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My guest this week is Alison Haselden. She is an actor, marketing consultant, and online educator with over 15 years of experience in the entertainment industry and 7 years in marketing. She grew up in the entertainment industry as a child actor working between Orlando and LA before taking a hiatus to pursue her marketing career — and learn how to be a person. She’s now back in the industry combining both her passions as an Atlanta-based actor and marketing coach.
From child actor to marketing professional… Alison’s story is one that will leave you in awe. Her unconventional childhood presented with a lot of excitement, but also a number of challenges, especially when it came to making friends. Not to mention having to make very adult career decisions as a young girl. When she decided to leave acting behind, she set out on a soul searching mission to find herself and not have her identity fully wrapped up in the work she was doing.
She decided on a career in marketing and after a number of years with her focus on that, she learned skills that have proven to be invaluable for where she’s ultimately ended up. She had made the decision to completely walk away from acting but her sweet partner, Michael, convinced her to give it another shot. Reluctantly she agreed and they packed up, moved to Atlanta together and have been forging their paths ever since.
This is the point in the story where things really start to get interesting. Alison’s knowledge of marketing became the vehicle that opened up doors for her that she wouldn’t have known how to open otherwise. She shares how her knowledge of showing up strategically on social media ended up landing her in her first union film AND it’s how she found her agent. She consistently made the choice to show up authentically online and tell her story and the right people found her!
“Your stories aren’t for everyone but the are for someone so the right audience will find you.”
I loved the part of the conversation where she shares how she approaches her posts on social media. The goal is to serve so she asks the question, “does this sound like I’m talking to my friend or does it sound braggy?” Then she revises to make sure she’s sharing from an authentic place. It alleviates the pressure of being perfect. She also does not advise that people waste their time scrolling on socials. Instead she suggests applying a strategy to use it as a tool & striving to show up with excellence. It re-frames the idea that we should be striving to be perfect. Instead we should aim to be excellent so there’s room to grow and expand. Perfection is a myth.
“Creative beings should be aspiring for excellence, not perfection.”
Then we move on to habits for success including morning routines, lists, spreadsheets and more. All things I can totally get on board with. She shares how she breaks her weekly to do list into “brain tasks.” Certain days are reserved for creative brainstorming, others for admin, and other days are action days where she puts her plans to work and creates everything she’s been dreaming up.
If you want to keep up with Alison online, check out her website at www.alisonhaselden.com and follow her on Instagram, TikTok & Twitter @alison_haselden.
