Ep. 273: How This Freelancer Became a Fiverr Millionaire with Alex Fasulo
In this episode, I speak with Alex who is ‘the Freelance Fairy’, full-time freelance writer, Fiverr millionaire, host of the Freelance Fairytales podcast, and author of ‘Freelance Your Way to Freedom’.
She is also a gig economy content creator who shares information and resources to help people quit their 9-to-5s and achieve financial freedom.
Alex has been freelancing for nearly 8-years, detailing how anyone else can make a side hustle lifestyle work for them.
Listen on to find out how Alex helps people break out of the corporate monotony and start living their true divine purpose.
Listen below:
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Transcription:
Debbie:
Hey everyone, thank you so much for being here. I am really excited to speak with my guest today.
I’m here with Alex.
Hi Alex. How are you?
Alex:
Hi, Debbie.
I’m well, how are you?
Debbie:
I am wonderful. I’m so excited to talk to you today because you are pretty much like the guru of freelancing, but before we get to your incredible journey, can you tell us a little bit more about you and why you live an offbeat life?
Alex:
Yeah. Um, so I got started freelance writing almost eight years ago, basically because I could not stand working in a corporate office environment. I was very willing to do anything that worked and freelance writing happened to take off at the time.
So, I kind of ran with it. And after I got a taste of making my first $100 in one day freelance writing, I definitely knew I would never be setting foot in an office ever again in my life. I knew that I was gonna have to work hard for it, of course. And over the years, I’ve just kind of been like a slow and steady person with all of it, you know, each year I’ve tried to increase my output and my bottom line, and I’ve hired people.
I’ve hired other freelancers now to kind of build out this whole ecosystem that I’m a, I don’t wanna say CEO because I’m so against all that corporate stuff, but that I’m the like defacto head of, basically, and now today I’m kind of a crazy person who has pretty much six to eight different side hustles, one of them being freelance writing, of course, that I kind of manage in a very chaotic way, everyday. And it allows me basically, to take off when I want, travel when I want, do whatever I want, basically, because I do all my work through my laptop and that’s pretty much the life I always wanted.
So ,I kind of set out to curate it and then everything else came secondary and never in a million years, could I have imagined that this was going to happen after I quit that job and got on Fiverr. I still sit here and just go, “what the heck just happened the last eight years?”.
Debbie:
It does, it kind of goes in like a blink of an eye and then you look back at everything that you’ve gone through and it’s just so crazy.
But before you even had all of these different streams of income and you mentioned eight of them, the first one that really got you going, was your freelance writing career.
Did you have any background in writing at all before you jumped into that?
Alex:
I had the tiniest bit. So I went to college for political science, which I did a lot of writing for that major, but none of it was the type of writing I do now. It wasn’t marketing, I didn’t have an ounce of marketing education or anything like that.
So, I went to school for political science and then I worked for one year in politics in Albany, that required a little bit of writing, but again, it was political. It was so different from what I started to do on Fiverr.
So, at the time, you know, I knew that I liked to write, but I had never been proclaimed as this, you know, prodigy writer or anything like that. I thought I was okay at it. I didn’t think I was like the best writer that ever landed on the planet or anything. So I knew I could get by. I knew I knew spelling and pretty decent grammar, but that was about it basically.
Debbie:
You were like, I could pretty much just, you know, survive, like I could spell, I can do grammar.
So, what made you decide that this was something that you wanted to start off as your first freelancing gig? Especially if it wasn’t something that you had any previous experience in aside from school and with your job just basic writing for that.
Alex:
Yeah. I kind of owe it to my mom actually.
So, I was working in Albany, I think I was texting her one day saying that I was bored, cause I used to always do all my work in an hour and a half. And then I would just sit there in this cubicle and be like, “oh my God, I have to do this for another 40 years. I’m gonna hate my life. This is terrible.”.
Debbie:
Yeah.
Alex:
And I used to text her and go, “oh I’m so bored at this job.”.
And she told me one day back in 2015, she’s like, “oh, I heard about this website where you can make $5, if you, you know, sell something on it, you should check it out.”.
So, I went onto Fiverr at the time and it was only $5 back then. And I set up a service to edit stuff for people and I was like, “you know, if someone will pay me five bucks to edit something and I’m just gonna sit here anyway. Sure. I’ll do it.”.
So, I had had some background with Fiverr, the tiniest bit, I didn’t take it seriously at all, until I quit that job. And then I was sitting there on the practical side of my brain. There’s always like, I have two sides of my brain that are very in like creativity and practical and they always fight with each other. But the practical side was like, “you’ve been on this website for a year and it’s made you like $200. You got nothing else right now. So time to swallow your pride and maybe see if it can make you some more money.”. And I was like, “good thought, good thought.”. And that was kinda of it.
People I think, always think I had this big plan or it was premeditated or I always knew that I was gonna be the freelancer girl and I always try and make sure I tell people that none of this was planned. So, it’s really okay to be messy with all of this.
Debbie:
Yeah. And you know, that’s a really good point that you’re making there Alex is that sometimes you don’t really need a huge plan. Sometimes it’s more important to take action.
Cause sometimes you over plan things and it actually stops you from taking that first step because then you start telling yourself, you know, you’re talking about your internal thoughts. Like, “okay, well I didn’t do this yet. Then I can’t start it.”.
And then you end up like a year later and you still haven’t done anything. So, It’s better to be messy taking messy actions than not taking any at all.
Alex:
Absolutely. I always tell people that in my social media post, I’m like “perfectionism is the worst thing in the world, cause there is no such thing as perfect.”.
And you know, when you get all caught up in that, then you start to procrastinate, then you start to self doubt, you know, imposter syndrome, all those things pop up as opposed to just diving in head first, like be a crazy person like me, just go off, you know, on a whim, follow your intuition. It’s fun. It makes life fun.
Debbie:
Yeah.
And, and you, you know, you’re mentioning crazy person. You either go it and then it turns badly, but you learn from it or it turns really well. And you’re, you’re like Alex here, it’s like eight years later and you have multiple streams of income. And you’re enjoying your life.
So you mentioned, and I see this a lot with productive people, right? You worked in your corporate job, you’re super productive. You’re able to do everything in like an hour or you know, or two and then you’re super bored and this is the thing, right?
If you’re stuck in a cubicle, people are watching you. So, you’re pretending like you’re working cause you don’t, you’re like, “okay, what do I do?”. So, I think for you as well, like doing these freelance work also worked with your personality and how productive you are because you are being paid by what you’re doing, right? Instead of just like being there.
Alex:
Absolutely.
That was an element of it that was addicting to me at first when I got started and it still is, cause I was like, “wow, I could actually be rewarded for my productivity and my efficiency.”.
I always felt frustrated even in school, you know, even in middle school and high school, I was always very annoyed in class when I’d show up to class and be like, “Hey, let’s get this test done.”. And there’d be like the six kids that have to just, you know, I don’t know, like throw their tantrums or whatever. And then next thing you know, 40 minutes went by and we didn’t do anything. Like even when I was 11, that annoyed me.
I’d be like, “I could just be at home right now on a hike then if this is how everyone’s gonna behave.”. So that stuff’s always annoyed me through life.
So yeah, once I got a taste for, I don’t have to like slow down for anybody. I don’t have to adhere to these made up rules that make it appear like we’re being productive and whatever. And I was like, “This is great. This is, I am addicted. This is, I’m never going back.”.
And I was so happy with that at the beginning and that was me for a few years, really four years before I started to actually open my mouth and tell other people about it. It was just me in cafes, happy.
Debbie:
I love that. Alex is like, “it was just me and cafes, happy, just living my life.”.
Alex:
I was pretty happy. I don’t know if we can swear or not. So I’m trying not to swear.
Debbie:
Yeah. You’re just like, “I’m so happy right now”, did people, I mean, you know, it’s, there’s a huge difference with your aura, with your personality you’re in something or at your job or even relationships when you’re really unhappy and then all of a sudden there’s a switch and you change something in your life and you are just this totally different person that other people see that in you as well, once things started changing for you?
Alex:
Oh my gosh. I think it was probably night and day. When I was, when I was at that corporate job, the one where I was only at for four weeks, I was so miserable. Like, I was crying. I wasn’t texting people back. I was in like a dark place for four weeks with that.
And then once I started doing this, I totally started to, you know, get to know really myself more. And like I say, a lot on my podcast, this whole like freelancing business journey is hugely spiritual, which nobody really talks about. And that’s why I’m happy.
Like more women are getting involved with this stuff. Cause the guys in the past, I’m not saying, I’m not putting people in a box, but they don’t really talk about, you know, fortune 500 executives don’t get on their interviews and go, “so anyway, I talked to God this morning.”, you know, you don’t hear that.
So, I was like, wow, I didn’t realize how much of a spiritual pursuit this is because you have to do like introspection. You have to go, you have to do shadow work. People call, you know, you have to go into your head, into your subconscious and overcome battles with yourself basically to be successful at this.
And I think it translates amazingly into other elements of your life. It’s like triply beneficial. I don’t even know if that’s the word, it’s like three times as beneficial basically, cause you’re doing this self work that you never would’ve done at the corporate job. And I think that’s a huge part of why people end up so unhappy at those jobs after a while because they aren’t being challenged in a spiritual way.
Debbie:
Yeah. And I think for most people and you know, I was in corporate too. I think we’re just so busy just trying to survive and just, right? And just trying to be like, “I’m gonna be okay.”.
And then meanwhile, you’re literally waking up panicking because you have to go to a job that you absolutely hate and you can’t even think about what you really want or you’re talking about spirituality.
Like that’s, that’s not even in the realm of thinking cause you’re just like, “oh my God”.
Alex:
Yeah, but that’s so, you know, even saying that like how messed up is that? I mean, I don’t hide on social media, how passionate I am about this side of it. Like it’s like mental, like you’re like a servant. I mean, it’s just unbelievable.
And these people that I see who will end up on my stuff, they’re at the tail end of corporate or they just got out of corporate. I observe things in them that resemble brainwashing that went on.
Yeah, like actual mental brainwashing. And I was in it for such a short amount of time. I’m a little removed from understanding that like my best friend quit her job last year to work with me. So she did six years and I still see it in her, that feeling of, she can’t let herself just take off Friday afternoon and enjoy it because she works for herself now.
Like, there’s that feeling of, you know, your manager’s over, always over your shoulder going, “no, no, no”, pretend you’re typing. And it honestly resembles people who broke out of brainwashing.
It’s disturbing and it’s not fun. I’m not like laughing. Cause it’s not funny. But it’s just, it’s blows my mind that we accept this as normal. That’s what it is like, that this is normal.
Debbie:
Yeah. Well it’s, it’s understandable because honestly, when we go to school, that’s what we’re told is what we should expect. And then when they meet somebody like you, Alex is like, “no, you actually don’t have to go through that.”.
You’re right. It’s just trying to go back and being like, “okay, what I was taught, isn’t always the right thing.”. There are other avenues to create a life and to create freedom for yourself.
And it is okay to relax and not be fearful that you don’t feel productive if you take a day off.
Alex:
Right.
Debbie:
And nobody’s gonna yell at you for it and it’s gonna be okay.
Alex:
Yeah. It’s just, it’s unbelievable. Like, what it does to people and people always come to me, they’re like, “well, some people like their corporate jobs”, I’m always like, “okay, I’m not talking to them”. But, I do believe the majority of people do not feel mentally, emotionally, spiritually fulfilled by their corporate job. And I could go into detail on why that is.
But I do, yeah. I mean, I see it as one of my responsibilities right now to just let people know that they don’t have to accept that there’s there’s options for you. There’s many options. I mean, it’s a remarkable time to go into business today.
I always say, you know, you can get started freelancing with actually $0 down like $0, which means it’s so not risky that I always say people, you know, why wouldn’t you try it at least, cause in the past you had to get out of business loan, you had to buy the store on main street. You had to, you know, if it went under, you’re gonna go bankrupt, all these risky things, which I get cause I don’t like to gamble.
I’m not big with, with gambling money. I don’t like to like put money into something and cross my fingers. So, I always say, it’s not risky like we’ve been taught it is. It’s not.
Debbie:
Yeah, absolutely.
There’s just so much more opportunities that we’ve never had before. And I think if you have that opportunity, why not take advantage of it? Right?
And I’m sure your parents, your mom, my parents would’ve wished they had this opportunity before because they probably could have spent more time with us, spent time doing what other things that they love. And instead of waiting to retire to actually live the life that you want, which is also pretty sad.
If you think about that or like waiting for the two week vacations that you get every single year.
Alex:
Oh yeah. I have so many thoughts on that too. Especially, here in Florida. I’m surrounded by a lot of retired people, nothing wrong with that. I love older people. They’re my fave.
But I do see, I do see that retirement is not all it’s cracked up to be either. And that’s kind of like the golden pot at the end of the rainbow that’s promised to people is, “Hey, if you sell your individuality basically and suffer at this job for 35 years, we’ll set you free.”.
But then I see these people who are free and they don’t really have anything to do. They don’t really have any sole purpose right now. They don’t really have any fire, you know, lighting them up and making them excited. And they’re almost just as unhappy. There’s a little like lackluster vibe to them too that was in that office job. So it’s just, it ruins your whole life basically.
Debbie:
Yeah.
Alex:
Cause I also think it’s, we’ve been pushed this, “Oh you can retire and you’re done. You’re free.”. I don’t think it’s good for the human spirit to just have no purpose ever. I don’t think that’s how we were made to be.
So, I think you’re supposed to always wanna be working on something really until the day you die. But there’s all those negative connotations when you hear the word productivity or work, cause people are so scarred from these jobs, but they hear work and they’re like, “oh my God, no, no, no. Ew, ew.”. And I’m like, “no, no don’t make it emotional. Like just think of the actual word work.”.
Debbie:
Yeah.
Alex:
You really are your happiest. If you’re working towards something your whole life. I really believe that.
Debbie:
I definitely agree with that because once you stop having a purpose in your life, it’s like, you’re dead. You know? It’s like, there’s nothing else.
There’s nothing else for you to work towards. And you know, I’m here with my parents. They’re retired and they have a purpose. They like, they love their gardening. Like it may not seem a lot for a lot of people, but that’s like their purpose. It’s like their babies.
And I see others, and also that’s what I see the difference between people who retire and have no purpose. And they’re just staying at home, watching TV all day and they deteriorate super quickly than the people that are more active that they do have work of some sort.
So yeah, I absolutely agree with that. And it does, it does have a negative connotation when you’re trying to say, you know, you still have to do things, even though you’re retired, you still have to have something to do to keep your mind. And also that’s really important to keep your mind active and your body active because once you’re just stagnant, then you know, what’s there, just a coffin that’s waiting for you.
Alex:
I mean, yes, yes.
Debbie:
You know, so, Alex, you had mentioned that now you have different income streams. You mentioned eight, right?
So the first one was your writing gig and what’s the rest? What’s the seven of them?
I’m so interested in this cause you’re definitely a smart person. So I’m like, let me take notes from Alex.
Alex:
I should, I need to have a sticky note that lists them cause whenever I have to list them out loud, somehow forget them, which is crazy because I worked on half of them this morning.
Okay, so we have the freelance writing business one, YouTube, two, Affiliate links, affiliate marketing, three, influencing brand deals, four, online courses, five, I just two hours ago launched my own digital products now like downloadable PDFs and things like that.
So, that’s six, then this is when I start to blank cause I’m like, “wait, no, there’s more, there’s more”, the books, e-books. I have an ebook and I have my, first official book coming out in October, oh eighth, my podcast.
There’s actually even more than that, but I’m gonna stop there, cause I’m going to forget, I’m gonna forget them.
Debbie:
I love that. And it also entwines with each other, you know, it started with one. Yeah. And then now you have like all of those things also aligns with your writing.
You know, the books that you, the book that you’re writing and that’s coming out soon, the digital products that you have and influencing part of that is being able to write really well so you can market to people and also, you know, your personality comes along with that and it goes through your YouTube channels, your, your podcast and obviously on social media.
So, it’s kind of like just taking things that you’re already doing and creating income from that, which is one of the simplest ways to actually create income is just, you know, you’re already doing it may as well make money from it.
Alex:
That’s kind of where I’m heading with my brand right now. Like I wanna help people cause I feel like I’ve hit the freelancing thing so hard.
I have every product you could ever want for freelancing. I kinda wanna help people though move into a how to productize their knowledge, which is, well that I’m doing over here and I’ve been calling it knowledge products.
So kind of help people realize like everybody has a unique experience or piece of information. You might not think you do, but you do trust me that you can put into a PDF or an ebook and sell through a website or through a link on a social media, and you know, you can sell it anywhere and that’s passive income.
Once you set it up, obviously it takes some time, but once you set it up, I mean that is my belief one of the quickest way to get to financial freedom and to live independent of money worries.
If you wanna be your most, I’m my most creative self right now because I don’t have to worry about money right now like I did eight years ago because of these passive income streams.
So, I do always wanna help people understand, like anybody can sell knowledge products. I’m just, I happen to be doing it, but anybody else can be doing it too.
Debbie:
Yeah, absolutely. And obviously it takes a little bit of time, a little bit of tweaking, understanding what your audience wants and that’s super important.
But, since you are doing all of these things and you have your hands and a lot of different projects, how do you keep up with all of this? Because I can see it getting really overwhelming if it’s, you know, just you.
Alex:
So for the longest time it was just me and I’ve always lived by a kind of a batching approach.
So for example, Wednesdays are upload the Podcasting YouTube days, Fridays are upload the podcast, write the scripts for the next podcast. You know, Tuesdays are film the TikTok days.
So I, for my brain, I categorize stuff per blocks each week, cause if I tried to hit all eight every single day, I think I’d go crazy.
So, that’s kind of how I approach it, but I do have help right now. And I’m always like honest about this, my best friend is basically my COO of everything. She is the, I always forget, is it right or left brain? Right’s creative, left is technical, right? I always forget.
Debbie:
I think so. I’m not sure.
Alex:
Beside me, she’s the CPA, the tax accountant. I’m the crazy other one.
So, we work really well together cause things that I might forget or misplace, like I misplaced really important documents all the time. I forget about mortgages. She’s the one who’s like, “Hey, it’s the first of the month. Hello? Come back down out of the clouds.”.
So, I suggest finding a person who is opposite to you eventually to work on this stuff with you, but you don’t have to do that in the beginning.
That’s only been the last two years. I did this without her for six years. So I don’t want people to think. You have to hire people. You don’t, if it gets just absolutely crazy at some point it might be a good idea.
Debbie:
Yeah. Especially if you’re like Alex who has a lot of hands in a lot of different things and it can get really confusing too, when you are doing all of that yourself, and I’m a huge believer of delegation because we can’t do everything ourselves.
And like you had mentioned Alex, like, you tend to forget things and then you’re screwed and then it goes downhill from there.
I was scrolling through your social media the other day and you talk about, and you didn’t mention this as one of your income streams that you have bought like properties and houses too. That’s a major income stream that you forgot about. So I’m like, Alex, tell us more about that.
Alex:
I know, I think I shy away from that one because I get so much hate. Like people always say, oh, what is it? Landlords are thieves or I don’t know.
Debbie:
Oh my gosh.
Alex:
I get hate for that one.
Yeah, so I bought, I currently own three properties.
I own the house I’m in right now that I live in and then I own two apartments in Miami. And my sister’s one of my tenants, funnily enough, my mom actually came up with the idea cause my sister, she was gonna get kicked out cause they were gonna raise her rent so much. So, my mom’s like, “why don’t you buy her apartment? And then you can help her out, you know, without raising the rent too high on her”. And it was actually a great idea cause it’s a beautiful apartment.
Yeah. I have two rental properties right now. I’m not sure if it is for me the long term, I kind of, I’m still like in the, in the middle with it, I might, in the long term, just keep my house and keep my sister’s apartment and kind of call it good with that.
I’m not great with like customer service stuff. Like, I tried Airbnb absolutely hated it when people are messaging me saying like, “I don’t like the curtain, I’m like, I don’t care”.
Like, I’m like a hyper aware person that if I think I’m not doing a good job with providing you with a living space, I can’t sleep at night. Like, so I get a little too in my head with it.
I don’t think I’m cut out to be a landlord. So yeah, that’s, I’m kinda in the middle of deciding what I wanna do with the whole real estate thing. I kind of wanna sell the one and just start buying land instead and put gardens on it.
Debbie:
Aww… That’s so cute. Do you like to garden Alex? Is that one of your like passions?
Alex:
I’m trying to get into it. Actually, I have like zero gardening knowledge. I have this big plan like, I wanna make this huge secret garden thing at my house, cause I love being around nature and plants.
So, I’m starting to read books on it cause I really have no knowledge. I’m not a gardener, but I’m gonna try to become one.
Debbie:
Wait, you need to meet my parents then because if you see their house right now, they have a secret garden. This is like their babies and they have fruit trees everywhere and we literally just eat everything from the garden. We don’t even go to the grocery store anymore.
Alex:
Isn’t that so amazing here in Florida?
Debbie:
Yes.
Alex:
I’m from upstate New York where you know, stuff grows for like three months, if you’re lucky and down here, like my stepdad is crazy, he, if I go over to my mom’s, like we can eat a full meal from stuff he got out of the backyard and it just blows my, it’s like so silly, right? That blows your mind. Cause that’s how humans like used to live.
But it’s great, I mean, there’s something really spiritually nourishing about plucking something out of your yard and eating it. Not to mention all the crap they put on our food today.
So I’m, I’m all for it. I love gardening and doing your thing.
Debbie:
I know. I love it. I’m the same way. Like, I’m in New York city for most of the year and I’m like, I can’t grow anything here, except if they’re like indoor plants. So, I’m like, yes, trying to eat everything right now. And I’m gonna try to bring as much like fruits and veggies when we get home back to New York, I’m like, this is so fresh, but I do want to go back to what you had mentioned before about shying away from talking about, you know, owning these properties because of the feedback that you’re getting, right? And I think it’s so interesting that you have to shy away from one of your successes, cause owning three properties. You’re under 30, right Alex? You’re not even 30 yet.
Alex:
Turning, I’m now 29. I’m now just like, it’s somewhat ending, you know?
Debbie:
Yeah, so for somebody, you know, owning one home is already successful in most people’s eyes and honestly in everybody’s eyes, right? And being under 30, but you own three of them, but you feel like you have to shy away from that because of what other people are saying to you.
That’s really, to me, that’s really upsetting cause I’m like, “we should be celebrating Alex because she’s freaking awesome. And she owns three houses right now.”.
Granted, you’re probably not enjoying it as much, but you know, that’s the choice. It’s not what you like, but still I’m like that’s, that’s pretty baller. I’m like, “Alex is pretty baller for that.”.
So, first let’s take that moment to congratulate her.
Alex:
Aww, thank you.
Debbie:
But I think it’s, you know, it’s one of those things that you either love it or hate it, but also I just wanna, you know, get to that fact that like whoever’s doing that, you’re all weirdos and you probably haven’t accomplished anything, that’s why you’re bringing her down.
But yeah, I just wanted to take the time to congratulate you on that Alex.
Alex:
Oh, thank you.
I know it’s sad. It’s, I don’t let it get me down because I know where those people are coming from. I know what dark of a place they must be in, but some days it can just be so exhausting on social media.
I’d rather just post, you know, something about mindset than just get the 500 people telling me to go die. It just gets kind of old. So, it’s sad that that’s how it is.
People have heard me say in my stuff, I’m not trying to make it like a man or woman thing, but I just get absolutely crucified on social media for being a woman posting about money.
I’m hoping that’ll change, eventually. It doesn’t matter if it does or doesn’t it just, I wouldn’t change anything about it, you know, but yeah, it’s just, it is too bad that people react that way.
Maybe if there’s enough of me and yous in the world, that’ll go away, right? I dunno. Maybe it’ll just become normal and everyone will calm down.
Debbie:
Yeah and I think it’s also the mindset because I do have to say there’s gonna be a lot more people who are for you than against you, but it’s always those people who are trolls, right? That, that do call that out. That do say something to you.
And I think that that’s unfortunate because I’m pretty sure, you know, 50 people that are saying negative things, there’s like a few thousand people who are looking at you as an inspiration, Alex.
So, but what I do tend to find with social media and I took like a year break from it because it can be really toxic is, I just go there to post and then leave and not even read anything because people can be pretty brutal, especially with you Alex, and you have a large audience, you know? So.
Alex:
Yeah, it’s like, that’s how I’ve started to become with my social media. And I think in a way that that can be, you know, that is too bad that I can’t be as present with my followers as I’d like to be, cause I do actually care and I do want to answer people’s questions and I do wanna help them realize what’s possible for them.
So, it’s too bad that some of these people, you know, can ruin it for the rest. But I’m in the process of trying to strike a balance with social media. I’ve cut back on mornings and evenings with it and I’ve replaced it with reading books instead, which I’ve known I should be given forever.
And it’s been wild how much better it is for my mental health, I’m also learning. It’s great. Like, I’m happier. So, if you’re listening to this, first hour of your morning reading a book, instead of your phone does wonders, truly.
Debbie:
Yeah and you’re actually living life instead of being on screen.
And I had one of my friends who also took like a break and I took a break for a while and she was like, “Wow, isn’t it crazy how much you get done and how much life you actually live when it’s outside of the screen and you’re not like scrolling through or posting about certain things.”.
And yeah, your mental health just improves so much after that. It’s kind of crazy. It’s nuts.
You know, like even 10 years ago, this wasn’t even our reality. We didn’t even have any of these apps and now like they take over your whole life.
Alex:
Yeah, I was in high school when Twitter and Facebook and stuff started to pop up. I remember, I just got out of high school before it became a thing though, you know?
So, I see a lot of this stuff now. I really empathize, sympathize with kids, people who, you know, teens and stuff who are trying to do school now with these phones and I see what it’s doing to them and it’s terrible.
And I’m very like down the middle with it cause I think, you know, here I am using these phones basically to get my message out and change people’s lives, which is a positive side of it.
But then there’s always the negative. I can’t imagine being 16 right now and everyone can send, you know, post stuff on Instagram, making fun of each other, send stuff in DMs, the bullying that can go on with it, is just, I see it on the news, it’s terrible.
Debbie:
Yeah, it’s kind of crazy but honestly, I’m so glad I didn’t have to go through all of that cause imagine, oh my gosh, that’s way worse than just like bullying at school than you take it on the internet and it’s a whole thing.
But Alex, so let’s, you know, you’ve gone through so many things the last eight years of your life, right? And I’m positive that you’re gonna go through a ton more and you’re gonna succeed in so many other things cause you just have this type of mindset that you just try different things. And I think that’s what people, you know, will get from this is just, try, you know, you just can’t be afraid to try new things because even though you will fail, things will also succeed.
Let’s look forward to maybe 30 to 40, maybe even 50 years from now, Alex, and you’re looking back at your life, what legacy would you like to leave? And what do you wanna be remembered for?
Alex:
Yeah, so, I’m always, I’m annoying when people ask me this question, because I really can’t answer it.
And here’s why though, because I totally live my life, I surrender. No, for real, like, I surrender, I call him God, if you wanna call him the universe, that’s fine. The being, okay, we’ll call him the being.
I surrender to that being every day and I basically get rid of my pride. Pride’s a huge problem, I think for people in doing all of this, I put my pride to the side and “oh, wouldn’t it be cool if I own this? Wouldn’t it be cool if I own that?”. And I just go, “you know what, whatever crazy stuff you wanna bring my way I’m down, I’m down. Let’s do it.”.
Cause that’s what my life has been like the last eight years. So, I really only plan, I set goals for 12 months at a time and I do not set them past 12 months because who the freak knows? I mean at times I thought I wanted to be the president, own an animal sanctuary. I’d love to be a critically acclaimed author who’s written 30 books that helped people and I’d love to travel to every country, you know, there’s so much stuff, I love to DJ. My recent thing I think would be fun is I’d love to voice an animated character on a kid’s TV show.
Debbie:
Oh that’s so cool.
Alex:
I think I’d have so much fun with that, not saying that I’m good at that, I just would have fun at it, but it’s, I just basically allow whatever it is, whatever crazy stuff and my life has been so random because I just kind of sit back and it’s made it so fun and unpredictable that way.
I’m sorry to be so annoying with that answer, but I really, I don’t know what I’m gonna be known for, but I have no doubt it’s gonna be fun and awesome because God slash the universe, I believe has way better stuff planned for us than we could ever think up in our own little human heads.
Debbie:
I actually, honestly, I’m not annoyed. I love that answer, because you’re just open to whatever comes to you and you know, that’s, I think more of us should be like that.
I think we’re so structured sometimes that we forget to actually live and we don’t notice opportunities that are right in front of us, right? We’re so like focused on, “okay, I gotta do this, this and this.”. And then we miss out on life on what it is to truly live and to experience things. And you know, one of that is because we’re always in our screens.
Alex:
Yes. Bringing it back to the screens.
No, absolutely. I think that’s half of why people don’t feel like they’re happier living today cause we, you know, the hyper productivity hustle, whatever everyone thinks they need to have everything gritted out.
You know, I have friends when we were 20, they’re like, “well at 27 I’m gonna get married and at 29 I’m gonna have my first kid and then by 31 I’m gonna get the promotion.”. And I’m just like, that’s cool that you’re pumped for your life. Like I’m not, I’m not hating on you for that.
But, I just know like you can’t plan that stuff. But you know, I just think if you surrender a little bit, but it involves a little self work, you have to let go of your pride a little bit with that. And that’s all the self work that goes on.
Debbie:
Yeah. I absolutely agree with that.
I’ve seen, people in my life who are like that too. And I’m thinking in my head sometimes, I’m like, “oh man, they really think all of this is gonna happen at that specific time.”, and sometimes, you know, what I learned, especially in my twenties was, you plan things out and then you really think it’s gonna happen, and then you’re given a curve ball and sometimes you’re so into it that you don’t know how to react anymore because you thought this is it, right? Especially when things are going, they’re aligning the right way and then all of a sudden you’re given a curve ball and you’re like, “oh my God”, you start panicking and you don’t know what to do with yourself.
So.
Alex:
Exactly.
Debbie:
Right?
Alex:
No, I know and that’s why like being agile with it, I think can make everything just easier if you’re willing to allow the change to happen.
Debbie:
Love that.
Well, thank you so much, Alex, for joining us today, we really appreciate you and for sharing with us, your journey, if our listeners wanna learn more about you, where can they find you?
Alex:
All over the internet.
Every social media app, everything. Probably easiest would be to just go to my website, everything’s linked there.
So, it’s just AlexFasulo.com.
Debbie:
Perfect.
Thank you, Alex, we appreciate you!
Alex:
Thank you for having me on, Debbie.
Listen to Alex’ extended interview where she talks about how to get over the fear of getting started.
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In this episode, Alex talks about how to get over the fear of getting started.
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