Hey Reader,

Prepare yourself for the most glamorous photos of all time…

But first, I shall not bury the lede:

As of today (or tomorrow, I can never remember), I’ve officially been running Duett for SEVEN years! 7.

Though it wasn’t always so *put together* or whatever, with things like:

• A beautifully branded website that I hired professionals for
• A podcast (and my team member who makes it happen every week!)
• Hitting the $1M mark in all-time revenue — which, let the record show, took 6 years and was certainly not overnight

And even before 2018, the story starts in 2016 when I created my personal finance blog: Ask Allea

She was cute, wasn’t she?

I remember having to be fueled by red wine and chocolate chips before I felt brave enough to publish a new blog post.

Fan whirring, roommates walking by, just determined to make something public even if it scared the crap out of me.

Friends would go out for drinks on a Wednesday night (we called them “Tav Nights”) annnnnd sometimes I’d be here instead, writing about budgeting:

Or in our basement — I told you to prepare for glamour!! 😂

That’s some sexy stuff there lol

But really — I want to share this with you because we ALL come from beginnings, being new, a novice:

Like that scary first “post,” the growing list of 36 subscribers, or the business idea we hope and pray will help us pay our bills with a little less stress.

I’ve been there too.

As much as I loved the work I did in video production before this, I sat there in 2017 knowing there was something more *in me* to explore professionally— and the next thing you know I was going part-time at my job in 2018, starting Duett later that summer, and beginning the most wonderful rollercoaster of self-employment (and self-discovery!).

Thinking about this week, another year of Duett, I’ve been a bit whiplashed thinking of how far I’ve come:

➡️ From my friend Katherine Pomerantz paying me $250 for a strategy call — officially becoming my very first client — and now I have 10 sales calls booked for August from a big partnership I’ve been pining after for 17 months.

➡️ Or hiring Rebecca Marie to take my first Duett photos in 2018 (and letting me be her very first branding client 📷) — and she’ll be taking new ones for me again this fall.

➡️ To hiring my best friend Jenna to type up business card information from FinCon so I could follow-up with everyone — and now having a team of NINE incredible people who love our clients and do great work.

What I’ve learned

And like the big sister I am (to three brothers who really don’t care what I have to say, lol), I’m always looking for “What can I teach from what I know?” — so here’s what I’ve gathered as 7 big lessons, mindset shifts and milestones over the last 7 years.

Take what feels good and leave the rest, but from my experience…

01 | I’ve had to rewire my brain to build a business I love

SO MUCH of online business messaging is around building fast, pumping ads behind something, testing this, trying that, pivot pivot, niche, pivot!

And oh my gosh, that sounds exhausting. Because it is. I’ve seen friends do that, burn out and close up shop.

Ever since I hired Ashley Gartland as my business coach in 2019 (12 months into business), I allowed myself to be on the “straight and narrow” “road less traveled” instead.

Once you learn that you CAN say “no” to hustle culture, you have to keep saying no… even 7 years later.

This has meant —

• getting clients and making an earning for one whole year before I built a website
• saying “no” to buying another course
• saying “yes” to resting well on the weekend and not checking my email
• going to 4 or 5 events a year, not one every month
• and waiting to start a podcast until I was 6 years in business, not 3

Ashley and others at the time called it a “slow business,” and I’ve had to maintain this focus in order to build my business intentionally — for what I need it to be for my life.

Catch my earliest “How Allea got into business” interview from 2020 with Ashley here.​

02 | I need business friends

This looks like having friends in your space — some building a similar business, some building not-so-similar ones. Like I have friends who run their business with a team like I do. Then I’m also great friends with Kayla Hollatz Mitchell who is killing the game running her copywriting agency solo.

Having friends helps keep you accountable, allows you a safe space to ask questions, and gives you people to celebrate the wins with (you know, because your non-business friends may not understand what a “launch” is but your business friends will — and they’ll cheer you on!).

03 | I need to pay people to listen to me

In seasons this has looked like a therapist for my personal life (which impacts my business). And in others it’s been business coaches.
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Right now it means both. 🥰

When I pay people to listen to me, they have to. HAVE to. Ha!

It gives me a safe space to talk about fears, opportunities, struggles AND that person is there to help me walk through a game plan to help me through it.

And they’re not just some online business guru with a podcast; they know me PERSONALLY and give me the heartfelt, hard-truth direction I need.

​My current business coach, Anna Rapp, interviewed me in 2024 if you want an update on how my business looks now.

04 | Niching down is what helped me grow

This feels so natural to me now that I nearly forget this is what got me here: Niching down.

I do email marketing

Specifically welcome and nurture sequence automations

For content creators

Who are mostly food bloggers

That’s 4 layers of niching DEEP.

This is what’s allowed me to focus on my craft, hone my repeatable systems, hire specific roles, create reliable income, and be easily referrable — all because I’m clear about these four things.

Hear more about that (and my whole backstory) in this interview with my friend Matt Gira.

05 | I was able to scale because I hired a team

Y’all, Duett serves DOZENS of clients a year. Like, 65 different projects in the last 365 days (I looked).

We’ve been able to serve that many clients because I have a team. I’m no longer doing it by myself, and I’m very grateful for that.

That means:

• My clients are getting MORE eyes on things, leading to even better strategies, copy and results
• I can be OOO for days here and there and not need to check my email. My team has it covered.
• I’m able to help exponentially more people than if I were still doing every part of the Duett Debut process by my dang self

What started as a VA for 10 hours a month (yes, that’s only 2.5 hours/week) is now a full-blown project team who serve our clients every step of the way — from audit to content strategy to copywriting then automation setup.

It’s a dream.

06 | I had to grow as a CEO

I heard a friend say “the hustler has to die” when referring to growing a team and he is 100% right.
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I can’t wait until the last minute to change my mind anymore. Other people rely on me to give them clear instructions and now — instead of writing all the emails for my clients — my job is to make sure my team has what they need.

As soon as I hired Anna as my coach, I became a better manager. My team told me (lovingly) that I was the problem… and she helped me immediately get to WORK on how to be less of a problem.

I had to slow down (which killed me) and write out exactly what I needed within a task — clear details, links and deadlines. I felt like a SNAIL and it hurt my brain; I had to take so many naps. LOL

I jokingly told my team:

“This really hurts my brain, so I really hope you’re happy!” 😂

They were. It ended up being 100% worth it — and everyone’s functioning better (myself included) with the change.

07 | My faith has only gotten stronger

From the start of Duett, I’ve always said “this business is a partnership between me and Lord.” And “If the Lord didn’t want me in business, I wouldn’t be in business.”

So yeah, I can learn the skills, get the coaching, improve my systems and get better at sales calls and managing a team — but ultimately it’s God’s hand on my business that allows me to use my gifts and creativity to serve clients, pay my bills, and get to do all this wonderful work. 💫
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Okay, friend. Which of these surprised you? Which one stood out to you?
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Reply back and let me know!!
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Let’s Duett,
​
Allea

The latest on Happy Subscribers ​Designer to Decaf: Rethinking Email and Caffeine Culture with Matthew Smith​ TUNE IN

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