How to Pursue Your Passion No Matter What
Shifting your business in a new direction is terrifying. Will it work? Can you build revenue? Alecia Hancock refuses to take no for an answer and it was this attitude that lead to her success. Find out how Alecia restructured Hancock Creative and found the courage to pursue her passion.
Making a change in your business is terrifying. Completely changing your business model and overall plan for yourself is definitely something that can keep you up at night. But what’s a good business without a few risky decisions – right? You need to weigh up what your business is trying to achieve, and whether it makes sense for you to be at the forefront of that change. Sleep or no sleep.
[0:00] Who is Alecia Hancock?
Alecia Hancock is in the business of helping non-for-profits and worthy causes around Australia. Hancock Creative runs workshops and conference events all over Australia, teaching people how to tell their stories in a large and diverse digital world.
Hancock Creative wasn’t always in the education space. When the business launched over 7 years ago they lacked purpose. All they knew was that there was a better way of doing things than what traditional media organisations were telling people. In the early days they were focussed on helping every customer that walked in the door. The problem was that it’s not a sustainable, nor scalable way of doing business. If Hancock Creative were to reach, educate and empower more people they had to go bigger.
A year ago they made the decision to ditch their agency model entirely. Now, Hancock Creative is in the education space and focused primarily on “worth-case-organisations”.
[2:26] How did you find your vision for your business and turn it into action?
There is a turning point for every entrepreneur that decides to restructure their business. Thinking about it and taking action are two completely different things. So how does someone reach the point of no return? How do you take the first step?
On a flight from Perth to Sydney Alecia was forced to sit down and reflect on the business and what she wanted in her life. She found a pen and paper and drew a line down the middle of the page. On one side Alecia wrote down what was dragging her down, and on the other side what was lifting her up. From the exercise everything became clear. The list of things dragging her down was the agency side of the business, whilst the education side of the business was the part that lifted her up.
Before now she never felt that she had the courage to pursue what you want to do. To restructure the business they had to let go of revenue and profit.
She asked herself if she were to walk away from the business tomorrow – would she be happy with what she achieved? The answer was no.
Where does someone go after making a life changing business decision? What is the first thing you do?
After Alecia got off the plane she was fortunate to be attending a workshop run by Entourage. She approached experts and mentors and explained her situation. Their advice was to map out what her strengths are, and begin building a finance model.
To move forward Hancock Create had to let go of some staff and paid client work. They became resourceful and approached the next phase with passion and vigor. The lesson learnt was that when you let go of revenue everything becomes clear. Revenue provides a safety net but when that is removed you understand the work that needs to be done to make something work.
[13:16] The importance of being certain that you’re giving the path you’ve chosen everything that you’ve got.
When you’re certain and passionate people will get behind you. People want to help – and it helps when they know you’re locked on certainty.
Hancock Creative thrived from the business restructure. Their first event saw high profile speakers and attendance of over 300 people.
When you have a purpose and you’re certain on what you’re trying to achieve it puts everything into perspective. Having a clear purpose makes the journey smoother, and easier to manage when you run into roadblocks. Alecia believes that her ability to never take no for an answer lead her to success.
[32:47] When you’re doing something so new, where do you draw inspiration from? Who do you look to for guidance?
Building the mindset and ability to make a change in your life often takes time – and a lot of consumed content.
Alecia doesn’t limit where she gets her inspiration and guidance from. Rather she seeks information from various spaces and pulls it all together to apply to her circumstances. She’s a big reader and consumer of podcasts and draws a lot of her inspiration from the likes of Gary Vaynerchuck, Amy Porterfield and Lorraine Murphy.
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