A candid reflection on the reality that nobody truly has it all figured out. This article explores how we learn through living, the power of admitting what we don't know, and why changing direction is not failure but growth.
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People remember how you made them feel. Good customer service isn't about saying yes to everything, sometimes it's saying no with kindness and helping them find what comes next.
Alicia Moore · In Her Own Words
Her Story
About Alicia
Alicia Moore has spent more than a decade in storage facility management, helping people navigate everything from ordinary moves to some of life's most difficult transitions. Her career taught her that practical support, organization, and simply having someone explain what comes next can make an enormous difference when life feels overwhelming.
That same belief now influences Alicia's work as an entrepreneur, author, and creator. She is developing Main Street, an online shopping and community experience imagined as a welcoming small-town Main Street rather than a traditional online store. The project brings together distinctive destinations, original experiences, and a growing collection of ideas centered on making shopping feel personal, comfortable, and fun.
*Alicia is also the creator of Wait… I Have to Know This Now?, a practical life-guide series designed to explain the things adulthood often expects people to somehow already know. Combining useful information with humor, the series is being created to help young adults, families, and anyone facing an unfamiliar life situation feel more prepared without feeling judged or overwhelmed.*
Her creative work also includes Milo & Little Friend, an original children's story series built around humor, mystery, imagination, and interaction between children and the grown-ups reading with them. The project reflects Alicia's belief that books can create experiences and memories, not simply tell stories.
Across all of her work, Alicia brings together lessons from her career, entrepreneurship, creativity, motherhood, and her own life experiences. After facing difficult chapters and rebuilding, she continues to turn what she has learned into projects designed to help other people laugh, learn, connect, and keep moving forward.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Alicia
01What do you attribute your success to?
I attribute my success to refusing to give up, even when life didn't go according to plan. I've learned that you don't have to have everything figured out before you start—you just have to be willing to keep learning, adapting, and trying again. My children have always been a huge motivation for me, and many of my ideas come from real life: things I've experienced, questions my family has asked, or moments when I've thought, “There has to be a better way to do this.” I also believe humor matters. Life can be hard enough, so if I can build something that helps someone while also making them smile, that means something to me.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
The best career advice I’ve ever received was to never stop learning. You can have years of experience and still learn something from the person who started yesterday. I’ve learned not to be afraid to ask questions, try something new, or admit when I don’t know the answer. I also learned that success doesn’t always mean staying on the path you originally chose. Sometimes the skills you gain in one chapter of your life are exactly what you need to build something completely different in the next. Stay curious, listen to people, and never assume you’re finished growing
03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
Don't wait until you feel completely ready, because you may never feel completely ready. Ask questions, learn everything you can, and don't be embarrassed when you don't know something. Some of the most important things I've learned came from simply being willing to say, “I don't know—can you show me?” Don't let someone else decide what you're capable of, and don't be afraid to change direction when you discover something you really care about. Your path doesn't have to look like anyone else's. Work hard, treat people well, trust what you've learned from your own experiences, and remember that starting over doesn't mean starting from nothing—you take everything you've learned with you.
04What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
One of the biggest challenges right now is how quickly everything changes. Technology, online business, the way people shop, and even the way people learn and connect are constantly evolving. It can feel overwhelming trying to keep up, but I also see that as one of the biggest opportunities. There are more ways than ever to take an idea and turn it into something real. For me, the opportunity is finding ways to combine technology with the human side of things. Whether I’m managing a business, creating Main Street, writing a practical guide, or developing a children’s story, I never want convenience to replace connection. I think people still want to feel understood, welcomed, and valued—and there is a huge opportunity for businesses and creators who remember that.
05What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
The values that matter most to me are family, honesty, kindness, creativity, and helping people without making them feel judged. I believe everyone is figuring something out, no matter their age or where they are in life. Sometimes people just need information explained in a way that makes sense, a little encouragement, or even a reason to laugh. In my work and in my personal life, I try to create an environment where people feel comfortable asking questions, being themselves, and starting again when they need to. Family is at the center of so much of what I do, and I want the things I create to bring people together, make life a little easier, and hopefully add some happiness along the way.
Her Content Hub
Articles by Alicia
Nobody Has Everything Figured Out—and We Need to Stop Pretending We Do
Embracing the beautiful truth that nobody really knows what they're doing—and that's perfectly okay.
For a long time, I thought being an adult meant eventually reaching a point where you knew what you were doing.
I'm still waiting. 😂
I've been a mother, built a career, managed employees, helped customers through difficult situations, made big decisions, made wrong decisions, started over, changed direction, and learned more lessons the hard way than I can count.
And I still have moments when I think:
"Wait... I'm supposed to know how to do this?"
The funny thing is, I don't think I'm alone.
We Learn a Lot of Life While We're Living It
There are so many things we're expected to somehow know.
How do you rent your first apartment? What questions should you ask? How do utilities work? What happens when something breaks? How do you handle a difficult customer? Manage employees? Make a major financial decision? Help your child navigate something you've never dealt with yourself?
Where exactly was the class for all of this?
Because I apparently missed it.
Over the years, I've realized that many people aren't walking around with all the answers. They're learning as they go, just like I am.
Some people are simply better at looking like they know what they're doing.
Asking Questions Is Not a Weakness
One of the most useful things I've learned in my career is how powerful it can be to say:
"I don't know. Can you show me?"
You can have years of experience and still learn something from the person who started yesterday.
That doesn't erase what you already know. It adds to it.
I've managed storage facilities for more than a decade, and that work has put me in front of people during all kinds of moments in their lives. I've seen moves, new beginnings, financial struggles, family changes, loss, and people simply trying to figure out what they're supposed to do next.
It taught me something I carry into everything I do now:
People don't need to feel stupid for not knowing something. They need someone willing to explain it.
Sometimes the Plan Changes
My life hasn't followed one perfectly straight line.
I don't think many lives do.
There have been chapters I never planned for and times when I had to figure out what came next without having a perfect answer.
For a while, I think I looked at starting over as going backward.
I don't anymore.
Starting over doesn't mean starting from nothing. You take everything you've learned with you.
Every job teaches you something. Every mistake teaches you something. Raising a family teaches you something. Difficult seasons teach you things you probably never wanted to learn.
Even the things that didn't work become part of what you know when you take the next step.
You Are Allowed to Change Direction
Another thing I've learned is that success doesn't have to mean staying on the path you started on.
Today, alongside my career, I'm building things I never would have imagined myself creating years ago.
I'm developing Main Street, writing practical life guides, creating children's stories, learning about e-commerce, publishing, design, and a hundred other things that regularly make me think:
"Okay... how do I do THIS now?"
And then I figure out the next piece.
Not all of it.
Just the next piece.
That's been an important lesson for me because sometimes looking at the entire mountain makes you afraid to start climbing.
You don't always need the whole plan.
Sometimes you just need the next step.
Maybe We Should Admit We're All Figuring Something Out
This idea has become part of the reason I create.
I want people to feel comfortable learning. I want young adults to know they're allowed to ask questions. I want parents to be able to say, "I don't know either—let's figure it out." I want people starting over to understand that they haven't lost everything they've learned along the way.
And I think we could all use a little more humor while we're doing it.
Life is serious enough already.
We don't need to pretend we have everything figured out on top of it.
So if you're sitting there wondering why everyone else seems to know exactly what they're doing while you're still asking questions, here's something I've learned:
They're asking questions too.
Some of us have just gotten better at admitting it.
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