Growing the Minimalist Movement with Allie Casazza

Blogger, Podcaster, and Encourager – Allie Casazza

Allie Casazza is from Southern California, married her junior high sweetheart, and is a mom to 4 young children. She inspires and encourages her audience at AllieCasazza.com, is the host of The Purpose Show, and is the creator of Your Uncluttered Home – an online decluttering course that earned her national attention for her philosophy of simple motherhood.

Her business is built on minimalism and how we can all live a more purposeful life if we cut out all of the stuff to create space for enjoying the life we’re living! She has been featured on The Today Show, Good Morning America, The Huffington Post, and even ABC News. Everyone has really taken to her realistic, doable mom-friendly, philosophy of minimalism and simplified living!

“If we’re living abundantly, we have so much more to give and so much more whitespace to pursue our purpose and change the world.” – Allie Casazza

Episode Highlights:

• What made Allie to start the minimalism movement in her business
• How to get started with minimalism (and not get overwhelmed)
• Learn how Allie changed her mindset (valuing life over money and self)
• Learn how to create great habits in your personal and professional life
• How to get your kids to adopt a minimalist lifestyle

Connect with Allie:

Facebook
Pinterest
Instagram

Websites:

AllieCasazza.com
The Purpose Show
Your Uncluttered Home

Transcript: Download

Video Transcription provided by GMR Transcription Services.

Jaime Masters: 	Welcome to Eventual Millionaire and today on the show we have Allie Casazza. You can check her out on alliecasazza.com or Google for her if you can?t spell it. She has a minimalist mom movement. That?s what I call it, not what she calls it. I highly, highly recommend you check out her site. Thanks so much for coming on the show today. 

Allie Casazza:	Yeah, thank you. I?m super excited to chat with you. I?ve been looking forward to this for a while. 

Jaime Masters:	Oh, awesome and it?s funny. I was just telling you right before that I literally went downstairs after I read a quote from your website when I was prepping again that talked about stress and clutter, and I was like you know what? I?ve got 15 minutes. I?m gonna just clear out some clutter. So, do you remember what that study was about stress, and clutter, and all that fun stuff?

Allie Casazza:	There are two that I talk about a lot. One was done by The Center for Health and Families, I think it?s called, at UCLA, and they did this huge study on the breakdown of the relation to clutter and high cortisol, which is the stress hormone. Then there was another one that was done at Harvard maybe 10 years ago now, and it showed that you would have at bare minimum 40% less housework if you just didn?t have clutter, and clutter was defined as anything that?s not being loved or being used regularly.

Jaime Masters:	So no wonder why this ?

Allie Casazza:	So everything. 

Jaime Masters:	Movement is kind of a big deal. Exactly, right?

Allie Casazza:	Yeah. 

Jaime Masters:	I looked around the house and was like oh, I thought I loved that. I used to be a minimalized, and then I had children. I so appreciate you bringing this up. What made you really be inspired to even start this movement?

Allie Casazza:	I think like all good movements, it was born out of my own pain and my own figuring out. I know that minimalism itself has been around forever, but I had never really heard of it. It wasn?t like a hot button word, like a trend like it is now. There were no documentaries or many books about it, at least not popular ones, and so I didn?t really know that I was pursuing that or that it was called that. I just was kind of like at a place in my life where I was really struggling with depression, like the situational depression of just too much in my life, and I had three really young kids. I have four now, but I had three at the time and just this feeling that everybody said this is how it is. Good luck. It?s so hard. Yep, I don?t remember when the last time I peed alone and just this dumb lie that we all have been told to believe like it?s just a total crap shoot and good luck but also carpe diem because it goes so fast. 

I just was waking up every morning already too exhausted to even begin to think of doing what I had on my list for that, and I really believe that we are called to live a good, a joyful, and abundant life. I really believe that?s why we?re here and out of that, if we?re living abundantly, we have so much more to give and so much more whitespace to pursue our purpose, and change the world, and do what we?re here to do, and raise good humans, and have healthy relationships, and all of those things. So I knew that but I was like where is that? It?s not happening here. A very long story, short, I just had a moment where I was like all I?m doing is maintaining my life instead of living it. What if there was just almost nothing to maintain and I purged, physically, everything, and that spilled over into my commitments and my calendar. As I started a business years later, minimalism is absolutely a part of the way I make decisions in running my business, and in money, and everything. So it kind of just turned into this empire, not meaning to sound like I?m amazing, but it turned into this big movement because people need not because of me, because people relate and want this because it?s so anti-culture.

Jaime Masters:	Yeah and it so resonates with everybody too. I remember I?ve had digital nomad friends with no kids that are like I have 17 possessions and I?m like, that?s great and everybody goes just wait till you have kids because I feel like the level of insanity that is not your insanity, that whitespace that you were talking about just goes to almost zero let alone the tiredness, exhaustion, not enough sleep piece. How do you tell people to start because normally even with the art of magic ? you know what I?m talking about. 

Allie Casazza:	Yeah. 

Jaime Masters:	Mary Kondo. 

Allie Casazza:	Magical, yeah. 

Jaime Masters:	Yes. I can?t even say what it is. How perfect but it adds more to your plate. It?s like by the way, now you have to redo your entire life and it feels like that. So how do you have people start so it doesn?t already feel more overwhelming to do more things?

Allie Casazza:	Yes and I think also I wanna say that motherhood and overwhelmed do not need to be besties. It?s a lie. It?s chaos. It?s good chaos, fun chaos, but the bad chaos is the kind of chaos we put on ourselves by making it harder than it needs to be. I also think that the other types of minimalism, various popular books, including the one you mentioned is almost like legalistic like clean out your bag very time you come home. Line up your carrots in the draw. I am so sorry, but I don?t give a rip if my carrots are lined up in the drawer, in the crisper. It?s not about organization for me. I don?t need organization because there?s just less. So it?s just easier. 

I like to just kind of breathe that life over people before they even begin because a lot of times since I started my business, minimalism has become a trend, and so people have these predispositions about it, and so take that off of you. It doesn?t need to be that, and you can kind of pick. Some people wanna go all in, and they just wanna do the entire house in a few days or a couple weeks. That?s fine but you don?t have to. Ten minutes makes such a huge difference. Do a drawer like you did today. Open up the closet and just kind of purge the junk in there while your kids are watching a show on Saturday morning before you go to baseball. It can be little bits. 

It is so therapeutic to make those decisions about physical things. It will spill over into the other parts of your life and make you kind of like this essentialist like you only need what is really going to move the needle forward in your business, in your home, in your family, in your relationships. But pointedly to answer your question, I like to start in the bathroom because if you struggle with sentimental stuff or like oh, I don?t know, like you need momentum in making decisions, that?s a great place because not a lot of people keep sentimental items there. It?s really easy yes or no things like that old eyeshadow from your prom 25 years ago that really shouldn?t be here. It?s easy to be like this is broken. I use this every day. This red lipstick is far too old, whatever it is. So it?s an easy place to build momentum. 

Jaime Masters:	What?s so funny is downstairs. I haven?t had coffee. I used to all be about coffee all the time, but I really haven?t had coffee in months now and yet the coffee maker was right there, you know what I mean, because ? 

Allie Casazza:	Yeah. 

Jaime Masters:	It always used to be right there and I just moved it. It was like now I have so much room. It?s so subtle. So I literally was just looking around going the cleaning people are coming tomorrow and now I?m gonna have more space, which again is weird how it relates to your brain space but it really, really does especially when people are dealing with kids, family, business, and all the other tasks that they have. What I wanna get into is how did you even start this as a business? So it worked for you, awesome. What did you do to even start the movement that is way bigger than you?

Allie Casazza:	At the time that I was actually living this out, like I shared in my story with you, I had a little hobby blog. I?ve always been a writer. I like to share. It made me feel like I had, I don?t know, purpose is the wrong word because that really wasn?t it. It just was like I really enjoyed sharing what I was dealing with, and I had had postpartum depression. So I had shared about that before, and I was building a little, very small, like a couple hundred people tribe. I started to share with them, and it just picked up steam, and they were sharing. It kind of built up to like a few hundred people, and it was very small because I was really sporadic. You?re not supposed to do that. But it just was for fun. 

Then we moved to the mid-west on the promise that the job would be amazing, that there would be a pay raise. He would be home more because we were barely making ends meet her in southern California, and it was really, really, really, really hard and completely brokenness like cars repossessed, having to move, just awful, humiliating. So we moved and they had completely lied about the job. It was actually $4.00 less per hour than they said. The hours were worse. It was really, really bad. 

So I had basically had had enough with the corporate, you?re just a number. They don?t care. I always have had an entrepreneur side in my but never really did anything with it. I was just focused on having my babies, and I had health issues and all these things. I just had had enough. I remember where I was standing. I was at the park watching the kids play. I?m from the dessert. So I?m in the mountains of Arkansas in January, and my kid went down the slide and like icicles came off the slide, and I remember just being like what the eh, like where are we and just having this moment with God like where did you bring us here. 

I don?t know where your listeners stand. Everyone has different beliefs but for me it was this moment spiritually just like, you know why I brought you here and you keep avoiding it, and I knew what I needed to do. I researched. I launched an e-book. It totally failed. It was so embarrassing. It didn?t make any money. I researched what else I could do. I found this new thing called courses, and you could talk, and video, and they could see you, and I could show them decluttering, and that was like I can do that. That is what fits my voice better. 

So I launched it was called Purge Your Entire Home at the time. I?ve learned since that you don?t want the word purge in your business model. It?s Your Uncluttered Home now but I launched it and in the launch, I did little webinars for my mom and a few other people. It picked up steam. I kept doing them, and one day it beat my husband?s income for the month, which wasn?t hard to do, but to us he was like what. We had a huge party. We baked a cake, and it got to a point where his job was getting worse and worse, and so he just quit without proof that the business was gonna work. I do really well being pushed into a corner like that. So I just went all in. It wasn?t a matter of I hope this becomes a movement. It was like it has to not just because of money but because of the message. I really believe it changed my life. My depression left and never came back. We had another baby, and we moved so easily across the country. I believe it and so the teaching and the passion just comes out of me, and that started the movement from there. 

Jaime Masters:	Okay. I have so many questions about that story especially because through pain, especially entrepreneur types. We?re stubborn so we need to be hit upside the head a handful of times before we actually take movement. As soon as you found out that your husband was making less and working a lot more, you could?ve been like let me just try it. But you were like and the icicles and the things, and everything, and you had this moment. But a lot of people have had that moment and still don?t do anything with it. So what do you think really made the difference in that moment?

Allie Casazza:	First of all, I definitely think that there?s a personality aspect. I don?t think that?s everything. So if you don?t have my personality, I don?t want listeners to think like oh, well, but I do think it was a piece of it. I?m super driven and when someone says that this is crazy, or this isn?t gonna work, or it feels like no one?s doing this, I just wanna do it more and prove it wrong. I also was tired of my life, our joy, if we could go out to dinner or not being determined by somebody who didn?t even know us, didn?t care that we existed, and I had just seen. 

This is a very large, everyone knows this company?s name, a very well-known household company, and they were awful. They didn?t care about their employees at all. We saw deaths happens on the job because there was electricity and stuff involved, and they would just do the ho hum like oh, okay, I guess you could have a couple hours off to go to the funeral if you have to and back to work. They just didn?t care, and we were really suffering. Vacation was not even in our vocabulary. There was nothing, no joy, no freedom there. I hate when people, especially in webinars, and then I had an epiphany. But it?s like I really did have this moment of like this is not okay. I can change this. I really didn?t want to do ads on my site, but if that?s what it took, I would?ve done it. I didn?t know if it was gonna be that, or a product, or what, but I just was determined. Then it was through researching and seeing other people doing it, like I found Mariah Coz who is the founder of Femtrepreneur, and she was younger than me and she had this really bad, hard-life story. I always forget what those are called when they share the breakdown of the money they made that last month like when people are just really open about it. 

Jaime Masters:	Oh like an income report?

Allie Casazza:	Yeah. She had made like $75,000.00 in 30 days, and I just remember I had never heard anything like that, and I was like oh my gosh. I showed my husband, and I just am the kind of person that is like if she can do that, then I can do it even better. I can do anything, and that?s just how I was raised. I think all of those things combined, I just had that drive. I was sick of where we were at. And I also really didn?t want it to take a long time. I didn?t want it to take years. I kept reading, about 12 months later I finally made $5,000.00 a month. I had really specific goals almost downloaded into me, and I was determined to be a millionaire, to change the world, to fund nonprofits, to have thousands of women knowing my name and talking about me at Bible studies and mom?s groups just to help them, and that is a really big goal. So I think when you?re aiming for that, it?s easy to get all the beginning parts, the beginning stepping stones stepped on way sooner.

Jaime Masters:	That?s so interesting that you have that perspective though too because on the opposite side, some people are like it?s such a big goal that the beginning really makes a huge difference like you failed at your first e-book. So if you failed at that and you?re like I can?t even do an e-book right. You could?ve completely stopped then, and you kept going. Don?t get me wrong, I?m sure there?s been a whole bunch of things along the way that you?ve learned especially coming from if you have your cars repossessed that?s a money mindset and all sorts of stuff that I grew up in also. So how have you been able to change how you think about money because if $75,000.00 was like oh my gosh I can?t even imagine per month and yet you?re like, I can do better than that. That?s very impressive. Show me the trajectory of how your mindset has changed.

Allie Casazza:	Like I said, I?m just a driven person. So seeing that I didn?t just think I wanna do that. My old mindset was like if I could just have $5,000.00 everything would be fixed. I was just so determined, and again I really believe there was this like spiritual aspect to this, this knowing that there was something big about to break, and I was ready for it. Saying it and thinking it is one thing, but when it actually came down to making money, that?s when all the money stuff came up. In 2017, I went to a therapist because I was having night terrors and sweats and this recurring nightmare of the repo guy banging on the door and me with my kids in the laundry room like it?s okay. We?re just gonna play Mario on my phone for a second and just like panic. She was like you have PTSD. This is really bad. I thought that was just for soldiers. I didn?t know, and so I realized then this is really serious. She?s wanting to give me drugs and all these things because of money. I think there?s a story here. 

So then I found Money Mindset, Denise Duffield-Thomas, who I love, and I realized I come from a Christian background and that is not there. It is just like pray, and then you?re good. Sometimes that is just an aid. Sometimes you need help. Other people have resources to help you heal, and so I really dove into that. I began to practice gratitude, and practice affirmations, and deal with my money blocks. My biggest one at the time was I told you go to college. You have this privilege. You go to college or you will be flipping burgers your whole life. That was kind of my dad?s joke, but he meant it because he?s an immigrant from Cuba. So you didn?t go to college. You did what they wanted you to do. So this freedom was a very big deal. I didn?t finish college. I got there and two seconds later was like I hate this. I wanna either be an entrepreneur or just like I already had met my husband, so I was like wanna get married and figure it out. 

I felt like if I make this money, I?m proving my dad wrong and I love my dad. So it was like this subconscious keeping it. As soon as I dealt with that one, I had a $20,000.00 a month, literally overnight. It was like a breakthrough spiritually. I went to sleep. I woke up the next morning. I had gone viral, and there was an opt-in in that post. So my list exploded. ConvertKit shut me down and said I was a spammer, and there was like $20,000.00 in PayPal literally overnight. Of course everyone else was like that?s great, congrats. But I was thinking like, oh my gosh, with the breakthrough comes money breakthrough. So if you deal with your money blocks, you really do open up space for more money to flow. So that taught me a very valuable lesson. Any time my business isn?t doing well I know something?s going on, and I think that is power to have that knowledge. 

Jaime Masters:	Yeah that you actually have control over things instead of being like oh it?s the market, or it?s this, or it?s that, and we are blamers typically as entrepreneurs. Like it has to be outside of me because it can?t be inside, and we know all too well, everybody that listens to this show, that almost everybody that comes on the show is like by the way, it?s usually in here. You said I took care of it. How did you actually take care of it? Was it therapy or how do you know you can work through those beliefs? 

Allie Casazza:	I definitely went to therapy for a little over a year, and I just kind of felt like I think I?ve got the tools that I need to now maintain this and live my life in a way where I can check in with myself. But I really, really found the value in speaking life over your business and over yourself. I even do this with my kids now and my marriage, but just speaking where am I headed and saying that as if you already have it can feel a little crazy but really speaking like I have a successful business. I wake up with the best job in the world. My success is assured. Everything that I have is God?s. I am generous with the money that I already have. I?m grateful for making ? I change that one to whatever my next goal is.  So right now it has been, I?m grateful for making $200,000.00 a month, and we just had our first $200,000.00 month. So that will stay there for a few months. Then when it?s normal, because it will be normal, I?ll go up to $350,000.00. I update it, and I?m live in my business. I?m present with it. 

I?m checking on the numbers, and I say thank you Karen for buying Your Uncluttered Home. Thank you Stacy for buying Unburdened. I?m grateful and ready, and there is no blockage there. So it?s very difficult for a block to form because I?m constantly consistently doing this, and the way I got over the money blocks was by doing that in the first place. But now I still do. It?s not like I?m healed. I?m good. You know new level, new devil. There?s always gonna be something super difficult and pressure filled that?s going to sneak in if you don?t meditate, and pray, and get out of the office. Take a walk and process, and say thank you, and practice gratitude, and get still. 

Jaime Masters:	I hear a lot of people, especially busy moms or busy dads that are just like that?s great. I know I do affirmations sometimes or I do meditation sometimes, but it?s not actually a habit. How did you actually make it into a habit? 

Allie Casazza:	Actually, part of things that I teach is called rhythms. It?s like the type B person?s anecdote to routines that don?t stick. Basically, you attach a rhythm to something that you wanna do habitually to an anchor event. An anchor event is something that always happens no matter what. Every day I wake up, God willing. Every day I eat lunch. Every night I brush my teeth. So I attach things that are important to me to those things. So it?s habit. I wake up. I switch on the laundry. I make coffee. I do my morning ritual, and my morning ritual is comprised of all those things and some exercise. So it?s just habit. It?s weird if I don?t do it one day.

	Recently, I went down to LA and stayed overnight with my daughter and I had a TV appearance the next day. I didn?t do my morning ritual because I had to be at the studio at 7:30 in the morning, which is when I normally wake up. So I didn?t do it that day, and I felt it. I wasn?t like in a terrible mood. I felt like something was missing, like there was a hole, and I just didn?t feel as positive that day. I gave at the TV thing. I gave, and gave, and I was just drained. So the next day, I was home. I did my morning routine, and it was life giving, and back to normal. 
 
It?s nonnegotiable. For me, getting into the hot mess mom culture and getting back into normal motherhood like oh I just can?t. I?m just tired. The kids hear me in the morning. You?re the parent. You set the rules of the house. What do you want? What do you want for your life? For me, I don?t want to be the type of woman that has motherhood as an excuse to not have my own care and my own life. I want my kids to see me being brave, and having mental health, and self-care. I want them to see that. It?s important to me. So it?s nonnegotiable. This is our morning. This is what you guys can do. I?m gonna be on the porch doing this, and that?s it, and we homeschool too. So there?s a lot of flexibility there. Otherwise, maybe I would do it when they were in school but whatever it is, you have to decide what you want and the kind of person you wanna be. Those daily actions add up to that.

Jaime Masters:	I love this. So I wanna talk about the kiddo side too because I have kids, and is very easy to use everything as an excuse when you?re in motherhood. There?s this and there?s that. So how do you get your kids on board? I get the modeling of it, and I get then that they?ll by osmosis do that, but beside the fact of just wagging the finger at them, what have you used for tactics that get the kids a little bit more on board especially with like the morning ritual kind of stuff?

Allie Casazza:	Actually, one thing that I?ve noticed, and this has been really recently, I?m sure you understand what I mean, it?s hard sometimes to analyze what you do, when it?s just what you do. Then people come out of the wood work, and they?re like how do you insert question, and then you?re like, I?ve never thought about it. It?s just what I do. But I have noticed lately that one thing that we do in our house that seems to not be super common is I really talk to my kids. They know what?s going on in the business. They are fully aware that we just had our biggest month ever. We celebrated with them. We all went out to dinner. They were there. They stayed up late with us on the last night of cart close. They stayed up until midnight, and we watched it together. They?re really in tune with what?s going on and so I?ll just straight up say, I?m gonna go to yoga class. I?ll see you guys in an hour and a half. When I get back, we?re gonna do some school, and then we?re gonna all just rest and a really smooth day. We?re gonna have peace. I speak that over them. We?ll pray together, talk together. They know what?s going on and of course, they?ll pick my meditation time to like put a booger on their brother and start a fight or something. It?s just mom life. It?s fine but I never want them to look back and feel like, my mom worked and she was psycho. I never want them to look back negatively.  

Everyone?s got their moments, but in general it?s peaceful because I say it is and because I exude that over them. My husband and I both together are like just enjoy, chill. Get your cereal. You guys can play with your toys. We?re just gonna be sitting on the porch. If somebody?s bleeding, come and get us. They?re older so we can do it like that. I think it?s just about not making them feel, like you said, like wagging your finger at them and this is the way it is, and that?s it. I think that brings up resistance instead including them like it?s a peaceful morning time. We have worship music playing, and candles going, and sometimes I?ll make them hot chocolate in the morning maybe a couple of times a month if I?m feeling like here sit with your cocoa. I?m gonna sit with my coffee. They?re included in it and I think having the non-typical 9:00 to 5:00 you go to school, I go to work schedule, really creates breathing room for that and that is the main reason that I home school because I kind of hate home schooling.

Jaime Masters:	I love that you say that. 

Allie Casazza:	If I?m honest.  

Jaime Masters:	All right. I wanna talk about that in just a second, but before I get into that what was very interesting to hear you relate is how driven you are but also how your life in general really focuses on peace. Typically when you think of those, at least as an entrepreneur, it?s mutually exclusive like if I am driven, then I have to go hard, and there is less peace within all that. How do you blend the two?

Allie Casazza:	The peace side is harder for me. I had to learn that. That balance is earned. In the beginning, it?s straight up hustle and there?s no way around it. If you try to find a way around it, you?re gonna grow so slow. It?s gonna be forever or never that you reach the place that we?re all taking about here. So that was rough. We completely switched roles. My husband did everything that I was doing as a stay-at-home mom and all I did was work on my business, and it was awesome. I loved growing my business and being the underdog. It was so fun. But now I?ve really seen that?s not the life I want. That was a season in my life and I enjoyed it, but it?s over now because my business is thriving, and it doesn?t need me to be doing that anymore. So I?ve learned to happily exit that. There are seasons of it. I feel like the word seasons is so overused right now, but that?s all I?ve got.  

There are seasons of, the business is really taking a lot and the family stuff is a little bit less, and there are seasons of the opposite. Most of the seasons are the opposite where it?s like very family heavy, and I just work a couple hours a few days a week. So it just depends, but I think I?ve made a choice to have peace in my home, and it?s something that I teach so I?m talking about it a lot. So it?s at the front of my brain a lot. Sometimes I?ll just start to snap or yell. I?m naturally a yeller, and I?ll catch myself and be like this is not what I want my truth to be. This is not what I want my legacy to be, and this is not the memory I want imprinted. There will be some of them, a handful of them. It?s okay but this needs to be stop now. Nothing is worth this and just choosing that peace and actively, diligently bringing it into the house and I said, not having a typical schedule, not having a 9:00 to 5:00 job, not having the kids in school, those are all decisions we made intentionally to create less pressure because by nature, our life is much more peaceful than most people?s. 

Jaime Masters:	But you intentionally set yourself up so that way you could enjoy all that. 

Allie Casazza:	It?s hard to get stressed when there?s not constant like okay school, back to school baseball. They go to an enrichment program like once a week for a full day and that?s it.  All the other days we?re here, and there?s just no morning crazy.

Jaime Masters:	So it?s go with the flow. It?s funny though that you said you were a natural yeller. I think that?s amazing to admit and to be like, and I have to catch it often. 

Allie Casazza: 	Oh yeah. It?s a constant struggle. I feel like as often as I?m like should I have the cookie? Should I have that beer? The same I?m like should I scream because he?s being the worst. Like I have to check it and rein it in because it?s just my natural go to. 

Jaime Masters:	Mine went from I would elevate my voice but instead of that, now I talk in the third person to my children. I?m like Mom thinks that you should ? I was like oh gosh, that feels worse. 

Allie Casazza:	Or whisper it. That?s super creepy. Mommy needs a break. 

Jaime Masters:	I can?t say that I haven?t done that before. Now they?re older at least I guess. Mother, right? That?s super creepy. That?s hilarious. My daughter listens to every single one of these too. So she?s totally gonna bring this up later when she listens to it. 

Allie Casazza:	Perfect. 

Jaime Masters:	You do that mom. You?ve been growing it though because especially if you?re a new business owner, there is so much to learn especially on the online space. It?s insane. How did you understand what your strengths were in that just besides the drive part? There?re a million hats that you have to wear. How did you understand which ones were strengths and which to level up on because online marketing?s crazy?

Allie Casazza:	Oh totally. Well, I really quickly learned that marketing is my gem. I would have had no reason to know that in my previous lifestyle, but once I started the business I just noticed that talking about things, getting people to say yes to things was my strong point for sure so that? really helpful. If you?re gonna be good at something let it be writing copy or marketing and mine was kind of both. But everything else like the designing stuff, the graphic design stuff, was so hard but I didn?t have an option. I had no extra money to get help with anything. I remember the moment, that $25,000.00 day thing, that I needed to hire somebody. I thought I was gonna go broke. I was terrified. I had 7,000 emails in my inbox because of the virality thing and most of them were mean, and I knew that it wasn?t supposed to me to go through it, but it was just so hard. 

I think there is a point where you?ve gotta do what you?ve gotta do. You?ve gotta wear all the hats, and it sucks, and it?s hard, and it?s draining, and it?s time consuming. I would just have a day where I would make all the lead pages, and then make all the opt ins, and then attach them all to the lead pages, and then have like a promo graphic day where I just sat in Canva like I guess this looks good. I don?t know. I just did what I could do, and that?s it. I think there has to be that point and it?s longer for some than others, but then the first thing that I dedicated away from me was answering email. 

Whatever you hate, whatever stresses you out, get rid of it first because the further you can remove yourself from the negative things that make you feel really drained, the more like that was such an investment. Her name is Kenna, and she still works for me. She was the first person I hired. She took away email from me and so I didn?t see the crazies or the like I?m so upset you?re emailing me so many times this week because we?re launching or whatever. I removed myself from that. That was super life giving, and I immediately noticed an increase in my joy, and my energy, and my money. So you gotta do it all for a while and then from there, I think hire the thing you hate the most. What?s going to bring less negativity in your work or what do you hate the most? If it wasn?t Kenna, I would have hired a graphic designer first because I just really don?t like that, but that wasn?t negative. The negative people were killing me. I needed to get rid of them. 

Jaime Masters:	Okay. So I wanna talk about that because I don?t think we talk about the negative. People can just whatever they want online and especially for me, I care what people think probably too much. When you get in business you?re like oh, random person just has an opinion about something. How did you even deal with that especially you said that many emails all at once when you went viral?

Allie Casazza:	The virality is amazing and I think that we can intentionally do that if we work at it, but it?s also terrible because of all of those reasons. I learned to stop looking at the comments especially when your family, like my life was the viral thing. So it was like ow that?s kind of true and really hurts. But I think I?ve learned and this is so over said, but I know that there will be somebody listening that needs to hear it again. If you?re doing anything good, anything worth doing, there are going to be people that just hate it and are butt hurt about something in their past and something that you?re saying. 

What is that expression like everything that people say is a mirror into your own heart or something like that? I should get it right because it really helps me with my perspective. But something that you said is mirroring something back to them about themselves that they are not happy with and so they?re lashing out at you because they were just sitting there scrolling through social media, and you stabbed them in a sore spot especially with what I do like motherhood. It can feel convicting even though I?m really good at saying it in a way like this is what I did, take what you want, people still get upset. So I think you have to realize if it bothers you, you?ve got work to do like meditative processing, like letting go work to do. 

I have this exercise. I don?t know if this is a thing, but in terms me doing it, I kind of just had to invent for myself because I was struggling so much with what people think of me. I have developed this Allie that is what everyone expects me to be. You talk about helping people?s lives be different, making more money, or simplifying whatever it is and no matter how many times I say, hey guys here?s my crap show laundry pile today, I?m super behind like real talk, that it?s not perfect but here?s what you can do to make this load lighter for yourself, people have expectations that it?s always perfect, that every single thing I have is the most minimal thing in the entire world, that every moment is intentional, and that without fail every morning, I have a perfectly quiet morning ritual time, and it?s easy to take that on. Then what happens when it?s not realistic is I am yelling again at my kids and my husband like can?t you guys help. 

I teach this stuff. This shouldn?t be this way. It?s fraud syndrome. It?s fake. That?s not my role to be perfect all the time. I am a problem solver. That doesn?t mean that all my problems are solved. So I have this exercise that I?ve created for myself. This might sounds kind of weird, but it might help somebody. I envision myself holding onto balloons. I can literally see myself standing there with a bouquet of balloons. I?m holding them out, and they have all the words and the things on them that are making me feel like whatever. Sometimes they?re positive, but they?ve just got that expectation in there, and it?s so hard to hold onto that. Usually, they?re negative and I can see the words on the balloons like you are such a fake, or I can?t stand your voice. I get that one a lot. What am I gonna have throat surgery?

Jaime Masters:	People hate my laugh. Yep, I totally getcha.  

Allie Casazza:	That?s awful, your laugh.

Jaime Masters:	I know and then I did it more afterwards, but now I notice it every single time. So it?s one of those things. It?s trigger. You pay attention. Sorry, continue. This is awesome. 

Allie Casazza:	It?s needlessly mean or like you and your husband are so annoying. I hate your posts. Why are you here first of all? But I see the words. I see all of it. I see the expectation, even though mean well, but there?s the expectation there, and I just let it go. I?ll literally unclench my fist in physical real life and envision them floating away. I am telling you it?s kind of weird and kind of woo-woo, but it works. I?ll do that pretty much every day. I?ll take a break from work and take walks and whatever?s been on me. Sometimes it?s like a relationship in my real life. If you?re successful and there?s any aspect of fame to what you do, people drop like flies out of your real life. At the same time, the fake ones come out of the woodwork out of nowhere and suddenly wanna pick your brain and be friends. You know this. 

Jaime Masters:	Yes. 

Allie Casazza:	I?m sure. So things like that. It doesn?t matter what it is, and physically letting it go is so good for me. So I think that?s a really big thing is why is it bothering you? The fact that they said it mirrors something about them. The fact that it bothered you mirrors something about you that you need to work on something. 

Jaime Masters:	I?m so happy you shared that. I?m so gonna use that. I love that. 

Allie Casazza:	Good. 

Jaime Masters:	You?re right. It?s because it adds up. That?s the thing that?s so interesting. I feel like I?ve let go of a lot of stuff from before and that?s amazing, but it?s still like little things at a time. Like my daughter being like you haven?t meditated for three days Mom, and you tell people to do that. I was like come on. Like small silly things that really should not matter at all and that doesn?t totally matter. 

Allie Casazza:	It just feeds [inaudible] [00:38:12]. 

Jaime Masters:	Exactly. So if we care so much about our attitudes and how we feel, because that makes a difference on what actions we take, then we have to be diligent about doing that and those little things will just pick at you. I love the balloon thing. I think that?s amazing. It?s just giving vision to actually getting rid of the actual stuff, which I love. I know we have to start wrapping up in just a second, but tell me about what you, especially with the movement that you have right now, what actually gets you excited? I know that you?re still doing some marketing and stuff like that, but is there anything else that you?re like oh but now next I really wanna do this? Does it flat line? Do you get inspiration back and forth? Tell me a little bit more about that.

Allie Casazza:	When I?m getting burned out, it happens maybe once or twice a year. I start to get a little just like am I done? I don?t think I have any more juice left. I feel empty, and I just need a break. We?ll take a trip or just unplug, just disappear for a little bit, and I need that. But when I?m not in that place, I have too many ideas all the time, too many podcast ideas like should this be IGTV or should it be podcast. What if it was a new book, or oh wait, I?ll do a video serious. You know what? I?m just gonna make a course. 

It spirals but the next thing I?m gonna working on is we?re launching some courses that are specific to minimalism and children, and children with special needs, and foster parents that want minimalism but their kids have what I had about stuff and lack. Things like that like really getting into the niche of this. Then the next thing, after you declutter, a lot of people realize my home is really ugly and I don?t like being here, teaching them how to bring life, and style, and d?cor, and creating a space that you like. I love coming into my home. I love having people in my home. I love designing a space that is me. That?s just a knack and some people don?t have it so teaching people how to do that, like the next step. 

Jaime Masters:	I love all this, and it?s crazy how psychological it is. I haven?t even watched any of them but the ones about clutter where people have too much stuff, and it?s all mental. Clearing that whitespace is what we should be doing as humans regardless of whether it?s physical, whether it?s just mental, like clearing the whitespace and creating openness so that way you can actually come up with new ideas, or see new things, or feel joy because that stuff holds you back. Foster parents are amazing because they do amazing work and go through so much stuff. Anyone being able to help them out is amazing. 

So I know we have to start wrapping up, but I love all of this. You can definitely help me with my style. So I might need to buy whatever that course is. I hire interior designers because I am not that person. So later you can help because I noticed your background is absolutely fantastic. I already noticed. I do have to start wrapping up though. What?s one action listeners can take this week to help move them forward towards their goal of a million?

Allie Casazza:	I think take away all the buzz noise about growing, and getting more, and especially if you?re like me, it?s so tempting to just always be seeking out the next chunk of people, the next goal, but really turn that off and really show up and serve the audeience that you have. This also overstated, but it?s kind of like gratitude. It?s so overstated, but no one really does it. Really quiet that and tune into who you have. If you serve your audeience, and you poll them, ask them what they want, ask them what?s not really serving them so much, you might be surprised by how that simplifies your workload because you were doing things that they actually really didn?t want from you and you?re serving them so well. That is what?s gonna grow you. 

Jaime Masters:	And that?s what people need more of. It?s not the latest hack and the newest thing. It?s serving people. That?s the reason why most of us are doing it, which I so appreciate. Thank you so much for coming on. Where do we find more about you and all the fun stuff that you?ve got?

Allie Casazza:	I made a special page for you guys. If you just go to my website, it?s alliecasazza.com/millionaire, and there?re freebies there. I also do business stuff on the side for people that wanna grow into what I have, and I would love to help you in whatever that looks like. So just head there and check it out.

Jaime Masters:	Awesome and we will definitely link it in the show notes in case anybody can?t spell your last name. Thank you so much for coming on the show today. I really appreciate it. 

Allie Casazza:	Thank you Jaime.

Categories: All, Featured Millionaire Interview, Millionaire Interviews

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