Embrace the Chaos (Leah Frazier)

Think Three Media CEO Leah Frazier is a multi-licensed attorney turned fashion and marketing guru. Leah discusses the path she took to becoming one of the most successful women in Dallas. Leo and Leah offer a fresh perspective for looking at the success of others.

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By: Leo Yockey

Transcript

0:14

Hello, and welcome to another episode of the Leo Yockey show, the show where I, Leo Yockey interview guests about the universal truth in their unique life path, or something like that. How have you been? It's been a couple of weeks, I took a week off for the first time ever. For the first time, this this podcast has been out for like, what, six months, but you know what I mean? So there's a few reasons why I'm releasing this episode. This week one, this episode, the conversation that we have is kind of reminiscent of the conversations we were having back in season one, and even though we just recorded it recently. Can you hear that? That's my cat scratching the wall where his food is. Anyway, Raja. Anyway, this conversation is much more like a season one conversation, so I want to get it out there as soon as possible. Until it's a very short interview. We had limited time and I wanted to work on something that wouldn't take as much time to edit this week. So thank you, Leah. Leah. Frasier is a very successful businesswoman. She's in the fashion world. She's NPR. She used to be an attorney. She's doing all kinds of different things. We met in a book club and I really, I really admired her willingness to kind of try different things and follow her truth and follow her path and we talk about that a little bit right now. Let's get into the conversation. Hey, Lia, how's it How's it going? Have you been doing lately? I've been good you know just busy trying to round out 2021 I can't even believe this year is almost over. You're telling me I was I was telling my friends. My best friends are getting married next month. And I said you know we're gonna do this wedding. And then like two weeks later it's gonna be Halloween and then it's Thanksgiving and then boom 2022 like done I don't even want to think about it. I tried to somebody mentioned something in my circle as well and I'm like oh no, no, no, I still have a lot so let's not talk about 2022 and goal setting and vision boarding and all those things that come with a new year I've just I'm not ready yeah, and that's that's the thing about time my mom and my grandma always said it's like yeah, whether whether you're ready or not here Here it comes. It's coming whether we want it or not. And so I think you know, goal setting and all that stuff that's actually like a perfect segue into why I wanted to bring you onto the show because like I said, whether we are ready for it or not 2022 is coming. And I've been just chaotically trying to figure out like, what the hell I want my life to look like by the time 2022 arrives because that also happens to be the year that I turned 30 I turned 30 in February and you know since around the time Aquarius I am an Aquarius. Yes. Oh yes. Marius is it shout out to all the Aquarius is out there. That's awesome. I love it. So I think I think that also kind of you know, knowing that about you kind of explains a lot of what I've seen in you you know, like you're very, very sociable, you're very kind of humanitarian in nature. I think with the types of projects that you take on and the work that you've done. I think personally, I mean, I don't know about you, I kind of let you speak to your career path. But it seems like all the things you've done are like, kind of not random, but like kind of unrelated but I see like a connecting link between all of them that a lot of it kind of has to do with like, advocating for people advocating for people to kind of be their best selves and you know, like you you've been a lawyer you do PR you now like getting into like meditation and coaching and stuff like that and all of this kind of has to do with like, advocating for people which I think is is really cool. But it also seems like you're approaching it in a much less chaotic way because I've been very like I got to try to do this and now I'm going to do comedy now I'm going to do this podcast and you know, fuck tech I'm done with tech forever. I'm gonna burn that all down and and and and now there's relationship is over. Now I'm going to move in. So much chaos and all that. So if you don't mind for listeners, I know I just kind of very briefly tossed out a couple a couple of things that you do. But how would you explain your like what you do now and like kind of your brief lecture, like what what the LinkedIn resume would say, as far as how you got to where you're at now, I will say that there's so much beauty in chaos, I think, to avoid the chaos, which gets you sometimes into like being on the hamster wheel of life. And for those that kind of embrace the chaos, there's so much beauty on the other end, because in the end of it, you discover who you are, what you like, what you don't like, you discover your passions in life. What's more intuitive to yourself than what somebody else has projected onto you? Or told you that you should do? You kind of shed all of those titles? And so yes, I, I'll get into my story, I embrace a lot of chaos. But I was actually really, like, happy with it. Because it, I was it was like peeling a layer with each layer, I was discovering who I was and what I loved. And once I got to the core of everything, I was able to monetize that and build multiple brands off of that. And so if you find yourself in a chaotic space, that is okay. You're You're like on this path to discovery. So just embrace it. Have fun. And in the end, you're going to be more in alignment with yourself and your purpose of why you're here on this earth. And anyone who's like, No, no, this is too much. This is freaking me out. I'm going to be safe for the rest of my life and just continue to be on a hamster wheel because that over there that scares. And so I was on the I would say I was on the hamster wheel. I like you said I was an attorney. I was very good at what I did. I did bankruptcy. I represented banks. My last job I was in House Counsel for a very large bank. Left that to take on a temporary project out in Washington DC for a little bit. And, you know, I thought I was living the life. And I had started a fashion business several years before where I was running my fashion business as a personal shopper and styling and I was doing fashion journalism and social media wasn't that big. I don't even think Instagram has started when I first started fashion blogging. Um, so I used Facebook to kind of tell people what I was doing. And yeah, they were confused. They're like you're an attorney. You spent all this money. going to law school, you have all these student loans, like, what are you doing running around Neiman Marcus talking about fashion trends. But I didn't care what anybody else had to say because it made me happy. And anybody that really knew me knew that I had a shopping problem. So there was something like in there where they're like, she always looks good, or she always has the latest that so there's something in this fashion thing that we know she likes. I don't think anybody saw that it could be something long term for me. And so as I just kept digging, kept digging, my business took off as a personal shopper. My blogging turned into journalism. I was hired by CBS very quickly to write on their website. I wrote for examiner.com. Within four years, I was at Fashion Week attending shows like, I'm passing Whoopi Goldberg, and I'm losing my mind because I'm like, this was just me on this self discovery of I like fashion, I kind of set up this little hobby that then turned into a business. But I'm an attorney. But this is kind of cool. And I just kept following that path until I moved back to Dallas and the fashion industry here is ridiculous. And I started doing TV I actually got on TV within two months of starting my fashion business before I moved to Dallas. So I that's how I knew there is something to this because it is coming way too easy. Then me not to say that, you know my lawyer life wasn't that great. But whatever I'm exploring over here it is naturally gravitating towards me where all these doors are opening that normally takes people decades to get through. I am walking through within a month, two months a year. And so when I moved back to Dallas, everything completely blew up. I was winning like the rising star wars for fashion blogging, I was personal shopping for clients, like every week, I was getting access to wardrobes and pulling as a stylist that they're like, we only let three people in town comfortable clothing for shoots and stuff like that. It's you and the other two people were decorated stylists that have been in the game for decades that I still look up to this day and I'm like, man, there's something to this. So then I just quit my job as an attorney because I wanted to see where's this thing gonna take me and how long into that, did you quit your job as an attorney? Oh, I was side by side pause for about seven years, okay. And I was just really tired. And the fashion thing was blowing up. I was then doing TV quite regularly. And the people at my job, were starting to see me on TV like, what the hell is she doing? I just didn't, I didn't want anybody from my job to come tell me that I couldn't do it, or it was a conflict. So I ended up just transitioning out, I was like, No, I quit. Because I want to try this thing. And I use all of my savings. I was in the market for my first home. And I spent my downpayment money to try to figure out I hired a business coach, like, how do I make this work? Like I don't have a degree in fashion, I just know I love what I do. I have a styling business. I'm a journalist. And, and I do TV. And as we went along this road, and she was telling me all the different strings that I could set up, I then realized, like when I built my business on social media, people following my journey, I built businesses with brands, because they saw that I had an audience that was very intrigued with this attorney who's in fashion, who's getting access to Fashion Week, interviewing the top designers in the world, like, I'm on the roof top or the the penthouse suite interviewing Zac Posen, for one of our media outlets here. And it's like Who does that? You know, and everybody was intrigued with my journey. And when I realized that I was really good with media, I was really good with storytelling, and extremely good at marketing. That's when I decided to start my company think free media. And at the time when I started that, so that was in 2015 2016, I was saying, when I started thinking media, I only wanted to focus on fashion businesses, helping them with marketing and telling their story online, because that's how I was able to leave my full time job and go into entrepreneurship. And I added the PR component because I'm like, I'm on TV all the time. I know other producers like I know how to get on to be the people in radio are my friends, all the bloggers, we travel in packs, all the shows together all the people you meet with all the time. And so we started being through media, and I started off with one client. And within months, I had six different accounts I was working with, without even really having my business set up the right way, because it came so quick. And here we are today where it's grown into a full service media company. We do everything from producing marketing and promos for our local ABC affiliate, to branding and marketing for larger businesses. So I'm not even in Texas, we have a client in Chicago, we have clients in Cali, we represent bank, we represent fashion businesses, like my client in New York. And to think that this all started from like, I don't know what I'm doing, but I'm having fun, and I'm just gonna go down this rabbit trail and see how it unfolds is amazing to me. And I just do what I want to do. I do what I love. I found out last year when the pandemic hit, I don't really love running people's social media accounts. Because they don't understand how hard it is to grow an engaged audience. People want the microwave strategy and it struck me out and it stresses my team out when people don't want to trust the process or embrace the length of time that it takes to actually grow an engaged audience. So when the pandemic hit as a business owner I said what is the one thing that we are really good at that doesn't stress us out that makes us happy? It gives us all the you know Heebie Jeebies and that was PR and so we really honed into we are only doing PR we will consult what your social media but this is the one thing that we do really good and when I focused on the one thing that's when my business grew literally by five times the amount financially yeah that's where we are today. Nice yeah and congratulations on all your success thank you for sharing that story with me and it's so it's so funny because there's something that that popped out for me and your personal story and then you kind of touched on it a little bit with like your gripe with your clients there at the end you know, you said that you know people like one of the reasons why you didn't like social media was because there was like this dissonance between your clients expectations and the reality because people kind of want this like this microwave solution, this microwave strategy where it just, you know, you flip a switch and all of a sudden the followers just start pouring in and you know, listening to your story. You know, I, I appreciate everything that you say about embracing chaos, it's a very Aquarius thing to say. But you know, it's one of those things where it's like it, it seems chaotic, because looking back, you're like, Oh my gosh, how did I get from there to here, but at the same time, it really wasn't, you know what I mean? I think people, I think it'd be very easy to look at someone like you and like, if someone were to go and follow you now, which I'm sure some people listening to this podcast are going to start following you, you know, today. So the, if they're seeing you today, and they're seeing everything that you're doing, and they see that you used to be a lawyer, and you're, you know, talking about embracing chaos, and all this happens so quickly, I think it's really easy to fall into the trap of thinking, Oh, it all just kind of happened overnight. But there were seven years that you were working simultaneously, in a law firm working with banks on bankruptcy and stuff like oh my God, what a what a night and day from what you're doing, you know, in your fashion world, and it's almost like you're, it's almost like you're leading this double life. And it's like, it probably seemed chaotic, because it was like, why am I doing both of these things at the same time, like, This is nuts. But underneath all of that was this was this rudder that was keeping you on this path that was very focused, very deliberate. And I absolutely fell into that trap of like, a kind of expecting the popcorn microwave thing, you know, and when I quit my job, and I was making all these different moves, I was like, I'm gonna, you know, do do all this creative stuff, it's gonna be great. And the universe is like, no idiot, you're gonna run out of money, like go back to tech, what the hell cuz even with my tech career, it's like, it took me you know, five, six years to get to where I was at, it did take time. And there's a way that I can use that to pivot into the other things, I can use my comedy to emcee tech conferences, because I don't know if you know this not a lot of people in tech have particularly dynamic personalities. So it's not like the competition there compared to like, the comedy scene in LA is particularly big, you know? Like there's all these different ways that if we really take a step back and really commit to it, I think that's the other thing is really committing to it. You know, you you use your your downpayment money for your house to like really invest in a business coach, but at that point, you had already done so much work at that point. It wasn't like you woke up one day having never done any work in fashion and said, Okay, I'm gonna go spend money on this coach and expect it to happen, like you had already done so much work. And at that point, you literally just needed a coach, you need to just like guidance. I can go hire phil jackson tomorrow. It doesn't mean I'm going to be NBA ready, ever in my life, probably as a basketball player. I hired you know what, who I thought was one of the best business coaches marshawn Evans Daniels, she was on the first season I believe with apprentices. She's absolutely brilliant. She had like a million dollar speaking business alone. And I'm like, you gotta help me. I've got all these balls in the air. I can only concentrate on so much. And she laid it out. Like if you follow this plan. Yeah, this is a seven figure plan. Still working on the seven figures. But I believed her. And even still, when I took my leap of faith, I didn't have the business savvy, so I lost everything I own. Two years later, I use all of my resources, and lost everything. I lost my car, I lost my apartment. I lost I was selling everything that I owned, because I was like, there's no way that I had this dream. And this is not gonna work out. And so there's people that see me today I had a conversation with someone this past weekend that I was trying to help and I mentioned that hey, I've got to leave this meeting because I got to go meet with my realtor. And he made the comment like, well must be nice. You know, you have a car and you're meeting with a realtor. And I said, I'm just gonna correct you. I'll let you know it must have been nice that when I passed my car every day, I didn't know if it was gonna be there in the parking lot. It must be nice that when they repossess my car, I went back in my apartment and googled how to take public transportation in Dallas and had to do that for a year must have been nice to have walked two miles and the Texas heat 96 degrees to show up to do a social media presentation where they only paid me $250 my phone got cut off that morning must have been nice to get addicted and have to move back home with my mom in my 30s you know, must have been nice that when they repossessed my car, all of my belongings were still in the car and I'm still to this day Don't know what I lost, you know, and I just went on and on and on must have been nice that I use my first home downpayment, invest in a dream only to lose everything two years later. So if I'm saying casually and not to brag like, Hey, dude, I gotta go meet with my realtor to bet on that shit. Yeah, I absolutely earned that shit, because I stayed in it because I believed in what I was doing. And now, because of all the seeds that I planted because of the faith that I had, and what was what I was doing, and the people that I was serving, it is coming to harvest, and now I can enjoy some of those fruits. I'm not going to apologize for it. But we have to stop looking at people and saying, like, they're lucky, this happening, you must be nice, no, you have no idea what that person went through, like, absolutely have no idea what the sacrifices they made in order to reap some of those blessings. And so yes, I'm finally talking to a realtor. When I feel like I sacrificed my first home, you know, years ago, and it's finally at a point where I'm like, Okay, let's do this. What are you willing to sacrifice and invest? To really make your dreams come true? Just not easy? Yeah, absolutely. And congratulations on being at the point, again, where you're speaking with a realtor. And that is such a good point, you know, we were comparing, again, someone who goes and follows you today, all they see is where you're at today, all they see is the results or the effects and not really the cause, and they don't see what it took to get to where you're at. And I think that's such an important lesson in general, for people looking at people's social media, and comparing themselves to it, it's like you're, you're comparing your own life, where you have the complete behind the scenes, backstage access to all of this stuff. And you're comparing that to someone's highlight reel, you know, and I think that's what's really cool about, you know, having conversations like this, and you know, just in general, people are becoming a lot more open about the struggles that they face. And really showing both sides of that coin is like, yes, if you do the work, you'll get these results. But also, it might take some trial and error because like you said, You didn't really know how to run a business yet. See, you made some mistakes that the you today probably would never in a million years make, right? Because you've grown and you've learned, but all people see is the grown learned version of you without kind of seeing what it took to get there. And so it creates this, like, unnecessary feeling of like separation, because Mr. Must be nice over here feels like, you know, that's coming from a place of him thinking that this will never happen for me. And to be able to humanize the like, no, it took these risks, it took the sacrifices, anybody who is you know, willing to do the same things can have this, you know, can have the same result. But that is scary. You know, it is scary to take those risks. When you have the the nice, you know, like the law, the law career already there waiting for like you already had the money. But that would have been there would have been an emptiness with that. You know what I mean? Like you went to Venice fulfilled. So I think that it it's, I just I really appreciate that you you're showing kind of both sides of that coin. Yeah, I'm always very honest with people. There was years where I wasn't ready to tell that story, because it was very emotional for me. Yeah. But I'm, I'm very honest with people about my journey, because like you said, they see the highlight reel. And I'm like, yeah, this is what we're like, what in 2021. And I'm finally taking the vacations I want to take. But to your point. It's like, I've been doing this for over a decade, not really getting to travel the way I want to travel, sacrificing, where I want to be because I have to work and I have to work all the time. And I have to work hard because I'm trying to build a business that can run itself so that I could take three or four months off at a time or enjoy my family or build generational wealth. Those are my goals. You know, and so to me, even when I lost everything, the weirdest thing I remember is that I wasn't really that upset about it. I still found joy being at my absolute bottom because I was still doing the thing that I love to do. And I know that there was that there was a lesson while I was going through it so I was just journaling every day just trying to I was like okay, I'm going to journal because one day I'm going to tell people this story. And and they're going to need it, you know, to stay encouraged and I was really, I was like my happiest during that point in time. It was the weirdest thing without all the stuff. And I'm a girl they're like stuff. And when it was all leaving, like day by day by day, and I was just staying grounded and who I wasn't serving the people I was serving. I took it like a G and I was like what am I supposed to learn out of this? Okay, Leah, you're Pricing is screwed up your way to land on clients when they don't pay on time. Look at this is the result of a failed failed business systems and a failed business structure like that is the lesson here. There's also a lesson in, how are you managing your finances. There's also a lesson here and relying too much on material goods. And really not knowing what the true meaning of life is. Because as an attorney, I was so caught up that, oh, I have my BMW at the travel, I can do whatever I want. And when everything was stripped away, and I was at the bottom, I felt like every day I was being built up into a new person. And so I needed that in order to be who I am today to truly appreciate when things started coming back, when I got my car back again, when I was able to move out and go into my apartment. And when I got my first office downtown, it was in a high high rise building. And then I got the office next door, and people were celebrating those wins, especially those close to me, because they knew that I literally had just lost everything before. And when I got it back, I was like, I'm never going back to that place. So what do I have to do in order to, you know, just be a better business owner and be a better person and be a better human? So that's where we're at today. This is what people are seeing today. Yeah, I love that I've been using the theme the analogy of like the Phoenix ally, and it's like you had everything had to burn down and you know, losing everything that was everything kind of burning to ashes, and now you're in the rising from the ashes phase. And I think that's a wonderful thing. Yeah, my first fashion blog was called beauty for ashes. Had I know that I was gonna go through what I went through, I probably wouldn't have use it for foreshadow purposes. But I do believe that their beauty rises from ashes, you get a you get a chance to become completely green and to grow and to build something new. And that I feel like, That is me. And there are there are literally people who have followed me, for the last 12 years that have followed my journey. I was like, I like you gotta follow this girl, or blah, blah, blah. And I appreciate those people because they know, they absolutely know the journey, and they appreciate the day. Yeah, and I love that. So Leah, we're just about out of time here is there is there anything else that you feel like you'd be remiss if you if you didn't add it to this conversation, I would just say, you know, everything that I've done is, um, it's heart LED. And I know that that's really cliche, but I feel like our best guide, and our best GPA is our intuition. And so many of the things along the way for me, that have paved this path to success was by intuition, you know, I, I feel the energy from this person, or from this project, I'm going to do this project, even, sometimes not knowing, you know, what the payoff was gonna be. And people see the Emmys. And my first Emmy project was me getting called and me thinking, I don't know if I can do this, but I'm gonna do it. Because it's a great opportunity for me to build my business alongside our local TV station. I didn't know how that process worked, I just thought I did a job, we knocked it out of the park, I can move on with my life and say, I did this job with him. And then I get a call, many, many months later, like, Hey, we want to interview for this. And I'm like, it's like, I'm so glad I use my intuition and wasn't like some of these, you'll see a lot of business owners on social media, like if you're not paying me for this, if I don't get paid to keynote that and if you're not coming to me with six figures in that, and sometimes it's not about that, you got to be able to see the bigger picture. Some of the partnerships I'm in sometimes aren't the biggest payoff, but the network the resources, the people that give me the fire and the vibes and the energy to move forward is so much better than any money could ever buy. And so I think we don't give our intuition enough credit. And as a business owner and the personal brand and the things people are saying 80% of what you're saying online is all intuition. I love that thing. Yeah, thank you for bringing that in there. I think that's such a good point, everything you know, everything being heartland following your intuition. Leah, thank you so much for coming onto the show. Is there anything that you would like to plug or promote? Where would you like people to find you on the World Wide Web? And of course, yes, I do PR and a lot of publicity. So if you're a business owner, entrepreneur, even if you want to start a personal brand, check out my blog. pacify yourself with Leah Frasier. Thank you, Leo, for the lovely recommendation that you posted. I really appreciate that. And then if you want to be encouraged, if you can go to Amazon, my book is lessons from the bottom. And you can order that book is a really short ebook. But it kind of describes the things Leo and I were talking today, and many people have reached out, and have told me that it has really resonated wisdom as they're in a shift in their life, and they're trying to figure out where they want to go. And so I would just suggest, you know, curling up with some coffee and a good book, and it's really short, you can get through it in a day, maybe even an hour. Um, and that's pretty much it. And follow me at via Frasier on all social media platforms. That is awesome. I didn't know that your book was done. I'm definitely gonna check it. out, you're waiting on us PR yourself. And I am nearly halfway done. And so 2022 it'll be out. I just I got really knee deep in the trenches wanted to make it absolutely perfect for everybody. So I didn't want to rush to put it out. But that's short ebook. That's out. The PR yourself. Book is coming in 2022. Wonderful. Love it. Leah. Again. Thank you for coming on. And yeah, I will I will talk to you soon. All right, bye. All right, once again, that was Leah Frazier. Thank you, Leah, for coming onto the show. You know, one thing that I wish I had had a chance to talk to Leah about too is is the power and importance of relationships and the privilege that that gives us. Yeah, Leah had to work really hard for everything that she got. But also, Where would she have been if she didn't have the option to move back in with her mom. It sucks to have to move back home when you're an adult. But at the same time, having that option is huge privilege that not everybody has. I think everybody talks about this in some form or another. But truly the key to success is your relationships. You know, we're social beings. And without those relationships being solid, what can we go out into the world and do anyway, I hope you've enjoyed this very short episode of the Leo Yockey show. If you did enjoy it, please leave me a five star written review. That shits like currency here in this podcast world. Take a screenshot Make this your Instagram story. I have a fantastic musician. Trisha is coming on to the show next week. I cannot wait for y'all to hear that conversation. It's a really good one. And now I gotta go get ready. I'm actually I'm officiating my best friend's wedding this weekend. I'm so excited. I am not prepared. But I'm so excited. I gotta go start getting ready for that. Have a great week. Y'all stay evolving.