me tell you: LA is the hardest city to adjust to out of all the cities I’ve ever lived in.

Now I live in LA. I’m single and thriving in my career and my journey to find happiness. I have incredible friends. I wake up everyday so satisfied with the life path I’ve chosen (even if I don’t wake up totally happy, I go to bed happy).

I’ve ended a decent amount of toxic relationships since I’ve moved here. I even became friends with people in this city who I realized weren’t the type of people I should be hanging out with and I ended those relationships too- because they weren’t bringing value to my life. I might’ve been bringing value to theirs, but they definitely weren’t showcasing the type of traits friends should have. Like compassion, honesty and drive.  I’ve realized that to progress in my life I need to be surrounded by a certain type of person, and those aren’t the people that are quite frankly going out every night and not waking up until 6 PM. Those kind of people have their place but I don’t think it’s in my life.

You have to sift through a lot of people to get to the kind of people out there who will bring you up, not down.

It’s called the pursuit of happiness isn’t it? And we’re all on that same pursuit.

LISTEN TO EPISODE 50 & THE PAST 49 EPISODES ON ITUNES, SOUNDCLOUD & SPOTIFY! #LIVELIFEUNFILTERED

Since you’re following me on Instagram or here on my blog, it’s obvious that you know what’s up and are pretty trendy right? Well it’s almost the end of the year which means 2019 is right around the corner. Have you thought about what things are going to be hot topics next year?  Maybe it’s food, maybe it’s fashion, perhaps music?  Is everyone gonna be talking about G-Eazy in 2019 or is there someone new that will top the charts?

I’m helping out with a research study that wants to talk to teens and find out what YOU think will be the hot new trends in 2019.  It’s pretty easy and fun to take, you can do it right on your phone and it’ll only take a few minutes.  Mind going and helping them out?  As a bonus, they’ll be picking a lucky winner from everyone that completes it to win a $100 Amazon card.

Let them know your thoughts and be automatically entered to win an $100 Amazon gift card by clicking here!

I frequently talk about burnout because as an entrepreneur it’s unfortunately common during this “journey” but burnout is just as common for students and people who might work corporate jobs. I’ve been taking Sunday off of social media for over 5 months now and it’s truly changed my perspective on life and my mental health. I wake up on Monday feeling refreshed and cautious about how I let the internet affect me during my daily life. The web and primarily social media aren’t always happy and safe places for people to spend as much time as they do.

I find more young adults are battling burnout because so many people are focused on becoming viral sensations or growing their Instagram following that they’re getting depressed when they don’t reach that level during a period of time. It’s crazy how many people are so focused on superficial motives now that they lose sight of the bigger picture (this thing called living and being happy) and end up depressed or anxious. I deal with anxiety everyday and though the internet is rad, it doesn’t always help ease my anxiety or depression.

Earlier this year I reached out to Landmark Vineyards in Kenwood, CA to ask them whether they’d be open to hosting me for a media stay when I turned 21! We scheduled the trip to happen around my 21st birthday, and then work got in the way and most of my friends canceled on me so I rescheduled to last week. I’m glad I did because I spent over 15 hours on a plane last week so I was desperate for a bit of R&R. This was my first time in Napa and it exceeded my expectations. Landmark started off with giving us the most beautiful room EVER (my friend and I loved the cozy fireplace, cozy bathrobes and Keurig machine in the room) and a wine tasting/tour to try all of their fancy wines that are made on property. Wine is so fascinating to me: purple is one of my favorite colors and how cool is it that grape turns into wine? After our first night on their property we decided to venture out to another town called Sonoma before driving through Glen Ellen. I went to bed by 10 PM every night and woke up when I wanted to (I always wake up naturally around 7 but managed to sleep until 11 AM one morning) and on Saturday I felt refreshed and like a new person. How do I prevent burn out? TIME OFF.

TAKE TIME FOR YOURSELF AND YOUR MENTAL HEALTH. That might be 3 days, 3 hours or 3 weeks: do what you need to do to take care of yourself!

Last week was a bit of an unusual week for me. I don’t often get asked to fly somewhere with 48 hours notice, but since I’m living life oh so fearlessly I flew to Orlando with Citizen Watches for a mere 7 hours to view their new collection with Disney. I couldn’t resist saying yes because of my show Fearless Everyday on Disney and Citizen’s new partnership with Disney that just launched: it made so much sense for me to check out what Citizen is all about.

They flew me from San Francisco following my college talk to Orlando. I landed around 2 AM on Wednesday, slept for a few hours at the Floridian Spa & Resort (a beautiful hotel at Disney World) before joining the rest of the group for breakfast around 7:30 AM. Everyone had been there since Tuesday, so I unfortunately missed out on fireworks and fun the evening prior. But I joined in and met the rest of the team for breakfast (Mickey Mouse shaped waffles, lots of coffee and some Disney characters IRL were a part of the festivities)  before we headed off in buses to tour Disney for the day and see all of the Citizen branded clocks on property. The last time I stepped foot in Orlando I was probably 12 or 13, so going back now that I’m older and have a signed deal with Disney was crazy for me! I ate peanut butter cups, chugged water before my flight and met some Disney loving girls who were also on the trip before flying back to San Francisco to drive to Napa for a little staycation. I seriously dig Citizen watches after meeting their entire time and getting a chance to view their beautiful watches. Their entire collection is the perfect mix between classic and sophisticated perfection, and they’re great for a holiday gift or for your first ever watch.

THANK YOU Citizen for sending me to Orlando and giving me such a lovely day trip (plus a new watch) that made for a perfect story to tell on an upcoming Fearless Everyday episode…

 

P.S. These boots are AWESOME! I bought them at Steve Madden in SF: buy one pair get another pair 50% off!

Wearing Aritizia skirt, Club Monaco jacket, Steve Madden boots, ASOS necklace, Vintage hat 

Elisa Cicinelli photography

On Tuesday I spoke at Menlo College in Palo Alto on entrepreneurship! I had never been to Palo Alto before so when Menlo agreed to having me speak I was thrilled to finally head out to the city that houses some of the biggest tech companies in the world. The Bay area is one of my favorite cities: every time I go to SF I really want to meet a cute boy who lives there so I have an excuse to go down every weekend. The pastries are so good. The coffee is sooo good. Everyone is so nice and genuine. I love it!

I have a similar powerpoint I share during all of my talks on entrepreneurship because many of the topics are pretty similar across the board. All young people should know how to utilize LinkedIn, write a pitch or have an elevator pitch about themselves. I think elevator pitches are key to finding yourself: you don’t need to be a company to have an elevator pitch. Even if you aren’t an entrepreneur don’t you want to know what to say to Mark Cuban if you’re ever in an elevator with him?  That is very handy as you get older and figure out what type of career path you want to pursue. The students at Menlo were fantastic and has some awesome questions after my presentation: I got to stick around for a bit before heading to the airport to talk to some of the girls sat in and listened. They taught me a thing or two about business cards and LinkedIn, which I didn’t know prior to speaking!

Talking at colleges isn’t a path I ever anticipated going down because I didn’t go to college and am very vocal about how expensive and frankly overrated college can be. I say overrated because I hate that there is such a stigma surrounding community college vs. an Ivy school: why do you have to be judged on what college you attend? Most people can’t financially afford to go to an expensive private college and have to go to community college. It’s silly. Do what floats your boat not what society thinks you should do. Either way I do think college is crucial for young people unless you are similar to me and have a company you make a living off of: even then college might be a good decision for you because it’ll help you truly find yourself. You’ll make important connections, learn how to live with other people and find what makes you happy.

I’ve been in the blogging game for a while now (I started this whole thang back in 2011) so if I wasn’t speaking at colleges by now I’d probably take my life in a different direction. As an entrepreneur it’s important to set small goals and big goals for yourself. I always loved public speaking and have spoken on so many different TV shows, so going into more independent talks and conferences make sense for my career. Just because I have 12,000 Instagram followers (which people judge me heavily by, STILL) doesn’t mean I haven’t made my place in this industry and deserve where I am now. I really worked my way up and set myself apart. That’s what you have to do. All of those “building” years are essential in getting you to the place you want to be in your career.

I would say it’s 50/50 for how I get most of my college talks: I pitch some and I get approached about some. It’s like a little domino effect (mine took over 6 years for the domino thing to start, ha) but once you start getting speaking engagements other people want you to speak and then you start getting paid for it and if you love public speaking and inspiring people then it’s quite cool. But I’m going to be honest and say that talks are exhausting: you spend so much time preparing and you spend a decent amount of time after every talk answering questions and talking to kids and it’s like you give a little part of yourself away every time you speak to someone new and have a deep conversation.  That’s why I take some time off every few weeks because if I don’t I get mentally exhausted and mental exhaustion is the worst!

If you want to start speaking at conferences/colleges, put yourself out there. Colleges are the top guys: so why not start small with a high school or middle school in your town? Email a teacher you had when you were in school and ask to present. Make a presentation and send it out. The best thing they can say is no: which just means you’re not ready yet, and you need to dip your toe into some other opportunities before circling back around to this one 🙂 Follow your dreams and be fearless!

Episode 49 with The League founder Amanda Bradford went live on Wednesday! Amanda left two corporate jobs to have no financial security when she launched The League- an exclusive dating app for sophisticated and ambitious people. She even met her BF on it! What’s great about Amanda is she’s not shy about explaining dating in 2018 and why so many people turn to apps- it’s become the new standard. Online dating is truly fascinating to me so I was thrilled to chat with her at my office in LA last week.

Listen to Episode 49 on iTunes, SoundCloud & Spotify! Plus use code #AlexaVIP to get an upgraded membership to The League, jump to the front of the 100,000 person waiting line and get more people to swipe through everyday! #livelifeunfiltered #episode49

I’ve been traveling so so much this week, going to Orlando for 8 hours and then flying back to San Francisco and driving to Napa. A little break was definitely needed, so I apologize for the lack of posts this week. I’ll tell you everything that’s been happening next week when I’m back in LA!

Tonight on Fearless Everyday I have Violetta– besides being Ansel Elgort’s girlfriend (swoon) she’s such a sophisticated and kind ballerina who is incredibly talented. We interviewed her in NYC a month ago and we already made plans to go to hot yoga when I’m next in the city- she’s getting trained to be a yoga instructor too!

Listen to Fearless Everyday tonight at 9 PM PST on the Radio Disney / iHeartRadio app or on the Radio Disney website. #FEARLESSEVERYDAY

Share how you’re fearless on social media with me using the hashtag #fearlesseveryday too! You may just make it into an upcoming episode! Fearless Everyday will air Fridays at 9 PM PST, Saturdays at 7 AM PST & Sundays at 5 PM PST!

I’ve been getting a lot of questions on how to listen and where to find Radio Disney. Here’s where to find Radio Disney:

Listen on the Radio Disney app on your phone/iPad/Kindle

Listen on iHeartRadio on their website

I’ve been working on my podcast This is Life Unfiltered for over 50 weeks now! Time really flies by when you run a podcast. I think it’s because you spend so much of your time working on every episode, creating the graphics and editing the episode that every Wednesday (the day that mine goes out) you feel like you’ve just released the episode the week before. If you’re looking to drastically speed up your weeks, start a podcast!

Tons of you reach out to me asking for advice on starting a podcast which is why I wanted to put this post up so I don’t have to say the same stuff over and over. I will tell you that running a podcast is not easy. I have learned so much over the past 50 weeks including a lot about time management & financial management. Running a podcast is nothing like running a YouTube channel or putting up Instagram videos: the podcast is so different and unique in the audience that it will bring in as well as the amount of effort you have to put in to make yours successful. Don’t get frustrated because you can’t figure it all out in one day, podcasts are kind of like math and when you get the swing of things you’ll get yourself into a routine and everything will get easier.

Stay consistent. The most successful podcasts are successful because they go out every “Wednesday” at the same time. Their social media is solid. Don’t start a podcast to make money. I can tell you I’ve made less than $300 since I started This is Life Unfiltered and have invested over $1,000 into it. I do it because I love it. Like I say about EVERYTHING: follow your passion and the rest will come. 

HOW TO START A PODCAST: 

• Decide what you want your podcast to be about. Research other podcasts on the podcast app. Like my blog, I started my podcast before podcasts were the big “thing” and now everyone has one. What makes yours unique? Make a list of guests you’d like to eventually have on: include the big names and the small names. If you want to get really specific put a few words about what you’d have every guest speak on. Put this all into an excel sheet so you have it on file when you launch.

 

• Buy a microphone. Buy this one actually. This microphone is great, not super expensive and picks up such good sound. Like if you even breathe the microphone will pick up that sound. NOTE: You can’t use two of these microphones at once. I learned this the hard way after buying two microphones (one for me and one for my guest) before having to go through h*** to get the company to refund my money for the second mic. They make it so difficult for you to use two mics at once, so I’d suggest buying a second mic only if you have a co-host or if you plan on constantly having multiple guests at once.

 

• Get intro music. Use Fiverr or Upwork to have someone create the intro song for you. You’ll know what that means if you’ve listened to other podcasts. Every podcast has a unique little jingle at the beginning. It cost me about $20 max. I’ve never switched intro songs.

 

• Get GarageBand. Get EchoRemover. I had a Mac when I started This is Life Unfiltered and have always had Apple products so I can’t vouch for what you need if you don’t have a Mac computer. But I use GarageBand on my MacBook Pro and it’s the easiest way to edit the podcast. EchoRemover is $99 and a plug-in to GarageBand. It’s probably the best $100 I’ve spent on the podcast because it’s genius when you need to remove the echo from your episodes and almost every episode will have an echo unless you’re not talking and just breathing. If so, dope idea for a podcast.

 

• Get an awesome cover designed! I used 99Designs to design my cover, which is much more expensive than other companies. However they offered to sponsor my cover and I saved about $300 with their sponsorship. I’ve had over 3 podcast covers since I started- the first 2 being other designs I found online and paid. You can simply put a job up on Craigslist that says “looking for graphic designer for small project” or make the cover art yourself if you know how to. You truly evolve with your podcast. 99Designs is also the company I used to create the new Life Unfiltered with Alexa BUT I paid the full amount that the designer charged on the website and it was expensive. But I love 99Designs.

 

• Once you’ve done all of the above, submit your podcast to the app store. It’s easy to do that, just Google it. Then create a SoundCloud account. Create a Libsyn account. Link your RSS feed. That all sounds fancy but don’t worry it’s not and there is a ton of advice iTunes gives you along the way.

 

• In the meantime, it’s going to take some time for you to get your podcast approved on the app store so work on finding your guests and pitching them. I highly suggest having over 5 episodes in the vault before you launch. Every podcaster will suggest having at least 5 on hand before you launch so that you don’t freak out on a Tuesday night at 6 PM when you remember you have no episode for a Wednesday morning.

For the first 6 months of This is Life Unfiltered I was waking up at 3 AM to click “publish” on Libsyn (my hosting site) before I realized you can auto-schedule your episodes. You have to use Libsyn to do that and it’s super easy. I have the most expensive plan (I think it’s about $23 x month) on SoundCloud & Libsyn for storage because I hate running out of storage and then they start deleting your episodes and it’s frustrating, so make the investment. You won’t regret it!

Have fun! Enjoy the journey! Podcasts are so personal and inspiring so if you’re starting one for the right reason you won’t have any difficulty getting people to tune in.

Good luck!

On a side note, a one-sheet like the one below is a great example for a podcast. It’s important that you showcase your podcast in the best light and that’s usually done with a one-sheet to properly showcase what your podcast is about. The reason I like the one below is it’s informative and pretty: since podcasts are all audio based, you want to showcase something more than that with your one-sheet. Your one-sheet doesn’t have to be as long or “perfect” as the one below but I do like the idea of you putting your logo, your past guests and a short bio of what the podcast is about directly on the one-sheet. Something else you can do is use marketing tools on Libsyn and Apple Podcasts to help track the podcast stats and listeners. It’s important that you know who is listening to your podcast so that you can properly create content and episodes just for your listeners! Campaign Monitor has a bunch of fun infographics available for you to model your one-sheet off of. You can check them all out here. Good luck podcasting and designing your one-sheet!