Rise Above The Grind

About Rise Above The Grind

A movement designed to help you rise above mediocrity, break free from the grind, and build the life you deserve.

Publisher

Alissa Bickar, The Consultress

Category

education

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

21 Aug 2026

Latest episode

6 Nov 2026

Latest episodes

42 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   6 Nov 2026

   Questioning Every Norm: Homeschooling, No-Failure Mindsets, and Retiring Early with Cheyenne Brothers

   In this live broadcast of Rise Above the Grind, host Alissa Bickar (“The Consultress”) is joined by real estate investor, entrepreneur, and homeschooling mother Cheyenne Brothers. Broadcasting live alongside sponsor Jason McNamara, Jess Jorgensen, and VIP panelist Talmar Anderson, the room explores how life’s deepest trials serve as the ultimate grinding wheel to sharpen and polish personal character. Cheyenne shares her powerful journey of overcoming double bankruptcy, leaving healthcare management, and rebuilding from scratch on a modest law enforcement income. She explains how adopting a “no-failure option” allowed her and her husband to launch their real estate business, retire him from a 22-year career in law enforcement, and create win-win opportunities through creative seller financing and private lending. The panel dives into the transformative power of questioning societal norms, stepping outside traditional corporate boxes, and prioritizing family through intentional time and presence. Key Takeaways Grind as Polishing, Not Just Punishment: Redefining the grind from mere exhausting work to a process of heavy pressure that sharpens, polishes, and shapes a rough stone into something valuable and resilient. The “No-Failure Option”: When you step outside conventional safety nets, treating your vision as non-negotiable eliminates hesitation and turns uncomfortable challenges into essential milestones. Creative Real Estate as a Path to Service: Traditional lending locks millions of worthy families out of homeownership. By acquiring properties and selling them via seller financing with fixed principal and interest terms, investors can help lifelong renters build equity while providing private lenders consistent, double-digit returns. The Cost of “Safe” Employment: Working a standard job can sometimes cost more in lost opportunity, time, and potential earnings than leaving it. Running the real numbers often reveals that true security lies in self-reliance and ownership rather than corporate benefits. Intentional Parenting Over Stereotypes: Shifting away from cultural “parent-complaint” tropes to actively learning who your children are as individuals builds unbreakable generational bonds and instills early entrepreneurial confidence. Protecting the Finite Asset: Money can be regenerated, but time cannot. Scaling a successful business must ultimately lead to tighter personal boundaries, evening shutdowns, and dedicated family priorities. Panel Discussion Highlights Defining the Sharpening Grind: Cheyenne deconstructs the dictionary definition of “grind,” connecting heavy pressure and smoothing to her own personal and business reinvention. The Leap from Healthcare to Full Autonomy: Transitioning from rigid workplace structures into homeschooling and real estate investing. Retiring a 22-Year Law Enforcement Career: How Cheyenne and her husband analyzed their earnings to realize his traditional job was holding their family’s business back. Demystifying Creative Financing: Breaking down the mechanics of contract-for-deed sales, fixed monthly structures, and funding acquisitions through 12% private money partnerships. Jess Jorgensen on Shedding Corporate Expectations: Overcoming the limiting belief that you cannot provide safety for your children without a traditional corporate job. Three Big Life Lessons: Cheyenne reflects on relying on faith, mastering money stewardship after severe bankruptcy, and truly getting to know her children through homeschooling. Talmar Anderson on Parenting by Choice: The power of questioning norms, ignoring external social pressure, and structuring your business model around non-negotiable family seasons. Overcoming Internal Resistance: Cheyenne admits to resisting creative finance models for nearly six years out of fear before finally taking the leap. Featured Guest & Resources Featured Guest: Cheyenne BrothersConnect on LinkedIn: Cheyenne Brothers on LinkedInFor Aspiring Homebuyers: Ho

2. 

   26 Oct 2026

   Beyond the 50-Year Plan: Reclaiming Time, Redefining Productivity, and Earning Your Seat at the Table

   In this live edition of Rise Above the Grind, host Alissa Bickar ("The Consultress") is joined by Amy Fosbenner, founder of Fosbenner Financial, alongside sponsor Jason McNamara and a powerhouse panel of entrepreneurs. Amy shares her journey of breaking away from traditional corporate expectations to build a solopreneur financial practice centered around real estate wealth, lifestyle autonomy, and intentional motherhood. The conversation challenges the outdated "work now, live later" industrial mindset, unpacking why entrepreneurs must reject performative exhaustion and build business models that actively facilitate their real lives. From setting uncompromising boundaries and learning reciprocally from clients to earning confidence at the boardroom table, this episode delivers a blueprint for designing sustainable wealth without trading away presence in the moment. Key Takeaways Grinding in Harmony vs. Depleting Routine: True productivity is not about forcing identical, robotic checklists every single day. It is about finding harmony between the operational push of your business and personal self-care. If your own blade isn't oiled and sharpened, you cannot operate at peak capacity. Rejecting the "Retire to Live" Lie: Sacrificing 50 years to an exhausting 60- to 80-hour workweek in the hopes of enjoying a brief retirement is a broken formula. Life and memory-making must happen now, not decades down the road. Reciprocal Wisdom in Advisory: Client relationships should never be a one-way street. Top-tier advisors not only educate their clients but actively absorb the hard-earned lessons, pivots, and mistakes shared by the investors they advise. Designing Business Around Life Stages: Your business architecture must remain flexible enough to bend to family priorities. Whether setting firm school drop-off boundaries or temporarily pausing travel-heavy speaking engagements, business models exist to serve life—never the other way around. The 5 Pillars of the Phoenix: Sustainable entrepreneurship requires a balance of passion (loving the craft), compassion (genuine care for people over transactional greed), strength, resilience (weathering inevitable setbacks), and uncompromising determination. Walking In Like You Belong: Imposter syndrome is common, but confidence is claimed. When you step into rooms with high-level leaders, stand tall and own your seat at the table with the conviction of your knowledge and character. Selective Alignment: Not every dollar is good money. The ultimate luxury of running your own enterprise is the power to turn down clients whose demands violate your boundaries or moral compass. Discussion Highlights Defining the Grind: Amy and Alissa break down why consistency without soul satisfaction leads directly to burnout, contrasting intentional momentum with depleting routines. The Leap of Faith: Amy discusses making the bold jump to launch her own practice when her first child was only a few months old, driven by the refusal to miss out on her children’s early years. Jess Jorgensen on Adventure and Memory-Making: Moving away from corporate conditioning to travel full-time, building a legacy of experiences over just a "stack of cash," and teaching kids to live beyond the clock. Talmar Anderson on Shifting the Business Model: Adjusting business delivery models across different stages of family life, including pausing travel speaking during her son's high school years. Christy Morrell-Stinson on the "3X Freedom" & Non-Negotiables: Identifying your true identity, stepping out of the owner-operator trap, and defending "beautiful limits" like sacred pickup times. Amy's Core Philosophy & 5 Pillars: Unpacking "Be Good, Do Good," donating time over money, and the five pillars of Fosbenner Financial: Passion, Compassion, Strength, Resilience, and Determination. Jason McNamara on "Skating" & Working Smarter: Lessons from the Navy on breaking efficiency records, stepp

3. 

   15 Oct 2026

   Knowing When to Push, When to Pivot, and When to Let Go

   In this episode of Rise Above the Grind, host Alissa Bickar welcomes Adam "AAA" Adams, a prolific entrepreneur and real estate investor, for a conversation on what the grind really means, how seasons of hard work lead to freedom, and the lessons of building wealth through real estate and business. Adam grew up in Utah with a stepdad who was a lifelong real estate investor and business owner, and who drilled one rule into him early: save 10%, invest 10%, pay yourself first. A $100 gift of land in college turned into a 12,000%-plus return and the start of Adam's own investing journey, which has included raw land, multifamily, and syndications since 2007. Today he runs a couple of businesses, has two kids, and is serving as the main salesperson for an assisted living community with 25 locations in Colorado. The show opens with the grind question, and Adam's answer sets the tone for the conversation: the grind isn't something to avoid, but it is something to keep temporary. Key Topics Discussed Redefining the Grind: A Season, Not a Life Sentence Adam describes the grind as both positive and negative, and above all seasonal. To him, grinding is buckling down and doing what you need to do for as long as you need to do it to get the outcome you want. For Adam, that outcome is tranquility, freedom, starting something new, and time for mountain biking, surfing, and snowboarding. Don't Avoid the Grind, but Don't Live in It Adam argues that people who avoid the grind entirely are often the ones who end up stuck. At the same time, he hopes people aren't choosing 60, 80, or 90 hour work weeks for their entire lives, because life has more to offer. Alissa highlighted the rhythm in his answer: the grind is part of a cycle, not a destination, and when it defines everything, it depletes you and throws the rest of life out of balance. The $100 Piece of Land In 2005, Adam's stepdad gifted him a piece of land and, on his accountant's advice, asked for $100 in return so the gift wasn't taxed heavily. As a college student working as a bartender, even $100 took a while to come up with. Two years later, a random call from a buyer offered more than he would have earned in a full year after graduating. The result was a return of more than 12,000 percent on his $100, and the moment he decided his stepdad had been right all along. Lessons from a Real Estate Family Adam's stepdad has invested in raw land, agricultural land, storage units, multifamily, single family, and cabin lots, and often recommended Robert Kiyosaki's Rich Dad Poor Dad when it came out in 1997. Adam admits he thought the book was ridiculous at the time. He has been investing in raw land since 2005 and in multifamily and syndications since 2007. Working a 40-Plus Hour Week by Choice After years of running his own businesses on far fewer hours, Adam has spent the last nine months working for a friend as the main salesperson for an assisted living community with 25 locations in Colorado. He describes the shift to more than 40 hours a week as crazy, but says he loves it and plans to stay for another year. Panelist Introductions Jess Jorgensen: Tech nerd providing internet services and adventure gear for people who want to live outside the norm, joining from Texas. Jason McNamara: Founder of the No More 9 to 5 Club and Mind Trainer Pro. A poor kid from South Florida who retired early after a career that included military service, a record-setting run with an employment agency for veterans, sales, and real estate. Nat Mailhot: Speaking coach based on the north coast of the Dominican Republic, who created Teen Talks to help teens speak up and speak out. Talmar Anderson: Founder of Boss HQ, helping exhausted business owners become effective CEOs with the right second in command and a strong team behind them. Notable Quotes "To me, grinding is buckling down and doing what you need to do for as long as you need to do it in order to get the outcome that you're really looki

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