Entrepreneurship isn’t just about having a great idea—it’s about taking bold action, navigating uncertainty, and staying the course. In this episode, JJ sits down with Anne Alexander-Sieder, actor, coach, and founder of Act Bold, to unpack what it really takes to turn passion into purpose. From the myths of overnight success to the power of networking through podcasting, Anne shares hard-earned insights from her own journey. They dive into the role of creativity in business, how AI is reshaping industries (even acting), and why small businesses need to rethink their tech stacks. Plus, they get real about imposter syndrome, community building, and the relentless pursuit of growth.
Key Takeaways:
1️⃣ Bold moves create opportunities
If you’re waiting for the “right time,” you’re waiting too long. Growth happens when you step outside your comfort zone, take action, and own the messy process.
2️⃣ Podcasting is a networking powerhouse
It’s more than a mic and a platform—it’s a direct line to building relationships, strengthening your personal brand, and making real connections that move your business forward.
3️⃣ Success isn’t instant—keep going
Forget the quick wins. Building something meaningful takes time, persistence, and a willingness to adapt. The real entrepreneurs are the ones who stick with it.
Timestamps
00:00 Welcome to Hello Chaos
01:18 Anne's Entrepreneurial Journey
02:44 The Birth of Act Bold
04:43 Coaching Actors: Bridging Art and Business
06:44 Rewards and Challenges of Coaching
09:05 The Creative Side of Entrepreneurship
10:03 Myths of Entrepreneurship
12:49 Networking Through Podcasting
16:17 Overcoming Initial Hurdles
18:35 Passion Projects and Purpose
20:41 Navigating Life Transitions
22:03 The Impact of AI on Acting
22:30 The Role of Humans in Creative Industries
24:57 AI Tools in Creative Workflows
27:03 Exploring New AI Technologies
30:22 Integrating AI into Business Operations
36:40 Navigating Technology for Small Businesses
40:20 Using AI for Personal Branding in Acting
43:56 Discovering Personal Identity and Log Lines
45:46 Passion Project to Purpose: Building Community
49:41 Navigating Imposter Syndrome and Authenticity
58:44 Radical Honesty and Accountability in Entrepreneurship
01:00:54 Embracing Boldness and Purpose in the Journey
🔗 Learn more
Website: https://www.act-bold.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/annealexandersieder/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/act_bold/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/annealexandersieder/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@actbold
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (00:01.184)
Well, hello and welcome to Hello Chaos, a weekly podcast exploring the messy and chaotic lives and minds of founders, entrepreneurs and innovators. Each week I get the privilege, I have the privilege to speak with founders across the spectrum, founders from different industries, various stages from startups to mature businesses of all shapes and sizes. Our listeners get to hear the real, the raw, the unvarnished viewpoints and stories on what it takes to start.
Start a business, scale a business, or insights on how to become a better leader, a better CEO, a better founder. So here we go. Today on our show, we have Anne Alexander-Sieder from Calling Out of Germany. Calling Out of Germany. And Anne is an actor, coach, and the founder of Act Bold. So welcome, Anne.
Anne Alexander-Sieder (00:46.936)
Hello, hello. Yes, I am. Munich, Germany.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (00:58.834)
So here, so glad you're on Hello Chaos.
Anne Alexander-Sieder (01:01.408)
Yeah, thank you, JJ. I'm really happy to be here.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (01:05.142)
Well, start us out. Tell us what got you into the entrepreneurial, you know, chaotic world and tell us about your journey of starting Act Bold.
Anne Alexander-Sieder (01:17.792)
You know, I mean, honestly, I've always been kind of an entrepreneur, although I never thought of myself that way. My parents were both entrepreneurs. My mom had a, had her own little bakery business. My dad had a real estate thing. And yeah, I think it was just kind of in my blood. My great-grandmother was an entrepreneur. She invented the pompadour roll, which made her, so this, there was this hairstyle back in the early,
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (01:32.274)
Nice.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (01:39.37)
Wow.
Anne Alexander-Sieder (01:46.574)
turn of the century, of one of those centuries. And there was something called a pompadour roll. And she invented a machine where people could go and get their hair rolled or something. I don't even know. But I know it got my great... She was, she was an innovator. Yeah. And so, yeah, I think it's just kind of has always been in my blood. And also I'm just, you know, I've tried working for other people. I'm not very good at it. And...
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (01:59.072)
She was an innovator,
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (02:10.718)
Yeah.
Anne Alexander-Sieder (02:13.15)
I think it all just kind of goes hand in hand with someone who's fiercely independent, fiercely creative, and kind of what's left. You got to do it. Yeah.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (02:18.292)
Yeah.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (02:22.506)
Gotta break the barriers and be responsible for ourselves, right? Like, okay, nobody else wants to hire me. No, I'm just kidding. Nobody else wants to hire me. Well, so how did, well, that's true, yeah. So how did you start Act Bold? What was the inspiration behind that?
Anne Alexander-Sieder (02:28.686)
Well, I didn't want to work for anybody else. Let me put it that way. Yeah. Yeah.
Well, Act Bold, yeah. So Act Bold, was sort of, it was a manifestation of things. So Act Bold is the latest iteration of what started out as coaching types of things for actors. So when I relaunched my career 16 years ago, had taken a, or sorry, I took a 16 year hiatus from acting. I had been a professional actor in America, and I met this,
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (02:53.398)
Okay.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (03:05.75)
wow.
Anne Alexander-Sieder (03:06.68)
hot German guy, ended up in Germany and ended up, you know, didn't speak German. We had a family right away, all that good stuff. And I really didn't see a way to continue my acting career initially. And then when my son was about 16 years old, that's when I decided to give it another shot. And the very first thing I did was get some training because I was rusty as hell. So that training...
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (03:13.91)
Wow.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (03:24.821)
Yeah.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (03:31.22)
Yeah.
Anne Alexander-Sieder (03:34.284)
was sort of the first iteration of Act Bold, but it wasn't called Act Bold back then. Back then it was the Actors at the Ye. And that was what I was, was curating coaches from London, New York, LA, getting the training I needed to feel like I was ready to get out there and pitch myself again to agents and casting directors and all of that.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (03:38.026)
Okay.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (03:55.86)
Yeah. which is so intimidating. I think.
Anne Alexander-Sieder (04:02.634)
I mean, it's no, honestly, now that I'm doing both, like coaching and all of that, I think that they're like equally, you know, there are things to both that could be intimidating if you let it, right? So you have to put yourself out there. You have to not care what people think. You have to, you know, just kind of do it. Know yourself, know your, that's big. It's huge for an actor. And I think that's a big stumbling block where a lot of actors really fall.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (04:15.805)
Yeah.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (04:21.814)
Know yourself, know your gifts.
Yeah.
Anne Alexander-Sieder (04:31.864)
which is kind of what I'm concentrating on now. So, Act Bold in its latest iteration has two signature programs. One is for actors to where I help trained actors to understand their brand and learn how to pitch it and learn how to network and do that all in a really business way because most actors just, I'm like, I'm an artist. I don't want to deal with that.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (04:34.238)
Okay.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (04:46.144)
Mm-hmm.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (04:55.828)
Yeah, like you're actually you're a personal business selling yourself. Yeah, absolutely.
Anne Alexander-Sieder (04:58.656)
You are. You are totally. Yeah. And so teaching them the business side of acting. And the other program that I have is Passion Project to Purpose. And that is kind of based off of my journey of curating coach as an organizing events and earning money. So I always say it's a way to turn what you love into what you do without having to be a coach or an expert.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (05:09.247)
Okay.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (05:24.362)
Yeah, we're like passion a paycheck, gotta find it.
Anne Alexander-Sieder (05:27.902)
Exactly. Well, and most people think that they have to be a coach to do it. Right? They either think they have to be a coach or they have to be like earning their money doing that specific thing. So, and there are, or at least I have found another way beyond teaching acting or just acting, something to make sure that the income is steady every month and helps me finance other things like films, which are frigging expensive.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (05:31.606)
Yeah. Yeah.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (05:46.048)
Yeah.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (05:51.83)
Right.
Anne Alexander-Sieder (05:57.582)
And yeah, and so yeah, it's been a journey. So I don't know if that answers your question. It does. Okay.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (06:03.35)
It does. Well, what's been the most rewarding part of this journey? I like your coffee cup. That was good. Look at that. Well, that was a good plug.
Anne Alexander-Sieder (06:10.455)
Thank you. Thank you. Yeah. Yes. Shameless plug. Exactly. Check my link. I actually don't have it for sale, but I should. should. What was your question?
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (06:15.094)
Some merch, some merch there. That's right. You should, yeah.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (06:29.984)
I was like, what was the most rewarding part? What's been the most rewarding part?
Anne Alexander-Sieder (06:32.724)
Okay, okay, okay. Yeah. You know, it's interesting. It's not necessarily what I thought it was, what I thought it would be. Well, I really thought it was going to be like changing, like in a huge revelatory way, changing people's lives. And it has done that for some of the actors, but I've also come to realize that a lot of people, they want the result, but they don't want the work.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (06:40.948)
Really? What did you think it was? Yeah.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (06:59.828)
Yeah, that's a lot of people. I don't think that's just actors. Yeah.
Anne Alexander-Sieder (07:03.284)
Yeah. Yes, it is. Yeah. Yeah. Which is kind of frustrating for me because I know that it works and I have right. And so it really is when I see someone who's like a good actor and this is the thing, this is, you know, and I know this is the only piece that's missing for you. You're good. You you deserve to be seen. And then they just sort of, it fizzles. So that's, that, that...
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (07:10.922)
potentials there.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (07:22.966)
Right.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (07:29.462)
All right.
Anne Alexander-Sieder (07:31.79)
The opposite of rewarding. But then there are the people who really embrace it. Like I've got some clients right now who are just so gung-ho and they're just ripping through it and just killing it. And it's amazing to see that. So I wasn't sure what I would think about coaching. It just sort of, it started from like as a natural progression, I guess. People started asking and then I was like, well, I'll try it.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (07:32.47)
Yeah.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (07:37.942)
All right.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (07:52.629)
Yeah.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (07:58.25)
Yeah.
Yeah.
Anne Alexander-Sieder (08:01.3)
And, you know, but I'm really enjoying, especially doing live workshops, live working with people. I think that I didn't know, but I think that it's one of my gifts to really inspire and motivate people. And I really enjoy doing that. You know, I am an optimistic person and I enjoy like giving that optimism to other people. Yeah, yeah, definitely, definitely.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (08:19.754)
Yeah.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (08:24.766)
Right, when they feed off that energy. Yeah. We all need that joyful energy in our life. I've come to learn you need to surround yourself with that energy. And sometimes you have to go seek that out, yeah.
Anne Alexander-Sieder (08:36.906)
You totally do. You have to be so protective. Yeah, absolutely. And then the other thing, which I guess I never even thought of, I mean, it's been kind of a recent revelation, is how creative entrepreneurialism is.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (08:47.978)
Hmm. yes. Talk about that.
Anne Alexander-Sieder (08:53.698)
Well, I just find it is just incredibly creative in so many different ways. I mean, every once in a while I go into a whole thing with my husband just like, I am just learning so much. I mean, I just feel like there's kind of no end to it, you know? Soon as I feel like I've, when I look back how far I've come, right? It's just like, but I still feel like there's so much more to learn and do. And what I love,
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (09:07.84)
Yeah.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (09:12.234)
Right.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (09:17.375)
Right.
Anne Alexander-Sieder (09:23.724)
Are there things that do well are sort of where I can apply my creativity, where it's outside of the box, where it's not like everybody else. Yeah, where I have my own spin on it. Right? And so that's also been really creative and rewarding. Yeah.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (09:28.192)
Right, your gifts, that's right.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (09:34.196)
Right. that's
That's a good aha. Were there any myths that you kind of went in thinking, this is what it is like to have a business, to scale a business that you were like, well, that was a bunch of bullshit?
Anne Alexander-Sieder (09:51.52)
Yeah. Yeah, definitely. So, well, all of the big coaches will tell you, you know, just get your irresistible offer out there and they will be lining up to buy it. You know, right, right, right. Yeah, exactly. Well, I mean, even, you know, right. And I think comparatively speaking, I did pretty well my first year, but I mean, it's fucking work. You know? Yeah. I mean, people are like, it's like,
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (09:59.446)
Ehh!
You'll make a million dollars in the first year. Yeah.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (10:16.946)
It's hard.
Anne Alexander-Sieder (10:20.844)
you know, money rolling into my sleep and I go surfing half the day and I work four hour days and this and that. Like what? Where? You know, I don't know. I have not reached that point yet. I'm looking forward to it. I'm hoping it's, you know, it's going to be there. Yeah. I, you know, I probably sleep four hours a night. Let's switch that around. Totally. Yes.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (10:29.716)
Right, I know, we're all hoping that, we're working towards that, right?
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (10:38.23)
That's right. we're we're churning. We're burning. Our minds can't turn off because we're like, oh, how do I change this? How do I make this better? How do I refine my messaging to connect better? Always like that didn't hit. But you're right. Even we've been doing the podcast for a little over two years. Like Chandler's like, I don't even know what. How long the hell we've been doing this. But we're know, 130, 40 episodes in.
Anne Alexander-Sieder (10:50.922)
Yes, always. Yeah.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (11:08.284)
And I've gotten into these podcast communities and I was like, know, Chandler, gotta give a pat, we gotta pat ourselves on the back of, you know, the first thing is if you expect to make money in like the first two or three years, you're joking yourself, like let's have some reality check, because we've get people in these podcast communities, I'm launching a podcast, so how soon will I start seeing revenue?
and the jokes that will fly in the thread of like, like work on your content, work on your programming. But also like we've got us, we've got workflows and systems in place. They're all pretty automated. And we have found that that is extremely unusual in the podcast community that I was like, well, I thought that was just a normal, know, you have to do this to know it is.
Anne Alexander-Sieder (11:36.046)
Right. Right.
Anne Alexander-Sieder (11:54.516)
Okay, really?
Anne Alexander-Sieder (12:03.265)
Yeah.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (12:05.443)
Not the normal thing, but yeah.
Anne Alexander-Sieder (12:06.99)
So, I have a podcast too. I'm 91 episodes in. Yeah, yeah, thank you. Well, yeah, money is rolling in. But, know, I mean, honestly, I am an actor. got into acting. So, like money, like that was never like my big thing. It's always like some other thing, you know.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (12:11.764)
Very good, my goodness. So you're crushing it, crushing it. I know, we have no money rolling in, but yes, we hope to, soon, soon.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (12:29.43)
Where?
Anne Alexander-Sieder (12:36.95)
And what I have found is podcasting is an amazing way to network. And yes, absolutely, absolutely. And not necessarily, you know, the sponsorship and even, I mean, I don't even know who I would ask to sponsor me to be very honest. You know, I mean, it's not like there are huge, you know, it's not...
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (12:42.814)
Yes, there's other valuable treasures that come out of it. Yeah, yeah.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (12:54.198)
Right.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (12:58.794)
Yeah.
Anne Alexander-Sieder (13:01.614)
Some niches, like if you're a mompreneur or something, my God, know what I mean? There are just thousands of things that you could have, right?
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (13:05.386)
Right.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (13:09.044)
Right? Well, also you're an actor like all these like, but you gotta have those big names on there for another brand to want to sponsor. I followed like the little celebrity, Dax Shepard, Armchair Expert or who's the other one, Smartless. mean, like those guys are, mean, it's Sean Hayes and Jason Bateman. mean, like, come on.
Anne Alexander-Sieder (13:30.167)
I don't know, but yeah.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (13:38.826)
They're, of course, they've got sponsors.
Anne Alexander-Sieder (13:42.356)
Yeah, okay, but that's something else because they're interviewing actors to get the celebrity status, but they're not, the show is not about actors. It's not about, and mine is even more niche than that. Right. And that's for everybody. That's not just for the, where my show is specifically.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (13:51.176)
No, it's just going into their life, right? Yeah, that's right. That's right. Like you're trying to better actors. Yeah, careers, that's the content. that's fantastic. But the fact that you're 91 episodes in, you got content.
Anne Alexander-Sieder (14:05.4)
careers. I mean, it is like super niche, super, super niche. Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah.
Anne Alexander-Sieder (14:19.242)
Yeah! Yeah!
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (14:20.406)
And you're, because a lot of times it's just showing up and being consistent and having that persistence is what can set us apart. It's huge.
Anne Alexander-Sieder (14:31.98)
You know, I mean, it's also like, I think, like I made a commitment that I'm going to do this once a week and I didn't start out that way, right? I was like, that was my original idea. I'm going to do this once a week. Then it was like once a month and then I did two in a month. And then I was like, no, I'm either going to do this or I'm going to not do it. But I don't want to do this half ass. And then that's when I started doing it once a week. And it is kind of hell or high water. I do these once a week. So I have started doing interviews.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (14:43.094)
Alright.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (14:50.251)
Right.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (14:55.136)
Yeah, that's right.
Anne Alexander-Sieder (15:01.538)
like, you know, to kind of alleviate having to do it. Well, not just the dialogue, but it also like totally, you know, it's like a week where I don't have to think so much about what am I gonna do? Like I know what the episode's gonna be about, but when I do my episodes, there's research and there's writing and there's taping and there's this, Where it's a program, it's a program. Whereas with like an interview, you just, you know, it's great. I throw, I use Descript.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (15:01.962)
nice.
To have that dialogue, yeah.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (15:21.352)
yeah. It's a program. It's a program. Yeah.
Anne Alexander-Sieder (15:30.552)
Do you use descript? Do you know descript?
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (15:32.694)
We, it's similar to Riverside. Yeah. And we use swell. Yeah. All done.
Anne Alexander-Sieder (15:35.63)
It is, yeah. So you go multi-cam and then all done. Take out those long, boring pauses and the oohs and ahs and we're good to go.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (15:43.712)
That's right.
Exactly. What's been the most challenging part of starting at bold and even the evolution parts? was the most challenging? Like the big, shit, like I've hit a barrier. What am I doing? Or have you had any of those moments yet?
Anne Alexander-Sieder (16:05.846)
Yeah, yeah, of course. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I think, you know, I'm reminded of that phrase, new level, new devil, right? So every kind of, yeah, every time I, like the very first one was like, okay, how do I find my first customers? Right? And putting myself out there and, you know, doing the calls on social media and this and that until I had...
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (16:13.935)
that's a good one.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (16:23.774)
Right.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (16:29.91)
Yeah.
Yes!
Anne Alexander-Sieder (16:33.294)
And the person I was coaching with was like, interview 50 people and then reach back out to them. I had to, so I had set a goal just to interview those 50 people. And that took for frigging ever, just to interview 50 people. And I wasn't trying to sell them anything initially. It was just, let's find out what's going on in your life, what's working, what's not working, what would you like to have, what do you wish you knew, all of those kinds of things. And then reaching back out. So that was initially like just getting those first
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (16:43.814)
my gosh. Yeah.
Right, you're just talking.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (16:56.854)
Right.
Anne Alexander-Sieder (17:03.086)
50 people to interview was a big hurdle. But I did it. Yeah. And that too was also, it was like in the beginning, was kind of like, this is hard. And then it was just like, no, I paid a shit ton of money for this course. I am going to, yeah, make it work. And so that was kind of like the one where...
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (17:05.27)
Yeah. Yeah.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (17:10.656)
that I, yeah.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (17:18.038)
Yeah.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (17:25.622)
Let's do it. Yeah.
Anne Alexander-Sieder (17:32.494)
But I mean, it's just part of everything, right? mean, nothing comes for free. Nothing is given to you. You have to work for it. And now that we're trying to, now that we are scaling, right? So now we've been invited to a big actors convention in London. Yeah, that's really cool. I'm doing a keynote there and we're also launching...
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (17:36.906)
Right. No, that's right. Yeah.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (17:50.224)
nice. Yeah.
Anne Alexander-Sieder (17:58.446)
passion project to purpose, which is not just for actors, it's for anybody who's kind of put their dreams on the back burner. It's really probably geared more towards who, like me, who I was 10 years ago, right? I was 47 years old. I had this, always had wanted to be a creative person, have a creative profession.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (18:10.88)
Right.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (18:20.212)
Right. How do you show up and yeah.
Anne Alexander-Sieder (18:23.51)
And I think so many people just don't know how to build that bridge from their passion to their profession. And that's what Passion Project A Purpose is all about. Because I really believe that if you don't have a passion, your curiosity will lead you to a passion. And your curiosity, we do. You just got to find it. And it is the key to unlocking your purpose. Because we all, at the end of the day, just want to feel like our lives have meaning.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (18:26.848)
That's right.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (18:37.536)
Yeah, that's right. All of us have a passion. You just got to uncover it. yeah.
Anne Alexander-Sieder (18:52.024)
We don't want the, you know, to be lying down for that big sleep, right? And the film that starts playing, you're like, no, no, change the channel. I'm not that one. I want a different movie, you know?
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (18:57.78)
Go, no.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (19:03.51)
That's right. Well, it's like, I just wrote a post the other day of, have to realize your life is your own story.
Anne Alexander-Sieder (19:10.754)
Yeah, you wait a minute. You are the lead in your own movie. Yes.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (19:14.236)
You are the lead in the end story. Do not be a supporting character. And if you feel like you are the observer, the supporting or the side character in your life story, you can rewrite it. Yeah. Don't be the or don't be the narrator. Like, come on, be the leading character. Be that leading lady.
Anne Alexander-Sieder (19:33.23)
Yeah. And I think a lot of people are like, you know, they, they, especially like, I don't know if you had kids or where you're at with your kids, you've got four. Yeah. Okay. So you're sort of like in the thick of it where they're sort of fighting for their independence and you've already been or done that all that. So yeah, good. So, you know, kind of where I'm coming from, because this is, you know, same, I have one child. He's not a child anymore. He's 27, but that whole thing of.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (19:40.054)
I've got four. Yeah. Well, I've got four. Yeah 13 to 24. Yeah
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (19:49.61)
Yes.
Ha
Anne Alexander-Sieder (20:02.354)
For me at any rate, I really like, I always wanted to be a mom. I really immersed myself in being a mom, even though I was working, you know, acting adjacent when he was young. I wasn't like, it was always like family first. And it wasn't until he was older that I was like, hmm, okay, you know, now there's time for me. So what do I actually want to do? What does it mean? What does it mean?
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (20:13.557)
Right.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (20:18.294)
Yeah.
Who?
Right. What does that mean? Yeah.
Anne Alexander-Sieder (20:29.676)
And I think that there are so many people, the actors who are kind of facing that life transition are the ones that gravitate to me. And that's really what Passion Projects of Purpose is all about, are trying to help those people in a major life transition, but an older life transition. Like, yeah, finding a way back.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (20:36.736)
Yeah.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (20:43.07)
is finding that.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (20:47.06)
Yeah, yeah. I'm curious, I've got a few questions, but I'm a huge pop culture media nerd and I love the industry from the behind the scenes of from actor to the writers, show runners with the I would say the current industry of.
the shrinking writers rooms, with all streaming, it's really hard to kind of get in sometimes. Do you find that, and you see a lot of actors trying to find like, okay, I can't sustain myself on an actor's salary, I've gotta find something. How do I bring these gifts in ways that's still fueling that passion, but how do I show up?
Are you seeing more people kind of gravitating to what you offer because the gap in the industry right now?
Anne Alexander-Sieder (21:51.502)
Well, again, I don't service just actors, but you know what I'm really seeing? AI is taking over a lot of stuff. So from voiceover to commercial actors to... You know, I think we're still pretty far off from having AI like do a movie, you know, with a... Yeah.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (21:52.564)
I don't
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (22:01.716)
Yeah... Yes...
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (22:08.022)
yeah.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (22:17.93)
Right? It's too artificial and you need human. You still need humans.
Anne Alexander-Sieder (22:21.59)
Yeah. But I mean, I don't put it past it in a few years, you know? And it also depends, what are we watching? Like, are we watching a Marvel film? Then maybe I don't care if that's an AI generated character. You know what I mean? So it, I think what we're going to be seeing is the shrinking of a lot of, I think we're going to have to be re-
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (22:27.146)
Yeah. Yeah.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (22:36.522)
Right. Yeah.
Anne Alexander-Sieder (22:50.636)
reimagining what we do as creative individuals and being creative about how to use our creativity. So I think that actors are going to be seeing a resurgence of theater, live performance, that kind of stuff, comedy, know, improv, like stuff that a machine cannot do. Writers, hmm, that's a good one. I don't know, because machines are getting pretty damn good at writing too.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (22:54.325)
Yeah.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (22:58.23)
Right.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (23:05.899)
Yeah.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (23:09.994)
Right? Cannot do, yeah, no.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (23:18.89)
Yeah.
Anne Alexander-Sieder (23:19.662)
I mean, they still need humans to tweak and all of that, but...
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (23:22.09)
Yeah, as we talk about like in our world for, in our marketing agency, it is, we still need the human, the brain, the experience to know how to input the prompts. And then also to review, oversight, refine, give it to the kind of our creative, like those people who can look at and go, let me.
Anne Alexander-Sieder (23:36.79)
Yeah, to refine it. Yeah.
Anne Alexander-Sieder (23:46.19)
Do you use, let me ask you this, do you use, so I was using GPT forever, I still use it. And then I, yes, me too. And I just started using Claude and Claude is amazing for writing, like writing. Yeah, much.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (23:50.964)
Yeah. Yeah, we still we use it in our operations. Yeah.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (24:02.951)
okay, Chandler, was like, Chandler's going, uh-huh, uh-huh, yeah.
Anne Alexander-Sieder (24:07.886)
Claude is much better than ChatGPT. mean, ChatGPT, like literally, well, I think I can swear on this, right? my God. I mean, I'm literally like you fucking moron. Literally. You know.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (24:16.448)
yes.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (24:21.718)
We were just talking like I had a friend of mine that came in and she goes, she's in real estate and she's, how do I use GPT and what are the rules? so we were going, I did a little workshop for her real estate firm and people and she was like, will I get bad results if I cuss at? I'm like, why are you yelling at the computer? She's like, I scream at it.
Anne Alexander-Sieder (24:45.365)
no, it will grovel at your feet.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (24:49.942)
I'm yelling like and I was like and are you in the are you typing? She goes I type curse words and like my I was like that's so funny. That's do you get better do you feel like your results get worse or better?
Anne Alexander-Sieder (24:52.205)
you
Anne Alexander-Sieder (24:58.486)
Me too. I do too.
I do too!
Well, it apologizes. I don't know. I mean, that's a good question because I get so frustrated that I'm just like, So yeah. So that's GPT. And now I've been using Claude. GPT is good for brainstorming this stuff. It's, what is it? Anthropic is the one who does Claude. So anyway.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (25:17.406)
Ha ha ha!
Have you heard of Claude? Yeah.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (25:30.347)
Yeah.
Anne Alexander-Sieder (25:33.42)
So I use GPT to brainstorm and to come up with stuff because you can also upload a lot more information into GPT. So I will upload like, know, transcripts or whatever it is or lesson programs, you know. But then when it comes to actually spitting it out, it doesn't sound like me, you know. So rather than me going through and going, you know, having to re... Well, I do that too, but it still doesn't, you know, it's not...
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (25:35.958)
Okay.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (25:39.37)
Yes.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (25:44.704)
Right.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (25:52.843)
Right.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (25:57.322)
Make this into this voice. Yeah.
Still not, but Claude does it? we need to look at that,
Anne Alexander-Sieder (26:03.736)
Claude is much better. Yeah. So I do upload transcripts of me actually speaking, like, you know, all of my podcasts, I'll like upload four or five podcasts of me having conversations, me doing talking ahead, but, you know, and I'm like, first analyze this, notice the speech patterns, notice the turns of phrase that I use again and again. And, you know, and then I create a prompt around that or that's, and then I'm like, okay.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (26:11.101)
okay.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (26:16.608)
Right.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (26:22.027)
Yeah.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (26:29.706)
Yeah. And then you're like, and then make me sound smarter.
Anne Alexander-Sieder (26:32.942)
Well, no, but yeah.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (26:36.31)
That's what I would do. I don't know. Make me sound like a genius. You're like, no.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (26:48.064)
But it does all that, that's fantastic.
Anne Alexander-Sieder (26:50.766)
It's interesting, and I've also just started really recently using LM Notebooks, which is Google. Okay. So this is also super interesting. It was made to be like a study guide to help people at like who are doing research and studying for university and all of that. So you can upload all sorts of stuff. It's very interesting and you can upload them into projects. So it's very, it's...
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (26:57.056)
We have not heard that, okay.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (27:16.732)
Ooh. I was like, Chandler's over here like, I am taking notes. Because he's getting his MBA at night, so he's like, ooh, I can do what?
Anne Alexander-Sieder (27:21.335)
Yeah.
Anne Alexander-Sieder (27:24.866)
Yeah, it's really good for that. You can also like upload videos as long as they've been up for a few days at least. Yeah, you can feed it with all of that stuff. And now wait, I have to tell you all of that, all of it, all of it. Yeah, websites, YouTube channels, it'll go read it for you. It'll watch the video. It's pretty cool actually. And then the other thing,
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (27:27.74)
LM Notebooks, a Google product.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (27:33.736)
Okay, so it gets fed, okay. So like YouTube channels and stuff.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (27:49.684)
Anne Alexander-Sieder (27:54.2)
that I just started to use as well that blew my fucking mind was, yes, it's ai-studios.google and it's free. So the thing that's super interesting about this is, is if you go into it, I think it's the second one on the left down. I'm a visual person as you can tell. And I think it says streaming. If you click on that,
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (27:59.294)
please share.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (28:17.099)
Yeah.
Anne Alexander-Sieder (28:22.356)
then you get three options. One is you can just have a conversation. Like, this is what I'm thinking about doing. What do you think? Let me help me brainstorm this, blah, blah. And it'll like have a conversation. And I guess GPT does that and so does Gemini and so does Todd. I mean, they all do that. But what this does that the others don't is you can say, share my camera. What am I seeing? Explain this to me.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (28:27.242)
Right?
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (28:37.824)
You're right.
Anne Alexander-Sieder (28:50.7)
What am I seeing translate this for me? What am I seeing? Yeah. That's very cool. And then the other thing is you can also upload something like share your screen and say, I am trying to create a GPT and I don't know what I'm doing. Can you please walk me through this? Take a look at what I'm trying to do.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (28:53.622)
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (29:01.238)
Right?
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (29:06.934)
Right.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (29:11.604)
Now, those are our prompts on a, we're trying to do this, give me the instructions, detailed please.
Anne Alexander-Sieder (29:15.042)
Yes. Yeah.
Yes. Yes. And that's, it actually saved me on ThriveCard the other day. Yeah. So, I had something that was toggled off on ThriveCard and my customers were not able to buy. And this had happened to me a couple of times and one put like three credit cards through and finally it went. And I thought, well, that's weird, but maybe his bank, I don't know. Then it happened again a couple of days later.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (29:24.896)
Really? Nice.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (29:44.021)
Yeah.
Anne Alexander-Sieder (29:46.99)
And the guy was on the phone with this bank and the bank's like, no, you're good. It's, it's on their end. And I was like, on my end, what could it be? Right? Right. That's terrible. And I don't even know how this happened. So then I, I, I, you know, I, I reached out to Thrivecart, got crappy answers, reached out to Stripe, got really bad answers. They were telling me Stripe was telling me to contact Thrivecart. Thrivecart was telling me to contact Stripe. Yeah.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (29:52.65)
Yeah.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (29:57.906)
You
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (30:10.858)
Right, pointing the fingers everywhere.
Anne Alexander-Sieder (30:13.29)
Exactly. And then I just went to this AI studio thing and I was like, help, help, please. And it did. It did. Yeah. It literally walked my throat and we fixed it.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (30:18.998)
Fix my problem. Unbelievable. It's, yeah, I mean, the more that we're finding the usage for AI in our business operations, in our workflows, it is pretty eye-opening of, and we run a marketing and media business, and we've been hearing that for the last 12 months of like, you...
aren't using that, like AI, in your tech stack from, like I said, business operations to your project management to team communication, workflows, and automating over 60, 70 % of it, we're not gonna be competitive out there. a, because I run a marketing agency, it's like, you know, we have.
Anne Alexander-Sieder (31:07.948)
Yeah!
Right. What do you use to manage your workflows?
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (31:14.954)
where we're actually shifting in some of that we're trying to use right now. It's a mix of Teams and manual. So we're starting to implement, because we've used AI in terms of creative process, like the inputs of the content, but we are like right now in the middle of transitioning, how do we start using GPTs and automating workflows?
Anne Alexander-Sieder (31:29.366)
right content and yeah yeah
Anne Alexander-Sieder (31:43.232)
Yes, that's what I'm trying to do too.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (31:44.054)
and connections. So we're building the roadmap right now and trying to figure it all out. Because we've got the tech. It's just, we were like, we can use that and we just need a GPT for that to talk to that and that to talk to that. And we're like, do that.
Anne Alexander-Sieder (32:03.562)
You know what? I'm just pulling up this thing. AppSumo. Yeah, I just saw something. AppSumo. Let me just look here.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (32:13.972)
As in like, like Sumo wrestler, AppSumo.
Anne Alexander-Sieder (32:17.07)
Do you know, you don't know AppSumo?
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (32:19.08)
And we've been using like the Zapier, which is, you know, the integration between Zapier and GPT. But yeah.
Anne Alexander-Sieder (32:25.302)
my God, wait a minute, wait a wait a minute. AppSumo is, yes, you are, you totally are. AppSumo runs deals on all of those software that you use and it will have new things and things like that. So there's a new one that they have right now that I was kind of looking at. I think it's modular, automate maintenance tasks for multiple. No, that's not it. I have to look at it.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (32:30.734)
we're gonna hear another one!
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (32:54.122)
Yeah. So you're doing the same thing we are, like how this technology is pretty cool, but it goes beyond just content. We need to put this into our business practice, all the work. Because we've been using it like for dashboard creation for clients. We just were like, we just kind of got a couple months ago, that's where like another agency owner was like, start.
Anne Alexander-Sieder (32:55.82)
Maybe it was.
Anne Alexander-Sieder (33:05.098)
Into my workload. Yeah, yeah. Into productivity. Yeah.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (33:20.512)
start using it to connect workflows and project management. like, because we were looking at software to do that and they're like, you don't need any more software. You just need to create GPTs to connect these things together. So that's where, yeah.
Anne Alexander-Sieder (33:24.203)
Yeah.
Anne Alexander-Sieder (33:34.19)
interesting. Yeah. So I know that one thing you can definitely do is ask, and I just started to do this myself, ask GPT, chat, chat, good old chat, to, good old chat. Yeah, exactly. Chat, chat the chat. To ask chat to tell me what I need, like tell it, this is what I want to do. Yeah.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (33:43.946)
Yeah. That's my... Good old Chad. Chad. I call him Chad.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (33:57.492)
Yeah, we did that and then I'm like, I'm disappointed in this. This is not, we already have all this. So why, how are we, that's what was our aha, because we asked at that. And we're like, we already have all these tools. Give me the detailed instructions on how to connect them, how to connect them together, because we already have the tools. It's like, those tools can do that?
Anne Alexander-Sieder (34:15.586)
how to use them. Right. Yeah.
Yeah. Do you use a sauna or air table or... Okay.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (34:26.932)
We're a Microsoft Office. And so it was like, we have a lot of the stuff in the Office suite. Either we didn't turn them on or we weren't using them to the fullest extent. so yeah, we're in that process. But if there's additional shortcuts, we are all about that. Because sometimes Microsoft Office, even some of their tools, they're very
Anne Alexander-Sieder (34:41.175)
Mmm.
Anne Alexander-Sieder (34:51.819)
Yeah!
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (34:55.796)
We have to come outside and do it like in a Google sheet or use Google that then integrates with it. Because, you know, like the bookings for Microsoft, it's a shit tool. Don't use it. It doesn't work. We think that Microsoft is probably going to buy like Calendly. Yeah. Because we think they're going to buy Calendly because because they've stopped supporting bookings, which is their own tool. But now it's like they have the integration is so much better. I mean, like
Anne Alexander-Sieder (35:09.09)
You mean like something like Calendly? so, okay. this, really? wow.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (35:24.82)
They're supporting the Cavendly integration into like Microsoft Office and Teams and all of that. But yeah. Well, we're like, we're going, is there another one that integrates better?
Anne Alexander-Sieder (35:29.806)
Interesting. So I'm now trying to get away from Carol and Lee.
Anne Alexander-Sieder (35:37.346)
There is. So, I don't know if that it integrates better, but it might for you because you use my, I use Apple. So, for me, yeah, I can do it through Google and then it works. So, maybe stop using my Apple calendar and start using Google, but it's called Zcal and AppSumo was running a deal on it, lifetime access. So, you buy it once.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (35:42.666)
Yeah. Okay.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (35:49.739)
Yeah.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (35:54.292)
Yeah.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (36:01.937)
Mmm.
Anne Alexander-Sieder (36:06.05)
and you never have to pay it again for the money, you know.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (36:06.164)
And it's there. We need to go look at our tech stack to go, ooh, if we can get deals on AppZoomo, I'm all in it.
Anne Alexander-Sieder (36:12.728)
Well, AppSumo is like the warehouse. So just look up AppSumo and you will see...
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (36:16.084)
Right, right. And we'll see what's in there. We can get it.
Anne Alexander-Sieder (36:22.646)
and it sends you stuff basically every day, you know, like, yeah.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (36:24.83)
I love it.
Anne Alexander-Sieder (36:28.662)
We definitely went off on a tangent there, didn't we? Yeah. Right.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (36:30.472)
I know, I was like, but it was a good one. because we know there's a lot of, mean, we're kind of a smaller business, we're less than 20 employees and all that, which is a lot of small businesses out there that are struggling with how do I use technology and software and tech stack and how do I, and a lot of people think it's just in marketing, it's like it's in your full business operations. And...
Anne Alexander-Sieder (36:37.56)
Right.
Anne Alexander-Sieder (36:54.711)
Yeah.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (36:56.896)
But we also have found, we, you on the marketing team, we're working with companies that are, you know, 50 million, 250 million, know, 250 million, you know, half a billion revenue sized, you know, North American companies, and they haven't systematized anything. Their operations, we're seeing, like just in marketing operations, like that's where a lot of companies get stuck, is there's friction in.
Anne Alexander-Sieder (37:22.989)
Mm. Yeah.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (37:25.27)
their people processes, their sales processes, the advertising, the bridge between advertising and sales. Those processes are completely unstructured and unconnected. So one of the things that we come in as an agency, like we do a better job kind of going in and helping a client integrate their tools and fixing those processes so they can accelerate faster.
Anne Alexander-Sieder (37:37.773)
Yeah.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (37:53.034)
we're just finally adopting some of that same thinking for our own tools. Like, why are we not doing it for ourselves? But that's what our, yeah. Right, and some of their technology, you know, they're using these gigantic, you know, very rigid software tech, and they don't talk to anything. So our team is coming in and are finding ways to.
Anne Alexander-Sieder (37:59.616)
Yeah. Yeah. And it's also changing so quickly, right? So you have to really like...
Yeah.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (38:18.154)
build those integrations, building the software bridges between the two, or going in going, you're using this, you're paying a lot for that software that isn't really serving you well. And these others that are way cheaper would actually amplify and serve your business. But to have them kind of transition that, is...
Anne Alexander-Sieder (38:42.04)
I mean, I think if they're that huge, they should be creating their own GPTs. Yeah.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (38:47.03)
They should be and a lot of them don't even know how like or aren't even using AI at all. Like manufacturing facility. I'm going to tell you how like the industrial manufacturing industry is. Yeah, I would say less than 10 percent. I mean, even like new work, you know, we're helping founders that are coming into the space, serving manufacturing and industrial companies that are
Anne Alexander-Sieder (38:55.714)
Wow. Like who is not using AI? I don't know anyway.
Really? Wow. Okay.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (39:16.956)
are I would call AI powered integrators of we you've got all these devices and all your facilities. We're not the hardware, we're the software that connects all these and you can monitor stuff from your phone and they're struggling to get in and it revel it saves you know, save would save these companies not just labor cost, but also like materials because they can monitor the the materials that they are, you know,
Anne Alexander-Sieder (39:41.965)
Yeah.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (39:46.528)
that's in these systems. And so we're like, you save so much money. And they're like, we can't get, it's hard to get in. Cause it kind of, it's got to take the right mindset, right? You got to have the right mindset of, ooh, I can do things better. Yeah.
Anne Alexander-Sieder (39:57.024)
Yeah, mean, I do have it with, yeah, definitely. Yeah. I I even use it for actors. Like I, and I'm teaching my clients to use it for themselves.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (40:07.926)
Ooh, how would you, how do you teach an actor to use AI and GPT for themselves? Yeah.
Anne Alexander-Sieder (40:14.11)
So there are lots of different ways, but one of them is, for example, like I have several different exercises to help them understand their brand, right? Their unicorn factors, their what makes them them. Exactly. well, after, honestly, after you've done the work, you still have to do the work, but...
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (40:25.302)
Bye!
What makes them unique? Run that through GPT.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (40:36.938)
Right. Right.
Anne Alexander-Sieder (40:39.806)
it will make a lot of connections for you. One thing that I often, I mean, this is one of the exercises that I help actors to understand the brand with is by, this, was just going to say, I've told this to other people on different podcasts before as a tool to use. So just say to yourself, what are three characters I wish I could live that life? Like, you
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (40:50.678)
Right, but this could be any leader personal brand. Yeah.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (41:06.742)
Ooh, that's a great question.
Anne Alexander-Sieder (41:08.172)
Like what I say to an actor is what are three characters you would love to play? Right?
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (41:13.012)
Yeah, like in the history of TV and film. What, three characters do you, in theater, okay, yeah.
Anne Alexander-Sieder (41:18.798)
Yeah. And theater, right? But whatever. Yeah, yeah. So what are three characters that you would just, like, you're like, oh, I would die to play that. You know, that just is, that would be like, that would be like the role of a lifetime for me. So what are three of those? And then you basically run it through ChatGDP. There are a series of prompts that I give them, but you basically want to say, what are the things that...
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (41:28.031)
Yeah.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (41:43.318)
Right.
Anne Alexander-Sieder (41:47.554)
What is the through line on these three characters? What are their common themes? What are their common attributes and traits? What are their differences? And why are they connected? Why would one human being want to play these three people, right? So those kinds of things to get them. CHAPGTP is pretty damn good at analyzing, like from a psychological standpoint.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (41:49.238)
Mm.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (41:57.259)
Right.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (42:08.342)
Pray.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (42:15.04)
Yeah, yeah, that's right. Yeah
Anne Alexander-Sieder (42:17.358)
No idea how, but it really is. And so it's really like once you've kind of like done the work of, which isn't that much, you know, like what are three characters? You have to think. Yeah. And there's a, it's not. And, and you know, there's a difference between the characters that you want to play for an actor and the characters you just love.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (42:27.801)
But you still have to think, you really have to think about why. You've gotta think about that. That is not an easy off the cuff question to answer.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (42:40.885)
Yeah.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (42:45.428)
Yeah. Yeah.
Anne Alexander-Sieder (42:47.264)
Right? So you have to think about that. I'm not sure how to word that for someone who's not an actor, but you have to think about like, what are the characters that, whose life you would want to live or, to, you know, in a parallel universe. Yeah. Like somebody, exactly. As opposed to just like a great story. Like, I don't know if you remember White Oleander. Do you remember that book? Amazing book. Michelle? Yes.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (42:57.642)
Right. Yeah, the life that you most admire. Right.
Yeah.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (43:10.74)
Yeah, yeah. And Michelle Pfeiffer was played in the movie, right? What, didn't she? Yeah.
Anne Alexander-Sieder (43:17.484)
Yes, she did. Yeah. Yeah. But the movie wasn't nearly as good as the book, but in any case, that was a character, right? Well, sometimes, but sometimes they surprise you. But in any case, right? wasn't like it was, it was a, like, that's not somebody I would want to be, but, but it was an amazing story, right? So you have to kind of think about it in those kinds of terms, right?
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (43:20.842)
Yeah. It never is. It never is.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (43:33.908)
Right, but it was a good story. Yeah.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (43:41.77)
Gotcha, yeah.
Anne Alexander-Sieder (43:44.582)
Yeah, yeah, maybe I have to rethink that because like for, yeah, really, because for actors, like you can, you can play characters. Like that's a character I would totally love to play. Yeah. Yeah.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (43:47.136)
Yeah.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (43:53.654)
That's an interesting character that would be a challenge. wanna do that. But yeah, to go, how do I discover that three line of like my personality or what like the life I wanna lead? What are those characteristics? What are those traits? How do I describe myself to others? Yeah.
Anne Alexander-Sieder (44:08.951)
Yeah.
Yeah. I mean, like it has taken me a long time to come up with my actor's log line, which, know, I sometimes use, sometimes don't. But before it was this long, like two sentence long, long thing, you know, which was on brand, but it was like, it was long. And I think the perfect log line for anybody, whether you're an actor or not, you know, is for it to be short,
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (44:17.108)
Yeah.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (44:26.484)
Right.
Anne Alexander-Sieder (44:40.778)
and succinct to people to go, yeah, I see that, right? Yeah. Exactly. Exactly. Yeah.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (44:44.011)
I see it. Yeah, just like a brand. You need, it's just like a brand. If you give a brand like value proposition or that vision, it needs to be one line, maybe even just a few words. And people need to get it and go, they need to get it, needs to relate.
Anne Alexander-Sieder (44:57.888)
They need to get it. Exactly. And the shorter, the better. So now that I've teased your audience with it, I have to tell them, right? My brain. But my log line is I play high status women who are morally ambiguous with a fierce heart. So yeah. So those, mean, across the board, that's like what I always end up playing.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (45:04.158)
Yeah, yeah, what is yours? What's your logline?
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (45:15.222)
Yeah
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (45:19.606)
Ooh, that is nice.
Anne Alexander-Sieder (45:25.858)
You know, is she the good one? Is she the bad one? We're not quite sure. Are motives for her or are they for her family? Not quite sure or for whatever it may be. Morally ambiguous, morally ambiguous. Yes.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (45:28.65)
Right.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (45:34.55)
the ambiguous moral moral moral in big like that. Alright so if we met a year from now and what will we be celebrating next January?
Anne Alexander-Sieder (45:47.502)
Ooh, the amazing success of Passion Project to Purpose. Yeah, which is, what does that look like? Yeah. So for Passion Project to Purpose, I'm really looking forward to helping like a wide, wider variety of people. And so anybody really who feels like they have
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (45:54.024)
All right, and what does that make, what does that look like? What does success look like to you? Yeah.
Anne Alexander-Sieder (46:17.048)
put their dreams on hold. And obviously, if you put your dreams of becoming a medical doctor on hold, I can't help you with that. But anything, just putting that out there. But if you have something, you're like, God, I love interior design, but I just, you know, or man, yeah, or I'm cake decorating, it's my passion. I just want to make cakes all the time, or refurbishing and flipping furniture, or.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (46:23.712)
Right.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (46:35.126)
How do I start? Yeah.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (46:41.6)
Right.
Hmm.
Anne Alexander-Sieder (46:45.038)
survival out in, you know, doing survival retreats or meditation retreats or holistic medicine or, I mean, there are just really a thousand, anything that you could do in sort of bite-size segments. So that's what it is. And I'm really looking forward to seeing how the people spark each other. So like someone who's doing, I don't know, an Indian comfort food supper club.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (46:49.014)
Great.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (46:57.568)
Yeah.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (47:12.843)
Right.
Anne Alexander-Sieder (47:13.122)
how that might spark someone who's into foraging for edible fauna in their thing and what kind of events they might come up with around that. Where they're like, I could do that with my, what I'm doing and you you first forage and then cook or whatever it is. So I'm really looking forward to seeing how they spark each other. totally, totally. Yeah, yeah.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (47:27.156)
Yeah.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (47:34.238)
Yeah, it's building a community. Totally building a community. that's fantastic. So I love that. Because we're always like all about communities, you know? We're all about the community. Yeah.
Anne Alexander-Sieder (47:43.382)
And I'm also looking, well, totally, totally. And I'm looking forward to the short wins because the win in Passion Project to Purpose is actually built into the program. So it's a six week program, week five, the people are actually launching their very first event. I walk them through everything from ideating to where do they find their coaches and experts, to where do they find their participants, all the templates, how do you price it.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (47:52.596)
And yeah.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (47:56.82)
Okay.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (48:03.876)
Anne Alexander-Sieder (48:13.29)
all, you know, what venues, what kind of an event, all of that stuff. And then the fifth week, they actually go off and they launch it. And the sixth week is all about debriefing. What went well? What didn't go well? What are you going to do different next time? What would you like to try next time?
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (48:31.218)
my, that is so valuable. So valuable.
Anne Alexander-Sieder (48:34.914)
Because they will have done it.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (48:37.258)
done it, but also the thinking of the process and then the now lessons learned. How do I make it better? Yeah. Yeah.
Anne Alexander-Sieder (48:44.864)
Yes, absolutely. And I think so many coaches kind of leave it at, and there you go. Now go forth and do your thing. Right? And it's like, and people like to have their handheld throughout. And this way they are getting their handheld throughout the entire first launch. Right? And
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (48:50.678)
Where?
Right.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (48:59.188)
Right. Right.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (49:05.012)
Right, but also it makes sure that you launch versus here's the templates and you, know, good luck. I've given you all the ammunition, but it's on you. You're walking them through to actual like, no, and you're going to launch it. And then we're gonna talk about it after the launch. Which is so, I think people are hungry for that.
Anne Alexander-Sieder (49:08.68)
It makes sure that they do it.
Anne Alexander-Sieder (49:14.252)
Right.
Anne Alexander-Sieder (49:21.762)
and
Exactly.
Well, and I feel like this goes back to the whole AI thing as well, right? I feel like the further we get into AI and we are going to keep getting further into it, the more we are needing to find ways to truly connect human being to human being. And when you are building a community around your passion and using your beginner status as your advantage as opposed to your disadvantage,
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (49:32.629)
Yeah.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (49:38.709)
Yeah.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (49:45.451)
That's right.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (49:55.606)
Hmm.
I like that.
Anne Alexander-Sieder (49:58.21)
When you're out there saying, hey, I am just learning, I'm bringing in the coaches, I'm organizing this, but I am not the expert, I just want to learn just like you, you're authentically creating communities with people who are at the same place as you. Now, whether they take every workshop or not, I mean, you are naturally going to be becoming an expert. Exactly.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (50:04.49)
Right?
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (50:13.994)
Right.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (50:21.142)
depends on how hungry you are. That's right. Yeah, yeah.
Anne Alexander-Sieder (50:24.238)
but it will take its natural course. This is, I'm sure you've seen it too, like in all of these big coaching things, the big business coaches, always at least once a week, somebody's like, oh man, I'm really dealing with imposter syndrome, anybody else? And it's like, oh, 97 comments. Yes, me too. Yes. And I think, well, why are you dealing with imposter syndrome? One reason is, is because everybody's been telling you, you only need to be two steps ahead.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (50:26.998)
Hmm. Yeah.
Yeah.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (50:42.102)
Because everybody, that's right.
Anne Alexander-Sieder (50:53.282)
which is kind of bullshit, you know? Because if you're only two steps ahead, you're always looking over your shoulder. my God, when are they going to catch up to me? You know? And like, shit, I better learn more because they're learning. you know, and it's like this, whereas if you're just like, hey, I'm just going to relax and enjoy the ride and I can still earn money learning about what I love and creating a community. Yeah.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (50:59.914)
Right.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (51:13.152)
Right.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (51:17.462)
Right, but also just, or just acknowledge, I think a lot of it is what the imposter syndrome is not, know, are you two steps ahead? It's more of like, acknowledgement of it happens, it's because it's not really real, even though it is real, but it's why do you feel this way? And a lot of it is just the, how do you you overcome that confidence? How do you just keep pushing forward and moving through it with,
without it holding you back. Because sometimes it's just like, shit, it is real. I didn't think I would be hit this way. All right, let's move on. Like how do we attack it?
Anne Alexander-Sieder (51:59.638)
Yeah, it's interesting, I think I'll-
From what I've seen, a lot of the imposter syndrome comes from people who have not actually earned their place 100 % as somebody to be the expert. Or maybe they're teaching the level that they're at as opposed to the level they were at.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (52:10.366)
or how about that? Yeah.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (52:16.182)
Yeah, that's true.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (52:22.582)
they need. Yeah, that's really that's an insight.
Anne Alexander-Sieder (52:27.902)
And yeah, and so when you're doing that, it's like, God, yes, I know how I got here, but I'm still trying to get further and everybody else who's at my level is also trying to get, so like go back to the,
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (52:42.379)
Right.
Anne Alexander-Sieder (52:45.888)
before. And I think it can also be.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (52:47.146)
Yeah. And earn your, maybe you just, maybe it's also a telltale, like, do you need to earn your stripes? Or, and get more experience, get that credibility? Or do you just need to show that, no, no, I got, like, that was my issue of when I started the business, I did feel this empath, like this fear of I'm not good enough. But then it was like, when I started to get into these rooms,
I started to look around going, my God, am running in, running circles around these people who appear way more successful business-wise. I'm going, ugh, I have way more experience. Why am I feeling intimidated? Why am I feeling this way? And it took like that kind of mental process. And then when I started talking to other people, like, yeah, I felt imposter. So I'm like, okay, so.
Anne Alexander-Sieder (53:30.06)
Yeah. Yeah.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (53:43.186)
Do we all kind of feel this way when we get out from under? Because I worked in other agencies for 20 plus years. It was when I came out from under that comfort of somebody else's brand and I had to stand by myself and it was everything was on me. Then I would walk into these room and I felt like I didn't belong and it just took me a process to go, no, no, no, not only do I not belong, I do belong here.
Anne Alexander-Sieder (53:57.757)
Anne Alexander-Sieder (54:12.184)
Do belong, yeah.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (54:13.398)
And I bring so much more value in my space and my category than a lot of other people. I've earned this and I belong here. Yeah. Yeah, yeah.
Anne Alexander-Sieder (54:22.327)
Hmm
Well, it sounds to me like you were just kind of owning where you were at. I mean, you have 20 plus years experience. That's no lie, right? I mean, that's like a thing. And so, but I think people feel like they need to sound better than they are.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (54:32.756)
that right.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (54:41.941)
that. Yep, yep, yep. And we see that all the time, like in any kind of workforce. It's like, you know, you always get the posturing and it's like, oh my gosh, do they? And you can tell, totally tell when they are, Chandler's laughing because he knows who I'm talking about. We've got a couple new, we've got a new couple new clients that are like, oh, they are so, they've been, you know, it's the first like big title, the big position, and it's like, oof.
Anne Alexander-Sieder (54:52.576)
And you can tell, you can tell. Yeah.
Okay.
Anne Alexander-Sieder (55:08.129)
Yeah.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (55:09.896)
You can tell that they are not quite there, but they are hiding that from their team, from us, and we can feel that there's a lot of that out there. Yeah.
Anne Alexander-Sieder (55:17.27)
And I think that there's a lot of, there is a lot of that out there, but there's a lot of power in just saying, I'm learning this.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (55:28.054)
one, that's what I've told my team. I'm like, it's okay to say I don't know. And that's how we talk to even our clients. We're like, we don't know what you don't know. So if we're not on the same page, there's a lot of information we have collectively here. Same with the entrepreneurial community too, and the founder community. When we start telling people, hey, I need help, it's whatever, other people will help you.
Anne Alexander-Sieder (55:33.172)
Yeah. Yes!
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (55:58.071)
and come along with you and give you that advice and guidance but if you're not genuinely you know transparent about that very authentic people can't help you you're never gonna grow you're never gonna grow and and you're never gonna see that next the next level right what did you say the new level the new devil I love that like I've never heard that phrase I've never
Anne Alexander-Sieder (56:07.202)
Being transparent. Yeah. Authentic. You got to be authentic. Yeah. Right. Right.
Anne Alexander-Sieder (56:19.936)
And frankly, right, new level, new level. You never heard that? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, it's so true. And also I think like owning your, like where you authentically are. Exactly. Own that. Own that where you authentically are because it's also there's, it creates real connections. have a frog in my throat.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (56:27.414)
I'm using that from now on.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (56:36.416)
But I think like where you are, like where you are. Yeah.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (56:45.878)
That's right.
Yeah.
Anne Alexander-Sieder (56:50.542)
creates real connections, which that's how you build relationships, right? Like...
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (56:56.214)
Right, well that's how you grow even, just build relationships and connections. How are you going to move to that next level even as a mindset or if it's education, you're never gonna grow. I mean, no matter where you are, if you're entering your career in a company, starting as an early entrepreneur or as a late starter entrepreneur and founder.
Anne Alexander-Sieder (57:13.627)
for sure.
Anne Alexander-Sieder (57:22.84)
For sure. I always tell my clients radical honesty, radical accountability. You got to have both. You have to not lie to yourself about where you're at and what your problems are. Like, I will have clients who come to me and they've literally booked an appointment because they're not happy with their career. And then they want to tell me how many films they just booked, how many commercials they're doing, and so that.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (57:24.638)
You gotta, you gotta level.
Ooh.
That's right.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (57:38.1)
Right. And you gotta share that.
Anne Alexander-Sieder (57:51.424)
And it's like, but are you happy with that? Well, you want, you know, and it's like, right. Exactly. Where, and it's like, they're really, they really struggle sometimes just being like radically honest with, with where they are.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (57:56.683)
Why are you here?
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (58:08.244)
Yeah.
Right, that's a good, radical honesty and radical accountability. That is key, it's key. Doors will open.
Anne Alexander-Sieder (58:14.068)
and radical accountability. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Anne Alexander-Sieder (58:23.16)
Well, when you're not being radically accountable, you are giving away your power. You are literally giving it away to whatever you are pointing the finger at.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (58:26.144)
Yeah, that's right.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (58:31.892)
Yep, absolutely. Man, this has been insight, insight after insight. Okay, I know we're running long, but I've got two questions for you. Okay, if you had to sum up your entrepreneurial journey in just one word, what would that word be and why? I already kind of know the answer, but maybe, maybe not. Okay, surprise me, what is it?
Anne Alexander-Sieder (58:33.688)
So.
Anne Alexander-Sieder (58:40.375)
You
Anne Alexander-Sieder (58:43.839)
Okay.
Anne Alexander-Sieder (58:53.102)
Yeah. Yes. Drum roll, please. It's bold. Act bold. Yes. Yeah. I think the best things in life come from when we've stepped outside of our comfort zone. That goes for all of us, right? Yeah.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (59:00.967)
or...
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (59:09.192)
Yes, all of us. We always say get comfortable with being uncomfortable. You will, that's right. Yeah. And I like, I always say and learn, unlearn, relearn. But to do that, you've got to have like curiosity is such a gift, but you have to be bold to act on that. You're right. It's
Anne Alexander-Sieder (59:13.568)
Me too. One of my favorite things to say. Yes, yes.
Anne Alexander-Sieder (59:28.411)
Yeah. You know, and bold doesn't mean that you have to like jump out of your comfort zone and leaps and bounds. You can take baby steps. That's okay. But just take consistent baby steps. And before you know it, that comfort zone is going to be far behind you. You're going have a new one because you do get comfortable with the new realities. But you're going to have to stretch that one too. So you just have to keep taking bold action.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (59:33.803)
Great.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (59:37.194)
That's right.
Hmm.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (59:44.566)
That's right. That's right.
With the new. That's right.
Anne Alexander-Sieder (59:54.816)
And I think if you reframe how you think about fear, then it makes taking those bold actions a little bit easier. So if you think of fear as all it is, is it's telling you that you are on the verge of growth. And growth is scary. So you're about to step into something that is a little bit unknown and where you're going to be stretched and you're going to be, you know, where you're going to grow.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (59:58.422)
Yeah.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (01:00:13.718)
That's right.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (01:00:20.768)
Right?
Anne Alexander-Sieder (01:00:23.874)
That is a little bit uncomfortable, but that's okay because you're going to... It should be welcomed. Absolutely. Yeah. So bold. Bold.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (01:00:27.252)
Right, but it should be welcomed, yeah. Yeah, bold. Okay, so next chapter. The next chapter in your story. What is the word that describes that chapter?
Anne Alexander-Sieder (01:00:41.89)
Yeah, that's so interesting. Cause that's something I've been kind of...
I would say purpose.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (01:00:49.322)
Hmm, yeah. Living into your purpose? Yeah.
Anne Alexander-Sieder (01:00:51.148)
Yeah. Yeah. Which I'm not even 100 % sure what it is yet. Like, I always thought it was to be an actor. And the more I'm like leaning into coaching and entrepreneurialism, the more I'm finding that that has a more direct impact on people. Like when I act in something, I hope I've impacted someone.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (01:01:00.726)
Here.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (01:01:13.504)
Yeah.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (01:01:18.464)
Yeah.
Anne Alexander-Sieder (01:01:18.552)
But I never really know unless they come up to me and tell me or write to me. But with entrepreneurialism, you literally have, you can see the results. You can see the direct impact.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (01:01:21.782)
Right.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (01:01:30.848)
Yeah.
You can see the transformation in people. Yeah.
Anne Alexander-Sieder (01:01:36.398)
Yeah. And I don't know, it may be sort of a figure eight thing. I mean, it may be when I get to that point where I'm only working four hours a day, right? Like, right, right. Then I'll go back to, you know, like investing all of my time and energy back into my acting career and, you know, writing. I always loved, I'm a screenwriter as well. So there you go. So who knows? I don't know. I'm seeing where this road takes me. Yeah.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (01:01:44.438)
Yeah, let's, we all want that, right?
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (01:01:53.525)
Yeah.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (01:01:58.058)
Okay, there you go. Purpose, yeah. The journey's continuing for you. I love it. Well, before we go, how do you want people to connect with you, find out more about Act Bold? What say you?
Anne Alexander-Sieder (01:02:05.678)
The journey continues, yeah.
Anne Alexander-Sieder (01:02:17.534)
I say Linktree is probably the easiest. has all of my links. Linktree at act underscore bold. But my name is Anne Alexander-Sieder. It's right there. I am very findable on Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook, all the places. Yeah. IMDB, wherever you happen to be. And you could just reach out to me because that's me responding. It's not my VA or my assistant. It's me. Yeah.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (01:02:21.152)
Okay.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (01:02:46.326)
I love it. Well, thank you. I've loved this conversation. This was fantastic. I was like, found some, I have some nuggets, lots of little nuggets. hope everybody, founders and business owners, there were some key nuggets in here operations wise, some creativity wise, how to be a better, how to find your own, like your own brand, like go through those exercises. So yeah, we'll work on that. We'll work on that. Yeah.
Anne Alexander-Sieder (01:02:49.728)
Me too, JJ.
Anne Alexander-Sieder (01:03:09.592)
I have to, we have to refine that a little bit, but yeah, it's on the road. We'll work on that, right? Yeah.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (01:03:14.71)
So, but great, great advice. And so thank you. I appreciate you coming on. And for everybody watching or joining us today, thank you for watching and listening. This podcast is available on all podcast platforms, so subscribe to Hello Chaos. Give us a five star review on Spotify or Apple. We love those two. And share this great content and help us build a more connected entrepreneurial community.
HelloCast is one of the many resources brought to you by OrangeWIP. That is OrangeWIP, W-I-P for Work in Progress, because that's what we all are. Me, I am an example of Work in Progress. We're all a Work in Progress. OrangeWIP is a multimedia company dedicated to serving founders and entrepreneurs in affiliate cities. We are in three cities today in South Carolina, looking to coming to a city near you.
Anne Alexander-Sieder (01:03:51.918)
Me too. Yeah, that's right.
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Anne Alexander-Sieder (01:05:11.306)
you