Hey everyone, Ashley here with RSS Podcasting.
Today we're chatting with Alexander Pissullo, who is hosting the freelance fairy tales right
here on RSS.com.
Alex's claim to fame is that she became a six-figure earner and a fiver millionaire
through her work as a freelance writer.
Today she's teaching others how to do the same with her books, podcasts, and courses.
Alex, welcome to the show.
Thank you for having me.
So I have been freelance writing for over seven years now.
I started doing it back in 2015, not knowing it would become as sought after or popular
as it is today, and I had no idea a pandemic, the great resignation, everything was incoming.
I just quit my job in 2015.
I was 22.
I hated it so much.
Quit it.
Started freelance writing.
I tried a bunch of other things, but freelancing is really what took off for me.
And I had a lot of success with it after a few years.
I worked really hard at it though, but I started to make really good money on Fiverr and news
channels, papers started to write about it.
And it kind of all this press put me in a position where I'm almost like a freelancing
influencer now in addition to being a freelance writer.
And I love it because I like the change and everything.
So you kind of catch me today as a freelancing mentor, writer, podcast host, crazy person.
That's awesome though, because it sounds like you've taken what was like kind of a mainstream
thing and you've diversified it into multiple avenues.
So I'm curious, why did you start a podcast though?
I started a podcast in February of this year.
It's actually brand new because all the people who follow me kept begging me to do it.
So I was like, okay, okay, I'll do it.
And I'm happy I did it because I have in the first season, so much free information there.
Now, if anyone asks me any question, I just say, listen to the podcast, listen to the
podcast.
Like, it's just go do that.
That's awesome.
So it's really became not only a way for you to give value back to your audience, but also
to answer all their frequently asked questions, it sounds like.
Yes, it's almost exactly like my FAQ.
Although my second season now I'm having guests on and it's pretty much just me bringing people
on who I want to befriend.
It's just like my Alex friend club that I'm all these people I love online who I admire
on TikTok and like come on my podcast so I could be your friend.
That's awesome.
That's actually when I started my own podcast.
That's it, right?
Like it's the best networking tool.
I say that to people if not for anything, you network with people.
Absolutely.
And it also prevents all of the brain pickers.
Yeah.
So you get a lot of people that are like, oh, can I take you to coffee and pick your
brain?
You know, oh my God, when people text me that they want to get coffee, I always want to
write back to them.
Do you think I got where I am today by going to coffee with people?
That is a no.
Like I appreciate it, but I just kindly say to them, hey, I have like 5,000 hours of free
content online instead.
It's just there for you.
Yeah.
Then if you want to buy me a coffee, you know, just send me a Starbucks gift card.
Just mail it to my house, please.
Thank you.
Or by of course.
How about that?
Yeah.
So I'm curious, how has your business changed or improved because of your podcast?
You know, I would say the podcast hasn't really had any bearing on my copywriting business
because everyone who's listening to it, they're not copyrighted.
They're not copyrighting clients.
If anything, I think it just draws them deeper into my different funnels.
Right.
So they joined my Facebook group.
They might buy my ebook.
They might buy my courses.
They might purchase whatever is floating around.
So I don't know like the monetary amount, but I definitely think it makes people more
of loyal, I guess, to like the freelance fairy tales brand.
Okay.
So would you say that it is a good way to monetize your business by teaching people
who you are and kind of growing your authority base?
Yeah.
I think it has a lot of benefits that are, you know, in a way like intangible.
But I mean, as far as monetary benefits, I'm actually working on getting sponsors right
now.
There are some obvious ways you just make money from the podcast, of course.
But yeah, I would say the intangible way is yeah, it creates brand loyalty, which I think
then further, you know, gets people to trust me after they listen to it.
And then they may go buy one of my online courses when they might not have in the first
place.
I'm curious.
When did you start the courses?
Like, when did that come into the, to the game?
Cause I know you've been financing a long time.
Yeah, yeah.
It's funny.
The courses are actually only a little over a year old.
The guy who I made them with Josh, he found me on TikTok June, 2020.
We actually talked to him today.
He's like one of my best friends now.
I've recorded five courses with him on Salt Lake City.
And we have, you know, we're going to record more.
We have, we together, the two of us could probably make 30 courses over the next 20
years.
We have all these ideas.
So we've been starting, you know, recording them since June, 2020 and they went up for
sale October, 2020.
So they're, they're really kind of new.
But I think they're incredible.
I love online courses.
I take them all the time.
I'm taking one right now in real estate.
They get a lot of hate, but I think, I think they're the future of education.
I love them.
I agree completely.
I mean, they say it's going to be like a multiple billion dollar industry by 2025.
So yeah.
And it's a great way to like learn so much that you used to like, it used to have, what
do you call it?
There were gatekeepers and now everything online, you can find anything that you want
to know.
Yeah.
And I know people come at me for them really hard, but I just have like, listen, no one's
making you buy them.
I don't know why you're so, you know, you're hating.
It's like $35.
I mean, I get it.
I know there's people out there who have hijacked it, unfortunately, and charge like $5,000
or something crazy and people get scammed.
But I'm always like, guys, use your best judgment.
If someone's charging you $35 and has like a free podcast, I'm probably not trying to
rip you off.
Right.
Except to them, if they want to go and spend too much money.
Yeah.
Like I'm just, I come in peace.
I like that.
I like that a lot.
Yeah.
So how are you promoting your show?
The podcast show?
Yes.
The podcast.
How are you promoting the podcast?
I'm actually not doing a great job of promoting it right now because I have, I always end
up doing like so many things at once, which is a character flaw of mine.
I post about it to Instagram.
I have graphics made in Canva.
So I post about it there.
I post the episode, the video component onto my YouTube and I actually have my video editor
cut them down into little, you know, bite sized pieces that I can throw up on Instagram
reels, Pinterest pins and TikTok.
But I'm kind of behind on it.
I'm bad actually reminding me I need to catch up on marketing it.
Well still, I think you must be doing something right because you keep coming up in our community
page.
That's actually one of the reasons I was so excited to talk to you is because you're actually
on the RSS.com platform.
Is there any specific reason that you chose RSS?
No, back in February, I knew absolutely nothing about free recording a podcast.
I'm actually really not tech savvy and people would laugh like, what are you talking about?
I'm like, I'm good with my phone.
I'm good with fiber.
That's where it ends.
When it comes to like equipment, my brain like explodes.
So I just posted on Instagram.
I was like, anyone out there know how to launch a podcast on please help.
And I was reading blogs, but it's like, they, you know, it started to hurt my brain where
it's like, get the this hurts on this mic.
And I'm just like, Oh, someone make this easy for me.
So I don't know who it was.
Someone messaged me and kind of made it very easy, like, you know, get the Yeti mic.
Okay, I got that.
Get the backdrop.
And they said, go on RSS.com and upload it there.
I'm like, okay.
So that was just, that was it.
That's awesome.
My favorite thing about it is that you can start a podcast in less time it takes to order
a drink at your favorite coffee house.
Yeah, absolutely.
I think I let it get to me a little bit.
The quality, you know, the intimidation of, Oh God, it has to be good sound.
But once I got this, you know, this mic, like that everyone has this steady thing.
I was like, okay, this isn't so bad.
I can do this.
I think it's just a mic and my laptop.
We can do this.
I love it.
It's, it's funny you say the thing about the intimidation of starting because that's actually
why I launched my show on April 1st.
So that if it was horrible, I could say it was an April Fool's joke.
Yeah, I know.
Right.
Isn't that like, I know.
And that's how I've always felt about YouTube too.
And YouTube, honestly, the equipment requirement, I think I'm going to possibly give up on that
one because that's just nuts.
The like wireless mic camera here, camera here, light here, you know, blurred background.
I'm just like, I can't do this.
I can't do this because I try and all the people in the comments, they're mean, they'll
be like great content, horrible audio.
And I'm just like, can someone just send a team to me?
Like I have the content just I need help.
Yeah.
And that's actually why so many people actually hire people to like have the whole studio
set up for them.
Like one of my favorite podcasters, Denise Duffield Thomas, she goes and rents out an
Airbnb and then she brings in a video team and they just film everything for the entire
year in three days.
Yeah, exactly.
I know that that's actually a good idea to rent a studio and just like pound it out.
Yeah.
Where do you sleep?
What do you see for the future of your podcast?
I would like to, I mean, just keep growing it.
I would love to have it rank higher in the business world.
I would really love to have it almost blossom potentially into, I guess, maybe like a TV
type things.
I really think our news and our country and stuff is lacking in reporting on the gig economy.
And I would love to be like seen as like a gig economist type thought leader person that
maybe gets like called on to a news channel every so often to give the state of freelancing
that day.
If the Today Show is listening, call out.
Well, I mean, whenever I turn the news on, which I try not to do, it's not a great thing
to listen to.
But when I do turn it on, it's so archaic.
Like it's talking about still it doesn't report on any of this.
And this is everything right now.
So I'm like, how is this not being reported on our television?
This is not.
It is.
It's absolutely insane.
So I'm curious, what are your favorite podcasts?
Like what do you listen to?
You know, it's funny, I got asked this yesterday and I got outed as I really don't listen to
a lot of them.
The only one I listen to and this is going to probably get me hate as well as Joel Osteen's.
Okay, I love this.
I think if people are hating on him, whatever, it's a really great mindset podcast.
I think that can help you rewire how you think about things.
If you, you know, like if you're predisposed to think negatively instantly, I definitely
think listening to it can help you rewire.
No, why don't I think about it positively?
That's right now kind of the only one that I listen to.
I'm very new to podcasting.
I have to get more into it and listening to it.
Okay, well after the show I'll have to send you some recommendations.
Okay, good.
I'm not inviting them.
Regarding the negativity and stuff like that, I'm a big fan of like Abraham Hicks and Brett
Eason.
Oh yeah.
The Tap Daddy is what one of my friends calls him because he's all about tapping and all
that stuff.
That's why I was just curious because you know, in this game everybody's listening to
different podcasts and talking about different podcasts and it's interesting how a lot of
the people that like podcasts don't listen to podcasts in their niche.
Yeah, I know that's funny, Rakes.
I listen to like Christian ones, which is kind of, like I don't listen to any in the
business world yet, but I should.
So thank you for that reminder.
Yeah.
So this has just been like reminders for Alex in this whole episode.
So you gotta, you know, you need people to like keep you in line with stuff.
I love it.
So where do you find your guests?
Cause you said you're now having guests.
Yeah.
So I pretty much this season, most of my guests are from TikToks.
I love TikTok.
I'm like very honest about this.
My favorite social media app by far.
I spent all my time on it, get all my business basically from it.
And I've just used my podcast this season as a way to bring on all the other incredible
business people on TikTok who I like low key want to be friends with.
So that's my season is just TikTok business people, but they're all incredible people
on TikTok with like hundreds of thousands of followers killing it in their niches.
They're not all necessarily on fiber.
I've had all sorts of people come on and it's been really enjoyable.
Like the connections that I've made with them.
Wow.
That's amazing how such a diverse like industry.
There's so many ways that you can connect with people.
Yeah.
So are you still doing a lot of freelance writing?
You know, to be honest right now, I'm doing the like least amount I've ever done in my
entire career because my best friend now manages my agency for me, which was, you know, kind
of a funny moment to hand that over after all of this time, but I wasn't able to do
things like have guests on podcasts, go on other people's podcasts, grow the media brand.
I couldn't do that and run the business at the same time.
So I was like, I got to be a practical business person here and recognize it's okay to step
away from the baby.
You know, she'll do good with it.
So my freelance writing is at a very low amount right now.
And it's been kind of funny because it's been like my identity all this time, but that is
partially on purpose as well.
So I am anticipating, hopefully I cannot share any more info about it, but hopefully writing
my first book soon.
So it's that's exciting.
That's very exciting.
Well, we are still on branding.
So you'll still be writing just that as a ghost anymore.
Exactly.
Right.
It's time to step out of the shadows and come alive.
Yeah.
But now one of the things you mentioned is you said you have been getting a lot of hate.
How do you deal with the haters?
Not well.
I mean, I think I'm growing as fast as I can in the face of it.
It kind of all just happened so quickly, but I think now, you know, my mindset is maturing.
So most of the time when I see it, if it's sparing, I'll just giggle and be like, oh,
you know, I know that person's definitely not in a good place, whatever.
Occasionally though, when something will go viral and there will be thousands of people
writing the meanest things about me and I see it, I get upset for a night or so.
And it makes me want to quit social media.
But I just put the phone down.
I read a blog, say some prayers, go to bed.
Usually I wake up and I'm like, I can do this.
I got this.
I think the key is just working on how you think about it and also creating time in between
you and looking at what's on here.
Like just put it down.
So what would you say to the person that's afraid to start their podcast?
For that reason?
I would say to them, don't think about the people who are going to hate.
Think about even if it's just one person in the world whose life you're going to change
for the better.
Not only obviously is that amazing for that person that you did that for them, but you
are going to feel better for that too.
There's definitely a part of the human soul that we just feel better if we think we are
helping people.
I think a lot of people don't realize that because they've been in the same nine to five
their whole life where they're not necessarily helping people.
Maybe they're chasing down taxpayers or something that doesn't feel like great to them.
But once you get that first taste of it, if someone emails you and says, hey, your podcast
changed my life, print that out, put it on the wall, put it on your laptop and just go
with that.
I think that's beautiful because just the fact that you can writ your voice with just
a microphone that you can reach people and actually help them.
It's such a good time to start a podcast.
Definitely.
Yeah, it's amazing.
I mean, there's a lot of bad things that happen with technology and social media, but I think
there's a lot of good things too.
You really have to work on just thinking about that side of it.
Where can people find you online?
Oh, God, I'm everywhere.
I heard.
That's awesome.
I'm everywhere.
Pretty much just look my name up on any social media app.
My last name's pretty unique, so I just pop up Alex Fasulo.
I'm sure you guys will have it in the...
If you want me to spell it otherwise, I'm sure you'll have it in the...
I'll put it in there.
Okay.
All right.
Yeah.
If you just look up Alex Fasulo on any social media site, I will pop up.
My podcast is The Freelance Fairy Tales on all major podcasting sites.
And we're on RSS.
Right here on RSS.
Yeah.
And then my website's again, alephsfasulo.com.
Pretty much just Google my name and ignore all the Reddit threads saying I'm a liar.
I didn't actually ask you this, but are there any projects that you're working on you want
to tell people about?
I know you said you can't mention the book, but...
I know.
I unfortunately can't give any more away about that.
I mean, I'm definitely working on growing my podcast.
So if you don't listen, please come by.
Leaving five star reviews is greatly appreciated.
Let's see what else.
I'm working always on so many things, but I just can't say until they go live, unfortunately.
So follow me on social media.
I post constantly like a crazy person.
And I post a lot of free resources and news tips and everything to help you with your
freelancing journey.
Well, if someone was wanting to be a freelancer, where's the first product you direct them
to?
I would say go to my website, alephsfasulo.com, because it links to my free Facebook group,
which is really incredible for people.
It links to my online courses, links to my ebook and my podcast.
All four of those things.
I think if you consume everything in them, you will be a master freelancer.
I love it.
I absolutely love it.
Well, I'd really appreciate the time that you spent with me today.
Is there anything that I didn't ask you wish I had?
No, this was great.
I'm easy.
Yeah, I feel like there's something I should have asked, but I'm not thinking of it.
But I am kind of curious though, because Fiverr is going to keep coming up, right?
What do you think about Fiverr these days?
I have to give you the on-camera answer, because the off-camera is spicier.
I see them in a very unemotional way, right?
They've captured the largest share of the freelancing market.
So it's still, to me, the best place to get on, get experience, scale a business, do all
of it.
It's still the best.
They don't pay me.
We do not have a partnership at all.
Me and them are not buddy-buddy.
So I share that out of the goodness of my heart, meaning I actually believe it is still the
best place to get started on.
Would I be upset if some other site unseated it?
Not at all.
Because I don't want, I mean, they're getting more pay to play, which I hate.
They take a percentage of the tips you get.
They're greedy.
They are a corporation, and I'm not shy that I don't love them.
So I honestly didn't know that they take a portion of the tips.
Yeah.
Oh yeah.
They take money anywhere they can get their little thingies into.
And I don't love that, but it is what it is.
You ought to be practical about it.
And that's why I also encourage people after a few years, get off of there and open your
own agency.
You know, don't pay into them forever.
When did you start your agency?
Officially this year, funnily enough.
But I've been taking on private clients for the whole time.
But this year was the year I started to actually hire help, hire writers, virtual assistants,
my best friend who manages it, LLC it, you know, take it seriously.
Finally this year.
And you might ask why did you wait that long?
And it's honestly because I did not have the time to start it until this year.
Like I don't know how to communicate how busy I have been on Fiverr the last six years.
Like I never took a day off.
It's hard to walk away from business like flying in the door, but I'm not advocating
anybody do anything irresponsible like that.
I'm not promoting hustle culture.
Please take care of yourselves.
Hire virtual assistants.
Getting help is okay.
Well you had, speaking of hiring virtual assistants, you posted a TikTok, I think it was TikTok,
a couple of days ago that said, you know, that there are this many days left in the
year and that if you were to hire someone every single day for the next, what was it,
50 days that you can be financially free by next year.
Can we speak a little bit about that?
Yeah.
So what I was saying is that if you put only one hour in every day, so 50 hours between
now and 2022 and follow all of the trillions of things I have on my TikTok, you could become
financially free, meaning you no longer have to worry about finances in a capacity or paying
your bills.
So for a lot of people that might be making 5k a month or so to pay off their bills or
current debt interest, everything.
And there's so many ways you can go about doing that, but one of them would be getting
on Fiverr, setting it up, opening services.
I just had a girl on my podcast who's going to make over 100k her first year freelancing.
It's just nuts.
The money that is in it.
But yeah, if you spend, I think 50 hours every day, you know, just putting more and more
time into making sure your business is perfect, studying the competition, getting the pricing
right, branding right, and then hiring an agency manager and virtual assistants, it
could technically run itself by January.
But then when I say that, people are like, what are you talking about?
I'm like, it's actually not easy, but it's simple.
That's what I always say.
It's not going to be easy, but it's actually simple.
And then the sad thing is that only like 1% of the people that are listening to this are
even going to do it.
So I think that's probably why you get a lot of the lie culture saying, oh yeah, she's
a liar.
Have you tried it?
That's exactly it.
And I understand it can sound overwhelming in theory, but I mean, that's life.
Like you've got to just push past that sometimes.
It's worth it.
Just, you know, just put the work in.
I promise.
Now I have to ask you this.
When you quit your job, what is it?
Six years ago now from that lofty job in 2015, did you think that this would be how your
life would unfold?
Not for a single second.
And I know people today when they're like, oh, that's the fiber girl.
She makes all this money.
She must be all this type of way.
I'm like, you guys, I quit that job and I thought I was going to be a starving artist,
you know, author trying to get one book in my lifetime in a store.
I was so ready to make 20 K a year and I'm not trying to sound insensitive if people
are listening from around the world and that might be a lot of money to them.
I'm just saying from New York city standards, it was not a lot of money.
So I was all ready to eat ramen and sit in cafes to use the wifi and I didn't care because
I just did not want to be in an office.
That's all I knew.
And I was like, you know what?
Even if I make no money, I'm happy.
I'm writing.
I'm my own boss.
Life is good.
And I never ever in a million years thought it would be where it has come to.
I honestly still wake up and can't believe it.
Like I honestly still wake up and I'm like, what the F?
And yeah, she never had the same day twice.
Sounds like, oh my gosh, no, no, you know, but it's like, I can tell with all the emails
I'm getting something like this is still only just the beginning with all of it.
And it's all because I decided to check out a site where you could make $5 at the time.
And a lot of people laughed at me for that.
I can understand that because I mean, $5 doesn't sound like much, but keep putting in the work
and next thing you know, it becomes a lot more than $5.
Absolutely.
And that was my, I didn't have any like ego with it.
I was like, okay, you can go ahead and laugh about it, but it bought me this sandwich.
So I'm okay with it.
I don't have any pride that I need to be any other kind of way.
And then the irony is, you know, three years later, all of a sudden all this money is coming
and I'm just like, life is so funny.
So that's why I encourage people that I take risks because you actually have no idea.
That's true.
And that's why I start a podcast.
Like exactly.
I mean, you don't know who's listening.
You have no idea who's listening.
You might get a book deal.
Some of them might invite you to be on a TV show.
You might meet your husband.
You might, you know, you have no idea who is listening.
You have no idea when you bring a guest on, you might hit it off.
I've hit it off with some of my podcast guests so well.
I'm actually working on two different business ideas with them, like running a business with
these people.
I'll take it.
That works.
Well, I think I really am wrapped now.
I think I've answered, I've asked every question I wanted to ask, but if there's anything else
that you can think of that you want to share, I'd love to hear it.
No, I mean, anyone listening, just don't be afraid.
Just open, start the podcast, get the mic, share your thoughts.
There's one person in the world.
It's going to help.
And that's what this is all about.
Right?
Yeah.
And start your business.
Yes.
Like that's just do it.
Those are the two things I think I need to do.