Bound To Be Rich

What It Takes To Generate $1 Million As A Freelancer Working From Home – Alexandra Fasulo

EP 17 – Alexandra Fasulo – Fiverr Millionaire, Six Figure Freelancer & Serial Entrepreneur

Have you ever thought about freelancing online for some extra money? Or do you dream about quitting your job and wonder if its possible to make enough money as an online freelancer?

You’re going to love this episode.

Alex Fasulo was so miserable in her 9-5 NYC job that she quit without a plan. She started freelance writing press releases on Fiverr because she didn’t know what else to do. Fast forward to today and she has earned over $1 million from freelancing on Fiverr (she’s only 28!). Her freelancing business now generates over $350k a year.

She was featured in a CNBC video that went viral. People were shocked to learn that you could make that much money just writing online.

Alex has now become a thought leader in the freelancing industry and is arguably the most famous freelancer in the world. She believes that anyone can earn a living freelancing online and is focused on getting that message out to people.

We dig into her story and try to understand what sets her apart? Why was she able to succeed so much more than the average person? How does she get everything done? How does she hire and vet people for her team?

You can listen to this episode on Apple Podcasts and/or Spotify. Also you can watch the video version of this interview on YouTube!

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[expand title=”Click here for the raw, unedited transcript:”]

This transcript was automatically generated using Descript.

Ismail: [00:00:00] Welcome to the bound to be rich podcast, where I attempt to reverse engineer people who seem to be successful, no matter the circumstances, so that you can apply those lessons to your own life. I’m your host Ismail Humet. One quick thing. Before we get started, I am starting my own email newsletter, and I would love for you to join it.

It’s going to be like a personal note for me to my friends of all the best things I’ve come across that month from hacks and tips, interesting stories, products, books, waste to make money, and who knows what else it’s totally free. And if you don’t like it, you can always opt out at any time. So there’s no downside the link to join us in the show notes.

And I hope to see you on the list. In this episode, we are joined by Alexandra Fasulo. She was featured in a CNBC story about how she made $378,000 in one year from freelancing as a writer. It went pretty viral. So there’s a good chance you saw it. Freelancing is a great way for anyone to monetize skills you already have for siding com or even as a main source of income, literally anyone and everyone can [00:01:00] do this.

And while we touch on this subject a lot, you can answer it, follow her for way more detail. If you want to learn more. I tried to use my time with her to get into a lot of other things like how she was able to get so much done what she outsources specifically and how she vets, the people that work for her.

We get to know her as a person. And what about her background may have contributed to her success. We even get into some topics that some of you may consider controversial. I thought it was a really great conversation and I hope you get a ton of value out of it. Let’s dive in.

Alex. Thanks so much for coming on. I appreciate you making the time. 

Alexandra Fasulo: Thank you for having me. I realized I didn’t ask you how to say your name 

Ismail: is Mel. Perfect. Yeah. It’s a unique name, but it helps in the branding. [00:02:00] 

Alexandra Fasulo: Yes, I get that. 

Ismail: By the way. This is like totally random question. I was, I was soliciting questions and one, one that stuck out to me was the red hair.

Is it just because you. The right here or is there a branding purpose behind it? 

Alexandra Fasulo: Um, yeah, that’s, that’s a good question. I typically, throughout my life, I dye my hair all sorts of different colors. Purple, black blonde, whatever. Uh, it happened to be red when my story first blew up in 2018. So I’ve kind of become stuck with it a little bit.

It’s definitely become part of my branding. That was not on purpose, but for right now, I guess I’m just kind of embracing it. I am starting to get a little bored with it though. Um, so yeah, it’s, 

Ismail: it’s kind of the same thing with other like, uh, James harden, the NBA player got famous for his beard and he was talking about how it was hard to get rid of it because he’s kind of known for the beard.

Um, and I’ve got friends, I’ve got friends that like go to networking events and like purposely wear bright colored shoes just to stand out [00:03:00] and attract attention. Um, so I thought maybe there was a branding thing there not a totally random thing. Since we’re on this role, I saw you post about Everly while that food sensitivity test.

Um, I’ve, I’ve actually taken that test and my mom’s taking it too. So I’m curious, like what’s going on why’d you want to take the time? 

Alexandra Fasulo: Oh man. Okay. Yeah. I, I have not honestly felt good in about three months now. Um, I just don’t feel good. I, without getting like graphic or like my throat is swollen all the time.

Um, like my skin’s breaking out. I have low energy. I just feel terrible. And um, I finally went to the doctor this week and I was like, oh, I think I might have like a vocal nodule or something. She’s like, no, you don’t have that. And I have like shortness, so you can hear it. I have a little bit of shortness of breath when I’m speaking and people pointed it out to me and I’m like, oh yeah, I didn’t even really notice that.

And she’s like, you’re eating something you’re insensitive to. And I was like, oh,[00:04:00] 

Ismail: do you have dairy? Do you eat dairy? 

Alexandra Fasulo: Yeah. So, you know what? I actually think I figured it out this morning, I’m sending the test and now I think it’s a sensitivity to sulfites, which is in like all of our food that all the preservative crap that they put in everything, because in the past I’ve had an allergy to Roundup, you know, the weed spray that’s in our wheat and stuff.

And that doesn’t do well with me. So this morning I was like, oh my God, I think it might be that. So, so far today I’ve eaten nothing with sulfites in it. And I already feel a little better. So fingers crossed. Well, 

Ismail: that sounds like it’s going to be a hard thing to get rid of. I don’t know if they break things out like sulfite level, it’s more like food stuff.

So I’ve always had stomach problems my whole life. Um, and my test told me it was mice, mostly dairy. So I started taking out dairy as much as I could. It’s very hard cause it’s in a lot of different things, but like using almond milk instead and stuff like that. And I definitely felt a big improvement. Uh, confirmed it once I had Carvel ice cream.

A big, a big bowl and I felt horrible. [00:05:00] So I’m like, it’s definitely the dairy. So hopefully, hopefully you get some, uh, insight from that. 

Alexandra Fasulo: Well, I know say like say a prayer for me because it’s been it’s, it’s like, it’s a bummer when you don’t have your health, like nothing else matters. If you feel horrible every day, you like don’t care about anything.

Ismail: Yeah. That, that reminds me, like one of my mentors, I asked him like, what’s the best investment you ever made? And he said health. It’s like, if you’re not healthy, you can’t, you can’t work. You can’t do anything. So you really can’t cool. I, um, I forgot where I heard this, but I, I think I heard it in an interview where you said when you were, I’m curious how you were as a child, because, um, I think he said that you were running around as a kid telling people you’d be the first female president or the first female, this.

So as the father of a young daughter, I’m curious what you were like as a child. And where did that ambition come from? Like not everyone has. 

Alexandra Fasulo: Uh, yeah, no, I, so I’m the oldest. I have a younger sister and my cousin basically grew up with us. So I was the young, the [00:06:00] oldest of three, you know, two sisters. And, um, I think that somewhat contributed to my boss mentality, but, um, my mom told me when I was like only four years old, if I was going to cry, cause I hurt myself or something, she said, I’d like go into the other room so nobody could see me cry, which is like, that’s like deep for like, like I don’t want to admit weakness.

Um, so I think, I think it was half environmental, um, being the. The oldest sibling I’m tasked with watching over my sisters and, uh, helping out with things that were happening in my family at the time is part of it. And then I think the other part of it, um, was truly born into me. Uh, cause I don’t know how I would have known that as a four year old that I should like hide my emotions or something.

Ismail: Um, yeah, it it’s um, w w when you, when you have kids, like sometimes you wonder why is my kid like that? I think there definitely is a certain element [00:07:00] that you’re just born with a predisposition to a certain kind of personality. And I relate to what you were saying. Like, I’m the oldest of three, I think you’re an ENT.

J I’m the same thing. That’s like the commander personality. Um, so I relate to you there. And one of the other things about your story that caught my attention, cause I relate to it too, and I’m sure a lot of people are there right now. People listening are probably where you were at the job miserable.

Yeah. And I’ve got, I’ve got my own stories about that misery. Um, can you take us there? Cause I think a lot. We’ll connect with you once they hear that. Cause they’re probably in a similar place right now. Why were you so miserable at the job? Is there any stories or anything? 

Alexandra Fasulo: Yeah. Um, I know I try not to crap on this place too bad, but, um, it was my worst nightmare.

I mean, I was sitting at a desk alone in a corner, facing a wall with no windows. I have since learned about myself. I’m very sunlight and weather sensitive. The second it’s cloudy for two days, like forget, I’m like, oh [00:08:00] my whole, everything falls apart. So I was sitting in the dark facing the wall, working 12 to 14 hour days, no breaks.

It was all women in the office, which like, I don’t care about that, but it created a very toxic. Gossip based envious type of working arrangement. Because my job before it was actually predominantly men, when I was working in politics, it was all men and it was actually easy to be a woman in it because they would just kind of leave me be, they’d be like, oh, there’s like the one woman.

And I’d be like, yeah, bye. Like whatever. And they’d leave me alone. And all the guys would be fighting. But in this place, all women, all women, like I don’t even think there was one guy. I think it was literally 40 women and a window list, like layout office in the middle of Manhattan. I was also, you know, culture shock, moving to New York city.

I come from a farm in upstate New York. So it was already freaky. Anyway for me get, you know, the subway cities, I I’m was not born in a city. So I was like, okay, this is just too much. These [00:09:00] people are not nice to, to put it nicely. Um, I hate the work I’m doing. I thought I was going to be doing something creative, like helping with social media management or writing press or whatever.

And I get, they’re like, no, you’re going to be an account manager. And I was like, well, that’s not what you told me in our interview. Um, what is that? They’re like, oh, you’re going to be sorting Excel files. And if you know me, I’m horrible at that. I’m like that person there’s typos in my work, the fonts, aren’t all the same.

There’s missing spaces. Like that is me. That’s the essence of my creative process. So like horrible job for me. So I knew I was sucking at the job I was doing, which is not fun for me. I don’t like to think I’m doing a lackluster job at something. I don’t like that feeling at all. I like to think I’m doing my best and it’s coming out great.

Like I need to know that. So I’m like, I’m failing at the job. I hate this place. I hate these people and the straw that broke the camel’s back, which I say in a lot of these is the time it was the holiday party. When. [00:10:00] We all like got ready in our dresses. And you know, I like fashion, fashion is not important to me, but I like expressing myself through my clothing.

I, it runs in my family, you know, lots of people in my family made clothes and my sister’s a model, like whatever. So I came out a dress that I thought was cute from like forever 21. I was dirt broke. Like, I mean, I had nothing, no money. So it was like a $20 dress. That’s all I could afford. I just moved to a new city and all the girls in the bathroom, like laughed at it.

They were like, that’s what you’re wearing. And they all start laughing. And I was like, I’m sorry, am I 14 again in the gym changing room before the school dance, like, this is not what I envisioned for my life like this. This is not it. I remember I went to that party and my other friend there was hating it too.

And I was like, let’s just drink like all of their wine and just have a blast and make everyone uncomfortable. And that’s what we did. And we were like the only ones dancing there. Cause I was just one big like this to everyone. And then I quit that Monday. I was like, goodbye. Um, I, this is not what I pictured for myself [00:11:00] and I, I was like, I can’t do it.

Ismail: This could be a whole podcast in itself, like complaining about the corporate world. I mean, there’s so many stories. That one thing that I remember is when I first started as an answer and I was working on wall street, like this big public finance company. And I was like the super intern. So I was on the floor with all the CEOs, the CFOs, the chairman, but there’s this one, the CFO, I would often run into him in the elevator.

It was just me and him on the way to work. And I’m like, Hey, good morning. Yeah, literally I’m two feet from him alone in the elevator. And he would ignore me. And I’m like, at first I’m like, did he hear me? But it happened multiple times. And I’m like, what did this, what did disgusting human being like?

These are the, these are the people that are leading these huge companies and like managing teams. And they, they get out in front of you and say, it’s all about the team. You gotta like give your all it’s they don’t care. They don’t care. Um, so there’s so many stories like that. That can be a whole show of itself, but I’m curious, a lot of people.

Complainant. And actually the last interview I did, I shared, uh, the [00:12:00] story it’s it was hard for me to quit. I was ready. I talked about it forever. I was not happy. It was really hard to actually go in and quit. And a lot of people are miserable, but they never make that final step. You did it without a full plan.

What made you like not say, Hey, let me just keep going. Let me find another job. Let me maybe next week I’ll feel better. Why did you actually do it? 

Alexandra Fasulo: I don’t, I don’t know. I mean, I am a very spontaneous and impulsive person in my life with travels, with purchases, with a lot of things. I make very definitive decisions without over.

I’m like the opposite of overthinking it. I probably under think somethings to be honest. Um, so I don’t know, you know, I guess when retrospect I look back on it and not to be, you know, super spiritual, but. And overwhelming, you know, I could call it the holy spirit. Someone else might call it intuition and your soul, whatever it is.

I felt that, and I trusted it. I felt something, something was [00:13:00] telling me, don’t walk in this place, I’m going to help you figure this out. It sounds really crazy, but I listened to that voice, um, which has God to me. And I was like, okay, you said, I heard, I heard. Kay. I heard you all right. Let’s see. And, um, boy, am I glad I listened to that voice?

Ismail: You know, it’s funny. I wasn’t gonna, this was in my, in my questions, but I feel like a lot of people, like, even thinking back on all the interviews, I’ve done a lot of successful people have that spirituality in some way, whether it’s meditating, whether it’s religion, whether it’s whatever. Uh, but they’re like, we’re looked into talk about it.

So, yeah. W why do you, why do you think that is like, it’s weird one, but half the world, like most of the world is religious or spirit. But people feel like they can’t talk about it. So I guess like, do you, do you meditate? Like how does that look like for you? Do you pray? Yeah. 

Alexandra Fasulo: I, I mean, I’m, I am a Christian.

Um, I read the Bible, I read near death experience books. I’m fascinated with what happens when [00:14:00] people die and they come back and it’s crazy. I’ve read 20 of those books and they all have a similar thing. Like it’s undeniable to me. Um, I think people are afraid to bring it up because we live in a society today.

That is very, you can’t believe in something spiritual and also science at the same time. There’s like the someone decided somewhere that those two can exist. When in fact they actually, they actually line up if you take the time to allow them to, um, I think that’s why a lot of people don’t bring it up because they’re afraid someone will be like, oh, they have to believe in a God.

I heard so many people when I was young. I’m so happy she has religion. It’s good for her. And I’m like, what does that mean? Like, like they think in their head, you’re stupid kind of, if you need to believe there’s another force or I don’t know. I think that’s why a lot of people are afraid to bring it up.

I didn’t bring it up for the first, like four or five years talking about this stuff. And now I kind of realized like, no, I have to bring it up. Cause it’s, it’s actually a huge, it’s like if I’m being authentic, like it’s actually a huge part of my whole story. So I would be lying to people if I don’t bring it up.[00:15:00] 

Um, so I think that’s why a lot of people don’t because they think, if they say, oh God or Jesus or something, there’ll be like, ha, there any anti-vaxxer like, whatever people would think. And it’s like, no, like you can be all of those things. Like it doesn’t have to be black or white. 

Ismail: Well, we’ll try to get to this topic later because I want to talk about the judgment and like, uh, the fear of getting, putting yourself out there because I fucked, no matter what you did.

Like it doesn’t matter what you do. People are gonna criticize and judge you in some way or some form. So, um, I’m curious though, you were unhappy. Are you, are you happy now? And the reason I’m asking is because I think speaking for myself, like, I feel like sometimes a curse where, um, will we ever be happy?

Like we want more, we want to get to the next level. We want to get better. Um, I don’t know. Maybe we get content at some point, but are we really done? Yeah. 

Alexandra Fasulo: You just took my word. I was going to say, I am the most content I have ever been in my [00:16:00] life. I’m the most secure in who I am and who I was always meant to be in my life.

What I say, I feel like happiness can be a fleeting thing. Like I would say some days I’m happy and some days I’m not, I haven’t really been happy lately because I haven’t been feeling good. Um, but I’m always content, if that makes sense. Like I’m always my every single day when I wake up. I’m happy to get out of bed and go do my day.

And I honestly think like that’s as good as you can expect it to be down here, um, is to be content with your life and yourself. And I am content with both of those things. So, uh, but I would say my happiness, you know, I’m a human there’s some days when I’m a little down about some things where other days when I’m happy.

So that’s how I look at it. 

Ismail: Yeah. I agree. I agree. I would say it’s like, your baseline now is higher and obviously you, you fluctuate with happiness, um, through life. Um, all right. So let’s talk about the getting comfortable. Cause I struggle with this too. And I was actually speaking with a friend who was doing, he was making music and he was like a secret rapper, uh, cause he wouldn’t post about it [00:17:00] and I’m like, dude, you gotta, you gotta put it out there.

I relate to that. And I think you probably may as well, uh, coming from a small town, you feel like, I, at least I felt like I shouldn’t post this stuff. I was kind of like a secret entrepreneur. I didn’t want to share it. People are going to judge me. What are they going to think? What are they going to say?

And. A lot of great things that happened once I started posting about it. Yeah. There’s haters and whatnot, but it definitely, a lot of people came to me and it created a lot of relationships because of that. So like, what’s your story there? How did you get comfortable with it and how do you deal with all the hate and whatnot?

Alexandra Fasulo: Oh yeah. This is like, this is such a good topic. I, um, for the first four years of what I was doing did not post it to social media for that exact reason, because I knew every single person from my hometown and surrounding area would crap talk me. And, um, and I was right, you know, when, when the time came, but I was also wrong because then there were some people who didn’t and who I [00:18:00] discovered are even better friends of mine that I, I never could have imagined.

Um, I think I started to kind of get over it in 2018 when CNBC put out that article stating rate in the title that I had made 150 K in six months, it was like in the title and it went viral. So the secret was out, whether I wanted it to be or not, I hadn’t told a soul and this is messed up, but I was almost embarrassed by it.

Um, because I knew I was going to get so much hate for it. And I knew it was going to make people uncomfortable, especially being a 25 year old woman at the time. So I just was almost embarrassed by it, which is so messed up. And like, that’s why I post, like I do now because I want other people to go.

That’s so stupid. I like, I don’t want anyone to ever feel like that. Like that’s just breaks my heart to even think. So it’s a terrible feeling. But when that article came out, you know, a lot of important people in my life dropped out of my life from it. And it was, um, some of the hardest months of my life.

That realizing what human nature actually looks like. Cause it’s, it’s pretty [00:19:00] rough. Uh, but then on the other side of it, like once I made it through that, I lost those losers, you know, whatever other people stepped up and were great. And then when you realize you’re like, oh, I’m alive, I’m breathing. It’s okay.

We’re gonna make it. And um, I started to get emails from people saying, oh my God, your story just inspired me. I’m going to do that. Oh my gosh, I got on fiber. Now I have enough money to help pay for my mom’s cancer treatments. I get those emails a lot, which are like, I started crying when I read those.

When I started getting those, I realized, oh my God, I’m doing a disservice to the world by being quiet about this, actually I’m so caught up in my own complex of wanting to be liked that I’m doing a disservice to the people who I could be helping. And then once I got a taste of, oh my God, I’m helping people.

Then now I’m Bulletproof with it. People can say whatever they want to say. I don’t care because I see the emails I get every day. 

Ismail: Yeah, I just got chills. Um, you talking about people like I’ve gotten messages like that too, and then it’s funny that we let these haters or these people, and I think it says more about them that they’re like [00:20:00] that, but we let that hold us back from helping the people that actually want to hear, or they they’re actually interested or supportive.

And if you, if you found those people or if they, if you lose them, who cares, they’re obviously not people you want around anyway. Um, I will say though that I feel like, I don’t know if it’s cause I’m older now, but I think you needed fixed skin to be out online. Like you have to, like you said, be Bulletproof and not let it get to you.

Like, I just posted something on Tik TOK and I went kind of viral and there’s like, half the people love me and half the people were like, Hey, you can, you can imagine. Right. But I got this strategy that I was doing where I call, engage the trolls. So I was just laughing and going back and forth with them because, um, they’re hate helps me in the algorithm.

They’re giving me a lot of comments. They’re giving me a lot of views. So I just kind of used it and turned it into a joke and it was just going back and forth and troll on the back. And it turned it into a fun thing as opposed to something that like made me depressed. So I think that’s one way of dealing with it.

Everyone’s got their own way. Some people just ignore it. [00:21:00] I know people that just don’t even look at the comments. I don’t know where you fall in that category. 

Alexandra Fasulo: It depends. I’ve had spit like different spells with it in March of this year when, um, my second CNBC thing came out and this one was much more exposing.

It was 11 minute episode on my life and my finances like super transparent, almost a little too transparent. Um, the hate that I was getting from that was too much for me to handle. So I had to stop going on social media for a few weeks. I was getting death threats. I was getting. Really disturbing, violent sexual messages, people in other countries who don’t like seeing women, you know, be free and make a lot of money and stuff.

I mean, it was just, I was getting people still from my high school. Um, writing really messed up things like we know where you live, you know, just crazy. I don’t know what it is, whatever. So I had to unplug from it. But then I, you know, I kind of came back into it now, but yeah, I have fun with them when a hater will comment something.

I always write the same thing. I always write, [00:22:00] like, thanks for the comment. It just boosted this video and the algorithm. Can I laugh? I don’t know if they laughed, but, um, I was thinking of, uh, uh, oh, sorry. Kim Kardashian. I think it is. She was like, learn to love your supporters and your haters, because your haters are your biggest sales agents.

And I was like, yeah, maybe you’re right. 

Ismail: Especially in this day and age with social media in the algorithms, they definitely do help boost you. Um, I had, I had one guy like upset at my tech talk and she’s like, oh, you didn’t tell me how to make a million dollars. I was talking about compound interest, bro.

I’m like, sorry, you didn’t make a million dollars from a Tik. TOK keeps scrolling. Maybe the next one will make your wage. Meanwhile, 

Alexandra Fasulo: meanwhile, you know, a lot of those haters I’ve done, like I’ve monitored this. They actually end up buying your product still. Cause they almost have like a hate infatuation with you where they might write that.

But then they may actually also go buy your online course. It’s actually kind of funny. Wow. But 

Ismail: then do they leave like a bad review or try to like dispute the charge or anything like that? Or they just have to bite [00:23:00] us? 

Alexandra Fasulo: I think it’s, it’s a weird creepy infatuation though, which is why I’m always a little like paranoid of my whereabouts now.

But um, 

Ismail: All right. So getting into freelancing, which is what you’re obviously known for now. Um, and by the way that that video did go viral, um, I’ll link to it for anyone who hasn’t seen. I remember, I think that, I think the draw, I’m curious why you think it did so well, because I think my perspective, I remember seeing it and I shared it with a couple of my friends because we were like looking to move from New York to Florida.

And I think that’s what you did. You can make money from home. Uh, I think I interviewed people that are like options traders, and they built startups. And I found that people really relate more to like the freelancing or I found like real estate, everyone relates to real estate cause they like, it makes sense to them.

It’s just a more relatable thing. And I think that’s why I would say people were drawn to your story. You. 

Alexandra Fasulo: I think [00:24:00] that story went viral for a number of reasons, but I think it was the shock value that you can be making over 400 K per year as a writer in general, and be doing it as a young person and be doing it as a woman.

I think I’m just shocked the crap out of people. And, um, cause like the comments under, it was half good for her. Good for her. I’m showing this to my daughter. Good for her. And then the other half was like, yeah, right. She’s a stripper, no way. She’s a prostitute. Ha ha daddy’s money. And I think those it’s, it created.

Almost arguments under it that I think, you know, boosted it and then CNBC kept posting it. I almost like wanted to ask them in June. Like you guys like can give me a break. Yeah. Because anytime they’d post it somewhere, I’d get a new surge on my, I could tell, like I would get a new, you know, 20 comments on an Instagram post suddenly of like, you’re a liar, stupid B.

And I don’t know if I can swear it, like all the work. Yeah. Um, and then I would, they kept posting it because they were getting so much engagement from it. So they were making money off of it. So they kept [00:25:00] posting it and I just wanted to be, oh my God. I stopped though. Please stop. Like right now I love, but I have like nothing out there right now.

Like if any PR person were to email me today about a story, I’d be like, can I just have one more month, please, please. 

Ismail: But do you regret the story? 

Alexandra Fasulo: No, I, you can’t right. I don’t, I don’t believe in regrets cause it’s all a learning lesson in some way or another. So no, I would never regret it. It also blew my Instagram up, blew my tech talk up, you know, it gave me more credibility.

I’ve had different, cool things that are going to be coming out soon because of that CNBC, whatever. Um, so it’s all good, you know, with every good comes, the bad always. Right. 

Ismail: It’s crazy that we live in this age where the controversy seems to be what people like. You have to be controversial in some way to get attention nowadays.

And, and, um, yeah, it is what it is, I guess. So, all right. So freelancing for people that are listening that are like, I need to make money. Um, they want to start a business, but they have a job. Maybe they [00:26:00] want to build their cushion up by freelancing on the side, or they want to start their startup and use it to make money to live.

Um, I, I, I’d be curious to hear your input on who should, who should do freelancing and who shouldn’t like personality wise or situation wise. Is there a certain people, people that are just not a good fit. 

Alexandra Fasulo: You know, I would say all of that applies to being an entrepreneur and opening your own business and coming up with a product and doing something brand new with freelancing.

I honestly believe every single person can do it because, because there’s so many different ways to freelance, it’s not just one way. And a lot of it is almost introverted in nature. Um, I never allow phone calls or video calls with prospective clients. I completely keep it behind the computer. So I have seen from all the people I’ve helped get started.

I’ve seen everyone from, I mean, there’s a teenager in my Facebook group who is 13 or 14 now. And, um, they have different learning, you know, they have, um, just different disabilities with being able to communicate in [00:27:00] general and. Um, people in like the farthest end of the spectrum of introvertedness make this happen.

And people who are the farthest out on the extrovertedness make it happen because you can do it on a platform. You can have your own website, you can brand yourself on LinkedIn, you know, you can do it however you want to do it. So that’s why I’m like everyone should be doing this because freelancing isn’t actually like a new skill set.

It’s just taking whatever it was. You were already trained in. You already went to college for, you already did in two years of your work and it’s just offering it as yourself, without the middleman, providing that net that they provide for you by taking your autonomy and happiness along for the ride.

Ismail: Yeah. It’s uh, it’s, it’s interesting because I think if I’m remembering correctly, the first jobs you did on Fiverr were like, Post a press release, but you had experience doing PR. Um, so I think that’s a great tip where you can just do what you already do, or you already know. And for people that are like, oh, but I can’t write well, or I’m not a designer.

I’ve hired people on [00:28:00] Fiverr to literally like read a script because I needed a voice for a video. Like you can make money in like unimaginable number of ways. Like it doesn’t have to be writing or designing. 

Alexandra Fasulo: It’s all about trading time. That’s all it is. These, these people, you know, a lot of them can write the press release if they have to.

They just don’t want to. So when people are like, oh, I’m not an expert, they actually don’t care. And yeah, I’ve seen people on Fiverr that offer a service where they will hand out flyers in a, in a city to someone in New York city for two hours. I’ll hand out your flyer to as many people as possible.

That’s not even a skill set. I mean, it is in a way, but like, that’s why I say to people like, oh, I don’t know what to offer. I’m like, just go to fiverr.com please, and spend two hours and just look around, please. I’m begging you. 

Ismail: So one thing I’d like to do, um, and I think you’re very authentic. So, um, it shouldn’t be a problem, but I like to bring people down to earth because a lot of times people will see these people, they see your story and they’re like, wow, I can’t do that.

Like, that’s just crazy. Or I’m not that good, blah, blah, blah, blah. [00:29:00] Um, there’s gotta be a downside to all of this that people don’t really get into. Um, I didn’t run the numbers, but to pull that kind of numb to put that kind of revenue in you, must’ve been doing a crazy number of gigs. Like, yeah, there’s a lot of work, like grind that goes into that.

I don’t know if it was 10 gigs a day or whatever it was, but like that’s a lot of time working and that affects your mental health and physical health. Like a lot of people are not willing to do that and it’s okay. Cause you can make half the money and do half the work, but I’m just curious if you can, uh, bring yourself down to earth a little bit for everybody.

So you’re more relatable and they see that, Hey, it’s not as easy as it may seem in the head. 

Alexandra Fasulo: Oh, no. I mean, I would say the hardest part of all of it is the loneliness aspect of it. When you are working 14 hours a day by yourself, that’s lonely. Um, yeah, there’s been plenty. I mean, from age 22 to 27, I feel like I still had a fun time.

I would still allow myself [00:30:00] to go to parties and whatnot, but you can’t be hung over and run your own six figure freelancing business. It’s not a, it’s not an option to you. Um, so I feel like in a way I might’ve lost some of my stupid youth time, I guess, whatever you would call it. Um, I think at times it bled into, you know, dating, um, and not being able to just hang out for eight hours every day with your significant other, because like, you literally have to check your business online.

And, um, if they’re not someone who is down with that, they get upset by it, you know? Um, there’s yeah. There’s all different sorts of sacrifices. I would say that have gone into it. Um, but I do want to tell people, you don’t have to do it as intensely as I’ve been doing it. I know people I’m good friends with a girl on tech talk who does freelance writing, and she works four to five hours per day.

And. Still like, you know, good money. Like you don’t need to make 32 K per month. [00:31:00] That’s great if you, you know, but you don’t, you really only need like five K per month if you want, or even like 300 night to live two K depends where you are in the world. Uh, so if you only need two K per month to live, you really only have to work three hours a day and then you can actually avoid all the things that have happened to me if you want.

Ismail: Yeah. You know, th this is, um, so, um, I feel like as a white man, I shouldn’t talk about this stuff, but I feel like it’d be a disservice to like the female listeners if I didn’t ask. Um, so I’ll just ask the question and, and I think, and now a quick message from our sponsors.

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Okay. All right. Let’s get back to the show then. What’s the, what are the negatives? Or like what should females listening to that? And like I said, I have a daughter and I want, I like, I don’t really, I didn’t start a college fund for her on purpose because I don’t know if she’s going to go to college.

Maybe she’ll be an entrepreneur. Maybe she’ll take after, you know, what we do. So what advice do you have to females listening that are like ambitious and make a lot of money? Whether it be their career or their business? Um, just like life advice. Cause it’s, I’m, I’m sure there are a lot of men not ready for that.

And it just affects a lot of different things. 

Alexandra Fasulo: What do you do you mean like advice on if they’re getting started in it or like just how to handle it, how 

Ismail: to handle it if they’re already, um, like making good [00:35:00] money and then like, it’s hard to find someone to marry or it’s hard to do a lot of things that are just it’s like, why is it that hard?

You know? 

Alexandra Fasulo: Yeah. I, um, I mean, I can’t speak I’m single, so I can’t speak from the successful relationship point of view. Um, but I would say. You know, there are days when I feel myself getting not upset, but I’ll see a lot of other men who do exactly the same thing as me, you know, posting about their money, whatever.

And it’s just so much more well-received than it is for an, and this has happened to me with dating too. Like the guy who kind of expects the woman a little bit to be the one who hangs back a bit, so he can be, and I understand that, you know, traditional whatever. Um, so I guess I would say two women involved with this, like, don’t lose heart with that though.

Um, I would say it’s harder being a woman doing this. I don’t know. Oh, who’s to say maybe I get more perks though that I don’t realize I’m getting from being a woman. Um, I don’t spend too much time, you know, losing sleep over it, but [00:36:00] I, I would say. Don’t settle with dating, right? Like you should find a guy that is supportive of you being all those things.

And if he still makes you feel bad that you love to work 12 hours a day, then don’t, don’t listen to that. I don’t know. I can’t, well, I feel like I keep really snakes. I haven’t like been successful with it. 

Ismail: Yes. Yes. Um, okay. So, like I said, it’s, it’s a, it’s like a touchy thing, but I feel like people listening, I have to ask the question.

Cause I feel like people would benefit from hearing, um, from that, because there’s not a lot of, I don’t, I don’t even know how to say this. I’m just curious, whatever will be, will be open and feel free to like call me out, um, and push back. But I remember I was organizing a conference, um, for entrepreneurs and people were like, you have to get more females.

Like there’s not a lot of females. We need females and I’m like, yeah, let’s do it. Look, I’m all for it. Um, and I found it really hard to get females to come speak. Um, I actually like it. The guys were pitching me [00:37:00] to speak. I was going out to women that I thought like, Hey, you have to come speak. And they were, they were saying no.

Um, so I wonder, I don’t know. I don’t even know where I’m going with this, but I, it just struck me because I feel like there are people that don’t really care that much about gender or religion, or like where you’re from. And like, Hey, if you’re valuable, you’re valuable. Come on, come on. Let’s do this together.

Uh, but maybe there’s some people that just have limiting beliefs for whatever reason, maybe the societal expectations and pressures or whatever. I don’t know. Do you have any thoughts about what I just said? 

Alexandra Fasulo: I mean, I see it with, um, the mentoring that I’ve done and my own experiences like women come with more of that imposter syndrome feeling than the men that I’ve worked with.

And I think it, I always, I’m always like I see both sides, you know, I think it might have to be biological in the sense that women are technically, you know, supposed to be. Multitasking and doing all the things they supposed to be doing for the last 3000 years. And guys are more centrally focused cause they’re supposed to [00:38:00] go out there and kill a deer or something.

Um, so I think in a way with something like public speaking, a man would be less scared of it because he wouldn’t be overthinking it on his head. He would just be like, yes, I deserve this speech and I’m going to give it. And people are going to love it cause he has his ego and, and he’ll do great. And he won’t be all nervous about it.

And I think from what I’ve seen from women, we get in our heads and we’re like, am I qualified? Should I actually be doing it is the whole audience going to know I’m not an expert on this. Like that’s the self-talk that goes on in a woman’s head. And I think it’s half biological. Cause she’s supposed to be the one who’s like making sure the kid isn’t accidentally killed while dad’s hunting or whatever.

So it’s like, it all makes sense in a way. Um, so I, I sometimes don’t really know what the answer is to fixing that today. Cause it’s like, is that asking people to give up the naturalness of their gender? You know, I don’t know. I, I love I could go. This is like what I talk about at dinner with people. This is probably why I’m single.

Um, cause I love talking [00:39:00] cause I, I could, I would love to ponder this with someone for four hours and just talk about it. And there’s so many things, 

Ismail: the problem is like, like I said, it doesn’t really matter what I say because, oh, he’s a guy. Um, but like I said, I have a wife, I have a daughter and I do care about these things.

I do want them to. I feel like I don’t want my daughter to have that feeling that she can’t speak. She, I want her to feel like, yeah, she deserves to go speak. You know what I’m saying? I’m interested in the topic too. Yeah. And I 

Alexandra Fasulo: think that’s a huge problem in our society today where people are like, oh, you’re a man.

You can’t have an opinion shut up. Or, oh, you’re this ethnicity or, oh, you’re this, you can’t have an opinion. And I think that’s so toxic today that it’s like, well, why can’t you, why can’t you speak about it? Like, I hate that. Cause I love having like spirited debate and arguments. And you can’t have that when you just tell someone that they just can’t speak on it.

And it’s like, you just shut out of viewpoint or someone’s thoughts that could have maybe actually been helpful. You just told them to shut up. And I hate that about today. It totally has killed [00:40:00] like fun arguments. And I love like a good argument. 

Ismail: Yeah. It’s L it’s like the, um, the basketball players that we’re talking about politics and people were like, just shut up and dribble the basketball.

Like what do you know? I mean, What does anyone know? Like we’re all just people living in society, giving our opinions. This doesn’t mean like I’m an expert. So I totally agree with you. Um, it’s tough because I see that you’re posting about like the Afghanistan thing. Um, I generally don’t post, uh, stuff about that kind of thing.

Cause I feel like it’s hard to really get my whole viewpoint across on social media post. And then people won’t get, the people will just misinterpret it because that’s what they want. Um, and you just offend people. So it’s just like a weird environment that we’re in, where, uh, everyone’s looking for a reason to be offended and not listen to you.

Alexandra Fasulo: You know, it’s funny cause I have a strict, I generally post this zero of that stuff because I know it might alienate some of the people who are following me, but for some reason, this particular [00:41:00] debacle, I cannot help it because it taps into I’m a veteran. I’m a very loyal person. You can ask anyone, you know, who’s knows me, like, like I will go down with the ship.

Like that is me. I’m like the captain that literally is like, well, we, we did our thing. We’re going down. That is me. That’s the essence of me. So what our country has done to our own people there, and the Afghans is the opposite of loyalty and it disgusts me and I can’t help but post about it. I just can’t.

I’m like so upset by it. Um, it, it makes me like, I like want to cry. Like we did that to these people. 

Ismail: Yeah. You know, I, I never, I have a strict rule too. I never post about stuff, but I, that was the closest I ever got when I, when I saw that the people falling off the airplane because they were trying to escape.

I was like, I have to say something it’s gotten even 

Alexandra Fasulo: worse than that though. I mean, yesterday they’re showing that the parents passing their babies [00:42:00] over the cracks. You know, cause they know they’re going to, I mean, it’s just, I can’t even believe it. And the little part of me posting it is passive aggressive towards all the other people who, who post that stuff constantly.

The ones who never, ever shut up about, you know, feminism and everything like which, which is fine. Like the essence of it is fine, but they’re the ones who, you know, they have a lot to say, if somebody didn’t get served a cupcake at a bakery. Well now it’s like tens of thousands of people’s lives are in peril in they’re quiet.

That’s why I’m upset. I’m like, why are you suddenly quiet? Like, like women and children are going to be killed. Like w where are you people? That’s what I’m upset about. Where’d you go? What, why are you hiding right now? I don’t get it. Or like they only what’s happening here or something. I don’t understand, like, why they’re like, this is actual mass human rights atrocities going on.

Like, where are you? 

Ismail: I saw like, the schools were not opening because people there weren’t, they didn’t feel it was safe, but the kids still showed up and the teacher showed up the same time. To say bye to all the little girls. Cause they wouldn’t be able to come [00:43:00] back. Like I imagine that’s the thing that I told my wife was like, we live in a very politically divided place in America.

Uh, Republicans, Democrats, whatever, all these different divisions, but like, oh, you’re upset that the other person won. You never get that upset that you’re like afraid for your life or you’re clinging into an airplane. So we take a lot for granted. Yeah. We take a lot for granted 

Alexandra Fasulo: controls, like, and I even was feeling emotional about this after I came back from my road trip last week.

So I drove around the country for four weeks and I was not in the rich states. You know, I wasn’t on the coast. I did the whole middle of our country and like the Northwest where a lot of people. Live at, or under the poverty line. And I met a lot of people, you know, it was very eye opening to me cause I’m from New York and I now live in Florida.

I haven’t ever really been around like, you know, the people who just, if their crops don’t, you know, if one, if the crops die in September, they don’t have dinner in October. Like I’ve never really been around that. So it was very humbling for me to be around that and [00:44:00] see, wow. Like we are so spoiled all of us on like social media, like arguing about the dumbest stuff.

Like there are people who are solving in our own country and now there are people who are being dismembered and mass in the middle east. And you’re complaining about, you know, someone’s Instagram story that made you upset, like, come on, come on. 

Ismail: Yeah. I think my main takeaway was that I feel like war is just never right.

Unless you’re like, you’re fighting for your own freedom. Like think about 20 years of people dying, not just Afghan people are people and all the money, 

Alexandra Fasulo: you know, it’s like the people are like you, and all you’re talking about is a complex situation. Okay. First of all, I went to college for political science and I’m actually engaged in a debate about the Iraqi war.

So actually know a lot about it, but it’s the fault of many different people are to blame for this. So I’m not sitting here saying it’s just one person’s fault. Um, it’s a lot of people’s faults though. And I don’t appreciate when other, when people don’t take responsibility for their faults, which I’ve been [00:45:00] seeing in the past few days from some people.

And it’s like, yes, I understand this is complex, but you know, what’s not complex. Women and children are being raped and killed right now. That is not complex. And I’m upset about. 

Ismail: Yeah. I mean, I just, I totally agree with you and it’s, it’s, uh, I hope people listening. I think you’re very easy to talk to. So like, I, I went a little outside my comfort zone on some of these topics, but I hope people take a lesson from that.

Like, Hey, it’s okay to talk to people about, uh, touchy things, even if they’re on the different racial side or gender side or whatever side. Like if you’re open-minded, uh, you should have these conversations without fear. 

Alexandra Fasulo: I love like talking about anything. Like I am so not judgmental. If someone has a totally different viewpoint from me, I don’t like flip the table at them and tell them to go die.

I’m like, explain why I’m curious, whatever. Like we’re still fellow Americans 

Ismail: like that. Most 

Alexandra Fasulo: people are not what’s the problem today. That’s a problem. Yeah. 

Ismail: Okay. So let’s bring it back to [00:46:00] freelancing. Cause I I’m glad that we went there. I’m glad. Um, you got me to say some stuff that I wouldn’t have said otherwise, so awesome.

Uh, okay. So I was looking at like people’s lives. By the way. Do you still feel passionate about freelancing? Like you seem to have grander ambitions, like, and you’re interested in like human rights and other stuff you wanted to be president. Um, do you still feel that same passion for freelancing cause truthfully, um, I dunno if I would still be freelancing if I was in your position, like you could probably make a lot more money with a lot less effort with courses and teaching and speaking and whatever.

I’m sure you’re doing a lot of that anyway, but you don’t need to freelance anymore. And I know people use that to judge you like, Hey, you know, maybe she has a team of people. Like, why wouldn’t you have a team? I would definitely have a team of people to do like, hello. Maybe I would stop freelancing. So, 

Alexandra Fasulo: and that’s where, you know, to me, that’s the, that’s the biggest sexist thing of all, is that when a man has something successful, that he builds out into a company below [00:47:00] him, nobody has a problem with that.

And I’m like, why do you care that I have that’s what any man would do in my situation? Um, Yeah. I have many things that I want to do while I’m here on this earth. Um, I feel like freelancing has unknowingly actually become a very big passion of mine though, because I feel like it’s the most effective way to end people, to impact people, to help them break through corporate chains, to help them find financial freedom.

You know, when I was younger, I used to think you could do that through politics. I’ve lost all faith in politics, almost daily in our country for now. Maybe that’ll change in the future. So I’m like, you know, what’s actually even better than like being a Congresswoman and, and like having the world want to kill you, helping people make money online.

And so I’m for right now, very passionate about it. Um, I am building out an agency underneath me for managing my copywriting and I always am transparent about that and will continue to be on my stuff that yes, by the end of this year, I am aiming to no longer be the one who is doing my freelance writing.

Because I have so many awesome [00:48:00] opportunities coming my way. I’d be a freaking idiot if I didn’t take them, uh, much like they come for anyone else. So I don’t know why people get upset about that, but stuff that I can do, I can’t please, everyone, you know, um, you 

Ismail: gotta run your own race. And I feel like I actually read it through like this right thread and cause you referenced it in another interview.

I’m like, let me see what people are saying. And I’m like, I just didn’t agree. And I’m not just saying that because you’re on here. But like, oh, she had hires people like, whoa, that’s exactly what I would do. I don’t, I may even stop the freelancing and just focus on the teaching. Cause I feel like I have more of an impact, uh, that way.

So I don’t know. I don’t really, I didn’t really get it. 

Alexandra Fasulo: Well, or just like, they’re so dense. They, they just, they don’t know what they, they don’t know what they don’t know. And I love them. People weigh in who have zero business experience who suddenly think they like, understand how businesses are run. I’m just like, God, please go back to 

Ismail: my favorite.

My favorite is when people say, oh, you made this much, but that’s both. That’s not profit. Well, when you, [00:49:00] when you, when you tell people your salary, do you tell them the after tax take home after all the deductions? Or do you tell him the top? I mean, I didn’t get that or whatever. Don’t, don’t get me started down.

Alexandra Fasulo: Okay. I told someone, once you said that I was like somewhere in some business class, in high school, everyone learned the words, profit loss and like revenue. And they just like, think that that’s makes them sound smart when they ask you about it. I think, I don’t know what that 

Ismail: is. Of course there’s other, I mean, I mean, whatever.

Um, let me, let me, let me not again, to a rant. All right. So I see that we have got some limited time. Let me, let me get to, um, the main, so when I was, when I was requesting question. A lot of them were very detailed, but I kind of put it into like these two major buckets. Uh, the number one bucket that I got is, and this is my main question personally, is I see you posting like crazy and all these platforms, you’ve got your freelancing business.

You’re teaching. You’ve got your course, you’ve got your Facebook group. Um, I think you helped your mom with her [00:50:00] business. Um, you got an Airbnb, like I’m leaving a lot out. How do you do it all? I think that’s the main question. The productivity, uh, any tips around how you like, even, even to the point of like, do you, someone asks, do you have someone do your household chores?

Like there are people that are so busy that they just don’t have time to just like do the basic stuff. So I think they’re curious, how do you get all of this? 

Alexandra Fasulo: Uh, not alone. That’s the answer? Uh, lots of automation and other freelancers that I work with on partnership basis levels. So, um, my online courses, I actually co-own with Josh, who is the one who edits them and does the actual marketing.

So once I record them, I’m kind of done. I don’t do anything else. Um, he does those right now. My best friend, Bri, quit her job to come work with me. Full-time so while we’re on this, she’s running my entire copywriting agency for me right now, while we’re on this. Um, I’m a millennial. Yes. I have a local cleaner.

I love nothing more than to give money [00:51:00] to people locally. It makes me like happy. Um, and I also use a Shipt person to bring me my groceries. I love tipping them. So usually my neighbors, um, I have two virtual assistants. I have somebody that edits my YouTube videos for me. My Facebook group kind of just runs on its own.

So I have help. I have helped, but I’m not doing this completely alone. Um, I work on like a. I use freelancers as I need them basis. So sometimes I have a graphic designer I’ll go to, I’ll pay her for stuff. And then I might not use her for two months. Same with the video editor, same with my podcast editor.

I’ll use him when I need them. And I might say, Hey, I don’t need your help for like four weeks. I’ll be back though. Um, that’s kinda how I work. I think it was in, I was reading the $100 startup and he was explaining a common structure today is, you know, you the poor, the entrepreneur at the center. And then you have like spokes kind of to all these different people that orbit you.

And it’s still just, you, you know, you’re the only one on your LLC or the only one doing whatever. But [00:52:00] you tap into your little things as you need them and you don’t have any employees and it makes it easy to be agile and, you know, shrink and grow as you see fit. And I, I that’s how I do it. 

Ismail: Do you feel busier now than you did that crazy year in Fiverr where you’re doing all those gigs or do you feel like it’s less busy?

Cause you have. 

Alexandra Fasulo: Less busy, less busy because of bravery is a critical addition to my business. I don’t think I would trust anyone else with logging into my Fiverr. I’m not going to lie. So having her has been like life changing the last two months for me, 

Ismail: she’s actually who I spoke to, to schedule this. So shout out to grace, she was very helpful.

Um, how do you, how did it go hiring a friend? Because I’ve worked with friends and family members and sometimes it goes really bad. So like, do you have a conversation up front about expectations? Like, which 

Alexandra Fasulo: we did, but you know, she’s like my sister at this point, I mean, she’s been in my life since I was 10, you know, we’re from the same farm town, [00:53:00] um, all the crazy things that have happened in my life and her life she’s been there.

Like, it’s almost like an unspoken thing. Like, um, I would literally, well, hint, hint, I feel comfortable actually investing in real estate with her and my sister. Like that’s how tight we all are. Um, she was like my part of my family. It’s almost like I would say a sister, so I don’t ever worry. I trust her.

Um, 

Ismail: well I think people earn that trust. Like sometimes people work with friends and family that I’m like, why did you work with that person? I know that your friend, but like, they don’t really, um, they don’t deserve, like, you could tell the people who were responsible and the people who are not, whether they’re friends or not.

Right. So, um, what do you have? What do you have the VA’s do? 

Alexandra Fasulo: Uh, so I have a BAS report to braise, so she kind of handles them. Cause I always say to her, Hey, anything I give you that’s like below what you were like capable of, which she’s like a CPA, you know, she’s capable of like high, high level. I was like, feel free now to use these I’ll pay for these VA’s [00:54:00] for you.

And then you use them, you know, to make your day easier. Um, so they’re doing things like letting people into my Facebook group, collecting emails, proofing, blogs, um, stuff like that. They help her. 

Ismail: That was the other question is if you’re hiring or you’re outsourcing some of your writing to freelancers, like, um, a lot of people fall into that.

No one else can do it like me, um, mindset and they have a hard time letting go, especially with something like writing. So like, do you train them? Do you have like a template? Do you give them guidelines? Do you proof for that? How do you work with. 

Alexandra Fasulo: Yeah. Um, finding writers who are good at writing and who don’t have excuses and deliver things on time is nearly impossible.

Uh, I would say I’ve been through at this point about 40 to have two. And, uh, one writer who’s been with me for three years actually just told me last week, he will be done September 1st, which was a huge blow, um, for the structure, nothing I can’t, you know, fix or whatever, but yeah, I mean, I have a [00:55:00] system, so I have little tricks set up.

So people are listening to this and you want to write for me, I’m going to, this is, this is invaluable here. First I post that. I’m looking for writers on Instagram and I have very specific instructions because part of writing is reading people’s instructions and carefully. So I’ll say if you’re interested, include this in the subject line, email this and include this.

So first I see, can they even do that? And you’d be surprised already 50%. Nope. Gone. Okay, 50% that’s left. I send them to test orders for real fiber work, you know, real things with a timer I say, and it’s due at this time. And I pay all of them for it. Even if I don’t go with them, I always pay people to people on Reddit or like she doesn’t pay people.

I’m like, you’re a freaking idiot ask anyone who’s ever written for me. So then I’ll give them a real Fiverr order. So of the 50% left, um, probably only 10% actually do the work and actually deliver it on time. So now I’m down from 50 people to three and I haven’t [00:56:00] even gotten to the second order yet. Um, so that’s how dismal it is basically.

Yeah. 

Ismail: Yeah. I’ve, I’ve seen the same thing. Um, and I do the same kind of process that you do just to filter people out. And it’s amazing. It’s amazing how many people can’t do the basics, so, 

Alexandra Fasulo: or want to half of them just I’ll give them the first order and they’ll just, I’ll never hear from them again. Like, they’ll just w they just die.

Like, I don’t know where they go, because then I think they look at it and they’re like, oh, I don’t actually want to work. And I’m just like, okay, 

Ismail: bye. Again, like people use it to knock you or any entrepreneur let’s say about hire, like outsourcing work. It’s hard to find people like the most common issue.

I have, like he, from talking to entrepreneurs and small business owners, finding good people, finding good people. So that to me is a credit that you’re able to do that it’s

Alexandra Fasulo: not easy. I mean, there’s many times I think most people would have quit by now and just said, oh, having a writing business is not sustainable because I honestly almost have a few times with finding help.

So [00:57:00] it’s the hardest part of it is finding people. 

Ismail: My last couple of questions, um, to finish this up is one of the main things people say is, oh, it’s too saturated, uh, on five or whatever. There’s too many people. And even if, um, you can get some work, it’s a very competitive marketplace, like driving prices down.

How do you answer that? 

Alexandra Fasulo: I would say, there’s no such thing as saturation. If you commit yourself to being the best at what you do and going above and beyond for your clients, they’re always going to pay you for your work. So that’s a myth that again, someone picked up in some business class somewhere, um, there’s no, there’s never saturation for having the best product available.

And that’s what I told myself every day when I started doing this in 2015, and there was tons of writers who came before me with many more hundreds of reviews. And I said to myself, I don’t care. I’m going to be the best writer on there and I’ve just proclaim it and I’m going to do it. And it took me two, three years.

And then I eventually became, had the largest amount of reviews [00:58:00] for all of writing on there. And I did it just, just do it, just do it. I mean, don’t worry about what other people are doing. You’re, you know, there’s someone, I was on a podcast. He told me a great story. I forget it basically, but if you’re running a race, if you have a Baton in your hands, if you turn around to look at who’s behind you, you’re going to lose, like, you know, you can’t ever turn around, just keep going and do not worry about other people.

Well, 

Ismail: that, that’s why, I’m glad we talked about the amount of work it takes. Cause it’s like, uh, you have to run your own race and it’s hard. You have to put the work in like a lot of people just not willing to do that anymore. Um, so the last question I ask everybody, and you might even, you might know the answer to this because of your experience, but if I could interview the people that were in that small farm town, um, or your classmates or your teachers or people from there, would they be surprised.

At your success or would they be like, I always knew she was going to make it 

Alexandra Fasulo: well, um, uh, I don’t think a [00:59:00] single one of them would have been surprised because I was a crazy person. Even in high school. I was like the president, I was, I was, they would go, they would say, oh, I’m not surprised at all, but then they would roll their eyes, I think.

And then they’d be like, oh Alex, no, I’m not surprised 

Ismail: that might be the best name. That might be the best answer we got so far on that one. Um, what do you, there’s so many things to, and I’m going to link to a bunch of stuff in the show and everybody, but what would you want to hand people off to? 

Alexandra Fasulo: Um, okay.

So if you’re listening to this and you want to make money online, start freelancing, all that stuff. I recommend listening to my podcast. I only have one season out so far and it’s just me rambling and 22 episodes. I pretty much cover everything you would literally ever need to know to get started. You.

And it’s free. So it’s called the freelance fairytales and I have a bunch of other products too. If you’re interested, they, I have like an ebook and courses and all that can be found on my website, which is Alex fasulo.com. 

Ismail: And I recommend people follow you on social media, if for no other reason than to get [01:00:00] inspired, um, at putting out so much content, that’s like a full-time job in of itself.

I’m like, man, I’m slacking over here. I gotta, I gotta get on my game. Um, but I truly appreciate you making the time. I really enjoyed the conversation. I’m glad. Um, it felt comfortable enough for us to go into other things. And I think, uh, hopefully people find out. 

Alexandra Fasulo: Yeah, I had fun. I love talking about this stuff.

Ismail: Thank you so much, Alex. I appreciate it. Thank you for your time and have a great day. You too. One quick reminder, before I let you go to join my email newsletter, it’s going to be like a personal note for me to my friends of all the cool things I’ve come across that hacks and tips. Interesting stories, products, books, waste to make money, and who knows what else?

It’s totally free. And if you don’t like it, you can always opt out. Anytime the link to join is in the show notes, and I hope to see you on the list and there you have it. If you enjoy this episode, please remember to leave a review. I may even give you a shout out and read yours out on the ship for any and all resources that we discussed.

Check out the show notes or head on over [01:01:00] to boundtoberich.com until next time. [/expand]

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