We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Alex Caiola a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Alex, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. What’s been the best thing you’ve ever seen (or done yourself) to show a customer that you appreciate them?

I have previous experience working for companies where we took the core tenets of hospitality seriously. At SoulCycle, we were all evangelists of Danny Meyer’s “Setting the Table” and were taught to “find the yes” and other important nuggets of wisdom when caring for customers. I then worked for two other hospitality companies, Alfred and an incubator/investor for restaurant groups, where I worked with people who had worked for Danny Meyer himself. Full circle! They also walked the walk and talked the talk of true customer service.

So, when it was time to start my own business, the notion of great service and hospitality was so ingrained in me. Early on, I knew I wanted to reward clients for their loyalty and investing in me. After clients hit at least three services with the business, I instilled a 20% discount code for them. The business has since evolved, but I constantly give out generous discounts, affiliate codes, free services, and “off-menu” services for loyal clients because it’s very important to me that they feel the love and support reciprocated.

Early clients are integral to your business. They provide you with investment to grow the business and, if treated well, will be your evangelists.

It’s also just as important to treat clients who are unsatisfied with your service well. I believe in listening to what they’re really asking for from you. If it’s within reason and your power to grant it (and it usually is as a small business owner), I usually do.
For example, I had someone buy a package they hadn’t used for 11 months, well past the statute of limitations for a return, and leave a 3-star review about it. We refunded them immediately. Not all money is good money! We just found the yes for them and kept it moving.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I am a third-generation entrepreneur, following in my grandfather and father’s footsteps. After a decade-long career in the corporate realm working in tech and hospitality startups like SoulCycle, Hello Alfred, and Aurify Brands as a Director of Talent, I started my own business, Capricorn Rising Inc., to blend my corporate and intuitive consulting experience to benefit leaders.

I am passionate about the intersection between intuition and business. I work on it with clients and discuss it endlessly on outlets like my podcasts, our email list, and any other outlet that will indulge me. I believe that finding and honoring each of our individual genius transcends industry, political affiliation, and any other box we’ve been put into… and leads the way to real, sustainable harmony in our world.

I help people solve existential problems like “What work am I supposed to do?” and “What is my purpose?” and deal with all the pesky intrinsic limiting patterns that pop up on that path to discovery.

I often work with entrepreneurs, both aspiring and established, because I believe it’s one of the most accelerated growth trajectories we can choose as humans. I admire the entrepreneurial audacity to pursue goals, as I understand it deeply, and the real need to tackle self-development as it arises. I’m proud of the work I’ve done on myself to be able to coach others on the process and not project any limitations or judgment as they progress forward toward their goals.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

“Stop at nothing to bring in revenue” to “Not all money is good money.”

Once you’ve built a livelihood out of your business and it’s your only source of income, it can be VERY tough to say no to money. But I’ve often learned that taking something just for the money that does not feel aligned or easy early in the process ensures it never feels aligned or good for anyone.

I worked with someone earlier this year who felt like a real anomaly in my business. I was adaptive to what he needed from me, but it was a far cry from my “genius zone. ” Every time we met, it felt like we were just missing each other’s wavelength. But he was paying me at the high end of my consulting fee, so I kept trying to fit a square peg into a round hole.

Sure enough, within about a month, said client wanted to drop out of our agreement because they felt they weren’t getting any value out of it. They said they would understand if I wanted to keep the money they had paid ahead of time for the service, but I refunded it to them instead, not wanting to keep the money they gave to me out of obligation, not out of genuine reciprocation.

Considering my time is also money, this was a colossal loss that could have been avoided had I listened to my gut, cut off the relationship as soon as it didn’t feel aligned for me, and focused on getting more aligned clients.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

I made a significant pivot in my business last year when I changed the business model and the name from High Priestess of Brooklyn to Capricorn Rising Inc.

In the first iteration of my business, High Priestess of Brooklyn, I was mainly consulting clients using Astrology and Tarot. However, I started to notice I attracted a lot of entrepreneurs as clients, and those sessions evolved into more of a coaching/consulting style service that incorporated my previous start-up experience. I felt I had way more to offer those clients than I did the clients who wanted to solve problems in love and dating, etc.

I launched a service within the business to serve those clients, which started to gain real traction and light me up. However, the branding of High Priestess of Brooklyn didn’t feel right or encompass the new business model. So, I undertook the process of changing the name and model to support the new direction. Thus, Capricorn Rising Inc. was born.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.capricornrisinginc.com
• Instagram: capricornrisinginc
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alex-caiola-05a0772a/
• Other: https://www.capricornrisinginc.com/unlock-your-genius

Image Credits

Mark Claudio (green suit, turtleneck photos), Marta Gonzalez (photos with pink background)