Episode 125 Sofia Alvim Takes Over

Brooke Monaghan35min

Brooke Monaghan

00:00

today I am bringing back a returning guest, Sofia Alvim. You heard from Sofia before, probably last year, maybe it was about a year ago, maybe longer, I don't even know. She was on with a couple of other people who are in the Rule Breakers crew to talk about her experience. And today you're going to hear more about her journey. Sofia is kind of an online business like OG. And so she's going to share how she got to the work that she's doing now, but also some really solid and amazing wisdom about how business ownership will fast track your personal development journey, and how to deal with that and some perspective on that. After Sofia gives you some of this wisdom from her own journey and her own work as a channeler and a spiritual mentor. She's then gonna go into some of her biggest lessons and her business and the rules that she's breaking in her business. So I'm excited for you to hear from Sofia today. If you love what you hear, which I think that you will, then go ahead and find Sofia's work and putting all of the links for that in the show notes so you can find where you should go right there. She's gonna also tell you about it. But join her newsletter, you can book a session with her. And you can check out her amazing essential oil blends, which I am just obsessed with. The oil blend with us is just so good, y'all. Alright, without further ado, here's the reality

Brooke Monaghan

01:43

is that the sound of a 90s rock radio station, a sound of the rule breaker takeover for my real breaking clients take over the show share their wisdom teachings and lessons from their own business growth or peaceful loving bunch. But we also reject just about everything that we're supposed to do. And if I say so myself, I think we make the world just a little bit cooler, and inspire others to bring out their inner badass. So deep down, I think we're metal is fuck. If you want to join these Rule Breakers and myself, you can learn more about the Rule Breakers crew at Brooke dash monahan.com mo na, G H A N. But you don't need to be in that space to be in community with or learn from these brilliant business owners. So head to the shownotes to find their work, because we could all use just a few more badasses in our network.

Sofia Alvim

02:35

Well, hello, friends of Brookes podcast, my name is Sophia Alvim. And I am a channeler and spiritual mentor. And my company is called sacred space. And what I do is that I help people remember who they are the core truth of who they are, I help them get back to that truth. I help them trust their inner guidance. And I help them navigate their spiritual and conscious awakening and their personal development journey. I have been doing this work for 16 years since 2006. And I first became an entrepreneur in 2006 When I left my corporate job after probably 13 years of working for other people. And I actually worked for a bunch of small business owners from age 15 until 27, when I left and finally started my own thing. And I really was not intending to become an entrepreneur, it was the last thing on my mind, I really did think that it was just best for me to get a paycheck every week and have health insurance paid for and the job security but I was miserable, miserable, miserable. I was a database administrator, you know, just stuck behind a desk in a cubicle just kind of wasting away my creative energy. And so I left my corporate job with like a month salary, I don't, you know, in savings, I don't recommend doing that I today would have been a little bit more prudent and left with a lot more money in the bank. But I left and I leaped literally leapt and I remember saying to God, the universe, my guides my angels, like whoever was listening, I was like, I'm going to take a leap and I need for you to catch me because this is really scary. Because I was literally burned out from working for other people. And so what happened was, I wasn't really planning to leave to start a business I was planning to leave to find what I called a quote unquote creative type job because literally like I said, I was just wasting away at a desk and I felt like my spirit was just slowly dying. And I didn't know exactly, you know in 2006 the landscape that I was in is very different than the landscape that I'm in now there was, you know, hardly any online business going on hardly any life coaches, and when there were, it was just a very different scenario. And, you know, before all of the things that I've learned in the last 16 years about being a business owner, it was just sort of not a path that I had known anybody except for, like my elders to have taken. And, you know, even in my own family, a family of entrepreneurs, I still didn't really have a good model for what does it look like as a 2728 year old to just step out into the nothingness and start over. But I did, I leaped, I took a huge leap of faith. And I started working at a Pilates studio, sort of, you know, trying to organize the office and the business procedures. And you know, a little bit of what Brooke started out doing, you know, systems and procedures. And I was really good at organizing things. And I had kind of done that at all my other jobs, I would create all these systems, and I would, you know, implement the systems, and then I would get really bored maintaining it, and I would go and find another business owner to help kind of clean up their mess. And I did that for 13 years previous to, you know, going out on my own. And my last job was not for a business owner was actually for an oil services company. And I was, like I said, a database administrator just sitting there. So when I left, I had a month of salary in the bank. And I was working at this Pilates studio, and the person needed, you know, to be organized. And my friends previously told me, you know, you're so good at organizing, you love containers, you love boxes, and labeling things. And you know, and it was not a thing in 2005 2006, I'm telling you, it was not organizing is not what it was.

Sofia Alvim

06:51

It was not then what it is today. And all this to say that I started as a professional organizer, I started my business as a professional organizer. And my mission was to help people liberate from what no longer serves them. And so I use the process of professional organizing and clearing clutter. And, you know, coaching them on what was important to keep what was important to let go holding space for their emotional moments when they were, you know, going through their belongings and letting go and saying, Yes, I need to let this go. But it's really hard, because, you know, it makes me think of this event, or this person, or this time in my life. And so I did that, on and off for about the last 15 years. And concurrently with that professional organizing business, I began business coaching people, because I was like, okay, the people that I'm organizing at their home, are also disorganized, in their work life and in their business. And so it just kind of started to bleed out into all these other areas. And being a

Sofia Alvim

07:57

different kind of organizer at that time that I was using this sort of as a holistic process and considering everybody in in the mix, not everybody but like everything in a person's life mattered. When I was working with an organizing client, everything was affecting how they were being in their lives and showing up for themselves and often that their space was a reflection of how they felt inside in that particular time. And so as I did that work, I was growing myself as a business owner. And I learned very early on that having a business being an entrepreneur, and being on this journey of learning step by step how to be a competent, effective, productive business owner. Like I learned the the huge lesson that is that the business journey is a huge, fast track for personal development. And I often said this on my like, you know, business anniversary, you know, I left my job this many years ago, I do that a post every year practically about it. And I always say the same thing. That next to romantic relationships, owning a business and running a business will bring up your shit more than anything else in the world. That happens in romantic relationships, like I said, but in the business journey. It is just like the spiritual journey. It's full of spiritual initiations shifts, lessons, you know, lessons about self worth, about boundaries, about, you know, creativity, about pivoting, about being flexible, about surrendering, about trusting and trusting your own inner voice because of course now, the business and online marketing landscape is so chock full of people and life coaches and any kind of coach you want, right? That at that time that didn't exist and so I really had nobody to copy, nobody to look to nobody to really sort of guide me on that journey. And so I stumbled a lot, I stumbled a lot, you know, from everything with service agreements to pricing to boundaries with clients. And what I want to tell you is, it's normal. That's normal, you know, the, the business journey is going to be full of ups and downs, peaks and valleys. You know, one minute, you're lit on fire, and you're like, This is what I want to do for the rest of my life. And this is why I became a business owner. And this is why you know, entrepreneurship is right for me. And at the same time, you have to learn how to manage a lot of different domains in your life, you have to learn how to manage your time, you have to learn how to take good care of yourself, your body, your health, your mental health, your emotional health, you have to learn how to be in charge, you have to learn how to delegate, you have to learn not to be a workaholic. Right? That was one of the hugest lessons that I had to learn was how to move away from the the validation I received, you know, for being a workaholic, for always just knowing everything, showing up, you know, for everything, and it was just at a certain point I burned out. And so this is very similar to sort of the ups and downs and the flow of, you know, navigating the stream of a romantic relationship or a friend relationship, you know, or a co worker or boss. But it's the thing about, you know, being an entrepreneur is you're the one who's in charge of navigating the ship, you're the one who's steering it. And so it's on you, right, it's on you to show up and be the steward of your business. And I also want to share with you that I am of the belief that our businesses have their own sort of, I don't want to say if it's an it's not an entity, but it has its own energetic signature, its own energetic vibration. And so it's like your business is a different person than you are. And your business is there to support you, to inform you of what it wants and what it needs. And if you can learn how to become a good steward, then what you're doing is stewarding the identity and the energetic signature of of your actual business, right, you're listening to what the business is asking of you what it's requiring of you. And it is not meant to be a journey of chaos, it's not meant to be a journey of

Sofia Alvim

12:46

pressure, although we are going to find pockets of chaos, we are going to find times where we pressure ourselves too much. And so what I want to let you know is that everything on the business journey is valid. It's sort of like that saying, you know, anything is fair in love and war, it's the same thing, everything, anything is fair in business, because there is literally so much learning and navigating, and twists and turns and evolution and regressing. And, you know, so many facets of the of the path, you know, being a business owner, that it's just, you have to just try to navigate it with grace, right. And having the awareness of what's going on, when you're on this journey is what I help people with is the awareness of what's occurring in their business is actually occurring in their life and in their body and their space, and their energy fields. And, you know, through the mentorship that I offer, and through the channeled readings and the various sessions that I offer, I help people have the awareness and the guidance to navigate that journey with support with awareness. Because chances are if you're on the journey of being an entrepreneur, you're also whether you're aware of it or not on a journey of awakening. You can call it spiritual awakening, you can call it being awake, you can call it just, you know, awareness or consciousness. But there is a larger part of you that is being worked, you know, through this, this journey through this this pathway. And sometimes we're not aware of it until later on, it's like wow, you know, I'm really learning a lot about how to be a human being through my business. And that business has so much to offer you, like I said a little while ago. And it's up to us to learn how to read the signs and how to navigate the initiations and the successes and the triumphs and the so called failures, which I don't actually believe our failures. But it's a really worthwhile journey because you're the one who's in charge, right? And you're the one who gets to decide it, what's true for you, what's aligned for you? What's, what's creative for you? What's fun for you, you know what you want to put your hands on what you want to delegate, there is so much learning and so much juice in this journey for you. That what I want for people is for them to be awake and conscious to the fact that throughout the peaks and the valleys and the ups and downs, you know, that we're not healing and learning in a linear way, we're actually learning in a spiral sporadically. That it's like, we'll learn the same lesson that we learned five years ago, but as who we are today, in our business, versus who we were five years ago, 10 years ago, etc. And those lessons that you learn as who you are, now, they just keep deepening, and you keep integrating more and more and more of the lessons so that you are showing up as that entrepreneur that is aligned and sustainable, like Brooke mentions all the time. And that's what I want for people, right, that's what I help people with is that awareness, and the flow and the stream of what it's like to navigate that journey. And it really is a journey of coming home to yourself. Because I think, you know, due to societal programming, and the world at large, and whatever our family of origin experience may have been that we don't need to work our shit out on our business. Brooke has told me this many, many, many times. But we can use the business as a way to inform us of where we need healing. Where do we need to tweak this? Where do we need to pull back? Where do we need to lean lean in? Where do we need to dive deeper? Where do we need to, you know, trust more. And so it's just a beautiful journey. And I am honored, you know, with the work that I do to be of service to people in this way.

Sofia Alvim

17:00

So I want to tell you a little bit about how I joined Rule Breakers crew and how I met Brooke, I actually met Brooke through a mutual friend on Instagram and 2019, actually two mutual friends on Instagram people that I sort of was in touch with and connecting with on social media. And I remember I booked a call with her, like, you know, a free discovery call. And she was just so present, and so kind and so just on it, you know, holding space listening, and really tapping into like way beyond what I thought I needed, which is just one of her gifts, right? We all know and love Brooke and she is, you know, amazing in all of the ways but that was the first experience I had with her. And then I wasn't quite ready to work with her yet. So that was like September of 2019, I think. And then fall of 2020, I was finally ready, I started booking some private sessions with her. And then she's like, Hey, there's this group. And I'm like, I don't know, if I want to be in a group I like having, you know, private personal attention. She's like, I really think it will help you. So I finally joined Rule Breakers, the first iteration, the first cohort, which at the time was called Dream biz training camp, but it really is now called transcend your dichotomy training camp. So and then after that, you know, I joined Rule Breakers I kept going. And what I was struggling with when I joined was having to unlearn all of the business data and information and BS that I picked up from absorbing other people's entrepreneurship journey, marketing journey, social media journey, you know, the journey to the quote, unquote, top. And I was also in transition from one business model to another, which was organizing people in person, you know, doing clutter clearing and professional organizing, and, you know, life coaching, with my clutter clients in offices and homes, you know, online, and then the pandemic hit. And alongside that, I think I mentioned this before, but alongside that business, I was doing business coaching, and have always been an intuitive. And so when I would go into people's spaces at the very beginning of my journey, I sort of had this. I don't know that psychic is the word but I had this very acute, intuitive awareness about the spaces that I was organizing, like the spaces. I would walk into the spaces and be able to tell sort of what was going on with the people who were living in them and working in them. And it was a really interesting process of using my intuition and being so certain that that process was helping to unlock And uncage and liberate people like at the like highest of levels with their physical space and their mental space. And then I switched from, you know, doing that in person for all those years to concurrently while I was doing it, offering spiritual guidance offering spiritual mentorship offering channeled readings since about 2010. And when the pandemic hit, I was like, you know, I'm not going to be in people's homes while we're under lockdown. So I guess this is the universe's sign to let me know to take this full time, because I had really been doing both for about eight or nine years at that point. And so when I joined her, like her group, I was steeped in just watching everybody do what I thought was, quote, unquote, the right thing the right way. And it ended up not being, you know, right for me, it ended up not being sustainable or aligned for me.

Unknown Speaker

21:01

Before the pandemic, I moved to a foreign country and was, you know, doing work, even under the guise of thinking it was the right path. And it really wasn't alignment sustainable, I was burnt out from being a workaholic and identifying my value with my business only and nothing else. And I had a social life, and I had friends and all that, but I was so wrapped up in just being a business owner and that identity that it was so easy to lose myself. So when I came to her, I was really meaning to unlearn all of the stuff that I had absorbed from all of the life coaches, and all of the people that I listened to that were not aligned for me, because there were some people that really were aligned. But it was so hard to listen to them, and drown out the voices of the ones who didn't really feel resonant for me, because it was just, it was all in this like big cloud. And it was a jumble in my brain. And it was such a contradiction, to come to her group week by week and like unlearn and dissect and excavate everything, right? And what I have been doing, you know, with her support, and in in Rule Breakers crew is continuing to unlearn all of the messaging that I picked up, and really learning to do what I help people do, which is to tune into myself to listen to the messages my higher self and my soul are trying to give Me for guidance and trust, not relying on what others, you know, personal development and spiritual development and business development journeys are, that's their journey, and not my journey. And so I really feel like the lesson that I have learned the most is that I am the captain of my own ship, and my ship is not going to look like your ship. And it's meant to be that way. I've learned how to keep my eyes on my own paper. And also part of what's happened is that, you know, Brooke calls it something that I think we both said it, you know, in the same sort of vein like it's like I had a lot of business trauma, right? trauma from times of scarcity, trauma from comparison, comparison itis, you know, comparing myself with other people not being on time enough, not being fast enough, whatever it was. And so I've sort of de escalated the fight or flight that I had going on about my business for years when I started to work with Brooke and you know whether it was in private sessions or in transcend your dichotomy or Rule Breakers, that's what I'm doing has been have been doing up until this point is just unlearning, unpacking, dissecting, de escalating that Alert, alert, alert that keeps going off. And learning how to move with my business in a way that feels congruent and aligned and manageable. And seeing myself outside of that business, you know, that I'm still Sofia outside of the sacred space, even though it's a beautiful space to steward and, and steer and, you know, mold and evolve with and grow with. I'm still Sofia outside of that. And it's up to me to learn how to manage the energetics of my business. And that looks like a lot of different things, right? Every person has different circumstances and different

Sofia Alvim

24:28

energetics going along with not only their life, but their business, their business journey. So one thing I learned also is that, you know, the business is always shifting and changing because I'm always shifting and changing. I'm always evolving, right? And if I'm always evolving, the way that I approach my business, to be aligned and sustainable is going to look different and each month and each week and each moment with that steadfast knowing that I am in trust that I am I'm navigating my own journey and not your journey, right? And reminding myself that I'm not in a box, that the journey is not like a box that it's more like a river with the peaks and valleys. And I started to become, you know, less hard on myself, realizing that I needed more time than other people in my group to process things and to make shifts and changes. And I really struggled with that I struggled with being a late bloomer. In many areas of my life, and especially this one that even though I had been a business owner and entrepreneur since 2006, that I was really relearning how to do that in a way that felt aligned with me, and good in my body, right, like, a lot of what I do is helping people to stay in their body and get in their body. And navigating life without being in the body is so much more challenging, right, it's so much easier to regulate and soothe and be aware and present when we're when we're in our body. And so I had to learn how to give myself grace, I had to learn how to be gentle with myself, I had to learn to stop breeding myself, I had to give myself certain reminders. And I had to let myself know that it was okay to process and shift. And there's nothing wrong with that. And that my timeline is perfect, just as it is, it doesn't need to look like anybody else's timeline or journey. And I also began to think of my life and my day and my time, in terms of rhythms rather than routines. Because we are not static creatures. We are creatures that are constantly in motion and evolving, you know, energy is in motion, and all the time. And so we are in motion all the time. And it's really foolish to expect yourself to think I'm going to have this routine, and it's going to be like this for the rest of my life for the next year. You know, or for the rest of my days, for the next year, or the rest of my day, for the next five years, this is what works, because we are sort of so we're so like, attached to the finality and the Forever of like, it's so hard to change, right. And I know that I find myself sort of in this space of, I think that this routine is just gonna last forever, and then something in my life changes and I go, Oh, I have to adjust this. So then it becomes less of a rigid routine, and more of a rhythm. Which by the way, I learned about that from one of my dear friends, Kristin Chou. And she really helped me to see about rhythms versus routines. And so I feel like if you can give yourself the grace to think of how to manage your time, as a rhythm and not a routine, you can kind of it's more malleable, it's more flexible, it's easier for you to adjust and pull back and lean in and tweak whatever needs to work for your days to feel like they support the energy of what your work is right, the work that you're putting out into the world is amazing. And so you want your days and your rhythms to support that. And I feel like as a result of all of this unlearning, right, the sporadic learning and the very uncomfortable unlearning that what this has allowed me to do is to be more in tune with my beingness my creativity, I'm ever able to be more flexible in my business and not so rigid. With even things I want to do. Being okay with how I shift and change and how that needs to show up in my business as well.

Sofia Alvim

28:56

You know, and I went through a very large period of confusion and, you know, lacking clarity, and what I know about those times is that they come and go, you know, there's a time where you're questioning everything you don't know what's up or down right or wrong. And it's sort of a void. And that's a very common space to be in, in a spiritual journey as well. They're sort of a calling, we answer the call, and we answer the call. And then things sort of break down a little bit. And then we go into a void where it's like, we don't know what's going on. And then we come out, you know, more aware more, align more in tune, and we begin to bloom. And so you're gonna have various cycles like that in your business. And just, you know, being grace, gracious with yourself, kind to yourself aware of what your needs are, is going to be such a huge tool for your success and for your inner awareness, right. Paying attention to what your inner landscape is so that you can navigate Get your business with joy and with as much ease as possible, knowing that even those downturns or you know, less comfortable times may appear, but that you have some sort of foundation, and foundational practice, spiritual practice, embodiment practice, meditation practice, you know, whatever works for you. And,

Sofia Alvim

30:22

you know, I feel like, it is a journey that has so many gifts, even among the challenges, and I wouldn't change a thing. There's a part of me that five years ago was like, Are you sure you wouldn't change a thing and 10 years ago says that and and myself today says, I wouldn't change a thing. And I don't want to limit myself as the in terms of the race and the roles that I can play for people, I'm sort of a little bit of a chameleon and that I can show up for people in a lot of different ways. You know, a person who has an organizing background, a person who has a spiritual mentorship background, a business background, a creative background, a singing background, like I have a lot of different areas, I'm very, very much a multi passionate, multi hyphenate, I identify with that a lot. And I know that even within that landscape of shifting and changing, I need to take my time. And that's okay. And I don't ignore whatever personal and spiritual work shows up for me, in my life or in my business. And when I do forget, what I need to remember, I call on people like Brooke and the Rule Breakers could crew, excuse me to help remind me of who I really am. And that I'm going to be okay, no matter what it is that I'm navigating, it has been a tremendous, tremendous space for me to be a part of, and, you know, such good leadership from Brooke, and just the awareness that she has around all of the things that we need to do as a business owner, but making sure that like, you know, I've mentioned before, that your emotional landscape is being attended to as well as your mental health and your body. And then like, you're not going to navigate business. Well, if you're not doing well in those areas, you know, it sounds cliche, but this journey is a journey and not a destination, you may be surprised at how you started and end up. But let yourself evolve, be flexible, allow for change, growth, and shifts, allow for joy. And remember to have a personal life. And know that your business has its own plan and energetics and personality. And it can help inform you what it wants to be. And as far as Rule Breakers crew goes, it's the most amazing community. And I have been in a lot of different coaching and business and, you know, personal development spaces over the last 15, 16 years. And I can tell you, that nothing compares to this group. It is amazing. The people are amazing, Brooke is amazing. I cannot say enough, but I just adore her and I cannot sing her praises enough. And the accountability and amazing support is just, it's just invaluable. It's what I needed in 2006 and 2010. And in 2016 I needed it throughout the whole entire entrepreneurship journey. Do yourself a favor and check it out. And I want to say thank you so much for listening and for being with me today on this episode. And thank you, Brooke for the opportunity to share about my journey. And if you're looking to make sense of the journey that you're on, whether it's deepening your consciousness more or navigating spiritual awakening, being more in tune with your higher self and your guides in relationship to your life and your business. I would love to support you with a channeled reading or a guided session. These are potent sessions that help you on this journey. If you're wanting a guide by your side to help you navigate the path in a supportive sacred space, I would love to help you. You can connect with me through my website at this is your sacred space.com and on Instagram. This is your sacred space. Let me know if you're a transcend your dichotomy listener. I would love to connect with you more and thank you again for listening. This is Sophia signing off.

Brooke Monaghan

34:28

Transcend your dichotomy is a production of passion and process collaborative LLC. The show is produced by me Brooke Monaghan with production and marketing support from Alex Henderson. If you want to support me in the show, the best way to do that is to leave a rating and review on Apple podcasts and share the show with someone who you know needs to hear it for free trainings my weekly newsletter or to join us in the Rule Breakers crew. Go to Brooke dash monahan.com That's mon a Ghan love y'all. See you next week.

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