Career Clarity with Athletes: A 2ndwind Podcast with Ryan Gonsalves

143: Aleisha McCall: Building a Business - Lessons from an Athlete Entrepreneur

• Ryan Gonsalves • Episode 143

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Aleisha’s journey from elite synchronized figure skating to founding a rockstar media company is inspiring, and a masterclass in translating athletic discipline into business success. In this raw, unfiltered conversation, we dive into the gritty reality of career transition: the identity crises, the $35,000 gamble that changed everything, and why "trust the process" isn't just a sports cliché, it's the secret to outlasting 98% of startups. If you've ever felt lost after a major life pivot, or wondered how to turn your competitive edge into career fuel, this episode is your playbook.


Topics Covered:

1️⃣ The Athlete’s Dilemma

  • Why retirement feels like "losing your identity overnight"
  • How Aleisha’s small-town grit got her to World Championships (and why it matters in business)

2️⃣ The $35,000 Wake-Up Call

  • Taking out a high-interest loan without telling a soul
  • Why she chose mentorship over a "safe" corporate path

3️⃣ The Relentless Iteration Mindset

  • Post-competition debriefs → business growth frameworks
  • "Your ego wants to celebrate—excellence demands you dissect every flaw"

4️⃣ The 3-Door Career Crossroads

  • Comfortable job vs. agency role vs. entrepreneurship
  • How she knew it was time to bet on herself (again)

5️⃣ The Uncomfortable Truth About Success

  • Why entrepreneurship is 95% grind, 5% glory (just like elite sport)
  • How to fall in love with the daily process, not just the wins

6️⃣ Your New Performance Playbook

  • Pre-transition planning: "Start before you’re desperate"
  • Why every professional needs a "coach" (yes, even you)

Ready to explore your own second act after sport? Connect with Ryan Gonsalves and the 2NDWind Academy to discover how your athletic experience can become your professional advantage here: www.2ndwind.io 

Speaker 1:

As you look back at those periods, what were the most challenging aspects for you?

Speaker 2:

I think, the constant iterative improvement aspect of the day-to-day training, you know the day-to-day relentless, you've got to get up, you've got to get to the ice skating rink. But I think I found a lot of joy in that as well. But there was, you know, after coming back from that first world championship, I had a list of things that needed to be improved. Like you know, we'd done the reviews, I'd looked at the videos, I'd, you know, recap the performance and it was like, right, if I seriously want to compete at another world championship, here are all the things that need to get fixed. And that's quite confronting because a lot, you know, the ego in us wants to be like look, we've been to a world championship.

Speaker 1:

This is great. Like you know, I'm awesome, but the reality is that's not the case at all. Hi, I'm Ryan Gonsalves and welcome to a Second Wind Academy podcast, a show all about career transition through the lens of elite athletes. Each week, I invite a guest to the show who shares their unique sporting story. Please join me to delve into the thoughts and actions of athletes through a series of conversations. Don't worry, there's plenty to learn from those of you that aren't particularly sporty. Elite athletes are still people after all. Let's be inspired by the stories of others. Alicia, welcome to the show. Thanks for joining me on the podcast today.

Speaker 2:

It's great to be here.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, good. Well, it's good to have you here and well, actually it's good to be sitting in person. Last time we were walking and talking, so it's nice to sit down a bit more air conditioned and dry.

Speaker 2:

This is true. We did get a bit of rain that morning, but it's added to the experience right, yes, that's right, that's it.

Speaker 1:

And look, today I'm really looking forward to just sort of delving a little bit into, I guess, the decisions and actions that you took to shift from, well, I guess, a high level or elite career into what is now in a well, in a business sense, probably another elite career in what you're doing.

Speaker 2:

I do feel a bit that way. I often compare my athletic career to my business career and the only thing I would say is, as an athlete, I got a few breaks, like after competition, you know. You sort of got that downtime before you started back up again, whereas in business I do feel like it's a 365 day mission, that you are constantly, you know there are no breaks and you need to manage your performance in a different way because you are always on. So it's very similar in a lot of respects, but I enjoy the experience.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, it is good and look well. Everyone who's going to be watching and listening is probably going to want to know a little bit more about you, so tell us. What is your business nowadays? What keeps you going?

Speaker 2:

Well, I am the owner and founder of a media communications company called Ultimate Edge Communications and we work with CMOs and we help if they're looking to scale their brand, you know, drive high growth. We work with them to drive media advertising campaigns that deliver that and deliver the profitability. So all about results, all about okay, what's the outcome? How do we get you there as quickly as possible and how do we make that magic happen? So it's a lot of fun. It's a lot incredibly challenging. My industry moves at record speed, but I do get a lot out of working directly with those CMOs and marketers just to go right, what's the outcome? Where do we need to get you? And now, how can we leverage the media mechanics and the marketing mechanics, so to speak, the proven strategies, to get you to where you want to be? Wow. And so how long have you been doing that? 10 years, so last July, 10 years.

Speaker 1:

We're coming up 11 years this year. Thank you, thank you. It feels big, yeah. Yeah, I think there's probably one or 2% of companies that actually last 10 years. So that's kudos to you.

Speaker 2:

I do remind myself of those stats. It's a big down. I do feel extraordinary gratitude. I think of just going wow, we're here. The decade mark, I think, was a big moment to go right, we made it, we got there. We've still got a big journey ahead of us, but it was certainly. You've got to celebrate those wins and that certainly was a big moment.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, absolutely. And is it a business all by yourself? Do you have a team?

Speaker 2:

No, no, I've got an amazing team behind me. They often just keep me on the straight and narrow, so to speak. As you can imagine, as a typical founder and entrepreneur, I've got 25,000 things that I want to get done in a very short space of time. So I've got a fantastic team that work across four dimensions. I've got media advertising, so the buying and planning of the media. The creative team that come up with all of the ideas, the production, and then they execute that creative strategy to really complement the media advertising.

Speaker 2:

And then we've got the marketing automation aspect, which is okay. We've done all this hard work. We've got the clicks, we've got the leads. Now how do we communicate with them? What's that journey that we take them on? And then the final part, which is the most important aspect, is the marketing intelligence, which is okay. Well, why does it matter what's working, what's not? You know where are our consumers dropping off in the funnel? How do we close those gaps and get them through to maximize conversion, sales, profitability? So that, to me, is the most important part of the entire business is what's working.

Speaker 1:

That's fascinating. I mean, I've not worked in media in that regard, but I know it is it. It just sounds interesting all of those components together that, like you say, there's must be 25 000 things that go through your mind all the time with that, but probably an area where I know there's a lot of a lot of people listen to the show actually interested in, in stepping into that. So it'll be good to sort of pick your brain and figure out some of those steps you took to get into this sort of media industry yeah, for sure.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, it's an interesting one, yeah, um, now obviously it started and you're here because of that athletic career as well, and I'm sure there are going to be some links between the team and structure and the type of athlete you were figure skating. That's where it started. Just talk us through, in fact. Where were you and what was sport like for you when you grew up?

Speaker 2:

Amazing. So I was. I grew up at the bottom of the South Island of New Zealand, a small town called Gore, so no traffic lights, three roundabouts, you can drive through it in about five minutes and I fortunately my parents took me along to a figure skating lesson at the age of four and I think I just instantly fell in love and something just grabbed me and I went this is amazing and very quickly. I was sort of there, you know, three or four times a week, and then the big moments really came when I started to get on the international scene, so to speak, and my first opportunity came when I was 14. And I was invited to be one of five New Zealanders to represent the country at a seminar in South Africa. And at the seminar they brought in the best sort of the top five skaters in our discipline at the time and they ran a five-day seminar, and so you had five skaters sort of from Australia, from New Zealand and from other countries in the Southern Hemisphere.

Speaker 1:

Now, when you say seminar seminar to me in a business context, is me in a hotel, a room I'm sitting down with 500 other delegates? Is that what you mean by seminar? Figure skating?

Speaker 2:

Almost, but standing up on the ice, Okay, all right, they had a lot of structure, you know, had the on ice stuff, the mental stuff, you know, lots of different sort of breakout sessions, so to speak, as you would expect from a seminar. So it was, if you can imagine, a sort of a massive corporate seminar. Put that into exactly. You've got your top speakers we just happen to have the top five skaters in the world and then we had the top coach there as well. So it was just for me, it was this like first experience to realize that there is, this is so much bigger than what I ever could have imagined. And when I think there's something really beautiful, when you surround yourself with the best, you naturally want to raise that bar. And so it was a complete paradigm shift. It's like, oh wow, this is so much more than what I ever imagined. And now I've got that taste of results, taste of success, taste of what the sport should look like. That was the catalyst, that was like I've got to do this.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, wow. So that then sort of made you shift focus and recognize hey, I'm good at this, maybe I can take it to a next level.

Speaker 2:

Correct. Maybe I can now go and compete internationally. And so I got home from I'm 14 at the time, to give you context, I think just turned 14. And I got home from South Africa and while I was in South Africa I met a couple of skaters from the Australian team and they said look, you know, we need maybe two or three. We want to recruit two or three skaters internationally because there's a rule in ice skating, in our sport, which is synchronized. Synchronized ice skating 16 men or women on the ice at one time. We'll get to that, you know, spinning, jumping, passing through, and there was a loophole, so to speak, where you could have 25% of your team from another country.

Speaker 2:

And so I'd already had those conversations with her in South Africa and I went home to my parents and I said, look, I've got to get on a plane like next week and I need to be in Brisbane because I think I've got a shot of training with the local Brisbane team to compete at my first Australian national championship and they think they can win. And you know, my parents are like bright eyes, like okay, what's going on? We can see it, this is intense. And they sort of wanted to go hang on. You've got school, you've got all these other commitments, but for me it was just no, like I must, it was at all costs. I must be on a plane to Brisbane to make this happen. And, long story short, got on the plane, did the training, made the team and won my first gold medal at an Australian national championship less than two months later.

Speaker 1:

That's impressive. I'm curious, though, about you coming home to this small town with this now dream to say, hey, I can take this to the next level. So what? Your parents just were like yeah, okay, here's a ticket off you go, that's it. Forget school. I mean, how did you manage to get on the plane and get to Brisbane?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, great question. So it wasn't that at all. I mean, my parents, like with the South Africa trip, new Zealand funded the New Zealand Association and then the International Association funded that entire trip. And it was just for me. It was just one of those gifts in life because there was no way that my family would have been able to, at family would have been able to, at the time, afford to get me there. And there's something beautiful about a small town and having a dream. And I was so fortunate that entire community, when I made that decision and then very quickly reached out to the local licensing trusts, the local community, the local businesses, they all got on board to support me in this dream. And later they actually the fundraising that we ran, you know, if you wanted a sausage sizzle, if you wanted a raffle, you know I was your girl.

Speaker 2:

My marketing career started at 14, definitely not in my twenties and I remember I ran a fundraiser called Battle of the Businesses. So I came up with this name, battle of the Businesses. It's like this sounds great In my head. It sounded great. Right, I thought to myself if I can get every team sorry, every business in the town to come, you know, table of four, say, let's say, 30 businesses, I could actually make enough money to get to Australia and then later to get to the world championships, which I'm sure we'll touch on when you have an idea.

Speaker 2:

And they could see that I was committed. You know you would look in my eyes. You knew it was going to happen. Through hell or high water, I was going to make this dream come to life, and so they just rallied around me and that spirit of the community, both from an emotional support perspective, but to help me financially to achieve my dream because there was no funding, was probably one of the most memorable moments. And, again, what I'm most grateful for, because they got me there. It wasn't just me, it was this whole town and community behind me to make this happen, and they found a part of it too, like it was there by the end of it. It was their dream as well.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, wonderful, I mean I just think in there a 13, 14 year old young lady coming back small town, but the way you probably for another show in fact, but how you pulled that, that group together. You, you've created a vision. They, I guess, took a share of that vision with you and so wanted to help get you on the plane and and live that dream correct. You know, small town girl going going over the, the ocean, now the straight into australia to compete correct.

Speaker 2:

And then and that was the thing is that I think they just and then I got back from that competition. It was like, okay, alicia, what's next? You know they're asking me, and by that stage I was like I could do a world championship. Like I could. I had so much belief and so much conviction within me after competing there. I thought, you know what I could do this, I could be the first new zealand that ever competed a championship in this discipline. And so then it started all over again. It was like, right, here's the outcome. How long have I got? What needs to happen? You know what team do I need to contact?

Speaker 2:

And at the time the Sydney senior team was the number one team in the country, and so they were the ones that were most likely to be going to world championships. And so sort of fast forward three years. I finished my high school and I did my school captain speech and I, you know, I thanked them and congratulated everybody. And then, I think literally within three weeks, I was on a plane to Sydney to try out for Team Australia. And then, within three months after that, I was competing at my first world championship in the Czech Republic, representing Australia, competing at my first world championship in the Czech Republic representing Australia.

Speaker 2:

So it was just a series of events. I think it was definitely by design, not by default. I don't think I would put any of that just down to chance or luck. It was a clear strategic vision, a relentless desire to get there and just an inner knowing that I can make it happen. If I just believe in the process, if I just do the work, I can get there. And March 2006, I'm stepping on the ice at my first world championship.

Speaker 1:

For me. I just got to understand, because this is figure skating. Talk to me a little bit about what the sport is, because I'm seeing. For me, being British, I'm seeing Torval and Dean. I need you to give me a bit. Just break it down.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, break it down a little bit more.

Speaker 2:

What? What is this awesome? So at the age of 14, when I went to South Africa prior to that I was doing individual skating, so figure skating right on my own, out on the ice doing my thing, doing a routine. I then discovered this synchronized ice skating, which was what the, the seminar entailed. Now, synchronized ice skating, typically at a senior level, is 16 men or women on the ice at one time doing a series of synchronized routines, so you could be going from spirals to transitions, so pass-throughs, to jumps, spins, almost cheerleading on ice. Now where you're lifting people up, so you've got three women underneath one up top and you're doing almost like acrobatics on ice. So that is the. It's a. The short program is a two minute 30 long program is, you know, four minutes 30 plus or minus, don't? You know it's been a few years now, but you know, don't, don't quote me on that and having to work in synchronized and harmony to be able to produce an execution. So if anyone says to me five, six, seven, eight, boom, I'm back there.

Speaker 2:

I'm ready to go, because doing it by yourself is one thing, doing it with a team of 16, whole nother level, whole, nother challenge.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, that's right. So I'm interested. When you first started figure skating, like you said, you were by yourself. I'm guessing small town must have been a small ice rink. Going then and seeing this huge opportunity as you came out on the ice for that first world championship, what was going? Do you remember what was going through your mind?

Speaker 2:

Like I can still see it vividly in my mind. It's one of those core memories that I'm hopeful that when I'm sitting on my rocking chair at 95 years old, I can still remember it as well as I remember it now. I was my body. It felt like it was on fire. My body felt like it was on on fire. The adrenaline and arousal levels running through my body at that moment especially when you've got you're about to step on the ice.

Speaker 2:

I've never competed in an arena that large with that many people looking at us or looking at me before, and so those adrenaline and arousal levels were through the roof, if I'm completely honest. But the feeling in that moment of knowing this is it, like this is my moment, this is it, this is what I've worked so hard for that was all running through my brain at the same time. And as an athlete, as you would know, the biggest challenge in that moment is you have to reset so much and all as I wanted to like scream and yell from the rooftops like, yeah, I'm here'm here, this is fantastic. I had to really go inward, like bring everything back down so I could do what was necessary on the day. Yeah, and if that didn't happen in that moment, I can promise you, it would have not have been, it would have not been a good first debut yeah, but and I guess not just for you, but you have to hold it together for your team as well.

Speaker 1:

There's others who depend on you.

Speaker 2:

And that's probably one of the most challenging aspects is that I think if it's just on you, you know. If it's just not your day, you know it is what it is and you have to own that. You have to live with that. When it's with a team, everybody has worked just as hard as you have and you've got. In a short program you've got two minutes 30. And in a long program you've got four minutes 30 to go out there and show the world what you've been working for. And then everybody in that team is counting on you to not trip, to not fall, to not be the one that falls off the line, and that I think we all felt that enormous responsibility to make that happen.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, Wonderful. After that experience you achieved that early dream of getting to that world champs representing Australia. After that first one, what, if anything, changed?

Speaker 2:

is like nothing else. I can. You know, I've had those moments in my life, maybe a handful of times that I can call back to. And so there was for me at 18, it was like right, I've got a few years of this, I want to go around again. My original intention was just to go to Australia for three or four months, compete at the world championship and then come home to New Zealand and start my physical education degree at the university of Otago. So that was the plan, so to speak. But I got back from that championship and it was just like no, I'm staying here, I'm going to go around again. And I went on to do two consecutive world championships for Australia and then went back to New Zealand to get the New Zealand team to its first world championship. But, to answer your question, I think it was just more of a gut in mind decision of I want to do this again and I want to go through what's necessary to get there.

Speaker 1:

So talk to me about what was necessary to get there, because what I'm hearing is this is figure skating professionalism versus amateur. There's this huge scale that comes through and I'm curious how did you fund your life?

Speaker 2:

A lot of jobs because you know it was amateur, you know wasn't funded in the sense that we didn't have this constant stream of funding going coming in. Yes, we had, you know, the Australian Association putting a certain amount amount in, but when you break that up by 16, 20 skaters, it's not really a much per person. So you would probably typically see me at most of the Bunnings sausage sizzles from time to time during that period and I just did. It was like for me it was just I just have to work. So I have to manage the job, I have to get into something. I have to work if it's necessary at the time.

Speaker 2:

We're at multiple jobs, whatever it takes to fund the training, the weekly training, all of the other sessions that you need to have, and then, of course, the big international trips that do require a significant amount of funding. So it was like head down, bum up. I've just got to get this done. I know what I need to earn. Again, plan in advance when's the next Worlds? What's the cost between now and then? And our team manager was fantastic at kind of mapping that out for a lot of us. There's a lot of young skaters, a lot of young women on the team. You know there's no endless amount of money. If we want to do this, we have to make it happen, and so we all kind of rallied around each other as well, like hey, alicia, you know there's work going here, or you wanted this, or hey, do this fundraiser this weekend. And sure enough, we got to the outcome.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, as you look back at those periods, what were the most challenging aspects aspects for you?

Speaker 2:

I think, the constant iterative improvement aspect of the day-to-day training, you know the day-to-day relentless you've got to get up, you've got to get to the ice skating rink. But I think I found a lot of joy in that as well. But there was, you know, after coming back from that first world championship, I had a list of things that needed to be improved. Like you know, we'd done the reviews, I'd looked at the videos, I'd, you know, recap the performance and it was like right, if I seriously want to compete at another world championship, here are all the things that need to get fixed. And that's quite confronting because a lot, you know, the ego in us wants to be like look, we've been to a world championship, this is great. Like you know, I'm awesome. But the reality is that's not the case at all. And so after a big championship like that, you kind of have to go inward and go. Actually, there's a few things if I want to take this seriously and if I'm going to invest again in this process, I have to take an iterative approach to how am I going to get there, how am I going to fix those things, and then be self-aware enough to realize what needs to be fixed.

Speaker 2:

So I think that was in itself, you know, probably one of the challenges the balance of having to balance the training with the job, with the fatigue, you know, and all those aspects, those competing priorities, sleep, sleep, like exactly that was quite challenging. And also, you know you're 18, 19, you want to have a social life as well. So where does that even fit in? You know, I'm calling my friends back in New Zealand and they're in Otago at their couch parties university. Like I can hear it in the background, they're having an insane time. That wasn't my reality. My reality was do whatever's necessary to get to the next world championship. And so, when you're 18, 19, and you haven't really got sort of that holistic view of the world, realizing that this is the price that needs to be paid to achieve the outcome and staying true to that was probably one of the big challenges as well.

Speaker 1:

Do you know? It's interesting because, if I'm thinking figure skating, skating like gymnastics, diving, these are sports where you kind of set and you tell the judges sort of what your target is in that complexity and they're kind of just looking for imperfections to mark you down. Is that right?

Speaker 2:

Almost Like. I mean, I ended up being an international technical specialist myself, post my figure skating, post competing, and that's exactly it. You've got your rule book, you've got your levels and you're just looking to see did they reach those levels? And if they didn't, downgrade, downgrade, downgrade. Right, oh, the twizzle wasn't, you know, two and a half times. Okay, that's you know. Was that more than four skaters? Yes, it was Okay, that's an immediate downgrade.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, and so you're right, it's the precision and what's required is tremendous because four skaters, quarter of the team, you've now downgraded yeah, because you talk about then that pursuit of excellence to achieve the world next year and keep sort of progressing and it's in some respects it's improving by reducing errors and I'm sure, as we'll get to, you know how that influences how you run or establish a business and run things about that sort of that pursuit of excellence through there. But before we jump to that, I guess I guess we're at this world's peace. You've represented Australia. Did you have a yearning to go back and represent the country?

Speaker 2:

Yes, new Zealand had done, and not just my town, like the whole South Island, the whole country, in a lot of ways Like Queenstown gave me bungee jumping vouchers and then shot over vouchers to raffle off. Like I did really feel like I owed it to the country to come back and pass on these learnings and do something with the New Zealand team. And so, after having done three world championships, I was getting to that transition point of okay, well, what's next? What's next? And within the transition to my corporate career, I also, the following year, ended up going back to New Zealand and getting the first New Zealand senior team to their first world championship. And so it was probably one of the biggest challenges, because I was living in Australia at the time. We had to fly, everyone in the coach came in from Australia, I was the team captain, I came in from Australia.

Speaker 2:

It was sort of like dedicated boot camps sequentially leading up to world championships, making sure that we got the qualification points to be able to be almost like the Jamaican bobsled team. You know we got there at the world championships, but that was the outcome Get a New Zealand team to the world championships, compete at the world on the world stage, because I knew all I needed to do to spark that fire in the New Zealand Association and the New Zealand teams was just get them there, because I knew all of that momentum and all of that energy would then come back to New Zealand. It would filtrate through the individual province teams and then, sure enough I don't know how long it's been 15, 16, probably even longer years later I still now, without being involved, I see them and they're doing the local competitions and they're coming to Australia and they're still building that momentum and that, for me, is incredibly rewarding because I knew that sparked during that time in which we achieved that goal.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, that's wonderful, wonderful to be able to do that full circle and give back, like you said, not just to the community but New Zealand.

Speaker 2:

To the sport, you know, to everything that I felt like I was carried through. In a lot of ways I felt like I was. I had people wrap their arms around me and say, don't you just focus on the skating, you're going to get there, we're going to make it happen. And then, yeah, you're right about to give that back and go and have that contribution. It's one of the most rewarding aspects of my entire skating career.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, well done. You know, I think that's awesome, thank you. You know something you mentioned there between Australia and, at some point, new Zealand was the beginning of this sort of transition journey. At what point did you start to realize, hey, this might end.

Speaker 2:

I think, because I had to fund my whole way through my figure skating career. I never took it for granted that I would need to at some point sort of establish that what am I going to do with my life? I always knew, was very aware that there was an end, and because I was funding it, I was very aware that this can't go on forever, because one day that money is going to have to go somewhere else. Right, you know, outside of me just traveling the world doing what I love, and so we were coming back. We're on the plane back from, I think, my third world championship with Australia, and my coach at the time was sort of, you know, bringing everyone up to her seat on the plane and asking them philosophical questions Always great to do after a world championship. She sat me down and she said so, alicia, you know, always great to do after a world championship. She sat me down and she said so, alicia, you know you've done three world championships. What are you going to do with your life? You know, at the time for me it was like look, I'll probably go back to New Zealand, I'll probably do my physical education degree at the University of Otago and I'll become a PE teacher, because that was sort of what I'd planned post-school. And you, she sort of looked at me sideways and really like after everything, and it wasn't. It wasn't that she was discrediting that in any way, I think she just seen me flourish in what I was doing and she just felt like Alicia, you're in Sydney now, like you're in the big smoke, there's so much that you could do. And I think that was probably a catalyst to sort of start to think and you know you admire your coaches as well in a lot of ways. You know I really had a great deal of respect for her and I think she just sparked something in me to go well, actually I should start taking this seriously and start to think about what that next chapter looks like. And then after that really was the moment, I think. At that point I said right, I've done three for Australia. Right, I'm now going to start to transition to my corporate career, whatever. What does that mean? What does that even mean like as a phrase? And so I do recall very quickly when I made the decision right, no more world championships, you know at the time I'm going to now transition.

Speaker 2:

I recall feeling very lost very quickly. For me it was, I'd had this identity of, you know, being an ice skater traveling around the world, competing at world championships. I had this whole team and family community around me that were just like lifting me up in a lot of ways, and so, and a great deal of connection and belonging and identity came from that. And so I very quickly felt very isolated and very alone and very scared all at the same time. And so I very quickly felt very isolated and very alone and very scared all at the same time. And so I took a bit of time and I started to, you know, as an athlete, you kind of go, okay, you know what's my outcome, what's the process, rely on my training. I've got to figure this out. I can't.

Speaker 2:

I did for, to be completely honest with you, rest on my laurels for a little bit, to kind of go. What does that look like? But I think, very quickly once I said right, alicia, get it into gear, let's go. I then started to ask a lot of questions, meet with a lot of people. I then went to a few seminars. I started a university degree in Sydney. So now working multiple jobs, not to fund ice skating, but now to fund university because you know, being a New Zealander, I had to pay upfront for each class and really just felt quite lost throughout that entire process. There wasn't a moment there where I felt good. And I think when you come off the back of competing and you have that feeling of adrenaline and that feeling of winning and that feeling of team spirit and momentum, it's very hard to get that back because it's so unique to being an athlete and to doing sports. It's what's so great about team sports.

Speaker 1:

How did you know you said you spoke to people? Who did you speak to?

Speaker 2:

Like I spoke to, you know, parents of some of the skaters on the team. I spoke to my coaches. I spoke to managers of the company that I was working for, you know, at the time just asked a lot of questions. I found seminars that I could go to, like business seminars or personal development seminars, you know. I think, something like success resources. I went to a few of their seminars as well, and that's when I came across, you know, my mentor now.

Speaker 2:

So I came across this man on the stage and he was talking about how you can market your business and grow your business exponentially with these incredible strategies and frameworks and methodologies. It's like process what? Yes, okay, tell me more. And he was talking about some of the marketing greats, like Jay Abraham and a few others. And so I went along to his boardroom briefing and he said to me Alicia, well, what do you want to achieve? And I said, well, that's the problem. Like I'm just finished. I actually don't know. I've got to figure that out. He said there's got to be something. I'm literally giving him a blank stare. It's like I do not know.

Speaker 2:

He said, look, what do you want? And I just blurted out I want to make $100,000 in the next 12 months. And he said to me good, that's the what, that program. It's $35,000 up front and I'll get you there within 12 months. Okay, okay, hang on, what $35,000. I've just finished ice skating. I'm probably still paying off my, my last world championship. Where am I going to get that from? Sure enough, when your gut, your intuition, tells you that, if you've got this in you and you found someone that can show you the way, yeah. Well, what's there left to decide?

Speaker 1:

wow, oh, hold on. So this takes me straight back to you being this small island girl coming back from Australia or South Africa, coming back and saying, hey, the whole world is out here. Yeah, I've now got a plan. I need to get myself back on the plane to get to Australia here. I guess you're finding yourself in a similar situation of you've been to this seminar. You don't even have a business at this point.

Speaker 2:

Nothing. I've got nothing, Like I zero.

Speaker 1:

So you go along to a business seminar without a business Correct Right, but you go along to the sessions and what you're then doing is you've now met someone who I guess has planted a seed has inspired you that well, if you know what he can teach you how you need to invest.

Speaker 2:

Correct and it was like okay, logically. So my logical brain says that makes sense. To me, the emotional side is like on fire, Like where the hell am I going to find $35,000? Sure enough. A few weeks later, go to Westpac. I get my $35,000 loan. This is 2008. So I'm paying 40% interest on that loan and I still remember walking into the Westpac bank in Hornsby and the teller handing me the $35,000 check, check.

Speaker 1:

Hopefully not cash.

Speaker 2:

Hopefully. No, trust me, I think it would have been a completely different experience again if it was cash. And I still remember like my body shaking, my body on fire, just like those moments that I described to you before. And she's like look the teller's, like, are you okay? No, not really. Just give me the check, because otherwise right now I'm going to change my mind. That's how much it was. I knew I had to do it, but it was also terrifying to make that decision.

Speaker 2:

Now, sure enough, plus or minus 12 months later, I completely transformed. I got my career in radio advertising and I had achieved $128,000. And I say that to you not to even impress you at this point, but just to be like the power of the what, the power of knowing what you want and then knowing how to get the right people or the right resources around you to make that happen. That's where the magic is. And for me, that was the transition point of going from I know nothing, I am nothing, I'm starting from scratch all over again to doing whatever's necessary, doing the hard work, listening, learning.

Speaker 2:

I definitely didn't have a life for that 12 or 18 months. I was just fully immersed in retraining myself in an industry that I knew nothing about. And I, fortunately, when I interviewed at the Australian Radio Network the first guy at the station that I was meant to be working on, he was like, look, I don't think she's got it in her. And the guy the manager of the second radio station, who's still a friend and a mentor now said to the team I'll take her. And then that was my shot right, that was my opportunity.

Speaker 2:

And so, yeah, I spent that next 12 to 18 months just fully immersing myself, fully transitioning. I was the first person there in the morning, I was the last person there at night to learn a new craft and I, to be really honest with you, yes, I had my mentor guiding me and giving me all the methodologies and the frameworks, but I also had all of that experience being an athlete that I could leverage to know. You just follow the process, you do the work, you know you do whatever it takes, you have many failures, you pick yourself up and you keep going.

Speaker 1:

Did you have any moments of doubt during that year, that period?

Speaker 2:

Every single day, multiple times a day, I think. Most nights I went home, especially in that first six months of radio advertising going. Can I even do this Like I was that bad, to be completely honest with?

Speaker 1:

you, but you trusted the process. To what extent did you pick radio advertising?

Speaker 2:

I don't even know if I picked it. I feel like it picked me. I really it's very philosophical Beautiful. Yeah, it did feel like I can't even tell you how I got into that room for an interview, like I know that and I I'm pretty sure I actually heard a radio advertising ad saying we need, you know, campaign managers, account managers you know, call this number and this is now 17 years ago.

Speaker 2:

So I'm pretty sure heard the radio commercial contacted the recruitment agency, got my interview with the recruitment agency. Pretty sure heard the radio commercial contacted the recruitment agency, got my interview with the recruitment agency. They said look, we think you're great, we want to put you in front of the team. And then, first chance no, she hasn't got what it takes. Second chance I just needed one person and that one person believed in me to say you know what she's got, what it takes. She might be a bit rough around the edges at this point, but she's got what it takes. And whatever he saw in me at the time, that was the catalyst for being able to do what I did.

Speaker 1:

As you look back now, what do you think he saw in you?

Speaker 2:

saw the athlete. I think he saw the young girl, the young 14 year old girl who would not take no for an answer, who, through whatever it took, was going to find a way to get to the outcome. And then I also think he saw that self-belief of if she's got that combination, I can work with that and she's coachable. And, as athletes, most of us are very coachable because we've been coached our whole lives. So we just need someone to go right. Here's the path.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, let's, let's go right, wow yeah well, that's quite amazing and so much you know already in that story, the, the gambles, or the I say gamble.

Speaker 2:

I guess it's a risk you didn't feel like that at the time. Yeah, it did. I didn't even tell my parents. I told no one that I've taken the 30. I kept this. I did not tell a soul that I had taken a $35,000 loan out. It's a lot for a student who's working a few jobs.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, okay, I could not. It was so big I could not even bring myself to share it with anyone close to me because I knew they love me, they want the best for me. This is probably not the right decision to be making in their eyes at this point in time, and I was so nervous I could not deal with any negative outside feedback because there was already enough going on in my own head that I had to overcome first.

Speaker 2:

So you know, I think about nine months in where I'm like right, I'm on the right path now. I'll now share that with my family.

Speaker 1:

Right, okay, yeah, and well, you know, there's a few bits. I'm saying, yeah, don't do this at home.

Speaker 2:

It's like can we put some asterisks in here?

Speaker 1:

It's not financial advice Correct, but in doing that. But for you then you know, and this is that year, this is that moment where you've recognized a transition. So for you then, from a sporting perspective so I understand the actions you did how did you manage then that exit or that transition out from sport?

Speaker 2:

Day by day, day, step by step. It was a really hard transition more not from a process point of view, it was a psychological transition was that was the most challenging for me. Um, and having been having come to sydney for ice skating, that was my family, that was my community, I didn't have anything outside of that. There was no other school communities or anything like that that I could tap into. So that loneliness aspect and that feeling like I had to start all over again was the toughest part. But I think, when you again, when you, I'd always knew that there had to be the next step. I had great sort of coaches and mentors guiding me along the way. It was now just a matter of okay, if that's the outcome and I'm willing to do what's necessary to get there, then I'm going to get there eventually. I don't know when, but I will.

Speaker 2:

And right through radio advertising in those early days I sort of used a few of sort of the typical fundamental strategies that I still use now when I'm trying anything new. So it's like, okay, who's the best in the business? So the first question I asked was like right, who is the best here? And I found two just extraordinary people who were equally as great at what they did, and Matt was arriving first thing in the morning and Susie was leaving last thing at night. So I was there first thing in the morning, you know, with Matt, and last thing at night with Susie, to just absorb that knowledge, absorb that strategy, that way of thinking and what they did differently to everybody else, to get to the outcomes. And then I was in the radio archive.

Speaker 2:

So what creative strategy works you know that kind of thing yeah.

Speaker 1:

so it's interesting. I think, then, about you as a technical judge in ice skate, in figure skating, talking about setting that standard and then breaking down, not so the errors, but then breaking it down and saying, well, what is it? Because you're there working, watching Matt and Sue, susie, matt and Susie with an aim of sort of adopting their strategy Correct Mirror, the masters mirror the masters.

Speaker 2:

It was literally. You know, don't reinvent the wheel, alicia, you're not that smart. Don't think for a second. You know, don't think for a second. Don't overcomplicate this. Don't think this is rocket science. Just find the best in the business and master what they do, and the same is true for anything. If you want to achieve an outcome, that's the fastest way to getting there is what do they do well, what are they not doing? That doesn't work. So you can avoid that and then just literally mirror their process, mirror the way they do things, ask questions and the only thing I was really conscious of and I don't know where I got this from, but I knew if they were going to coach me and give me value, I needed to find a way to create value for them as well, because that reciprocal exchange needed to be there from day one, because otherwise you know what's in it for them.

Speaker 1:

So by taking the time to watch the masters to figure out what they were doing. You know, what did that make you think about? Well, my next career is going to be XYZ, or this is how far I can go, because as an athlete you had make it to nationals. You achieved it at nationals, but that was a tangible goal. Then it was take my country. I come back New Zealand and give that back. So then, from your professional greatest corporate type career, where did you think you could get to? What was your plan?

Speaker 2:

I don't. In the very early days of radio advertising I was so overwhelmed by just developing a new skill set I couldn't even go beyond a year. But as I started to get those big breakthroughs, achieve those big wins, and it felt feel like myself again, because what was happening was my corporate career was now replicating my career as an ice skater and I was starting to feel those same feelings that came with being an ice skater in now my corporate world. So now, once again, I started to open my eyes to the possibilities of what I could do and about four years into my radio career, I got to sort of the three door moments again, I think, where I was 23 at the time or 24 at the time. It was incredible to look back and think, gosh, but I was a big planner. I knew that I wanted to have a family. I knew that I wanted to.

Speaker 2:

At this point I was pretty sure that maybe I wanted to run my own business and I could also see opportunities and problems within the marketplace that I felt I could solve. So one of them was just transparency for clients. So transparency around how we're going to achieve the result, transparency around how their campaigns are performing and what they're actually getting for their dollar. So to me I was like, oh, that is a problem, I could solve that problem. And one of the other things that was happening was I was going and working with clients on these radio advertising campaigns. But I wanted to transform their business, so I wanted to work on the whole thing. I wanted to work on the whole marketing strategy and I'd been working with my mentor, going to these business and marketing seminars He'd been giving me like a real life MBA. I was learning so much so I felt so equipped to be able to drive incredible results for clients. So I'm sitting with these three doors, and door number one is you know, stay in radio advertising, have a ball, because it was a blast. You know, keep achieving great outcomes, keep winning and just enjoy the ride. And that to me, was like this is totally the easiest door and it feels great. Door number two was go and work for an agency, because I knew at that time, right, I could run a media. I think I knew I could run a media advertising agency, I could set up my own business. And so the second door was okay, we'll go and work for an agency. Like, do the smart thing learn the ropes, you know, get some mentoring underneath you in the industry and figure out what that is. And then door number three was well, go and start your own business and, in theory, hope for the best.

Speaker 2:

Now, by this point, my income was great. I had everything that I could have possibly wanted at the age that I was. I'm like 24, 25 at the time and I'm just crushing it beyond my wildest dreams and just so in awe of what I'm living day by day. But again, something in me says this is the next step, and I knew that if I wanted to have a family and I wanted to be present and I wanted a flexible life and I wanted to maintain a career I could be proud of, then I needed to make this transition now, and so that was the catalyst that birthed Ultimate Edge Communications, which is my first baby. I call it baby number one, you know. Then, my three kids are baby number two, three and four, but that was the birth of Ultimate Edge.

Speaker 2:

To go, you know what I can do this, and so I gave, I said to their network, I gave them seven months notice, you know, november 2013. I said right, guys, this is my plan, and I did that out of respect, because I was so grateful to them for what they had done for me, for what this organization had done for me. But I also knew I had to be honest with myself that now's the time, it's go time, and so we did a beautiful transition. We transitioned clients, we made sure everything was set up and July 2014 to yeah, 1st of July 2014,. Ultimate Edge Communications was born, and I'm sitting in my third bedroom of my home in Lane Cove, terrified again. What have I done? No one's calling, nothing's happening. Yeah, what do I do now?

Speaker 2:

yes it was that same feeling all over again amazing, I mean.

Speaker 1:

Thanks for just sharing a little bit of that insight into how you got to start in your own business. Looking at, I think, look, door number one and door number two were really appetizing.

Speaker 2:

They, they were really good doors In hindsight they were really good.

Speaker 1:

You took the hard path. You ran uphill, took that path and you still went uphill to get home. But you went and did that hard path to set this business. But it does sound like you thought beyond just the business. You thought about the lifestyle that you wanted to have and you saw the business as perhaps a vehicle to achieve that.

Speaker 2:

Spot on and I don't know how I was able to think holistically at that point in time. I think I have to give that credit a lot to my mentor, who asked me those thought provoking questions to really get me to think about well, if we're going to build a life by design, not by default, how do we actually go about that? And so I knew that, yes, I wanted, I had these financial outcomes, yes, I had these corporate outcomes, but it was also about the person that I want to become in five or 10 years. And I think his wisdom knew that the journey of entrepreneurship is one of the best teachers of life. You find out more about yourself good and bad than you would ever want to know and you're tested in ways where you I don't think there's any other platform that could test in my experience, test me in the way being an owner of a business and running a multi-million dollar business has has done yeah, so wonderful.

Speaker 1:

No, and I think you're right, it's such a again, living by doing, not by planning right or just planning, but living by doing. Not by planning right or just planning, but living by doing as well. So, as you look back at the journey that you've had to today to this point, when you think about those athletes who are contemplating how am I going to transition? What does that look like From your experience? What guidance, what steps would you advise them?

Speaker 2:

That's a great question because I know everybody's journey is unique, depending on the level of sport, the level that they've attained, and you can only look at some of the greats, the goats of all time, and the struggles that they've had post-career. But I think I would really focus on pre-transition starting to think about what you want, what your life looks like, what are the things that you really enjoy doing, what are the things that you don't enjoy doing, what are the potential career pathways that you could take, doing that at the peak of your athletic career. There's so much advantage in doing that Because if you do that in the reverse, in panic mode, when you're now, you've stopped and you're quite similar to where I was, like oh my God, what's just happened? I feel like my entire identity has been stripped from me in the space of 24 hours of making this decision. What's next? It does feel very overwhelming and I do think again. A lot of my motivation came from that feeling of oh my gosh, this does not feel good, but I would definitely recommend any athlete right now that is either pre-transition or starting to transition, definitely starting to think about those questions.

Speaker 2:

In my experience, the best thing I did was find my mentor, because if you've been as an athlete, you've been coached your whole life.

Speaker 2:

It's what you know. You've always had that person beside you or behind you, giving you the advice you need to get to the next level. In my experience, always had that reciprocal trust of they know how to get me there, and that is the magic of a coach-athlete relationship. And so if you've had that for your sport, why would you not have that for your career? And so for me, getting that mentor at the age of 19, and he's still with me today in every milestone and every moment that I've had to overcome yes, I've done a great job and I followed the process, but having that guidance and that wisdom alongside me second to none. So my advice to everybody now is just get the best mentor you can afford, because it's paramount. We don't have all the answers and we're foolish to think we do. We have to rely on, stand on the giants of those who have achieved what we want to achieve and just follow the process.

Speaker 1:

Yes, wonderful, thank you for that. Well, just closing, really, but I'm, I'm interested one, perhaps a difficult question in some respects. 10 years ago or so, you embarked on your journey as a business owner. You had this picture of who you wanted to be. You know certainly to become. When you think about today where you are, do you feel you're on that journey? Do you feel you have headed in the right direction?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I still, today, pinch myself at the reality of what I'm doing, the life I live, the people I come into contact with, these conversations. It blows my mind and I don't think I could have ever in advance manufactured what this would be. I knew, I had an envision, I knew the life I wanted to create for myself, for my family, for my team. You know that kind of thing. But I do still look and go wow, this is happening, even on the tough days, because, as an entrepreneur, there are more tough days, there are more tough slogs and there are wins. Right, we win like maybe less than 5% of the time. The other 95% of the time is the tough slog that didn't work. Okay, Fail fast, right, let's get back up on our feet because, you know, not everything works the way you expect it to.

Speaker 2:

But if I think about being, you know, I'm a mother to three kids under seven. I've got an incredible husband. You live in Sydney, Australia, one of the most gorgeous countries in the world, and I get to work with a great team and also switched on CMOs and marketing managers who want to make magic happen. They just need someone to help them get there, someone to drive the strategy to create the feedback loop to get the best possible result to make them look like a rock star. So they are like I'm crushing this, I need my next promotion. We're the engine room behind that and I draw an incredible amount of satisfaction and identity and worth by doing that every day of the week, literally.

Speaker 1:

Even though I balance it, it is a seven days a week, 24-7 kind of thing, because it's always on your mind, it is, and if it's something you love, or indeed, as I love to say, something that energizes you, then you want it to be part of what you do.

Speaker 2:

Totally. You want that holistic view and for me, I want that feeling and I want that pursuit of excellence feeling, because what I've learned is that it's actually the magic is in the process, not necessarily the result. The result lasts for 30 seconds. You get that feeling of elation Like I got there. If you're lucky, it might last for five minutes and then it's. Or maybe a day, right, but but then soon after it's gone. And so you. What I've learned as a business owner, an entrepreneur, is you have to find the satisfaction and the magic in the day to day, because the winds are few and far between and those big moments are few and far between. So if you can find the satisfaction and the magic in the day, you actually live a really great experience, which we all deserve to have, an incredible experience. We've only got one life, that's right, that's it.

Speaker 1:

Look, alicia, thanks, I love the energy. I think those watching and listening are going to have that similar feeling of being inspired by you, in the same way that you lifted your or you inspired your hometown to support you, to achieve that dream, and now you're doing that from so an entrepreneurial edge. There's going to be those listening who are going to probably want to reach out, probably get in contact. We'll put it in the show notes, but what's the best way to find you?

Speaker 2:

The best way is, you know, ultimateedgecommunicationscomau. I know it's a long one. I couldn't find any shorter URLs. I committed to it 11 years ago and that's what it is. So, ultimateedgecommunicationscomau, in terms of following me, the best place to do that is in LinkedIn. That's where I post all my latest content, all my latest media, advertising and marketing strategies, and that's where I share a lot of my personal journey as well.

Speaker 1:

Wonderful Alicia, thanks again for sharing your journey today.

Speaker 2:

Pleasure. It's great to be here.

Speaker 1:

Thank you for listening to the Second Wind podcast. We hope you enjoyed hearing insights from today's athlete on transitioning out of competitive careers. If you're looking for career clarity for your next step, make sure you check out secondwindio for more information or to book a consultation with me. I'd like to thank Claire from Betty Book Design, nancy from Savvy Podcast Solutions and Cerise from Copying Content by Lola for their help in putting this podcast together. That's all from me. Take it easy Until next time.

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