Episode #015 — Real Estate, Resilience, and Self-Care with Antoinette

Melanie Branch: Hello and welcome to another episode of Trailblazers Rising I'm so excited to have my friend of

And I've known her pre entrepreneurship or like baby entrepreneurship I will say we work together at the restaurant that will not be named and if we name it we're going to cut it out of the recording and everybody please give a big round of applause to my friend Antoinette AKA the red Lotus chick.

Hi.

So welcome it's so nice to have you on as a fellow entrepreneur with multiple business ventures going at the same time which is something that you are way more experienced in than I am so I will be hitting you up after the call for your advice on all the things that I'm dealing with so with that being said I'm going to dive right in because I know everybody listening really wants to know what sparked your entrepreneurial fire.

Antoinette Apolon: Well I've always wanted to own my own business like ever since I was a little girl I knew that I wanted to be my own boss right be my own boss I've been told I'm a little insubordinate from my bosses too aquarius no she's an

Melanie Branch: Aquarius son everybody

Antoinette Apolon: right right but no I always knew that I wanted to own my own business so it was just like.

I guess like I'm a matter of getting there so I started off in the music business waitressing hustling and then really real estate was the thing that um was allowed me to like really enter full time entrepreneurship and no longer work at nine to five

Melanie Branch: yeah and even the nine to five we were unconventional in the 9 we went after you know?

Restaurant industry is the flexible 9 to 5 where you're like Alright I can pick up a shift I can make some money and I do remember you perhaps selling baked goods for donations when we worked at that

Antoinette Apolon: terrible restaurant I I was always like the hustle queen so the baked goods were for the music So at the time I was funding and financing my music career and i'm picking up doubles But also I needed more money for the music video So I started baking cupcakes and like sweet potato pies and everything because I was like oh well I know i'll be here 12 hours out of the day and I need you know 50 60 more bucks.

So yeah it was always like In me to hustle and get the things that I wanted

Melanie Branch: absolutely so now that you've been in the game for a while and you are in I like to call the unconventional real estate game because it is unusual and it is um how do you balance that strategic and creative side that we need to flourish as entrepreneurs

Antoinette Apolon: balance?

That's that's a word right because balance implies that or at least the way that I used to think about it was that it was static right meaning you When you're balanced you're no longer moving but really I have uh changed my perception around that to think about being balanced as um a verb like it's constantly happening.

We're constantly adjusting because in reality when you're a mom when you're a wife when you're an entrepreneur with multiple businesses uh the thought of being balanced is just like there's no such thing sometimes some things get more attention than other things so right now I'm in the process of like really kind of of finding um I want to say a more consistent flow of things right?

Cause as business owners again It's mom we wear multiple hats I wear multiple hats so now I'm in this place where I'm like boom you know business is going well but then you know you got other things like family things that you got to focus on school is you got to focus on so now I'm in this place where I'm really trying to dial down and get like a system Melanie a system.

I

Melanie Branch: love systems you know I am a firm believer that we get to systemize just about everything in our life

Antoinette Apolon: yeah so the systems the habits my husband would like bark at me if he heard me saying this he's like I've been telling you about habits for years and I'm like shh you're too loud but

really yeah really I'm at that point now where it's like yeah we got to have them we got it like it's it's a non negotiable

Melanie Branch: you know when I talk about systems to my clients or to the members of the Neuro Spicy Academy it's really like It's a it's a varying routine right so if you know that every day you have to answer emails.

Right then perhaps we want to look at what time of day we're going to answer emails right are we going to answer emails from bed because we require a little bit of horizontal time are we going to answer emails while we're at the kids tennis or soccer practice because then we have a little bit of quiet time you look up you watch them score and you go Yeah I was here for both things you know so it's really like I have these things that Are on my to do list or now what I'm referring to as my agenda because the to do list was getting overwhelming And it just keeps growing and the agenda is like all right Well it's a friday you and I were just talking before the recording that it's you know Kind of fuck around and find out day because it's friday and we've been working all week.

I don't want to work anymore I don't my brain said no thank you so really basically You know I also like to somebody mentioned at the Academy one of my clients it's been with me for a very long time that this year she's going after harmony instead of balance

Antoinette Apolon: that's me oh

Melanie Branch: that wasn't you no but it can be both of

Antoinette Apolon: you now.

Right my 2023 word for the year is harmony it is harmony you go

Melanie Branch: to the Neuro Spicy Academy too and she's in real estate too I told you guys you got to link up yeah I told you guys oh my God all right so you're in this unconventional world of real estate which is tax deed sales can you tell me a little bit about it from the perspective of a fellow Floridian who knows that the laws here are weird and what does it take to be successful in tax deed sales?

Antoinette Apolon: Ah man okay so first off Florida is a hybrid state so they sell both tax lien certificates and tax deeds okay every single state has a way that they sell tax defaulted properties this is not something that is new but it is something that is not talked about as often as what I call sexy real estate like Airbnb is like the burn method like the fix and flips like the renovation and the property brothers like that's sexy real estate right?

Um not a state of Florida we sell both tax lien certificates and tax deeds but in a nutshell when you buy a tax deed you own that property free and clear outright no mortgages um you're paying the back taxes so you're buying properties for pennies on the dollar uh just by paying the back taxes and you own that property with no mortgage.

So then you know in order to be successful you really just need to really understand the concept understand the laws because this is like government backed real estate okay the coding is in the state laws for how to sell these properties um so it's really just about being educated and really just going for it.

We are buying diamonds in the rough okay and when we say rough we mean rough okay again properties okay the money is in the problem solving but uh therein lies a great opportunity to um polish a diamond and really gain a lot of equity from it so yeah it's it's fun it's fun for me

Melanie Branch: that's exciting.

Can you share with us a recent win in your business

Antoinette Apolon: yeah um so I just launched a software so a tax actually it's a nationwide distress property software so it has tax liens tax deeds over the counter properties and foreclosures and I recently just bought a house in Jacksonville Florida for like 3 000.

That's where I live are you going to come live by me I'm not going to live in it actually I got it I got it listen that baby is rough she is rough okay we're going to have to do a lot of work there but yeah that's I will be visiting Jacksonville during this uh renovation project because we're basically going to be doing like construction on this house right?

Um I just knock it down and build it all the way back up which means that's a that's a totally new constructed house so I'm excited about that project and yeah that's it's just the beginning that we got the property uh

Melanie Branch: what part of town or what part of town tell me tell me

Antoinette Apolon: everything Close to close to downtown.

It's close to downtown I don't I can't remember the address off the top of my head Uh mcquade street it's like mcquade street but it's close to downtown

Melanie Branch: Okay is it near um ah I live in the Riverside Avondale area there's another area it's fine it'll come to me and it'll come to me I know people that live over in a neighborhood over there in the downtown area.

So that's so exciting well you know to hit me up when you're here don't get me off traffic off topic bitch I have a podcast to run geez Louise all right fortunately I know how to get the train back on the tracks because I deal with nothing but neuro spices all day long so making making big deals like this.

I also know that you're into coaching and stuff what happens when you have to deal with rejection sensitivity what happens what are the systems and strategies you've worked out when a potential client goes to you because it happens or you miss out on a property that you really wanted to get how do you talk yourself off that ledge?

Antoinette Apolon: Oh man I just lost out on some properties literally like last week because and you know this is one of the things about being a coach and a real estate investor and that we're balanced like sometimes things are just you know everywhere things are happening right going to participate in the auction but I sent my deposit in too late.

So guess what that means that the next morning I didn't get to participate in the auction because the money hadn't settled yet and two of the properties that I really wanted like sold for super cheap and I was like Oh you know and that really just had to do it my timing of everything I had group coaching the day before.

So it was just like Oh like you know I lost it I could have definitely like one of those properties if I was a little bit more prepared and I sent my money in earlier so I mean I've been taking rejection like my whole life right in the music industry you're constantly getting rejected like it's just like no.

You're not the right type of artist so I feel like I was really like prepped for that but I will say that um I've been learning more now to not think take things personally like even with you know some of my coaching clients or people that I talk to they say they want coaching but then they don't eventually go with my program um to not take things personally because it really doesn't have anything to do with like me per se but more so about where that person is in their journey.

Um so I think that I've been learning a lot about myself in the process of you know even coaching people because coaching people requires you to grow a lot of people think that like coaching is like this super easy thing no it takes vast amounts of empathy and compassion and self reflection that you know sometimes you you're like oh man I'm telling I'm advising this person and I feel like I'm advising myself.

I'm like I'm giving advice so um yeah it's not it's not easy but honestly it's been like really rewarding and started me on this new path of self care self care and harmony

Melanie Branch: it's like you're a psychic and I know that we've been talking about self care a lot in the Slack channels at the Neuro Spicy Academy where I am second in command and you are one of our founding members.

So thank you for setting this softball up for me being an entrepreneur is stressful running businesses is stressful so if I were to drop a camera crew in your house for this past seven days what would they have recorded when it came to your self

Antoinette Apolon: care oh my self care oh I've been doing good this week.

Uh I kinda was like I'm going to take a week for myself to just get my mind in order and have a better understanding of things so this week was a pause week for me um where I was like I gotta hit a pause I gotta do some self reflection I gotta understand what's happening so I've been doing a lot of reading a lot of reading a lot of outside time like just soaking up the sun grounding myself on the earth.

Putting my feet in the grass so I've been really paying attention to my energy levels taking my vitamins so the camera crew would have seen me doing a really good job this week I don't know how productive it was but it was good for me and now I kind of feel like okay I can kind of get a handle on things and set myself up for next week to to work you know a little bit more harder in the business but I just needed a pause moment.

I think it's it's very important because personally I have not been doing a good job at self care and you know we talked about it somehow in our minds we get this grind like Oh you know I come from the ground like team no sleep I'm not on that team anymore so that team in the trash I'm not on team no sleep anymore.

I'm on team I need eight hours and don't talk to me if I don't get eight hours okay I'm on team if I need to take a nap in the middle of the day don't talk to me until I take a nap uh so now I'm on a different team and I'm learning how to uh you know care for Antoinette so Antoinette can care for other people.

Melanie Branch: Oh my God I love that you know you know that my special interest is research so whenever I hear about a topic that is interesting to me I tend to learn every possible thing that I can on the topic because I also have Aquarius placements and Aquarius is uh the collective uh like alien energy so like we want to help everybody on earth be as good as possible because we know that there is something better than the stupid bullshit that we get stuck in the minutia of every single day.

Right so self care when I tell you my kids now my husband now everybody understands like when dinner's done and it's like 7 7 30 I just look at them and I go all right that's what I want done in the this is what I want done in the kitchen and I'm going to go lay down or I'm going to go bounce on my trampoline whatever it is.

It's in there like horizontal time because horizontal time means you can still come talk to me while I'm in the bed right like I excuse me I don't want to sit on the couch and watch a show I want to lay in my bed and watch a show but you can I'm still available or I'm going to lay down leave me the fuck alone.

Like I'm I'm tired I'm going sleepies right so self care what I want everybody listening to to know is when you model self care everybody in your life starts to see how important it is and they're able to start taking care of themselves too so that our our savior syndrome and our our our good girl complexes that we have of like I'm responsible for everybody's energy and everybody's attitude and everybody's mood and how everybody's feeling.

My my husband my kids my dog my no you're not everybody's responsible for their own fucking happiness and if they're running low and they've tried everything that they know to do and they still need help then they can come ask me for help

Antoinette Apolon: yeah unless you're a toddler well even

Melanie Branch: then I'm not having a toddler around anymore.

Your toddler isn't even a toddler anymore I need four now he's

Antoinette Apolon: five it's funny because now he said he's he says mommy do you need quiet time I say I say you know Kari I need some quiet time so now he knows like he'll look and he says mommy do you need quiet time I say yes I need some quiet time and he knows he say okay.

And sometimes he says can I give you a little bit of love and he'll come and he gives me a hug and then he walks in his room and he leaves me alone and I'm like see the kids even the kids know sometimes I'm like I'm a little overstimulated and I don't want to yell at y'all so I need some quiet time.

And they're like okay you know and they and they get it they'll go and they kind of sometimes they're itching they'll come peek in the room and say Is it over yet I'm like no it's not over yet you know but they try to be patient so I appreciate that He has

Melanie Branch: always been a caring helpful boy I remember when you came to my husband's birthday party at the beach however many years ago and everybody took turns holding kari and he It was not like my sons my sons were like holding a sack of potatoes.

They didn't try and help out they weren't trying to hold on to nothing they were just like pick me up and then it was like Oh my God I'm going to die you're so heavy I swear I was on car I could let go and he would still hold on I was like all right I can do this this is good just move around get on the back or just swap them.

And he was like yeah as long as I'm up high with the grownups I'm happy but I'll make it easy on you so he's always been looking out for you you lucked out with that one but you know not only gives you what you're meant to handle

Antoinette Apolon: yeah this is

Melanie Branch: true so you know you're a really strong bitch if your baby's cried for 16 months straight you know,

Antoinette Apolon: I wish I

Melanie Branch: yeah no that's

Antoinette Apolon: he's five now he's five he is five yeah I feel like time is like on fast forward mode because when I tell people my story like hey I got into full time real estate investing like five years ago on maternity leave That's when my credit got messed up and I was like so broke I couldn't pay attention.

Okay like stuff was yeah life was life and I was Like I really feel like I'm smart enough to figure this out but I got to do things differently and that's really when I started taking a reins and started doing a credit repair and and really started deep diving you know real estate investing and it's been five years and I've been doing real estate and like credit repair like full time entrepreneurship for three years.

So when I tell people like it doesn't take that long when you say five years people like oh my god that's so long But i'm like the time's gonna pass Anyway you might as well like start taking the steps because the time is gonna pass whether or not you're doing what you're supposed to Be doing or whether or not you you're doing what you say you want to do right?

So five years from now and like we're we're like on a seven figure journey now I've i've surpassed my six figure goals now we're on a seven figure journey so Like I tell people all the time don't let the time fool you it's going to fly Yeah

Melanie Branch: yeah it does people don't tell you too like when you're on this healing journey and you're learning more about yourself and you're optimizing your days and you're really really like Self focus and success focus when you're enjoying yourself time goes by like that especially if you've got ADHD and the only things that you like Hey are you know doctor's appointments and stuff where you're just sitting there and then time takes forever but literally it's already fucking May.

Antoinette Apolon: Oh listen like I had my Christmas tree down since

Melanie Branch: February like it has been it's almost time to put the Christmas tree back

Antoinette Apolon: up right right listen by the time summer is over it's Christmas it is Christmas when's the end of summer is Christmas time by that time I know

Melanie Branch: I know it's all right I'm dealing with a uh 18 year old going on 19 stepson a 14 going on 15 and my youngest just turned 13.

Antoinette Apolon: Well they can all feed themselves but somehow

Melanie Branch: I'm still 28 I don't know what happened I don't understand I turned 37 just a few days ago and I'm like I don't know thank you for your happy birthday wishes by the way I answered you back in my head I just didn't answer you back on the phone it happens.

Everybody's used to it everybody's used to it I was like oh look Antoinette texted me look how cute that is and then it just it was gone it was addressed in my brain um so since you're in real estate and because we came up in the restaurant industry together can you tell me about the biggest risk that you've ever taken and Was it worth it?

Antoinette Apolon: I mean the biggest risk was not going back to the job when they called me to come back I think I'm good

Melanie Branch: oh to be a fly on the wall in that conversation with the manager that I'm sure I knew and

Antoinette Apolon: yeah I was already like itching to go so for me risk it's funny because I was talking to my therapist and we have established that uh you know just growing up.

I've always been in survival mode so when you say risk I'm like yeah everything is risky life is risky what are you talking about I don't even know like like risk is normalized for me now so so really the risk factor is is changing what I was doing before like refusing to go back to the place of comfort.

And so like Listen anytime I buy a property nine times out of 10 like sometimes I go look at them but other times I don't go look at them every time I buy a property is risky to be quite honest uh for anybody that is investing in real estate or tax liens and taxes don't do that don't don't do what I just said.

Don't do that go see the property I just wanted to put that disclaimer out there I have a little bit more experience than other people which is why I know how to mitigate those risks that way but if you're a newbie do not do that okay cause I I kind of we'll have to get into those stories another day but real estate investing in general is considered high risk.

Okay buying tax defaulted properties is considered high risk okay these are properties that other people haven't even paid the taxes on so now you're picking it up with any problems that they may have all right so all of it is risky it's really just about enjoying the journey and I always say like the money's in the problem solving.

So I know that I'm going to have to solve some problems that that's just the state that I exist in I know that they're going to be challenges I know that something's going to pop up but I'm I'm ready for it like I don't quite know what it is but I'm like all right let's get to it cause we're going to have to solve it out like figure it out solve it.

And to me that's also exciting so there's that risk there's that anxiety on auction days I'm usually like er like jacked up adrenaline yeah but it's fun and nerve wracking at the same time I

Melanie Branch: bet I bet I mean a job is risky I've walked into I worked at the hops on Fowler Avenue in Tampa Florida and I had my most successful Sunday double ever made the most money ever.

And that night the higher ups walked in and said we're not opening up tomorrow and I was like well I'm not fucking sweeping I want everybody to know that if we're not opening tomorrow this is it I'm not doing my fucking side work um I did do my side work but now I wouldn't if roles are reversed now I wouldn't have done my side work.

Um but like you never know you you absolutely never know the only thing in life that's guaranteed is your ability to show up for yourself yeah

Antoinette Apolon: this is true this is true I love I absolutely love that you said that because I always tell my mentees and other people that I'm talking to on TikTok I'm like I'll bet on myself any day of the week.

I'll bet on myself 101 million times because I know that I won't let myself down I mean there are times where like I'm tired or whatever but I know that eventually I'm gonna show up for myself I give myself 110 percent with everything so um and I feel like a lot of people won't even bet on themselves because they're scared because then they don't have anybody else to blame.

You it's you with you it's you with you

Melanie Branch: yeah I'll tell you I think really the only people that are super successful entrepreneurs are neurodivergent and I think you can see elements of their potential entrepreneurship in their lifestyle choices so if you were always a person that liked to play a one on one sport as opposed to a team sport you're probably going to be a great entrepreneur.

I was really big into tennis I was really big into golf and when I did play things like soccer and that sort of stuff it was fun but I never felt the urge to take it seriously cause you had to rely on so many other people

Antoinette Apolon: hmm that's interesting I played basketball so but basketball is a team sport.

Yeah

Melanie Branch: shooting guard basketball has a lot of basketball has a lot of standouts though I feel like basketball has more standouts than any other sport it's more of like a showboat sport when in terms of the team sports

Antoinette Apolon: I could see that I could see that but there does there's definitely that element of like Hey you can't be the weakest link on your team.

So you still have to focus on yourself and be able to execute for yourself in order for your overall team to be successful so and it's so high stress basketball

Melanie Branch: cause all eyes are on you and I don't know I don't know all the rules of basketball so I may get it wrong but those three pointers from really far away.

When like the time goes out on the like every movie ever the with basketball yeah everybody's staring at you bitch! Nobody's looking at anybody

Antoinette Apolon: else! Yeah I I wasn't attempting any uh three point shots I was a drive to the whole let let me get my layup in because you don't win the game actually it's funny because you don't win the game with three point shots.

You win the game with the two point shots consistent two point shots as in consistent two points either layups or or two point uh shots but the game is one with the two point shots the three pointers are just you know like icing on the cake but it's that repetitive consistent drives to the whole place that win the game.

Yeah

Melanie Branch: that's so interesting that you know that about basketball and then that you have stayed you're one of the most consistent people that I've ever seen in my life in terms of showing up every single day no matter what it takes because I knew you back in the music days I knew you back before you had the baby.

I knew you back when we were grinding doubles doing whatever we had to do and I wasn't even like I knew I wanted my own business and I knew I was in school for business thank God I got my degree in 2019 after five years it's fine we don't have to say anything uh but like you know I got distracted by all sorts of stuff.

I got distracted by drinking friends I got distracted by X Y and Z you know I thought I had to be the perfect mom and all that shit but you were like nah music didn't work out so now I'm doing credit now credit's boring me so I'm going to do this real estate stuff and I was like damn look at her go.

Okay I guess I'm gonna I want to be like Antoinette when I grow up oh

Antoinette Apolon: my God you know what's crazy I always feel like I'm not consistent enough but you're the second person to say that to me within like a 24 hour time period as a third person they said you have consistently been showing up and I made a commitment TikTok consistently for Taxi Tuesdays.

And I did that for a year and look what happened like just you know but I didn't even think about it in terms of like the music and things like that like I have consistently been um working on being an entrepreneur and I didn't even think about that until just now and

Melanie Branch: you've consistently been accountable and aware of like all right this isn't working anymore or this doesn't feel aligned anymore.

Uh you know I gotta keep moving I gotta keep I gotta do this or I gotta do that so like that level of self awareness is what we could all strive

Antoinette Apolon: for oh man thank you thank you you're welcome yeah I always feel like I have so much growth but then I growth to do which you know honestly if you're not growing your day right?

So there's always growth to happen but I think in our own eyes we don't necessarily um you know we don't we don't see all of the things all of the time so um it's always nice to to hear from other people and you're just like I did do that you're right

Melanie Branch: I did show up that was me that was me um that's good.

So let me ask you this since you are a member at the Neuro Spice A Academy has anything really happened and changed in your life and business since joining share with us what you've realized about having expert coaches in multiple arenas uh having their help at your fingertips whenever you want how has that changed the

Antoinette Apolon: game for you?

Oh well okay so a number of things happened from joining the academy like and I think one of the biggest things was honestly the self care proponent like self care self care self care that really kind of was like the catalyst and then I went and I like I got a new therapist and I'm still on the journey.

So it's still something that I'm currently building but really like making it a non negotiable that was one of the major things that changed and then um me setting boundaries boundaries um boundaries and defining boundaries in my life is still again it's still in the works but a huge thing for me because before I didn't have them.

Yeah and if you don't have boundaries you're just all over the place okay your cattle's running loose yeah basically your catalyst your catalyst's running loose so and then the third thing is um I had a conversation with Christina and Christina like really kind of just man she like dug into my business right?

But the insight that I got from the meeting was just like really mind blowing I think people don't understand the um the value of seeds being planted because those seeds grow and she really just like planted some things in me that really I was like Oh well why don't I do that well why am I doing it that way?

And now I'm in the process of like restructuring my entire business like no I'm not doing that anymore I don't want to do that I don't want to do that and no longer serves me we're changing this around my team's like what's happening I'm like it's okay I'm going to figure it out we're going to figure it out together.

But like just no just no So actually Restructuring

Melanie Branch: restructuring is something that everyone listening I want you to know because I just restructured my business to to accommodate my role at the Neuro Spicy Academy and to be in alignment with my ultimate end goals and whatnot and I restructured for like four months and I didn't realize that it was going to take that long.

I didn't realize what my business was going to look like when I wasn't taking new clients because I was building a new program for new clients and folks that like the restructuring process is a trip how are you handling it

Antoinette Apolon: it is intense um but I think I'm handling it by doing the research so now I'm kind of like in this deep diving like I am wearing out my library card because I am getting so many books and I'm just like taking in information.

And then after I get the information I'm like okay well how does this apply to me and you know what what can I do to improve my business and really I'm I'm taking small things and put it in like literally it's kind of like Tetris or like building blocks and I'm just taking the information boop boop boop boop boop.

So sometimes I get a little impatient with myself cause I feel like I should have this figured out by now and really then I have to give myself grace because I'm like hello this is the first time you're doing this like what are you talking about you should have this figured out like this is a part of the journey.

So I am giving myself grace in that regards but um it's definitely taking longer than I thought it would take like I took a week off and I'm like okay that was good you need three more weeks like that minimum minimum where you're focused on yourself and you're focused on your business and how you can show up the best way for yourself and your business.

Um so yeah it's funny that she says it took you four months cause now I'm like yeah it might take me longer in my head I'm like I have this fast forward thing with time me and time we have a we have a unique relationship but um it's definitely going to take me longer than I thought it was going to take me but it's all good.

We're we're on a journey we're going to enjoy the journey

Melanie Branch: you know when it comes to growing a business and running a business I feel like when you're neurodivergent it's always going to be I'm restructuring or I'm scaling or I'm growing or I'm because there's a difference between growing your business and scaling your business.

And that's something that not everybody realizes like scaling is something that's taking it much larger as opposed to you know running your business is growing your business right like unless you're a completely booked out coach and you can't take any more clients and you're ready to either elevate to a group coaching program or to an X Y and Z and this and this and this you're literally growing your business every day that you're.

Doing it you're growing your social media you're growing your reach you're doing all that but scaling is something totally different so at this point if we can look at restructuring as all right this is pre scale right like this is making sure because I had that same meeting with Christina the headmistress at the NeuroSpicy Academy and my life and business partner now.

Um and she really guts you and she looks at and she's like all right well what about this and what about this and what about this and I'm like well I thought they were great and now that I'm looking at them they're really not uh revenue drivers and they're really not uh working out as much as I thought they were.

So let's put the kibosh there on those things and start working over here and that sort of stuff but like she always says are you building a business to sell it or are you building a business to stay running it because if you want anything scalable you better build something that you can fucking sell.

You know and for all the coaches that are listening you got to be thinking about no matter if you just started your coaching business yesterday or you've been doing it for 10 years do you want to have coaches that are certified in your program so that do you want to create a program that other people can teach other people you know what are your monthly income goals?

What are your yearly income goals and you know if you want to make a vision board here's something that's really changed the game for me on your vision board you don't want a picture of a yacht you want a picture of the view from the lunch deck right like where you'd be eating your food and what you'd be looking at.

Right like that's the kind of shit that you want your brain to be getting used to when you're talking about all right I'm going to level up all right I'm going to level up so what does the highest like what is your ultimate end goal look like do you want to be able to just get a plane ticket whenever you want?

Do you want to only ever fly first class do you want to only ever fly private or do you want to own your own jet

Antoinette Apolon: ooh it's funny cause I want to be able to get a ticket whenever I want and not have to worry about like Anything costs store and I don't know if I would want my own jet because that just seems a little cumbersome to me because I have an R.

V now and really I would like to just drive a bunch of places just drive just be on the landscape park somewhere look up at the stars and you know um one of my goals is to drive across the U s and South America in the RV I'm most likely going to get a class a uh RV for that that's the ones that look like tour buses basically.

But right now I have a travel trailer uh that's that sleeps like 10 people so I'm like listen whoever wants to come with me come on we're going on a trip I mean I'm pretty sure you know 10 people find a spot on one of the beds and let's go for an adventure so I think um future me is looking to get back to child Antoinette which is the wonder the Hey let's go in the bushes and like go play in the sand and go camping and uh just create these wonderful memories.

Uh so really in my business I'm looking to grow it to the point where it is scalable I have other people doing those things because honestly do I want to be the person doing all of the teaching no I'd rather teach other people to do it as well as me and then I can go do fun stuff yeah so that is that is the goal.

Just more just more adventures for a little inner city girl you know for Miami like I went to Colorado this year and I cannot tell you how my mind was blown like I had never seen mountains I had never seen snow before that was my first time seeing snow and I just felt like I was in every Christmas movie ever made.

Like Oh my gosh this you know look at the birds look at the you know the snow is so like light and fluffy and it was just like I feel like I was in Wonderland and I was just like in Colorado which honestly Colorado is beautiful it is beautiful and I was just like I want more of this of this other places.

I just want the wonder um it doesn't always have to be like out of the U S but uh cause there are a lot of cool places in the U S but just just being out and like not having to worry about the time and next time I'm going to bring Kari and the family because Kari was like you saw snow I want to see snow.

I was like I'll bring you next time buddy that trip was for me

Melanie Branch: that's so cute I love that you know my husband's in the Navy so we've driven cross country four times we went from Tampa to San Diego San Diego to Jacksonville Jacksonville to San Diego San Diego to Jax so I've done it on multiple routes.

I've done it in four days I've done it in 15 days I've done it north south east west all of that and I never need to drive cross country ever again so I will book a spot for you and my private plane that I book that I don't own because that's how I'm going to be traveling ultimately five to 10 years from now because I just don't want to drive ever again.

Antoinette Apolon: You can put me on game because I don't know I can be swayed I just I was like oh my gosh like the thought of owning a jet just sound like we we have this boat That we do boating is so we rent the boat so we don't have to own the boat But like just me owning the RV I was like jeez this thing comes with so many piece You gotta have it.

Yeah So now the thought of like owning big things I'm like I don't necessarily want to own it but do I want to book it when I want to book it yes I'll be a part of a jet club that's

Melanie Branch: why that question is so good for the mindset shifts that are necessary because you have to embody who you want to be right now to resonate with the universe for them to go.

Oh okay that's what she wants all right send it send it in boys send it in let's go let's go right so like self care is so important to me skin care beauty you know I love my makeup you know that my factory operating setting if I could is just you know drag queen that's the look that I go for every day.

I have to tone it down every day that I'm doing my makeup I'm like ma'am who do you think you are no no no no no so I want you know hair and makeup I want you know a manager to make some deals and shit for me so I don't even have to fucking do that anymore but I want to be able to step in when I want to step in.

You know I want coaches and shit working underneath me I want lots of employees all that so the person who values themselves that much and has that much bandwidth and that much you know coin and bread she better start taking care of herself really well right now to start resonating on that level because if I were still going to bed with makeup on my face every single night I am not sending the vibration out to the universe that this bitch wants more.

Antoinette Apolon: This is true this is

Melanie Branch: true what are your manifestation tips and tricks for the entrepreneurs listening

Antoinette Apolon: ooh we'll do a vision board um that's 1st and foremost like having it I have my vision board on my phone so it's my screen server it's in front of my desk it's on the side wall when I wake up and I look over and by the window like I have it and I did multiple versions.

So like I have like 2 different versions but they basically have the same things on them um but just to you know mix things up so do a vision board okay um be consistent like show up for yourself and in your in your business and for yourself like show up for yourself because sometimes we get bogged down thinking about oh man I really want this thing.

Right whatever your big thing is I really want this thing but I don't know how to get there and we get confused and wrapped up in in the how you don't need to know the how just show up for yourself do small things for yourself every day to get there I have been manifesting like crazy and sometimes I'm even spooked at like the level of um I want to say like recognition that I've been getting.

Like I was like God has really been showing up for me so and it's kind of spooky like I was like Oh yeah I really wish I had a software a lot of people were asking me for a software boom lo and behold now I have a software and I was just like how did that just fall in my lap there are times when it's like I'm not sure how I'm going to complete this deal.

Or I feel like I've been holding this property too long and I'm getting a little antsy boom I get a buyer the next day they're sending their deposit like it is crazy so don't Worry too much about the how okay yeah think about where you want to be and then show up for yourself every single day One foot in front of the other.

Yeah all right keep your visions right in front of you

Melanie Branch: you're so smart you're so right I had a moment I've had two weird moments in the past couple weeks with In real life uh being recognized from my social media so first and foremost I was out for drinks with a girlfriend um over in like the San Marco area around Christmas time I want to say and I don't drink anymore she was drinking I have my cava I'm good to go so we're sitting there.

The next day I get on a live on Tik TOK so I do my face and whatnot and somebody comes on and she goes I think I saw you last night and I was like what are you talking about and she was like were you a blah blah blah and I was like I was she was like Oh my God I was there I knew that was new and I was like Oh why didn't you say hi?

She's like I will next time I'm like okay cool and then a couple of days ago uh I did the most ADHD thing ever I went to the grocery store for a big haul which they're all kind of turning into now that everybody's a teenager in this fucking house but I went for a big haul and I came home and I was like all right everybody you guys want tortellini for dinner and they're like yeah.

And I'm like all right let me grab that jar of spaghetti sauce that we have here at the house that I didn't need to buy at the grocery store we did not have any spaghetti sauce at the fucking house so I was supposed to get some at the grocery store so uh I was out of spoons and I'd already taken my bra off.

I wasn't going to go to the grocery store so I put my hoodie on and I went down to the little Italian pizza place that's well known that's walkable from my house and I walk in and they have this cute thing on their like counter that's an Instagram like follower counter so like just got a little Instagram sign and it says however many thousands or whatnot.

And I was like Oh this is a conversation starter so people are going to come in they go what is that and I go that's how many followers we have on Instagram why don't you follow us on Instagram so I was like this is so smart so I checked to see if I was following them I wasn't following them but they were following me.

Ooh.

So I followed them back and it made total sense for why when I do walk in there to pick up a pizza on you know two nights out of the month they're all like hi how like all the women are like you know that real familiar like Hey girl how are you and I was like Hey I don't know any of these people what is happening but it's cause they follow me on Instagram.

So you know it happens it happens without you even realizing it or knowing it but when you show up for yourself every day and you say I'm going to post on my Instagram stories even if it's just a little like Hey this is the screenshot of what we do at the Neuro Spicy Academy people want to fucking know about you when you're putting your information out there when you're like Hey this is what I do.

This is who I help this is how I can help you you're helping even people that aren't your like ideal clients just by showing up every single day and showing how much fun you're having or you know vice versa showing what the hard parts look like yep

Antoinette Apolon: yep no I I really firmly believe like there's power in your story whatever your story is.

Some people feel like they're not interesting enough and I'm like you never know like your story can impact someone and just cause a ripple effect so just tell your story it's not hard just tell your story

Melanie Branch: absolutely cause you can get out of that shitty nine to five you can't get out of that shitty restaurant.

You can stop working for your horrible boss you can figure out what your superpowers are and start making like I I make money from going live doing my face and working with clients that I'm absolutely in love with every single day

Antoinette Apolon: yep I get on the internet and talk about real estate and credit right?

I make money from talking to people I literally am sitting there talking to people the same thing like sometimes I'm just like Hey guys I don't have a topic today so what's up yeah what

Melanie Branch: do you want to talk about

Antoinette Apolon: yeah that's so funny now

Melanie Branch: just person to person entrepreneur and entrepreneur at the Academy we're going to start doing uh an ask me anything right.

And AMA and it's going to be for anybody that's not at the Academy and you'll be able to sign up for 10 minutes direct with me and Christina you know she's a business design professional and amazing coach and I really you know mindset social media you know how are we going to get those gremlins to chill the fuck out in your brain and stop telling you that you suck you know because my my imposter syndrome says who the fuck do you think you are all the time all the time who the fuck do you think you are?

You haven't spent years in school for this you haven't spent years studying every topic known to man that comes to mindset and manifestation and all that sort of stuff what is your imposter syndrome say to you

Antoinette Apolon: ooh that I don't have enough real estate that I haven't done enough deals um yeah it's the real estate.

And sometimes I get a little antsy like with coaching and coaching is time consuming people coaching is time consuming so if I am focused on coaching you know a new set of clients then I lack in my deals like I'm not actively like looking for deals so then it's like well when was the last time you did a deal?

And I'll get a little antsy about that cause I'm like Oh you know I want to still be doing deals so um my imposter syndrome will be telling me like Hey you're not doing enough real estate deals you know what I mean um or your deals aren't big enough so somehow I get in my mind like Oh yeah you just flipped the land parcel but they're building apartment complexes.

Like you know it's not big enough no it is big enough it is big enough your deals my deals are big enough I've done enough deals like I have enough social proof like um Sometimes I'll have people come on my live and they're like are you certified and I'm like certified by whom

Melanie Branch: yes I swear to God if people don't stop coming where do you get where do you get the right to charge what you charge?

Do you have a business is what I asked them first of all and they're like no and I said well I don't need to talk to you because I only work with entrepreneurs that have businesses you know I'm not here for somebody that's trying to go from working a nine to five to starting a business cause that's not my area of expertise anymore.

My area of expertise is how are we going to make you go big or go home how am I going to get you to speak on big stages how am I going to get you to write the fucking book how am I going to get you to be a sold out on demand fucking coach in your industry right so don't let the people who have never been where you're going try and give you directions.

Antoinette Apolon: Yeah it's it people will test you especially on social media they're like Oh well who are you and why I'm like listen you don't have you do not have to come to me baby right it's a right it's a Google world out there don't come on my stage and ask me questions about myself I am listen I have done my work.

I am doing my work I think my lifestyle speaks for itself if I'm at a level that it's you want to be at then I don't know why you're over here questioning well what have you done uh just retired my mom and retired myself and worked for myself for over three years and yeah across the six figure mark like.

Those are that's my credentials okay those are my credentials yeah so if that's fine

Melanie Branch: I'm not telling you you have to buy for me you don't have to give me money you don't have to when I do an affiliate fucking video for the parasite cleanse that I really like and all this other stuff I've done the research on it and I've done it multiple times in my life and I've seen fantastic results.

If you don't like it you don't have to comment on my shit because then you're just going to see more of my shit yeah like I'm not

Antoinette Apolon: telling you the It's a funny place isn't it it is a funny place but that's the other thing like you gotta have thick skin and again that goes back to not taking things personally.

Like some people they just like to ruffle feathers and um you know I'm just in a state where I'm like I'm not even gonna answer your questions anymore like I'm not yeah I'm not going to answer your questions I'm only going to engage people that are seriously here to learn or you know give value um because a lot of times it's like Hey I'm creating these products because people ask me to create these products.

It's not like I'm sitting here like no you guys on Tik TOK asked me Hey well can you do this hey Hey can you coach me okay so when I have people like well who are you first of all you guys asked me to be here

Melanie Branch: yeah seriously I'm filling a hole in the industry here thank you very much

Antoinette Apolon: because let me tell you something.

There's a lot of people out here that are doing their thing and they are not coaching they are minding their business and making their money

Melanie Branch: absolutely absolutely all right so before we dive in to the um lightning round of fun questions which I ask every person on the show uh that are all pretty much ADHD related and uh relatable.

Give everybody um the information where they can find you how you can help them all that sort of stuff

Antoinette Apolon: hi guys okay I'm Antoinette AKA Red Lotus Chick you guys can find me on TikTok Instagram YouTube at Red Lotus Chick spelled C H I C no K yeah yeah and I teach people how to invest in tax exalted properties and how to leverage your personal credit to get business funding and grow and scale their real estate empire.

Melanie Branch: Yes! We love that also everything will be linked here uh where you're watching it okay! Are you ready for the lightning round it's five questions one of them is a two

Antoinette Apolon: parter

Melanie Branch: let's do it first and foremost what is your favorite social media platform tick tock number two what is the most recent rabbit hole you've gone down?

Antoinette Apolon: Ooh uh carpets carpet like carpet steamers for some reason I am intrigued with cleaning carpets um and that's like outside of my business um now my most recent rabbit hole that is business related is figuring out all things revenue profit based like the numbers I'm I'm in the numbers rabbit hole.

All right we like that

Melanie Branch: we like that all right number three what is your emotional support show so the show that you would like to put on if you're trying to fall asleep or the show that you put on if you cannot take on a new show because you're not emotionally

Antoinette Apolon: prepared avatar the last airbender any anime that I've already seen but mostly anime uh uh Avatar the last airbender.

I forget that you're

Melanie Branch: a grownup that likes anime but I love you for it don't worry I won't stop talking to you just because of that.

Antoinette Apolon: I get all of my life lessons from anime okay like uh give me some Kung Fu Panda and I'm there stressing and it's just talking about inner peace I'm like see that was the message I needed to receive today in a non intrusive way

Melanie Branch: absolutely all right I can get behind it for that reason all right.

Here's the two parter first and foremost have you consumed any

Antoinette Apolon: water today yes but not enough

Melanie Branch: all right and then the second part is do you want to share your emotional support cup with everyone watching

Antoinette Apolon: oh I don't have an emotional support cup I should have one but I don't have one I just drink out of the red cups the red uh you

Melanie Branch: know the red cups.

Oh my God I need your address I'll send you an emotional support cup that you can customize yourself because every ADHDer needs an emotional support cup all right and the last question what is your current dopamine snack and or meal mmm.

Antoinette Apolon: Pepper Jack cheese I have been hooked on this pepper jack cheese and really it's just cheese in general right but I recently had this pepper jack cheese from Sam's Club and it is like It is amazing and I was like I got a really like this stuff is crack but I'm a salty girl um I love anything like an Italian sub pizza uh pasta pasta with cheese.

Yeah any of that stuff my go to for like when I'm just like I'm just gonna I'm just going to do it it's an Italian sub or it's a pizza

Melanie Branch: I love that carbs and cheese are my favorite too like I was vegan for a while over a year I was vegan I was very happy and I love the way it made me feel but I miss cheese.

So now I am a technical vegetarian I do not like flesh the only thing that was an actual animal that I've consumed in the past two years was snails because I was at a fancy restaurant they had escargot and my my rationale to be able to say yeah I can eat this is that I don't think Snails would have ever had a relationship with their mom So I don't think and I don't think that they are aware that they are being like killed when they're being killed Whereas I think you know traditional farming Of like cows and chickens and stuff is really stressful on them and shit.

So I don't want to eat you know them after they've been raised in that environment and then killed that way so um yeah you know it goes really deep for me you know that I'm but cheese I can get behind I'm trying to go like as organic with the cheese as possible and like when I get it home I take it out of the plastic and like put it in glass and all cause I'm really my rabbit hole right now is.

Like hormone disruption and health and wellness for neurodivergent people because I found I made this connection in my brain and this is what I'm exploring right now behind the scenes if our ADHD symptoms if our our executive dysfunction right the eight key executive functions that make that are what we really struggle with as neurodivergent humans.

If those are worse around our period when our estrogen is low and our estrogen is a hormone then do all of our hormones directly impact our neurodivergence and could that make it better or worse so I also have a PCOS and endometriosis and all this other sort of hormone imbalance issues and I'm learning even more about you know MCAS and the Uh what I call the motherfucker gene but I know it's like the MTHFR whatever we're gonna call it.

Um but it just seems so hormonally linked to me that I'm like all right how how healthy can I go don't think that I'm above anybody because I still drink three diet sodas a day so you know it's it's all about the balance and the harmony that we can get but really understanding like How much better can I treat my body so that my mind can really be

Antoinette Apolon: sharp?

I am so interested in that let me know what your findings are because baby I am crazy During my inflow like the week before in the week I like my energy levels are just so all of it but I can literally be depressed like For three days just be and I'm talking like no way it talks to me like I cannot function depressed.

So yeah let me know when you find out because at this point I was like the next time I go to my physician I'm going to ask them to test my test my thyroid and test my hormone levels because it I feel like the older you get the more like off it gets not to mention weight gain Weight gain yeah I don't know if this is the age thing.

I don't know this is a neurodivergent thing but like Cortisol it's cortisol yeah yeah and it's body and I'm like When when when did this happen and why is it so hard for me to lose weight now I'm pretty sure that's hormonal like everything every test that I've taken it's stress high cortisol levels.

Melanie Branch: Yeah I had a um I had Dr alicia on she's a naturopathic doctor um and I've been following her on Instagram for a little while and I really like her she's adorable and cute and really really smart and um essentially there is there's another doctor that she was quoting doctors MDs medical doctors are really to help you with that line of fine.

So do you have a disease okay no you don't have a disease cool we're going to get you alive but we're not necessarily going to get you like well and then you have to go the route of a.

Naturopathic doctor to really look closely at your hormone levels and how we can fix them and how we can get them there because a medical doctor is not here for you to thrive it's here for you to be alive right so what you want to get that and keep moving really well I mean first and foremost I'll tell you and this is going to be TMI for a lot of people.

Um I'm a person that really struggles with uh constipation so my stress will just stop my digestive system and it's it was my mom was alive she passed away a couple of years ago it literally used to be a joke with my mom of like Hey Mel if you're going to go out of town you know you got to take some stuff or you're not going to poop and la la la la and da da da da and yada yada.

And I'm like yeah I know I now have doing all this research um and I follow a um nutritionist that specializes in uh constipation in women and hormone imbalances in women and she's really incredible and I'm probably gonna work with her if you have any sort of backup in your system essentially what happens is all of those hormones so if you have excess estrogen or excess progesterone excess testosterone it just gets reabsorbed in your body.

It just gets reabsorbed in your body so if you are not eliminating every day regularly the food that you ate yesterday then it's just going to build up and build up and build up and you can do a motility test which means you have to eat white sesame seeds or corn and then you have to find out when it comes back out because you'll be able to see it when it comes back out.

And I ate corn on Saturday and I did not see it until Wednesday or Thursday and that is after actively I am taking something just about every day to get things moving a special natural supplement to get things moving and I'm telling you if you think that you're going regularly but you're still having hormone issues you're probably not going

Antoinette Apolon: regularly.

That is so interesting I'm going to try that I'm putting sesame seeds in my food just to be like I wonder I'm pretty regular but you know if you're like really following a natural diet you're supposed to go as much as babies and babies go like 3 times a day so I mean I feel like everyone in the US with the way that food is produced.

We'll have some sort of backup but I'm definitely going to test that theory out and test it out now we're talking about poop on your podcast.

Melanie Branch: My first guest to talk about poop with me on my podcast I love it I love it I mean the moral of the story is take care of yourself do your research and figure out what you can do to start feeling your best because it's nobody else's responsibility to make you feel your best that

Antoinette Apolon: part that's the message we want you guys to take away

Melanie Branch: and eat corn or sesame seeds to make sure that everything is moving properly.

Thank you very much everybody looks at their poop nobody anybody who says they don't is a liar

Antoinette Apolon: this message has been brought to you by

Melanie Branch: you know what I can do I can reach out to that that um the person I'm following and see if she wants to be on the podcast that's what I'll do

Antoinette Apolon: listen that little segment that's that's for poopery.

Melanie Branch: They're like please I have ADHD and I'm trying to feel better can you come on my show thank you thank you all right Angela thank you so much for being on the show tell everybody how much you love them we love you all equally and for different reasons

Antoinette Apolon: love you guys thank you so much thank you Mel.

You're welcome.