In this eye-opening episode, I chat with Allie Casazza, a #1 best-selling author and host of a chart-topping podcast, about the transformative power of simplicity. Allie shares actionable steps on how women, especially moms, can declutter their lives and brands for greater impact and fulfillment. 

Allie is on a mission to help women level up in life, motherhood, and business while becoming the version of themselves they desire to be. She has cultivated a massive audience and a multimillion-dollar online business based on her proven, action-taking approach to simplicity, decluttering, and the energetics of running your life and/or your business. Allie has started a movement that is spreading like wildfire!

She is the author of several books including the #1 bestseller, Declutter Like A Mother, host of The Purpose Show, a chart-topping podcast, and the creator of multiple online programs that garner thousands of registrations each time they run. Allie has received praise for her method on major media platforms, including The New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, The Today Show, and Good Morning America.

Her platforms continue to grow every day as more women discover her life-changing approach to creating a truly abundant life. She is a desert-dwelling mom to 4 (plus her English bulldog, Phoebe) in Phoenix, Arizona.

Welcome Allie!

So simplicity to me is self-automation, self-delegation, all things I teach and that don’t cost any money.

– Allie Casazza – CEO of Allie & Co

How did you get to this point? What led you to writing the book, having the podcast, and offering all of the support to women?

So my business comes directly from my own experience and my own story of struggle. I started out very much niched down to moms and I spoke in the decluttering space. So, I was like the decluttering queen. 

I mean, I started before minimalism was a thing. I didn’t even know that word. 

So we were blogging and having this very tiny group of women just reading the blog having these conversations about my mental health and how it was improving as I was simplifying and not having so much to maintain. 

I ended up writing an article called how getting rid of my stuff saved my motherhood. And that went like mega viral in like 2016. It was trending over the election, the first Hillary Trump debate. It was crazy and that really was an intentional move that I made. 

I knew I was writing the post to go viral and I was really working hard to study that and have that happen because I didn’t wanna be a blogger anymore. I wanted to make it a business, I was creating a method, I was helping people for free create so much freedom, literally and metaphorically, by just getting rid of their physical things and creating more space. 

And then they were having more energy, more time, all of that, just like I did. So I struggled, I created a solution that I didn’t see out there for myself. I started sharing about it online, turned it into a methodology, trademarked that, turned it into a business. 

Then ended up going beyond clutter and things, going beyond even motherhood, to everyone that identifies as a woman. I got certified in emotional freedom technique and dabbled into feng shui and the energetics of your life, your home. 

Really the strategy you bring to running your life, running a house, working, reaching your goals, starting a business, and now it’s turned into this life coaching method that I’ve been teaching for over eight years now. 

How do you define simplicity in life- because so often this is equated with less when you talk so openly about never playing small or settling? 

I think that the minimalism aspect is why I really started pulling back from even using that word. Once we had these documentaries trending and these bestselling books trending on the topic of minimalism, it just kind of picked up its own set of stereotypes that I don’t resonate with, and I didn’t want my brand to stand for. 

So, like the book Declutter Like a Mother, which came out in 2021, the first thing I say is minimalism doesn’t matter. This is not about that. 

I think this is probably why I have like very few friends in that niche, because I abandoned everyone because it was starting to get so legalistic and becoming about like who has less. And I just don’t care about that. 

Simplicity for me is simplifying the things that have to happen. Let’s just look at like basic lifestyle, the laundry, the meal planning, the grocery shopping, running your house, getting ready for work, running your business, whatever is part of your day-to-day life. 

Let’s simplify those things that really have to happen so that you have more time and energy to focus on feeling your feelings and being the person you wanna be. And I think there’s not enough said for mental space. 

Having things automated and simplified means that you have so much more mental space. This is when you see these tips like, oh, you should meditate for five to 20 minutes every morning and you should just make your bed when you wake up. 

And women are saying, I don’t have any freaking time. It’s not so much that you don’t have time. That’s definitely there and we can talk about that, but it’s more so, I’ve seen when I work with clients, that they don’t have mental space. 

So doing something like that just feels like more work. It feels really tiring. So simplicity to me is self-automation, self-delegation, all things I teach and that don’t cost any money, which is amazing. 

You can just simplify the things that really need to happen, but that you don’t necessarily care about or want to spend your energy on so you have more space for the input type of things that really make your life beautiful and help you grow and become, what I call “becoming her”.

Becoming that next level, that higher version of yourself. That’s how you create space for that, it’s through simplicity. We just so used to earning our worth that we overcomplicate things unconsciously.

You have some reels and pieces out there about how you can change your life in three months. Can you break that down?

I think like we all want like the microwave results like super quick. And we think, “How can we life hack ourselves?” “How can we just make things simple?” “Where are we overcomplicating?” 

I’ll give an example. I will never set goals again. I used to be a major goal setter and I would study it and learn different methods and strategies for it and I just wasn’t able to stay focused on something long enough. 

I didn’t know I had ADHD at the time, so that was an element of that for sure. But, I was just bored. Once the dopamine rush of getting organized wore off, I was like, eh, I kinda forgot that I was doing that. 

And so I got to a point where I was just said, okay, I’m busy, I have four kids, I’ve home educated my kids their entire lives up until this school year. I’m a single mom now learning how to navigate that and really learning how to like come into myself. 

I’m learning how to spend time with myself, love myself, go on dates, travel, I have the business. There’s so much. So what would it look like if I was the version of myself that is just really embodying self-love, self-acceptance, really just happy. 

How does she eat? How does she do the laundry? How does she run things? 

And literally just made a choice, as strange as it might sound, to just shift into being her and acting as her. And so whenever I get stuck or discouraged or frustrated, I come back to this idea of her and think, well, this really isn’t that big of a deal. 

I can just let this go and start over. You can have a fresh start any second of the day that you want. It doesn’t have to be Monday. It doesn’t have to be the start of the day. It doesn’t have to be New Year’s. Just creating that fresh start and going again from there. 

So not just setting goals and trying to get somewhere and looking at it like it’s over here and I’ve got to get closer to it. Screw that. Just embody it now. 

What if you were just embodying what you want to be now and then over time after three months, it’s so embedded in you – you’ve been embodying it. You don’t really have to train yourself to do it anymore. 

Then you can play with something else that you want to try to begin to embody. So I think think it’s a balance. 

Going back to the microwave meal, I want the microwave meal, but I want it to be like stove top cooked, really organic and clean. So, let’s find the balance. 

Screw goal setting. I’m not going to look at myself and where I want to be like it’s way ahead of me, something that I’ve got to earn and go get. It’s very masculine to do things that way. 

I’m just going to be in my feminine flow, my goddess self and just embody that version of myself right now and then understand too that I’m working this into my subconscious mind. I’m working this in to being embedded in me and that is going to take time. 

So just being mindful, being aware, noticing okay, if I’m embodying this new version of me, I’m setting my alarm for the morning, what would her morning routine look like? What do I want it to look like? 

And then whenever you feel that resistance or that, oh well, the baby is gonna wake up and I’m not gonna be able to do that, what are the things that are in the way? And how can I either create a solution and simplify it or get behind the way things are right now. 

Energetically reframe and get behind the fact that you have a newborn baby right now. It’s not gonna be like that forever. 

So rejecting that microwave way of thinking in that moment and being super present for what you have right now and what’s going on right now, knowing you’re not gonna have a baby interrupting your morning routine forever. 

So taking the pieces and finding that balance between embodiment and just right now, I’m just being her now. I’m not waiting. I’m not goal setting. And then also understanding like it’s about being mindful and having grace for yourself and going forward in that embodiment one day at a time.

In your experience, what role does gratitude play in creating a simplified and fulfilling life?

It’s so over said and so under done. So I feel cringy whenever I bring it up and specifically when I do have a client, because I do point them back here so often and I feel like, oh my gosh, you’re paying me money and I’m saying like the most basic like thing. 

But they’re missing it, they’re not doing it. They know it, but they don’t do it. Knowing and doing are so different.

I’ll give myself as an example. For me, first thing I do in the morning, literally I don’t even have to get out of bed for it, I just let my mind create five-ish things, just a very short list of things that I’m grateful for. 

And they can be super juvenile and surface. It can be like, oh, the sky is clear today, it’s gonna be really pretty today. That’s so basic, but it’s something that I’m grateful for. 

And then I don’t just list it, I picture myself like standing outside maybe walking Phoebe in the morning or imagine myself sitting in the sun with my laptop and working later today. Whatever it is, I feel that gratitude. 

I think people think it’s noticing and making a list but it’s not. It’s more so the feelings our subconscious minds create, our reality with pictures and feelings. You don’t want the thing you think, you want the feeling it’s going to bring you. 

Take $10,000 months. You want the feeling of freedom and options that a $10,000 month will bring you. 

Being grateful for what is and feeling the feelings of that clear day, that blue sky, that walk with my dog, walking the kids to the bus stop, it’s so simple, but I actually really am so grateful for that. 

I am really feeling those feelings for a few different things and then shifting into being grateful for what is coming. It’s not technically in this current reality at the moment, but I know it’s coming. 

So let’s say that you are really wanting to manifest $10,000 months as an example. Then really feeling that. Going through like, I’m grateful for this clear day, I’m grateful that I get to walk my daughter, I’m grateful that my daughter just made a new friend at school. 

Grateful for the really cute set of pastel post-its I just got on Amazon. And then shifting into, I am so grateful for having six figure months just from showing up on Instagram. Like, I get to build a community and actually make six figures a month. 

So, shifting from gratitude for what is to gratitude to what will be, as if it is right now. Literally, you shape and sculpt your life that way. I’m tired of people talking about gratitude like it’s just this one-off little thing. 

Oh, don’t forget, gratitude practice is so important. They’re not telling you it’s about the feelings. If you were to really do this just for a minute before you get out of bed in the morning, that alone, without anything else, will tremendously transform your life.

It comes from you. It comes from you and this is another good reason that I like to use gratitude because gratitude is such a tool. 

It’s a tool that you can have in your toolkit and pull it out whenever you’re like, I’m really not vibing with this piece of my current reality and I want to shift it. 

So you can do this in relationships, for example, like if there’s something that you really want. Let’s say that you just really want your man to bring you flowers, do the little things. And maybe he’s just not a natural romantic. 

You can get into the feelings of what is kind of  in that genre of who he is. And even if you’re really reaching, like maybe he always gets the door for you when you’re getting in the car. Or always sits facing the door when you’re at a restaurant because he thinks it’s making you safer. 

Little things like I’m so grateful that he does that actually. That is really, really sweet and super manly and sexy and so romantic. I’m so grateful that he’s so romantic. 

Tell him that. “I was just randomly thinking about how you always have to sit facing the door at a restaurant and it’s just very delicious and makes me feel safe. Thank you, it’s really romantic.” 

You are being grateful for what is and speaking it out and what you give your intention and attention to expands. So he’s definitely going to start to do more romantic things. He’s gonna feel really pumped up. 

So let’s stop focusing on what isn’t and start focusing on what is and give validation to the feelings that you want. Romance, it’s valid. We don’t need toxic positivity, but do you want to play the game or not? That’s how you play it.

How do you help women overcome the resistance to the idea of “make money while you play?” 

I think that a lot of the resistance comes from the way our society is set up. So let’s go all the way back to, I’m talking like the industrial era, before women were even in the workforce. 

Men worked, women did not. And for a while, women were literally not allowed to. So the work day was literally structured for and around men who have a 24-hour cycle. Women have a 28 to 32-ish day cycle, so we’ll just go with four weeks. 

So we’re on a month-long cycle, men are on a day-long cycle, so everything was built for them. Then women came into the workforce and men were unhappy about it, so they kept the 24-hour cycle. They kept everything the way it is. 

Now it’s just been so long, no one is undoing that. Some other countries and cultures are, but very little. Here in America and in most cultures, it is still that way. You work nine to five, it’s a day, 24-hour cycle. And men go through all of the phases of that cycle in 24 hours. 

So the nine to five workday is perfect for them. That’s discarding human design and astrology, but typically that’s how men function. 

Women are on this month long cycle. So we’re being expected to fit that. And then we start businesses to exit that and we put ourselves right back into it because it’s normal and then we are burned out. You are meant to go in flow. 

Your cycle, your literal physical cycle of the luteal phase, the follicular phase, the premenstrual phase, the menses phase, all of these phases go along with the different weeks in your cycle and are actually attached to elements. 

My friend Amber, teaches on this beautifully that there is air, earth, water, and fire, and each element is attached to a phase in a woman’s cycle. Each phase has a purpose. 

Water is to bring things to the surface – be in input mode. This is where you need to extend self-care. Do laptop work. Don’t be showing up, recording podcasts, getting together with a bunch of people. 

Like, no, this is introvert mode, even if you’re an extrovert. It is your sole care few days of the month. Be with your family, cook nourishing meals. 

I’m in air right now. So we’re doing podcasting. I have a big block of podcasting for this afternoon. I was podcasting this morning and we’re doing this interview today right now. So this is like content creation, my head air. I’m energized. I’m feeling it. So this is when I batch all of my content. 

I think the resistance to making money while you play, which is really just make money while you be how you want to be – you can play or you can read, you can sleep and nap, you can eat chalupas, you can make healthy vegan meals, you can do whatever the hell you want – comes from this patriarchal setup of the typical workday and not understanding that you are actually going to make more money if you resist that and lean into your feminine era. 

Every human has both masculine and feminine energy. It has nothing to do with body parts and gender. It has everything to do with the energies. 

So we need more balance, especially women, because we’re talking about gender roles because of the patriarchy and the way things have been set up. So women really need to lean more into balance. 

Men have balance. Let’s go back to the 50s when they’re working all day. They come home, they sit down, they want their slippers, they want a home-cooked meal. They’re in feminine mode. They’re resting. They’re receiving. 

So it’s I don’t want to hear the BS about genders. It’s it’s an energy thing and so we need to lean more into. 

I’m going to capitalize on my femininity instead of resisting it I am going to feel into all of it and when I’m in that luteal phase that air phase, I’m going to clear my days. I’m going to batch create content. I’m going to schedule those podcast interviews. I’m going to grow my business. 

And I’m going to record so much that I have vaults left over for when I am in water, for when I am PMSing, and I don’t want to talk to anybody. I just want to eat chocolate and nap and drink matcha in my bed with my dog. That’s it. 

Then I have content already done from when I was in air. So my business is still growing. I’m still making money because I recorded everything when I was in air, when I was in fire, when I was magnetic. 

We need to understand that our power is in the feminine energy we carry in our bodies and bring that into our businesses. So I think that’s the where the resistance comes from and I think that’s where the misunderstanding comes from about making money while you just be.

What are your thoughts on how people can take a more connected and simplified approach with their business and brand?

For me, I want to be the face of my brand. I want it to be attached to me. People are buying pieces of my energy. I don’t want to sell my company, not this one. I don’t wanna sell my brand. At this point, that is not my goal, that’s not what I want. I want to be attached to it. However, I refuse to be enslaved to it or handcuffed by it, limited by it.

And I think that there’s a big misunderstanding that if you are a personal brand you could step away if you want to. I disagree. I think that people more, now more than ever, are wanting to buy people’s energy. They wanna be uplifted. They want community. They want to be encouraged. 

And they are buying you. They want you. So I have a very message-based business. I created this methodology, I teach it. I used to teach it broken up into different courses, now I have really retired that model and moved into a membership so that everybody can be together. But those girls are paying for my energy. 

They are paying for me to teach them things, to grow with them, to lead them. And they are paying to be around me virtually. That does not mean that I’m enslaved. What I do to avoid that is I am the queen of delegation.

If it does not need to be my face, my voice, my energy, I keep feeling like I’m saying that word so much, but if it doesn’t need to be that, then I’m not doing it. So there’s a lot that I do that I could delegate, but I don’t because I want my touch on it. I want it to be reflecting me. 

So for example, in the collective, it’s called the Becoming Her Collective, we don’t have a monthly theme. We move through a topic and I’m walking, people don’t know this, but behind the scenes, I am walking them through my seven step framework that I walk through clients. It’s just in a big, a mass setting instead of one on one. 

And so as part of that, I will often have a PDF or something that helps them go deeper on what I’m saying, what I’m teaching. I make those PDFs myself. Because I’m not gonna be like, oh, here, make a PDF on this video. It just, it doesn’t come out well and it doesn’t have my energy in it. 

So I enjoy, during my water phase, grabbing my laptop and some matcha, watching Friends and putting together the PDF. And as I’m making it, I am intuitively downloading, like, oh, this would be really good. 

Oh, you know what, I’m gonna add this. This would be really good if they just had an extra long section to journal. I enjoy putting my energy out into the world and getting paid for that. 

But I am not going to micromanage the editing of my podcast. I just recorded a guided meditation as an episode and I’m just telling them, I was inspired just make some extra long pauses and put some music on it I’m not going to control the music. 

I’m not gonna re-listen to it and make sure they made it sound perfect. They’re not dumb. They know what meditation sound like. I put my energy into it and that’s it. So I think that it’s really about coming into your own and knowing what needs you and where it matters and then enjoying the business. 

I get overwhelmed when I step out of enjoyment. When I get back to like I get paid to literally just exist and share that. I get challenged by having to put it in an organized format, because that’s not my thing. 

But I’m learning to make it my thing, and I want to be challenged. It’s good for me. And then once I get that down, I get to just show up and teach and talk. 

We’re about to do a big topic on your voice, your words, forming your reality with the words you say and withholding the criticism that we just so often, so casually throw around. That’s big work. I get to just show up and do that. 

I don’t see it as I’m captured by my brand. I see it as I delegate, but people are paying for my energy, so I happily show up in my energy when no one else can. Other than that, it’s not me. I don’t even know what’s going on.

I also think there’s a lot to be said for knowing the difference between when you’re being controlling and when it’s really out of fear and out of a need to control and when you are just being in ownership. 

I view my company as a company. So I don’t like when people are like, oh, my business, or, I’m really just trying to grow my little business. Like, no. If you’re a CEO, if you have an LLC, an S-corp, whatever, you have a company, own it. 

So I treat it like a company, and I also kind of view it as its own separate entity. This is something that I birthed, and I get to take care of it and nurture it, and I take ownership over it. 

When I step out of that and I’m just like I’m overwhelmed, I’m resentful, I’m not getting enough help. No, I didn’t ask for what I needed. I didn’t give clear enough instructions. Maybe I’m not paying this person well enough. 

Let’s put a meeting on the calendar and just talk real talk about how everyone is feeling because I want you to be so overpaid and so happy you never leave unless I tell you to.

I think we need to know when we’re being controlling and when we’re acting out of fear and being really connected with ourselves, and taking ownership. 

Understanding, I have a knack for Canva and PDFs and how to have an eye for things and it soothes me and I love it and I love being connected to those little things so that I know what people are getting when they hit download. 

I know what they’re seeing. I’m part of their user experience. It keeps them humanized to me instead of these little dots on my Zoom call. It’s something that I personally love but just because you don’t make your own PDFs doesn’t mean you’re not connected to your brand.

So it’s about you finding, where am I being controlling? These are, I’m a big journal prompt person, so we’re gonna give you some journal prompts right now. 

Where am I being controlling in my business? 

And you can really feel it in your body. Control usually sits in your gut. So you can kind of feel in your stomach like a little bit of a knot or an uprising of sorts, like oh, am I being controlling of this? 

You can kind of feel your stomach kind of start to grip. Or you might even physically, with your hands, start to shift your fists. 

Where is there fear in my business? 

I’ve had a lot of fear over past, severe trauma, I got diagnosed with PTSD in 2017 because of trauma around money before I started my business. So the big fear was always, it’s all going to go away. It can all go away. And then I proved it to myself three different times. See? 

Look, it can all go away. Well, of course, when that’s what you’re focusing on. So where is there fear? 

How can you release that? 

How can you elease it, and what would it look like to function and operate in your business out of the opposite energy? So the opposite of fear is peace. If you just knew money’s got you, it’s responding to you, it’s all happening for you, what would you do in your business? 

That, for me, lifted off a pressure I didn’t know was there. And then I got really light and excited and started having content ideas. So guess what? If I’m posting all types of content, leading everybody to the collective, more people are joining and I’m making more money. 

So the very thing you’re afraid of is being caused to happen by the fear you’re carrying of it happening.

So, what if you just acted in total peace? What if you just responded to your business in total joy and love? 

And with this, being in your feminine, being your beautiful self, talking about your brand from your heart, what if money just supported you and you could just be that? And then when you just go and be that, money comes.

What is it you want everyone to take away from our conversation today?

I think what I want you guys to take away is awareness. Notice where you are unhappy in your business. Where are you feeling like you’re controlling? Where is there fear behind the actions you’re taking or not taking? 

And just that awareness, that mindfulness, grabbing a journal and just getting that out of your body and out of your mind and onto the paper. If you do nothing else with what I’ve said today, please just let it be that. 

Speaker bio

Allie Casazza is on a mission to help women level up in life, motherhood, and business while becoming the version of themselves they desire to be. She has cultivated a massive audience and a multimillion-dollar online business based on her proven, action-taking approach to simplicity, decluttering, and the energetics of running your life and/or your business. Allie has started a movement that is spreading like wildfire!

She is the author of several books including the #1 bestseller, Declutter Like A Mother, host of The Purpose Show, a chart-topping podcast, and the creator of multiple online programs that garner thousands of registrations each time they run. Allie has received praise for her method on major media platforms, including The New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, The Today Show, and Good Morning America.

Her platforms continue to grow every day as more women discover her life-changing approach to creating a truly abundant life. She is a desert-dwelling mom to 4 (plus her English bulldog, Phoebe) in Phoenix, Arizona.