Jen:
Alisha, welcome to the Mom's Safe Movement podcast. How are you?
Alisha:
Great, thanks for having me. It's so exciting to be here and get to be a part of the amazing stuff that you're putting out into the world.
Jen:
Thanks for joining me. I'm, I, we did talk about doing this in person cause you're literally down the road, but I just can't figure out how to do that from a tech perspective. It's like now I need two computers and two microphones and two, anyway, it just blew
Alisha:
This is
Jen:
my
Alisha:
better,
Jen:
head up
Alisha:
we don't
Jen:
a little
Alisha:
even have
Jen:
bit.
Alisha:
to put pants on, how good?
Jen:
Exactly. I do have pants on by the way.
Alisha:
So do
Jen:
Yeah.
Alisha:
I, just so
Jen:
And
Alisha:
everyone
Jen:
FYI,
Alisha:
knows.
Jen:
that's right.
Alisha:
Yeah.
Jen:
Okay. Let's jump in the way that I love to jump in. If you can share with us a word to share how you're showing up today and that can be anything positive, whatever it needs to be or not. And then we'll go into a win and then something you've been working on.
Alisha:
Awesome. My word is actually excited. We just, I was just saying to you before we started recording, that I had a really awesome think tank, which we do as part of a Fuel Women's Fitness Business Summit, which is just a group of women getting together, talk about something that's important to us. And so we just, I just came right off the back of this awesome think tank where we were talking about the opportunities for moving women forward in the industry. And then to be able to have this conversation with you, it just, I'm really excited about what can be done in the world for sure.
Jen:
Awesome. If people want to join a think tank in future what you put them up on? Do you send them out in your email list? I know that.
Alisha:
Yeah,
Jen:
How do
Alisha:
we
Jen:
they
Alisha:
do.
Jen:
find
Alisha:
And just
Jen:
out?
Alisha:
on our social media as well. So people
Jen:
Okay.
Alisha:
follow us on Instagram, which is fuel underscore summit. We just kind of do them periodically. So every two to three months, we'll bring someone on that's way smarter than we are that can come and talk about things of importance to women in the fitness industry, particularly around leadership, business, recruitment, all of those kinds of things. So yeah, easiest way is just to kind of stay in touch with us via our website and Instagram.
Jen:
Awesome. We'll make sure all that stuff goes in the notes as well. So excited and what about a win?
Alisha:
A win that we've had recently is we've actually just launched that we're going to bring fuel to New Zealand next year. So that's going to be happening in Auckland on the 22nd, 23rd of February. And that's a big win for us because until now, fuel has only existed inside Australia and New Zealand is really bereft of women's events in particular. And the fitness industry at large sort of gets left a little bit behind and left to their own devices over there. They have to fend for themselves and they don't get to be... the influence of other countries coming in to share their cool stuff. So we're really, really excited to be able to go in and bring something of value to the women in the fitness industry over there.
Jen:
Nice. Is that why you chose Auckland instead of going to another state in Australia?
Alisha:
Yeah, definitely. I think New Zealand has been pretty close to my heart personally. I lived over there for a couple of years when I was younger and we've also got really great support for fuel and it just has seemed like such a natural evolution for us to kind of go over to New Zealand and be able to contribute to what they're doing and what's happening in their industry and then we'll look at other countries and potentially other states in Australia as well.
Jen:
countries how exciting I want to know where would you get where would you go after Auckland
Alisha:
Ooh, I can't tell you, you
Jen:
Where's
Alisha:
just
Jen:
the
Alisha:
have
Jen:
places
Alisha:
to wait
Jen:
that
Alisha:
and
Jen:
you
Alisha:
see.
Jen:
go? I'm like you should go to the Maldives or something like that
Alisha:
Oh,
Jen:
cuz then I would
Alisha:
how
Jen:
come
Alisha:
amazing.
Jen:
on holiday
Alisha:
Yeah, maybe Tahiti, I don't know. No, they'll probably to start with be a little bit more, sort of business oriented locations
Jen:
Okay?
Alisha:
at the start. However, some retreat type things are definitely on our radar as
Jen:
Nice,
Alisha:
well.
Jen:
I love it, I love
Alisha:
Yeah.
Jen:
it. And something that you're working on, and I always think these wins are kind of working ons together, but anyway, yep.
Alisha:
Yeah, sure. So I'm currently working on the Field Speaker Academy. So we actually are launching that in one week. We've got our first intake and it's a six month program that women who want to learn to become confident, charismatic, engaging, and informative speakers can really fine tune their craft if they're already speaking, or if maybe they're new and they're looking to get into speaking, they can come and develop the skills and the confidence to be able to go out and spread their message into the world. So that has made all kinds of obsessed at the moment with, you know, figuring out the best activities in the content and how we're gonna
Jen:
Mmm.
Alisha:
pull this great program together over six months.
Jen:
That's super exciting. And I like it. I've been it leads me into the exact reason why I wanted to, or why I invited you to come and speak on the podcast is one because you've always been such a huge supporter of mine. Like I remember not really knowing you and then reaching out to you through Nards and what trying to get into file X. And then when I think we actually met properly and spend time together in Singapore. There wasn't a lot before that. And I was really kind of blown away by just the way that you openly support other women and other people had kind of done it, but not at that point to the extent that you did, which was really cool. Yeah,
Alisha:
Thanks,
Jen:
so thank
Alisha:
I love
Jen:
you.
Alisha:
that.
Jen:
Yeah.
Alisha:
It's really important, you know, and I think I do truly genuinely believe that we're stronger together. And I feel so grateful for having a number of opportunities in my earliest stages of my career coming to me because of other women
Jen:
Hmm
Alisha:
sort of, you know, either giving me a good shove forward from behind when I didn't think that I was the right person, or, you know, just opening me up by being a role model and showing me what was possible. by what they were achieving. And so it's always been really important to me to be able to do the same thing. And part of my reason for being in the world or my personal mission is to be the kind of person to others I wish I'd had around me when I was growing up. And that means being able to see potential or skill sets in other people that maybe I can identify they're not seeing in themselves. And I think I can see that because I've been in that position myself.
Jen:
you
Alisha:
And so I am just such a big advocate of helping people step forward and be able to do bigger and better things all the time.
Jen:
Yeah, I love it. It's super inspiring to me. And I think when you talk to what you've not had before, and I was chatting to Molly on a recent episode, and just talking about the competition between women, and especially the fitness industry, and we'll get into it as we move forward, but how there's often been not a lot of space for lots of women. So everyone's like clambering over each other. And I still see it now, like there's a specific conference that I'm like, if I know one person speaking, I know that I'm not on that list.
Alisha:
Mm-hmm.
Jen:
which is interesting.
Alisha:
Yeah.
Jen:
Let's start off, Alicia, because you just started, I'm like, let's go to all the places straight away.
Alisha:
Yeah
Jen:
Tell us, I mean, you've been in the industry for a long time. Tell us where you started, why you even got into the industry, and then a bit of the, I mean, you've done lots and lots of things, so I challenge you to put it into like five to seven to maybe
Alisha:
Awesome.
Jen:
10 minutes ago.
Alisha:
Okay, easy. I do consider myself to be somewhat of a pantologist or a jack of all trades, master of none, but very much specialized on the fitness industry. And the reason I say that about myself is because I have a level of curiosity about understanding everything that makes our industry what it is. And I love fitness so much. It's just such a part of who I am. I've got such incredible relationships and friendships and opportunities through this industry and so I'm always looking for ways to understand it better and to explore it further and that also connects to my need to grow and develop constantly. So I'm always looking for not what next
Jen:
Mm.
Alisha:
but what else is out there that I could maybe get excited about and explore. So I've been in the industry since about 2005, so coming up on 20 years, that's aging, coming up on 20 years and started out. like so many of us do, which is on the gym floor as a gym instructor, group exercise instructor, teaching cycle, body attack, body combat, boxing, you know, all of those kinds of fun programs. And then started to move through the ranks of being a fitness manager and then moving into sort of facilities management. I was really, really lucky to work underneath Jacinta MacDonald, who is a huge role model of mine and just someone that I'm just such a massive supporter of because she's been such a massive supporter of me and other women in the industry and from there moved into working with Australian Fitness Network and at the time Network was the pre-eminent fitness organization in Australia that provided education, membership information and events to fitness professionals and fitness businesses and part of that was running the Cert 3 and Cert 4 in fitness and then also we convention. And so throughout the 12 years that I was with Network, I was lucky enough to be given the opportunity to try lots of different things in addition to being the RTO manager, so RTO being registered training organization that looks after the Cert III and Cert IV delivery for the qualification of trainers in Australia. Looked after the RTO, also moved into looking after CECs and we launched pretty much the first online library of CECs for fitness professionals in Australia. was really comprehensive. We had over 100 courses up at one point and then also moving into Philex and so I was heavily involved with the organization of Philex from the program curation perspective primarily and then after leaving after leaving network in around I want to say 2017 I already started growing my own aerial acrobatic studio on the side aerial silks for people that don't know what that is. It's like you go to Cirque du Soleil and you see the weird pieces of fabric hanging from the sky and people are tangling themselves up and then dropping down to the ground, or all that kind of
Jen:
gotta
Alisha:
stuff.
Jen:
go people have got to go check your Instagram because you've got some amazing videos on there if you're doing that
Alisha:
I just feel like as I get older, I'm just becoming more of a kid. I just want to do more fun
Jen:
It's
Alisha:
stuff
Jen:
so good.
Alisha:
and area is one of them for sure. So yeah, had a studio for seven years with an incredible business partner and then moved into working with Animal Flow, which is a global organization that teaches this incredible body weight training program. I was with them for eight years as a master instructor and also did things like curating events for them, putting together their virtual summit. working on education materials and getting to travel around primarily the APAC region teaching workshops. And then in 2018, met up with the incredible Deb Goldberg,
Jen:
Mm-hmm.
Alisha:
who a lot of people might know as being the person that brought Zumba to the Australasia region. And we were lamenting the lack of fitness industry events that really spoke to us. There were so many incredible events on the calendar that we loved, but we still felt there was something missing. And so over a lot of Italian food in Bangkok one night,
Jen:
I'm sorry.
Alisha:
we masterminded fuel and that has brought us to where we are today, which is we've now run the event for three years with a bit of a gap because of COVID. And it's really this event that is designed to just be a place of connection and upskilling and really just bringing the women and some very brave and kind men
Jen:
Mm.
Alisha:
of the industry together for a couple of days. It's just about how do we... have fun together and how do we learn things that are gonna help us in our businesses and our career. And that's where we are today.
Jen:
Amazing. You've done basically everything. Like I can't think of like what haven't you done in the industry?
Alisha:
There's plenty of stuff, but I'm
Jen:
but
Alisha:
sure I'll tick it off. Ha ha
Jen:
your
Alisha:
ha!
Jen:
depth of like, or the breadth of what you've experienced and from being a PT. And I wasn't sure when I, I wasn't sure if you, I knew that you were a personal trainer, but I wasn't sure that you started on a gym floor and a network and owning a gym and all of the things. I have a question about RTOs. So if you were still in that position, what would you be telling the RTOs they need to do different? Ha ha
Alisha:
Wow.
Jen:
ha, can of
Alisha:
Look,
Jen:
worms.
Alisha:
the tricky thing is the RTOs are there in this really tough spot of kind
Jen:
Hmm.
Alisha:
of having one hand tied behind their back because they have, they're governed by what the Australian government tells them needs to be taught. So there's a curriculum that's handed to the RTOs and they said, this is what's called a training package. Here is the training package. You may not deliver more than and you may not deliver less than. training package decrees. The training package is based on industry consultation that is often carried out three, four, five years before that training package is implemented in the world. So the challenge really is that RTOs know that by the time the program is rolled out, it might be based on five-year-old consultation that is no longer indicative of the real world needs for a
Jen:
Mm.
Alisha:
fitness professional to be able to go in and be successful. So I think... I think actually rather than saying anything to the RTOs, I would be saying that industry and RTOs need to come together to provide a better solution that a removes the barriers to entry for people coming in and better equips them for the real world application
Jen:
Mm.
Alisha:
of the book skills that they're learning in order to go and become a really great personal trainer or instructor.
Jen:
That was very diplomatic. Well done.
Alisha:
I've been in both positions, you know, and I've sat in a lot of those consultations, stakeholder consultation meetings in the past. And rather than saying, you know, pointing fingers, it's your
Jen:
Mmm.
Alisha:
fault, it's your fault, it's actually everyone has to play a role. And what I really noted was a lot of industry representatives, gym owners, you know, people that had chains or multi-sites. They really wanted to... point the finger back at the RTOs, but then they wouldn't turn up to the meetings or they wouldn't actually come with any
Jen:
fascinating.
Alisha:
solutions in mind. And so I think it's, it's got to be us against the problem, not one against the other.
Jen:
Yeah, and almost like getting to that government level and making sure that the training packages that are being recommended are correct, or at least moving in the right direction.
Alisha:
And that's through, sorry, there's a dog here.
Jen:
That's okay.
Alisha:
That's through, that's actually through having a say.
Jen:
Yeah.
Alisha:
And I think quite often people want change and they're willing to, you know, shake their fist at the state of the industry, but then they're never willing to put their time into changing
Jen:
Mm-hmm.
Alisha:
it. And if we want change, we have to be the change. And so that's what I'd probably say to industry is get more involved when those stakeholder, you know, meetings are put on the table in front of you, be informed, be up to date and actually go and have a say you know, that's what the courses are based on. And so if it's the same old people sharing the same old information all the time, then we're going to get the same old outcome all the time as
Jen:
Absolutely.
Alisha:
well.
Jen:
How would people find out that is not asking for anyone asking for a friend? How would people, how would I
Alisha:
Yeah.
Jen:
get involved in that or anyone else that's interested in getting involved?
Alisha:
That's a really good question. And I don't know the exact place that you need
Jen:
Okay.
Alisha:
to go, but typically in the past, it's been regulated by, by I think they're called Service Skills Australia. So there are different sort of government appointed bodies or agencies that will look after certain industries. And so at the time when I was involved in the RTO world, and I'm certainly not now, Service Skills Australia
Jen:
Mm.
Alisha:
was the industry, or was sort of the agency that was managing sport, record and fitness. Otherwise I would imagine probably be a really great source of information on that. And so you could, I'm sure you could get in touch with them and they would absolutely be able to keep people updated when there's a stakeholder
Jen:
Yep.
Alisha:
consultation coming up.
Jen:
And I should know all the answers about the Ozactive stuff, shouldn't I?
Alisha:
You don't have to know everything. I mean who would be
Jen:
But
Alisha:
the person
Jen:
what I
Alisha:
to
Jen:
would
Alisha:
talk
Jen:
say,
Alisha:
to? Maybe
Jen:
I would
Alisha:
Chris.
Jen:
say to someone that it's not only the government level and the RTO level, but when Ozactive are doing things, it's exactly what you just said, Alicia, is people jump up and down and stamp their feet and say, this is not good enough. But when there's an opportunity to either attend an event or even jump online. Not everybody does. And it's fascinating to me why people don't take those opportunities. So definitely get involved on the AUS Active level because they are doing a lot of advocacy work for personal trainers. And we don't always see what's going on behind the scenes. Yeah, get off your ass and do something about it is the key message, right?
Alisha:
100%. Absolutely. Be the change.
Jen:
Yeah. Tell us more about FUEL. So
Alisha:
Mm-hmm.
Jen:
tell us exactly who it's for. and what people would expect if they walked into the room at fuel.
Alisha:
Yeah, sure. Fuel is for women, women in fitness. And primarily what we found is who comes to fuel has evolved a little bit over
Jen:
Hmm
Alisha:
the years, but it's ultimately still women who are looking for connection, support and guidance on how to have the most incredibly fulfilling, meaningful and valuable career within the fitness industry. Now that means we get a mixture of people from sole trader, personal trainers. right up to executives from multi-site companies and everything in between. So we have entrepreneurs who might be working in the tech space or within, you know, related fields that aren't sort of gym ownership, but maybe they're things that are connected to the fitness industry. And oftentimes they're people who feel like they're a bit of an island. So they might be working on their own. And this is often the case, you know, if you're a sole trader, personal trainer with
Jen:
Mm.
Alisha:
an outdoor business, for instance. where do you go to get your connection and your support from people who understand what's happening? And that's why things like MumSafe is so important because you're providing that membership and these opportunities for people to feel like they're not so alone, but to go and be a part of something like FUEL that is really at its heart about helping direct women into bigger and better versions of the career that they currently have and advocating for... women and really providing resources and environments for women to go and feel like they're part of something bigger is what we're about. So for someone to come to a fuel event, the number one thing for us is it's people first, business second, and that's how we do business as well. That's a really important value for both Deb and myself is that when you come to fuel, we want you to feel like you're part of something. You belong with us. There's no sense of elitism. You can sit with us. You are part of... our community, the moment that you walk in the door. We try to make it fun as well as engaging. And I think probably the thing that sets our programming apart is there's a lot of personal experiences shared. And the reason that that's important to us is because you can get information anywhere. You can look up anything online these days. There's no shortage of information, but I think a shortage of real genuine connection that allows you to go back into your world and carry that little spark of
Jen:
Hmm.
Alisha:
motivation, inspiration, and to know that you're not on your own is a really, it's, we need it. We need it so much more now than we have ever needed it before. I know I certainly do. And so Fuel is really the place where people get to come and be themselves, connect with others, learn as much as they can and then walk back out into their businesses feeling inspired and ready to take on great things.
Jen:
Yeah, and it really is a great a room full of great energy. Absolutely. And the location last year was stunning. Is that the
Alisha:
Yeah.
Jen:
location? Do you go to the same one every year? Are you moving around?
Alisha:
We can't, we actually maxed out. So for anyone that doesn't
Jen:
Ah.
Alisha:
know, we were at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney this year with incredible backdrop of Sydney Harbour and the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge, but we couldn't fit any more people in. So we sold out the event about a month before the event happened. And we physically were not allowed to put any more chairs in that space. You saw it
Jen:
It
Alisha:
was
Jen:
was
Alisha:
packed.
Jen:
so good though.
Alisha:
Yeah, it was awesome. It was so much fun. So unfortunately, and we were trying to figure out. we use the other room and did it but it just wouldn't work so this year we're going to be at the Hilton in Sydney
Jen:
Amazing.
Alisha:
so we don't have the water view but it's an incredible venue we've got the whole the top floor to ourselves so it's going to be a really awesome day
Jen:
Yep.
Alisha:
and then in Auckland we're going to be at the Hilton in Auckland as well which does have
Jen:
Oh,
Alisha:
a beautiful
Jen:
that's
Alisha:
water view so you know
Jen:
nice. Cool. Alicia, I wanna make sure as we move through this conversation that we're really talking about women finding their voice and also getting really good, I guess, advice, I don't like giving advice, experience or tips on how to start speaking in their, I guess to raise their. the awareness of their mission or what they're trying to get done in the world. Tell me, why do you think women find it so hard to begin with to start to find their voice in? So if someone is a small business owner or even a big business owner, and they know that by using their voice and stepping on a stage, they're going to be able to amplify their message, but there's something holding them back. And we will talk specifically to women in this, yeah.
Alisha:
Yeah, look, it's multifactorial is the first thing I would say. And it's very hard to tease apart the exact reasons that women don't feel confident to share their message. But there are a couple of things that continue to come back time and time again, irrespective of what the message is or what the industry is. And I mentioned before, we just had a really great think tank with Lauren Anderson, who's the talent strategy advisor for Indeed Australia. Indeed is sort of like the, the challenger to seek as far as
Jen:
Uh,
Alisha:
recruitment
Jen:
yep.
Alisha:
is. is concerned in Australia. And she shared some really great stats. And, and I think it's heartening and disheartening at the same time to know that the fitness industry is no different to any other. But what is heartening is to see that there is a move toward women feeling more confident to stand up. But it's taking time and confidence is the number one reason that women don't speak up and say what they need to say. And a lot of the a lot of the behind that or one of the sort of foundational elements in terms of why that occurs is because women that have experienced some form of, it really is almost discrimination in a way based on their sex, their age, their gender, their race, they believe 77% of women that have experienced gendered ages and for instance do nothing because the majority of them believe that it won't make a difference
Jen:
Hmm.
Alisha:
and because they're also worried about the repercussions. So of that 77% 23% say that they're most concerned in a career environment about standing up and speaking out because they're worried they'll lose their job and so I think when we're coming down to the fact that people have families to take care of and mouths to feed and bodies to close if there is a very real belief that you will potentially lose your source of income for standing up and Speaking out then I understand why they don't want to I think something else that's important to consider is that we're in a really lucky stage in the fitness industry where we don't really see a lot of hostile sexism anymore. Hostile sexism is a really overt or blatant sexism that occurs where it's, oh, you're a woman, sit down and shut up. So we don't really experience that so much anymore. It doesn't mean it's gone. We still hear a lot of stories about that. However, there's still plenty of what we call benevolent sexism. I don't really like to use this word because I'm not anti-men by any
Jen:
Mm.
Alisha:
stretch of the imagination, but you know mansplaining where someone wants to sit down and talk kind of maybe talk a little condescendingly towards you because they don't think you're going to get it. So there's still that benevolent sexism which says women aren't as valuable as men or women aren't as capable as men or women aren't worthy of being heard in the same way that men are. And I think when women have constantly been beaten down and beaten down and beaten down with this. it provides this little like a little sprout or a little seed is planted and that seed kind of keeps getting watered and watered and before we know it we have a bunch of women in front of us that just feel like they're not worthy of standing up and speaking out for what they want. I think another thing to consider when it comes to this is also we've been really taught that we sort of have to prove ourselves as women in career environments but in the way that men do. We have to stand up and speak like men. We have to lead like men. We can't be too emotional. We can't, you know, we can't sort of lead from the heart because that's soft or that's weak. Kindness is weakness. And so I think a lot of the time when we have something deep inside us that we really wanna speak out about, we're worried that we're going to be spoken down to or cast aside because we're not. the same as a man would be. We're not professional enough, we're not strong enough, we're not confident enough. And so I think that's just the tip of the iceberg, but they're certainly the two key areas, in my experience, that are stopping women.
Jen:
Yeah, there's so much to unpack in that isn't there? It's, and it also comes down to what lived experience people have had. And I think when you were saying about women being worried that they'll lose their job when they stand up for something, I'm wondering whether do you think that when you apply it specifically to the fitness industry, because a lot of people run their own business, why do you think people don't speak up about what they really feel passionate about. So even down to the, I'm gonna say basics, but I know it's not basics, but getting onto social media or speaking on stories or on podcasts or whatever it may be, what do you think's holding fitness women back in that space?
Alisha:
I believe that this is actually so much deeper in our
Jen:
Hmm.
Alisha:
psyche than it just being about the fitness industry. And I think it comes down to belonging and knowing who you are and being confident in your uniqueness. And that's something I'm so passionate about. I'm an endorsed coach with PH360, which is a personalized health or epigenetics based profiling program that essentially looks at biologically who we're designed to be. And the number one thing that I am in love with this system for is because it gives you this big permission slit to go, I was born to be me.
Jen:
Mm.
Alisha:
You know, I genuinely, I'm tiny. I'm like a little nuggety stuffy of a human, savage, a bull terrier of a human. I'm never going to be a five foot 10 blonde, willowy lean yoga teacher. That's just not my body type. It's not what I'm here for. And so I think. Again, it's that comparison that if we can truly understand that we have a unique message that someone out there needs to hear, and we don't have to be like that person, we don't have to compare ourselves to that person, we don't have to measure up to the metrics or the value that person brings to the world, then it allows us to step away from some of the fear that holds us back from speaking. And in addition to fear, I just truly believe that a lot of the time we're internalizing or pointing back at ourselves around, I won't be good enough or I don't have anything of value to say rather than turning it outward and saying, how can I provide value? How can
Jen:
Hmm.
Alisha:
I share something that someone, one person might resonate with that could change their life or help their pre postnatal journey or that could help their business? So I think it's fear, fear of being who you are and also focusing too much on what people are going to think of us.
Jen:
I agree with both of those things. And when you were speaking, I was also thinking that the other thing that often comes up with people that I talk to is that they feel that there's, maybe someone's already saying that message and there's not space for me, which would then all what loops around to that only being limited opportunities for women anyway.
Alisha:
Yeah, yeah. And that is a scarcity mindset, right?
Jen:
Yeah.
Alisha:
Which is, you know, if we're focusing on, oh, there's only this much room or we can only, you know, there's not enough room for me at the top. And I think that's something that is problematic for women in the fitness industry. And again, is what we're trying to work against at Fuel. And you and I've talked about this before is we truly believe there is plenty of room for everyone.
Jen:
Mm.
Alisha:
There are opportunities for everyone. There is no limit to what is out there for us. And so if we are worried about what we're competing against or what we're going up against, as opposed to worrying about how can I do the best, how can I provide the best version of what's in my heart? Because people follow that. People know when you're authentically passionate about something and when you speak from your heart, it's exceptionally compelling for people to listen to.
Jen:
agreed, agreed. What would you say to someone who is sitting in any of those things to start taking like one or two steps into Yeah, being heard.
Alisha:
Yeah, I think it can be a gradual exposure approach. We might believe that there are two end points. So one is sitting here not being heard and the other is outing myself on social media or standing on a stage, but there are multiple increments in between that. So who can you speak to that you really trust that you could share a bit about what you love? Have you got a client that you could share a little bit more with? Have you got a family member or friend that you could talk to? passionately to about something that is inspiring you or something that you feel needs to be heard in the world and Then go into contribution mode. So maybe you're testing it you're practicing the skill You're flexing the muscle just with people that you feel really safe with and then maybe go into an environment We feel a little bit less safe because that's what true vulnerability is, right? We can't be vulnerable if it's guaranteed to work out So go into an environment like maybe attend a webinar or join a fuel think tank or you know, go to one of the MUMsafe events and speak up, not from a position of being a speaker or a presenter, be in the community, be shoulder to shoulder with people, but when they're asking for opinions or they're asking for questions from the audience, do it. Stand up, take the microphone, say what you wanna say or ask what you wanna ask, and start to become known for having a voice and having an opinion. So I think, you know, they're kind of the easiest steps to start at the bottom of the ladder and... slowly work your way up over time and then when you feel ready for it you can start to bite off bigger pieces like applying to present at a conference
Jen:
Mm-hmm.
Alisha:
or reaching out to a podcast that you love that you feel like you would have something some value to add and putting yourself forward as a guest. There are countless ways to do it and then of course there's social media so a story is a great way to start. It doesn't sit on the grid. It disappears within 24 hours. You could do something as short as 15 seconds but just starting to again. gradually stretch the boundaries of what you're comfortable with and
Jen:
It's,
Alisha:
put yourself out that way.
Jen:
yeah, it's funny. When you were saying about, I still struggle to get up and share either a question or an opinion in a conference scenario. I'm one of those people that, you know when you've got to go around the room and introduce yourself, like if I'm not one of the first two people, I'm like so fucking nervous by the time it gets to me. And it's ridiculous, because I spend half my life speaking now, but I still get very, very nervous before getting on stage. and doing anything. So what I would say to people is just do it anyway, because whatever that scary thing is, like write down the scary thing. Although I think when I'm saying that, and I'm like, I'm not gonna do that. I'll continue to get up on a stage, but I'm probably not gonna ask the question, because that to me is more scary.
Alisha:
Right,
Jen:
But.
Alisha:
and I agree, and I would say that there is a different, people view you differently when you're on stage.
Jen:
Hmm
Alisha:
There
Jen:
there
Alisha:
is
Jen:
is a different dynamic.
Alisha:
absolutely like a bit of a halo effect of, oh, you're on stage
Jen:
Got
Alisha:
and you
Jen:
it.
Alisha:
have the microphone, so you must have some value to deliver. Whereas when you're in the audience, there is a little bit more risk because who are you to stand up and speak? But that's also why that exposure is
Jen:
Yeah.
Alisha:
so brilliant. And so I would challenge, I do this to myself because sometimes fear has really helped me back in my life. And it's never been around speaking because I've been, you know, chatty, Cathy since I was two spits high. But, but there's other times when fear has really held me back in my life. I always stop and I say to myself, what is the worst thing that's going to happen? What's the worst thing? It's probably not death. You know, maybe someone like, I don't know what someone going to boo me or like tell me to sit down or shut up. Okay. That might suck, but it's not going to. I'm not gonna die, I'm gonna be okay.
Jen:
Yeah.
Alisha:
And sort of then reframing it and like flipping the card, but then what do I have to win or learn from doing
Jen:
Mmm.
Alisha:
this? And the win and the learn is always exponentially bigger than what the worst thing is that could happen.
Jen:
Absolutely. Like the worst thing is literally you're in the same spot now, as
Alisha:
Yeah.
Jen:
you were before you asked the thing. And the best spot is you have no idea what could open up if you decide to, to use your voice. What some of the groundwork so let's say people do want to start to speak and use their voice to share their mission. But what some of the groundwork that they need to do to get into that position to feel confident to talk about the things.
Alisha:
I think clarity is crucial. And
Jen:
Mm-hmm.
Alisha:
so one of the most simple exercises someone could start with, you mentioned before, you know, if the microphone's coming around the circle and you've got to introduce yourself, people often get nervous or freeze in that situation because they're not prepared.
Jen:
Mm.
Alisha:
And so having a couple of common practice things up your sleeve that you know that you can pull out when the time is right, will absolutely help bring the nerves down. And one of the best things I like to do for introductions is what I call the three-phase intro. And so a three phase intro is, you know, everyone's been in group environments, like a workshop or something like that, where you've done the introduction and most of the time they're super boring. Hi, I'm Alicia. I do this. I'm from this place and I'm excited to be here. Great. Awesome. But what does that mean? And how does that get people to pay attention or change their state in response to what you're saying? So the three phase intro starts with something like, I'm just going to use personal trainers example. Hi, my name's Alicia and I'm a personal trainer. That's phase one. Phase two, what that means is I help people to learn to exercise well and eat better in order to achieve the health and fitness goals. Phase three, but what that really means is I help people do and be more than they ever thought that they could possibly be or do in order to move into the next phase of their life with the best possible health and fitness that they could ever imagine. And so you say who you are and what you do, so who you are and what your role is, and then you say, explain a bit about that as a personal trend that's pretty straightforward but if you have a slightly more, you know, vague job title or maybe it's something that you know that requires a little bit more explanation it's why we put that there in phase two and then phase three is about here. It's about the heart. It's about really speaking to people and helping them understand why you love what you do and also what you can offer to them. And so have something like that up your sleeve and practice it in front of the mirror. Practice it on, this would be a great first social media post if you're trying
Jen:
Thanks for watching!
Alisha:
to promote your business. Just put it as a video or put it as a story. Practice it with your friends and your family and just kind of follow that, follow the rungs of the ladder as I mentioned before. And that's the easiest way that you can get started.
Jen:
I love that. And I love that you can really start to if people are starting to understand what their mission is in the world, that's where you can really start to put that
Alisha:
Yeah.
Jen:
into that initial conversation.
Alisha:
And if you don't have it, it's a really great opportunity for you to go, oh, I need to go back and get clear about what am I offering? Why am I here? What is my business about? Because I truly believe that people that have a very clear sense of their mission, their vision, what they're here to achieve in the world are also gonna be so much more focused on taking the line of action to achieving those goals in the business. Whereas if you have a bit of a wishy washy response to what do you do, then that typically translate to wishy washy achievement within your business as well.
Jen:
Yeah, and specific words to avoid. So when people say, I just, like little
Alisha:
Oh,
Jen:
things like that where you're
Alisha:
or little.
Jen:
minimizing yourself,
Alisha:
Yeah,
Jen:
yeah,
Alisha:
yeah. That's
Jen:
is important.
Alisha:
one of my pet peeves, and it's typically from other people coming in, is when someone says like, oh, how are you going with that little thing that you're doing? How are you doing with that little business? How are you doing with that little side project? Like, don't you minimize my
Jen:
Fuck off.
Alisha:
thing
Jen:
Yeah.
Alisha:
that I put my heart and soul into? Yeah, exactly. But I think we do that ourselves, and Australia is typically quite bad at this.
Jen:
Mm.
Alisha:
Tor-Poppy syndrome, we're very self-deprecating. We try to minimize rather than standing up and confidently proclaiming what we're good at. You know, you go to someone like the US and people are so much more willing to say, I'm really great at this. And it's not, you know, in Australia, we would look at that as ego, but I would love to reframe that and say, there's absolutely nothing wrong with knowing what you're great at and being able to confidently project it out into the world without being arrogant. There's a difference between
Jen:
Absolutely.
Alisha:
arrogance and confidence. And so knowing what you're good at, knowing who you serve, what you're here to do and being able to... and suck into a neat little sound bite is a really compelling thing for listeners to hear.
Jen:
Yeah. And so let's say that they've done that on their story or they've stood at a conference and they've introduced themselves. What next? So let's say the ultimate goal is standing on a stage. How do you build up that confidence from, hey, I've just done an Instagram story, to creating this whole presentation? Because that's got to take a bit more, right?
Alisha:
Absolutely. And this is totally my chance to put a little plug in. So I'm going to do it.
Jen:
Good.
Alisha:
Come to the Fuel Speaker Academy.
Jen:
Good! Ha
Alisha:
So,
Jen:
ha
Alisha:
so,
Jen:
ha!
Alisha:
uh, so, you know, we put the Fuel Speaker Academy together for
Jen:
Mmm.
Alisha:
exactly this reason.
Jen:
Okay.
Alisha:
And the outcome doesn't have to be standing on a stage. It could be standing up in a boardroom. It could be standing up in a team meeting. It could be, you know, standing up at a networking event, like a, you know, a business networking event, your local community could be standing up somewhere that you need to spook your business or trying to actually just sell yourself to your clients. So the concept behind Fuel Speaker Academy is, yeah, we're working towards being able to devise and deliver a great presentation, but ultimately is something that you could stand on stage like a TED Talk and deliver, but it's about who are you gonna become along the way? And so
Jen:
Mm.
Alisha:
we're doing this in a six month program where each month there's gonna be different emphasis or different focal points. And then the reason we do it over six months is go away and practice it in your life implemented. And so you might've done one story on Instagram, but now you need to keep practicing it, practicing. It's like going to the gym. You don't do a squat one time and all of a sudden you never have to do a squat again. Like you don't become the expert of squats from one squat. It's the exact same thing with speaking and presenting. So, so someone wants to ultimately end up on a stage, then you need to go and do the groundwork to put your presentation together. So come to something like Field Speaker Academy and learn how to actually structure a presentation, how to do compelling storytelling and incorporating that into your presentations. and how to really put the emphasis on the person that you're gonna deliver something to. So who is the one audience member that you wanna speak to? But then it's just really a case of having to do some research on what events are out there, who can you be putting your applications into and be persistent. You know this, Jen, like from getting onto the phylic stage, it doesn't happen the first year that you apply. And that's probably one of the big things that I see holding women back when they want to become a speaker is... entitlement and lack of follow-through. And so the entitlement thing, and I know that this is so tied up with the fact that we have been receiving this benevolent sexism, you know, and sometimes hostile sexism for a long time, it shapes our belief in us, in ourself and of ourself. But just because you get knocked back the first time you apply, it doesn't mean that you're terrible and you're never going to be successful. It just means try again. And often the case for conferences or for events is you can picture it like a jigsaw puzzle that the conference organizer or the event curator is putting together. You are one of many puzzle pieces that can fit in to make the picture and if they say you're not the right puzzle piece for us maybe it's because you're meant to go into the puzzle over there next time
Jen:
Hmm.
Alisha:
and so I would just say you know A don't go in with an expectation to be successful the first year going with hope for sure but don't go in with expectation to be successful the first year. Keep going, keep being persistent, keep showing up in the community, be a part of the thing that you want to ultimately speak at. So come to Fuel or be a Mumsafe member, really show up and be a part of, an active part of the community so that you can't be ignored. And then also just know that there's, nothing is given to you for free. Don't have a sense of entitlement that just because you've been a trainer for a number of years or just because you have been a part of the community for a number of years, that means you should be on stage. Instead, channel that and go back and work on crafting exceptional presentations. Learn your craft and practice it in the same way that to become an incredible coach of mums, you have to go and practice that and develop it over time. That's exactly what you need to do to stand on stage. And so to get from social media to stage, you need to start looking for other events, smaller things that you can be a part of. Offer your services. know that there is value in sometimes working for free. And I don't want that to be mistaken with people devaluing themselves, particularly once they have earned the right to stand on stage and be paid. I don't believe that women should be speaking for nothing. There should be a value exchange. And sometimes that value exchange is that your business gets exceptional promotion. Sometimes it's that you get a great speaker fee. Sometimes it's a combination of the two. But... You know, just keep looking for those opportunities to put your hand up and be a part of it. Offer your services. Hey, I know that you do panels at Fuel. I come with this background. Just wanted to send you an email and just say, I'd love to be considered for next year. Like actually put yourself out there and start to make sure that you can be seen and that people know that you exist.
Jen:
Yeah, I think this again, my brain you talk and I'm like this and this and this and this, but
Alisha:
Sorry, it's because I'm
Jen:
no,
Alisha:
like,
Jen:
it's great.
Alisha:
I'm like scattered in
Jen:
It's
Alisha:
five
Jen:
fantastic.
Alisha:
different directions.
Jen:
I just
Alisha:
Ha
Jen:
have to
Alisha:
ha
Jen:
write things
Alisha:
ha.
Jen:
down and go I'm remembering what I was listening to. But it took me it was the fourth time that I applied to file X to get accepted. So just to what Alicia is saying is the truth. So it's not the first time. And also what I'd add to that is just because you've been accepted at one conference one time doesn't mean you're automatically gonna get there the next year. And that also is not an impact on you as a person. Again, it's about that jigsaw puzzle, or it could be on the fact that you've just handed in the same presentation titles and you do need to get more creative because I've noticed that as well is, what else can you talk about? How else? Because there's a lot more trainers now, if I think about myself talking about them on market. So how do I differentiate myself from... just another conversation around how to work with pre and post natal mums. You can't
Alisha:
could
Jen:
just keep
Alisha:
not
Jen:
going
Alisha:
underline
Jen:
in with the
Alisha:
that
Jen:
same
Alisha:
enough.
Jen:
stuff. Yep.
Alisha:
It's so important. And also, from the conference organizer side, because I was with, as I said, Filix for 12 years, curated other events, now with Fuel as well. And the thing is we can't just keep putting the same presenters in front of people every
Jen:
Mm.
Alisha:
year. Our delegates want something different. Second of all, there might be another presenter that we're bringing in that we have to look for efficiencies with. So if we're gonna bring someone in from overseas, and Filix is such a good example of this, You know, at the peak of Filix, we were running 24 concurrent sessions in a time slot, and that happened for three days straight. And so we brought 120 presenters in to speak at that event. And some of the ones that we're bringing from overseas would have a, they would command a decent price tag for being a part of it. We had to give them six sessions, five or six sessions to make it a valuable exchange for us to have them there. And so let's say that you're speaking on, you know, you want to deliver a TRX session, but we've got like the head of TRX coming out. Well, of course we're not going to be able to pick you because we've got the head of TRX, you know, and the same thing applies in any particular topic area or genre of the industry. So differentiating yourself is so critical. Know what you're good at. You don't have to stay in your lane as such, but you have to earn trust
Jen:
Hmm.
Alisha:
before you can then, you know, spread your wings further. So, you know, we've had great in the past, great technical speakers who have delivered incredible hands-on practice sessions for PTs that wanted to move into business. they had to kind of earn like earn their stripes in this area in order for us to be able to give them a shot over here. So yeah, it's not a guarantee. It's a process. It's a journey. And you won't always get accepted even if you've been accepted once or twice.
Jen:
Hmm. And when you're talking about earning your stripes, so let's say somebody does want to they know what their mission is, they know what they're trying to get done in the world. You know, they've put their application in, what else do they need to be doing in order to elevate their profile because someone's going to go Google them or look for them like what needs to be congruent within the rest of their business.
Alisha:
Oh, everything. LinkedIn
Jen:
Everything.
Alisha:
for a start, LinkedIn, which is like the grownups Facebook, right? Like, so have a LinkedIn profile and try to keep it up to date. I see in fitness, a lot of people don't. And
Jen:
Mm.
Alisha:
I'm look, I'm notorious for not feeding my LinkedIn, because for me, it's another social media thing. And it just like, oh, I just have such a love hate relationship with social media. But LinkedIn, so have a presence, even if you're, you know, a personal trainer that doesn't get your clients from LinkedIn, have a presence because
Jen:
Mm.
Alisha:
That's where a professional contact is going to look for you. Your social media, so all of this needs to be aligned as far as your brand should be consistent, your voice should be consistent, your professionalism should be consistent. You know, reach out to be on podcasts. Do your due diligence in terms of who has something out in the world that you could add value to that in return will expose you to a great audience. Look to contribute as a writer if you can. So... There are always industry publications looking for great articles that they can submit and supply. And so, you know, if there's any other way that you can support that, and now with ChatGPT, it's easier than ever to be a writer. I'm not saying write an article via ChatGPT,
Jen:
No, never.
Alisha:
I certainly don't,
Jen:
Yeah,
Alisha:
but,
Jen:
no.
Alisha:
but use it as a, use it to help you, you know,
Jen:
Idea
Alisha:
help.
Jen:
generator, absolutely.
Alisha:
Yeah, absolutely. Jump,
Jen:
Yep.
Alisha:
a jumping off point for sure. And then networking is so crucial. So come to events like Fuel, go to you know, whatever is out there that is in your sphere of interest that, and even sometimes things maybe that might seem a little bit fringe, like maybe there's a local community group meeting that are all, I don't know, triathletes, but that somehow is going to maybe feed you into the right area. Go and offer to do a presentation for them. Hey, I specialize in pre postnatal rehab. I'd love to be able to speak to any women in your tri club that have had babies. I'd come in and do a, you know, a one hour masterclass with them in exchange for. you sharing about me on social media. So there are so many other pathways in and as I mentioned before it's these incremental steps from I'm not a speaker to I'm standing on stage at an international conference, I've got to go like this so you can see, and take all of those little tiny steps you know knowing that one you might end up leapfrogging onto that stage eventually but just don't sit and wait for this to happen keep taking this aligned action in between.
Jen:
Yeah, and I think the thing that I always consider is where do I want to be in two, three, five, 10 years time? And how can I just take those little incremental actions that might not feel super relevant to what I'm doing now? So an example of that would be if I want to be, if I'm a local personal trainer, so my number one goal should be to become locally famous, known in my area for what I do. But if on my radar is down the trap, I want to speak on stages or I want to launch an online program or I want to do something like that. I then need to start to become what I call beyond locally famous. So I'd need to widen my scope. And how do you do that? You create a presence on the internet. So it's getting on Google, do it, Googling your name and seeing what comes up. Because if all that comes up is some dodgy Facebook photo, you're not moving in the right direction. But if you do literally one article a month, by the time two to three years comes, you've already laid that foundation. to apply for the speaker position or to do the next thing. So I'd highly encourage people that think that even if it doesn't end up being something that happens or that they wanna step into, it will do no harm to lay that foundation now and become known for what you wanna be known for on the internet.
Alisha:
Couldn't
Jen:
Yeah.
Alisha:
agree more highly. And, you know, do that and then go, also like go to the conferences. Like if you want
Jen:
Mm.
Alisha:
to present an idea in the US or CanFit Pro, go and shake hands with people, you know? So 100%, both of those things work so hand in glove. Have the digital presence that people can look, can and will look you up on. Cause what's the first thing that I'm gonna do if someone submits an application to me, to be a presenter anywhere that I'm curating an event, I'm gonna see what can I find about this person. I'm gonna look for video of them.
Jen:
Mm.
Alisha:
So possibly like if you can get either not a show real, you can do that great, but even just video of you presenting to real people, no matter what the environment is, you can set it up and just have a bunch of your family and friends come over and you put together a presentation. But the first thing is like, show me who you are, show me what you can do. So yeah,
Jen:
Yeah.
Alisha:
digital presence is critical and then that goes hand in glove with turning up.
Jen:
Absolutely. Alicia, I'm going to start to wrap us up a little bit, but can you think of an example of somebody that has found their voice and then it started to create a really big impact or has moved them to a next stage? It could be someone from fuel, it could be someone outside of that.
Alisha:
Yeah.
Jen:
How that...
Alisha:
I mean, I think I just can't help but think of Jacinta MacDonald. And she's again, she's just, she's front of mind for me because I'm just following everything
Jen:
Mm.
Alisha:
she
Jen:
Heh
Alisha:
does. I'm like, what's she doing now?
Jen:
heh.
Alisha:
You know, Jack's a really good example of someone that had kind of been behind the scenes for a long time. And for anyone that doesn't know who she is, she and her brother brought Anytime Fitness to Australia. And I think, you know, at its peak before Jack sort of moved on to other opportunities. They had over 400 clubs across Australia and New Zealand. And don't quote me on that number, but I know it was something sky
Jen:
a lot.
Alisha:
high like that. Yeah, a lot, a lot. And, you know, Jack was someone that was just this powerhouse that could really fire people up and that you just want to follow her because
Jen:
Hmm.
Alisha:
she's someone that is really kindhearted but strong in her leadership and very authentically who she is. And over more recent years, I've just... seen her stand on more stages. Recently she was presenting at a Forbes leadership
Jen:
I saw that
Alisha:
summit,
Jen:
amazing.
Alisha:
which is amazing, like,
Jen:
Yep.
Alisha:
yeah, huge to be a part of something like that. And she's just incredible. So I think what she's out there doing is showing this heart-led leadership, being who you are. leads to great things. And she's
Jen:
Mm.
Alisha:
never faltered on that, even when it's meant that she's had to leave money on the table by walking away from opportunities in order to do what feels right for her. So I'm a really, yeah, she's the first person that comes to mind for me. And then I also think Deb Goldberg,
Jen:
Mm-hmm.
Alisha:
who is my co-founder at Fuel, and Deb is another person that is typically behind the scenes. But I'm seeing her, you know, we've spent time together working on her her speaking skills so that when she's on a podcast or when she's being interviewed or when she's on a stage somewhere, she's much more confident in articulating why this mission is so important to her. And being able to see her get invited to more and more of these types of speaking experiences is showing that her putting the hard yards in and putting the work in is really making a difference. So they're the two that come to mind. I'm not sure if that's kind of what you're after, but yeah, it's
Jen:
It's good.
Alisha:
come to mind.
Jen:
And I would highly recommend following both Deb and Jack, both awesome women in the industry who are leading the way from that elevating other women as they as they move forward. So love both of them personally.
Alisha:
site.
Jen:
Tell us Alisha if people want to get in contact with you and find you I know we talked a little bit about the big at the beginning but what's the best places they can or if they've got a question? What do
Alisha:
Yeah,
Jen:
they do?
Alisha:
absolutely. You can reach out to us via fuel-summit.com. That's our website. My email is alisha at fuel-summit.com. Otherwise on Instagram, we're fuel underscore summit. And my own Instagram is its.alisha.smith. And I just kind of post like handstands and random stuff on there.
Jen:
So
Alisha:
It's
Jen:
good
Alisha:
not
Jen:
to
Alisha:
too
Jen:
watch
Alisha:
much.
Jen:
though.
Alisha:
So Fuel Instagram is where we put all the stuff that we're doing around women's advocacy and the events that we run and Speaker Academy. Yeah, and then if you want to do weird handstand stuff, just come and follow me on Instagram
Jen:
Yep,
Alisha:
there.
Jen:
yep. And one last question. If you could change, no, I'm not gonna say change. If you could leave, oh no, I've got the question. And I asked it to Molly, I'm gonna ask you the same thing. What legacy do you wanna leave?
Alisha:
What legacy do I want to leave? I want every person to know that having a career that lights them up and is based on expansiveness and joy and satisfaction and fulfillment is possible. But it's only possible by being who you are and knowing what you want. And so if I can leave any legacy in the world or leave any mark on the world. It's helping people get more in touch with that and knowing that them being them allows other people to be themselves as well.
Jen:
I love that. Thank you so much for spending time with us today. I appreciate you. I appreciate the energy you bring. And I appreciate the way that you really do lead by example when it comes to raising people up around you, raising women up.
Alisha:
Thanks,
Jen:
Thank
Alisha:
Jen.
Jen:
you.
Alisha:
And I can't say enough good things about you. You know, I'm just, I'm really grateful that our worlds have collided and that I get to not only call you a colleague in the industry, but a friend. And I just think what you're doing with MumSafe is incredible. And I'm really excited to get to watch what you do and sort of be a part of it from the periphery. So thank you so much.
Jen:
Thank you. And I'm excited that we're literally down the road, even if it's for a short time. So we get
Alisha:
I
Jen:
to
Alisha:
know
Jen:
do the human to human thing.
Alisha:
how good we'll have a coffee tomorrow. Hey,
Jen:
Yeah,
Alisha:
let's do it.
Jen:
sounds good. Let's meet you soon. Thanks, Alicia.
Alisha:
Thanks.
Jen:
Bye.
Alisha:
Bye.
