We were lucky to catch up with Alexis Burhenn recently and have shared our conversation below.
Alexis, appreciate you joining us today. What was the most important lesson/experience you had in a job that has helped you in your professional career?
Prior to owning my own business, I was an in-house Senior Tech Recruiter and I was in Recruiting for almost ten years. As a Recruiter, *in my opinion through experience*, there are three main goals:
1. Find the right fit and talent for the company and team.
2. Ensure your hiring managers and candidates trust and respect you. It has t0 be a good match on both sides.
3. Find ways to improve the recruiting process so it is more effective and efficient for all parties involved.
In order to meet these goals, you must spend a lot of time establishing relationships and trust. Some hiring managers are completely hands off, and some check in every morning. Some candidates are relaxed throughout the process while others experience immense amounts of anxiety. Every single person I worked with as a Recruiter was different. Their ways of working were different, expectations, timelines, etc. Some required more time, communication, and support. At first, navigating so many relationships was challenging, but I learned how to manage expectations, develop professional boundaries, and how to not take negative or emotionally charged responses personally.
Similarly, in the work that I am doing, I have to work quickly to build relationships with my clients. They are all different, from different backgrounds, are in different places in their lives, and require different levels of support. The work we are doing can be emotional, and they may be reactive, but I understand how to separate, navigate, and support different feelings and experiences. Some clients like to chat between sessions, and others prefer to save any communication for our designated time. I am available, flexible, and adaptable to their needs.
I believe this foundation in learning how to build strong working relationships has been critical to my success as a business owner. To link it back to my recruiting goals,
1. Word of mouth referrals and meeting people live in person have been my greatest resources in building my clientele. Its the most likely way to build a book of clients that are like-minded, and will be a good fit.
2. Sometimes you’ll meet a client and immediately connect. Other times, it may take a bit more time, more sessions, and more communication. Occasionally, client isn’t quite the right fit, and that is okay. There is another practitioner out there for them!
3. Keeping lines of communication and feedback open is crucial in order to improve – I want to give the best, most effective and efficient healings so I must work to identify ways to better work through feedback, classes, books, etc. It’s important to get out into the community and see what other practitioners are learning and offering (with compassion and curiosity, not from a competitive standpoint).
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 from the East Coast and currently live in Austin, Texas. I’ve always had intuitive, empathic, and spiritual gifts, but initially wasn’t drawn to pursuing these gifts. After spending almost a decade as a Tech Recruiter (while in my spare time studying reiki, energy healing, spirituality, meditation, holistic healing, and beyond), I was laid off and didn’t know what to do. All I knew was that I didn’t want to spend my days as a Recruiter anymore. I turned to therapy, life coaching, meditation classes, more spirituality, and finally, a past life regression helped me realize my purpose; to help others through various healing modalities.
I am an Usui Reiki Master, A Spiritual and Meditation Teacher, a Chakra/Sound/and Crystal Healer and seller.
I provide three main services at this time:
1. 1:1 and virtual intuitive healings or meditation/mindfulness sessions – these are customizable to the client and utilize a range of skills I’ve acquired.
2. I sell crystals locally.
3. I provide group corporate meditation and healing offerings.
I love holding healing space for clients and I specialize in supporting women in 1:1 sessions.
If you could go back in time, do you think you would have chosen a different profession or specialty?
If I could go back, I wouldn’t change a thing. I look back at my corporate career fondly – it led me to my husband, I learned so many new skills, met great people, traveled, and it built up my confidence. I don’t think I would be where I am in my business without it. The one thing I would change would be the amount of stress and anxiety it caused me. I wasn’t saving lives, I was just recruiting.
What’s been the most effective strategy for growing your clientele?
Word of mouth and meeting people live has been the most effective way for me to build my clientele. Attending various trainings, workout classes, asking people if they have referrals, and giving free/by donation healings have all helped. Acquiring testimonials and being able to point to people’s experience and the impact I’ve had on them has also been a great tool.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.albenergyhealing.com
- Instagram: @alexislburhenn
- Other: [email protected]
Image Credits
Misty Ranae Photography