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June 29, 2025 44 mins

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Do you dream of turning your side hustle into a full-time business? In this episode, Rani Alfers shares how she built a multi-business empire from her college side hustle—including a thriving insurance agency, a skincare line, and a company that invests in women founders.

This inspiring conversation is packed with actionable strategies to help you grow with purpose—without burning out.

What You’ll Learn:

✅ How to start a business using your existing skills
✅ Systems and automation tips to grow your hustle fast
✅ Steps to intentionally build multiple income streams
✅ Mindset strategies that support sustainable growth

Whether you’re working full-time or balancing business and family, this episode offers insights to help you move from hustle to empire—with confidence.

👉 Connect with Rani Alfers: https://www.ranialfers.com/

🎧 Love this episode?

Subscribe to Starter Girlz so you never miss the stories, tools, and strategies designed to help you thrive in all areas of life.

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Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Rani Alfers (00:00):
I wanted to start a business and I loved coffee, so
I'm like, let's do coffee then.
And so that was really aninteresting, eye-opening
business experience for me at avery young age.
I call it my college project.
It was down the street from ourcollege in Lafayette, louisiana
, and just a very uniqueexperience and taking from those

(00:20):
days selling the business andthen moving along, ending up in
Texas eventually to starting myall lines insurance agency.

Jennifer Loehding (00:31):
Welcome to the Starter Girlz podcast, your
ultimate source of inspirationand empowerment.
We're here to help womensucceed in every area of their
lives career, money,relationships, and health and
well-being While celebrating theremarkable journeys of
individuals from all walks oflife who've achieved amazing
things.
Whether you're looking tosupercharge your career, build

(00:53):
financial independence, nurturemeaningful relationships or
enhance your overall well-being,the Starter Girlz podcast is
here to guide you.
Join us as we explore thejourneys of those who dare to
dream big and achieve greatness.
I'm your host, jenniferLoehding, and welcome to this
episode.
Welcome to another episode ofthe Starter Girlz podcast.

(01:16):
I'm your host, JenniferLoehding, and wherever you are
tuning in today, we are so gladto have you so excited about my
guest today.
We just realized that we'reboth from the same town.
We've met before, but sometimesfunny things happen and we get
back connected with people andyou realize you already knew
this person before they jump onthe show.
So I'm excited to chat with her.
But let's open this thing up.

(01:36):
Ever wonder what happens when acollege side hustle turns into
a multi-business empire?
My next guest didn't just buildone business.
She has built several thrivingcompanies and is still going,
and so you guys are going to getto hear from her in just a few
minutes, but before we do that,we do need to do a quick shout

(01:58):
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(02:41):
And with that we do want to sayto head on over to startergirlz.
com.
Why do you want to go overthere?
Well, for a couple of reasons.
One you want to sign up for ourcommunity newsletter so that
you can stay in the know ofeverything that's happening,
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of the Starter Girls.
You can always go back and seethose.

(03:03):
And then, of course, if you area budding or aspiring or maybe
you're grooving alongentrepreneur and you want to
find out what may be hinderingyour success, we have a fun quiz
over there, a success blockquiz, and it will tell you in
two minutes what may be thenumber one block that is keeping
you stuck right now.
So be sure you head over tostartergirlz with a z.
com and take care of whateveryou need to take care of over

(03:27):
there, all right, so let's dothis thing, all right.
Today's guest we're talking to,Ranie Alfers, is an accomplished
entrepreneur with nearly twodecades of experience in the
insurance industry.
She owns a top performing alllines insurance agency here in
Texas and is also the CEO of EMKSkincare Through her investment
company, emr Equity.

(03:47):
Rani's on a mission to empowerand invest in women founders,
creators and business owners.
She's a relationship builder, amentor and the voice behind the
Working Women Mentor Podcast,where she champions the stories
and insights of inspiring women,from building businesses to
helping others launch their ownpodcast.

(04:08):
Rani's passion for connectionand growth shines through
everything she does.
So, Rani, welcome to the show.

Rani Alfers (04:14):
We are so excited to have you here today.

Jennifer Loehding (04:21):
I'm excited to be here, jennifer.
Thank you so much for having me.
It's going to be so much fun.
So, as I to our audience, as Iwas telling Rani beforehand, I
got to catch up with some of thestuff the work that she's doing
, her podcast and love whatshe's doing as far as empowering
women and inspiring women, andthat's really kind of what we're
doing here, although we have avery large male following as
well.
Our show is all about inspiringwomen to do great things in

(04:42):
life and in business, and so Ithink this is going to be such a
great episode and I'm soexcited to chat with you today.

Rani Alfers (04:48):
It's a good place for them to come and learn how
to inspire us, right?
I mean, just listen in and getthe know.
Get in the know today.

Jennifer Loehding (04:56):
Absolutely, I agree, and you know it's funny
because I have podcasts that aremen, podcasts that I love to
tune into.
I think we share you know wehave different things, but we do
share a lot of, you know,similar pain points as
entrepreneurs, and I think wecan all learn from one another,
and so that's what makes us sogreat.

Rani Alfers (05:10):
A hundred percent.

Jennifer Loehding (05:11):
Yeah, all right.
So let's talk about you.
Let's talk about what you gotgoing, because you are doing a
lot of cool things right now and, as I mentioned in the bio,
this all started kind of with acollege side hustle and it's
turned into kind of this rainyAlphers empire.
So tell us a little bit aboutwhat's going on in your world
right now.

Rani Alfers (05:28):
Oh my gosh, a lot of wonderful things and they all
happen and I'm embracing it asthey come, jennifer.
But yes, I mean long ago, Ifeel like many years ago in
college, I started a coffee shopand I just I wanted to start
something, I wanted to start abusiness and I loved coffee.
So I'm like let's do coffeethen.
And so that was really aninteresting eye opening business

(05:53):
experience for me at a veryyoung age.
I call it my college project.
It was down the street from ourcollege in Lafayette, louisiana
, and just a very uniqueexperience.
And you know, taking from thosedays selling the business and
then moving along, ending up inTexas eventually to starting my

(06:14):
all lines insurance agency.
And that's been an incrediblejourney, from starting it from
scratch not knowing anything,not knowing anyone, not knowing
how to get around in traffic orjust anything, and starting from
there to 20 years later.
I can't even believe it, it'sactually 20 years this year, it

(06:35):
just blows my mind.
But along the way I alsorealized I had some skill sets
and some passions and some areasthat I wanted to continue to
double down on, and that'sreally what has led me to more
of the investment andacquisition side, and EMK
skincare was an opportunity thatI found.

(06:57):
It's been two and a half, threeyears now and that is.
You know most people are likeskincare.
What in the world?
You're from?
An insurance industry.
What do you know about that?
And again, just doubling downon the skills and the passion
and the vision is not dedicatedto just one space and one lane.

(07:21):
And so, you know, we fastforward to the podcast that came
about several years ago becauseI just felt like more positive
female voices and a workingwomen's space was needed.
I mean, your podcast is a greatexample what you're doing, your
voices that you bring in andthat well rounded nature of just

(07:44):
positive things to hear when weneed them.
And I wanted to focus mypodcast on these micro moments,
these mentorship moments and wecan get into that later,
jennifer, but it's somethingthat has just brought a lot of
joy to my life and, hopefully,the listeners.

(08:04):
I get a lot of great feedback.
It's grown so much, but youknow it's.
It's just what, like I saidit's, you find a passion, you
find a skill that you may bewanting to try out and test out
and see how it works, and youjust do it.
So it leads me to working on alot.
Yes.

Jennifer Loehding (08:21):
Yeah Well, I want to.
I want to say something I haveso much to say about this.
First of all, you and I have somany parallels.
It's so funny because I was ina coffee company for a while.
I was also in Mary Kay for 22years.
Oh my gosh Right, like I alsodid insurance.
I love it.
Yes, I started in my mother's.

Rani Alfers (08:39):
My sister from another podcast.

Jennifer Loehding (08:41):
Exactly, another podcast.
Exactly right.
My mother had, back in the late80s and 90s, had an executive
suite in Houston.
This is before we had, like theco-op, the WeWorking space, all
of those.
Okay, my mom had an executivesuites and there was a farmer's
insurance agent that used towork in there.
So I started working for afarmer's agent in middle school
no kidding Back then we didn'thave internet so I would go in

(09:01):
there and I would file papers ina filing cabinet.
And then I ended up working forthis guy through high school off
and on, through college off andon, thought I was going to go
into insurance, and then I endedup working for several
different insurance companies.
And then life happened, gotmarried, had babies, all that.
But then, funny thing was, Iwent into Mary Kay and worked in
the leadership in that for along time and then was

(09:22):
introduced to an opportunity atthe tail end of that, to a back
when the skinny coffee was kindof hitting the market.
The company had the patent,came to Texas and another former
Mary Kay sales director, myself, kind of spearheaded with a few
other people here in Dallas thecoffee thing.
And so I feel like we would havehad some parallels in different
segues of our lives, but Ithink you know the common theme

(09:46):
here, that what I'm hearing fromyou and I you may share this
with me is that all of thesethings when you said like double
down on these skill sets, youpicked up little pieces of each
of these endeavors right, andyou found where your gifts are
within these endeavors andthat's the double downing part
right.
Like I recognize in the workthat I was doing, one of the

(10:06):
things I really loved doing, andall of those, was sharing
stories.
I had to share stories in MaryKay, I had to share stories in
the coffee and maybe in theinsurance, not as much because I
didn't know yet, but that wewere getting there.
That helped me with some otherskills.

Rani Alfers (10:17):
Yeah, you hear a lot of stories in insurance,
right, I heard a lot of stories.

Jennifer Loehding (10:25):
Yes, right, a lot of stories, yes, but I
think it really it showed meover the time the connection
between building these storieswith people.
And this is what people, howpeople, you know they what's the
word I'm looking for?
They connect with other people,right, and so I think the
message here is just thispicking up and learning.
You know rolling with these,you know adapting, rolling,
being okay with this nonlinearprogress, but also taking away

(10:47):
what you need from all of theseexperiences and figuring out how
they continue to help you growin new ways.

Rani Alfers (10:53):
Yeah, I think that's really well said.
I mean, I remember in my early20s I'm just like, oh my gosh,
what am I good at?
I'll never figure this out.
Like we're all thinking thatyou know what will I do, what
are my strengths, you know?
Just I I feel like I would askeveryone who knew me really well
, what do you, what do you think?
Like I wanted to see theiropinion of what they observed,

(11:15):
even like I was in a real huntfor, for this superpower when is
it?
What is it?
What exactly is it?
Because I wanted to follow andrun down that path and what I've
really learned is is you know,they're evolving over time.
I mean, there's not, you know,there might be a primary, but
there are so many pieces thatwe're all so good at, and, and,

(11:38):
and sometimes one is a littlebit stronger.
With one, you're going to rundown a lane with a lot faster
Right.
And it's not just this onething, it's multiple pieces of
you that are inside there,wanting to be exercised and
wanting to be let out.
So it reminds me of likeopening a bottle of champagne.

(11:58):
It's like ready to go, I'mready to get out of there, ready
to go, I'm ready to, ready toget out of there.

Jennifer Loehding (12:04):
Yeah, and I think to your point.
It's so true that you know wespend so much time in our early
career like we're really tryingto identify who, we are really
trying to hone in on what isthat thing.
And you know, and if I were totell you I haven't shared this a
lot, but I've shared thisthrough several episodes, you
know, I joke, I love and laughabout this all the time, because
when I was a kid we didn't haveinternet, we had cassette

(12:26):
players and we had littlecassettes we'd put in there.
I remember hitting that recordbutton on the thing and
recording myself talking on mylittle player.
I love it Little did I know backthen that here we would be
today having podcasts?
I mean, we had TV back thenright News people but we didn't

(12:49):
have this.
We didn't know we were going tohave this kind of stuff.
And I think it's so funnybecause, you know, I had a girl
come on my show years ago thatsaid you know your, your skills,
find you like they, theyidentify you.
And that's what I'm saying.
I think we spend so much timein the beginning really trying
to find them and I think when westart sort of start to learn,
to roll with it and just adapt,I think they sort of just kind
of find themselves in you Do.

Rani Alfers (13:09):
You know what I mean?
You're born for media in someway or somehow Right and and
like.
And it's fun, I think, to lookback, like you're looking back
and thinking about that cassetteplayer.
Like I can look back and thinkabout just being so young, like
you know, pretending I had myown business out of something,
like I was selling something outof like a catalog to my dad.

(13:30):
I'm like you know, call me andbuy something for my store,
here's my store and I'd give hima catalog or you know just
small things like that, and whenyou start thinking about them
it clicks and I bet there's somany more you know that we
haven't uncovered yet.
So that's kind of the fun part.

Jennifer Loehding (13:48):
Yeah, I think if you and I would have been
friends when we were little, wewould have been doing that
because I was doing all kinds ofbusinesses.
I was making knitted littlethings and trying to figure out
how I was going to sell them.
I think I've spent my wholelife as a child, all the way up,
trying to create a businessLike I feel like when you, if
you were to call me up you knowtoday or tomorrow, and you'd be
like hey, jennifer, I got abusiness idea.

(14:09):
I'm going to be like what?

Rani Alfers (14:10):
you got going on Rainy?

Jennifer Loehding (14:11):
I want to know.

Rani Alfers (14:12):
And I don't know if I'm going to do anything.

Jennifer Loehding (14:13):
I don't know, but I like I love hearing
people create businesses andideas, and that's what I think
is so fun about what we get todo in this podcast world is we
have the ability to sit acrossfrom these people that are doing
cool things and learn aboutwhat they're doing.
And you know, and, and, andthat's, I think, the best part
of of this if it is theconnection and um, which I kind

(14:34):
of mentioned that about you,about being a connector too, on
a whole nother segue, but Ithink so much of what we're
doing really comes all back tothis building connection and
taking our skill sets androlling that into it.

Rani Alfers (14:46):
And it becomes that foundation, as opposed to the
strategy of like, oh, let mejust build a bigger network or
let me go find new friends, orit's just finding that you know
that filter and that foundationof who you want around you and
what does that person look like?
And when you have, it's likedating right, it's like all of

(15:06):
that.
It's figure out the kind ofperson you want and then they
just start appearing.
It's very interesting, theyreally do, and I know that, I
don't wanna say it's a cliche.
Everyone knows fine, you're asstrong as your five people
around you of your circle andyou wanna find those people that
really align and uplift.

(15:26):
But I think first you've got tofigure out who they are and and
and then, and then the rest ofit's easy.
I think it comes natural.
When you're anywhere coffeeshop, you know a skincare shop,
whatever it is, you knowwherever you are.
You then know how to be openand receive it, because you
already know that they align.

Jennifer Loehding (15:48):
Yeah, and you said something a minute ago
that I think is important.
I want to touch upon this andhave you elaborate.
Maybe you said knowing who theyare right, because for somebody
listening to they go okay, howdo you know who they are Like,
how do you go about figuring outwho are those people?
I maybe elaborate on from yourperspective what that looks like
.

Rani Alfers (16:07):
Well, I think first you have to know who you're
looking for and then you have tolisten, you have to observe,
you have to be present and youhave to engage and ask questions
.
And I don't mean an interviewprocess, but I always say just
speak to someone like you'veknown them forever, like you
were to speak to your, likeyou've known him forever, like
you were to speak to your bestfriend.
You know, be that warm andengaging, let your guard down,

(16:31):
and it's amazing how much willflow out from the right person.
And and I think often we're notas present as we could be we're
thinking ahead of, like youknow who are they, what can we
get from them, what do I need todo for them?
Like, ah, you know, we'rethinking about all of these
things that aren't even comingto fruition yet.
And, and that presence isimportant, I do believe, if you

(16:55):
give yourself a little bit oftime with someone and a really,
you know, pretty honest, politeconversation, you can, you can
start unwinding that person andand you know, get a good idea if
they're they're starting tomeet your filter.

Jennifer Loehding (17:10):
Yeah, yeah, and I like that you said the
filter, because I think too youknow all of this comes back to
understanding those people's,also understanding you, right
Like yourself, and, and I thinkyou know when we talk about you
mentioned kind of like I don'twant to get into all the dating
thing.
I've been married for a reallylong time, so we kind of passed
all that part.
But you think about like knowingwho you are right, because you
can't make room for the rightpeople if you don't know who you

(17:31):
are and what, your boundariesand your parameters, and you
know and knowing your worth.
And so I think this is all good, but I wanted to tell you thank
you for Because peoplelistening to this you know maybe
we, you and I talk this lingoand we go okay, hey, we are the
sum of our five people.
We know who our people areright, we know who we're not
going to bring into the five orinto the space.

(17:52):
But somebody listening to thismay be a new budding
entrepreneur coming into thisworld and they're like what does
this even mean?
Right, and I say this to youbecause I, you know, I've
coached, I've worked with a lotof different people in the
entrepreneur space and sometimesI'll get these new people that
come in or maybe they've been inthe corporate and they're
coming in and they don't evenreally understand that.

(18:15):
You know what I'm saying.
It's like a kind of a new thingto them and they're like my
people are fine and I'm like, no, they're not.
You know, you got to have, youreally have to look and to know
that you have to know yourselfRight and and the thing is, as
you level up, so do your peopleright, like as the more you go
up, the more your people do.

Rani Alfers (18:40):
They do and it's also, I feel, like that
connection and can also varybased on your season you're in.
So, whereas we might know allof these things, but we might
right now, for instance, nothave a lot of time to invest in
new people or sometimes ourexisting people, quite frankly,
depending on where.
You know what projects we have,what goals, you know it's
summertime, for example.
Like you know, I try to more, Itry to take a lighter approach,

(19:05):
I try to get rid of a lot ofother things I can really focus
in on more time with my son,more strategic projects that
we've been wrapping up so theycan be executed during that time
while I'm with him or away,wrapping up so they can be
executed during that time whileI'm with him or away.
So it's sort of that, thatbalance, you know, between you,
don't?
It's not an everyday deal.

(19:26):
You know, some days are justgoing to look different when
you're trying to build thoserelationships.
And but again, I think I thinkthe right people know that about
you.
You know my friends, who knowwhat I have going on right now.
They, they don't expect to seeme at the moment, Like they know
, like she's heads down in this,but I know we have something on

(19:47):
the calendar Like we can't waitto connect.
Sure, it's just beingmeaningful about it.

Jennifer Loehding (19:52):
Yeah, and I think you're right about the
seasons.
I think that's so important tounderstand, that.
I think it allows you to giveyourself grace, right, because
you recognize.
You know it's kind of like Italk about like when we are
mindful, whether it be in ourbusiness practices or in our

(20:13):
self-care, meaning like ourexercise or eating habits or
whatever you know.
I always say that you know, like, for instance, I work out
almost every day but there aresome days that I decide not to
because I've got too much goingon that particular day.
But I don't beat myself upbecause I make that choice not
to, because I do it pretty muchevery day as a habit.
That there's not a lot of thatself-guilt.
I will tell you that onFather's Day my son is a chef

(20:33):
and we went to his restaurantand I am a low-carb eater,
meaning I eat very little sugar.
I do a lot of meat and a lot ofjust veggie, you know, low carb
, veggies and fat.
Well, I ended up they broughtus out two desserts that day for
Father's Day and my son waslike you got to try this lemon
meringue pie and, oh my gosh,rainy, I tried it and it was so

(20:54):
good you know what that was oneday.
I woke up the next day and I waslike Jennifer, that was just a
dumb move, Like you did not needall that.
So my point to this is yeah,sometimes we do do those things,
but I think the idea here isthat give yourself grace, right
Allow yourself to back up.
Yeah, back up.
It's okay, whatever season youare in, to accept where you are

(21:15):
Right and as long where you areright, as long as you're making
that conscious choice and you'reokay with the choice in that
season.

Rani Alfers (21:23):
Yeah, yeah, and, and it's, it's.
It's like I always think of itas seasons and speeds, and if I
can sync those two things, it'sa perfect world for me.
But sometimes it's running andsometimes it's a walking pace,
sometimes it's a sprint, and thereason I'm doing those things
are because of the schedule thatI've built, the balance that

(21:43):
I've built for that week or forthat month, or because I know I
have these certain pieces whereI'm not available.
Yeah, I don't want to beavailable, and so to do that, to
get that luxury of my time, andso to do that, to get that

(22:19):
luxury of my time, I have tosprint in some other days that
maybe I don't really want.
Like, I'm not, like, oh, I wishI wasn't doing this or, you
know, oh, I wish I would haveworked harder yesterday.
It's like no, no, no, no.
I recognize each, each speed,um, and hopefully align it with
that season.
So those are, those are, thoseare my balance.

Jennifer Loehding (22:33):
That's how I feel it's getting me on this
whole idea of preventing theburnout, because one of the
things that I work with people alot is on and I will kind of
share this with you about my,from my perspective, how I
operate.
So for many years as a highachiever, I got to get a drink.
It's like all of a sudden I gota cough Hydration.

(22:59):
As a high achiever, I alwaystalk about this whole crash and
burn thing where I recognizethat a lot of my stuff kind of
manifests in my health and so Iwould go, go, go, go go and then
just crash and burn and I haveI have my son is the same way
tends to kind of do some of thesimilar behaviors, and so for me
, this kind of came to head in2012,.
I got diagnosed with this rarenerve condition and it took me a

(23:20):
while to actually go back andreally take accountability and
recognize that, although, yes, Iwas diagnosed with this
disorder, there were certainpatterns of behavior that were
actually contributing to this.
And I say that because for along time I was bitter and angry
about it and then I was able togo back and really assess and
look at my role in this, and sonow I'm very big on and I'm not

(23:44):
saying it's perfect, becausewe're human, we're complex,
right.
So there are moments, yes,where I sometimes do get
stressed out, I overcommit orwhatever, but I do try to be
very methodical about the way Iiron out my days and my weeks
and so, and two and I think thatgets back to all this stuff
we're talking about like theboundaries and knowing who your

(24:04):
people are and what you'rewilling to accept.
You know learning how to say noto something that does not fit
in the plan or really doesn'talign with your your overall
goals, vision, values, right,but also recognizing that maybe
your skill set is notappropriate for it too.
And being able to say maybethis isn't something I should

(24:25):
take on because I'm not equippedright.
So I think all of this we'rekind of talking about is just
being really conscientious andaware of the choices that we
make right, and whether that beour weekly self know, self-care
practice or our taking onbusiness opportunities or having
coffee with some whatever thatlooks like in the capacity of

(24:46):
our day.
So I don't know if you want toadd to that.
I feel like this is somethingwe're kind of diving into which
is so important for women tounderstand.

Rani Alfers (24:54):
Yeah, I mean, I think what you said is is so
important, because I important,because I've been there too with
you know, run, run, run, run,run and then you just want to
burn out and then you start thecycle all over again and it's
just like an engine.
You know, remember the oldlawnmowers?
You'd pull some string on themand then they'd start up and
it's like you pull and you pulland, okay, I'm going, and it

(25:16):
just makes you feel like youcan't think clearly, you can't
operate from that high level,you can't.
I mean, you're just reacting,reacting at constantly, and I
think it's.
You know, we all are going tohave those crazy hectic, high
workload days.
Hectic, high workload days.

(25:43):
They're inevitable, they reallyare.
But I think being able to breakthem down into components that
you can actually chew on andthink about and then commit to
getting them done by thetimeframe you've anticipated, is
the best thing that you can dofor yourself.
And I mean that because I couldtell you I have so many things
I'd like to do today, jennifer,like it'd be so great.

(26:05):
I'm leaving the country nextweek and I already have exactly
what we need to do.
I already sent my significantother a to-do list this morning,
I'm like this is what we needto accomplish by the end of the
day, and he's probably just like, oh my gosh.
But the reality is is we can't.
And so first, know what youneed to accomplish.
Second, break it down intomanageable pieces and third,

(26:29):
measure it.
Make sure it's where you feelgood about releasing it to the
world.
You know, when we find ourselfjust push, push, push, push, I
find my output is not as greatas it could be.
I find that when my team isunder that same feeling, their
output is not as great as itcould be either.
So you know, give yourself aminute and really decide is this

(26:54):
the work I am capable of?
And if it's not, that's, I feellike, how you know, to give
yourself a little bit more timeand break it down a more
manageable task.

Jennifer Loehding (27:03):
Yeah, the other day I was on a on, so I
was guesting on, cause sometimesI go on other shows too.
So I was guesting on anothershow and we were talking about
my story and kind of where we,how I got to where I was today,
and she asked me a question likewhat is like one thing I would
tell somebody to do?
And I can't remember at thattime what I said, but I always
go back because you're probablylike I am, I'm sort of kind of a
meat and potato girl.
I'm like show me what you didand then I will replicate what

(27:27):
you did tell me what you did forme.
Yeah, I'm gonna have to reinventthe wheel.
I don't want to, and I'm anidea person, so I do come up
with a lot of ideas, butsometimes I just want to follow.
If somebody's done it andthey've been successful, you
know, show me what you do.
So when we talk about likethese, these you talked about
to-do lists, which I think isreally good Um, I do those too.
I have.

(27:48):
In fact, you're going to laugh,because here's mine for today.
It's on this white piece ofpaper and it's just scribbled,
and somebody asked my.
I think my son asked me one day.
He's's like why do you not justwrite like in a straight list
and you know what I like?
I'm creative and you're like mybrain does not think that way.
Yeah, I don't want to becauseI'm bored, and then I'm gonna
look at that.
If I do this, it's like a game,it's a puzzle.

(28:09):
I've numbered this like allover.
There's no even, there's noeven pattern to the number.
It's like one, two, three, four, five, six, like.
So I have to purposelystimulate my brain to be like
okay, where's number one?
Do I want to do that?
Okay, skip.
Like I have to go on the paperand look for it.
But I can't do it like that.
It has to be kind of creative.
So I think you know, again,working with our skill sets, but

(28:31):
I think what are the?
What is something like?
If you were going to advisesomebody, maybe right now to
let's talk about this get somekind of balance in their life, I
would say harmony, because Ithink that's kind of a little
bit, like you said, we're ebband flowing here.
Maybe something they could do.

Rani Alfers (28:52):
We talked to-do list.
Anything else we could add tothis?
Yeah, I think to-do lists arevery that's so basic in a way.
As you know, we all have thingsto do right.
So, at the very like that's sobasic in a way, as you, as you
know, it's like I mean, we allhave things to do right.
So the very essence, we allhave a to do list and I am
someone that starts with a listand then breaks it down on my
calendar.
If it is not on my calendar, itwill not get done period.

(29:13):
And because it is how it helpedme bridge the the, the sense of
lost time in my brain, I meanyou take me to lunch.
I'm there with you chatting forthree hours, jennifer, until I
have like an alarm that goes off.
Yeah, my alarm is like oh God,you got to go.
I mean, you know my coordinatoron my team.

(29:34):
She pulls me out of meetingsbecause she's like Rainy, like
you've been there for, like yougot to go, you got to go to the
next thing.
Yeah, so being able to alignyour list with your calendar and
measurable dates to be done isa game changer.
Then from there, breaking itinto project management pieces

(29:55):
on you know, a sauna or a Trelloboard or things like that, and
embracing automation.
I mean, what in the world wouldwe do without automation at
this stage?

Jennifer Loehding (30:07):
in 2025?

Rani Alfers (30:08):
Right, like, are you kidding me?
If you can't look around yourday and find five things to
automate, you know you're notlooking in the right places.
I think I mean automate, youknow, five new things, change
five new things a month, maybeeven figure out what you can
have that you don't have to keepthinking about, so you can

(30:30):
dedicate that bandwidth tosomething incredible.
Um, and not this, these menialrepetitive things that we just
don't have time for.

Jennifer Loehding (30:41):
Yeah, speaking of automation, I'm
telling you that is somethingthat I'm learning so to do.
You know, for a while I've hada couple co-hosts on the show
and one of them was really goodabout doing like all the
automation stuff and when sheleft I was like, ah, because I
never really had to do that.
And so I'm telling you this iswhat I realized.
I just recently was helpinganother successful colleague she

(31:04):
was getting her podcast up andrunning and I realized, while I
was telling her how to do allthis, how many things I had
actually set up and like,created and done.
And I was almost like, oh mygosh, just let me do it.
It's easier for me to just do itthan to try to explain this to
you, because I have, like, thecourse on my website and then I

(31:25):
have an automation that goes outfrom there, like the email
sequence.
It goes from there, right, likeall the just for the podcast
talk we were talking prior tothe show, the automation we do
for the guests before they comeon the show, all these little
things.
Right, it's so much.
It is, but once you set it up,it's such a game changer because

(31:47):
now you can remove yourselffrom these tedious, minutiae
tasks right and you can put yourenergy in the places where it
needs to be, where you're mosteffective.

Rani Alfers (31:53):
Yeah, I hired a company this past year well, at
the end of last year to dedicatefractional CFO and automation
to my insurance agency forexample.
So I have them on retainer andwe're working on so many
projects and I walked into thisthinking you know, if I don't do

(32:13):
this, what is my end of theyear of 2025?
Look like it's going to looklike the same it looked.
All my systems are going tolook the same as they did at the
end of the year of 2025.
Look like it's going to looklike the same it looked.
All my systems are going tolook the same as they did at the
end of 2024.
And and wow, I mean the amountof technology available to us
that just wasn't progressive orreally fair to me or my team
right to not find some moreefficiency for them.

(32:34):
And so it was something, youknow, I made the choice to
invest in and I'm doing it in myother businesses as well.
We actually created an AIpodcasting course and I'll send
over a link you can put it inyour show notes for anyone
wanting to create a podcast fromscratch to help save them time

(32:54):
with AI and ease and without allthe overwhelm and all the steps
that you just named.
You know that we have to do asa host, right, because what
we're doing is the fun part.
I mean this is great, you know,and all the other stuff.

Jennifer Loehding (33:09):
There's the back end.
Yes, oh my gosh.

Rani Alfers (33:12):
Yeah, oh my gosh.

Jennifer Loehding (33:13):
Yeah, I'm with you.
Well, you know, I applaud youfor all the things you're doing
and for the willingness to learnto delegate and remove the
things that are not serving youwhile you need them for your
business, but they're not placeswhere you need to be spending
all of your time and so Iapplaud you for recognizing
where you need to make thoseshifts, because you're right.
If you continue to do the samething and expect different

(33:33):
results, that's a definition ofinsanity right.
You got to make changes if youwant to go up.
But all my 20 years okay listen, that's what I did.
I empowered women.
I'd be like why are we doingthe same things over and over?
That's just the definition ofinsanity.
We're expecting differentresults but not willing to do
different things.

Rani Alfers (33:51):
So I love it.

Jennifer Loehding (33:52):
Brandy, I do want to ask you kind of a, I
guess maybe more of a.
I guess all of these have kindof been personal questions, but
I want to touch a little bitupon some of the challenge part
of this.
Because here's the thing Ithink people coming on here and
I know you recognize this theylook at us and they think, oh my
gosh, like Jennifer's great atdoing these interviews and, by
the way, you're an amazinginterviewer yourself, because
I've heard, I've listened tosome of your stuff and you're

(34:12):
phenomenal but we've been doingthis for a while, Like we've
been doing the things we've beendoing for a while.
So eventually I always say youknow, if you decided tomorrow to
go ride a unicycle, you'regoing to do one of two things
Either you're going to figureout or you're going to get off
Right, and that's what we did wefigured it out.
I want to know from you, likemaybe some of the hard things
you mentioned a minute ago, youknow, kind of getting finding

(34:34):
systems right.
It may be a challenge that youreally had to work through to
help you get to where you aretoday.

Rani Alfers (34:41):
Yeah, oh, there's so many, yeah, there's so many.
I think, um, yeah, I'll startkind of backwards.
I mean, I think the podcast isa great example.
I waited six plus months tostart my podcast because I'm
like total imposter syndromekicking in.
You know who's going to listento me?
What in the world do I have to?

(35:03):
Who's going to even be a guest?
Like you know, it was this ideathat I had and I just I was.
You know.
You know that feeling where youtalk yourself into something,
you talk yourself out ofsomething.
It's just like happeningsimultaneously.
And you know, I went throughthat.
I went through you know thefrustration of like, okay, this
is a lot of work that I don'tget paid for.

(35:25):
I don't know if this is a timething.
I better either figure this outor get out Right.
And and that was something thatI had to spend a little bit of
time and then we, we flashedback.
You know, in my skincarecompany, I mean, are you kidding
me?
Everybody said what do you knowabout skincare?

Jennifer Loehding (35:43):
Are you?

Rani Alfers (35:43):
sure I love my son.
At the time he's probably like10.
And he's like well, you'reeither going to be a billionaire
or you're going to go broke,mom, and I'm like, okay, kids
are honest.
Sage advice, sage advice, mydear, sage advice, sage advice,

(36:06):
my dear.
But you know, the point is is I, I did not know about a lot of
components of that industry andit has been a learning curve for
me in in FDA compliance andformulas and packaging and
tariffs in China and sourcingmaterial and all of these things
, not to mention.
You know, I love marketing, loveit, love it, love it.

(36:27):
But the consumer is a bitdifferent and the space is
different.
You know, these challenges thatI'm having to push through, and
I spend a lot of time learningit on my own, jennifer, but then
hiring the right person orempowering the team that I have
to also learn it.

(36:48):
Hey, this is what we have tofigure out how to do.
Here are some resources.
Let's get on it, and then,simultaneously, if we need to
hire someone who's an expert towork with us on this while we
figure it out, let's do that too, and so realizing what I'm
really weak at has been one ofmy greatest strengths, because

(37:09):
it's a lot of stuff, jennifer.
It's a lot, I mean really youknow an insurance starting from
scratch I mean, moving to Texas,you know insurance is about a
business where you got to know alot of people.
You got to talk to a lot ofpeople, you got to sell a lot of
insurance to make a lot ofmoney, and that is what I wanted
to do, except I didn't know alot of people and so you know it

(37:30):
was.
It was challenging to build acommunity and a network and a
company without having thecomponents that require.
You know, without having thosecomponents, it was very
uncomfortable to go and asksomeone for something when I
started marketing for thatinsurance agency.
I do not like asking people forthings at all.

(37:52):
I mean, I'm just, you know, I'venever been able to do that and
I had to learn that.
How to, how to do that and whyI was worth it, what I was
offering them, what the value ofit was it was.
That was probably the hardestthing I have had to had to learn
in my career with insurance andI learned it early and quick

(38:15):
and hopefully I'm able to helpothers now with that same skill,
because I spot, I can spot itimmediately on new hires or when
my existing team does it whenthey kind of weasel out of
something, when they, when Iknow, they know, or they're
awesome, you know, and they,they kind of weasel them like oh
, oh, I know what that is, youknow.
Like I, I do that, I've beenthere.

(38:36):
Um, so I, you know, our, my, mystruggles have helped me,
jennifer, to, you know, help thepeople in my businesses, and
I'm going to keep finding them.
I mean, we're going to run intostruggle and everything we do.
It's never all perfect, but butthat's where I think people who
have that grit and thatcreativity and that curiosity to

(38:58):
, like you said earlier, find abetter way.
I'm always looking for a betterway to do something and if we
can just keep that mentality, Ithink that's the game changer.

Jennifer Loehding (39:10):
I think that's the best thing.
We talked about so many thingstoday, but I think I feel like
that's like the best thing.
It's just the the strive tofind a better way, right, like
it's not about it's not aboutreinventing the wheel, it's just
improving.
What's like constantly beingwilling to improve Right.

Rani Alfers (39:26):
And it applies to everything.
It's like not just a business,Right, Right, I mean even like
you know we're on vacation orsomething and we've got a plan
and I'm like, oh, I think we cando this a better way, we can do
better than this.
And I'm like, okay, you knowI've already reworked the route
and the itinerary and the andthen it's like this is a dream
day.
We're going to have a dream daytoday.

(39:48):
We're not just going to do likethe average day, Like we're
upping the ante on this one.
So it's just, it's how to findthe better.
You know, we get one day rightand that's it.
And we never get it back.
When my son gets out of the carfor school in the morning,

(40:09):
Enjoy the best day ever.
You're never going to have thisWednesday back in your whole
life of eighth grade, Right.
How are you know, make itamazing and he's probably going
to remember like my mom wascrazy when I get out of the car
in the morning.
But but I appreciate you trulymean it.
And so find, find a better waytoday.

Jennifer Loehding (40:25):
I love it, rainey.
Well, you are doing incrediblestuff and I love it and I
appreciate you sharing all thisinformation.
I think it's important and Ithink we touched upon a lot of
really important topics.
You know, specifically, I thinkthese are areas that women
struggle for.
Men struggle for them too, butI think women really a lot of
the self-worth and these thingsthey play out in what you're
talking about, in our sales andin our bringing the right people

(40:45):
into our space and creatingthese boundaries for how we want
our work-life harmony to looklike right, and so I think
that's kind of like our overallthing here really is about being
willing to improve right andbeing really conscientious about
how we do that going forward.
So if we were going to like sumall this up right, like I always

(41:07):
have to do these, like whenwe're trying to get the titles
for these shows, like how do wesum these episodes up with these
people bring to the table?
And you know, right, I don'tknow about you.
I mean, maybe when you do yourshow, you kind of know like
what's going to be.
I never know when I bring youguys, you know women, men,
whatever.
Never know when I bring youguys, you know, women, men,
whatever, whomever I bring onthe show, I never really know
exactly how we're going to rollthis episode out.

(41:27):
I like to let it organicallyflow.
I think it's such a beautifulthing because we get in here and
we find topics that we canactually connect on, and in this
particular one, we had a lot ofparallels and areas that we
could bring together and talkabout and, you know, openly
share them.
So thank you for yourwillingness and participation
and all the fun wisdom youbrought to the show today.

(41:47):
Jennifer, thank you.

Rani Alfers (41:48):
I love your approach, your natural flow and
your energy and everythingyou're bringing to the table for
men and women.
So thank you so much for havingme as a guest.
Thank you.

Jennifer Loehding (41:58):
So if our listeners listening to this
today, they want to either findthis course, maybe they want to
find out about the skincare,maybe investment, I don't know
Maybe they need insurance.
Where do they want to find you,rainy?

Rani Alfers (42:09):
They can find me at ranialfers.
com or on Instagram and tosupport and visit the podcast
workingwomenmentor.
com.
Mo re information about thecourse and our guest and to
apply to be a guest if they'reinterested, Perfect.

Jennifer Loehding (42:26):
And I love that you got a website for
yourself because, yes, youneeded to bring all those things
together so they can find you,because you are like me, you got
too many things going on.
I don't know.
I feel like now I've got awebsite for this.
We just currently my daughter,my middle child, and I started a
little pet sitting business too.
So I have a website, a wholelittle.
I'm trying to build that up forher and so so she can kind of
take that over eventually.
But, yes, I feel like I've gota website for this.

(42:47):
I got a website for that.
So we have to have just thejenniferloadingcom so that
everybody can go to the hub, andso we're multifaceted, I mean,
there's so much more to womenother than just one thing.
Is that not the truth?
Yes, we're moms, we're wives,we're successful.
Ticket drop down box, that'sright, we just do it all right.
I love it.

(43:07):
Well, you are doing amazingthings and I want to applaud you
for continuing to inspire,appreciate it, thank you
Absolutely.
And, of course, to our audience,we want to say to you we
appreciate you, love you, thankyou for tuning in.
We hope you found this episodeboth inspiring and informative
and, of course, if you do, youknow what to do.
Do all the things Hit the like,the subscribe, the share,

(43:27):
comment, help us support themission here and so we can
continue to share all thesefabulous stories and content
with you.
And, as I always say, in orderto live the extraordinary, you
must start, and every startbegins with a decision.
You guys, take care, be safe,be kind to one another and we
will see you next time.
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