Business Athletes: Melissa Alcocer

Hello and welcome to Business Athletes everyone 👋 

Each week, we’ll explore the athlete-like habits behind a different business leader.

In less than 5-minutes, we aim to provide you with practical tactics that you can quickly apply in your day-to-day.⚡️

This week I met with Melissa Alcocer, founder of INLUXURY, a market intelligence firm helping luxury, fashion, and wellness brands decode trends, cultures, and consumer behaviour through advanced analytics.

Here are a few indispensable reminders that I took from our conversation:

• Discipline compounds slowly. Progress often looks invisible before it becomes inevitable.

• Talking helps, but action heals. Clarity often comes from movement.

• The right mentor can save you months of learning. At the end of the day, speed to insight wins the game. Taking action and tapping into these guides are the keys to this victory.

But personally, what Melissa taught me the most was what it means to be a high-performer in terms of our own emotional regulation.

She doesn’t romanticise resilience. She operationalises it. Her days are deliberately structured to create space to reflect, act, learn, and repeat. All strategically designed to move the needle, every single day.

If we want to build something big and sustainable, this approach to high-performance might just be a necessity. 

Let’s dive in! ⚡️

Pre-Game Preparation

A Wellness-Focused Morning

Wellness is a huge part of my life. I always start my mornings early, around 5:30 am, with a slow start. A big breakfast, some fitness, and time for myself. I do this not only for my physical health but for my mind too.

My work is very technical, so I make sure to have a digital detox. It helps my concentration and my eyesight, and it helps me to show up as my best self.

Self-Reflection Guides The Way

Every morning, I make time for journaling. It’s my way of checking in with myself to understand how I’m feeling and where I stand. I’m trying to move towards paper journaling, as part of my digital detox, though I’ve always loved Notion. It’s one of my favourite tools.

Getting Into The Game

A Consistent Work Rhythm

Right now, I’m working from home. So, my morning and evening routines give me the foundations to start and end the day right. When working from home, it’s tough to distinguish work from relaxation.

When I sit down to focus, I use the Pomodoro Technique to stay sharp: 25-minute sprints with short breaks. It’s a game changer for deep work like market research and social media intelligence, where we analyse data from posts and comments to detect sentiment and spot trends. To do it well, you have to be fully present.

Preparation Before Big Moments

Before big meetings, I always prepare the night before. If I prepare too close to the time, I tend to get too nervous. When I have the time, I try to rehearse too. I believe repetition is super important. But for me, the biggest thing is always about planning ahead to stay composed.

Visualisation is also an important part of my mindset. Because I’m a visual person, I like to see inspiration around me. Photos, vision boards, images of my goals. I try to meditate as well, but seeing things visually is what really works for me.

Focusing On The Win

Handling The Tough Days

On tough days, I always take a step back. Whether it’s something unexpected during the day or pressure that builds over a whole week, I find that taking a break - even just a walk - helps me keep my composure and understand the situation better.

Therapy has been essential for me too. It helps me process things, remember not to take setbacks personally, and keep moving forward. If I’ve had a difficult week, I always make sure to talk to someone. Getting out of my own mind and having a conversation really helps. But I always return to action. For me, action is what keeps the momentum going.

Future Plans: Product Launch

Our business originally offered three core services: market analytics, consumer pulse insights, and trend intelligence (including foresight, predictive analytics, and sentiment analysis). 

Sentiment analysis has been the most popular, so now I’m focusing on product development around that area. I’m in the process of pivoting towards building a product, instead of spreading myself across too many services.

Right now, my biggest priority is to find a technical co-founder. I studied data science and analytics academically, but my professional experience has always been in marketing, so I’m looking to find someone that compliments our team and who can bring that technical expertise to help us scale.

Lessons From The Field

Lessons From Sports

Ice skating has been a really important part of my life. It has taught me so much about discipline. When I started, it took me a full year before I could really see progress. It was a reminder of the power of showing up consistently, keeping your commitment to yourself, and staying dedicated even when progress feels slow.

Levelling Up With Coaches

When I started, I didn’t have a mentor, and sometimes I feel I lost a lot of time because of it. In our first year, we spent about six months on strategy, business plans, and gathering feedback. And then, when it came to executing, we had to change so much.

Now, my biggest lesson is to take action and learn along the way, instead of overthinking and over-strategising.

I’ve learned the importance of mentorship. My first mentor worked in the beauty and luxury industry, with experience at major luxury maisons , and she helped me refine my service offering. My second mentor comes from a VC fund. They’re giving me guidance on product development, funding, and scaling, which is exactly what I need right now.

The Business Athlete Mindset

The Other Side Of Discomfort

When things get tough, I see it as a good sign. It means I’m growing. Just like in sports, the hard moments are often the turning points. They push you to learn and improve.

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