We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Alex Terranova. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Alex below.
Alex , thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today What do you think it takes to be successful?
Here’s the thing about success…
For most of us, most of the time, it’s bullshit!
It’s an arbitrary standard that others created and defined that we apply to our own lives, relationships, businesses, happiness, and even personal worth.
It’s absurd and unsurprising that in our pursuit of success and achievement, most of us end up worn out, tired, overworked, stressed out, battling with life, fighting with others, and dealing with drama or chaos.
This is how it goes for many of us. We do what we are supposed to do: work hard in school, go to college or graduate school to become lawyers and doctors, get a great job, or maybe crush it on wall street. We work long hours, take on debt, and often ignore our feelings and our health.
Many of us distracted ourselves with booze, sex, and the pursuit of money. And maybe we hustled and accomplished it; we made a lot of money, built a company, or climbed the corporate ladder. Perhaps it was getting married, having kids, traveling, and buying the dream home and car. Those achievements and successes were supposed to make us feel good. Feel happy. Feel fulfilled. It was supposed to give us peace, joy, and the ability to give and feel loved the way we wanted. We were supposed to eventually get to where we would have more time for the things that mattered to us.
But it isn’t working. We are collectively unhappy, stressed out, anxious, overworked, unfulfilled, depressed, distracted, constantly dealing with problems, and feel trapped.
What happened?
We used others’ arbitrary standards and expectations to set our goals and measure our happiness and self-worth. We thought all the “success” and achievement would get us what we wanted. It would make us feel how we wanted. It’s no surprise that we often find successful people’s lives falling apart. While things sometimes look good on the “success” surface, other times, struggles exist behind the curtain. While all these achievements may have produced the results we wanted, the side effect is many of us are left depressed, unhappy, riddled with anxiety, dependent on drugs and alcohol, becoming mentally unhinged, having major career or relationship explosions, and sadly too many people taking their own lives.
What can we do? From a coaching perspective, I work with extraordinarily successful people to alter how they define these relative terms, “success” and “happiness,” to make them personal and achievable and give them the experience of their life that they desire.
Success and happiness must be quantified only by the individual. When we map “success” as a blanket measure onto ourselves and each other, we create standards and expectations that, even when achieved, don’t provide the reward or the gratification we desire. Said another way, even when we win, we lose. When we succeed, we still don’t get what we want.
I don’t know about you, but I’m unwilling to sacrifice my happiness, peace, health, and relationships for “success.”
I, like most of my clients, want it all!
We want not only to win and thrive in business, wealth, relationships, and family. But we also want to enjoy the journey, the experience, and the process.
We want to love our lives.
We realize that if we have it all but aren’t enjoying it, it’s all pointless.
High achievers, successful people, 6, 7, and 8-figure earners, athletes, and Executives work with me because they know they can do more while loving their lives and finding peace, ease, joy, fulfillment, and love in the process.
We create the measures of success. Together we decide how you want to feel. You choose and define what matters to you and why. We alter your pre-programmed mindsets of what success means and reprogram it to be the experience of the life you want to be living. Your results are achieved because of who you are being, what you are committed to, and the experience of life you want to have.
You get to win and love your life in the process.
Alex , love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
I’m a Business & Success Alchemist & Coach, 2x Author, Podcast Host, Men’s Retreat Leader, and Recovering A**hole.
I support Successful People, Athletes, Rockstars, Business Owners, and Six, Seven, & Eight Figure earners to create thriving, loving, and fulfilling lives, relationships, and businesses through integrity, bold commitment, leadership, and effective communication, and to enjoy the journey of their lives.
Because far too many of us, in our pursuit of success and achievement, end up worn out, tired, overworked, stressed out, battling with life, fighting with others, and dealing with drama or chaos.
Clients come to me for many reasons; they have succeeded in various arenas yet aren’t happy, fulfilled, or aren’t loving their lives. Some because they know they are capable of more. Others feel trapped or stuck in the company they built or the niche they’ve carved out for themselves. Many of my clients have focused so much of their energy on achievement and financial success that they have neglected other areas of their lives that they now realize matter to them, marriages, health, and other relationships.
What I love about what I do, is I get to be bold, honest, direct, and raw with people. People who come to me are brave, courageous, and really want extraordinary lives. We work together to solve problems and create new possibilities for their futures. Most people are hiding and flushing their issues away with more work, alcohol, drugs, sex, spending money, travel, and food. But those that come to work with me realize their life is their responsibility to alter, create, and expand. They also understand their lives’ impact on others and want to create and leave a powerful legacy.
Any advice for managing a team?
People don’t listen to each other anymore. We stopped having enough time to give each other moments to share, to be seen and heard. We are so busy hustling, trying to achieve, and dealing with our problems, that nurturing relationships and connections took a back seat. To lead a great company, you must learn to listen, be empathetic, and hear and see the people who give you their time and energy. Yes, business owners pay wages, but there are many ways to get money. People’s time and energy are limited and our most valuable commodity. People are becoming increasingly unwilling to sell their time and energy for wages without respect, appreciation, and the ability to contribute, provide value, and be seen and heard.
And this isn’t a lot to ask. And as a business owner, you get way more value from a person for your company or brand when they feel good, respected, and valued. They give even more of themselves and their talents. Creating a great workplace and growing a great company is about building the best, most motivated, happy, and enrolled team, not just adding warm bodies to the assembly line. It starts with the owners and works down from there. Everyone has to be bought into the system, and one lousy leader can infect the whole team.
This is the best part about working with leaders. As we grow their leadership, focus, intention, vision, and communication effectiveness, we ultimately impact everyone working with and for them.
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
I quit, walked away from a successful six-figure career, and started my company with about $10,000 in the bank. That money was gone fast as I was living in New York City. But I believed in myself and started to leverage debt to build DreamMason Inc. The first three years were rough. I worked a lot, and my relationships suffered. I even ended an engagement. A lot of people doubted me and questioned what I was doing. I was stressed out and just put one foot in front of the other to keep going. So many other people who want to start their own business give up. All the circumstances, the challenges, the debt, sales, or whatever feels hard to them forces their hand, and they cave. I fell apart, cracked, and broke down numerous times but didn’t quit. I was unwilling to quit. I focused on what I could control, taking care of my health and constantly learning from others, and getting support and guidance. Even though I couldn’t “afford” it, I had my coach. I knew I had to bet on myself and become the person I wanted. So often, people say, when I reach a certain point, I’ll invest in myself or my business. I’ll hire a coach or buy that new equipment, but you have to do it now. Doing it now will get you to that goal. Besides having coaches, I surrounded myself with extraordinarily supportive people who called me on my bullshit and helped me grow as a person and business owner.
About halfway through year three and into year four, my business finally took off, and it’s grown every year since. 2020 was the best year I ever had despite COVID, and 2021 and 2022 were even better. Not just because I made more money and my business grew but because my relationships flourished and my clients were killing it!
I’m super excited for what’s next, especially the epic men’s retreats I have planned. The caliber of men that join us on these retreats blows my mind, and it’s the community that supports everyone to thrive in wealth, health, and relationships.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.thedreammason.com
- Instagram: @inspirationalalex
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DreamMasonInc/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexterranova/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvRU3eZLTS0n_Aj01w6McMg
Image Credits
Photo Cred: Donny Michel Photography