Welcome to Milestone Moments, the show where
we explore the journeys that lead to success.
I'm Sheila Slick, your host and founder of Five
Milestones. In every episode, we will bring you
insights from the minds of entrepreneurs, leaders
and experts who will share not just their expertise,
but the milestone moments that have reshaped
their journeys and led to significant achievements.
So if you're looking for motivation, you're in
the right place. Subscribe now and discover the
milestones that mark the path to success. Welcome
to another episode of Milestone Moments in Business
and Leadership. I'm your host, Sheila Slick.
And today, my special guest is Jeanette. Sis
Alkowski. She is a personal life strategist with
over 11 years of experience and for over four
years has been working with top entrepreneurs,
helping them break through plateaus, reignite
their passions, and create the energy they need
to scale all without burnout. Welcome to the
show, Jeanette. Hello, hello. Well, let's start
learning a little bit about you and how you got
to doing what you do today. How did you become
a personal life strategist? What was that pivotal
moment that led you to decide this is what I
want to do? Yeah, so personal life strategist
that leans into using feng shui and it's like
combining energy and those personal development
tools. The way I ended up combining both of them,
I have a master's in landscape architecture where
I found out about feng shui, which is studying
the landforms. Fun fact, feng shui originated
with where do you bury your ancestors to receive
ancestral luck. So it's not everything it is
today about decluttering. And sometimes people
think it has to do with tchotchkes in their house.
It actually started with. you know the energy
of the environment so I learned that when I was
getting my degree I became a landscape architect
and while I was doing that I you know it's a
five -year master's and then you go into it you
kind of dedicate your life to that and think
that's where your life will end up in the first
two years I was just very anxious I started getting
very paranoid at work anxious at work like I
can't sit at a desk the rest of my life and do
this like um Yeah, it just and what we learn
and a lot of your guests have kind of talked
about this, too, is your body will tell you something's
up and it usually shows up in the form of emotions,
paranoia, anxiety, something, you know, I'm lucky
that it didn't result in any big health issues
other than just like my heart racing. And yeah,
so I sit there and I start to look at what do
people tell me I'm good at? Right. And. Meanwhile,
I'm doing feng shui on the side. So this all
does tie back together. But I'm like, what do
people tell me I'm good at? Well, at work, everyone
tells me I talk a lot. And it turns out you could
get paid to do sales, which is just like talking
for work. And I was like, I should switch into
that. So I feng shui my space to attract the
right helpful people to attract this new job.
And I did. I attract this sales job. I have no
experience moving to that. I love it. It's great.
We fix that first plateau of not liking and feeling
really uncomfortable in my corporate career.
Go into sales. I love it. It's fun. I told the
CEO of a company one day that I would be the
CEO of that sales firm. I just love it so much.
In true universal fashion, we try to control
things. We think that we know the story. Because
of COVID, I... was let go, even though I was
the youngest salesperson in the company, one
of the top five salespeople. And again, I asked
myself in this transition point, okay, even though
I loved this, it wasn't like the first one where
I quit. This one I loved. I wanted to stay in
sales. I thought, okay, if everything's always
happening for me and not to me, how is this?
What is this showing me? What is this telling
me? And I thought, well, I just learned all these
skills, how to hit quotas, exceed quotas. And
I've been doing this feng shui thing that I love.
You know, they tell you when you're looking for
your passion, what's the thing you could talk
forever about? You just like you get lost in
books and I would get lost in things like feng
shui. And that's where this 11, I think we're
now year 12 of experience. I'd always been doing
it for friends or family. And I thought, OK,
well, if I can do sales and I'm like exceeding
my quotas and I can run a business and I should
do it, the world's ending anyway, it seems. So
why not go give it a shot? And so that's how
I ended up where I'm at. And I have combined
it with personal life strategy because I've always
used feng shui as a personal development tool.
I noticed the first couple of years of running
this business, Elemental Clarity, that people
just thought it was about decorating. And they
kind of think like, oh, if I just rearrange my
space and I just decorate better and declutter,
that I meet the love of my life, I make a lot
of money and things go well. But it's actually...
Again, the way I personally share it is it's
more personal, like personal development. How
can we create an environment that helps you be
the best version of yourself so that you can
achieve more? So anyway, that's a big circle.
Yeah, no, I loved it. But you hit the, you know,
you hit it with the nail on the spot when you
said that Feng Shui is. about redecorating because
when you ask someone like me that's not an expert
I seem to tie it in with energy like the way
that your bed is facing or you're supposed to
have certain elements in certain corners of the
house and the gist or the basic idea is that
the energy flows exactly So anything else I'll
learn. I don't know what those elements are.
I do know that when it comes to designing an
office, for example, I rearranged my office trying
to follow some of those tips because some bring
prosperity. One of the things I had learned,
for example, was you want to face the door, not
have your back to the door. Yes. Power position.
Yeah. Something I read inspired me enough to
actually do that change. I don't remember what
it was, but I just remember you're supposed to
be facing the door, not have your back to the
door. And so I do look forward to learning more
and also getting some more tips on how we can
improve our life, not just our workspaces or
home spaces using it. So how does it tie in to
personal development? I'd love to know that versus,
you know, the traditional ways that we think
about it in spaces. If you think about it, you're
optimizing. A lot of people start with optimizing
their internal energy, right? Entrepreneurs that
are maybe looking for being like more spiritually
led or just more balanced leaders in entrepreneurship,
right? Not all hustle. They like the creative
side as well. They maybe meditate. They eat well.
They meditate to clear their thoughts. So they're
working on their internal systems. And that's
what most people are familiar with. And I actually
started backwards. I was looking at my environment.
And so what I've realized, the way that it links
in is that we put, especially entrepreneurs,
people who are very motivated, who consider themselves
high achievers, they think they have to do everything.
I have to be the best. I have to think positive.
I have to be calm. I have to achieve like everything.
They put so much pressure on themselves that
they have to do everything. And with feng shui,
Yes, there is this high -level layer of decluttering.
Whether you're feng shui -ing, whether you're
being intentional about it, we all know that
visual clutter is mental clutter, right? It's
hard to function in a hoarder's house. But what
feng shui goes deeper is it's kind of like creating
this. Your home can be a 3D vision board. You're
working out. You're trying to think positive.
You're meditating. But if your space, makes it
difficult to eat healthy, makes it difficult
to meditate, makes it difficult to get out the
door. And again, there's a still even higher
level. If you don't know where your keys are,
your energy is always somewhat drained. You cannot
function or show up 100 % in your business. Then
there's an even deeper layer of the elements,
like you mentioned. We balance fire, earth, metal,
water, and wood. So we get even deeper into each
direction in your house. signifies a different
part of your life so the basics are you have
four lucky directions based on your birthday
in your can you work from your lucky current
success direction is your like lucky relationships
direction just a complete mess well then no wonder
your relationships are a mess you know so then
we get even deeper into that so the way I combine
to go back to your question of how is it related
is I see it as like everyone is doing so much
internally and even as somebody who considers
themselves a high achiever it's like kind of
helps you let go you know like if you're really
stressed out at work and you're really putting
all this pressure on yourself to be perfect and
do all these things if your environment is a
space where you can come home feel relaxed and
know that the energy in this space is helping
you attract opportunities. It's kind of like
doing some of the work for you, right? You can
truly relax and take a deep breath in your house
because you know that everything is balanced.
Just like you might be balancing your chakras
or your mental state. But that's how I link the
two. So in your bio, it says that you have a
framework, a three -hour framework, and it's
reframe, rearrange, reinvigorate. and they connect
identities. So tell us a little bit about how
you help the people, what that looks like. Yeah,
so this dives perfectly into the personal development
side. Reframe is what is your identity with yourself?
What is your perspective on life? It's before
you even get into the feng shui, if your identity
is that good things don't work out for me, or
I mean, good things don't happen for me, I never
like... I always attract people that bring a
lot of conflict or things are always, you know,
first you have to look at what is your motivation
behind making these adjustments in your life?
Are you working from the energy and the perspective
of fear or is your perspective of yourself and
your identity and relationship with yourself?
positive one like this is working i am getting
better every day so first we have to look at
what's your perspective at identity relationship
with yourself then we rearrange and that's making
space in your space to receive and applying the
proper feng shui elements to create balance in
your home so that you not only now does your
is your identity good things happen for me i'm
always in the right place at the right time now
your space supports that i have intentional imagery
in my office my desk is set up in the power position
you know that's that rearrange and then reinvigorate
is taking action so how do you now take aligned
action you have a lot of people that say i want
work -life balance but if they ever get a little
bored they subconsciously create a little bit
of chaos or i want to be healthier you know,
but look at all, that's an obvious one, but look
at all your habits. None of your habits are aligned
with being healthy. So it's three different fronts
that we cover because feng shui alone, it makes
massive improvements and it pairs very well if
you're already optimizing everything internally.
But those three segments of your life, how you
feel about yourself, how your space is set up
and how you're taking action will really help
you see results. Who do you serve? Entrepreneurs,
professionals, people who work from home, offices?
What does that target market look like? Yeah,
so I help entrepreneurs, whether they're working
from home, whether they're C -suite in an office,
whether they are small business in a business
space. I help anyone who wants to improve their
space. Can you give us like an example? I'm trying
to just visualize it. And I guess it's because
the concept is really unique. The mind, the person,
the mindset and the space. So it's not just like
getting an interior decorator or someone that
knows about that. We're combining the two. So
I'd love to continue learning a little bit more.
Yeah, no, it is. It is like a, you know, and
this is why I changed my title from Feng Shui
consultant to personalized strategist, because
most people. They heard Feng Shui consultant
and they would immediately either write me off
or write the idea off because they'd think, I
don't need to declutter. I don't need to rotate
my couch. My business is losing money. My personal
life is in shambles. And I'm like, well, that's
exactly what Feng Shui helps with, actually,
is that when you balance your space, when you
balance your bedroom, your relationships improve.
When you balance your kitchen or your living
room, your health improves. And so it is a very
unique concept. changing the terminology around
because most people don't think that their environment
impacts them as much as they do. So a business
example is I had a woman who ran an event company
and she had like a headquarters and she was getting
hit with a lot of lawsuits. And also all of her
staff were like arguing. There was a lot of gossiping
in the office. There was a lot of internal bickering
in the office. And she's just like. We're an
event company. Like we're fun. Things are colorful.
Things are a good time. Like I don't understand
why all this stuff is happening. And she had
hired an interior designer. She spent thousands,
tens of thousands of dollars making it look very
high end, like boutique style is very cool. She
did the interior design part that she thought.
But when I got into the space and looked at the
energy layer of it, we saw that there are certain
elements conflicting. And that's like. Kind of
a whole other rabbit hole. But if people are
familiar with traditional Chinese medicine or
any kind of metaphysics, you're balancing these
elements. And in her case, she had employees
in a part of the office where there was a tension,
like a fighting, arguing energy. Well, we moved
that. We moved their desks to a different room.
And some people quit. Some people, it just went
away. We added water to a certain part of her
headquarters, painted a wall black. added in
a more natural light to the door and the lawsuits
go away. And then we made her have her own office.
It was an interesting scenario where she wanted
to be relatable. She wanted to be the boss where
she was interacting with people and she wanted
to be, she had difficulty with authority, I guess.
You know, she wanted to be everybody's friend,
but it's like, you're the CEO. You need your
own office. We need to set your office up to
be CEO -like, right? We have talked about power
position. You mentioned you put your desk in
the power position where you're facing the door.
That also created some structure in the business
as well. So everything in her business started
flowing more smoothly. And of course, money comes
in after that because you don't have all the
wasted. the fighting, the waste of time, you
know, I've wasted resources on lawsuits. And
then she felt more powerful showing up. She felt
better. Now I don't want to say dictating, but,
you know, like delegating, hey, this is your
role. This is your role. We have to get these
things done. So that's the power of feng shui
in a commercial space. But then, yeah, a lot
of times entrepreneurs work from home. And it's
but it's it's still similar. Maybe you don't
have all your employees in your house, but do
you feel powerful in your office? Do you a lot
of new entrepreneurs, they feel really uncomfortable
pricing their offers and they feel like, oh,
I don't I can't ask two thousand dollars for
coaching. I can't ask ten thousand dollars. I
can't say I'm a thought leader. You know, they
feel an imposter syndrome and it's similar to
dressing for success. Right. You dress your space
for success so that you can show up your best
self. With the office space. I do feel differently.
I can't explain the why, but I like open spaces.
I don't necessarily love enclosed spaces. So
when I set up my office, I'm always looking for
that open space. Otherwise, I guess I feel enclosed.
I may not know the meaning behind it, but I do
like that openness. So what is one small change?
that a person listening to this episode today
can do to evaluate their surroundings so that
they can improve their space or their life. Yeah.
Since you have a lot of entrepreneurs that listen
and a lot of people who are in transition, go
ahead and look at that home office. Are you feeling,
do you feel bold and empowered where you're sitting?
The power position that we keep referring to
is, if you think about kings and queens, their
thrones are facing the people that come up to
them, right? You don't have your back turned
to the door. They don't have their throne turned
to where people enter. And that's what we mean
by the power position. It's great if you have
a strong, stable wall behind you. And whatever
your artwork is, does it help you feel empowered?
Does it look? People also kind of judge if you're
on Zoom, if you're doing interviews, if you're
doing any discovery calls to hire new clients.
If you have a bunch of Kleenexes or family photos
or it's just disheveled and doesn't look purposeful,
there's a subconscious thing there, right? Where
the new potential client or the new potential
boss will say, they just kind of they judge it
it's like an unspoken thing just how you said
it's unspoken i don't know why i'm drawn to having
more space but these are those subconscious energetic
cues um so check are you in the power position
facing the door if you're working facing a wall
you often feel like you're hitting a wall it'll
like manifest itself that way you feel like you're
hitting a wall not having creative ideas check
the back of you is it a solid wall and if you
have artwork if you have bookshelves Is it placed
with intention? Have you looked there? Have you
cleaned it out to where everything there feels
meaningful? And then also, what is the first
thing you see when you walk in your office? Because
a lot of times people say, I don't want to work
from, I can't figure out where I want to work.
I'm uncomfortable. I don't want to, I have an
office, but I want to work from there. Well,
what's the first thing you see when you walk
in? Is that inspiring or motivating? Or is it
like? A trash can, old tax receipts, tax forms,
like a bunch of projects to do. Well, of course,
you're not going to want to enter that room because
you're not drawn to the trash, the old projects,
the to -dos that you'll get to later. So you
go work from the couch or you go work from your
bedroom instead. So those three areas I think
are, people will feel such massive shifts, just
those, the power position, desk placement. What
is behind you when you're sitting at your desk
and have like your camera on? And then what's
the first thing you see when you walk into your
office? Where can we find you online? The best
place, keeping it simple, is Instagram Elemental
Clarity. And what is your next milestone? My
next milestone is I would love to bring in more
speaking events. even I mean, long term tenure,
like some kind of TV show to really show people.
It's such a visual experience. So similar to
how like the home edit got a show or works with
Extreme Home Makeover or like a little Netflix
series like Marie Kondo. I would love working
towards that more visibility. I look forward
to tuning in as soon as you figure out what platform
you're going to launch that in. So I look. forward
to your own show thank you thank you and thank
you so much for joining me today thank you and
thank you all for tuning in to another episode
of milestone moments in business and leadership
until next time