Faith-Based Leadership
Queen of the Trades
What if leadership wasn’t just about systems and results? What if it was about being a spiritually minded leader and managing with soul? In an industry as tough and gritty as the trades, that idea might seem out of place. But I’ve learned firsthand that being spiritually grounded can completely shift how you show up for your team, your business, and yourself. I didn’t always see our business as a calling, but over time, it became clear. The path was never perfectly mapped out if anything, it was full of unknowns. But there was a purpose behind it, something bigger than just making a...
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Replay: Bringing Passion Back To The Trades With Alexis Aranda
Queen of the Trades
Please enjoy this replay of my very first episode! I'm your host Alexis Aranda. Today, I'm sharing my story with all of you, listeners. I was born in a suburb outside of Chicago and had a fantastic childhood. My parents were supportive. We had a lot of love and a lot of great memories, but we didn't have a lot of money. At a very young age, I strongly desired to create wealth for my family. I knew this was what I was called to do. I also had a passion for working. From babysitting to working at a local grocery store, I was always earning money. My best friend's dad was a tradesman....
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Avoid Burn Out
Queen of the Trades
Spring’s hectic pace hits hard in the trades and lately I’ve felt the pressure myself. Long hours, tight deadlines, and family commitments can drain every bit of energy if we let them. In today’s episode I open up about the moment I realized I was saying yes to everything except rest, and how that wake up call pushed me to build habits that protect both mind and body. You’ll hear why real burnout statistics in our industry matter, especially for men who still feel they have to tough it out. I’ll walk you through five practices that keep me grounded, from carving out a true day...
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Extreme Ownership Part 2
Queen of the Trades
A few weeks ago I shared some thoughts on extreme ownership and the response was overwhelming. It’s clear that a lot of us are ready to stop pointing fingers and start stepping into real leadership. So today, I want to go even deeper. Specifically, we're talking about how to take ownership without getting defensive. If you've ever felt your ego kick in during a tough conversation or found yourself making excuses instead of taking the hit, this is for you. We’ll break down what it actually looks like to let go of ego, build self-awareness, listen with intention, and communicate with...
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6 Functions of a Professional Manager
Queen of the Trades
Do you ever feel like you're juggling a million things as a manager and still wondering if you’re doing it right? I get it because I’ve been there. In this episode, I’m sharing the six core functions every professional manager needs to master in order to lead with clarity, confidence, and purpose, especially in the fast-paced world of the trades. These aren’t just generic leadership tips. This is the real, practical framework that changed how I run teams, build people up, and keep our business on track. Whether you’re brand new to management or you’ve been in the game for a while...
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Emotional Intelligence
Queen of the Trades
It’s easy to underestimate just how powerful emotional intelligence can be, especially when you're managing a business, leading a team, or simply trying to keep it all together. But what if mastering your emotions was the key to transforming frustration into growth, and conflict into clarity? In this episode, we talk about what emotional intelligence really means and why it's one of the most underrated leadership tools in the trades. You’ll hear a real story of what happens when emotions start to take over, and how a moment of self-awareness changed the course of an entire...
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Extreme Ownership
Queen of the Trades
There’s a moment in business where everything feels like it’s falling apart—a job goes sideways, a customer’s upset, and your first instinct is to say, “This isn’t my fault.” Been there? Me too. But what if I told you that the most powerful thing you can do as a leader is to say, “This is on me—let’s fix it.” That mindset? It’s called extreme ownership, and it has completely changed the way I lead my team, run our business, and show up every day in the trades. In this episode, I’m breaking down what extreme ownership really means, how Jocko Willink, a former Navy SEAL...
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Navigating Conflict Keeping the Peace
Queen of the Trades
Properly navigating conflict builds trust, strengthens relationships, and turns challenges into opportunities for growth.Whether it’s with a customer, an employee, or even a competitor, conflict is bound to happen. And let’s be real, when you’re pushing for growth and making big moves, you’re going to ruffle some feathers. But here’s the thing, conflict doesn’t have to be a disaster. In fact, if you handle it right, it can actually help you build trust and strengthen relationships. In this episode, I’m sharing a real-life situation where I had to step in and de-escalate a tough...
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The Power of EOS: Breaking Through Business Plateaus
Queen of the Trades
When I first started implementing the Entrepreneurial Operating System, or EOS, in my business, I had no idea just how much it would change the way we operated. At the time, our leadership team was all over the place—juggling too many projects, struggling to finish what we started, and feeling like we were just maintaining instead of truly growing. Something had to change. That’s when I came across the book Traction by Gino Wickman, and it felt like it was written just for us. Today, I want to take you inside our EOS journey, share how we’ve used this system to create more clarity and...
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My Biggest Leadership Mistakes
Queen of the Trades
Leadership is not about avoiding mistakes; it is about learning from them and growing stronger. In this episode, I want to share with you the three biggest mistakes I've made as a leader in the trades. I'm sharing these with you because I want you, as fellow leaders in the trades, to learn from my mistakes and avoid these pitfalls. As leaders, growth comes from learning, evolving, and improving ourselves, our teams, and our companies. Remember, leadership is not about being perfect. I'll explain how I wrongly assumed that all trade operations functioned identically, undervalued the...
info_outlineFear of failure is one of the biggest things holding people back from reaching their full potential. Most of us don’t even realize it’s happening. We stay stuck, afraid to look like we don’t know what we’re doing, worried about what others might think. But here’s the truth: failure isn’t the enemy. It’s part of the process.
I know this fear personally. When I started this podcast, I was scared. What if no one listened? What if I wasn’t good enough? What if I couldn’t keep up? At one point, I almost quit. But I had to remind myself that God put this on my heart for a reason. Even when I stumbled, even when I took time off, I knew I had to keep going.
Today, I want to help you break free from the fear of failure. We’ll talk about why we experience it, how it’s shaped by our past, and most importantly, how to push through it so that you can step fully into the work and life you were meant for.
Episode Highlights:
[01:20] Today, we're talking about the fear of failure and how to overcome it.
[02:03] This is personal for me when it comes to this podcast.
[03:06] I almost quit, but I remembered I was called to do this.
[04:01] We all have a fear of failure for different reasons. This is why it's so important to do inner child work. We have to look at how we grew up and what the focus was.
[05:13] My kids will have different fears than I had growing up. It's important to look at how our childhoods may be impacting our adult life.
[06:02] Do you procrastinate, suffer from depression, are you afraid you might look stupid? These have roots from a fear of failure.
[07:03] Being afraid to fail will prevent us from growth and success. Michael Jordan was cut from a basketball team when he was a kid.
[08:26] We had a general contracting business that lost money. We learned that we needed to specialize, because the riches are in the niches.
[09:22] Reframing failures. Spiraling into negative self-talk. These events need to be reframed. Most events that happen in our lives are neutral. We are the ones who label it good or bad.
[10:42] See the positive and use the failure as an opportunity to improve.
[11:06] A story about an opportunity to redirect.
[13:08] When presented with what could be perceived as a failure, ask how is this happening for me? What am I learning? This opens your mind to opportunities.
[14:03] How we struggled with our Dallas location. We got curious and discovered it was a great learning experience.
[15:43] Have self-awareness around your limiting beliefs and your potentially self-sabotaging behaviors.
[16:15] Examine your life and have awareness around where your potential blocks could be. A limiting belief is something that we believe we can't do.
[17:47] It's really helpful to have someone like a coach or a mentor help you identify these blind spots.
[18:27] Take action! Small steps towards whatever it is that you want to do. The worst thing you can do is nothing.
[19:45] "Failure is not the opposite of success—it's part of success."
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