Well, hello everybody, and welcome to another amazing episode of Unstoppable Success. I'm your host, Jaclyn Strominger. And as you know, on this podcast we hear from amazing individuals, leaders, professionals who share their wisdom, their insights and tips for each and every one of us to have unstoppable success. And today I have the absolute pleasure of introducing you to, to Alison Katschkowsky And let me tell you a little bit about Allison, because she's truly amazing. First of all, she started as a fitness innovator. She was a competitive swimmer as a teenager and college student, enjoyed the pillars of living her greatest potential via fitness. And as an entrepreneur, she has built a business that truly is innovative and changes as you know, many drivers out there. And she wants to help help each and every one of you create an amazing business and achieve overall fitness, health and wellness with personal and professional growth. Growth and have the life you absolutely utmost deserve. So, and she's so, she's does so many other things. She's got all these great wellness retreats and, and she's just amazing. And we connected before on a podcast. So I'm so excited to have her on mine. So welcome.

I'm so glad you invited me. Thank you. It's always a good day in my world when I get to talk to you.

Yeah, it's so much fun. I love talking with you. So, Allison, take us how you started this incredible business.

Oh, man, I just, it's so funny. It's, it's, you know, the universe always has. Here's just a piece of advice I'm going to offer to everyone listening. The universe always has ideas for us, and sometimes those ideas are not what we had in mind for us. Okay, so I'm just going to preface what I'm going to say with that. You know, I looks like, like you said, I grew up an athlete. I wanted to go to physical therapy school initially. And when the universe made it clear that that was not the path that I needed to go down, I ended up in fitness. And I have to say that it was the best decision ever because it changed my life. I started off, you know, working with one on one with individuals, with groups. I taught a ton of group fitness classes, built a very successful fitness business here in Raleigh, North Carolina, where I live, I own two small, successful brick and mortar studios. Lot of years, worked with thousands of people over about a 20 year period. And then about 10 years ago, people started asking me, how did you do that? They started asking me, how can I do this? I want to do what you do? How can I build a business and do all these fun things like you do? So I started thinking, okay, universe, I hear you. I hadn't really thought about becoming a business coach, but that's really what I am now. And so about 10 years ago, I pivoted more into business coaching, started going on retreats, started adding retreats to my offer suites. And so now what I like to say when people ask me what I do, what I like to say is that not only am I a business coach, but my specialty is the hybrid model. I like to combine the in person and the online together because human connection is not going anywhere. We need human connection now more than anything. And in a virtual, online digital world, we have to have human connection. And I have the business model now that I have always dreamed about, but literally 20, 25 years ago, had no idea how to do anything that I'm doing now. And I just get up in the morning and pinch myself and say, this is what I get to do.

That has. But I love the hybrid model and I love that you get to pinch yourself and get to. Because you get to do what you absolutely love to do. And on your retreats, you bring fitness to that too.

Well, we do, but we, we keep it very light. Like it's not like the Biggest Loser workout camp or anything like that. It's not like that. But no. And I say that because initially when I wanted to start doing retreats, that was my vision, is that we would go off on a weekend and it would be a workout camp in a safe way, of course, not like military style or anything. But on all of my retreats, we are active. That's the way I like to put it. We do walks, we do tours, we do. Sometimes we do group workouts, but most of the time we do active things. Because as entrepreneurs, you know this. As entrepreneurs, managing our energy is key. And our physical mind and body is the vehicle that will help us create not just the business that we dream about, but allows us to help and serve the people that we want to help and serve. And so if we don't take care of that, then nothing that we want happens. And then people that need us can't be helped. So we have to take care of our body. It is one of our most valuable assets, if not the most valuable asset. And so that, that's a central piece of what I do. But the other part of what we do on retreats is we focus a lot on what your future self is like. Like, I have an exercise and I do It. At every single one of my retreats. It's, it's. I call it the Compass Walk. It's why I do a compass on all my retreats, why I wear a compass around my neck every day. It's because your future self is in the room with you right now. For anyone listening, your future self is sitting across the room from you right now. And the only reason that you haven't met him or her is that you're not thinking and believing and behaving like. Like he or she is. And so when we walk the path to our future, and I'm not just talking, like, making a vision board and all of that, I'm talking legit. Walk the path to your future. There are different points on the compass path that we have to look at so that aligns with the future that you want. And that's a big piece of every single one of my retreats.

I love that. That is. It's. Yeah, I love the compass. I actually had a whole conversation with somebody about, you know, magnetic north and, you know, true north.

Yep. I call it your north star. We align with your north star. Yeah.

And it's so powerful, we, you know, you need to. You do need to look at all the different points on the compass because each, each one of them is going to. Can lead you to a different path.

Right, Right. Totally. And what a lot of people don't think about when it comes to their future is they think it's like a big long to do list. You know, we. We think that in order to get over there, there are all these boxes that we have to check before we can meet our future self, but that's not really true. We can collapse time and literally become our future self if we're willing to challenge what we think is possible for us. And so a lot of that has to go with the thoughts that we're thinking, what we're challenging ourselves to believe. There's nothing more powerful in the universe than belief. And if you want to change your life, look at what you're believing. Look at what you think is true right now. Because I can promise you what I think is true and what you think is true might be two different things. But we have to challenge ourselves on what's possible for us. And when we do that, guess what? We make different choices. And that leads to different, you know, possibilities, different actions, different opportunities. It literally all starts with that.

Yeah. You know, when you're talking about belief, of course, I keep thinking of Ted Lasso. Right.

Hitting the balloon.

Right. But it's so true, Right. That one thing you have to believe, you know, and it's. And I think. And listeners, I think this is so important. You need to know the belief you have in yourself. Like, you have to identify, you know, what it is that you. What you feel like you're going to say to yourself of that belief, like,

and you have to challenge what is possible for you. And so what the way I like to put it is you have to look at your identity. You have to look at becoming a different version of yourself. Right. And a lot of times it becomes changing our identity. So, for example, when I worked in fitness, I don't even want. If I had a dollar for every time someone told me this, I'm not a gym person. I'm just not really good at sticking to a routine, you know, that's an identity thing for somebody.

And you tell yourself that.

Exactly right. But that's what people are telling themselves when they. They have a fitness goal in mind. And, you know, years and years ago, we used to call January the Christmas season in our business, because that's when everyone and their mother and their brother would want to come out and decide to get in shape. And the majority of them would quit within a month.

Yep.

And it's because what they wanted didn't match up with the current identity of who they were. And so if you want to achieve something that you've never achieved, but that you know is in your heart and that you want to do and you want to believe is possible for you, then you have to look at how you're being. That's what it's about. And all of that leads to you changing who you are. So, for example, if you're not a gym person, for somebody listening, I'm not someone that I've never been good to, sticking to a routine. I've never been. I've always been overweight. I've never been a morning person. I used to hear that a lot, too. Those are all identity shifts. So if you want to become and achieve something that you've never done, guess what? You might have to learn to like going to the gym. You might have to learn to like getting up earlier in the morning and going for a walk. These are all things that literally don't sound like big deals for those of us that do it on a regular basis. But it literally is the difference between achieving something that you want and changing your life.

Right. If you can just flip the switch and say, and tell yourself every morning, I am a morning person. I am A morning person, or I am a gym person. I like the gym. And you start telling yourself that you're telling your mind something else.

Exactly. And look, and even if you don't, you know, I know there are a lot of people listening that probably don't love the gym. I mean, my background is fitness. I love the gym. I'm happy in the gym. I'm good with the gym. But I also don't want to go and spend hours and hours in the gym. I want to go and do my thing and get on with my day. Right. But I realize a lot of people are never going to love a workout. They're never going to love, you know, a fitness routine. They're never going to love working out in general. But here's. Here's the shift I want to offer for that. If that's you listening, you will learn to love what it does for you. And that is the motivation in and of itself that should entice you to want to take it on for yourself. If anything else, you have to look at it. An investment in your mind and your body.

Yeah, I would. And it's true. And it's, you know, whether it's fitness or whether it's making phone calls.

Yeah.

Or maybe it's going to networking events. If it's something that you're saying I don't like or I'm not good at. If you can get. And flip that switch, think it's the benefit that you get. Like, for.

Totally. Right.

It's so powerful, that outcome of putting in that time and effort.

Totally.

And you have. Well, the thing is, like, if you also can detach from it and just know the feeling that you get. Oh, my God, it's like lightning.

Yeah. But for so many people who just find themselves in a chronic loop or a chronic pattern where they just feel like they're doing all the things, but they're just not seeing the results that they want. That's an identity issue. You're usually bumping up against a ceiling of what you're used to doing. So you're not going to get to where you want to be by doing all the things that you've always done. It really is that simple. And I had to learn that lesson when I rebuilt my business in 2020, when the pandemic hit and the health and fitness world as we knew it literally went out the window. Right.

Because all of a sudden, you can't. The gyms were not allowed, or you couldn't go into a gym. Right. Or you had to keep yeah.

And the biggest. The great irony in the room is the gym was exactly where people needed to be because people needed to be healthy and continue to work on their immune system and staying fit and strong. Right. That's like still something in a toolbox that any physician and healthcare practitioner will tell you. Healthy people generally don't get sick a lot. Healthy people recover from illness a lot faster.

Right.

You know, healthy people, when you get hurt or injured or you come down with the flu or whatever, I'm not saying it's not something we should be concerned about, but healthy people in general respond better and get well faster, and that's what it's all about.

Yeah, that's true. And it's also the same thing in your business. If your business is healthy, you can respond faster to downturns or pivots or

changes, and they're always going to be those things that happen. Who would have thought that the virtual space would be what it is now? Nobody thought that 10 years ago. I mean, we knew that it was a thing. And, you know, wow, we can actually meet people virtually and all that. But I don't think anyone saw what's happening now and what the future is going to be like. Yeah, right. And so the longer I'm an entrepreneur, Jaclyn, this is like such. Is such a big truth for me, and I want everyone to hear this and, like, stop and rewind if they need to. Is that the greatest trait that you can work on as an entrepreneur for unstoppable success is to be flexible and be resilient because the peaks and valleys will always be there. And if your goal is to always sell out your programs and have record months in profit and all of that, you're probably not cut out to be an entrepreneur because the ebbs and flows. The ebbs and flows are always going to be there. And I think when I look around the world today at the most successful people that I know, they're the people who learn how to navigate that and, you know, kind of make it work for them because they're going to be seasons in our business where things don't go well.

It is so true. To now build it, to be able to navigate the roller coaster, the highs and lows, you have to. And that's whether you have your. Whether you're an entrepreneur or whether you're in a corporate environment, there are always, like, business and life is not a linear. I mean, the only thing that's linear is your age changing.

Yeah. And time, you know, we know the time and change is Always going to be there. Right. You can always count on that.

Right. That's given. Right. But everything else is always, there's always going to be a wave.

Yeah.

And some of the, some of the highs and lows are there's going to be big waves and then there's going to be rolling waves. But you have to be able to, to be nimble to those.

Yes, always. Yeah. And you have to be able to, to withstand it and be able to sit back and read the tea leaves and say, okay, what, what's, what's the. Because the market is always talking to us.

Yeah.

Whether we want to listen or not, it's always talking to us. So instead of saying, why aren't people buying? You know, why, you know, I've spent all this time on this beautiful offer, this retreat. Why aren't people buying instead of asking it like that, say, gee, I wonder what it is that people really want. The market's always talking to us.

Right.

And you have to be able to read the tea leaves and be able to pivot and be flexible and be willing to change things. Because it's not about us. At the end of the day, it's really about what people want and the people that we're going to serve, it's what they want. That's what it's about.

Right. And it is about, it's serving other people. So I'm curious, so as you are doing those shifts in your business.

Right. You know,

It could not have been super easy. Right. I mean, like, oh, it wasn't easy.

I'm not going to lie to you. I, I think in my nearly 28 year entrepreneurial career, because I've been an entrepreneur since 1998, so do the math.

Right.

I think the toughest year I've ever had, the toughest challenge was 2020 with the pandemic. I, if I'm really being perfectly honest and if you know me, you know I'm a straight shooter. There were weeks when I really thought about quitting. I thought about, I'm going to go get a job. I'm just not going to do this anymore. But I just, the more I sat with that, the more I thought, I don't want to do that. I'm going to be miserable. I don't want to do that. You know, there's a reason why I became an entrepreneur because I don't like the box. The box way of thinking. You know, the box doesn't make sense to me. You know, I'm always one to think out of the box. And so that was the toughest challenge that I've ever faced in my career, hands down.

And so, you know, you said you, like, you sat with it, what was there, and. And think about where you wanted to go, because you're like, I don't fit in the box kind of thing at work.

Right, Right.

Was there anything else that you kept doing that you kept saying, I got to keep going. I know I can make this, because I think that's all.

You know, I think there was just. You know, when I think back to that year, there was just so much going on that just didn't make any sense, you know? And I think. I think there are probably plenty of people listening. We can all remember. It was one of those things where we're going to remember where we were when everything shut down. Right. And I think for me, for a while, my nature is not to quit anything. When I'm in something, I am in 100%. I've never been halfway in the door, halfway out the door with anything I've ever done in my life. When I say I'm in, I'm in, and I'm in 100%. And. But I think because of what was going on, there was just. There were so many mixed emotions, too, because I don't think any of us really knew how long all this was going to last. But if you're a business owner, you can't shut your business for six months and survive. You just can't do that. And so when there were weeks that would go by where we were waiting for it to be quote, unquote, safe, which was, let's be honest, was the biggest line of BS that was out there. I'm just gonna say, because safety is an illusion. There's never. Nothing is ever completely safe, depending on who you talk to. But for me, since you asked, it was probably a month or two that I just had to let myself get out of my funk. You know, I was in a. I like to call it. I crawled into a black hole, and I just kind of sat there and felt sorry for myself for a little while. But once the smoke cleared, I was like, you know what? I can either stay down or I can look at this as the opportunity to rebuild and finally do some of the things that I really want to be doing in my business. And so I did it. And it was hard, but I did it. And there were months when nothing went right, and then there were months when the floodgates just opened, and I was like, oh, my gosh, this is really Happening, so. But that's just the way that it goes sometimes, you know? But I can tell you, when I came out of that, like, 2021was one of the best years I ever had in business. So. And I would not be sitting here talking to you now if I hadn't just. I had to do some serious work on myself during that year. Thank goodness for my coaches, because I. I needed all the support that I could muster that year.

And key thing that you just said, support, because I think that's also something that we forget about. Like, we're not meant to do this alone.

Nope.

So talk about the coaches and finding the right people. Like, how did.

Well, I think you have to. I mean, there's a lot of talk out there about alignment. You have to align with somebody, and I do think that there's some truth to that. But I also think that you have to look for people who have close to the business model that you want, or they're doing something and they're further along down the road than you are. And I think that you have to be willing to be a student, because there's a lot of people out there that call themselves experts that don't really want to be students, you know, and so I think the most successful people in business understand, especially coaches. Most successful coaches I know understand that you can be a coach, but you still have to be a student, too. So when you're looking for support, I think you really have to find that right combination from somebody, Somebody who's willing to be objective and call you out when you need it, but give you the tough love when you need that, too, and help you see the belief and the potential that you have when you can't see it for yourself, you know, and for me, that's really what I needed the most during 2020 was I needed someone to show me what was possible for me. And that, you know, I had. I had done. I had plenty of evidence of success as an entrepreneur. That wasn't my first rodeo, but at the same time, when you work so hard to build something and then you lose it, you really do question your ability of whether or not you've got what it takes to do it again. Right. You know, and I think for me, I had to get over that hurdle. And once I got over that hurdle, I was like, all right, there's nowhere to go but up. Let's go. You know, it's.

You can just keep rising. Yeah, right.

Yeah. And look, I'll just. I'll be honest. I mean, I have a very supportive spouse, and he knows me better than anybody, and he knew that, you know, I wasn't going to stay down long. And, you know, we had a roof over our heads, and we had all of our basic needs taken care of, so it wasn't like I was going to be out on the street. But when you. When you spend a lot of your life building a dream and you watch it literally go up in smoke, it's like, that's just not an easy thing to get past. And I think you have to just get. As entrepreneurs, we have to give ourselves, show ourselves grace and compassion, you know, because it's not one of those things that nobody saw it coming. You know, it's like you. It's so easy to beat up on yourself and say, I should know what to do here, but nobody knew what to do. Right.

You know, it's funny, I keep thinking that the. The 2020, that year in my business, what I. You know, I was one. It was one of 2020, and 2020 were one of the most successful years.

That's great. And a lot of people that. A lot of people, it was because they just dug in. Everyone went online, and it was like, you know, but for the rest of us, like, there were seven or eight of us across the state of North Carolina that we were. We called ourselves the independent gym owners because we weren't part. We weren't franchisees, we weren't corporate, you know, and we all pulled our resources and we took our governor to court so that we could open that summer. And we had, like, restrictions and guidelines that we had to follow, but we became the voice of the people that had said we had enough.

Right.

So we sort of took it upon ourselves to, you know, say, look, these two things can coexist. We're fighting a global pandemic, and people need to work on their health and their fitness and their longevity. But we can be partners. We don't have to be enemies. We can be partners. And that's how we kind of positioned ourselves. And I can tell you, at the end of that year, I would never have gotten through that year without that group of people. We sort of, like, considered ourselves. We were kind of, like, in battle together.

But it's your Covid family. It was part of your Covid. Part of your Covid tribe and how you work together. And that's the other key thing that I think that is also really important. Whether it's or today, you need a tribe, you 5 of people that you.

Yeah. You need people that that can have your back, that can support you, that can you, help you out, and, you know, if anything, just be sounding boards, too, because I can distinctly remember plenty of afternoons when we were all, you know, in an email thread, and we were like, I reached out to this representative and this representative, and what do you think of this? And it's like we were literally all in it together.

Yeah.

And. And it's that. But that's what it took. And, you know, the great irony in all of this is, is that as close as I was to quitting, it's like it took that happening to kind of reignite my fire and my passion again for. For rebuilding my business. Because you don't realize that until you. You watch something go away and you think, you know, as bad as that is, it's. And I wouldn't wish that on anybody. And I'm never going to say I'm glad it all happened. Right. But I can honestly say now I would not have had the success I've had the last four or five years without that. Right.

So something that you also just said, listeners, I think that is also really important. You found a way to reignite your desire and your. And the drive for your business. And that is something that I feel like if you have a business or you're working at a company, take the time to think about your values and your why and what you're doing and so that you can get reignited, so to speak, ignite that. That flame to what you're doing. And it does need the.

Sometimes you just. Sometimes you need to create a little distance. Right?

Yeah.

You know, and take a step back or two and think, okay, as bad as all this is, I've still got a choice here. This is nobody's fault but mine. When I decide what to do, the responsibility is on me. And it starts with me. So if I. If I do want to go bow out and go do something else, that's okay. But that's on me too.

Right?

You know, this is. This is nobody's doing but mine, what I choose to do. You know, and I think you just, you know, I think you. Anytime we're in a situation where we feel torn or we're not sure, or we're kind of doubting whether or not we've got what it takes, I think we really have to sit with, you know, the decision of, yes, I'm going to and kind of live with that decision for a day or two and assume that everything you want is happening, or I think you have to sit with this is not working, and I'm going to do something else. And you kind of have to see what that feels like in your body, you know, and. And what's coming up for you mentally around that. And sometimes that can give you the answer that you're looking for.

Yeah, it's. It's true. The answer is in there. And. And as we have talked recently about some things that.

Yeah.

Changes in my business, you have to follow you. That. You have to follow totally. You have to follow that gut feeling, because your gut will tell you totally.

Always does. 100% every time. And I think for me, once I got through all of my complicated emotions, the sadness, the anger, the WTF is happening here. Right. All of that, which I think were completely normal, given what was going on. It's like, at the end of the day, I thought, this is not how I want to quit. You know, when I decide to retire, whenever that day is or I decide to do something else, I want it to be my decision. I don't want it to be because something forced me to, you know, and that, at the end of the day is what, like, brought me back around and said, all right, let's go. I got nowhere to go but up. Right.

And again, listeners, that's, like, going back to, like, part of the.

Why.

Your drive, your value, your. Your part of your mission and your vision. It's like, it's in. And you'll hear me say this a lot. This is one thing you need to study about yourself, and if you need help with it, that's where you can reach out. But that is something that, you know, is.

But we generally can't see that by ourselves. You know what my coach always says? You can't read the label inside the bottle.

Nope.

It's the truth. You can't.

We're.

We're. We are very close to what we do. It's our baby. Right. So we're not going to see when something isn't quite fitting together or when something isn't quite working or when we're in our own way, like we typically tend to do as human beings. You know, that's why we need coaches. That's why we need mentors. That's why we need people to point out that, you know what? I don't think that this is really what you want.

Right.

You know?

Yeah. And put some line in there again, that group to actually be the sounding board. And for. I always love to say, like, the people that are at the table with you. Right. Yep. Who's sitting at the table with you, of your. Your board of advisors, or board of directors, however you want to call it, who are cheering you on and helping you see the good, the bad, and the ugly.

Yeah. Yeah. Because, you know, we can sometimes be our own worst enemy, just like we can be our biggest supporter. Yeah. You know, and. And we just. We have to really be onto ourselves when we find ourselves thinking or doing something that really isn't serving us because we attract ultimately what we are at the end of the day. So the work is always to work on us.

Right. And I love that we always have to attract, you know, like, attracts, like our vibe, attracts our tribe. So, Allison, what is. What are some of the biggest things that are coming up in your business?

You mean what I'm. What I'm working on or what's coming up?

Yeah, what's your. Yeah, what's your. What are you working on?

Well, we're continuing to offer, like, amazing retreat experiences in person. Connection is critical, I think, for growth and I feel like for a. For businesses out there that are looking to add a really unique client experience or looking for a way to really maximize customer retention or whatever it is, whatever your business model is. You know, retreats and small events are a great way to do that. And so we're really doing a lot more work in that space than we have really in the last several years. We're working right now on a pretty exciting new development that I really can't talk about publicly yet, but I will be soon and maybe I'll come back and we can talk about it, but definitely. But this is an area that I think is. Has amazing potential and opportunity right now, and we're really grabbing onto that and just. And making the best of that. You know, we still have both of our podcasts that are both very successful, still love doing all of that. And, you know, we do. We continue to, you know, work with all of our, you know, clients on helping them build the business models that are in their vision, you know, combining the in person and the online together. Because that's really the future.

Yeah, I love it. Allison, I could talk to you forever about this because I think you are such a wealth of knowledge and you have given our listeners some amazing nuggets. So, listeners, you have to do me the favor. Reach out and connect with Allison. I'm going to put all of her information in the show notes. Yeah, you can connect with her on LinkedIn, you connect with her on Facebook, all the places. I will make sure that those are in the show notes. But do me the favor of connect with her and check out her retreats. I've been trying to get on one.

We're gonna get you on one soon.

I will. I will be on one.

So we're gonna get you on one soon.

It will happen.

We just.

Our timing hasn't been right, but the time will line up soon.

It will.

Yeah. So do me the favor, connect with Allison. Look at her retreats. She's truly amazing. And then also do me the favor and share this episode with a business colleague friend, because I know that there is somebody out there that you know who needs to hear this message. And then lastly, we have a brand new school community called Unstoppable Success. I'll put that in the show. Notes to first hundred people. It's for free, so be one of those first 100 people on this school. Unstoppable Success. This is the Unstoppable. This is Unstoppable Success, the podcast, and I am your host, Jaclyn Strominger. Allison, thank you so much for joining me. I so appreciate it.

Thank you, thank you.