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I used to work 12-hour days at the family bowling alley for a $20 note. Some days we only had three customers. Now we have $15,000 days.

This is my story, and for the first time I'm not telling it alone. Alyce Swarts takes the host's chair to take me back through two decades in my family's businesses, from arcade machines to $800,000 of debt to rodeos and a new bowling alley, plus everything I've built on my own: a booked-out beauty salon, a course, business coaching, watch clients and this podcast.

It's the highs, the lows and the lessons I'd want any founder to hear before they bet on themselves.

We also talk about something I'm building now: the DELUSIONAL Founders Dinner Series. I know what it's like to have big ambitions and not always have people around you who understand them. These dinners are about bringing ambitious founders and business owners together for real conversations, new connections and a room full of people who are building something of their own.

Want to be considered for an upcoming founders dinner? Apply here:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfC8Hb6yLQKYzrp5CTbs-pf7kBfY3GkSIEOIrC7aTcc6Pryhw/viewform

We get into:

→ How our first two rodeos lost $80K and $60K, and how the later ones helped fund a new bowling alley

→ Why our venue now makes in one to two months what the old one made in a year

→ How Bruce the bull went viral after eight years of daily posting

→ The copywriting shift that had me booked out at 18

→ Getting paid $1,000 instead of $150 for the exact same skill

→ What my watch clients taught me about who really has money

→ Why I master one missing skill every year, and how I made over $100K in my first year of business coaching at 18

→ Why I'm creating the DELUSIONAL Founders Dinner Series and bringing ambitious business owners into the same room

If you've ever played down your achievements, or felt like the only one in the room who's betting on yourself, this one's for you. And if you're looking for more people who understand what you're building, I'd love for you to apply to be considered for one of our founders dinners.

Chapters:

00:00:00 Welcome, and why Alyce is hosting
00:03:00 Eight family businesses and $800K of debt
00:15:00 The visionary, the executor and the strategist
00:19:00 Bruce the bull: eight years before going viral
00:24:00 500K in 14 weeks at the new bowling alley
00:27:00 Burnout, and coming back to bowling
00:31:00 Booked out at 18
00:37:00 A cancelled degree and a course launch
00:41:00 Same skill, 10 times the price
00:50:00 Who really has money
01:02:00 Mastering one missing skill every year
01:10:00 DELUSIONAL Founders Dinner Series
01:17:00 My most delusional move
01:23:00 Give yourself a decade
01:29:00 Why Delusional, and why now

Apply for the DELUSIONAL Founders Dinner Series:

We're bringing ambitious founders and business owners together around the dinner table. If you'd like to be considered for an upcoming dinner, submit your application below.

→ https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfC8Hb6yLQKYzrp5CTbs-pf7kBfY3GkSIEOIrC7aTcc6Pryhw/viewform

If you have any questions about the episode, have a burning question you would like me to answer on the show, connect with me and the rest of our incredible community on Instagram:

→ https://www.instagram.com/delusionalwithsammykennedy/
→ https://www.instagram.com/sammykennedyofficial

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Your mind only cares about keeping you safe. It doesn't care whether you're rich. So if you want a big life, you're going to have to work against your own wiring.

Alyce Swarts is an entrepreneur, speaker and mentor who works with ambitious women and female founders on the internal side of business, the subconscious, nervous system, beliefs and identity behind the person executing the strategy.

She studied interior design architecture, landed her dream job at a prestige Perth building company, and quit a month later to start her own female wellness events brand.

This conversation is about why strategy alone isn't enough, why you procrastinate, and what it actually takes to become the version of you who already has the business you want.

WE GET INTO:

→ Why Alyce believes procrastination and self-sabotage are really you going against your identity

→ Her "two lists" method for big goals, so your brain sees proof it's working

→ Why your current reality is the result of who you were three months ago

→ The hourly alarm exercise that shows you what your mind is really thinking

→ How Sammy asked "how would a multi-seven-figure owner show up?" when relaunching the bowling alley

→ Why Alyce's first retreat sold out when she was told it was too risky

→ Emotional discipline: feel it, then come back to the business

→ Why she calls social media "service media"

If you've done all the strategy and still feel stuck, this one is for you. Alyce is blunt, and that's exactly why it lands.

CHAPTERS

00:00:00 Cold open and welcome

00:01:00 Who Alyce is and the work she does

00:03:00 Quitting her dream job after a month

00:04:00 Starting Aligned Wellness

00:07:00 Why procrastination is an identity problem

00:10:00 Getting specific about the life you want

00:16:00 Give more than you take

00:19:00 Pay yourself and stack your wins

00:29:00 Two lists for big goals

00:31:00 The crumble before the quantum leap

00:34:00 Acting as the person who's already there

00:36:00 The hourly identity check

00:41:00 Emotional discipline in business

00:44:00 Slow mornings and gratitude

00:55:00 Your reality is your identity from three months ago

00:56:00 Selling out the first retreat

01:21:00 Assume it will land with the right people

01:23:00 Social media is service media

Got a question about your own business right now? Drop it in the comments, I read every single one.

If you have any questions about the episode, have a burning question you would like me to answer on the show, connect with me and the rest of our incredible community on Instagram:

→ https://www.instagram.com/delusionalwithsammykennedy/
→ https://www.instagram.com/sammykennedyofficial

Send us Fan Mail

Brand strategists slid into Cass Emmerson’s DMs to tell her it was impossible to build six brands in one room, in one day. She's now done it around eight times.

Cass left a high-powered corporate career in her 40s to build a brand consultancy - and refused to wait three years to start travelling. I've known her for about six years and watched her build her business her own way, often against the advice of the coaches around her.

This conversation is about what brand actually is (hint: it isn't your logo), why it should come before your offers, and how getting clear on what you value makes every business decision easier.

WE GET INTO:
→ How Cass signed contracts before resigning so she started with 10K months already locked in
→ Her year-by-year plan: brand management, then consultancy, then one-to-many
→ Why she capped her business at 30 people — and how that gets her to 50K months
→ Her four pillars of brand: purpose, positioning, personality and picture
→ The client who discovered her $6,000 offer meant she only needed four clients a month — and closed everything else
→ Why your offers will change, but your brand shouldn't
→ The real difference between a refresh and a rebrand
→ Why she paid $1,200 for a venue when she was told to book a $500 one

If you've ever felt like your business looks like everyone else's, or you're chasing a number that doesn't match the life you want, this one will make you rethink both.

CHAPTERS
00:00:00 Cold open
00:02:00 Welcome Cass, and building the parachute on the way down
00:04:00 Locking in 10K months before leaving corporate
00:07:00 The five-year plan: management, consultancy, one-to-many
00:08:00 Six brands in one day
00:12:00 Saying no to advice that doesn't fit your life
00:15:00 How much do you actually need to earn?
00:19:00 30 clients and 50K months
00:22:00 What most founders miss about brand
00:24:00 The four pillars of brand
00:27:00 Finding your point of difference
00:39:00 Start with your why
00:42:00 Brand or product first?
01:03:00 Refresh vs rebrand
01:06:00 Build for where you're going
01:15:00 Community and the offline trend
01:17:00 Permission to do it your way

If you have any questions about the episode, have a burning question you would like me to answer on the show, connect with me and the rest of our incredible community on Instagram:

→ https://www.instagram.com/delusionalwithsammykennedy/
→ https://www.instagram.com/sammykennedyofficial