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Connect with Alex

https://wellconnectedtwincities.com

Jasna Burza
Well, Alex, Welcome to the Business Spotlight here on on Wednesdays, I’m so excited you could make

Alex Stalberger
me to me to love a good spotlight, right?

Jasna Burza
Yes, yes. And yes. Well, you know, I’ve been having the most incredible conversations with amazing entrepreneurs and about their businesses, but also about the things that are they’re experiencing right now. And my greatest wish right now is that we learn, especially with the changes in the world that we have to support our community. And we have to support other small businesses in any way that we can, because it’s just this energy of giving and receiving that is so beautiful. So I’m excited. I fell asleep at the social media wheel for for a little bit. But I’m back. And I’m so happy that we get to talk about you today. And you know, you’re probably going to bring in Lily a little bit and then talk about the business that you’ve started that is so incredibly mind blowing ly beautiful in terms of what it does and how it connects. So Alex, welcome and tell us all about

Alex Stalberger
it. Oh, my gosh, I would love to tell you about it. And when you talk about how now more than ever, like it’s always been important to lift up and find ways to support community. But now more than ever, it seems like that is the center of what so many of us are talking about how can that reciprocating relationship exist. And that is what while connected Twin Cities has been able to evolve into that truth. It is just so humbling to realize that what we’ve been able to create, which yes, Lilia and I, as co founders have well connected Twin Cities, of course, we’re holding space, and we’re the platform, but we are nothing. Without the community of intentional healers and professionals in the integrative health space, like we are nothing without that community of people like we it is just, it’s humbling and beautiful to be helping to steer the plane or whatever the boat, whatever the analogy you go with, but absolutely so well connected Twin Cities is has found a way to not only support the professionals in the health and healing industries locally in the Twin Cities, but by doing so we’re also educating and supporting the community and their ability to access to what’s possible with their health. So the whole health scape is shifting from give your power away to the provider, the provider knows best. And instead it’s saying okay, and much more, you’re in the center of that. And of course, how

Jasna Burza
we started I mean, throughout the centuries, well, you and I will go into the rabbit holes. pleasures tell the people what what would well connected in Twin Cities is let’s just start there. So we’re talking about

Alex Stalberger
well connected Twin Cities is a free resource for the community to access all things, Twin Cities, health and wellness resources. So if you go to Google and got well connected Twin Cities, what you’ll find is a beautifully curated website and resource that you can learn about all kinds of things, integrative health and healing. And what that also is, is that power that’s powered by a membership community of peers within the healing and health industry that have dedicated that they’ve said, Hey, we want to collaborate together. We want to create something that we cannot create by ourselves. We want to co author articles, we want to co author classes, we want to put together live events. That’s what you’re looking at. You’re looking at the community supporting the community. It is so cool. Anyway, that’s what it is.

Jasna Burza
I absolutely love that. Well, you and I met years ago. And it was such a fascinating concept. Back then it was few years running. That was before 2020. So how many years have you been in operation right now? It’d be six or seven?

Alex Stalberger
No, actually, we’re actually technically only three years old when Lilia and I came together. But the concepts are older than the LLC. S Corp. Of course. Yeah. Yeah. So the entirety of the business is actually only three years old. But those concepts lived by themselves until Lily and I met back in 2019.

Jasna Burza
And look at what you’ve been able to achieve like it is it is actually quite remarkable. So what I love, I’m such a big community as you know, community feature person and how we come together, we break down the barriers and we started a conversation. So how did this idea come to you and why? Why is it important to have that discussion right now?

Alex Stalberger
Oh, my goodness. Well, yeah, and for me, I think Lily’s experience was definitely rooted in her own personal experience starting a family and having some health struggles that she was personally dealing with. For me. I was trained As an integrative health coach, and so I wanted to make a difference in how the communities were investing in their own health. And of course, when I started, I’m like, I’m gonna change the world, which is great, I am going to change the world, but not the way that I thought I was. Because working one to one was, was not having the impact that I was creating. It was very powerful. But I knew there was something more we were we were shifting people’s perspectives and giving them power back and that everybody deserves that. So when when I began to ideate, around, how can we do that collectively, I had a lot of questions for other healers and other coaches. And I started to ask them, and they started to get excited about what would be possible if we were to educate together, if we were to spread messages cross promote using each other’s audiences, nobody said no to talking with me about these ideas. And that’s how the professional community of what is now well connected Twin Cities was originally formed, we got together to share insights and inspire each other and share resources and knowledge and even swap services. So we understood what each other did. And that changed, that changed everything. So when Lily and I got together, and she had the idea for the she had the original design of the website, but didn’t needed the healers. I’m like, Oh, my gosh, this is, sir, you know, how can we take that very powerful coaching model of putting you center and letting you know, there are options for you to choose from and holding space? So you can choose what’s best for you? How can that exist? In a website? Is the real question that we’re consistently trying to answer.

Jasna Burza
I love that. So give me an example from user experience. I’m looking for whether it’s I think you have doulas there. I think you have acupuncture and healers and all good like so how does that work when looking for resources?

Alex Stalberger
Yeah, great question. So as as you go to the Google as one does, right? You have a recent diagnosis, let’s use Lily’s example, right. Her child had the diagnosis of eczema when he was just a newborn baby. So she goes to Google and says eczema, you know, eczema near me, like what supports eczema, what you’ll find is that we’ve developed a way to get you to what we’re calling a category page, which has all things skin conditions, their tags specific to eczema, you fall into this, this beautifully beautiful like nest of resources that are all written by people in your neighborhood that you can see. Right? So from a user experience, you don’t know what you’re looking for. Because all you have is a diagnosis, right? You type in that diagnosis, Google sends you to this beautiful nest, that is well connected Twin Cities, and you get to do your, you get to do your scrolling in, in the safety of knowing that this is a trusted third party resource that you can actually pick up the phone and call these people and ask your question. So yeah, from a user experience, that’s what it does, it expands your mind to understand like, oh, okay, like food can come up in our bodies as a skin condition. That might not be something everybody knows. But that comes up through our category pages, maybe there’s a podcast on it, or an article written on it or a class on it, right? You can choose how you want to invest your time and energy. But the fact is, is that there’s a place, there’s a place here for us. So

Jasna Burza
well, that’s beautiful. And I also know that when it comes to the healers, and providers, and we’re just most remarkable, I had a chance to meet many of them, you have support for them. It’s like a whole leg of the business. Right? So tell us a little bit about that. Because there are healers and providers listening to this. Know who had been living in Iraq and don’t know.

Alex Stalberger
If you’ve been under that rock, let me just like, Let me hug you for a moment. It’s okay, you can come out whenever you’re ready. But know that? Absolutely. And that’s actually what I noticed they can’t exist separately, because you can’t market a business that is inherently unhealthy from a business perspective. And we’re healers first, not business owners necessarily business often comes second. And that’s okay. So how can we channel the resources that our business owners need in specifically the way that they need them to, you know, our healing community tends to have a certain type of person that they’re looking for. So we find like even acupuncture, acupuncture accountants, excuse me, that understand what it’s like to work with the healing and health industry. We have connections to connect them with with you, right, so it’s easier to find what you need. And they’re vetted as well because other healers are saying, well, I went to this person for support with that. So there’s a huge back end of just a network that are consistently coming into contact with one another either virtually, if that’s most convenient, but we have also broken out of our virtual bubble. And we get together in person once a month. What Yeah, if that’s safe and feeling good for you, please like that’s the invitation. So this, this community is not only supportive, and they want to know what each other’s doing, they really want to know what’s a good referral for you, because they all want to elevate their practice, they all want to do more of what they love. They don’t want to do less of what they hate, like who doesn’t

Jasna Burza
really help others when someone is struggling, there’s, to me, it’s a beautiful thing, when there’s something that I’m really not good at, when I know a person who does it beautifully. And in that process, we really help that individual. That is the entire point of us being here of most of us coaches and healers. I think our intention and starting is it’s never like I’m gonna get so rich.

Alex Stalberger
Lovely though, like me.

Jasna Burza
I always I love money, money, and I have a beautiful relationship, right? And all this is healers and coaches should be incredibly abundant. But I think the initial love the why behind me started is normally comes from our personal journeys, our own struggles, and the deep desire to be of service to others. And that’s a very powerful, why when we forget, in the sea of needing to get a business off the ground for why we need to continue. So to have a network to bounce ideas, ideas off, support one another, how incredible.

Alex Stalberger
Well, you know, it’s I’m just gonna make this little mention because it came up again, oh, gosh, it was probably three weeks ago, that somebody was like, when is that impostor syndrome gonna go away. And, oh, it’s just the most beautiful thing is like, it never goes away. I’m like, that’s, that’s what this community really beyond like telling you what, who’s a great accountant. Of course, those are all necessary. But to have those core people that understand that like, this is hard work consistently. And it’s worth it. Sometimes we need those reminders, especially when those healing professionals are working independently off on what feels like Lonely Island, you’re not on a lonely island, you are not a powerful reminder.

Jasna Burza
So when people are listening to this, whether they’re just needing resources or providers, how do people work with you? Like, how do they engage with you? Where can they find you? Where can we send people?

Alex Stalberger
Oh, my goodness, the easiest way to get in touch with us is by going to just simply our website, well connected twin cities.com, you can actually see the resource, but there’s a little button for providers, if you click that button, there’s an easy way to send us an email, if you’ve got questions like we’re a very high touch organization, if you have a question, you will email us and guess what, like we will get on the phone. Like that is definitely the purpose behind that I would say email is absolutely the easiest way for us to establish a relationship, but it will always end with us being on the phone together, because that’s just the most fun. Yeah, and, and then know that, you know, we’ve really designed this to be a support, whether you’re in year one, year, three to five, seven to 10, or 20, plus years, all of those types of businesses have different needs. And we’ve really co created alongside businesses in those situations, to come up with a model that really is supportive. So it’s a totally collaborative experience. And we’re here for it. So if you’re like, yes, I want to get involved, I would say like Come join the party. It is it is.

Jasna Burza
I love that. So for the providers specifically, are you saying that you have courses or coaching? How do you how do they know what to expect? And you know, who is who is the ideal member of the club?

Alex Stalberger
Absolutely. So if you’re a provider and you want to get involved, we have a membership model, which means you get access to everything we’re doing for our professionals, you get our in person and virtual events. You get access to us as supportive networkers too we often have relationships with people you might be looking for. And this is how you get access to being on the podcast and helping us co create articles you maybe you have a class idea or a live in person event idea, we can help make that a reality. But we ask that you join the mission and the movement as a member and we’ve priced that to be a really reasonable like Come join forever rate. Because that is what this is all about is creating a sustainable future.

Jasna Burza
Oh, I love that I am I’m very excited and it’s so good to reconnect with you after years. I can’t thank you enough for coming to speak about the business and about the why really. So besides, you know, coming in looking out resources, doing the resources in the providers checking out is there anything else that we can do to support you for anyone listening here today? Are any of the other channels later on?

Alex Stalberger
Yeah, absolutely, I would say that the number one thing you can do is, is to make sure that you’re listening to the podcast that’s available. The podcast is a really great way to understand the people and the humans behind the healers. And it’s a really easy way to stay connected with the healing industry, whether you’re a professional as a healer, or whether you’re a creative listening to this, it’s a really great way to remember that the community can continue to exist and that there are people that can’t wait to meet you. But really, we’re here for it. So that would be the most helpful thing today is to make sure you can listen to the well connected Twin Cities Podcast and really know that there’s a really vibrant healing community that will continue to be here for our communities for years to come.

Jasna Burza
I’m so grateful for that. I’m grateful for you. Thank you for taking the time out of your super busy schedule. And talk to

Alex Stalberger
us of course, thank you so much for the opportunity. And hey, if you’re watching this, I appreciate your time and energy and hearing the words exchanged today. It’s important,

Jasna Burza
I ensure so folks go ahead and find the podcast and go to the well connected twin cities.com to check out the resources and also really I’m very very adamant about being advocates for our own health and seeking assistance from from things in their own people with non invasive approaches that are incredibly helpful and actually work on the true cause of what makes us feel uneasy. So thank you again and I can’t wait to see you in person soon. It will happen so soon.