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Since starting our company, we’ve had some really interesting conversations about the vast difference between how men and women do things in the business space. Most female business owners we know (including ourselves), for example, actively work on their money mindset, struggle to trust their decisions, and have perfectionist tendencies…

…While the startup DudebrosTM of the world sail through business (and life) like it was made for them.

This obvious discrepancy arises from the way women have been socialized for generations. We’ve been trained to be hesitant about our offerings because the idea of pleasing everyone else, constantly asking for permission, and doubting our own skills and abilities has been reinforced throughout our lives. It’s no mystery that these blocks show up in our businesses too. And it shows in how little female-owned businesses make each year despite their abundance.

Our male counterparts are quite the opposite in their behavior, and after interacting with so many of them as well as paying close attention to business personalities in the media, we’ve come up with a list of “lessons” that we’ve picked up over the years. Some of these insights are extremely liberating, effective, and empowering. And it would actually do us a fair amount of good to be able to inculcate them in how we operate our businesses.

But for the ones we don’t agree with, well, a little bit of humor never hurt anyone.

Here’s what you can expect from this episode:

• Why most women choose people-pleasing over doing what they really want
• The importance of taking imperfect action
• How women are socialized to believe that their approach is the wrong approach
• Healthy humility vs. blind confidence
• Believing in the value of your work and how that translates to the clients who need your services
• Choosing yourself instead of asking for permission
• The avenues available for learning in today’s world

We really enjoyed recording this one because it was a healthy dose of fun along with some truths that we deal with every day as female business owners. If you struggle with feeling confident about your actions and offerings (or are just in the mood for a laugh), this is the perfect episode for you to cozy up and tune in to!

And once you’re done listening, don’t forget to connect with us on Instagram (@heymarvelous) and share your thoughts!

This Week’s Joy:

Sandy is absolutely obsessed with her giant new Alocasia macrorrhiza (Giant Taro) plant and its massive leaves! It brings a lot of joy and positivity to her space, and it’s the first thing she checks on when she enters her condo.

This Week’s Hustle:

Our Visibility Crash Course is 8+ years of our online marketing lessons condensed into a 5-day program that will help you amplify your voice as an online creator, show up more authentically in your business, and communicate effectively with the clients who need you. Learn more here!

RESOURCES:

• Coursera
• Hey Marvelous
• Visibility Crash Course

This podcast is brought to you by the Marvelous online teaching platform.

Marvelous is an easy-to-use platform that helps you build and sell your own courses, memberships, and live-streamed programs. Go from idea to open for business in just minutes. If you're looking for a simple, streamlined way to build and grow an online business. You can learn more at Marvelous.

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You know the feeling when you come home, and it’s like you just clocked into your second job?

So many women feel the crushing weight of taking care of everything at home without asking for help from their partners or getting outside assistance.

Why?

Because that help is associated with guilt.

And because they find it difficult to delegate or leave space for other members of the home to contribute, they cultivate a constant feeling of resentment and irritability towards the unpaid domestic and emotional labor that they’re putting in.

But the truth is that these expectations are self-imposed.

And they’re yet another direct and unfair consequence of internalized patriarchy.

Today, we’re revisiting a conversation that we began about three years ago when we published episode 126: The Value Of A Wife. And in this one, we discuss Jeni’s recent step back from trying to take care of her home alone. We get into how opening a dialogue about the situation with her loved ones has made a difference and what she did when she realized that she just couldn’t fold everybody’s socks anymore.

Here’s what you can expect from this one:

• An honest recap of Jenni’s thought process when she decided that something needed to change
• Why asking for help feels so wrong (and why we need to stop thinking that way)
• How treating your home like a second workplace can affect your mental health
• Why + how we internalize patriarchal expectations
• The domestic labor of decision making
• The importance of being intentional with your time, energy, and money

If these feelings resonate with you, we hope that this episode helps you understand that they’re stemming from something large and systemic. You are not alone in your responsibilities, and the people who love you will be more than willing to share the load so that you can take the break you deserve.

And if you enjoyed this episode, find us on Instagram (@heymarvelous) so that we can continue the conversation!

This Week’s Joy

Jeni has her eyes glued to shop-tend.com, an online store that sells beautiful vintage nightgowns (albeit all currently sold out) that inspire the free wandering spirit in her.

RESOURCES:

• Drop The Ball by Tiffany Dufu
• shop-tend.com
• Visibility Week – Visibility Crash Course

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Web3 has revolutionized the digital art space.

But it’s also a difficult concept to master, especially with all the misinformation floating around.

However, with the right guidance and education, the world of Web3 is super easy to navigate.

That, my friend, is where we come in!

We’re giving you the best possible introduction to this world by roping in an expert who can be a safe, reliable, and knowledgeable guide – Sofia Garcia!

Sofia is a generative art dealer, art curator, and the founder of ARTXCODE and the nonprofit, CodeArt.

Her journey from her first computer class in Miami to her first NFT art show is fascinating. And what began with curiosity and a step in the right direction has evolved into an exciting career in digital art curation.

Sofia is amazing at simplifying the concept of generative art and breaking it down to help people understand how the gears turn.

And in this week’s episode, she’s sharing it all with us!

Here’s what you can expect from this one:

• What generative art is, where it came from, and how it’s bought and sold today
• NFTs explained like you’re five + how to incorporate them into your business
• Sofia’s experience in the digital art world and how it led her to art curation
• How selling art in the form of NFTs is more beneficial to artists than physical art
• An understanding of how generative art is minted onto the blockchain
• The future of generative art (and why it’s getting brighter)
• Tons of resources to introduce you to the generative art world

We gained a wealth of knowledge from this conversation. But more than that, Sofia helped humanize the art NFT space with her warmth and genuine passion for the work that she’s doing.

We hope this episode ignites your curiosity and helps you learn more about this sphere of possibility. Get your pen and paper ready because there are some nuggets of gold in this one!

This Week’s Joy:

Sofia loves taking a workout break in the middle of the day with some Hot Yoga and she’s really been enjoying her current routine.

This Week’s Hustle:

1. The Superhuman email client is a lifesaver for anyone itching to hit inbox zero. It organizes your emails into folders, comes with premade snippets, and has gorgeous UI to top it all off!
2. Sofia’s big 2022 resolution was to be as organized as possible and she’s been using Monday.com to help her get there! It’s a super-effective way to keep track of the artists she’s working with, the orders she’s receiving, and those currently in progress.

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Web3 is upon us.

And if you struggle to understand it, you aren’t alone. In addition to being an extremely male-dominated space, it’s also stuffed to the brim with jargon, all sorts of things we never learned in school, and a heckuva lot of uncertainty. (And what’s up with the cryptobros and apes, really?)

But a few decades ago, people felt the same about the internet. And now, we can’t imagine life without it.

NFTs, cryptocurrency, the blockchain and are the result of the evolution of the internet into something more secure, integrated, and functional. And we can already see the effects on several industries like finance, online events, and digital art.

In this week’s episode, we’re talking more about Web3, cryptocurrency, and why we as creators and business owners need to learn more about this industry.

Here’s what you can expect from this one:

• Why crypto will affect how you live, work, and buy in the future no matter what business you’re in
• The importance of participating in the Web3 conversation as a female business owner or creator
• A foundational understanding of Web3 terms that we hear all the time (blockchain, NFTs, smart contracts, and more!)
• How NFT art sales work and why they’re revolutionary for the digital art world
• Understanding the difference between hot wallets and cold wallets
• Proof of work, proof of stake, and the environmental concerns around Web3 technology
• Regulations in the NFT space and why you need to know what you’re getting into as a buyer

(If you’re thinking of clicking away from this episode because it’s not your speed, we’re going to urge you to explore that for a second!)

Since it exists online, the creator economy is going to witness massive waves of change as the influence of Web3 grows. So, as a creator or online business owner, you’ll be impacted either way, so you might as well get a head start.

So, pour yourself a cup of coffee, get your good stationery out, and get ready to take some serious notes as you tune into this episode!

This Week’s Joy:

Jenni has been loving spending her time growing microgreens with her family! It’s a super fun hobby, it’s extremely healthy, and it’s also a great way to cut down food costs because you literally get to eat what you sow.

This Week’s Hustle:

In her quest to learn more about the world of cryptocurrency, Sandy found the true-crime documentary Trust No One: The Hunt For The Crypto King. And in addition to being a very gripping story, it’s a great way to wrap your head around Web3 concepts and how they work.

RESOURCES:

• OpenSea.io
• Ethereum
• Sofia Garcia
• Mybff.com
• WTF is an NFT?!? Crypto For Beginners + BIG SURPRISE (Video)
• True Leaf Market
• Trust No One: The Hunt For the Crypto King

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Today’s guest has one of the most interesting, thought-provoking, fascinating jobs we’ve ever heard of.

All our lives, we’ve thought of art and medicine as two completely different pillars – one encourages us to think subjectively while the other is more objective and rational.

But, artist-turned-medical educator Alexa Miller proved us so wrong.

And we’re glad she did!

Most of us are in the business of movement. We help people figure out their bodies, improve their health, and even diagnose some basic physical conditions.

And for us to do our jobs in the most effective way possible, Alexa’s unique way of combining art with medicine and diagnosis is game-changing.

Alexa got started on this path over two decades ago, when she went to London to attend art school. She had always been passionate about understanding the human body and researching human resilience and her yearning to learn more about it led her to the Wellcome Trust, an incredible reserve of medical history and images in London.

As she was studying the images, she was struck by how the medical text directed people to look at patients.

As an artist, she was always encouraged to interpret, ponder upon her thoughts, and dissect the different emotions she felt about the works she created and studied.

On the other hand, the medical text encouraged her to make quick decisions. She wasn’t allowed to mull over, dissect, or think critically about what she was seeing.

The experience was so jarring, that it prompted her to consider something she’d never thought about before:

Is it possible to improve medical observation and diagnostic skills through art?

And that question changed her life.

It led her to work with some of the most reputed medical schools and museums in the country; teaching medical learners how to transcend some of the dehumanizing aspects of the hospital culture and use the tools of artists and great diagnosticians to observe, listen to, and co-create health with their patients.

In today’s episode, she’ll be sharing her knowledge so YOU can improve your own work with the human body through art.

Here’s what you can expect from this one:

• How Alexa’s own family history prompted her interest in the human body
• Why she teaches entire classes around the concept of uncertainty
• How she hopes to bring teamwork back into clinical practice
• The dire consequences if uncertainty is handled poorly
• How she helps physicians speak to their patients each other by getting them to rigorously analyze art
• Why it’s important for those who work with human bodies to stop, step back, and think about their diagnosis from different angles
• The implications of her teachings on public health

And more!

If you want to experience the human body from a refreshingly new perspective, this episode is for you.

Once you’re done listening, find us on Instagram (@heymarvelous) and tell us the most important thing you learned from today’s episode!

RESOURCES

The Wellcome Trust

Power of Teamwork - Brian Goldman

Section 4

This Week’s Joy:

Alexa has been loving the process of building her garden, even getting 3,000 pounds of dirt delivered to her house for it!

This Week’s Hustle:

Jeni and Alexa met at a Section 4 class and both of them can’t recommend it enough! Section 4 is an online business school aiming to make top-tier business education accessible (and affordable!) to all. That means you feel like you’re sitting in a business class at Wharton with the best minds in the country.

The only difference?

It costs just $83 a month!

This podcast is brought to you by the Marvelous online teaching platform.

Marvelous is an easy-to-use platform that helps you build and sell your own courses memberships and live-streamed programs. Go from idea to open for business in just minutes. Unlike other startups, Marvelous was created by women for women. If you're looking for a simple, streamlined way to build and grow an online business. You can learn more at Marvelous.

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People pleasing can feel necessary sometimes.

Especially when you’re in the early stages of running a business.

But, when does the urge to please ALL your clients become destructive?

It’s easy to keep your clients happy when you're starting out and your audience is small.

However, as your business grows, it gets trickier.

No matter what you do, there are going to be clients who don’t agree with you.

And sometimes, they won’t just be trolls on the internet.

They’ll be long-term, loyal, paying clients who decide to stop supporting you the minute you make a decision that doesn’t align with their beliefs.

Take Peloton, for instance.

Just a few weeks ago, Peloton announced that they were increasing the prices of their monthly subscription plan by $5 for the first time in seven years.

Now to us as business owners, this decision made perfect sense.

Peloton is struggling to maintain the massive momentum they gained as the pandemic hit in 2020. And higher prices is the most logical way for them to combat their financial struggles.

Plus, the $5 increase also came with a host of brand new features like 500 new monthly classes, 45 new instructors, and 4 new in-built products, just to name a few.

But long-time Peloton fans were NOT happy.

Reactions ranged from “I can’t believe we’re getting punished for buying the bike” to “your new sales strategy is just inconveniencing existing members”.

And suddenly, Peloton was being painted as some evil overlord looking to steal pennies off of their innocent clients.

And while the negative feedback you receive might not be at the same scale as Peloton, it’s important to think critically about client backlash.

How do you deal with long-term clients turning their back on you? How do you respond when constructive feedback crosses over to negativity? And why does this happen in the first place?

Those are just some of of the questions we’re looking to answer in today’s episode.

Here’s what you can expect from this one:

• How to deal with criticism when you’re used to staying in the edges
• The kind of feedback we’ve received in our own businesses
• Why female founders are always judged harshly for ‘daring’ to grow
• Our constant battle between leadership and humility
• Why opinions should be taken as neutral

And more!

If you’ve been losing sleep over those comments on your latest Instagram post, or want to know how to deal with criticism as it comes, this is the episode for you!

Once you’re done listening, find us on Instagram (@heymarvelous) and talk to us about a few comments that you’ve gotten from clients. How did you deal with them?

RESOURCES

Marvelous.bio

Peloton’s Price Increase Post

The Billion Dollar Loser - Reeves Wiedeman

Copina Tea

This Week’s Joy:

We’re both fans of tea (with Jeni even buying, no lies, 12 whole pounds of it recently) and Copina’s collagen-boosted ones are a godsend for our hair, skin, and nails!

This Week’s Hustle:

If you’ve been as fascinated by the insane rise and fall of WeWork’s Adam Neumann as we are, ‘The Billion Dollar Loser’ by Reeves Wiedeman is the perfect read to get all caught up.

This podcast is brought to you by the Marvelous online teaching platform.

Marvelous is an easy-to-use platform that helps you build and sell your own courses memberships and live-streamed programs. Go from idea to open for business in just minutes. Unlike other startups, Marvelous was created by women for women. If you're looking for a simple, streamlined way to build and grow an online business. You can learn more at Marvelous.

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Social media is an excellent (and inexpensive) way to connect with your audience online, share your expertise in your chosen niche, and get some valuable market research in while you’re at it.

So, why are we so reluctant to go all in?

Why do so many business owners have a knee-jerk negative reaction to social media, especially when they don’t mind spending time on it outside of work?

The answer isn’t simple.

Most of us struggle with a deep fear of rejection, judgment, and being dragged by trolls online.

And when we open up our business to them, we’re stepping away from the comfort of private accounts, hidden likes, and approved followers by allowing everyone to have a say on what we do.

As a result, we feel obligated to curate what we share on social media based on what they might like instead of being truthful to our own voices and experiences.

But here’s the thing: Your online presence isn’t meant to cater to everyone.

Instead, it needs to speak to who you are, what your business stands for, and who you serve. You can absolutely be successful by being your authentic self and creating what you want to see more of in the online space.

And if you prefer not using social media at all, you’re still very capable of growing exponentially through other channels!

In this week’s episode, we’re dissecting the relationship business owners have with social media, how to overcome the mindset blocks that stop you from sharing what you want online, and how to make sure negativity doesn’t sabotage the work you’re meant to do!

Here’s what you can expect from this one:

• Understanding why so many business owners despise social media
• The mindset work you need to do to build your relationship with social media
• Dealing with trolling and negativity as a consequence of being provocative online
• How to deal with the fear of rejection and judgment online
• Growing your business effectively without social media
• The importance of knowing your message and what you stand for as a business owner
• Our exciting new Visibility Week Challenge!

If you struggle with putting yourself or your brand out there, this episode is perfect to help you gain some perspective on how you can grow your business online—with or without an Instagram account!

RESOURCES

• Facebook
• Instagram
• Purple Cow by Seth Godin
• Visibility Week 2022
• Line Goes Up

This Week’s Joy:

This week, we’ve been updating our Web3 knowledge with Line Goes Up, a 2 hours and 18 minutes long YouTube video that explains NFTs and crypto from a refreshingly new standpoint!

This Week’s Hustle:

If you’re ready to take charge of your visibility online, take your messaging to the next level, and boost your sales, our FREE 5-Day Visibility Week Challenge is just the thing you need! Sign up now to save your spot.

This podcast is brought to you by the Marvelous online teaching platform.

Marvelous is an easy-to-use platform that helps you build and sell your own courses memberships and live-streamed programs. Go from idea to open for business in just minutes. Unlike other startups, Marvelous was created by women for women. If you're looking for a simple, streamlined way to build and grow an online business. You can learn more at Marvelous.

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There’s a thin line between ambition and crime.

But, is that line the same for everyone?

Case in point: men get to be ambitious, driven, even criminal in their pursuit of success and get praised for it. Movies and books that criticize them still have a hint of hero worship (Wolf of Wall Street, anyone?)

But when women dare to do the same? They instantly become the villains of the story.

And when their ambition crosses over to criminal territory, the fall from grace is much harder.

In today’s episode, we discuss Elizabeth Holmes, Anna Sorokin, and The Bad Vegan, and break down how society views women who ‘flew too close to the sun’.

While we don’t have all of the answers just yet, we try to make sense of the double standards in entrepreneurship, the complex relationship we have with women who just want to be successful, and if this kind of public humiliation is the reason we don’t see more openly ambitious female entrepreneurs.

This isn’t a conversation that should be limited to just the two of us! Once you listen to the episode, find us on Instagram (@heymarvelous) and tell us what you think about women in business and why the world is obsessed with making spectacles of their downfalls!

Here’s what else you can expect in the episode:

• Why we’re especially invested in the Elizabeth Holmes’ case
• The difference between WeWork and Holmes
• The connection between success and needing to feel loved and understood
• The relationship between beauty and success
• Men’s reaction to Elizabeth Holmes (and what it tells us)

And more!

RESOURCES:

• The Dropout (Podcast that covers the Elizabeth Holmes case from A to Z)
• The Bad Vegan
• Inventing Anna
• “Anna Sorokin Talks About Making Art”
• Hey Marvelous

This Week’s Joy:

Our joy for you is simple – go watch Inventing Anna and The Bad Vegan on Netflix and listen to The Dropout! Not only are they entertaining and easy to binge, they also give us invaluable insights into the minds of these interesting women.

This Week’s Hustle:

Our hustle this week is to be unapologetically ambitious and audacious. We need more women to act on their ambition than be too scared to take a step forward.

Oh, and read this New York Times article to get informed about Web3 and NFTs!

This podcast is brought to you by the Marvelous online teaching platform.

Marvelous is an easy-to-use platform that helps you build and sell your own courses memberships and live-streamed programs. Go from idea to open for business in just minutes. Unlike other startups, Marvelous was created by women for women. If you're looking for a simple, streamlined way to build and grow an online business. You can learn more at Marvelous.

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Show of hands:

How many of you are afraid to start (or scale) your business because you’re afraid of going into debt?

If you have your hand up, we get it.

After all, no one wants to put $5,000 on their credit cards to spend on bags, shoes, or clothing.

So, why would we take that risk for our business?

In today’s And She Spoke episode, we want to break down why that train of thought is deeply flawed.

As women, we’ve let ourselves believe that we must be overly responsible with our money. We can only invest in something if we already have the cash in the bank to back it up. Otherwise, we’ll be seen as frivolous and financially irresponsible.

That fear has holds us back from investing in our futures, taking risks for our careers, and jumping into entrepreneurship headfirst.

And that’s just doing a disservice to our communities.

While not all of us have the financial security and privilege to take on debt, for those of us who can afford to take on debt, it can be a very effective way to jumpstart your business.

Here’s what else you can expect in the episode:

• Our personal stories about the finances behind our first businesses
• The ‘Death Valley’ analogy and how to apply it to your business
• How debt can help you gain the resilience you need to be an entrepreneur
• The J Curve and why you should be studying it ASAP
• Why you need to surround yourself with people who believe in you And more!

This episode is here to tell you that if you manage your finances well, debt doesn’t have to be a dirty word.

RESOURCES: * Hey Marvelous * Color Hunt * Inner Circle

This Week’s Joy:

Both of us have been obsessed with Inventing Anna (Jenny even stayed up all night to binge it). In fact, we have so many thoughts about it that we’re going to be recording a special episode dedicated to breaking it down! Stay tuned.

This Week’s Hustle:

Our hustle is the perfect example of how small changes can yield HUGE results.

Both of us took some time out of our day to change the colors on our Google Calendar events page to a palette that we love. We spend our lives on Google Calendar, so to have the screen open up to a beautiful color palette really makes a difference.

This podcast is brought to you by the Marvelous online teaching platform.

Marvelous is an easy-to-use platform that helps you build and sell your own courses memberships and live-streamed programs. Go from idea to open for business in just minutes. Unlike other startups, Marvelous was created by women for women. If you're looking for a simple, streamlined way to build and grow an online business. You can learn more at Marvelous.

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Running an online business can be draining.

Especially in a global pandemic.

If you spent most of last year glued to the screen, working 13 hours a day, and wading through digital noise, you aren’t the only one.

2020 and 2021 were not kind to entrepreneurs.

But with a new year comes a fresh perspective.

And one big trend that we stand behind for 2022 is digital minimalism.

Digital minimalism means taking the time to look at how you’re running your business and think, “How can I best deliver to my clients/students?”

The “best” could look like rethinking your offers and seeing if they make sense in the context of your current clientele, clocking how much time you’re spending in front of a screen (and minimizing it), or simply ensuring that you’re making your processes cleaner, simpler, and more accessible for both you and your clients.

As female creators, our instinct is to add as much value as we can, create more and put as much out to the world as possible.

But today, the narrative is different.
Audiences now are all about quality over quantity.

And scaling back your digital elbow grease is one of the easiest ways to execute top-quality services daily!

So, if you want to hear our in-depth takes on the trend (and how you can apply it to your own business), as well as our input on several huge 2022 business trends, this episode is for you!

This is what we’re jumping into for this one:

• 4 Marvelous-approved trends that’ll make you rethink how you see your online business in 2022
• The big content shift: working on creating better, not “more”
• What the online teaching model is evolving into
• The wonders that effective advertising + your organic content strategy can create
• SLOs and how they can essentially save your ad cost
• The audio trend (and why it’s not going anywhere)
• Exploring the metaverse and Web 3.0
• The great rise of the Female Creator Economy

We’re looking at a big year for online businesses (especially the creator economy) and we can’t wait to learn more and explore as we go.

If you’re interested in shaking things up in your own workflows and trying something new and different this year, this is the perfect episode to get started!

RESOURCES

• Hey Marvelous
• Kettl tea
• Stendig Calendar
• Animal Crossing

This Week’s Joy:

Jenni’s still enjoying her soothing matcha tea from a lovely Brooklyn-based brand called Kettl (all 4 pounds of it, believe it or not!)

This Week’s Hustle:

And Sandy’s current hustle is her beautiful, brand new Stendig Calendar by Massimo Villegni! She loves the classic monochromatic palette and how the dates always keep her on track.

This podcast is brought to you by the Marvelous online teaching platform.

Marvelous is an easy-to-use platform that helps you build and sell your own courses memberships and live-streamed programs. Go from idea to open for business in just minutes. Unlike other startups, Marvelous was created by women for women. If you're looking for a simple, streamlined way to build and grow an online business. You can learn more at Marvelous.

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It’s been a hot minute, hasn’t it?

We know we’ve been gone for a while. But, it’s for a good reason!

Last August, Jeni realized that she was burnt out.

And by burnt out, we don’t mean slightly warm — we mean full-on, Sahara Desert- level fried.

Her basement office was suffocating, she was working 18 hours a day, and to top it all off, had COVID for months.

So, she decided she needed a change.

Change which came in the form of a 25ft Airstream that allowed her to travel the length and breadth of the United States.

And that’s exactly what she did.

But, bouncing from one cellphone tower to another just didn’t guarantee good wifi, making it impossible to film weekly podcast episodes.

So, while our break might’ve been forced, we’re glad we took it. Not only did Jeni get to live out a dream she’s had for years, we also got the chance to take a step back and take life at a slower pace.

In this comeback episode, we’re sitting down for a little coffee-break chat and talking about all the exciting things we’ve been up to.

More importantly, we break down burnout, the side-effects of sprinting 24/7 and how you can cope with it (you don’t have to travel across the country in a van, promise) so you come back even stronger.

On that note, we hope you’re prepared for everything we have in store for And She Spoke! This break has given us some incredible ideas that we’re dying to implement.

Now that we’re back and better than ever, keep an eye out for everything that’s coming your way.

This is what we’re jumping into for this one:

• Why Jeni has had a tough time recording the last few And She Spoke episodes
• How business owners can set boundaries
• The things Sandy and Jeni did to get over their burnout
• Why your business should help you build your life instead of becoming your life
• Our plans for 2022

And more!

RESOURCES

• Marvelous
• Rode Wireless Mic

This Week’s Joy:

Jeni’s joy is an exciting one - swimming with barracudas. She’s loved sharks for as long as she could remember, so this was a dream come true!

This Week’s Hustle:

Our hustle comes from Sandy who cannot recommend The Rode Wireless Mic enough. It’s the only one on the market that actually works!

This podcast is brought to you by the Marvelous online teaching platform.

Marvelous is an easy-to-use platform that helps you build and sell your own courses memberships and live-streamed programs. Go from idea to open for business in just minutes. Unlike other startups, Marvelous was created by women for women. If you're looking for a simple, streamlined way to build and grow an online business. You can learn more at Marvelous.

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If you’ve been following us for a while, you probably know that we’re obsessed with the concept of being a business nomad. 

What’s not to love about getting to travel the world while still running your business? 

And before Jeni took the plunge and invested in her own Airstream, she had a few entrepreneurs she would follow for travel inspo - people who were living the #campingcarlife and working while going on new adventures every day. 

One such entrepreneur was Rebecca Tracey. 

The founder of The Uncaged Life, Rebecca works with coaches and solopreneurs in the baby stages of their business to help them get clear on their brand messaging, create packages that sell, and attract lifetime clients. 

Though she’s been in the business for a long time (in fact, 2021 is her 10th anniversary!), her model has had to go through some huge changes recently. 

Before 2021, over 50% of Rebecca’s total revenue came from two live launches a year, which ran for weeks at a time. Once they wrapped up, she would take a step back and use the downtime to travel and unwind. 

While this might seem like a stressful model for some, Rebecca loved it. She loved the adrenaline-pumping excitement of a live launch, and loved the free time she got afterwards. 

However, due to several big life changes that happened to her this year (including moving from Toronto to Squamish, BC), Rebecca decided that her live-launch model didn’t make sense for her moving forward. So, she decided to focus on her evergreen programs and offering her clients year-round support. 

Switching to such a drastically different model nearly 10 years into your business isn’t easy.

And Rebecca never makes it sound like it is. 

In this episode, she candidly talks about WHY she switched models in the first place, how she doesn’t have everything figured out just yet, and why feeling scared in your business is 100% okay. 

Here’s what else you can expect in the episode: 
Why Rebecca is retiring from her nomad life
How she’s updating her programs for her new model
Her organic marketing tips that ANY business owner can implement 
Her experiments with Facebook Ads
What Rebecca’s 2022 is going to look like

If you’ve had to change your business model in the pandemic and feel like you’re not quite sure where the future will take you, this episode might help quell some of those fears!

RESOURCES:

• The Uncaged Life
• The Uncaged Life - Instagram
• Rebecca’s Instagram
• The Chill and Prosper Podcast - Denise Duffield Thomas

This Week’s Joy:
In memory of her late cattle dog Rhubarb, Rebecca has been obsessed with the Cattle Dog hashtag on Instagram!

This Week’s Hustle:
Rebecca’s hustle is someone you might remember from And She Spoke - Denise Duffield Thomas! 
Denise is the epitome of a ‘chill-preneur’ and Rebecca listens to her podcast when her business gets complicated.

This podcast is brought to you by the Marvelous online teaching platform.

Marvelous is an easy-to-use platform that helps you build and sell your own courses memberships and live-streamed programs. Go from idea to open for business in just minutes. Unlike other startups, Marvelous was created by women for women. If you're looking for a simple, streamlined way to build and grow an online business. You can learn more at Marvelous.

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Society is quick to call a high-achieving woman “superwoman”.

With that one word, the world defines your worth by your ability to take care of others.

And because we’ve been socialized to measure our own value according to these metrics, we forget that the superhero cape around our necks suffocates us.

Roxanne Francis, psychotherapist and co-owner of Francis Psychotherapy and Consulting Services, not only dealt with this, but made active steps to transform the narrative around her self worth.

She took herself on a transformative journey of recognizing her needs, choosing self-preservation, and battling burnout. And while it was difficult and guilt-inducing to leave her job in public service, choosing to take care of her own needs was the best decision she could’ve made for herself.

On this week’s episode, she’s chatting about the symptoms of burnout, the narrative around women and perfectionism, and how we need to change the narrative for the next generation of women after us.

This is what we’re jumping into for this one:
What it really means to feel burnt out
Roxanne’s transition from public service to running her own psychotherapy business
Her personal journey with burnout and stress
The symptoms of burnout and the questions you should be asking yourself when you feel it coming
Choosing self-preservation over conditioned altruism
The need for perfection, and the ability to care as metric of worth for women
Maintaining mental health around social media, and the effects of the metaverse
The right to disconnect discourse

If you’re looking for some inspiration, perspective, or just a quick moment to let yourself breathe a little easy, this is the episode for you!

RESOURCES
Roxanne’s Website
Roxanne’s Instagram
Voxer

This Week’s Joy:
Roxanne has been enjoying her share of rest and well-deserved QT with her family- whether that’s snuggling on the couch with her children or treating herself to a glass of wine in the evenings.

This Week’s Hustle:
Roxanne, like many of us, is a Voxer fan. Voxer is a walkie-talkie app that allows you to share your thoughts audibly or through text without a phone number, and keeps the continuity (and productivity) train running smoothly!

This podcast is brought to you by the Marvelous online teaching platform.

Marvelous is an easy-to-use platform that helps you build and sell your own courses memberships and live-streamed programs. Go from idea to open for business in just minutes. Unlike other startups, Marvelous was created by women for women. If you're looking for a simple, streamlined way to build and grow an online business. You can learn more at Marvelous.

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Sometimes, you hear a calling you just can’t ignore.

And while it’s daunting to leave behind your life as you know it to follow your instincts, there’s also nothing quite as rewarding.

No one knows that better than this week’s guest Gloria Chou.

Gloria is a US diplomat-turned Public Relations expert whose mission is to help business owners take charge of their own PR, gain traction, and build brand credibility without the friction from go-between agencies.

Over the years, Gloria has helped thousands of businesses carve a space for themselves in premium outlets and publications.

But it wasn’t what she’d set out to do at the start of her career. And when she made the switch to PR , she had to leave a lot behind— her job in bureaucracy, her pension, and her security—just to start over in a completely different industry at the bottom rung of the ladder.

But Gloria believed in her zone of genius. So, she gave it her all. And in this episode, she’s telling us the fascinating story of how it all worked out!

Here’s what we’ve got in store for this one:

• Gloria’s drastic transition from diplomat to PR expert
• A glimpse at her three-step CPR pitching method and how it came to be
• Changing your career and navigating a 0-experience zone
• How rejection can quite literally make your career
• The discrepancies in PR and cold-calling between men and women
• How taking charge of your own PR gets the job done while minimizing friction
• Gloria’s thoughts on content creation with relation to PR
• Tips from an expert on following up pitches, reaching out to publications, and more!

Gloria’s drive, honesty, and tooth-and-nail attitude is what makes this episode so refreshing.

And if you’re looking to make a switch and follow your heart to do the thing that’s calling you, definitely tune in! This episode might just be the sign you need.

RESOURCES:

• Gloria’s Website
• Gloria’s Podcast
• Gloria’s PR Secrets Masterclass
• Gloria’s Instagram

This Week’s Joy:
Gloria is extremely delighted about launching and hosting her very own Small Business PR Podcast! She’s having a wonderful time talking to new guests, and learning how to turn the podcast gears as she goes along!

This Week’s Hustle:
Gloria’s very own PR Secrets Masterclass will up your business’ PR game in under an hour! This is a free 30-minute step-by-step class where she deconstructs a PR outreach email pitch right from the subject line!

This podcast is brought to you by the Marvelous online teaching platform.

Marvelous is an easy-to-use platform that helps you build and sell your own courses memberships and live-streamed programs. Go from idea to open for business in just minutes. Unlike other startups, Marvelous was created by women for women. If you're looking for a simple, streamlined way to build and grow an online business. You can learn more at Marvelous.

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In all our years of working with small business owners, we’ve been asked one question over and over again:

How do I get my trademarks in order?

And we 100% understand! Trademarking your intellectual property is important, especially if you want to avoid legal battles and intellectual theft.

Since this is such an important topic, we want to make sure we give you the most accurate and legally sound advice possible.

So, we’re enlisting the help of an expert!

Meet Michelle Murphy, the co-founder of Wilson Murphy Law and The CEO Legal Loft.

Michelle is a small business attorney with a specialization in trademarks. Since opening her own practice in 2019, she’s worked with hundreds of female entrepreneurs to help them file and manage their trademarks and protect themselves legally.

This episode is short, sweet, and chock full of useful information for any new entrepreneur. Michelle breaks down the legal nitty-gritties of running a business in easy-to-understand tid-bits so you can walk away with important knowledge on how to protect yourself for a rainy day!

Here’s what you can expect from this week’s episode:

• The crazy story of how Michelle became a small business attorney
• What every new business owner needs to do to cover their “legal backside”
• Michelle’s advice on forming a legal entity before filing for a trademark
• Why more and more businesses are filing for trademarks before they launch
• The average investment you’d need to make to file a trademark
• The difference between copyrights and trademarks
• How to navigate the world of international trademarks
• What she looks for when she performs legal audits
• How TikTok has helped her business

And more!

Once you’re done with the episode, find us on Instagram (@heymarvelous) and tell us the steps you took to file for your own trademark. Who knows, it might just help a new business owner who’s looking to enter the world for the first time!

RESOURCES

• Michelle’s Website
• The Ceo Legal Loft
• Michelle’s Instagram
• Michelle’s LinkedIn
• Michelle’s TikTok
• SKIMS
• Sling TV
• Dubsado

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Unruly (adjective): Disorderly and disruptive and not amenable to discipline or control.

The official dictionary definition of ‘unruly’ isn’t something women usually aspire to be.

All our lives, we’ve been conditioned to believe that being unruly was social suicide - the opposite of how we needed to act if we wanted to be loved by our peers, respected by our colleagues, and cared for by our partners.

But, what if we told you that the world needs unruly women now more than ever?

What if we told you that its balance depended on it?

If you’re confused, you won’t be after you listen to today’s guest, Emilia Van Hauen!

This is Emilia’s second visit to And She Spoke and the last time we chatted, she left us with a quote that we knew had to be explored further:

“I have something to say about unruly women…”

How could we not have her back after that?

According to Emilia, for society to find equilibrium, women need to stop suppressing themselves and start embracing their ‘unruly’ sides.

Now, her definition of unruliness isn’t what you’ll find in a dictionary.

To her, being unruly means not being constrained by the societal norms that dictate what an ‘ideal woman’ should be like.

And by refusing to constrain your creativity, lust, and physical/emotional strength, you can help the world find the balance that it so desperately needs.

After all, the only way we can grow newer, better, more inclusive communities is if we destroy the systems that aren’t working and lean into what makes each one of us unique.

And the best way to do that is to start with yourself.

If you feel like you’re done being told to stand in a corner, let this episode be your motivation to break the glass ceiling, believe in your creativity, and create a new world with your unruliness.

Here’s what you can expect from this week’s episode:

• Why unruliness is the only cure to the “wicked” world we find ourselves in
• How Emilia came to realize that being unruly was her creative calling
• The three things women are actively judged on and how to break out of the cycle
• How women can move past their fear of judgement and criticism
• The importance of building a community of individuals who truly support your work
• How unruliness is important if you want to make money in your business
• Why you should stop looking for permission to feel what you want to feel

And more!

Once you’re done with the episode, find us on Instagram (@heymarvelous) and tell us how you’reliving an unruly life!

RESOURCES

• Emilia Van Hauen - Website (English Version)
• Emilia Van Hauen TED Talk - Unruly Women Have More Fun
• Where We Should Begin - Esther Perel
• Brené Brown

This Week’s Joy:

Emilia’s biggest joy right now is her puppy Tintin! She’s so happy that she thinks everyone deserves a little furball in their lives, and we couldn’t agree more.

This Week’s Hustle:

Currently Emilia has been loving everything Brené Brown and regularly listens to Esther Perel’s ‘Where We Should Begin’ podcast to help her take her business (and unruliness!) to the next level.

This podcast is brought to you by the Marvelous online teaching platform.

Marvelous is an easy-to-use platform that helps you build and sell your own courses memberships and live-streamed programs. Go from idea to open for business in just minutes. Unlike other startups, Marvelous was created by women for women. If you're looking for a simple, streamlined way to build and grow an online business. You can learn more at Marvelous.

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We often define our limits by what we think we’re capable of.

And for many women in business, structural barriers—both internal and external—play a big role in how we create these fences for ourselves.

For centuries, we’ve been taught that we need to rely on other members of society to make financial decisions for us, and that our value comes from our bodies rather than our minds. This reflects in how much money we think we deserve in exchange for our services.

But, that’s where the beauty of owning our own businesses lies.

Why?

Because we’re the ones in charge. We’re the ones making the calls, setting our prices, and running the show.

In this week’s episode, we’re getting into the nitty-gritty of how the prevailing system dictates our money-mindsets as women, why the culture of undercharging is detrimental to the entrepreneurial landscape, and why we should rethink our capabilities with reference to money.

Here’s what you can expect from this episode:

• The difference between your worth and the worth of your programs and offerings
• 4 subconscious patriarchal beliefs that affect the way we price things
• How being a business owner helps you minimize the structural financial barriers
• The undercharging-culture, and why it needs to change
• Why many women don't even trust themselves with money
• The need to understand what your service is worth
• What happens when you quit playing the people-pleasing game
• Why it’s important to charge honest rates even if you don’t “need” the money

We’ve got some real-talk and super staggering statistics in store for you with this one. And we’re also extremely excited to be unveiling our new project, 8333!

If you’re as interested in seeing a shift in the culture of pricing as we are, you’re going to love this talk. So get comfy, and tune in!

RESOURCES

• Theposterclub.com
• Seth Godin’s Blog Post “Superfamous”

This Week’s Joy:

Sandy’s current joy is theposterclub.com! It’s a website that features beautiful, eclectic art pieces from artists in Denmark who take inspiration from Scandinavian and minimalist concepts.

This Week’s Hustle:

What’s fueling Jenni’s hustle these days is Seth Godin’s latest blog post,“Superfamous”. It dives into the true purpose of transformative work, and how it’s slowly being marred by the creator’s desire to achieve fame.

This podcast is brought to you by the Marvelous online teaching platform.

Marvelous is an easy-to-use platform that helps you build and sell your own courses memberships and live-streamed programs. Go from idea to open for business in just minutes. Unlike other startups, Marvelous was created by women for women. If you're looking for a simple, streamlined way to build and grow an online business. You can learn more at Marvelous.

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As women and business owners, our relationship with money is complex. We’re constantly challenged by our internalized scarcity mindset, the wage gap, and financial barriers in a system that wasn’t designed to benefit us.

But money, at the end of the day, is a resource at your disposal4. And if you choose to channel it as an agent of power, freedom, and equity, that’s exactly what it’ll bring you!

That’s just one of the exciting concepts we’re discussing in this week’s episode!

In September, a panel of five female founders got together for our annual Thrive Online fireside chat, Women, Money, and Power. We spoke candidly about the power of money and influence, feminist businesses, and finance. And this week’s episode is the complete and unadulterated discussion from that very panel!

We’re extremely proud to present Kelly Diels (Feminist marketing teacher), Emily Howe (Founder of The American Association of Corporate Gender Strategists, Claire Wasserman (Founder of Ladies Get Paid), Naomi Scott Clark (Feminist marketing coach), and Amina AlTai (Leadership and mindfulness coach) as our guests for this episode!

Here’s what you can expect from this one:

• Money as an agent of freedom and power
• Building an empire versus building power (and sharing it!)
• What a “feminist business” really means
• Why pushing past our internalized income ceilings is activism
• Scarcity and abundance as gendered teachings
• Origin stories of some of today’s most influential female-owned movement-building businesses
• Defining “influence” and claiming it’s power
• Acknowledging your inner power, cultivating a practice of self-trust, and knowing what you’re worth

What makes this episode so special is the honesty with which every panelist brings her own financial experiences to the table. No matter where you are in your own financial journey, you’ll find yourself feeling a little more motivated and well-informed once the headphones come off.

So cozy up, and tune in—this is the only girl-talk you need this week!

RESOURCES

Kelly Diels’

• Website
• Instagram

Emily Howe

• Website
• Instagram
• American Association of Corporate Gender Strategists

Claire Wasserman

• Ladies Get Paid
• Instagram

Naomi Clark

• Website
• Instagram

Amina AlTai

• Website
• Instagram

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Online business is a blessing.

It’s not like we didn’t already know that (we’ve been in the industry for over a decade after all), but we’ve gained a newfound appreciation for it this past year.

Not only did we have the freedom to take vacations, but we were also able to leverage our online business to grow, earn consistent revenue, and help other incredible entrepreneurs do the same thing.

But on a more personal level, it’s allowed us to make some major purchases that have either brought us joy, made our lives easier, or both, which is exactly what we’ll be discussing in today’s episode (spoiler alert: get ready for conversations about a “work condo” and an airstream)

So, join us as we talk about how online business has helped us fulfill our money-based goals, how spending the big bucks in your personal life can be a fantastic side-hustle opportunity, and how you can reform your mindset around big purchases.

Here’s what you can expect from this week’s episode:

• How a little money can solve a lot of problems
• Why we’re super aware of what are brains are thinking and doing now as opposed to years ago
• How online business has enabled us to do so much even in times of chaos
• Why our purchases are solid, long-term investments too
• Our contrasting money behaviors and why we’re starting to adopt the motto ‘just throw a little money at it!’

So, if you’re on the fence about getting into online business OR about that next big investment, this episode may just be what you need!

Resources:
Hey Marvelous
Hey Marvelous - Instagram
Hey Marvelous - Inner Circle

This Week’s Joys:
Since we’ve just been back from holiday, we thought it would only be fitting to have two joys this week!

Jeni’s joy is, of course, her Airstream. Not only does she love it, but she also loves the subculture around it, with its rallies, clubs, and secret messages.

Sandy’ joy is finally having a reason to purchase her favorite Hilma af Klint paintings! Klint was one of the first artists to do abstract work in the Western world and Sandy has wanted a space that she could furnish with her paintings for a long time.

This podcast is brought to you by the Marvelous online teaching platform.

Marvelous is an easy-to-use platform that helps you build and sell your own courses memberships and live-streamed programs. Go from idea to open for business in just minutes. Unlike other startups, Marvelous was created by women for women. If you're looking for a simple, streamlined way to build and grow an online business. You can learn more at Marvelous.

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As female entrepreneurs, we know the challenges that come with a weak money mindset. It takes a lot of trial and error before we can trust ourselves when it comes to our own wealth.

And this week’s guest used to feel no different. But, she managed to stand up, do the deep work and change her relationship with money.

And now, she’s committed to helping women make the same shifts that she did!

Bonnie Koo is a dermatologist-turned-fulltime wealth coach, the founder of Wealthy Mom MD, and author of her upcoming book Defining Wealth For Women: (n.) Peace, Purpose, and Plenty of Cash. Her mission is to help female physicians grow and manage their money in a well-informed and confident way.

In this week’s episode, Bonnie gives us a candid take on what she has learned through her role as a wealth coach.

She breaks down why women don’t always have their own back while handling money, the social expectations surrounding wealth for practitioner-based careers, and the fear of judgement that bars many women from celebrating their successes with money.

Here’s what you can expect from this week’s fascinating episode:

• Bonnie’s journey from medicine to full-time wealth coaching
• A candid discussion on money in the practitioner’s sphere
• The “arrival fallacy” concept
• What happens when you bring a broke mindset to the table
• The motivational triad (and how it applies to making money)
• An honest conversation about the state of medical practitioners post-COVID
• Women and the current internal narrative around handling wealth
• A glimpse at what Bonnie’s book Defining Wealth For Women: (n.) Peace, Purpose, and Plenty of Cash is all about!
• The entrepreneur VS. practitioner money debate

Bonnie also touches upon her relationship with failure as someone with a Type A personality, discusses her attitude towards money growing up, and breaks down why having a high income doesn’t necessarily mean you have it all figured out.

We enjoyed recording this episode because of how transparent, uninhibited, and realistic Bonnie’s take on things is. She’s not afraid to drop numbers or give you the real picture, which is super refreshing when we’re talking about the $$$.

Tune in with a cup of tea and get ready to take charge of your money mindset!

Resources:

• Bonnie’s Instagram
• Bonnie’s Website
• Bonnie’s TOMO Rose Gold Water Bottle

This week’s Joy:

Bonnie’s current joy makes sure she’s feeling healthy, hydrated, and glamorous at all times - it’s her special TOMO rose gold water bottle! (Those crystals would brighten up anyone’s day!)

This week’s Hustle:

Bonnie believes her book Defining Wealth For Women: (n.) Peace, Purpose, and Plenty of Cash (coming out October 2021!) is extremely helpful for any woman. It’s a fascinating look at the socialization of money, the psychology of women surrounding wealth, and some serious brain-rewiring that we all need today to change the financial narrative.

This podcast is brought to you by the Marvelous online teaching platform.

Marvelous is an easy-to-use platform that helps you build and sell your own courses memberships and live-streamed programs. Go from idea to open for business in just minutes. Unlike other startups, Marvelous was created by women for women. If you're looking for a simple, streamlined way to build and grow an online business. You can learn more at Marvelous.

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Confession time: we know close to nothing about product-based businesses.

We’ve been in the online space for years and our experience with product businesses has been so tiring that we don’t even have the energy to sell Hey Marvelous T-shirts.

But, as entrepreneurs who love to stay on top of industry trends, we couldn’t help but notice a huge influx of product-based businesses during the pandemic - especially with the rise of TikTok and the resurgence of spaces like DePop and Etsy.

So, it only made sense to dig deeper and dive into the world of physical products with an expert!

In today’s episode, we’re discussing the ins and outs of the business with the incredible Katie Hunt.

Katie is the founder of Proof to Product where she helps coach and mentor entrepreneurs who create physical products. She works with them on business strategy and helps sell their products wholesale so they can get on the shelves of both smaller, independent shops (like that local stationery store you adore), or larger chains (like Target or Walmart).

So, in today’s episode, Katie discusses her own journey from small stationery store owner to business strategist, how the landscape for product-based business has changed over the past ten years, what you need to know if you’re looking to enter the market, and more!

Here’s a peek at what else you can expect:

• Why stronger access to customer feedback is both a blessing and a curse
• The one question that you should be asking before you start a product-based business
• Comparisons between selling wholesale vs selling via marketing channels like Etsy
• The kind of strain manufacturing and inventory has on your profit margins (and how to start paying yourself more)
• How to continue to feel passionate about your business when you hit a plateau
• The mysteries of TikTok marketing
• Why online entrepreneurs shouldn’t jump into the retail space blind

Once you’re done listening to this episode, find us on Instagram (@heymarvelous) and tell us: do you own a product-based business (or do you sell retail as a part of your online business)? What challenges do you face on a day-to-day basis?

Resources:

• Proof To Product
• Proof To Product - Podcast
• Proof To Product - Instagram
• Voxer

This week’s Joy:

Katie and her family recently returned from a 22-day road trip (ummm, jealous). They traveled to 8 states, went camping, spent time outdoors, and were able to have quality time together as a family without Katie having to worry about her business at all.

The high of the trip is Katie’s biggest joy right now!

This week’s Hustle:

Katie’s hustle is something we love in our business too, the criminally underrated Voxer.

Voxer is a walkie-talkie app that’s fantastic for client coaching calls, connecting with colleagues, and having back and forth, real-time conversations.

This podcast is brought to you by the Marvelous online teaching platform.

Marvelous is an easy-to-use platform that helps you build and sell your own courses memberships and live-streamed programs. Go from idea to open for business in just minutes. Unlike other startups, Marvelous was created by women for women. If you're looking for a simple, streamlined way to build and grow an online business. You can learn more at Marvelous.

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Today, we’re lucky to have access to the wisdom of several authors, teachers, and coaches who’ve created huge shifts to the entrepreneurial mindset.

But there’s no one quite like Gay Hendricks.

The founder of the Hendricks Institute and the Foundation for Conscious Living, Gay has written more than forty books, coached Wall Street wolves and Hollywood royalty alike.

He’s dedicated nearly 5 decades (!!!) of his life to making waves in the relationship and body-mind transformation sphere.

His journey from Future Teachers Of America workshop-attendee to guesting on Oprah is remarkable. And he’s here to dissect all of that and then some for this week’s episode!

Gay’s work is unprecedented, but he didn’t just have the answers handed to him. He did it all by celebrating his mistakes, asking good questions, and focusing on his sacred mission.

Here’s a gist of what you can expect from this week’s episode:

• Acknowledging your zone of genius and investing in its growth
• A peek into practical spirituality (ft. some great client experiences!)
• The importance of learning how to get your message across in bite-sized chunks
• A 2-minute breakdown of his bestseller, The Big Leap
• The magic of listening well
• A self-appreciation “homework” assignment that we all need to try out ASAP
• Gay’s thoughts on balancing your preexisting zone of genius and building a new skillset
• The psychology behind the fear of outshining other people
• What you can expect from Gay’s exciting new book The Genius Zone
• Where “loving your fear” can get you

If you’re ready to maximize your potential, this is your episode! Gay is a genuinely comforting presence with a warm sense of humour and a genuine eagerness to share his lessons with the world. We’re sure you’ll enjoy listening to him as much as we did!

So cozy up, tune in, and get ready to say yes to your genius!

Resources:

• The Hendricks Institute Website
• The Foundation For Conscious Living Website
• The Genius Zone Book Website
• Gay’s Instagram

This week’s Joy:

Gay is currently loving his British shorthair cats Greta and Allie who’ve kept him and his wife company throughout the pandemic.

This week’s Hustle:

What helps Gay hustle every day is a simple 10-second tip: asking yourself to experience more and more of your genius. It’s a gentle thought that encourages the universe to bring good things your way!

This podcast is brought to you by the Marvelous online teaching platform.

Marvelous is an easy-to-use platform that helps you build and sell your own courses memberships and live-streamed programs. Go from idea to open for business in just minutes. Unlike other startups, Marvelous was created by women for women. If you're looking for a simple, streamlined way to build and grow an online business. You can learn more at Marvelous.

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It’s no secret that the world of business is skewed to serve a certain group of people.

If you aren’t a cis white male with an Ivy League degree and an impressive resume, your chances of ‘making it’ in this industry are slim.

And if you’re a Black entrepreneur?

Those chances are close to nonexistent.

Systematic barriers of entry have kept Black entrepreneurs out of the conversation for decades. And while everyone knew of the problem, very few were actively making an effort to help solve it pre-2020.

Well, today’s guest, Jill Johnson, has been tirelessly working towards breaking down their barriers for decades.

Jill is the co-founder and CEO of the Institute for Entrepreneurship Leadership. When she started this business in 2002 with her father, her goal was simple - to help the economic development of minorities through entrepreneurship.

Jill’s parents ran a newspaper publishing business which meant she had several opportunities growing up to interact with small entrepreneurs and see exactly why they struggled to make payroll.

Then, when she got her first job at Goldman Sachs, she was able to come in close contact with people who created tremendous wealth.

That’s when she realized that they were not people who looked like her or anyone in her community.

So, she started her business because she saw that certain groups of people have to face barriers that just shouldn’t exist. She understood that there was infrastructure needed not only to help these groups financially but also to offer them hands-on support so they could succeed as entrepreneurs.

In today’s episode, Jill discusses the various ways she helps Black and minority entrepreneurs, what she feels the biggest barrier to entry really is for POC business owners, and the concept of wealth in the Black community.

Here’s a peek at what else you can expect:

• How everyone can help minority businesses
• The difference between a business owner and an entrepreneur
• Why not everyone should start a business (and how it’s totally okay and fulfilling to be an employee!)
• How she acknowledges her own privilege and uses it to help other entrepreneurs
• The problem with angel investors and diversity

And more!

We could’ve spoken to Jill for hours. Our conversation with her was deep, rich, and entertaining. We’re thankful people like Jill exist and we want more of our And She Spoke community to help out! Check out the link in our Resources to learn more about what Jill does and how you can help.

Resources:

• Institute for Entrepreneurship Leadership
• Women of Color Connect
• The Making of Black Angels
• Small Businesses Need Us
• GoalSetter
• Calendly
• The Value of a Wife (And She Spoke)

This week’s Joy:

Outside of her family and kids, Jill has been finding great joy in walking. To her, there’s nothing better than some good weather, nice music, and a long walk for her to collect her thoughts and recharge.

This week’s Hustle:

Jill’s hustle is a tool we also recommend to everyone we meet - Calendly! Not only is it super easy to navigate, but it also has dramatically reduced the time it takes for us to book meetings. Jill says she can’t run her business(es) without it and we agree!

This podcast is brought to you by the Marvelous online teaching platform.

Marvelous is an easy-to-use platform that helps you build and sell your own courses memberships and live-streamed programs. Go from idea to open for business in just minutes. Unlike other startups, Marvelous was created by women for women. If you're looking for a simple, streamlined way to build and grow an online business. You can learn more at Marvelous.

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This week’s guest quite literally puts the pro in productivity!

She’s an official productivity coach, a self-declared recovering perfectionist, and a calendaring enthusiast (more on that later!).

Mridu Parikh is the founder of Life Is Organized, an initiative that teaches women in business to “wake up with a plan”. Her mission is to help them fulfill their demands, set clear boundaries, and eliminate distractions — all while being in control of their intention and attention.

For anyone looking to exchange their burnout for ease, she’s the woman to turn to.

She’s all about using systemization as a tool to achieve the freedom you deserve — while making sure that you’re still getting everything done!

However, her journey from being a client services employee in New York to finally finding her calling as a full-time productivity coach was not without its bumps.

Like many of us, she experienced burnout, felt dissatisfied with the cards handed to her, and tried several career options before she found the path she was destined for (ALL while raising a family!).

In this week’s episode, she takes us through her journey, shares her coaching process, and discusses all things productivity for women.

We’ve got a powerhouse episode this week, and here’s what you can expect:

• Mridu’s 4-step strategy to building a productive life
• Finding (or customizing) an organization system that works for you
• How setting necessary boundaries at work can set you free
• Mridu’s take on Inbox Zero and (not) using your email as a to-do list
• How calendaring can help register intentionality and give your mind a break
• Incorporating the productivity ethos into business tools without constantly being on the job
• The need to role-model rest for your kids as a working woman
• A classic tip that’ll help you pull through when you’re so stressed that you “just don’t know what to do”

Mridu’s insights are so sharp and relatable that you’ll find yourself reaching for your nearest journal to take notes.

This episode will leave you feeling energetic, optimistic, and prepared to up your productivity game in a matter of minutes. So settle in, and let the inspiration wash over you!

Resources:

• Mridu’s Website, Life Is Organized
• Mridu’s Podcast, Productivity On Purpose
• 21 Killer Hacks To Stop Feeling Overwhelmed
• Trader Joe’s Hold the Cone
• Evernote

This week’s Joy:

Mridu’s sweet tooth led her to her current joy - Trader Joe’s Mini Hold the Cone. It’s her “efficient”, quick, and guilt-free night snack and makes for the perfect treat!

This week’s Hustle:

Mridu is celebrating her 10 year anniversary of using Evernote! It’s the perfect organizational tool and helps her stay on top of everything, from work to her travel plans.

This podcast is brought to you by the Marvelous online teaching platform.

Marvelous is an easy-to-use platform that helps you build and sell your own courses memberships and live-streamed programs. Go from idea to open for business in just minutes. Unlike other startups, Marvelous was created by women for women. If you're looking for a simple, streamlined way to build and grow an online business. You can learn more at Marvelous.

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We received such amazing feedback for last year’s Thrive Online conference that we knew we had to host one this year too! Tickets are now for sale online for this one-day event on 29 September. We’ll be talking about how to build a lucrative membership model and create a signature offer, as well as hosting a talk by Sadie Nardini on how to stand out on social media, before diving into the topic of building businesses that you love but also feed your bank account. We have invited the same panel along for a talk on Women, Power, and Money: Claire Wasserman, Naomi Clark, and Kelly Diels. Join us for five sessions at 9 a.m. on 29 September, for $27, by booking your ticket today! www.thriveonlineconference.com

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Social media is constantly evolving.

And keeping up with the trends is challenging for anyone, let alone those of us who actually have a business to run too...

For example, recently, Instagram announced that they wanted creators to focus more on reels than images.

The meaning of this is simple - videos posts will now receive a MUCH heavier algorithm than image-based ones.

When we first heard of this update, we were shocked. Instagram was always, first and foremost, a photo-sharing app, even when it introduced Stories to compete with Snapchat.

But now, it feels like the end of an era. We’re officially entering the zone where TikTok-style marketing is the cheapest and most powerful tool we can have in our arsenal.

But here’s the tiny problem: if you’re a millennial like us, TikTok probably gives you nightmares.

Let’s face it, there’s a lot to dislike about TikTok - most of it is cringy, confusing, and needlessly shallow.

But, we also can’t deny that TikTok is the place to be if you want to market smartly, without creating a huge dent in your bank account.

So, how can we use TikTok in a way that aligns with our values?

Well, that’s exactly what we’ll be discussing in today’s episode!

If TikTok feels like a mangled mess, this episode is for you! We discuss how we feel about TikTok, how we’re planning on using it intentionally (so no pointing and dancing), why we think it’s so addictive, and more!

Here’s a peek at what else you can expect:

• What we love and hate about social media in general
• The terrifying future of huge tech companies deciding how we should market our business
• Why it’s easier than ever to be manipulated by what’s trending
• How to be intentional about using TikTok
• Why it’s important to put your big girl pants on as an entrepreneur (even if that means doing things you dislike

Once you’re done listening to this episode, find us on Instagram (@heymarvelous) and tell us how you’re planning to use TikTok moving forward!

Resources:

• Instagram’s New Focus
• Eleanor Beaton - And She Spoke
• Catfishing Friends on TikTok
• Nothing Fancy - Alison Roman
• ARQ Underwear

This week’s Joys:

Instead of a hustle this week, we’re bringing you two joys, one for each of us!

Our first joy is a cookbook. ‘Nothing Fancy’ by Alison Roman is exactly what it sounds like - a cookbook full of simple recipes that are super delicious!

Our second joy is underwear. Not just any underwear, but granny panties. ARQ’s high-rise underwear has been the most comfortable thing we’ve put on our bodies this year and we’re happily willing to shell out $300 to buy multiple pairs in every color (please and thank you).

This podcast is brought to you by the Marvelous online teaching platform.

Marvelous is an easy-to-use platform that helps you build and sell your own courses memberships and live-streamed programs. Go from idea to open for business in just minutes. Unlike other startups, Marvelous was created by women for women. If you're looking for a simple, streamlined way to build and grow an online business. You can learn more at Marvelous.

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According to Shopify’s CEO, massive growth in the online retail space has arrived 10 years early.

We’ve seen thousands of people turn to the internet to supplement their income, create alternate livelihoods, and survive in this post-pandemic world.

But, going online isn’t easy, especially for those who’ve spent years working in offices, studios, and other brick-and-mortar spaces.

Which is why today, we’re chatting with someone who not only has a successful online shop herself, but who also coaches others on how they can achieve the same success with their own online endeavors - Christina Scalera!

Christina got her start as an in-house trademark lawyer for a private kid’s toy store. Though she dreamed of the job when she was in law school, she found the actual thing to be underwhelming and anti-climactic.

After experiencing a quarter-life crisis, she decided to quit her job to pursue more creative paths and tried everything from yoga to Etsy.

Though none of those paths really worked out, they left her with a lot of valuable experiences. She had to learn how to run a business, start a blog, and even understand how Photoshop worked in those pre-Canva days.

And in the process, she started a business that came full circle - connecting her legal expertise with fellow creative entrepreneurs.

Today, Christina’s The Contract Shop sells contract templates to coaches, designers, photographers, and small entrepreneurs.

And it’s a phenomenon.

In this episode, Christina takes us through how to create a great online shop, her opinion on selling digital downloads vs courses, how to price your services, how to turn your service-based business into an online store, and so much more!

If you’re new to the online space and want some serious inspiration on creating and developing your own store on the internet, this is the episode for you!

Once you’re done listening, find us on Instagram (@heymarvelous) and tell us: how has your online business changed over the past year?

Here’s what you can expect from this week’s episode:

• Christina’s concept of ‘de-commerce’ training
• How she handles money (and got out of $74,000 of credit card debt)
• The biggest reasons why online shops don’t sell
• Her advice on how to grow your audience online
• How she creates boundaries in her business

And more!

Resources:

• Christina Scalera - Website
• Christina Scalera - Instagram
• The Contract Shop
• The Contract Shop - Instagram
• Change Me Prayers - Tosha Silver
• Shopify - 2020 Growth

This week’s Joy:

Describing herself as a ‘horse girl’, Christina finds no greater joy than taking her 3 horses out to graze! To her, watching animals in their natural habitat is incredibly therapeutic.

This week’s Hustle:

Christina’s hustle advice always blows people’s minds when they first hear it - only follow 1 or 2 mentors at a time. So, if you’re listening to a business podcast, only listen to 1 or 2 and go ALL in on those. Listen to the podcast from the first episode, take notes, and interact with the hosts if possible.

According to Christina, following only 2 perspectives is much more helpful than the overload of information that comes with following 20.

This podcast is brought to you by the Marvelous online teaching platform.

Marvelous is an easy-to-use platform that helps you build and sell your own courses memberships and live-streamed programs. Go from idea to open for business in just minutes. Unlike other startups, Marvelous was created by women for women. If you're looking for a simple, streamlined way to build and grow an online business. You can learn more at Marvelous.

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Sometimes entrepreneurship feels like a constant uphill climb but it is an endeavor that pays off in the long-run: it’s just about staying the course and ensuring that you get the basics right.

In today’s episode, Sandy and Jeni talk about some of the most common reasons why your business is not making as much money as you would like.

You’ll learn more about the strategies and mindset shifts that are required to run a successful online business, starting with why focusing on one great offer (rather than trying to provide something for everyone on the planet) is key to success.

Sandy and Jeni also talk about transitioning from a brick-and-mortar business to the online space, how to determine what you offer, and how to price it.

Here’s a peek at what else we discuss:

• How, after the excitement of a launch, many entrepreneurs don’t know what the next step is.
• Accepting that entrepreneurship involves ups and downs and a long-term commitment.
• The problem of getting the timing of your launch or relaunch wrong.
• Why it is crucial to keep getting more people onto your email list and into your door.
• Building the thing you feel like versus the one that solves a problem for a specific kind of person.
• How you can go about figuring out where the need is to ensure product-market fit.
• What to look out for when you are not successful in your transition from the off-line to online space.
• Why the online world requires you to niche down and be even more specific about your quintessential client.
• Determining your price according to the value you bring to your clients/customers.
• Examples of the money mindset issues and limiting beliefs that can be holding you back.

Resources:

• Hello Bargello
• Hello Bargello on Instagram
• Basecamp

This week’s Joy:

Bargello as a pandemic-friendly hobby.

This week’s Hustle:

How Basecamp can help you streamline project management in your business.

This podcast is brought to you by the Marvelous online teaching platform.

Marvelous is an easy-to-use platform that helps you build and sell your own courses memberships and live-streamed programs. Go from idea to open for business in just minutes. Unlike other startups, Marvelous was created by women for women. If you're looking for a simple, streamlined way to build and grow an online business. You can learn more at Marvelous.

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Remember when you’d work your tush off just so that you get handed a shiny gold star in front of the whole class?

Yeah, us too.

Our theory is that this behavior is why so many women in business identify as perfectionists today.

When we had a show of hands in our community, there were SO many of you who identified as loud and proud perfectionists.

And, we can definitely relate.

But, perfectionism has a dark side. And that’s what we’ll be exploring in today’s episode. Tune in to learn more about how to reign in your perfectionism and find the courage to fail (with pride).

Here’s what you can expect from this w:

• Our own struggles with perfectionism
• How the quest for perfection can damage your business
• Baby-steps to help you get over wanting to be perfect 24/7
• Why we embrace the ‘B minus’ Method
• Why the perfectionism you picked up at school and uni might not work in business

Resources:

• Seth Godin - Linchpin (and the concept of ‘Ship It’)

This week’s Joy:

It’s the Peloton Bike! (Tune in to hear about Jeni’s newfound love)

This week’s Hustle:

Two words - Inbox. Zero. This week, we finally cleared out our inboxes to zero and are actually surprised by how clean and visible our mailbox looks. Mental peace is an added bonus.

This podcast is brought to you by the Marvelous online teaching platform.

Marvelous is an easy-to-use platform that helps you build and sell your own courses memberships and live-streamed programs. Go from idea to open for business in just minutes. Unlike other startups, Marvelous was created by women for women. If you're looking for a simple, streamlined way to build and grow an online business. You can learn more at Marvelous.

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On this re-released episode, we talk about a slightly controversial topic, namely, the value of a wife. Lately we’ve read several articles about the benefits for husbands to have a wife at home or at least in a position where she is still primarily responsible for childcare and the emotional labor that takes place in families. As feminists and entrepreneurs, we felt that it was important to invite this conversation into our community because there still is not enough change happening in this area.

Don’t you also need a wife, someone to take care of all the details and homework so that you can focus on your career and on building your business? The first article we’re discussing is “70% of Top Male Earners in the US Have a Spouse Who Stays Home”. Another article we’d like to talk about is titled “What ‘Good’ Dads Get Away With”, which is the other side of the coin. You might have a husband who does a lot more than most husbands and fathers, yet you still find yourself being the primary caretaker and filling in all the gaps in your family’s day-to-day life.

Either way, women are still marginalized by gender roles and these seem to be emphasized when we become mothers. This conversation affects almost all of us and it has to be acknowledged that it is still largely an unequal playing field. Something’s got to change!

Here’s a peek at what else you can expect:

• Examples of the silent labor we as women do that we’re not always aware of.
• How men still have a higher earning capacity in the existing economic structures.
• Women’s level of education and ambition take a back seat in modern-day society.
• The unequal playing field where men have a different set of opportunities than women.
• The double pressure on women to be home with the kids while also doing a job.
• Why many women choose to hold back on their own ideals.
• The gender pay gap as a root cause of women staying home with the kids.
• Drop the Ball and what women can do to change the patterns of unequal burden.
• Why women often don’t ask for help.
• Buying your way out of these part-time family responsibilities as a possible solution.

And much more!

Resources

• 70% of Top Male Earners in the US Have a Spouse Who Stays Home
• What ‘Good’ Dads Get Away With
• Tiffany Dufu's Website
• Drop the Ball: Achieving More by Doing Less by Tiffany Dufu
• Soma System

This week’s Joy:

Soma System, a tool for stressed-out moms.

This week’s Hustle:

70% of Top Male Earners in the US Have a Spouse Who Stays Home and What ‘Good’ Dads Get Away With

This podcast is brought to you by the Marvelous online teaching platform.

Marvelous is an easy-to-use platform that helps you build and sell your own courses memberships and live-streamed programs. Go from idea to open for business in just minutes. Unlike other startups, Marvelous was created by women for women. If you're looking for a simple, streamlined way to build and grow an online business. You can learn more at Marvelous.

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On an average day, we make 35,000 decisions. It can be as simple as deciding what to wear, or what to eat for breakfast, or something a little consequential like deciding to diversify your business revenue streams, or as tense as dealing with conflict.

As entrepreneurs, our power comes from being decisive. Making a decision, following through, and knowing when to pivot.

Tune in to this week’s episode to learn more about the mindset shifts to help you take the stress out of decision-making.

Here’s a peek at what else you can expect:

• How decisions affect the way you live and feel
• Learning to rely on your intuition
• Why there is no such thing as a wrong decision
• How to stop spinning out from a place of indecision
• The elements of decision-making
• Decisions, choice, and victim-mentality
• Why grit’s a character-trait

Resources

• ‘5 ways to make tough decisions faster (and not regret them later)’ by Elizabeth Grace Saunders

This week’s Joy:

Cleo Wade

This week’s Hustle:

Bonnie Christine’s Flourish Planner

This podcast is brought to you by the Marvelous online teaching platform.

Marvelous is an easy-to-use platform that helps you build and sell your own courses memberships and live-streamed programs. Go from idea to open for business in just minutes. Unlike other startups, Marvelous was created by women for women. If you're looking for a simple, streamlined way to build and grow an online business. You can learn more at Marvelous.

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Often, the only thing standing between us and where we want to be, is a crippling lack of confidence.

Now that might sound like a serious problem.

But here’s the good news - in situations like these, only one thing needs fixing.

Our mindset.

In business and in life, the fear of failure and the comfort of familiarity can lock us in, prevent us from facing new challenges and experiencing growth.

This creates a cycle where we never end up trying new things because we don’t have reason to believe that we’d be good at them.

And a mindset like that can quickly lead to stagnation.

On today’s episode, we try to turn this mindset problem around by using the 4 C’s of Dan Sullivan’s Multiplier Mindset framework:

• Commitment to do whatever it takes
• Courage to do it even when it feels awful and uncomfortable
• Capability that comes from acquiring new skills
• Confidence that’s the result of having succeeded at what you set out to do.

By changing your mindset, by embracing the discomfort, and by increasing your capability, you can get the job done.

And every time you win, your success automatically gives you the confidence to leap higher next time.

And before you know it,entrepreneurship might become your path to self-actualization.

If we’ve already got you thinking about how 4 steps could possibly turn someone into a different person (it sounds crazy!), tune into today’s podcast on how the Multiplier Mindset made us realize that discomfort is the price of growth.

Here’s a peek at what else we discuss:

• How courage works in real life and how it’s different from grit
• How confidence always stems from a past history of success
• The difference between confidence and self-confidence
• The importance of being kind and loving to yourself
• Tools to unpack the tendency to view ourselves negatively
• The need for friends who will call you out when you’re too harsh on yourself
• How women use self-deprecation as a safety net in society

Resources

• Dan Sullivan - the 4 C's Formula
• Cal Newport - Digital Minimalism
• Cal Newport - Deep Work
• How to do a thought download

This week’s Joy:

Our joy is a mask from Rais Case that is shaped like a bandana, and has leather ties that take away the hassle of fussy elastic bands!

This week’s Hustle:

Our hustle is Cal Newport’s book titled ‘Digital Minimalism’ that examines how people spend time online and how online tech tools work to hijack people’s attention.

This podcast is brought to you by the Marvelous online teaching platform.

Marvelous is an easy-to-use platform that helps you build and sell your own courses memberships and live-streamed programs. Go from idea to open for business in just minutes. Unlike other startups, Marvelous was created by women for women. If you're looking for a simple, streamlined way to build and grow an online business. You can learn more at Marvelous.

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If there’s anyone on this planet who can teach you how to be your own hero, it’s undoubtedly this week’s guest.

She’s extremely candid, optimistic, and one of the most self-assured people we’ve ever met!

Brig Johnson is a full-time life and mindset coach with a mission: helping high-achieving Black women work through their internalized biases, manage their emotions, and unlock their full potential.

After spending 38 years (!!!) in nursing (a job she was extremely good at), Brig decided to pursue coaching full-time, and she’s wearing the entrepreneurial shoes with grace, confidence, and compassion.

But as you can imagine, convincing herself to take the plunge was quite the process.

In this week’s episode, Brig breaks down how she self-coached her way to her big career switch by practicing empathy, being confident in her capability to learn new skills, and creating self-sufficiency.

She also talks about the power that comes with acceptance, her ever-evolving business niche, and the philosophy that finallyled her to pull the trigger and make that big, bold career change.

Here’s what you can expect from this week’s episode:

• The problem with trying to find fulfillment outside of yourself
• Brig’s “year and a half of crazy” as she navigated the idea of coaching full-time
• How giving yourself a worrying window can prevent over-controlling
• Brig’s refreshing definition of a “high achieving woman”
• Combating microaggressions with control (personal change>systemic change)
• The importance of managing your energy and why rest is a revolutionary act
• Brig’s #1 marketing belief - and what we can take away from it!

Brig brings tons of fun to the table and we had a ball recording this episode! Her insights are super relatable, compel you to work towards having your own back, and urge you to hone the power in your hands.

If you’re looking to make a career switch yourself or just want a healthy dose of inspiration to take control of your narrative, this episode will feed your fire.

So sit back with a cup of tea, and get ready to feel invigorated!

Resources:

• Brig’s Website
• Brig’s Instagram
• Brig’s Facebook Page
• Breakthrough with Brig Podcast
• The Life Coach School
• Oura Ring

This week’s Joy:

Brig believes in the small wins, and her perpetual joy is her PM ritual - a relaxing bath at the end of the day. It’s her way of treating herself and unwinding.

This week’s Hustle:

Brig’s Oura ring is her favorite business tool right now! Using it to track her heart rate helps her understand her body’s needs and rest effectively.

This podcast is brought to you by the Marvelous online teaching platform.

Marvelous is an easy-to-use platform that helps you build and sell your own courses memberships and live-streamed programs. Go from idea to open for business in just minutes. Unlike other startups, Marvelous was created by women for women. If you're looking for a simple, streamlined way to build and grow an online business. You can learn more at Marvelous.

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Today’s guest is someone we’ve wanted to speak to for years.

In fact, she was one of the first women we knew who not only worked in tech, but also had a thriving career in it. And this was long before we started Marvelous!

So, it goes without saying that Sarah K. Peck is a force of nature.

She’s the founder of Startup Parent — a company that focuses on the narratives we share (and more importantly, those we don’t) about work, parenting, and motherhood. She’s also the host of the award-winning Startup Parent podcast where she chats with incredible women about business and parenting.

And it’s her mission to make parenting easier in the Startup world.

Because here’s the deal: Silicon Valley cannot figure out kids.

Sarah says it herself, and we couldn’t agree more. In the world of startups where everything revolves around the new and cutting edge, children and paternity plans are still treated like unspeakables.

When Sarah first got pregnant years ago, she was the only pregnant female in her startup and things were incredibly tough for her to navigate — she even had to build her own maternity leave from scratch since her company had no infrastructure surrounding it.

All of that led her to the question - Where are the pregnant women in tech?

That’s when she started interviewing other women about their own experiences with startups and parenthood, which is how her podcast came about.

In today’s episode, Sarah talks about her employment history and how she transitioned to entrepreneurship, how she navigated parenting in an uber busy startup environment, the importance of representing diversity of experiences, and so much more!

Here’s a peek at what else we discuss:

• How she worked with her CEO to build a viable maternity program
• How she approaches money (and why she’s always had two jobs)
• Why you earning money and resources is a part of activism
• Why you should be raising your rates in your business frequently
• The difference between bootstrapped companies vs. venture companies

And more!

As a society, we’ve been indoctrinated in a culture where hiding kids and women at home is normal. Which is why we believe talking about our unique challenges as working parents in startups is so important!

Resources

• Sarah K.Peck's Website
• Sarah K.Peck's Newsletter
• Sarah K.Peck's Instagram and Twitter
• Startup Parent Website
• Startup Parent Newsletter
• Startup Parent Podcast
• The Wise Women Council
• Sticky Situations (Template Guides)

This week’s Joy:

We can relate to both of Sarah’s joys - chocolate and swimming pools. She has to eat chocolate everyday and loves getting into the swimming pool to recollect her thoughts and calm her mind.

This week’s Hustle:

Sarah’s hustle is simple and effective - the Control key on your keyboard. She specifically recommends the CTRL+F keys if you want to find something on a webpage and loves using text replacements as a way to save time.

This podcast is brought to you by the Marvelous online teaching platform.

Marvelous is an easy-to-use platform that helps you build and sell your own courses memberships and live-streamed programs. Go from idea to open for business in just minutes. Unlike other startups, Marvelous was created by women for women. If you're looking for a simple, streamlined way to build and grow an online business. You can learn more at Marvelous.

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Most of us have been in debt at some point in our lives.

Student loans, home loans, car loans, business loans - debt seems like a normal part of the 21st Century life.

Despite that, debt is still associated with shame.

We’ve been socialized to believe that our debt is something we need to be ashamed of, that there’s something inherently wrong with us if we have to pay off loans.

Which means we treat debt like a dirty secret. And it’s something we never talk about.

Today, we want to break free of those shackles and discuss, demystify, and unpack the concept of debt.

We got the idea for this episode when we were speaking with a client of ours who was in debt from a previous business. It was extremely hard for her to not only bring this up in the first place, but to also continue talking about it.

Why?

Because the mere mention of her debt made her feel inadequate. She was making her debt mean a lot of negative things about her and her capabilities as an entrepreneur.

This is why we want to say something loud and clear:

There is NOTHING wrong with you if you’re in debt.

In fact, you’re not alone.

When you genuinely accept this, you’ll find that your mindset towards debt begins to change.

You’ll start seeing debt for what it is - a neutral concept where you buy money to pay for something of value to you.

That’s all.

Once you make this mindset change, not only will you be happier, but you’ll also have the confidence to make some important decisions that involve parting with your money.

But, we know it isn’t easy to undergo this massive mindset shift.

Which is why in today’s episode, we’re sharing our own experiences with debt, what we learned from having to pay off 6 figures in student loans, why we think debt can be a good thing, and more!

Here’s a peek at what else we discuss:

• Jeni'ss journey with educational debt and how it informed everything she did
• Why you need to look beyond debt to make important decisions for yourself and your business
• Why it’s so important for women to unpack their thinking around debt
• How to consider value and opportunity cost when you decide if your debt is worth it
• The connection between privilege and debt

And so much more!

We believe talking about money and debt is a crucial part of attempting to demystify it. So, we’re taking the first step, but we’d love to keep the conversation going! Find us on Instagram (@heymarvelous) and talk to us about your experiences with debt and what your mindset around it is currently.

Resources

• Hey Marvelous - Website
• Hey Marvelous - Instagram
• Women À La Mode: A Memoir Of Writing A Book About Feminists In Paris by Augustine Blaisdell

This week’s Joy:

We love a good book, and Women À La Modeby Augustine Blaisdell is a great exploration of feminism in Paris, the conflict between feminism and falling in love, and the difference between American and French life. Reading about feminism through different perspectives is always a huge joy!

This week’s Hustle:

If you’ve been listening to us for long enough, you already know that our business grew exponentially in 2020. And as our business grew, we found that we had to do more high-level work, like managing systems or training employees to handle this new workload.

This podcast is brought to you by the Marvelous online teaching platform.

Marvelous is an easy-to-use platform that helps you build and sell your own courses memberships and live-streamed programs. Go from idea to open for business in just minutes. Unlike other startups, Marvelous was created by women for women. If you're looking for a simple, streamlined way to build and grow an online business. You can learn more at Marvelous.

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This week’s guest is a powerhouse with a mohawk - and so much more!

She’s all about owning your creativity, stepping away from the stereotype, and above all else, being true to your authentic self.

Sadie Nardini is an absolute force. She’s the founder of Core Strength Vinyasa (CSV) Yoga and The Yoga Shred, both of which have brought big, beautiful changes to the contemporary yoga game. She was one of the first yogis to take training to YouTube, currently runs the Fit and Fierce Club, and just when you think she can’t get any cooler - she’s also the lead singer of her band Sadie & The Tribe.

But as audacious and spunky as she is, Sadie is no stranger to the world telling you who you should be. Too many female entrepreneurs have had to experience this, but the beauty lies in the way you fight back.

And you can do that by simply showing up to work as yourself.

In this week’s episode, Sadie gets into the nitty-gritty of how she kick-started her career as a fitness creator, her entry into the yoga scene of New York after moving from Seattle, and the exact moment she chose to embrace herself over what she was expected to be as a yogini.

Here’s a peek at what else we discuss:

• Why you aren’t answerable to haters, and the importance of putting your voice out there
• What joyful marketing looks like and how you can make it work for you
• Sadie’s two-hour workday(!!!) and how she keeps her creativity intact
• How having a lean team can be better than making it all an exhausting one-woman show
• The power that comes with building an online empire
• How Sadie navigated her business through the pandemic and came out shining
• How you can approach social media with creativity and optimism

Sadie is as real as it gets, and that’s just one of the reasons we had such a blast recording this episode. Her honesty, incredible sense of humor, and the grace with which she carries her truth inspire you to “be the mohawk on the inside”, as she puts it.

If you’re feeling a little low on the creativity side and want to be jolted into action, you need this episode! So go grab a snack, and listen away.

Resources

• Sadie’s Instagram
• Sadie’s Facebook page
• Links to Sadie’s programs

This week’s Joy:

Sadie’s current joy (like many of us) is watching the world finally open up!. She’s looking forward to traveling to Sweden to make music, take a break from wellness, and to explore something new!

This week’s Hustle:

Sadie’s hustle these days is her perspective on digital creation. She urges business owners to refresh their attitude towards building an online presence to “I get to” and not “I have to”. She’s all about posting what you're truly passionate about.

This podcast is brought to you by the Marvelous online teaching platform.

Marvelous is an easy-to-use platform that helps you build and sell your own courses memberships and live-streamed programs. Go from idea to open for business in just minutes. Unlike other startups, Marvelous was created by women for women. If you're looking for a simple, streamlined way to build and grow an online business. You can learn more at Marvelous.

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It isn’t often that we come across an article that’s eye-opening, mind-blowing, and has us agreeing with every single word.

But, that’s exactly what happened earlier this year.

Back in February, we discovered an amazing article on Medium titled ‘Underrepresented Founders are Merely Collateral Damage’.

After spending 13 minutes reading it (with our jaws hanging open), we immediately reached out to our podcast team.

We knew we HAD to have Daisy Onubogu, the author of the article, on And She Spoke.

And we’re so glad we did.

Daisy works at Backed, a seed-stage fund based in London, and specializes in helping high potential founders at early stages build things that will change the world (or at least make it a better place to live in).

She’s also responsible for Backed’s Diversity & Inclusion initiatives.

And she’s committed to change the unequal world of Venture Capital.

Here’s what she had to say about it in the article:

“I like solving problems, and I also really like the feeling of making people happy, or at least un-sad. So VC’s big old diversity problem was perfect bait; an issue so messy and tangled it had defied solving for so long, and one which if solved would make lots of people un-sad”

See why we had to have her on our show?

Tune into today’s episode to learn more about Daisy’s efforts in understanding, tackling, and changing the diversity issue in VC (aka, the business world’s giant elephant in the room).

She discusses everything from WHO benefits from the VC system (don’t we all know the answer to this one?), WHY our current methods of dealing with the diversity problem aren’t really yielding results, and HOW we can actually move forward.

Here’s a peek at what else we discuss:

• Why it’s hard to affect change in the VC-world despite best-intentions
• How capitalism is the root cause of systematic oppression in business
• What led Daisy to write the Medium Article (and the reaction of her team when she did)
• The problem with a small group of people (coughwhite mencough) given absolute control over resources
• How the VC system is simply not set up for scalable approaches to diversity

And so much more!

Speaking with Daisy was so incredible because not only is she smart and passionate, but she’s also vulnerable. She admits that she doesn’t have all the answers to this giant systematic problem (and that no one should be expected to), and how we can work towards change anyway.

This is something that affects everyone (even if you think it doesn’t!), which is why we think this is one of our most important episodes yet. So grab those airpods, settle down with a nice cup of tea and get listening!

Resources

• Underrepresented Founders are Merely Collateral Damage
• Backed
• Daisy’s Twitter
• Zapier

This week’s Joy:

Reluctantly, Daisy admits her joy these days is TikTok (hey, it’s our guilty pleasure too!). She likens it to those rare parties where every room feels like its own universe. She learns a lot and laughs more than she expected to during these times.

This week’s Hustle:

One word - Zapier.

Daisy doesn’t particularly enjoy the mundane day-to-day tasks, which is why she gets excited about building automations that’ll take those off of her plate (and give her more time to go on TikTok).

This podcast is brought to you by the Marvelous online teaching platform.

Marvelous is an easy-to-use platform that helps you build and sell your own courses memberships and live-streamed programs. Go from idea to open for business in just minutes. Unlike other startups, Marvelous was created by women for women. If you're looking for a simple, streamlined way to build and grow an online business. You can learn more at Marvelous.

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A silly chat about overalls sparked an important discussion between Jeni and Sandy on the trap of “people pleasing” in work and life.

Women are conditioned to value the thoughts and opinions of others above their own, and this can have negative implications for their happiness, their business’s success, and their willingness to take risks, build wealth, and take on meaningful work.

The hosts know from experience that it is unrealistic to expect everyone to like you and the work you are doing all the time—so in this episode, Sandy and Jeni offer a healthier way to think about criticism, supporters, and success.

Also, if you want to wear overalls, wear them with joy!

Here’s a peek at what else we discuss:

• The focus of today’s episode: applying the concept of future people pleasing to your business.
• An overview of the ways in which women have been socialized, and the negative impact that this can have on the way we conduct business.
• A question to ask yourself, which will help you determine your reasons for doing (or not doing) something.
• The tradeoffs that you have to accept as your business grows.
• Why everyone should read—and reread—Kevin Kelly’s 1000 True Fans essay.
• How you should be thinking about criticism.
• You cannot control what other people think and feel about you and your work, so rather focus on what you think and feel.
• Some of the tactics commonly used on social media that you should avoid.

Resources

• "1000 True Fans" by Kevin Kelly
• Marvelous
• Marvelous on InstagramandTwitter

This week’s Joy:

Jeni and Sandy share how overalls bring them joy. It symbolizes the importance of letting yourself wear what you want to wear and do what you want to do!

This week’s Hustle:

Kevin Kelly’s essay, “1,000 True Fans” as a timeless guide that helps you think about your body of work.

This podcast is brought to you by the Marvelous online teaching platform.

Marvelous is an easy-to-use platform that helps you build and sell your own courses memberships and live-streamed programs. Go from idea to open for business in just minutes. Unlike other startups, Marvelous was created by women for women. If you're looking for a simple, streamlined way to build and grow an online business. You can learn more at Marvelous.

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On today’s show, we have the pleasure of welcoming the woman who pioneered the field of self-compassion research over 20 years ago. Kristin Neff is an associate professor in the University of Texas at Austin’s Department of Educational Psychology.

Kristin explains how gender role socialization has led women to be self-sacrificing and men to suppress their tenderness, Kristin shares how it can benefit us, and everyone around us, to find a balance between the softer and more forceful sides of our nature, to treat ourselves with care, and to live our lives authentically.

She is not afraid of getting personal, and in this episode, Kristin opens up about some of the moments in her own life that have demonstrated the importance of self-compassion. We discuss how self-compassion relates to the MeToo movement, the value of anger, and how we can change the system while working within it.

We hope this episode is as enlightening and inspiring for you as it was for us. Your self-compassion is a superpower; don’t let it go to waste.

Here’s a peek at what else we discuss:

• Self-compassion; the field of research that Kristin pioneered
• Common perceptions of self-compassion, and why this isn’t the full picture.
• How gender role socialization creates gender differences with regard to self-compassion.
• How self-compassion helps us to be more compassionate towards others.
• The link between mindfulness and self-compassion.
• Constructive anger versus destructive anger.
• Ways to offset society’s distaste for women’s anger.
• Your goal should be about opening yourself up, not getting everything right.
• What is a “self-compassion break” (and why we should take these regularly)?

Resources

• Self Compassion by Kristin Neff
• Self Compassion Website
• Marvelous
• Marvelous on InstagramandTwitter

This week’s Joy:

Kristin shares the joy of vaccination (and the bonus joy of having a teenager that can drive himself around).

This week’s Hustle:

Kristin’s hustle is a practice she developed called a “self-compassion break,” which involves calling in the three components of compassion in an intentional way. First is mindfulness — being aware of what’s happening, being aware that you are hurting, that you are struggling, and kind of validating what you’re going through, then asking yourself what you need. Second is common humanity — remembering that you aren’t alone, that nothing is wrong with you, and that this is part of being human. Finally, kindness — asking yourself, “What would I say to a good friend I care about who’s going through the exact same situation that I’m going through?” and then saying that to yourself.

This podcast is brought to you by the Marvelous online teaching platform.

Marvelous is an easy-to-use platform that helps you build and sell your own courses memberships and live-streamed programs. Go from idea to open for business in just minutes. Unlike other startups, Marvelous was created by women for women. If you're looking for a simple, streamlined way to build and grow an online business. You can learn more at Marvelous.

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As we are all aware, there is a vast lack of diversity in the tech industry.

Today’s guest, Melinda Briana Eppler, is trying to change this through her company Change Catalyst.

Melinda started her career as an award-winning documentary filmmaker with a passion for social change. She is now channeling her passion into solving the diversity issue in tech (and tech-adjacent fields) through her work as a strategic advisor to tech companies and startups, venture capital firms, innovation hubs, and governments around the world.

In this episode, you’ll hear about how Melinda left filmmaking for tech, how the tech industry came to be this way, and how we can change it. She explains the challenges and biases embedded within the venture capital model and how underrepresented identities are still being held to much higher standards.

Learn about the importance of hiring outside of your network, what solopreneurs can do to become allies, and practical advice for diversifying your team from the beginning while Melinda also weighs in on what happened at Basecamp.

More than ever, our world is shaped by technology, so it is crucial that technology is envisioned and built from more than one point of view.

Here’s a peek at what else we discuss:

• An introduction to Melinda and her business Change Catalyst.
• Melinda explains why she chose the tech industry for her work in diversity and inclusion.
• Practices and advice for building a diverse team.
• How solopreneurs can be allies by incorporating diversity into their supply chains.
• Melinda shares her view on the employee exodus that happened at Basecamp.
• How the tech industry came to be this way: people hiring people who look like them.
• The importance of looking outside of your network.
• How these ideas are received in the venture capital and startup worlds.
• Why VCs are more likely to diversify their portfolios than diversify within their own firms.
• Why people with underrepresented identities are still being held to higher standards.
• How the level of bias is more extreme in the tech industry than in other industries.
• How Melinda’s passion for motorcycles fits into her brand.

This week’s Joy:
Melinda’s joys are motorcycle riding and nature. She believes getting out into nature is really important.

This week’s Hustle:

Melinda’s hustle is Evernote. She finds Evernote a more convenient and efficient way to write notes compared to paper notebooks.

Resources

• Change Catalyst
• Evernote
• Melinda Briana Epler Podcast
• Melinda Briana Epler on Instagram
• Melinda Briana Epler on LinkedIn
• Melinda Briana Epler on Twitter
• Marvelous, our online teaching & coaching platform
• Marvelous on Instagram
• Marvelous on Twitter

This podcast is brought to you by the Marvelous online teaching platform.

Marvelous is an easy-to-use platform that helps you build and sell your own courses, memberships, and live-streamed programs. Go from idea to open for business in just minutes. Unlike other startups, Marvelous was created by women for women. If you're looking for a simple, streamlined way to build and grow an online business. You can learn more at Marvelous.

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Selfish. It's a powerful word and a label that many women fear when we focus on our business success or self-care. But why is that?

With her new book, "Selfish," Naketa Thigpen wants to challenge that, "change the conversation, and redefine the terms used to make so many women play small."

Naketa is considered the number one balance and relationship advisor globally, a licensed clinical social worker whose expertise in trauma and psychotherapy has informed the basis of her professional career over the past 25 years. Her company, ThigPro, advises couples on having a happy marriage while also growing a business. One of the keys to success? Women need to work on their relationship with themselves before deepening their relationship with their partners.

In her work, Naketa noticed that when women entrepreneurs focus on their business and start to succeed, their relationship with their partner sometimes suffers.

We dive into why women always seem to be the ones addressing relationship issues and why Naketa only works with brave men who are willing to show up, take responsibility, and do the work.

We also explore how trauma can cause disembodiment and how that can hinder our relationship with ourselves and our partners.

Naketa shares her own experiences with trauma and how she had to build a business while simultaneously dealing with past trauma. She encourages listeners to acknowledge and accept their own trauma stories and to take responsibility for their healing, urging us not to compare and belittle our traumas.

Listen to this fascinating discussion on accepting ourselves as multifaceted individuals and “Living in the space of “And.”

This week’s Joy:
Naketa’s joy comes from those small, deeper connections with family, currently online via video communication. Zooming with her grandbabies brings her joy!

This week’s Hustle:
Naketa shares her formula for joy:

Balance + healthy relationships x intimacy(²).

Listen to the episode for her full formula breakdown!

Resources & Links:

• Naketa Thigpen on LinkedIn
• Naketa Thigpen on Instagram
• Naketa Thigpen on Twitter
• ThigPro
• ThigPro on LinkedIn
• ThigPro on Facebook
• ThigPro on Youtube
• Marvelous, our online teaching & coaching platform
• Selfish

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Does building wealth simply equate to frugal decision-making? Will foregoing that Starbucks latte really allow you to fully fund your retirement account? What began as an exasperated conversation about the rife scarcity mindset among those of us socialized as women, evolved into a conversation about the history of female oppression and how women are taught to save and shrink, while men are taught to expand, take risks, and make more money.

Why do we see so many conversations, workshops, and courses for women on budgeting and clipping coupons, but so few on building wealth and investing?

In this episode, we explore how the society we live in has shaped our mindsets around making money, saving money, and building wealth.

Women have typically been encouraged to scrimp and save, praised for knowing how to run a household on a shoestring. Being loud is not “good.” Even taking up space is a no-no. And building something big? How dare you.

At the same time, men receive their own limiting beliefs of ‘provider or failure’ (go big or go home).

Women get shamed for “splurging” while men are encouraged to show off that new car from that big deal or promotion.

Here’s a peek at what else we discuss:

• How our cultures have shaped this behavior.
• How through thousands of years of history, women have been financially incapacitated.
• It’s not that long since women in the UK, US, and Ireland could not own property or even drink in a bar without a man! (seriously)
• How women’s magazines have (even recently) taught us how to look pretty, buy soap, and clean house – not build wealth or businesses.
• The cost of constantly being focussed on saving money in business.
• How the time spent over-thinking your expenses could be better used to grow your business.
• The importance of uncovering subconscious beliefs and normalizing conversations around women and money.
• The pitfalls of an “everybody else first” mindset.
• The importance of investing in yourself.

Resources

• Guardian Article
• You can hear our own money stories in episode 130 of our podcast
• Flow Hive
• Gotta Have That Cute Mug? Act Fast
• Marvelous
• Marvelous on Instagram

This week’s Joy:

Sandy’s joy is bee-keeping. She spent the last weekend reading what she possibly can about bee-keeping because she wants to have a hive in her yard, which they are allowed to do in Calgary. The usual process of harvesting honey is very messy and takes a lot of work but she found this company called “Flow-hive” which made the process so much easier and less stressful for the bee-keeper and the bees.

This week’s Hustle:

Jeni’s hustle (which could also be a joy) is an article in the New York Times, called “Gotta Have That Cute Mug? Act Fast.” It is all about the cult behavior around “dirt drops.” Basically, there are all these artisanal potters that, during the pandemic, have seen an explosion in their businesses because people became obsessed with hand-made things and pottery. The article showcases some of these potters that have been participating and have seen their business explode in the last year. Jeni thinks this is a hustle because the business model is so fascinating and it’s a really fun way to support artists and local and small businesses.

Know Your Numbers

In our business, we're big fans of financial literacy and accountability. Knowing your numbers is an essential aspect of building a successful business and inherent responsibility for any entrepreneur.

What you focus on grows, so pay attention to your money. We use Bench for our bookkeeping. It's simple, elegant, and saves us so many hours that would otherwise be spent neck-deep in receipts on the other side of a spreadsheet.

Each month our transactions are automatically imported into Bench and we get on-demand financial reports. We even enjoy opening up our profit and loss statement to review each month. When tax time comes around, we are up to date and ready to go. And this is what Financial Empowerment feels like.

Use this link to save 20% off your Bench Accounting plan for the first six months!

This podcast is brought to you by the Marvelous online teaching platform.

Marvelous is an easy-to-use platform that helps you build and sell your own courses, memberships, and live-streamed programs. Go from idea to open for business in just minutes. Unlike other startups, Marvelous was created by women for women. If you're looking for a simple, streamlined way to build and grow an online business. You can learn more at Marvelous.

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In this episode, we’re delighted to be interviewing the phenomenal Martha Beck. For those of you who do not know Dr. Martha Beck, she is a New York Times bestselling author, a speaker, and a life coach, with an infectious humor. She holds three Harvard degrees in social science, and Oprah Winfrey once called her the smartest woman she knows.

Martha is passionate and engaging, and she is well known for her unique combination of science, humor, and spirituality.

Having a son with Downs syndrome caused Martha to really consider what human life was about and set her off on “a lifetime adventure of breaking the rules”.

To quote Martha Beck “Emmerson said Beauty is its own excuse for being, and I decided that joy is the felt equivalent and the only real reason to be here”.

In her new book, “The Way of Integrity: Finding the Path to Your True Self,” Martha explains why integrity, or being in harmony with ourselves is the key to a meaningful and joyful life, which is what we discuss in today’s episode.

Martha perfectly helped us understand integrity beyond a virtue to strive for: “the word Integrity comes from the Latin integer, which means whole or intact, undivided”. We need integrity to function as a whole being. In the same way that an airplane needs to be in structural integrity to fly, we need to be true to ourselves in all situations and with all people to be wholly intact, to be in integrity.

Possibly our favorite part is when Martha life coaches Jeni on navigating climate change activism, so make sure to listen out for that!

We also talk about how social pressure can be a benevolent problem for entrepreneurs – “it’s forcing us to find ourselves”. We delve into what we can learn about mentorship from the hero’s saga, and how committing to your integrity can be a force for social change. Finally, the vital importance of self-care, which Martha sees as radical action.

This is a remarkable interview with a world-renowned sociologist about what you need to do to find your integrity and, with it, a sense of purpose, emotional healing, and a life free of mental suffering, so make sure not to miss this episode!

Here’s a peek at what else we discuss:

• An introduction to Martha Beck, from her formal education to her pursuit of joy.
• Learn about integrity, which Martha describes as a feeling of being whole or intact.
• Hear what Martha has to say about overcoming self-doubt, finding your truth, and then walking your talk.
• The idea of being at odds with culture for the sake of individuality rather than conformity.
• The different social pressures that men and women experience and how they affect us.
• Find out how entrepreneurs are affected by conflicting value systems and social pressure.
• What the hero’s saga has to teach us about change and receiving a mentor.
• How Martha found her way through conflict when she was pregnant with her son, Adam.
• Whether or not integrity coincides with happiness; turning suffering into joy.
• How going into your integrity relates to social activism; activating positive, not righteous anger.
• Martha emphasizes the idea that self-care in and of itself is radical action.
• Why self-help should not be about ‘fixing’ yourself but rather about letting the mess that culture has made of your mind fall away.

Resources

• Martha Beck on Twitter
• Martha Beck on Instagram
• Martha Beck
• The Way of Integrity by Martha Beck
• The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri
• The Hero with a Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell
• Tao De Ching by Laozi
• Jennifer Barcelos on LinkedIn
• Sandy Connery on LinkedIn
• Marvelous
• Marvelous on Instagram

This week’s Joy:

Pretty much everything in Martha's life brings her joy and talking to other people is certainly a part of it.

This week’s Hustle:

Martha’s hustle is attention without effort - she goes towards what's pulling her and right now (she has no idea why) that's painting — she’s always been doing a lot of art. And she has noticed that “people who just go with their fascination end up creating things that sell well.” According to Martha, “When you are doing something you love in a place you love with the people you love in a way you love, love sells better than hate. So do whatever pulls on you, do it. See what happens.”

Know Your Numbers

In our business, we're big fans of financial literacy and accountability. Knowing your numbers is an essential aspect of building a successful business and inherent responsibility for any entrepreneur.

What you focus on grows, so pay attention to your money. We use Bench for our bookkeeping. It's simple, elegant, and saves us so many hours that would otherwise be spent neck-deep in receipts on the other side of a spreadsheet.

Each month our transactions are automatically imported into Bench and we get on-demand financial reports. We even enjoy opening up our profit and loss statement to review each month. When tax time comes around, we are up to date and ready to go. And this is what Financial Empowerment feels like.

Use this link to save 20% off your Bench Accounting plan for the first six months!

This podcast is brought to you by the Marvelous online teaching platform.

Marvelous is an easy-to-use platform that helps you build and sell your own courses memberships and live-streamed programs. Go from idea to open for business in just minutes. Unlike other startups, Marvelous was created by women for women. If you're looking for a simple, streamlined way to build and grow an online business. You can learn more at Marvelous.

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On today’s episode, we get together with Veneé McGee to talk about her non-profit, Ebb and Flow Collective, a safe social wellness community whose mission focuses on inclusivity and accessibility for women and non-binary folks searching for spiritual empowerment.

Veneé is a true visionary thought leader in the areas of spirituality, holistic wellness, and mindset.

Veneé shares her difficult upbringing in the foster care system, and how being introduced to ‘The Secret’ by Rhonda Byrne gave her a sense of empowerment and agency over her life and decisions that she had never felt before.

We discuss how she grew Ebb and Flow from the ground up, starting with wellness retreats, after identifying a need for more inclusive wellness spaces based on her own experiences of being excluded. Veneé explains how they became a non-profit during the COVID-19 pandemic and how the move was successfully facilitated by ifundwomen. We also dive into how her company is structured; from workshops, meditations, and personal sessions to a thriving, curated marketplace of various practitioners, all to help her clients find and embrace their individual power from within.

We are exceptionally excited about what Veneé has created with Ebb and Flow Collective. We hope you’ll join us for an expansive conversation on the joy of diversity and the power of community!

Here’s a peek at what else we discuss:

• An introduction to Veneé McGee, founder of the non-profit Ebb and Flow Collective.
• Veneé describes Ebb and Flow’s mission as a sacred and inclusive community that is accessible to all!
• Veneé shares the painful challenges of growing up in the foster care system.
• The story of Veneé losing her mom and becoming a seeking spirit.
• Veneé talks about her Christian upbringing and the revelatory experience of being introduced to The Secret by Rhonda Byrne.
• How Veneé started her spiritual journey and the spaces and teachers she found along the way.
• Why Veneé felt a need for a more inclusive and welcoming space for people like herself.
• How Veneé grew a new community organically through wellness retreats.
• How Ebb and Flow serves as a curated marketplace to find trusted practitioners who also remain autonomous.
• How Veneé utilizes meditation to keep her grounded during the curation process.
• The importance of having more diverse tarot readers due to the interpretive nature of the job.
• Veneé talks about the structure of Ebb and Flow, how it was affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, and the transition to a non-profit organization.
• How becoming a non-profit affected their business structure and how ifundwomen was successfully able to assist in facilitating that transition.
• Veneé shares how their memberships work and what is included when you sign up.
• The biggest hurdles that Veneé currently faces as an entrepreneur.
• Veneé shares what is giving her joy and helping her hustle!

Resources

• The Secret by Rhonda Byrne
• ifundwomen: Ebb and Flow Collective
• Ebb and Flow Collective
• Ebb and Flow on Instagram
• Jennifer Barcelos on LinkedIn
• Sandy Connery on LinkedIn
• Marvelous
• Marvelous on Instagram

This week’s Joy:

Veneé’s joy is exercising her privilege to have a choice. She thinks we really take choice for granted and believes she has been given choice. Whether it’s to fight for a black lives matter issue or not, she gets to have a choice on where she can get to spend her energy, which is super empowering to her. And this brings her joy because she has been on the other side of not knowing that she had a choice.

This week’s Hustle:

A hustle or tool that Veneé would like to share with everyone who’s listening is to get a mentor. She believes mentorship is so important, especially when you’re either just starting off or when you’re fixing your business. A mentor, hands down, is so powerful. Veneé has several mentors who give her advice on so many different things which is so helpful. Having mentors has been especially helpful during the times when she wanted to walk away and give up on Ebb and Flow. Because there were those times that, as much as she loves it, she is just human. She was able to call that mentor and share thoughts and things and not feel judged, and feel safe to share that with another human who can just listen and hold that pain for her and ask her what's next and keep her on that path. A good mentor is not just going to let you give up and walk away.

Know Your Numbers

In our business, we're big fans of financial literacy and accountability. Knowing your numbers is an essential aspect of building a successful business and inherent responsibility for any entrepreneur.

What you focus on grows, so pay attention to your money. We use Bench for our bookkeeping. It's simple, elegant, and saves us so many hours that would otherwise be spent neck-deep in receipts on the other side of a spreadsheet.

Each month our transactions are automatically imported into Bench and we get on-demand financial reports. We even enjoy opening up our profit and loss statement to review each month. When tax time comes around, we are up to date and ready to go. And this is what Financial Empowerment feels like.

Use this link to save 20% off your Bench Accounting plan for the first six months!

This podcast is brought to you by the Marvelous online teaching platform.

Marvelous is an easy-to-use platform that helps you build and sell your own courses memberships and live-streamed programs. Go from idea to open for business in just minutes. Unlike other startups, Marvelous was created by women for women. If you're looking for a simple, streamlined way to build and grow an online business. You can learn more at Marvelous.

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What’s in a name? Actually, everything.

It’s been a while since you’ve heard just us by ourselves, and this episode is deeply personal to us – we have a big announcement!

We talk about the complexities of deciding a new name and what brought us here. The dizzying ten months navigating trademarks and words, and the sweet relief of making a decision! Plus, the joy of seeing our clients embracing wordplay.

We also talk about niching – we still believe it’s key, but you’ve gotta know when to niche up and out! At some point it’s time to ask yourself – have I got comfortable here?

Finally, we dive a little into our deeper mission of redistributing wealth, and how a new name just fits that vision better. We hope you enjoy it! We think it’s Marvelous.

Here’s a peek at what else we discuss:

• Namastream is now called Marvelous.
• Why rebranding is such a massive undertaking.
• The challenge of finding a word to represent and summarize your company.
• Why the idea of wonder is important for their company that facilitates online teaching and instruction.
• Why the word “marvelous” resonates with Sandy and Jennifer.
• Sandy and Jennifer discuss their reasons for rebranding.
• How their name change was informed by a decision to grow bigger and be more inclu-sive.
• Their name change was partially informed by concerns around cultural appropriation and referencing Sanskrit.
• How they’ve wrestled with their mindset around serving a niche market.
• How rebranding has helped make their core mission more explicit.
• Marvelous’s core mission of redistributing wealth and changing lives.

Resources

• WordHippo — https://www.wordhippo.com/
• Jennifer Barcelos on LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/jenibarcelos/
• Sandy Connery on LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/sandy-connery-b29b1a18/
• Marvelous — https://www.heymarvelous.com/

This week’s Joy:

The joy that comes from making a decision. This idea of making a decision, trusting your intincts and go all in. Don’t doubt. Always know that, you can always make another decision, there is no such thing as a bad decision.

This week’s Hustle:

Go and check out Marvelous.

Know Your Numbers

In our business, we're big fans of financial literacy and accountability. Knowing your numbers is an essential aspect of building a successful business and inherent responsibility for any entrepreneur.

What you focus on grows, so pay attention to your money. We use Bench for our bookkeeping. It's simple, elegant, and saves us so many hours that would otherwise be spent neck-deep in receipts on the other side of a spreadsheet.

Each month our transactions are automatically imported into Bench and we get on-demand financial reports. We even enjoy opening up our profit and loss statement to review each month. When tax time comes around, we are up to date and ready to go. And this is what Financial Empowerment feels like.

Use this link to save 20% off your Bench Accounting plan for the first six months!

This podcast is brought to you by the Marvelous online teaching platform.

Marvelous is an easy-to-use platform that helps you build and sell your own courses memberships and live-streamed programs. Go from idea to open for business in just minutes. Unlike other startups, Marvelous was created by women for women. If you're looking for a simple, streamlined way to build and grow an online business. You can learn more at Marvelous.

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Known to many as the "next-generation feminist leader,” today we had the privilege of speaking to Jamia Wilson.

When Jamia was a child and she felt defeated, her mother would ask her what she could do to “step into her power.” By heeding this advice and sharing her mother’s passion for civil rights, Jamia has become renowned as an activist, feminist, storyteller, media maker, and natural-born thought leader.

Over the years she has been the Executive Director and Publisher of Feminist Press at the City University of New York, the Executive Director of Women, Action, and the Media, and the Vice President of Programs at the Women’s Media Centre.

As a storyteller and activist, she talks about how books shaped her views in her youth and the importance of being able to tell one’s story without persecution. As the author of several books for young readers, she speaks about her responsibility to write stories for the next generation, about her work in activism, and her friendship with fellow feminist and activist, Gloria Steinum.

We also discuss the global COVID-19 pandemic and how, in a way, we are all united in this shared experience of suffering, as well as some inspiring thoughts on hope, empathy, and the future. Tune in today!

Here’s a peek at what else we discuss:

• Jamia talks about what led her to become an author.
• The role of books in shaping the minds of the youth and the importance of representing the underrepresented.
• Jamia speaks about the influence of her mother on her life and her passion for social justice.
• The difference between a response and a reaction, both in activism and in life.
• The lessons Jamia learned from investing in a law qualification that she never completed.
• How she was influenced by feminist journalist, political activist, and friend, Gloria Steinem
• Reflections on the global experience of suffering through COVID-19 and empathy.
• She shares her plans for the future; to enjoy some of the simple pleasures she has missed.
• Her new role as Vice President and Executive Director at Penguin Random House.
• Jamia’s passion for the french language and culture; how this is helping her expand in the business world.

Resources:

• Jamia Wilson
• Jamia Wilson on LinkedIn
• Jamia Wilson on Instagram
• Jamia Wilson on Twitter
• Young, Gifted and Black by Jamia Wilson
• Step Into Your Power by Jamia Wilson
• Gloria Steinem
• Elizabeth Lesser And She Spoke episode
• italki
• Jennifer Barcelos on LinkedIn
• Sandy Connery on LinkedIn
• And She Spoke Podcast
• Namastream
• Namastream on Instagram

This week’s Joy: Jamia’s joy is learning languages, but she stopped when she became busy with work. During the pandemic she started using the extra weekend time she had to start diving back into language and learning French. Shortly after that, she was asked to do a speaking engagement with a French feminist organization and she now has a couple of books that are in French and are getting translated into French.

This week’s Hustle: Jamia’s hustle is the same as her joy. Learning languages is helping her hustle because it's expanding how she’s thinking about her business in the world and allows her to work with people directly in French.

Know Your Numbers

In our business, we're big fans of financial literacy and accountability. Knowing your numbers is an essential aspect of building a successful business and inherent responsibility for any entrepreneur.

What you focus on grows, so pay attention to your money. We use Bench for our bookkeeping. It's simple, elegant, and saves us so many hours that would otherwise be spent neck-deep in receipts on the other side of a spreadsheet.

Each month our transactions are automatically imported into Bench and we get on-demand financial reports. We even enjoy opening up our profit and loss statement to review each month. When tax time comes around, we are up to date and ready to go. And this is what Financial Empowerment feels like.

Use this link to save 20% off your Bench Accounting plan for the first six months!

This podcast is brought to you by the Namastream online teaching platform.

Namastream is an easy-to-use platform that helps you build and sell your own courses memberships and live-streamed programs. Go from idea to open for business in just minutes. Unlike other startups, Namastream was created by women for women. If you're looking for a simple, streamlined way to build and grow an online business. You can learn more at Namastream.

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The event of the COVID-19 pandemic has drastically changed the way in which many of us interact with each other, including finding a sense of belonging in our communities. Many people are feeling isolated, lonely, and depressed.

Today’s guest is Emilia van Hauen, a Cultural Sociologist, Author, Marketing Expert, and International Keynote Speaker on modern ways of life and social trends.

During our conversation, Emilia sheds light on how communities have changed in modern times, and people now have the freedom to create their own identities and find specific communities where they belong. She also explains how, paradoxically, this freedom creates a sense of pressure for people to succeed, which can have negative consequences. She goes on to explain how COVID-19 has affected our ability to engage in healthy relationships, and how things may be different in the post-pandemic world.

This episode provides fascinating sociological insight for anyone who has ever felt like an outsider (which is apparently 99.5% of people), so don’t miss it!

Here’s a peek at what else we discuss:

• The prevalence of people feeling disconnected from their communities in today’s world.
• How being an outsider can be a positive thing.
• How society is moving away from the ‘bound communities’ that we are born into.
• How COVID-19 and living life online has affected one’s sense of community.
• The importance of good relationships in living a happy and healthy life.
• How relationships have been affected by the physical distance created by COVID-19.
• How relationships and communities may be different after the pandemic.
• Thoughts on whether or not the trend of digital nomadism will affect one’s sense of community going forward.
• How a sense of belonging, or being ‘owned’, is often more important than a glamorized sense of freedom.
• Being in a relationship and being independent doesn’t have to be contradictory.

Resources:

• Emilia van Hauen
• Emilia van Hauen on LinkedIn
• Emilia van Hauen on Twitter
• Emilia van Hauen on Instagram
• The Harvard Study of Adult Development, a Ted Talk
• Jeni Barcelos on LinkedIn
• Sandy Connery on LinkedIn
• Namastream
• Namastream on Instagram

This week’s Joy:

Emilia’s joy is a symbolic dragon sculpture which she bought not only because of “Game of Thrones” but also because of a conversation she had with a friend of hers about dragons — that they are free, creative, and strong. She shares that the normal story we hear about dragons is that they have to be killed by a prince in order to save the princess from the tower. But what we need to understand is that instead of killing the dragon, we have to tame it and then we take flight with it. Every time she meets a problem, she thinks about it as a dragon that she needs to tame and it can take her on a flight.

This week’s Hustle:

Emilia’s hustle is watching a lot of TV series because they tell a lot of stories about different people — about how we live and how we live together. By watching a lot of stories, she is able to understand all kinds and ways of living together, and it’s fun, too!

Know Your Numbers

In our business, we're big fans of financial literacy and accountability. Knowing your numbers is an essential aspect of building a successful business and inherent responsibility for any entrepreneur.

What you focus on grows, so pay attention to your money. We use Bench for our bookkeeping. It's simple, elegant, and saves us so many hours that would otherwise be spent neck-deep in receipts on the other side of a spreadsheet.

Each month our transactions are automatically imported into Bench and we get on-demand financial reports. We even enjoy opening up our profit and loss statement to review each month. When tax time comes around, we are up to date and ready to go. And this is what Financial Empowerment feels like.

Use this link to save 20% off your Bench Accounting plan for the first six months!

This podcast is brought to you by the Namastream online teaching platform.

Namastream is an easy-to-use platform that helps you build and sell your own courses memberships and live-streamed programs. Go from idea to open for business in just minutes. Unlike other startups, Namastream was created by women for women. If you're looking for a simple, streamlined way to build and grow an online business. You can learn more at Namastream.

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Speaking up is a superpower, and more women need to be heard. At least that is what today’s

guest, Elizabeth Lesser believes.

Elizabeth is a bestselling author and the CoFounder of Omega Institute, the renowned conference and retreat center located in Rhinebeck, New York.

Her latest book, “Cassandra Speaks: When Women Are the Storytellers, the Human Story Changes,” reveals how humanity has outgrown its origin tales and hero myths, and empowers women to trust their instincts, find their voice, and tell new guiding stories.

Elizabeth’s work with the Omega Institute is recognized internationally for their workshops and conferences in wellness, business, spirituality, creativity, and social change. She has given two popular TED Talks and is one of Oprah’s Super Soul 100, a collection of 100 leaders who are using their voices and talent to elevate humanity.

In this episode, Elizabeth digs into women, voices, stories, and power. She also shares some personal stories, so make sure to stick around until the end to hear her hustle, where she shares a new technique for meditation. Tune in today!

Here’s a peek at what else we discuss:

• Elizabeth provides an introduction to who she is and what she does.
• Learn more about her book, Cassandra Speaks, the ancient Greek story of Cassandra.
• How money and power are stacked against women, especially advocates.
• While the most emotionally wrought stories wake you up, sometimes they make you feel as if your own story isn’t so bad.
• The different superpower that Elizabeth wants women to uncover; to be heard.
• The value of a cofounder relationship that both balances you and acts like a launchpad.
• Why history told through the lens of men frames women as scapegoats for evil and tragedy.
• What it would look like for humanity if women had contributed to our theories and stories.
• Elizabeth’s opinion on the progress being made in electing diverse representation; how history looks forward, not backward.
• The importance of finding your voice, using it, and knowing when to push and when to love.
• Whether or not Elizabeth considers herself ambitious, and the shadow side of ambition.
• Why women often don’t claim the words ‘ambition’ and ‘power’; it’s about redefining them!
• Elizabeth shares a few words about imposter syndrome and how to work through it.
• Hear how Elizabeth believes women are infiltrating the way the world does business.
• The importance of staying open, soft, and kind, and having your own back.

Resources:

• Elizabeth Lesser on Twitter
• Elizabeth Lesser on Instagram
• Elizabeth Lesser
• Omega Institute
• Cassandra Speaks by Elizabeth Lesser
• Women & Power Conference 2021
• The Tending Instinct
• Jennifer Barcelos on LinkedIn
• Sandy Connery on LinkedIn
• And She Spoke Podcast
• Namastream
• Namastream on Instagram

This week’s Joy:

Elizabeth's joy is spending time with her grandchildren and says to make your joy free, simple, and available.

This week’s Hustle:
Elizabeth's Hustle is her new meditation that she came up with, it's called the 'Do No Harm, But Take No Shit' meditation and she explains the name behind it and how to do it.

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In today’s episode, you’ll hear from Naomi Clark, who is a Feminist Financial Consultant and Coach.

Naomi partners with women to help them thrive financially by creating cashflow strategies that support their values and lifetime goals.

What stands out about this conversation is Naomi’s belief that the major reasons women struggle with making confident financial decisions are the patriarchy and debt-shaming culture, two oppressive systems designed to keep women feeling unprepared, doubtful, and distracted when it comes to their money.

Naomi likes to say that you can find her at the intersection of personal development and personal finance and, in this episode, she shares her passion for helping women truly tap into their internal sources of power.

Tuning in, you’ll find out why Naomi believes that the world is a better place when justice-informed women have more money and power, why money means nothing until you spend it, and how you can use debt as a tool to leverage.

Here’s a peek at what else we discuss:

• Naomi shares what it means to be a Feminist Financial Consultant and Coach.
• Why it’s important to focus on your internal power rather than just your external power.
• Leveraging the resources at your disposal and learning how to spend your privilege.
• Having the audacity to believe we’re deserving of wealth and power; Naomi’s experience as a woman of color in the US.
• How Naomi helps women build confidence around their finances, starting with the numbers.
• Money means nothing until you spend it; spending towards a life that you cherish.
• Learn Naomi’s perspective on debt-shaming: there’s no such thing as “good” or “bad” debt.
• The importance of looking at your financial picture in a holistic manner.
• How to use debt as leverage; expenses can also be investments.
• Understanding that debt is weaponized to the benefit of some and the detriment of others.

Resources:

• Naomi Clark on Instagram
• Naomi Clark
• The Outspoken Girlfriend Podcast
• Zapier
• Jennifer Barcelos on LinkedIn
• Sandy Connery on LinkedIn

This week’s Joy: Every day, Naomi finds something that will bring her joy but she loves to start her day by putting on her red lipstick and loves having a good hot cup of coffee, these simple pleasures, no matter what’s happening in the world, that’s what brings her joy.

This week’s Hustle: Naomi uses Zapier to help her with running her business as a solopreneur.

Know Your Numbers

In our business, we're big fans of financial literacy and accountability. Knowing your numbers is an essential aspect of building a successful business and inherent responsibility for any entrepreneur.

What you focus on grows, so pay attention to your money.

We use Bench for our bookkeeping. It's simple, elegant, and saves us so many hours that would otherwise be spent neck-deep in receipts on the other side of a spreadsheet.

Each month our transactions are automatically imported into Bench and we get on-demand financial reports. We even enjoy opening up our profit and loss statement to review each month. When tax time comes around, we are up to date and ready to go. And this is what Financial Empowerment feels like.

Use this link to save 20% off your Bench Accounting plan for the first six months!

This podcast is brought to you by the Namastream online teaching software.

Namastream is an easy-to-use platform that helps you build and sell your own courses memberships and live-streamed programs. Go from idea to open for business in just minutes. Unlike other startups, Namastream was created by women for women. If you're looking for a simple, streamlined way to build and grow an online business. You can learn more at Namastream.

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Officially one year into the coronavirus pandemic, we are reflecting on how it has impacted our personal lives and the business we are building.

Tuning in, you’ll find out how our team has grown and the challenges of scaling during a pandemic, what we have learned about navigating change, and what we are looking forward to in 2021.

We also share our approach to growing our business ethically and responsibly, the reasons behind restructuring our offerings and creating new programs, and why spending $100,000 on coaching was a worthwhile investment as well as our biggest takeaways from 2020—what we’d do again and what we’d do differently.

Listen in to find out more!

Here’s a peek at what else we discuss:

• Before and after March 13, 2020; how the business and coaching platform has grown.
• Learn more about bootstrapping versus building a company that is funded.
• Hear about the successes of online format for the Thrive Online 2020 conference.
• Find out about the timeline of the development of the And She Spoke Podcast website.
• In addition to adding to our lives, we also went through a process of letting go; how it has allowed us to fully commit.
• The importance of being humans and friends before being business partners.
• Sandy’s big takeaway from 2020: the ability to do things when not fully trained or prepared.
• Jeni’s lesson from 2020: the strength and perseverance of her team in the face of adversity.
• The value of being willing to fail; if nothing else, you’ll have a great story to tell!

Resources:

• The Inner Circle
• Launch With Intention
• The Art of Feminism by Helena Reckitt
• GoodNotes

This week’s Joy:

Sandy finds the book “The Art of Feminism: Images that Shaped the Fight for Equality 1815-2017 By Helena Reckitt” so gorgeously created which shows remarkable artworks and touching stories of women.

This week’s Hustle:

Jeni and Sandy are evangelists with paper notebooks but using the GoodNotes app on iPad which allows you to take notes, as well as search and share handwritten notes is ‘crazy and wild’.

Know Your Numbers

In our business, we're big fans of financial literacy and accountability. Knowing your numbers is an essential aspect of building a successful business and inherent responsibility for any entrepreneur.

What you focus on grows, so pay attention to your money.

We use Bench for our bookkeeping. It's simple, elegant, and saves us so many hours that would otherwise be spent neck-deep in receipts on the other side of a spreadsheet.

Each month our transactions are automatically imported into Bench and we get on-demand financial reports. We even enjoy opening up our profit and loss statement to review each month. When tax time comes around, we are up to date and ready to go. And this is what Financial Empowerment feels like.

Use this link to save 20% off your Bench Accounting plan for the first six months!

This podcast is brought to you by the Namastream online teaching platform

Namastream is an easy-to-use platform that helps you build and sell your own courses memberships and live-streamed programs. Go from idea to open for business in just minutes. Unlike other startups, Namastream was created by women for women. If you're looking for a simple, streamlined way to build and grow an online business. You can learn more at Namastream.

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Today’s guest is South African mountaineer Cathy O’Dowd, the first woman to climb Mount Everest from both sides.

Her many Himalayan expeditions have provided her with extensive experience with individuals and teams, facing stress, risk, and overwhelming challenge.

Pre-COVID, she shared insights with corporate audiences all over the world through story-driven expedition case studies.

Post-COVID, she has had to shift her business online like many of us and is grateful that she lives in Andorra in the Pyrenees Mountains, where she can hike every day and run her business from her phone on the side of a mountain.

In this candid interview, Cathy shares some of her silver linings from the pandemic, what led her to become a mountain climber, and some of the tragic circumstances of her first Everest expedition.

Tuning in, you’ll find out why she believes in teamwork over the competition, opportunities over achievements, and lifestyle over the business.

All this and more in today’s episode, so don’t miss it!

Here’s a peek at what else we discuss:

• How Cathy's career as an inspirational speaker has been affected by COVID.
• What led her to become a mountaineer after discovering rock climbing as a teenager.
• How she came to climb Everest at 27-years-old and the circumstances of that expedition.
• Cathy explains why she identifies as curious rather than strictly ambitious.
• What she learned about teamwork and competition climbing Everest when so much of what happened was beyond her control.
• A time when Cathy had to overcome a great deal of fear: working through public failure.
• The value of building skills and confidence through experiences rather than building success through achievements.
• Cathy’s advice for new entrepreneurs: be open to unexpected opportunities along the way.
• Running a lifestyle, not a business; knowing her value and owning her definition of success.
• Bringing her feminine energy to a goal-oriented and money-driven patriarchal world.

Resources:

• Cathy O’Dowd on Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube
• Cathy O’Dowd
• Just For the Love of It by Cathy O'Dowd
• Namastream

This week’s Joy: The discovery of joy brought by walking just two kilometers outside the house and watching flowers bloom which she overlooked before because she was busy on the bigger picture.

This week’s Hustle: Setting up a whole home office that is fully accessible from her phone. She loves the fact that she can go to the mountains and still closely monitor her emails and clients using her phone.

Know Your Numbers

In our business, we're big fans of financial literacy and accountability. Knowing your numbers is an essential aspect of building a successful business and inherent responsibility for any entrepreneur.

What you focus on grows, so pay attention to your money.

We use Bench for our bookkeeping. It's simple, elegant, and saves us so many hours that would otherwise be spent neck-deep in receipts on the other side of a spreadsheet.

Each month our transactions are automatically imported into Bench and we get on-demand financial reports. We even enjoy opening up our profit and loss statement to review each month. When tax time comes around, we are up to date and ready to go. And this is what Financial Empowerment feels like.

Use this link to save 20% off your Bench Accounting plan for the first six months!

Namastream

This podcast is brought to you by the Namastream software platform.

Namastream is an easy-to-use platform that helps you build and sell your own courses memberships and live-streamed programs. Go from idea to open for business in just minutes. Unlike other startups, Namastream was created by women for women. If you're looking for a simple, streamlined way to build and grow an online business. You can learn more at Namastream.

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Many of us spend what felt like a lifetime on Zoom meetings, and perhaps you struggled to find your voice in this virtual space. This is completely normal because the rules of engagement are entirely different online than they are in the real world.

Today's guests are Casey Erin Clark and Julie Fogh, the Founders of Vital Voice Training, a voice, and communication company that recognizes that your voice is a powerful tool for connection and expression.

As trained actors and voice and speech coaches, Casey and Julie understand that real communication happens when your voice is grounded in who you are.

On this show, after hearing about their business aims, we dive into the disembodiment that many of us are experiencing, and Casey and Julie offer advice on how we might reconnect with our bodies once more.

We touch on the importance of communicating and teaching rules of engagement, particularly in a virtual space where they aren’t so obvious. In-person meetings are not perfect either, so accepting these virtual spaces for what they are can help us feel okay in them.

Our conversation also touches on broadening our understanding of power and confidence in the world that deifies extroversion, Casey and Julie’s functional authenticity definition, and the difficulty that many of us have with being authentic on social media.

Our voices are a marker of who we are.

It is not about talking the loudest or the most, it is about using your voice in a way that is truest to you.

Here’s a peek at what else we discuss:

• What Vital Voice Training does and the impetus to start the company.
• How the pandemic affected Vital Voice’s business and the meaningful pivot they made
• Four ways of perceiving the body and the importance of cultivating a connection to our bodies.
• There is so much room for creativity on Zoom with all the tools available.
• The difficulty of not being able to easily switch roles when we work from home.
• Our bodies and spirits are not meant to deal with this level of uncertainty.
• Balancing the humility of listening and the power of sharing your voice.
• Why we need to expand our definitions of power and confidence.
• The difference between feedback that men and women receive in the workplace.
• Defining functional authenticity and why it is important to have this expanded definition.
• Why it is so difficult to be authentic on social media where we can curate what we share.
• You can be authentic and intentional; it doesn’t have to be one or the other.

Resources:Casey Erin Clark
Casey Erin Clark on Instagram, LinkedIn, and Twitter
Julie Fogh
Julie Fogh on LinkedIn
Vital Voice Training
The Authenticity Code
Casey Erin Clark and Voice Positivity (And She Spoke Podcast Episode)
Brain.fm

This week’s Joy:

For Casey, Tuesday Night Happy Hours with her girlfriends is her weekly Therapy.

For Julie, her 13-mile walk once a week gives her a childlike feeling that brings so much Joy.

This week’s Hustle:

Taking Breaks For Casey, as a Type A perfectionist, intentionally builds in time for creativity and makes her outputs better.

Using the Pomodoro Technique for Julie is critical for her to do and has been very helpful in focusing and getting things done.

Know Your Numbers

In our business, we're big fans of financial literacy and accountability. Knowing your numbers is an essential aspect of building a successful business and inherent responsibility for any entrepreneur.

What you focus on grows, so pay attention to your money.

We use Bench for our bookkeeping. It's simple, elegant, and saves us so many hours that would otherwise be spent neck-deep in receipts on the other side of a spreadsheet.

Each month our transactions are automatically imported into Bench and we get on-demand financial reports. We even enjoy opening up our profit and loss statement to review each month. When tax time comes around, we are up to date and ready to go. And this is what Financial Empowerment feels like.

Use this link to save 20% off your Bench Accounting plan for the first six months!

Namastream

This podcast is brought to you by the Namastream software platform.

Namastream is an easy-to-use platform that helps you build and sell your own courses memberships and live-streamed programs. Go from idea to open for business in just minutes. Unlike other startups, Namastream was created by women for women. If you're looking for a simple, streamlined way to build and grow an online business. You can learn more at Namastream.

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Those suffering from chronic conditions deserve normalcy, advocacy, and empowerment!

We had an illuminating conversation on this episode of "And She Spoke" with Nitika Chopra, the founder of Chronicon, a media and events company dedicated to elevating those who live with chronic illness.

There are so many misunderstandings around chronic health conditions. Through her journey with psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis, Nitika has found power and meaning without being defined by the work day's rules.

Since then, Nitika has expanded her business with a talk show, partnerships in the wellness space. Since COVID-19, she has successfully transitioned Chronicon into an online community experience filled with inspiration, advocacy, and support.

We talk about normalizing chronic pain in the workplace, overcoming uncertainty, and how she shifts the non-profit/for-profit paradigm.

We invite you to listen, learn, and join in the conversation!

Here’s a peek at what else we discuss:

• Her main revenue streams, including brand partnerships and spokesperson work
• How Nitika manages her time so efficiently as someone with a chronic illness
• Nitika explains that she wants to normalize chronic pain; you are not alone!
• Moments in Nitika's entrepreneurial journey where she has questioned her decisions
• How to get comfortable with uncertainty in life and turning that into growth
• What Nitika has learned from going digital with her business
• Marketing her membership: How Nikita attracts new members to Chronicon
• The challenges that come with building a model that helps people while profiting from it

Resources:

Nitika Chopra

Chronicon

Chronicon on Instagram

Resistance Revival Chorus on Instagram

This Joy

The Secrets of Successful Women by Nitika Chopra

This week’s Joy:

Music! From singing her whole life, and currently, with the Resistance Revival Chorus, Nikita engages with music as a healing modality throughout her day!

This week’s Hustle:

"The Secrets of Successful Women." For Nikita, listening to this audiobook has been eye-opening about overcoming imposter syndrome, especially as a woman of color.

Know Your Numbers

In our business, we're big fans of financial literacy and accountability. Knowing your numbers is an essential aspect of building a successful business and inherent responsibility for any entrepreneur.

What you focus on grows, so pay attention to your money.

We use Bench for our bookkeeping. It's simple, elegant, and saves us so many hours that would otherwise be spent neck-deep in receipts on the other side of a spreadsheet.

Each month our transactions are automatically imported into Bench and we get on-demand financial reports. We even enjoy opening up our profit and loss statement to review each month. When tax time comes around, we are up to date and ready to go. And this is what Financial Empowerment feels like.

Use this link to save 20% off your Bench Accounting plan for the first six months!

Namastream

This podcast is brought to you by the Namastream software platform.

Namastream is an easy-to-use platform that helps you build and sell your own courses memberships and live-streamed programs. Go from idea to open for business in just minutes. Unlike other startups, Namastream was created by women for women. If you're looking for a simple, streamlined way to build and grow an online business. You can learn more at Namastream.

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Described as endlessly optimistic, Nancy Giordano is a strategic futurist, global keynote speaker, corporate strategist, and gatherer, with a drive to help enterprise organizations and visionary leaders transform to meet the escalating expectations ahead.

Recognized as one of the top female futurists, Nancy is the co-founder of the Femme Futurists Society.

Concerned about applying an outdated, industrial approach to an exponential 21st Century world, she is currently launching her first book, titled Leadering: The Ways Visionary Leaders Play Bigger, which defines and encourages the dynamic, inclusive, and audacious mindset leaders must cultivate in order to build the safe, inclusive, and thriving future that we all want.

“Each of us, from [whatever] space we are [in], have a place that we can contribute and we can create for the future that we want to build.” — Nancy Giordano

In this episode, Nancy shares her vision for the future, and why each and every person has a role in creating it, from individual and solopreneuer to corporate CEO.

Tuning in, you’ll find out more about her career trajectory, what the term ‘leadering’ actually means, and how to prepare for what the future needs and expects of you.

You will also learn about the importance of shifting from a culture of winning to one of caring and why Nancy believes there is too much pressure on the youth to change the world. Tune in today!

Here’s a peek at what else we discuss:

• The role of ethicists in large companies and teams working with futurists like Nancy.
• It’s not about building a utopia; Nancy explains the practical applications of a futurist vision.
• How small businesses and solopreneurs can adopt this kind of thinking.
• How to prepare for what the future needs and expects from us.
• Why short-term thinking is the biggest enemy of long-term success.
• The value of shifting from an orientation of winning to one of caring.
• Nancy’s perspective on the climate and mental health crises.
• How the narrative needs to shift in order to realize the opportunity we have to build the future we want to build.

Resources:

• Nancy Giordano
• Leadering by Nancy Giordano
• Leadering
• The Future is Faster Than You Think
• Jennifer Barcelos on LinkedIn
• Namastream

This week’s Joy: I have a ritual to watch the sunset for 30mins every day. A place of gratitude for all the things that are working well and thinking about the people in my life I love, and then as the sun goes down over the horizon I ask it to take whatever I’m holding as a negative with it as it sets. And that restores me for the next day. It’s a sanity saver and has worked really well.

This week’s Hustle: Constant learning. Invest into your own learning and curiosity so that it doesn’t feel so scary.

Know Your Numbers

In our business, we're big fans of financial literacy and accountability. Knowing your numbers is an essential aspect of building a successful business and inherent responsibility for any entrepreneur.

What you focus on grows, so pay attention to your money.

We use Bench for our bookkeeping. It's simple, elegant, and saves us so many hours that would otherwise be spent neck-deep in receipts on the other side of a spreadsheet.

Each month our transactions are automatically imported into Bench and we get on-demand financial reports. We even enjoy opening up our profit and loss statement to review each month. When tax time comes around, we are up to date and ready to go. And this is what Financial Empowerment feels like.

Use this link to save 20% off your Bench Accounting plan for the first six months!

Namastream

This podcast is brought to you by the Namastream software platform.

Namastream is an easy-to-use platform that helps you build and sell your own courses memberships and live-streamed programs. Go from idea to open for business in just minutes. Unlike other startups, Namastream was created by women for women. If you're looking for a simple, streamlined way to build and grow an online business. You can learn more at Namastream.com.

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Reimagining our relationship with money takes feeling WORTHY about ourselves, first.

Out of all the core limiting beliefs we face as wellness professionals and entrepreneurs, the relationship we have around money and success can be a BIG one…

...And yet, when our lives feel upended by burnout and overwhelm, it can be hard to capture that worth, and our health can suffer as a result. It takes a BOLD reimagining of ourselves and our business to show up authentically and find NEW solutions for our problems.

On this episode of "And She Spoke," we have a fantastic conversation with Amina AlTai — who you may recognize from our Thrive Online 2020 Conference panel: "Feminist Reimaginings of Money and Power." This enlightening chat reveals Amina's journey from burnout with two autoimmune conditions and battling imposter syndrome to discovering balance and mindfulness, and a new mission to help others achieve balance in career, body, and mind.

We explore topics of worthiness, analog solutions for digital problems, and how we can do what we love and make money doing it — without feeling like an imposter in our own spaces and bodies!

This is a great way to start your 2021 – financial success mindset! Listen in and join the conversation!

Here’s a peek at what else we discuss:

• We delve into Amina's background and work in corporate wellness
• Where she developed her money mindset curriculum and the influence of Steven Cope
• Addressing your core limiting beliefs and money mindset work
• How doing what you love leads you to your best money-making ventures
• Learn how Amina defines boundaries for herself by making a list of her "tolerations"
• Feeling worthy of wealth or having a surplus of money
• How to show up on social media authentically and avoid toxic positivity
• Navigating the digital/analog world and creating boundaries around technology
• How Amina has struggled with her imposter syndrome as a woman of color.
• And so much more!

Resources:

• Amina AlTai on Instagram
• Amina AlTai
• The Great Work of Your Life
• Dr. Valerie Young – Imposter Syndrome

This week’s Joy: Silent retreats at home. For 2 days, Amina remained utterly silent, reading spiritual texts and getting back in touch with herself. This is a great way to establish boundaries for ourselves and switch off for a little bit.

This week’s Hustle: Amina's new worksheet on Overcoming Overwhelm. Looking at a 3 step process on how to look at being overwhelmed and how to deal with those things: what we tolerate, what structures we need in place, and the support we need moving forward!

Know Your Numbers

In our business, we're big fans of financial literacy and accountability. Knowing your numbers is an essential aspect of building a successful business and inherent responsibility for any entrepreneur.

What you focus on grows, so pay attention to your money.

We use Bench for our bookkeeping. It's simple, elegant, and saves us so many hours that would otherwise be spent neck-deep in receipts on the other side of a spreadsheet.

Each month our transactions are automatically imported into Bench and we get on-demand financial reports. We even enjoy opening up our profit and loss statement to review each month. When tax time comes around, we are up to date and ready to go. And this is what Financial Empowerment feels like.

Use this link to save 20% off your Bench Accounting plan for the first six months!

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Overcoming doubt (and the doubters) in our lives is difficult but necessary if we want to succeed.

When those conversations around what it takes to boldly push through difficulties are shrouded in mystery -- we can end up stopping our ambitions before they even start.

But through the power of telling OUR stories, we can find strength in one another and empower people to reconsider their doubts. Because for business owners, success is rarely a straight line.

On this episode of “And She Spoke,” we have a fantastic conversation with a true disruptor in the world of beverages, Kara Goldin, the founder and CEO of Hint, Inc., best known for the award-winning Hint water. She’s also the author of a new book, “Undaunted: Overcoming Doubt and Doubters.”

Starting in the world of tech, Kara made a bold decision as a mother of three (and soon to be four!) to strike out on her own and found a consumer product brand dedicated to health and wellness. How and why she started Hint will surprise you, and we’ll discuss changing minds as a female entrepreneur, how overcoming doubt is possible, and entrepreneurship as social change.

This was very exciting to speak with someone outside the digital space of business, and we gained some incredible insights. Give it a listen, and join in the conversation!

Here’s a peek at what else we discuss:

• Side-hustling (before that was even a thing) with 3 kids and 1 on the way!
• How thinking about her health led her to start her business
• The moment she adopted her entrepreneur mindset
• How she gains strength from her customers and helping her overcome doubt
• The phenomenon of female entrepreneurs as a social change element
• Why social change became an organic part of what she does
• How her leadership style was tested during a pandemic
• And so much more!

Resources:

• Kara Goldin Show (podcast)
• Undaunted. Overcoming Doubts + Doubters by Kara Goldin

This week’s Joy:
The joy this week is Kara’s two labradors! She’s appreciated the care they bring her and all the fun, too.

This week’s Hustle:
People ask all the time how to find a mentor... But Kara believes you can find one through reading and listening to podcasts! For her, mentorship is not necessarily defined by a single person but within what brings you strength and insights every day.

Know Your Numbers

In our business, we're big fans of financial literacy and accountability. Knowing your numbers is an essential aspect of building a successful business and inherent responsibility for any entrepreneur.

What you focus on grows, so pay attention to your money.

We use Bench for our bookkeeping. It's simple, elegant, and saves us so many hours that would otherwise be spent neck-deep in receipts on the other side of a spreadsheet.

Each month our transactions are automatically imported into Bench and we get on-demand financial reports. We even enjoy opening up our profit and loss statement to review each month. When tax time comes around, we are up to date and ready to go. And this is what Financial Empowerment feels like.

Use this link to save 20% off your Bench Accounting plan for the first six months!

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So many women have a fraught relationship with their body… but there IS a way back!

Rebuilding that trust takes time and a unique guide to unpack the internalized beliefs that place us at war with ourselves and fighting the perceptions generated from the beauty industry and broader culture.

Even in an era of “self-care,” an important question lingers: Are we just buying into the same false story over and over again?

On this episode of “And She Spoke,” we speak with Lauren Geertsen, author of a new book, “The Invisible Corset,” a modern guide to empower women through regaining trust in their bodies. She believes that by healing themselves, women can heal their families and the world.

In this engrossing conversation, we frankly discuss how self-healing opened her eyes to the flaws of modern medicine. We also reflect on the systemic barriers that still exist in our world and how each of us can enable true change, no matter who we are!

Hear more of this powerful conversation and join us!

Here’s a peek at what else we discuss:

• What leads women to hate and distrust their body: including fears from Western medicine and the beauty industry.

• How an abundant mindset and a sense of playfulness grew Lauren’s blog.

• Lauren’s book-writing journey and the long road it took to get it published.

• Why women are so distrustful of their bodies and try to fight and control them.

• Lauren’s experiences as a 9-year-old and how this shaped her body image.

• The need to de-link ourselves from beauty culture and place that energy elsewhere.

• Her belief that all women have it within them to overcome systemic hindrances.

• Our idea of self-care should not be attached to the products we buy.

And so much more!

Resources:

• Empowered Sustenance
• The Invisible Corset by Lauren Geertsen
• Lauren Geertsen
• Lauren Geertsen on Twitter
• Dita Von Teese
• Shut Up and Write

This week’s Joy:
Lauren is grateful for her 15-minute Kundalini yoga video class every morning. Especially since dance and yoga classes aren’t happening in person right now, it gives her that good, juicy Kundalini energy she needs!

This week’s Hustle:
Zoom writers groups! It’s a great way to show up, say hi to one another, keep one another accountable, but share a fun, collaborative energy to get things done.

Know Your Numbers

In our business, we're big fans of financial literacy and accountability. Knowing your numbers is an essential aspect of building a successful business and inherent responsibility for any entrepreneur.

What you focus on grows, so pay attention to your money.

We use Bench for our bookkeeping. It's simple, elegant, and saves us so many hours that would otherwise be spent neck-deep in receipts on the other side of a spreadsheet.

Each month our transactions are automatically imported into Bench and we get on-demand financial reports. We even enjoy opening up our profit and loss statement to review each month. When tax time comes around, we are up to date and ready to go. And this is what Financial Empowerment feels like.

Use this link to save 20% off your Bench Accounting plan for the first six months!

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How can we find the sacred in our own lives and rise as leaders in a community… even as the pillars we once used seem to shift all around us?

Perhaps the answer is within ourselves.

Joyful belonging – of living lives of greater connection, meaning, and depth – takes dedication and a new way of thinking around the spaces we create in our lives. But it is possible to create new sacred texts and spiritual ways, even as our world – and religion's role in it – continues to change.

On this episode of "And She Spoke," we speak with Casper ter Kuile, Ministry Innovation Fellow at Harvard Divinity School, and the founder of Sacred Design Lab, a research and design consultancy working to create a culture of belonging and becoming.

We go joyfully in-depth on how leaders can apply new lessons and research on spirituality to create communities that help all of us belong and become who we are. And we talk about how religion is NOT declining, just changing, how we find the sacred texts we need in unexpected places, and so much more.

Join us in this deep and meaningful reflection on community – and bring your thoughts to the conversation in the comments!

Here’s a peek at what else we discuss:

• Climate activism and how Casper became involved in spirituality.
• Casper's interest in connection and ritual and what inspired him to write about it.
• How honoring ritual and rhythm can foster connection, community, and inspiration.
• Casper's thoughts on the disturbance of COVID and the new essence of gatherings.
• The evolution of pseudo-religious spaces, including those used in the workplace.
• Preventing burnout through acknowledgment of responsibilities and intentions.
• How the work inside Sacred Design Lab helps provide leaders the support they need.
• Burning Man as a religious pilgrimage and spiritual/secular crossover space.

Resources:

• Casper ter Kuile on Twitter
• Casper ter Kuile on LinkedIn
• Casper ter Kuile on Instagram
• Casper ter Kuile
• Harry Potter and the Sacred Text Podcast
• Sacred Design Lab
• The Power of Ritual: Turning Everyday Activities Into Soulful Practices by Casper her Kuile
• Nuns & Nones
• To Bless the Space Between Us: A Book of Blessings by John O’Donohue

This week’s Joy:

RuPaul's Drag Race. Casper loves watching people imagine characters and live into different ways of being. Culminating in a celebration of a new essence in the world in an inspiring and joyful way.

This week’s Hustle:

Creating the space to tell the truth. Sometimes we like to rush into things to get them done, but often, when we slow down to articulate the truth properly, we can really accelerate the work that we do. Casper recommends a book of modern blessings by John O'Donohue, "To Bless the Space Between Us."

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Women getting a seat at the table takes ALL of us working together!

Smashing through those barriers asks us to honestly address the systemic problems that have led us to where we are today.

That means starting from the bottom up, and considering the best ways can help enhance the full diversity of female voices within the business world that are ready to be heard. And surprisingly, what needs to change in our lead generation, scaling, and social media strategies.

On this episode of “And She Spoke,” we speak with one of the women leading the charge, Eleanor Beaton – the founder of SAFI media and author of the upcoming book, Explicit Ambition: Why Women Don’t Want Power.

We address how to shift the narrative of gender equality in leadership positions, by challenging the limiting beliefs of male AND female founders and what resources are out there to make that change. We even dive into rethinking lead generation and the ethics of social media marketing.

This is an incredibly valuable and entertaining chat where we learned so much from Eleanor’s way of thinking, and hope you can join us in that conversation!

Here’s a peek at what else we discuss:

• How Eleanor’s mission began to shift the narrative of scaling and success.
• What internalized biases and systemic barriers are out there (and how to overcome them).
• Rethinking lead generation in a post-COVID world.
• Which creative marketing ideas Eleanor is excited about in the future.
• How partnerships can act like a microeconomic mutually beneficial relationship.
• Why she decided to shift her investment away from paid social media ads.
• And how Schitt’s Creek is bringing Eleanor SO MUCH JOY right now!

Resources:

• Eleanor Beaton
• Her book, Explicit Ambition: Why Women Don’t Want Power
• Power + Presence + Position Podcast
• Jennifer Barcelos on LinkedIn
• Sandy Connery on LinkedIn

This week’s Joy: The Schitt's Creek series.

This week’s Hustle: Two tools that I use every single day to support me, number 1, to have one income-generating conversation per day. The other is to do one thing every day to set up another income-generating conversation (on the phone). With discipline, this practice has a lot of impact.

Know Your Numbers

In our business, we're big fans of financial literacy and accountability. Knowing your numbers is an essential aspect of building a successful business and inherent responsibility for any entrepreneur.

What you focus on grows, so pay attention to your money.

We use Bench for our bookkeeping. It's simple, elegant, and saves us so many hours that would otherwise be spent neck-deep in receipts on the other side of a spreadsheet.

Each month our transactions are automatically imported into Bench and we get on-demand financial reports. We even enjoy opening up our profit and loss statement to review each month. When tax time comes around, we are up to date and ready to go. And this is what Financial Empowerment feels like.

Use this link to save 20% off your Bench Accounting plan for the first six months!

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To 'level up' our careers, we have to take ownership of our worth!

And that also means getting PAID what we're worth as well.

It takes a significant shift to start seeing and valuing ourselves… and takes determination to keep fighting for what we're worth despite the opposition. What kind of resources and communities are out there for women struggling to claim their worth? And what can we do about it?

On this episode of "And She Spoke," we speak with Claire Wasserman, an entrepreneur and passionate advocate for women's professional + financial advancement.

Claire shares her story of one seemingly minor interaction that changed the course of her life, and led to her founding Ladies Get Paid, a monumental organization assisting over 75,000 women in 120 countries in leveling up their careers.

She openly challenges the social norms that hold us back and is honest about how making money is the first step in improving the wage and leadership gap. Ultimately, we need to rethink our limiting beliefs by sharing our stories and getting paid what we're worth.

Here’s a peek at what else we discuss:

• The town hall that changed Claire's life
• Normalizing the conversation around money
• How to set the right value for your work
• When we should take breaks to recharge
• How Ladies Get Paid was founded
• Achieving inclusivity in her organization
• The impending release of Claire's new book: Ladies Get Paid!

Resources:

• Ladies Get Paid
• Ladies Get Paid book
• Claire Wasserman on LinkedIn
• Ladies Get Paid on Twitter
• Claire Wasserman on Instagram
• Public
• Todoist

This week’s Joy: Her cat! Pheobe cat! She brings Claire joy and all those who see her via my Instagram.

This week’s Hustle: Taking naps! 30 mins, 45 mins, 10 mins, you have to take breaks. It will actually help yourself and others. Claire also really loves using Todoist which helps organize everything in a simple and straightforward way.

Know Your Numbers

In our business, we're big fans of financial literacy and accountability. Knowing your numbers is an essential aspect of building a successful business and inherent responsibility for any entrepreneur.

What you focus on grows, so pay attention to your money.

We use Bench for our bookkeeping. It's simple, elegant, and saves us so many hours that would otherwise be spent neck-deep in receipts on the other side of a spreadsheet.

Each month our transactions are automatically imported into Bench and we get on-demand financial reports. We even enjoy opening up our profit and loss statement to review each month. When tax time comes around, we are up to date and ready to go. And this is what Financial Empowerment feels like.

Use this link to save 20% off your Bench Accounting plan for the first six months!

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Healers can't fix us. Why? Because we're not broken!

But they can remind us that we're whole – and that our path to healing comes from within. Healing is an inside job. (Hence the title of this podcast episode 😉 ).

Plagued by decades of depression and a stubborn autoimmune disease, today's guest embarked on a self-care bender — immersing herself in every holistic treatment and spiritual practice she could get her hands on!

From shamanic journeys to chakra balancing, silk cocoons to sound baths… what she found along the way was a whole lotta love and peace.

Plus, she discovered that other people craved the same kind of time-honored wisdom from holistic practitioners but didn't know where to find them or who to trust. Soon, an online business idea flourished.

On today's episode of "And She Spoke," we talk about virtual healing with Elizabeth Kendig.

She is a popular beauty blogger turned podcaster turned founder of Healers Wanted — a community and marketplace platform offering spiritual guidance through different modalities using trusted practitioners. We discuss some things that led her to this online business transformation:

• Transitioning from Top 20 Pinner on Pinterest into the wellness industry
• How her Healers podcast grew to over 700k downloads
• Paying attention to the signs on when to pivot

Spiritual and holistic practices enable us to connect with ourselves on a deeper level.

And it's at our core where our innermost desires live...

They can lead us to new businesses, relationships, and profound happiness!

Here’s a peek at what else we discuss:

• How starting over isn’t really ‘starting over’
• Why she feels uneasy about selling something that she believes everyone needs
• Finding purpose beyond the beauty industry
• Shifting her identity in a big, public (and personal) way
• The nitty-gritty about revenue share, pricing independent contractors, and the most popular modality on the site.
• And soooooo much more!

Resources: * Elizabeth Kindeg on LinkedIn * Healers * Healers Podcast * Healers on Instagram * Olive & June * Molly Jones CBD

Visit Healers Wanted and receive 10% off your first booking. Use the coupon code NAMASTE at check out. Please note: This is for new users only.

This week’s Joy:

Our joy is getting back to the basics with self-care – falling in love with doing our nails at home.

This week’s Hustle:

Our hustle(s) are CBD – to calm the nervous system and keep anxiety at bay. + Journaling as a means of recognizing signs and synchronicities.

Know Your Numbers In our business, we're big fans of financial literacy and accountability. Knowing your numbers is an essential aspect of building a successful business and inherent responsibility for any entrepreneur.

What you focus on grows, so pay attention to your money.

We use Bench for our bookkeeping. It's simple, elegant, and saves us so many hours that would otherwise be spent neck-deep in receipts on the other side of a spreadsheet.

Each month our transactions are automatically imported into Bench and we get on-demand financial reports. We even enjoy opening up our profit and loss statement to review each month. When tax time comes around, we are up to date and ready to go. And this is what Financial Empowerment feels like.

Use this link to save 20% off your Bench Accounting plan for the first six months!

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You are in charge of managing your own experience in the world!

It’s so refreshing to know that we can speak up to create a better experience for ourselves. Feeling stressed? Say so! Need more time to do something important for yourself or your kids? Say no to that other demand vying for your attention! Here’s the thing: how we maneuver through business/work can have a direct impact on how we show up in life.

Business coaching can reveal more of WHO we are outside of our professional careers than we initially thought possible.

On today’s episode of “And She Spoke,” we talk about leadership and shaking things up through business with Devon Brooks. She is an entrepreneur, coach, and the founder of Sphere —”her second venture”— a marketplace platform for personal and professional coaching. We discuss all the ideas she’s built her business around:

• Dematerializing an industry
• Being inherently more inclusive
• Leadership as a vessel for impact
• The accessibility and affordability of coaching

Female entrepreneurs are challenged every day —especially if you’re a single parent or struggling to find your own work-life balance.

Once we become better at managing our own experiences, we can discover more of what we need for ourselves.

If you’re ready to do that… you’re in the right place!

Here’s a peek at what else we discuss:

• Running a Brick & Mortar business vs. a Software Platform
• Being catapulted to leadership at 20 years old
• How a pandemic affected moving forward in business
• Benefits of a remote team
• Stress management/sleep
• Single parent responsibilities

Resources: * Devon Brooks on LinkedIn * Sphere * Sphere App * Blo – Blow Dry Bar

Sign up for a Sphere membership and receive 10% off your first 3 months. Use the coupon code SOULFUL at check out. Please note: This is for new users only and will be capped at 50 redemptions.

This week’s Joy:

Our joy is Mountain Biking (+ drumming) -- both provide the mental challenge of using and stimulating the brain in different ways.

This week’s Hustle:

Our hustle is Time-blocking… because fitting everything in at the cost of yourself is a hard no.

Know Your Numbers In our business, we're big fans of financial literacy and accountability. Knowing your numbers is an essential aspect of building a successful business and inherent responsibility for any entrepreneur.

What you focus on grows, so pay attention to your money.

We use Bench for our bookkeeping. It's simple, elegant, and saves us so many hours that would otherwise be spent neck-deep in receipts on the other side of a spreadsheet.

Each month our transactions are automatically imported into Bench and we get on-demand financial reports. We even enjoy opening up our profit and loss statement to review each month. When tax time comes around, we are up to date and ready to go. And this is what Financial Empowerment feels like.

Use this link to save 20% off your Bench Accounting plan for the first six months!

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It’s okay to be an imperfect ally when navigating difficult times.

Wanting to participate in an emotionally charged conversation is important, even if we’re afraid of saying or doing the wrong thing. The beauty of it is… we don’t have to get it right or be perfect. We have to see where we can do more, be better, and expand.

Everything we do in life requires practice and co-creation... we learn in tandem with others. It’s not about being perfect. It’s about taking action that aligns with your values and then seeing where you want to be different.

When we keep the conversation moving forward, we can finally shift the narrative for the better.

On today’s episode of “And She Spoke,” we tackle how to address anti-racism as individuals and entrepreneurs through Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion with DEI Coach and Consultant Erica Courdae. She bases her work on these premises:

• A shame & blame-free environment
• It’s not about being perfect
• Taking care of the WHOLE human
• Being better in a way that makes sense for you
• Imperfect allyship

To truly evolve, we must show up because we want to do the work... not because we think we’re supposed to!

Infusing everything we do with DEI allows us to show up and support what matters to us – even if we aren’t always perfect.

Every time we engage, we chip away at the barriers that hold us back.

Here’s a peek at what else we discuss:

• Tone-policing
• Values
• Reconnecting to what matters
• Imperfect action
• Privilege

Resources: * Erica Courdae - Website

• Pause on the Play - Podcast

This week’s Joy:

Our joy is Conversation – the catalyst for everything and the cornerstone of hope.

This week’s Hustle:

Our hustle is Voxer… because sometimes context can be lost in text. This free app gives you a way to communicate effortlessly through instant voice memos. You can say what you need to say in the moment and send it when you’re ready.

Know Your Numbers In our business, we're big fans of financial literacy and accountability. Knowing your numbers is an essential aspect of building a successful business and inherent responsibility for any entrepreneur.

What you focus on grows, so pay attention to your money.

We use Bench for our bookkeeping. It's simple, elegant, and saves us so many hours that would otherwise be spent neck-deep in receipts on the other side of a spreadsheet.

Each month our transactions are automatically imported into Bench and we get on-demand financial reports. We even enjoy opening up our profit and loss statement to review each month. When tax time comes around, we are up to date and ready to go. And this is what Financial Empowerment feels like.

Use this link to save 20% off your Bench Accounting plan for the first six months!

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Sometimes entrepreneurship feels like a constant uphill climb but it is an endeavor that pays off in the long-run: it’s just about staying the course and ensuring that you get the basics right.

In today’s episode, Sandy and Jeni talk about some of the most common reasons why your business is not making as much money as you would like.

You’ll learn more about the strategies and mindset shifts that are required to run a successful online business, starting with why focusing on one great offer (rather than trying to provide something for everyone on the planet) is key to success.

Sandy and Jeni also talk about transitioning from a brick-and-mortar to the online space, how to determine what you offer, and how to price it.

Key points from this episode:

• How, after the excitement of a launch, many entrepreneurs don’t know what the next step is.
• Accepting that entrepreneurship involves ups and downs and a long-term commitment.
• The problem of getting the timing of your launch or relaunch wrong.
• Why it is crucial to keep getting more people onto your email list and into your door.
• Building the thing you feel like versus the one that solves a problem for a specific kind of person.
• How you can go about figuring out where the need is to ensure product-market fit.
• What to look out for when you are not successful in your transition from the off-line to online space.
• Why the online world requires you to niche down and be even more specific about your quintessential client.
• Determining your price according to the value you bring to your clients/customers.
• Examples of the money mindset issues and limiting beliefs that can be holding you back.

Resources:

Launch with Intention Program

Hello Bargello

Hello Bargello on Instagram

Basecamp

This week’s Joy:

Bargello as a pandemic-friendly hobby

This week’s Hustle:

How Basecamp can help you streamline project management in your business.

Know Your Numbers In our business, we're big fans of financial literacy and accountability. Knowing your numbers is an essential aspect of building a successful business and inherent responsibility for any entrepreneur.

What you focus on grows, so pay attention to your money.

We use Bench for our bookkeeping. It's simple, elegant, and saves us so many hours that would otherwise be spent neck-deep in receipts on the other side of a spreadsheet.

Each month our transactions are automatically imported into Bench and we get on-demand financial reports. We even enjoy opening up our profit and loss statement to review each month. When tax time comes around, we are up to date and ready to go. And this is what Financial Empowerment feels like.

Use this link to save 20% off your Bench Accounting plan for the first six months!

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Joy is not always found in big, milestone events. Sometimes, especially during times of chaos, the greatest joys are found in small, everyday moments.

Today’s episode is a lighthearted take on some of the joys and hustles of this wild and crazy year, but predominantly the joys – things that we would like to celebrate, despite the fact that we’ve spent most of 2020 within the confines of our own homes!

As we enter fall, we’d like to share with you some recommendations for the things we have been grateful for during lockdown, things that have brought us peace, a sense of freedom, pause to reflect, or simple, unadulterated pleasure. Tune in to find out more!

Key Points From This Episode:

• How the Aarke Sparkling Water Maker has helped Sandy drink more water each day.
• Why Jeni bought herself a pickup truck that, to her, is the definition of freedom.
• How Sandy discovered Planterina on YouTube and the value of Facebook Marketplace.
• Why we all need to understand the impact of social media on our lives and the manipulation.
• Our ability to create new technologies is surpassing our ability to solve ethical problems.
• Sandy talks about her new favorite app, iNaturalist, which helps you identify flora and fauna.
• Jeni’s new favorite app is one that is quite similar, and it’s a plant-identifier called PictureThis.
• Sandy highly recommends Big Friendship and the Call Your Girlfriend Podcast by Aminatou Sow and Ann Friedman.
• Jeni is reading Deep Creek by Pam Houston, that she relates to because she lives on a farm.

Resources (this week’s multiple Joy’s!) * Aarke * Planterina on YouTube * WallyGro * WallyGro on Instagram * The Social Dilemma on Netflix * iNautralist App * PictureThis App * Big Friendship: How We Keep Each Other Close * Call Your Girlfriend Podcast * Deep Creek: Finding Hope in the High Country

This week’s Hustle:

While most of the joy’s mentioned in this week’s episode could be a hustle, this week’s hustle is Jeni’s Uplift Desk.

Know Your Numbers In our business, we're big fans of financial literacy and accountability. Knowing your numbers is an essential aspect of building a successful business and inherent responsibility for any entrepreneur.

What you focus on grows, so pay attention to your money.

We use Bench for our bookkeeping. It's simple, elegant, and saves us so many hours that would otherwise be spent neck-deep in receipts on the other side of a spreadsheet.

Each month our transactions are automatically imported into Bench and we get on-demand financial reports. We even enjoy opening up our profit and loss statement to review each month. When tax time comes around, we are up to date and ready to go. And this is what Financial Empowerment feels like.

Use this link to save 20% off your Bench Accounting plan for the first six months!

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When it comes to negotiation, many of us feel we don’t measure up.

Maybe our fears of rejection or conflict get us to clam up and go with the flow… or we just feel inadequate in our knowledge and choose other – harder – approaches in life.

But what if simply asking for what we NEED could benefit… everyone?

On today’s episode of “And She Spoke” we have a lively and informative discussion with Alexandra Carter, a Clinical Professor of Law and Director of the Mediation Clinic at Columbia Law School. She is also the author of Ask for More, a book that posits a relatable and innovative approach to negotiation bound to help anyone out who struggles with asking for what they truly need – professionally or personally.

Whether you are struggling in your career or with family or friends, it is possible to overcome fears and create a place where you can IMPROVE your negotiation and listening skills! Don’t miss this vital conversation!

Here’s a peek at what else we discuss:

• Unpacking the embarrassment around negotiation
• How to get paid a fair price for your services
• The basics – and complexity – of good listening
• How a kayak taught Alexandra a foundational part of negotiation
• Using curiosity to continually expand horizons and problem solve
• Creating a path that others can follow in the future

Resources: * Alexandra Carter * Ask for More by Alexandra Carter * United Nations * The Memo: What Women of Color Need to Know to Secure a Seat at the Table by Minda Harts

This week’s Joy:

Checking in with her daughter every day using the Personal Weather Report she created at school.

This week’s Hustle:

Minda Harts’ book The Memo: What Women of Color Need to Know to Secure a Seat at the Table.

Know Your Numbers In our business, we're big fans of financial literacy and accountability. Knowing your numbers is an essential aspect of building a successful business and inherent responsibility for any entrepreneur.

What you focus on grows, so pay attention to your money.

We use Bench for our bookkeeping. It's simple, elegant, and saves us so many hours that would otherwise be spent neck-deep in receipts on the other side of a spreadsheet.

Each month our transactions are automatically imported into Bench and we get on-demand financial reports. We even enjoy opening up our profit and loss statement to review each month. When tax time comes around, we are up to date and ready to go. And this is what Financial Empowerment feels like.

Use this link to save 20% off your Bench Accounting plan for the first six months!

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For thousands of years, women have been taught to be good above all else.

You know... follow the rules, trust our logic over intuition, keep the peace, make everyone else happy, and sacrifice ourselves to achieve our goals.

Whew... glad those days are over... oh wait...they’re not.

Being the ‘good girl’ holds us back from our true potential. It keeps us from being POWERFUL.

On today’s episode of “And She Spoke” we get to the root of what’s really holding us back with the 5 good girl myths women believe and live by every day from Majo Molfino.

• You have to follow the Rules

• Strive for Perfection

• Trust Logic over intuition

• Maintain the Harmony

• Sacrifice yourself for others

By examining the ways in which your beliefs and behaviors drive your life and cause you to self-sabotage, you open up space to create better habits.

Whether it’s fear of taking time and energy away from our spouse or kids, concern over everyone else’s contentment, or any other conditioned belief -- it takes a concerted effort to break free from those thought patterns.

And every time you choose yourself first, you reinforce your worth.

Let’s ditch ‘good’ and embrace ‘powerful’ because the world needs our voices now more than ever!

Here’s a peek at what else we discuss:

• Why you’re still trying to prove yourself and fit in
• Deconditioning prototypical good girl behaviors
• How girlhood affects us as leaders, contributors and entrepreneurs
• Learning to redefine our understanding about patriarchy
• Making conscious sacrifices for our goals
• Designing the life you want

Resources: * Majo Molfino - Good Girl Myth * Majo Molfino - Heroine Podcast

This week’s Joy:

Riding and sweating it out on the Peloton Bike with big guttural releases.

This week’s Hustle:

Majo Molfino’s book titled ‘Break the Good Girl Myth’ which reveals five self-sabotaging tendencies women must overcome in order to unleash their potential and power.

Know Your Numbers! In our business, we're big fans of financial literacy and accountability. Knowing your numbers is an essential aspect of building a successful business and inherent responsibility for any entrepreneur.

What you focus on grows, so pay attention to your money.

We use Bench for our bookkeeping. It's simple, elegant, and saves us so many hours that would otherwise be spent neck-deep in receipts on the other side of a spreadsheet.

Each month our transactions are automatically imported into Bench and we get on-demand financial reports. We even enjoy opening up our profit and loss statement to review each month. When tax time comes around, we are up to date and ready to go. And this is what Financial Empowerment feels like.

Use this link to save 20% off your Bench Accounting plan for the first six months

View Details

Apply to work with us in the Inner Circle: https://theinnercircle.works/

What if you decided, “No matter what, I’m going to be fine”?

Wouldn’t that be liberating?

For many of us (if not all of us), it feels like it’s just one thing after another this year. Crisis after crisis piling up and chipping away at our ability to be resilient.

We’ve heard from many of you who––after spending years on building your in-person following or your brick and mortar studios, clinics or gyms–– have had to stop teaching or close down due to COVID and are wondering “What next?”.

And that thought can be overwhelming ESPECIALLY when all your plans for 2020 are well and truly out the window.

But it doesn’t need to be this way.

In today’s episode of And She Spoke, we have an open and honest conversation about how to reframe 2020.

Reframing is a bit like an inversion pose, it helps you to see the situation from another point of view. Often, a refreshing one.

In this episode, we discuss:

• The importance of focussing on the facts.
• How to avoid creating stories that simply aren’t true.
• The difference between goals and visions, and expectations.
• How to take action to overcome fear.

Apply to work with us in the Inner Circle: https://theinnercircle.works/

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Often, the only thing standing between us and where we want to be, is a crippling lack of confidence.

Now that might sound like a serious problem.

But here’s the good news - in situations like these, only one thing needs fixing.

Our mindset.

In business and in life, the fear of failure and the comfort of familiarity can lock us in, prevent us from facing new challenges and experiencing growth.

This creates a cycle where we never end up trying new things because we don’t have reason to believe that we’d be good at them.

And a mindset like that can quickly lead to stagnation.

On today’s episode, we try to turn this mindset problem around by using the 4 C’s of Dan Sullivan’s Multiplier Mindset framework:

• Commitment to do whatever it takes

• Courage to do it even when it feels awful and uncomfortable

• Capability that comes from acquiring new skills

• Confidence that’s the result of having succeeded at what you set out to do.

By changing your mindset, by embracing the discomfort, and by increasing your capability, you can get the job done.

And every time you win, your success automatically gives you the confidence to leap higher next time.

And before you know it, entrepreneurship might become your path to self-actualization.

If we’ve already got you thinking about how 4 steps could possibly turn someone into a different person (it sounds crazy!), tune into today’s podcast on how the Multiplier Mindset made us realise that discomfort is the price of growth.

Here’s a peek at what else you can expect:

• How courage works in real life and how it’s different from grit
• How confidence always stems from a past history of success
• The difference between confidence and self-confidence
• The importance of being kind and loving to yourself
• Tools to unpack the tendency to view ourselves negatively
• The need for friends who will call you out when you’re too harsh on yourself
• How women use self-deprecation as a safety net in society

RESOURCES * Dan Sullivan - the 4 C's Formula * Cal Newport - Digital Minimalism * Cal Newport - Deep Work * How to do a thought download

This week’s Joy:

Our joy is a mask from Rais Case that is shaped like a bandana, and has leather ties that take away the hassle of fussy elastic bands!

This week’s Hustle:

Our hustle is Cal Newport’s book titled ‘Digital Minimalism’ that examines how people spend time online and how online tech tools work to hijack people’s attention.

Know Your Numbers In our business, we're big fans of financial literacy and accountability. Knowing your numbers is an essential aspect of building a successful business and inherent responsibility for any entrepreneur.

What you focus on grows, so pay attention to your money.

We use Bench for our bookkeeping. It's simple, elegant and saves us so many hours that would otherwise be spent neck-deep in receipts on the other side of a spreadsheet.

Each month our transactions are automatically imported into Bench and we get on-demand financial reports. We even enjoy opening up our profit and loss statement to review each month. When tax time comes around, we are up to date and ready to go. And this is what Financial Empowerment feels like.

Use this link to save 20% off your Bench Accounting plan for the first six months

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What do you do when life hits a wall?

As the world is trying to pick itself back up, female entrepreneurs and business owners are trying hard to stabilize their businesses, remain optimistic, and move forward.

But, it’s not easy.

Which is why we need incredible role models to lift us up and give us the strength to keep on going.

And today’s guest, Dr. Natalia Wiechowski, is the role model we all need right now.

As the founder of Think Natalia, she helps other entrepreneurs perfect their personal branding to carve out a niche in competitive markets.

She knows that helping other people shine brings her joy and was able to mold her career out of doing something she loved.

But, 29-year old Natalia was very different.

With a PhD in Philosophy, Natalia was confused about what direction she wanted to take her career in, which led her to working many different jobs in her 20s.

After living her life in reactionary mode, she had a spiritual awakening (or an ‘early life crisis’ as she puts it) which prompted her to quit her corporate job, take a sabbatical, and really figure out what she wanted to do with her life and career.

While challenging and scary, that chapter in her life ended beautifully with the founding of Think Natalia. But she, like many of us, had to face an entirely different set of challenges with the advent of COVID-19.

Apart from her business, Natalia is also a keynote speaker who travels the globe and had some gigs lined up in different parts of the world that she was very excited about.

Of course, those couldn’t go forward.

And Natalia found herself having to pivot to cover those costs.

However, her mindset towards challenges is simple (something she credits to six years of constant meditation) - when life throws obstacles at you, give yourself some time to feel upset and overwhelmed.

And then get back up and take action.

In today’s episode, Natalia takes us through how she pivoted in COVID (and experienced one of her biggest sales months yet), her simple mindset to life’s challenges, and all her exciting future plans.

Natalia’s views on life and motivation are exactly what you might need to dust yourself off and find courage to keep going in these trying times!

Here’s a peek at what else you can expect:

• Why Natalia moved to Dubai
• The growth of LinkedIn as a personal branding platform
• Natalia’s view on the pressures of having to be present in every social media platform
• How she’s pivoted during COVID-19
• How she helps clients build their personal brand
• How her ‘early life crisis’ at 29 pushed her to her true calling

RESOURCES Think Natalia

Think Natalia Instagram

Natalia Wiechowski LinkedIn

Personal Branding with LinkedIn: The Think Natalia Method

This Week’s Joy:

Natalia’s joy right now is sitting in her balcony, cup of tea in hand, and listening to a podcast or reading a book.

This Week’s Hustle:

As someone who’s team members are scattered across the globe, Natalia relies on Calendly to keep track of her team’s schedules without having to send a million emails back and forth!

Know Your Numbers In our business, we're big fans of financial literacy and accountability. Knowing your numbers is an essential aspect of building a successful business and inherent responsibility for any entrepreneur.

What you focus on grows, so pay attention to your money.

We use Bench for our bookkeeping. It's simple, elegant and saves us so many hours that would otherwise be spent neck-deep in receipts on the other side of a spreadsheet.

Each month our transactions are automatically imported into Bench and we get on-demand financial reports. We even enjoy opening up our profit and loss statement to review each month. When tax time comes around, we are up to date and ready to go. And this is what Financial Empowerment feels like.

Use this link to save 20% off your Bench Accounting plan for the first six months

View Details

Our past traps us.

It traps us into thinking that we’re inadequate, and can never become our fully actualized selves.

The worst part is, we listen.

And we never grow.

According to today’s guest Tracy Litt, the past has no business affecting our future.

And that it should only ever exist between our two ears.

Tracy is a spiritual advisor and mindset teacher to female leaders and entrepreneurs.

And her teachings stem from one crucial statement:

We are the root cause of everything we experience

So, all of us are only one choice away from changing our lives, altering it for the better, and feeling freer and happier.

Just like the choice Tracy made four years ago to walk away from a successful career in Human Resources to start her own coaching business.

Despite voices from her past telling her not to.

In today’s episode, Tracy takes us through how to dispel those discouraging voices from the past, how to become closer to your most actualized self, and unlock your true potential.

If you’re stuck in life - in a job you hate, running a business that’s on a standstill, or thinking about shifting careers, Tracy’s voice might just be the magic spell to get you out of your fix and achieve greatness!

Here’s a peek at what else you can expect:

• Why Tracy’s corporate career was so life-sucking
• The concept of listening to you ‘actualized self’ above all else
• When and why Tracy faltered in her business and how she came out the other side
• The concept of the ‘fear talk track’
• The importance of treating your business as unique to you
• What the statement ‘the how is none of my business’ means
• Why you should always take a step back and calm down

RESOURCES The Litt Factor

The Litt Factor - Facebook

The Litt Factor - Instagram

The Litt Factor - Twitter

This Week’s Joy and Hustle:

Tracy’s Joy and Hustle is dancing! According to her, there’s no problem ‘a good shimmy can’t solve.’ On the work side, dancing and moving your body can refresh your mind and get you to that space where you’re actually excited to work rather than go about your day from a place of stress or pressure.

Know Your Numbers In our business, we're big fans of financial literacy and accountability. Knowing your numbers is an essential aspect of building a successful business and inherent responsibility for any entrepreneur.

What you focus on grows, so pay attention to your money.

We use Bench for our bookkeeping. It's simple, elegant and saves us so many hours that would otherwise be spent neck-deep in receipts on the other side of a spreadsheet.

Each month our transactions are automatically imported into Bench and we get on-demand financial reports. We even enjoy opening up our profit and loss statement to review each month. When tax time comes around, we are up to date and ready to go. And this is what Financial Empowerment feels like.

Use this link to save 20% off your Bench Accounting plan for the first six months

View Details

Today’s guest was love at first listen for us.

Some people are so warm, friendly, and inspiring, that it’s impossible not to light up in their presence too.

And Tiffany Aliche is all of that and more.

America’s favorite Financial Educator, Tiffany has built a career off of educating women on understanding their finances and nurturing a positive relationship with money.

The Tiffany we spoke to today was confident and self-assured.

But she wasn’t always that way.

In fact, back in 2009, Tiffany found herself in a downward spiral - she’d just lost her job as a preschool teacher amidst the recession, was cheated out of money by someone she considered a friend, needed to move back to her middle-school bedroom, and was elbows deep in debt.

However, Tiffany’s story of how she bounced back from those experiences and created a financial movement that’s helped over 1 million women around the world, isn’t just incredible, it’s also awe-inspiring.

And one all women need to hear.

Tune into today’s episode to hear an inspiring woman talk about how she learnt to forgive her mistakes, move forward, and monetize what she excelled at to create something wonderful.

Here’s a peek at what else you can expect:

• What prompted Tiffany to become a preschool teacher
• How her parents instilled financial accountability in her from a young age
• Her experiences with a friend who betrayed her trust (and stole her money)
• The period in her life where she was extremely depressed (and who finally helped break her out of it)
• The incredible story of her business and how she got on Queer Eye!
• Tiffany’s tips for getting magazines and publications to notice you
• The value of hard work and dedication

RESOURCES The Budgetnista

The Live Richer Challenge

The Budgetnista - Instagram

The Budgetnista - Facebook

The Budgetnista - Twitter

‘Happy Birthday Mali Moore’ - Tiffany Aliche

This Week’s Joy:

Tiffany’s niece and nephew, who live just down the street from her, have been her happy place recently (even if they do tend to leave crumbs everywhere!).

This Week’s Hustle:

Tiffany considers her business coach one of the best investments in her life, even if she initially didn’t think about hiring one at all! What she loves about her coach is that on top of coaching her personally, their team also closely coaches Tiffany’s team, helping to create a much more efficient workspace!

Know Your Numbers In our business, we're big fans of financial literacy and accountability. Knowing your numbers is an essential aspect of building a successful business and inherent responsibility for any entrepreneur.

What you focus on grows, so pay attention to your money.

We use Bench for our bookkeeping. It's simple, elegant and saves us so many hours that would otherwise be spent neck-deep in receipts on the other side of a spreadsheet.

Each month our transactions are automatically imported into Bench and we get on-demand financial reports. We even enjoy opening up our profit and loss statement to review each month. When tax time comes around, we are up to date and ready to go. And this is what Financial Empowerment feels like.

Use this link to save 20% off your Bench Accounting plan for the first six months

View Details

Every entrepreneur has that ‘aha’ moment.

And for Brett Larkin, one of YouTube’s finest yoga teachers, it came on the drive back home from a YouTube creator conference in San Bruno, California.

Working in the video game and tech industry for years, Brett had always been a staunch believer in the power of the online space.

In fact, one of the most impactful yoga classes she’d ever taken was a virtual one she streamed from a tiny hotel room in India in 2012.

And though her first YouTube upload might’ve been an accident, her channel grew through other viewers who were already realizing the power and benefits of working out virtually in 2015.

Soon enough, YouTube took notice and invited her over for a Creator Conference in their HQ in San Bruno.

That’s when Brett’s eyes were opened to just how profitable YouTube could be.

She met people with millions of subscribers, who were doing YouTube full time, and were earning six-figures working out of their garages.

And most importantly, she met Jared Polin.

Jared is a popular YouTuber who makes videos on cameras and DSLRs. On hearing that Brett was looking to improve her channel’s video and photo quality, he offered her his DVD DSLR masterclass box set.

He then shared that he didn’t want to look at YouTube as his only source of income.

In fact, he made it a point to view YouTube as a lead generation tool for other endeavours.

Endeavours like the DVD box set that was making him thousands of dollars away from the platform.

That changed Brett’s world, and on her drive home from the conference, an entire business model formed in her head with her YouTube channel in the lead-generating centre.

Today, along with her channel, Brett runs some of the best online teacher training programs in the world. She also heads a 12-person business and is gearing up for the launch of a brand new 200-hour training program.

Brett is the perfect role model for today - a world in which the fitness industry is going digital and virtual classes are most definitely here to stay.

Tune in to hear Brett discuss everything you need to know on growing your digital studio, including how to get started, dealing with trolls, consistency in uploading and much more!

Here’s a peek at what else you can expect:

• WHY Brett believes in the power of digital
• Brett’s educational background and how that ties into YouTube
• How to face your fears and take that step forward
• How to deal with the unique fears that come with going digital
• How to handle haters and trolls
• The importance of consistency in YouTube
• Setting boundaries in your work-life balance

RESOURCES Brett Larkin - Website

BrettLarkinYoga - YouTube

Jared Polin - YouTube

Elena Brower - Website

This Week’s Joy:

Brett’s joy right now is something that may seem trivial, but that goes a long way to bring her comfort and happiness on the daily - a towel warmer!

Brett highly recommends it if you want that spa experience at home.

This Week’s Hustle:

Brett’s hustle is simple and terrifying at the same time - she challenges us to reach out to that one person who can exponentially help your business.

Contacting people you admire, or those with a lot of influence, can be extremely difficult, but as Brett says, it can only help your business in the long run!

Know Your Numbers In our business, we're big fans of financial literacy and accountability. Knowing your numbers is an essential aspect of building a successful business and inherent responsibility for any entrepreneur.

What you focus on grows, so pay attention to your money.

We use Bench for our bookkeeping. It's simple, elegant, and saves us so many hours that would otherwise be spent neck-deep in receipts on the other side of a spreadsheet.

Each month our transactions are automatically imported into Bench and we get on-demand financial reports. We even enjoy opening up our profit and loss statement to review each month. When tax time comes around, we are up to date and ready to go. And this is what Financial Empowerment feels like.

Use this link to save 20% off your Bench Accounting plan for the first six months!

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In our society, women are treated like they have shelf lives.

Once we reach a certain age, we’re told that it’s time to wrap up, settle down, and start looking for more appropriate passions → like knitting and gardening.

All that’s really left for us to do is reflect on our lives, and quietly make our way to the end of our lives.

Nothing new, exciting, or groundbreaking can be expected of a woman past a certain age.

Not according to today’s guest, Juju Hook.

According to Juju, middle-aged women are in the absolute PRIME of their lives.

The most happening 8 - 11 AM news slot, if you will.

And that pressure to stay still and dream of youth? That just doesn't hold any weight anymore.

Juju owned a corporate branding firm for nearly two decades. Her business was doing well - she had a great team, great clients, and was able to achieve every career goal she’d ever set.

And she was bored stiff.

Turns out, while everyone talks about what a woman should be doing in her teens, 20s, and 30s (‘grow your career’, ‘get married’, and ‘start a family’), no one talks about what we’re supposed to do after we’ve achieved all those things.

Society just doesn’t account for women in their middle (or ‘primetime’) age.

So Juju decided to take things into her own hands. She made the tough decision to walk away from corporate branding and dip her toes into motivational speaking - a field that excited and challenged her.

And boy is she glad she did!

Juju now helps women in their primetime age with business, branding, and strategy decisions. She helps them figure out the essence of who they are without all the bells and whistles of career or family attached.

The world loves to invalidate older women so they can prey on (and profit off of) their insecurities, and Juju is leading the fight against it.

Here’s a peek at what else you can expect:

• How Juju grew disillusioned with her job
• How her boredom was impacting other parts of her life
• Exactly why society likes to impose an age limit on women
• The similarities between us and Juju
• Why discovering your essence is so important

RESOURCES Juju Hook - Website

Juju Hook - Essence of Influence

Strategic Juju - Blog

This Week’s Joy:

Juju believes that people can be two things - a flame, or the mirror that reflects it.

Juju’s joy right now is being that mirror for other women and helping them grow.

This Week’s Hustle:

It’s hard for women in business to show up on social media and play a role.

With Juju’s ‘Essence of Influence’ assessment, she aims to teach women about what kind of influence they really are (reporter, scientist, activist and so on) so it becomes easier for them to play that role.

Know Your Numbers In our business, we're big fans of financial literacy and accountability. Knowing your numbers is an essential aspect of building a successful business and inherent responsibility for any entrepreneur.

What you focus on grows, so pay attention to your money.

We use Bench for our bookkeeping. It's simple, elegant, and saves us so many hours that would otherwise be spent neck-deep in receipts on the other side of a spreadsheet.

Each month our transactions are automatically imported into Bench and we get on-demand financial reports. We even enjoy opening up our profit and loss statement to review each month. When tax time comes around, we are up to date and ready to go. And this is what Financial Empowerment feels like.

Use this link to save 20% off your Bench Accounting plan for the first six months!

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Be prepared to have your mind blown and your perspective on the world changed.

Because that’s what happened to us.

Today’s guest, Mary Shores, is someone we’ve wanted to interview on And She Spoke for a long time.

Last year, Sandy was preparing to be a guest on Dr. Meghan Walker’s incredible Entrepology Podcast. While she was doing some research before her appearance, she stumbled across Mary’s episode, intriguingly titled ‘How to Get Comfortable Asking People for Money.’

She clicked on it and listened all the way through.

And promptly fell in love.

In huge part because of Mary’s story.

Very spiritual by nature, Mary also happens to own a multi-million dollar debt-collection business.

And those two are not mutually exclusive in her world.

Mary runs her business on the concept of ‘conscious communication’ - a groundbreaking system that she teaches businesses and individuals across the country.

She believes that the concept of debt-collection operates on fear and shame-mongering.

But her aim is to make people feel good about paying back their debt.

And through highly compassionate collections, Mary helps her clients free their debt burdens and thus reduce their karmic debt.

Which helps her feel lighter herself.

And a big part of how she does it is making sure she’s 100% aware of how she’s speaking to people, what words she’s using, and knowing exactly what kind of response they’ll elicit.

Mary also gets candid about some of the trauma she’s experienced: from being abandoned, to being out on her own at 16, to losing a child at 19.

She isn’t ashamed of her trauma nor does she try to hide it. On the contrary, she explains how it gave her the necessary perspective she needed for her business and how it lit that entrepreneurial fire in her.

Tune in to learn more about Mary’s life, her values regarding accountability, her tips for effective customer communication, and how every business needs to be thinking about their audience’s emotional needs and psychology in their operations.

Here’s a peek at what else you can expect:

• How COVID-19 has amplified Mary’s insecurities
• The words you should never use in your business
• How to use neurobiology in your business
• Why every business owner needs to extensively study financials
• The problem with the ‘charge what you’re worth’ mantra
• The highest converting phrase in online marketing
• What businesses can learn from offering scholarships

RESOURCES Mary Shores - Website

Mary Shores - Instagram

Conscious Communication - Mary Shores

Entrepology Podcast - Dr. Meghan Walker

This Week’s Joy:

Mary’s biggest joy working from home has been being able to catch up on sleep.

Every night, Mary goes to sleep around 9:30 PM, wakes up at 5:00 AM and spends 3 hours (!!!) writing.

This Week’s Hustle:

Mary’s hustle has something to do with working from home too!

To her, the ultimate hustle has been moving from a brick-and-mortar business to an online one, a process that, in her own words, has caused a lot of ‘brain sweat’ (a phrase we’re 100% stealing!).

Know Your Numbers In our business, we're big fans of financial literacy and accountability. Knowing your numbers is an essential aspect of building a successful business and inherent responsibility for any entrepreneur.

What you focus on grows, so pay attention to your money.

We use Bench for our bookkeeping. It's simple, elegant and saves us so many hours that would otherwise be spent neck-deep in receipts on the other side of a spreadsheet.

Each month our transactions are automatically imported into Bench and we get on-demand financial reports. We even enjoy opening up our profit and loss statement to review each month. When tax time comes around, we are up to date and ready to go. And this is what Financial Empowerment feels like.

Use this link to save 20% off your Bench Accounting plan for the first six months

View Details

Picture this.

Your life and business are both stuck in a rut and you know you need someone’s guidance to get out of it.

Someone who looks, talks, and acts like you and who’s been through similar struggles.

So, you decide to get the help of a female lifestyle coach and log onto their website.

And are immediately greeted by:

• A website with a background of pastels
• A slim, white woman in a sheath dress and with shiny white teeth at the centre of it
• A background of a perfect, sunny, customized kitchen in a large, airy house

As you continue to browse, you see something odd - at every page you’re being sold empowerment and are being advised to ‘embrace who you are’.

But, all of that is coming from someone who is wealthy, attractive, and socially acceptable.

Someone who shows none of the physical or emotional flaws that they’re teaching you to embrace.

That is what Kelly Diels calls ‘The Female Lifestyle Empowerment Brand.’

Kelly is a feminist marketing consultant and coach who helps people build businesses that break age-old oppressive cycles.

And defining ‘The Female Lifestyle Empowerment Brand’ archetype is her life’s work.

Kelly clarifies that most women who embody the archetype aren’t always inherently misogynistic, or even aware of the conflicting messages their branding is putting out.

However, they are ultimately selling patriarchy in a pretty pink bow.

After all, the archetype involves wealthy, conventionally attractive women leveraging their white privilege to exert power over other women by making them feel inadequate or lesser than.

And buying into it isn’t going to do much to help other women (especially those from minorities).

We all need to check ourselves (and who we choose as role models), take a deeper look at how businesses operate, and analyze what kinds of messages we’re sending out into the world.

Especially right now.

And Kelly is more than happy to help us down that road!

In today’s episode Kelly goes deeper into the Female Lifestyle Empowerment Brand, discusses how and WHY we should shun traditional ways of operating a business, the differences between business and capitalism and much more!

We always love having Kelly around because we walk away from our conversations with a different perspective on things we took for granted.

And we’re sure she’ll have that effect on you too!

Here’s a peek at what else you can expect:

• Why you always need to jump before you're ready
• The financial benefits of adopting feminist practices to your business
• How you can break the cycle of leveraging an oppressive system
• What makes a business different from ruthless capitalism
• How we can realize the power we hold to change the culture around us
• How ‘business as usual’ is implicitly oppressive

RESOURCES Kelly Diels - Website

Kelly Diels - Instagram

The Body is Not an Apology - Sonya Renee Taylor

Rachel Rodgers - Website

Christy Harrison - Website

Bookshop.org

This Week’s Joy:

Kelly’s joy this week is an answer to all our Amazon problems - bookshop.org. Much like Amazon, It’s a website where you can order books to be shipped to your doorstep.

The catch? A commission goes into supporting indie bookstores around you!

This Week’s Hustle:

• Kelly isn’t a fan of the traditional business and copywriting formula of Problem - Aggravate - Solution. Instead, she proposes her ‘5 Step Messaging Model’ which initiates a shared vision or value with your customer and helps them make deliberate decisions to purchase your product, instead of being forced to do so from a place of shame.
• Kelly is also working on an audit (or quiz!) which helps assess businesses and see if you’re either lining up with the Female Lifestyle Empowerment Brand, or if your coaches and teachers are. Watch her website to be the first to know when it drops!

This podcast is brought to you by Namastream This podcast is brought to you by the Namastream software platform. Namastream is an easy to use platform that helps you build and sell your own courses, memberships and live-streamed programs. Go from idea to open for business in just minutes. Unlike other startups, Namastream was created by women for women. If you're looking for a simple, streamlined way to build and grow an online business. You can learn more at Namastream.com

Know Your Numbers In our business, we're big fans of financial literacy and accountability. Knowing your numbers is an essential aspect of building a successful business and inherent responsibility for any entrepreneur.

What you focus on grows, so pay attention to your money.

We use Bench for our bookkeeping. It's simple, elegant and saves us so many hours that would otherwise be spent neck-deep in receipts on the other side of a spreadsheet.

Each month our transactions are automatically imported into Bench and we get on-demand financial reports. We even enjoy opening up our profit and loss statement to review each month. When tax time comes around, we are up to date and ready to go. And this is what Financial Empowerment feels like.

Use this link to save 20% off your Bench Accounting plan for the first six months

View Details

Who is a leader? What is leadership?

Can you only lead if you’re an owner, founder or a C-suite executive?

According to today’s guest, Claudia Chan, absolutely not.

And as a leadership and culture change expert, she’s made it her mission to provide the world with a more holistic, inclusive, and purpose-driven definition of leadership.

One that doesn’t discriminate against gender, race, economic background, or even your job title.

In the cut-throat world of business, entrepreneurs are taught to be ruthless, cold, and enigmatic to be successful. In the white male-dominated view of leadership, there’s no room for spirituality, empathy, or humility.

Clearly, in our present day, these definitions just don’t work. Businesses all over the world are learning the importance of inclusive workplaces and empathetic messaging.

And leaders simply cannot thrive by embracing outdated ideals and definitions of ‘effective’ leadership, taught by an overwhelmingly male and caucasian demographic through books, TV appearances, and conferences.

In today’s episode, listen in as Claudia describes how opportunities to lead are all around us, why women need to embrace their intuition in business, and why it’s so important to change the definition of what makes a good leader in our society.

Claudia’s message is an important one right now. We NEED new forms of leadership in a world that’s going through metamorphosis.

And we hope this episode might steer our listeners to it.

Here’s a peek at what else you can expect:

• Why 2020 is the year of innovation
• How current definitions of leadership can be rectified
• Why analyzing your past is important to be a good leader
• How being aggressive in internal growth helps
• The people who are most affected by the pandemic
• Why intuition and ‘gut instincts’ aren’t poor business decisions
• How to relabel mistakes

RESOURCES This is How We Rise - Claudia Chan

She Globl - Website

Wayne Dyer Audiobooks

Claudia - Instagram

She Summit - Website

This Week’s Joy:

Like many during this time, Claudia has been finding joy in the small moments she spends with her husband and two kids, tickle monster and all!

This Week’s Hustle:

Claudia’s hustle comes from a Wayne Dyer audiobook - don’t sell a product, sell what you love.

The true hustle comes from doing what you love so it doesn’t feel like work at all!

This podcast is brought to you by Namastream This podcast is brought to you by the Namastream software platform. Namastream is an easy to use platform that helps you build and sell your own courses, memberships, and live-streamed programs. Go from idea to open for business in just minutes. Unlike other startups, Namastream was created by women for women. If you're looking for a simple, streamlined way to build and grow an online business. You can learn more at Namastream.com

Know Your Numbers In our business, we're big fans of financial literacy and accountability. Knowing your numbers is an essential aspect of building a successful business and inherent responsibility for any entrepreneur.

What you focus on grows, so pay attention to your money.

We use Bench for our bookkeeping. It's simple, elegant, and saves us so many hours that would otherwise be spent neck-deep in receipts on the other side of a spreadsheet.

Each month our transactions are automatically imported into Bench and we get on-demand financial reports. We even enjoy opening up our profit and loss statement to review each month. When tax time comes around, we are up to date and ready to go. And this is what Financial Empowerment feels like.

Use this link to save 20% off your Bench Accounting plan for the first six months!

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Lately, we’ve been paying a lot more attention to bias around us - gender bias, wealth bias, and of course, racial bias.

As white women, we’ve never really had to face the burden of racial bias.

It’s on us to check our privilege, continue having these important conversations, and educate ourselves on how to dispel bias by being the best allies we can.

And do ALL of that in a way that goes beyond posting a black square on social media.

Today’s guest, Femily, has made it her mission to help businesses get allyship right.

A feminist thought leader, management consultant, and organizational change expert, Femily is familiar with teaching male-led and majority male organizations about gender equality, inclusiveness, and gender allyship.

And with her work studying whiteness and white privilege, it felt natural for her to also advise white-led businesses on how to do things right in the current racial climate.

In today’s episode, Femily talks about why silence is violence and the danger of thinking you’ve done your part by just posting a black square on social media.

She also breaks down how white businesses should make allyship a long-term process ingrained in the core fibre of their operations instead of simply trying to slap ‘anti-racist lipstick on a racist pig.’

The conversation we had with Femily, while empowering and inspiring, was not an easy one to have.

But these conversations rarely ever are.

While serious discourse around white allyship should’ve happened a long time ago, it’s better late than ever. The onus is on us to continue it.

And this episode is the perfect place to start.

Here’s a peek at what else you can expect:

• Femily’s education and how it’s helped her
• What changes she’s noticing in protests and activism now
• How female and male white-led companies greatly differ in their response to #blacklivesmatter
• The immediate business reaction female (especially WOC) entrepreneurs have to the pandemic
• How to balance social media and real world activism
• Femily’s anxieties despite all the positive changes in allyship right now

RESOURCES Femily - Website

Femily - Instagram

Future Thought Leaders - Webinar

This Week’s Joy:

Like many of us, Femily has been loving the new season of Queer Eye and the commitment of our Fab Five to helping people and making the world the best it can be.

This Week’s Hustle:

Femily’s Hustle is a nugget of wisdom courtesy of her ‘Future Thought Leaders’ webinar:

Get people clapping.

Oftentimes, the most nerve wracking part of public speaking is those first two minutes where it’s maddeningly silent and everyone in the audience is just staring at you. So if you can get them to clap and put a smile on their faces in any way, public speaking becomes a lot easier!

This podcast is brought to you by Namastream This podcast is brought to you by the Namastream software platform. Namastream is an easy to use platform that helps you build and sell your own courses, memberships and live-streamed programs. Go from idea to open for business in just minutes. Unlike other startups, Namastream was created by women for women. If you're looking for a simple, streamlined way to build and grow an online business. You can learn more at Namastream.com

Know Your Numbers In our business, we're big fans of financial literacy and accountability. Knowing your numbers is an essential aspect of building a successful business and inherent responsibility for any entrepreneur.

What you focus on grows, so pay attention to your money.

We use Bench for our bookkeeping. It's simple, elegant and saves us so many hours that would otherwise be spent neck-deep in receipts on the other side of a spreadsheet.

Each month our transactions are automatically imported into Bench and we get on-demand financial reports. We even enjoy opening up our profit and loss statement to review each month. When tax time comes around, we are up to date and ready to go. And this is what Financial Empowerment feels like.

Use this link to save 20% off your Bench Accounting plan for the first six months

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Who would’ve thought rose farms could teach you important lessons about money.

But our guest, Denise Duffield Thomas, has us converted.

A money mindset mentor and author, Denise is passionate about teaching women about money, helping them charge the right amount for their work, and getting them over that dreaded income plateau.

Oh, and she also purchased a rose farm 18 months ago.

As one does.

And those money mindset and purchasing a rose farm have more to do with each other than you’d think.

Denise first had an urge to purchase a country home in sunny Australia while she was pregnant with her second daughter.

She then decided to go to open houses for the fun of it with her husband.

And then promptly proceeded to fall in love with the first rose farm she saw.

It wasn’t easy making that property hers.

The biggest problem wasn’t a mysterious 3-year curse (true story!) or that her brokers and advisors discouraged her from the purchase.

The biggest problem was herself.

She felt like she wasn’t allowed to have a home purely for rest and relaxation. She wasn’t allowed to buy a weekend getaway property when she already had her dream beach house. And she sure wasn’t allowed to have a space in the countryside as a female entrepreneur.

And it took a lot to get to a point where she was okay with taking the plunge.

This relates to the work Denise does with women where she gets them to stop thinking of money in strict boxes and start asking themselves questions like ‘how much joy am I allowed to have?’ and ‘how does the money I make fit into that.’

It also relates to Denise’s teachings about women charging what they’re worth and then getting to enjoy the benefits of having that money.

In today’s episode, Denise takes us through the lessons the farm taught her in setting goals, balancing them with excess desire, and how you ALWAYS need to jump before you’re ready.

Not bad for a simple rose farm!

Here’s a peek at what else you can expect:

• Why Denise operates as a mentor and not as a coach.
• How Oprah was her biggest inspiration in her mission for helping people
• Her early business experiments and what she learned from them
• Her goals for her Money Bootcamp course
• Her mother’s money mindset and how it still impacts her
• The importance of paying taxes
• Her current business struggles and hardships
• Her concept of the ‘chustle’

RESOURCES Denise’s Website

Denise’s Instagram

Her rose farm’s Instagram!

Lucky Bitch - Denise Duffield Thomas

Get Rich, Lucky Bitch! - Denise Duffield Thomas

Chillpreneur - Denise Dufflied Thomas

Money Bootcamp

This Week’s Joy and Hustle:

It comes as no surprise that this week’s joy and hustle are both about Denise’s rose farm!

She’s been finding joy, and hustling hard, partnering with people and creating micro-businesses in her farm. So far, she’s partnered with florists, beekeepers, cafe owners, and local wedding planners.

And she doesn’t plan to stop!

This podcast is brought to you by Namastream This podcast is brought to you by the Namastream software platform. Namastream is an easy to use platform that helps you build and sell your own courses, memberships and live-streamed programs. Go from idea to open for business in just minutes. Unlike other startups, Namastream was created by women for women. If you're looking for a simple, streamlined way to build and grow an online business. You can learn more at Namastream.com

Know Your Numbers In our business, we're big fans of financial literacy and accountability. Knowing your numbers is an essential aspect of building a successful business and inherent responsibility for any entrepreneur.

What you focus on grows, so pay attention to your money.

We use Bench for our bookkeeping. It's simple, elegant and saves us so many hours that would otherwise be spent neck-deep in receipts on the other side of a spreadsheet.

Each month our transactions are automatically imported into Bench and we get on-demand financial reports. We even enjoy opening up our profit and loss statement to review each month. When tax time comes around, we are up to date and ready to go. And this is what Financial Empowerment feels like.

Use this link to save 20% off your Bench Accounting plan for the first six months!

View Details

‘Who is she to tell me what to do?’

‘Her tone is too abrasive’

‘Is she even qualified to say this?’

Being a woman in corporate is tough.

Especially if you’re working to challenge ideas and beliefs as old as the company you’re working for.

Meet Joy Altimare, Chief Engagement and Brand Officer at EHE Health, an NYC based healthcare company specializing in preventative employee health.

EHE partners with other businesses to help them understand how best to provide their employees with a holistic healthcare experience and make sure they’re the healthiest they can be.

That includes helping ALL employees, regardless of gender, age, or color, and catering to their unique needs. In fact, inclusivity and a life-stage approach to health is one of the pillars of EHE’s philosophy.

But it wasn’t always that way.

When the company was founded by a white male in 1907, it was designed to keep other white males healthy.

Yep, you read that right.

Needless to say, the organization had to evolve.

The men in the company’s old executive team weren’t too keen on the way Joy spoke, or the way she acted, and regularly questioned her expertise in her field.

Even earning her title was a constant battle with her CEO.

In today’s episode, listen in as Joy breaks down her struggles as a WOC in corporate, the innate conditioning in women to be ‘well-liked’, and why that needs to change.

Here’s a peek at what else you can expect:

• Why working from home is hard for her
• The Life Stage Approach to health
• Her unconventional journey toward working in healthcare
• Why men and women need to come together to change the environment in corporates for women
• Why she chose not to start her own business
• The most important part of any negotiation
• Her female role models
• The importance of mentorship

RESOURCES EHE Health - Website

Tiffany DuFu (Drop The Ball) - Website

Joy Altimare - Instagram

Joy Altimare - Linkedin

This Week’s Joy:

Spending time with her family has helped Joy realize that she’s raising a smart, intuitive, and funny 5-year old! Her greatest joy right now is knowing that her daughter’s generation are already vessels for immense positive change.

All gleaned from listening in on her daughter’s Zoom classes when she wasn’t supposed to!

This Week’s Hustle:

Joy’s hustle is simple. 4 words only: get off your ass.

There’s a world of opportunity out there! And though things can seem bleak right now, there’s always something you can do to improve yourself. So get moving!

This podcast is brought to you by Namastream This podcast is brought to you by the Namastream software platform. Namastream is an easy to use platform that helps you build and sell your own courses, memberships, and live-streamed programs. Go from idea to open for business in just minutes. Unlike other startups, Namastream was created by women for women. If you're looking for a simple, streamlined way to build and grow an online business. You can learn more at Namastream.com

Know Your Numbers In our business, we're big fans of financial literacy and accountability. Knowing your numbers is an essential aspect of building a successful business and inherent responsibility for any entrepreneur.

What you focus on grows, so pay attention to your money.

We use Bench for our bookkeeping. It's simple, elegant, and saves us so many hours that would otherwise be spent neck-deep in receipts on the other side of a spreadsheet.

Each month our transactions are automatically imported into Bench and we get on-demand financial reports. We even enjoy opening up our profit and loss statement to review each month. When tax time comes around, we are up to date and ready to go. And this is what Financial Empowerment feels like.

Use this link to save 20% off your Bench Accounting plan for the first six months!

View Details

As business owners, we’ve spent a lot of time with finance coaches, gurus, and budget advisors.

And that’s why we can confidently say, we’ve never met someone quite like Allison Baggerly.

Allison is a blogger, influencer, and the founder of Inspired Budget where she combines her passion for teaching and finance to help other women learn about managing their money.

In our conversation with her, Allison was warm, funny, and seriously easy to talk to.

But what really stood out to us was her honesty and vulnerability.

Allison’s own struggle with debt as a young newlywed expecting her first child is front and centre on her website and it’s one of the first things she spoke about with us - no reservations and no holds barred.

She also got real about her tendency to overspend and how, like many women, she used to associate shopping and spending with happiness.

And how it’s a cycle she has yet to break out of completely.

This honesty means that whenever Allison does give you advice, it never feels patronizing, judgy, or holier than thou.

Allison’s financial advice comes from a place of ‘I’ve been there, I know what it feels like, and I got you.’

Which is exactly what people new to budgeting and financial planning need to hear, especially right now.

In our latest episode, Allison gets candid about her experiences with student loans, overspending, and how Inspired Budget came about. She also delves into her incredible (and beautiful!) ‘cash envelope system’, which trust us, will change the way your family thinks about money.

Here’s a peek at what else you can expect:

• How Allison and her husband had the difficult conversation about debt
• Allison’s experiences with debt growing up
• The psychology behind overspending and retail therapy
• How the cash envelope system changed her family’s finances
• Why you shouldn’t be boxed in by the financial expectations of your industry
• How Inspired Fitness has helped women deal with the COVID-19 crisis
• How honoring your own budget rules makes you feel like a queen!

RESOURCES Inspired Budget - Website

Inspired Budget - Instagram

Inspired Budget - Cash Envelope System

Profit First: Transform Your Business from a Cash-Eating Monster to a Money-Making Machine - Mike Michalowicz

Full Focus Journals

This Week’s Joy:

Like many of us, Allison is spending the quarantine at home. So, she’s finding joy in spending time with her family in their backyard!

This Week’s Hustle:

There’s nothing we love more than a good planner and Allison is no different. She recommends the quarterly Full Focus planners by Michael Hyatt to organize your life (and have something pretty to look at!).

This podcast is brought to you by Namastream This podcast is brought to you by the Namastream software platform. Namastream is an easy to use platform that helps you build and sell your own courses, memberships, and live-streamed programs. Go from idea to open for business in just minutes. Unlike other startups, Namastream was created by women for women. If you're looking for a simple, streamlined way to build and grow an online business. You can learn more at Namastream.com

Know Your Numbers In our business, we're big fans of financial literacy and accountability. Knowing your numbers is an essential aspect of building a successful business and inherent responsibility for any entrepreneur.

What you focus on grows, so pay attention to your money.

We use Bench for our bookkeeping. It's simple, elegant, and saves us so many hours that would otherwise be spent neck-deep in receipts on the other side of a spreadsheet.

Each month our transactions are automatically imported into Bench and we get on-demand financial reports. We even enjoy opening up our profit and loss statement to review each month. When tax time comes around, we are up to date and ready to go. And this is what Financial Empowerment feels like.

Use this link to save 20% off your Bench Accounting plan for the first six months!

View Details

All around us, businesses are changing due to COVID-19.

The pandemic is forcing us to pivot, to really take a look at ourselves, reflect, and ask what can be a pretty scary question: ‘Why am I doing what I’m doing?’

Jenny Gaither, our guest for today, is no different. Like so many women we know and admire, Jenny wears many hats — she’s a business and life coach, a SoulCycle instructor, and the founder of ‘The Movemeant Foundation’ - a non-profit organization that uses the power of movement to teach young girls to be more comfortable in their own bodies.

And like many business owners, Jenny has had to move her business entirely online (she now works out of her small apartment in NYC’s Upper East Side) and restructure all her carefully planned goals.

Most of The Movemeant Foundation’s work was based in schools, because Jenny wanted to reach girls early. After COVID-19, The Movemeant Foundation has had to pivot to really focus on the backbone of the organization, its instructors.

Instructors have been struggling to pay rent and find the resources they need to fully digitize their offers.

Sounds familiar?

We spoke about what these pivots mean for the industry and whether digital is going to become the new normal. While business owners (and some of the newer members of our audience) are struggling, this week, our goal is to remind you that this struggle is temporary.

If you’re ready to hear Jenny’s insight into where the industry is headed and what this means for business owners, as well her own journey with body positivity and perspectives on movement, grab those AirPods, this is a good one.

Here’s a peek at what else you can expect:

• How Jenny realized the power of movement at age 7
• How she built her non-profit from the ground up
• The impact SoulCycle has had in her life
• Her relationship with dancing
• The incredible female team that helped her build her non-profit
• Her impulse lighting buys

RESOURCES The Movemeant Foundation - Website

Jenny Gaither - Website

Jenny Gaither - Instagram

This Week’s Joy:

Jenny’s history with dancing is complicated. She fell in love with it at age 7 and fell away from it when the visual aspect of dance took a toll on her mentally, leading to a bad eating disorder and a fractured relationship with her body.

Now that she has learnt to fully embrace her body, one of her greatest joys has been embracing dance again!

This Week’s Hustle:

Studios are being set up in people’s bedrooms with enough lighting equipment to rival an indie film set. Jenny recommends a 10-foot adjustable selfie ring light from Amazon for those at-home workout livestreams!

This podcast is brought to you by Namastream This podcast is brought to you by the Namastream software platform. Namastream is an easy to use platform that helps you build and sell your own courses, memberships and live-streamed programs. Go from idea to open for business in just minutes. Unlike other startups, Namastream was created by women for women. If you're looking for a simple, streamlined way to build and grow an online business. You can learn more at Namastream.com

Know Your Numbers In our business, we're big fans of financial literacy and accountability. Knowing your numbers is an essential aspect of building a successful business and inherent responsibility for any entrepreneur.

What you focus on grows, so pay attention to your money.

We use Bench for our bookkeeping. It's simple, elegant and saves us so many hours that would otherwise be spent neck-deep in receipts on the other side of a spreadsheet.

Each month our transactions are automatically imported into Bench and we get on-demand financial reports. We even enjoy opening up our profit and loss statement to review each month. When tax time comes around, we are up to date and ready to go. And this is what Financial Empowerment feels like.

Use this link to save 20% off your Bench Accounting plan for the first six months!

View Details

When we re-launched The Soulful MBA as And She Spoke, we wanted to really lean in and dig deeper into the different paths female entrepreneurs take, and that meant sharing stories other than our own.

And that’s why we’re so excited to host Marlo Ellis, the founder and CEO of The Uncommon Woman with us this week.

After just having come out of an abusive relationship, Marlo decided to turn her passion for fitness into her very own brick-and-mortar gym. As she worked with her clients, she spotted a pattern:

One thing so many of these women had in common was pain.

Not a physical pain, not something she could fix in her studio. But something that went deeper than that.

Marlo’s gym became their safe space.

Wanting to help more women, Marlo decided to open an online business.

Thus, the Uncommon Woman was born.

Marlo’s is a story of perseverance, community, and confidence.

Tune in to learn more about her journey, the importance of community, and how Marlo tackles the underbelly of pain that often lies beneath shiny surfaces.

Here’s a peek at what else you can expect:

• Marlo’s journey with pain and fitness
• The two legs to The Uncommon Woman now
• How live events and conferences are massively different from online ones
• Setting boundaries on social media
• Training women to be leaders
• Why every woman’s story matters
• The future of Marlo’s business
• Her hunt for the Ideal Client

RESOURCES * Elizabeth Gilbert - Big Magic * The Uncommon Woman - Website

This Week’s Joy:

This week’s Joy and Hustle are both from Marlo herself! Her joy is simple (and many of you are gonna agree with her here) - dogs!

On her many travels, she rescues dogs and finds them great homes when she gets back to Canada.

This Week’s Hustle: A ‘Dump List’ was something nearly all of Marlo’s mentors and coaches recommended, so it has to work!

Whenever inspiration strikes, Marlo reaches for the ‘Dump List’ (aka a notebook) and puts it down on paper.

This podcast is brought to you by Namastream

This podcast is brought to you by the Namastream software platform. Namastream is an easy to use platform that helps you build and sell your own courses memberships and live-streamed programs. Go from idea to open for business in just minutes. Unlike other startups, Namastream was created by women for women. If you're looking for a simple, streamlined way to build and grow an online business. You can learn more at Namastream.com

Know Your Numbers In our business, we're big fans of financial literacy and accountability. Knowing your numbers is an essential aspect of building a successful business and inherent responsibility for any entrepreneur.

What you focus on grows, so pay attention to your money.

We use Bench for our bookkeeping. It's simple, elegant and saves us so many hours that would otherwise be spent neck-deep in receipts on the other side of a spreadsheet.

Each month our transactions are automatically imported into Bench and we get on-demand financial reports. We even enjoy opening up our profit and loss statement to review each month. When tax time comes around, we are up to date and ready to go. And this is what Financial Empowerment feels like.

Use this link to save 20% off your Bench Accounting plan for the first six months!

View Details

When you think of a leader, what voice immediately comes to mind?

A cisgender, white, male news anchor? A politician? Or a popular old- Hollywood actor?

Culturally, these male symbols have been associated with leadership and authority.

And that extends to their voices too.

So what does this mean for those whose voice varies greatly from this definition of authority?

In other words, what does it mean for women?

Actress and singer Casey Erin Clark started Vital Voice Training to help change the conversation around what women are supposed to sound like to be taken seriously.

In one of our most thought-provoking episodes yet, Casey takes us through voice types that women often get criticized for (like vocal fry or upspeak), how voice matters when telling your story, and makes a serious case for voice positivity!

Here’s a peek at what else you can expect:

• Casey’s background as a theatre artist
• The importance of paying attention to your voice
• The concept of ‘superpowers and evil twins’
• How definitions of authority need to expand
• What causes vocal fry and upspeak
• Speech and Maslow’s 4 stages of learning
• Where she sees her business in the next decade
• Her wonderful partnership with co-founder Julie Fogg

RESOURCES The Food Psych Podcast - Christy Harrison

Cringeworthy: A Theory of Awkwardness - Melissa Dahl

In a World - Lake Bell

Freedom Fries (The American Life podcast) - Ira Glass

Some Days, It’s Harder (Vital Voice Training Blog) - Casey Erin Clarke

The Age of Instagram Face - Jia Tolentino

Understanding the 4 stages of learning (Maslow)

The Night the Lights Went Out In Georgia - Julia Sugarbaker

The Broadway Inspirational Voices

This Week’s Joy:

Casey’s background is in musical theatre - she went on an 18-month tour for Les Miserables!

So it makes complete sense that her joy is music and singing, be it belting in a Grammy-nominated and Tony-winning choir (the ‘Broadway Inspirational Voices’) or in a cabaret in her dad’s living room!

This Week’s Hustle:

Casey’s hustle is a powerful one - our wonderful community of female entrepreneurs.

Moving from theatre to business, Casey was in awe of how welcoming her fellow female entrepreneurs were and how open they still are to sharing their knowledge.

This podcast is brought to you by Namastream

This podcast is brought to you by the Namastream software platform. Namastream is an easy to use platform that helps you build and sell your own courses memberships and live-streamed programs. Go from idea to open for business in just minutes. Unlike other startups, Namastream was created by women for women. If you're looking for a simple, streamlined way to build and grow an online business. You can learn more at Namastream.com

Know Your Numbers In our business, we're big fans of financial literacy and accountability. Knowing your numbers is an essential aspect of building a successful business and inherent responsibility for any entrepreneur.

What you focus on grows, so pay attention to your money.

We use Bench for our bookkeeping. It's simple, elegant and saves us so many hours that would otherwise be spent neck-deep in receipts on the other side of a spreadsheet.

Each month our transactions are automatically imported into Bench and we get on-demand financial reports. We even enjoy opening up our profit and loss statement to review each month. When tax time comes around, we are up to date and ready to go. And this is what Financial Empowerment feels like.

Use this link to save 20% off your Bench Accounting plan for the first six months!

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Picture an auctioneer. If you’re like most people, you just pictured an elderly, bespectacled British gentleman, with a gavel in one hand and a glass of scotch in the other. Not a 20-something woman in a brightly colored dress with heels et al. That’s where Lydia Fenet comes in. Lydia is the Global Managing Director of Strategic Partnerships at Christie’s in New York by day and auctioneer extraordinaire by night. Lydia’s incredibly inspiring story began when she interned at Christie’s as a 21-year old. She quickly rose through the ranks creating her own brand of auctioneering, one that didn’t make her feel like she needed to fit into an old British man-shaped mold. She embraced her natural sense of humor, her femininity and learned to walk up on stage and command millions of dollars. All by the time she was 24. Tune in to today’s episode to get a behind the scenes look at the glamorous life of an auctioneer, her book, and her recent TV and film deal, but more importantly, to learn from Lydia’s journey of learning to draw her confidence from within.

Here’s a peek at what else you can expect:

• How Lydia was introduced Christie’s Auction House
• How her tenacity finally got her a job there Lydia’s advice for young women at their first jobs
• The series of events that led to her TV and book deal
• Her experiences being one of the few women in a male-dominated field
• How humor and femininity became Lydia’s best friends
• The importance of being authentic

RESOURCES * Princess Diana Auction - Christie’s Auction House * The Most Powerful Woman in the Room is You - Lydia Fenet * Stand Up For Heroes 2015 Auction - Bruce Springsteen * Lydia Fenet - Instagram * Lydia Fenet - Website

This Week’s Joy: Lydia has three kids and nothing brings her more joy than spending time with them. Even if that means just falling asleep with them after a long day at work.

This Week’s Hustles: Lydia believes every day is a hustle and that you are your own biggest tool to get things done.

Know Your Numbers In our business, we're big fans of financial literacy and accountability. Knowing your numbers is an essential aspect of building a successful business and inherent responsibility for any entrepreneur.

What you focus on grows, so pay attention to your money.

We use Bench for our bookkeeping. It's simple, elegant and saves us so many hours that would otherwise be spent neck-deep in receipts on the other side of a spreadsheet.

Each month our transactions are automatically imported into Bench and we get on-demand financial reports. We even enjoy opening up our profit and loss statement to review each month. When tax time comes around, we are up to date and ready to go. And this is what Financial Empowerment feels like.

Use this link to save 20% off your Bench Accounting plan for the first six months!

This podcast is brought to you by Namastream. This podcast is brought to you by the Namastream software platform. Namastream is an easy to use platform that helps you build and sell your own courses memberships and live-streamed programs. Go from idea to open for business in just minutes. Unlike other startups, Namastream was created by women for women. If you're looking for a simple, streamlined way to build and grow an online business. You can learn more at Namastream.com

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It’s been a long few weeks.

And full disclosure, they’ve been some of the worst for us and our business.

We’ve had to process the fact that our partnership with our work, our business’s core values, and our day-to-day operations have been shaken up, maybe even permanently.

All in the span of a few days.

Our business has always stood for sustainability, digital artisanship, and slow growth. It’s what we’re passionate about and we’ve worked very hard for over the years.

But, a few weeks ago, we had to scale our business incredibly fast. And that meant having to make some very difficult decisions - ones that sometimes went against our core values and caused us to have mini breakdowns at our desks.

Of course, we understand that in many ways, we’re hugely lucky. At a time of immense turbulence for so many businesses, the mere fact that we’re growing is nothing short of incredible. We’ve also had to hire people to meet our demand, and we’re glad we can provide our new employees with job security and a sense of stability.

But, this kind of quick scaling has never been what we’ve envisioned for our business, which was built on the idea of humane growth.

Our business was this beautiful, living, breathing, evolving experiment that the two of us were sharing with the world.

And it feels a little bit like we lost control of that.

The past few days, we’ve just focused on showing up, powering forward, and holding each other up through this. Of course, we’re aware that we’re a couple of weeks behind on releasing new episodes, only because we felt that the episodes we had in queue were a bit insensitive for right now and because we’re still trying to process everything around us.

Moving forward, we’ll be talking about some actionable strategies, tips, and industry trends we’ve been noticing to help stabilize your business and pivot if you need to.

But today, we just felt like sharing a very real conversation between two business partners and friends.

Here’s a peek at what else you can expect:

• Our anxieties about the structure of our business moving forward
• How we had expected these circumstances, but never this soon
• The intensity and scarcity of these times
• The beautiful ways businesses are pivoting to help out
• How to start new conversations about the future of our planet

RESOURCES Namastream - Instagram

Namastream - Website

This podcast is brought to you by Namastream This podcast is brought to you by the Namastream software platform. Namastream is an easy to use platform that helps you build and sell your own courses, memberships and live-streamed programs. Go from idea to open for business in just minutes. Unlike other startups, Namastream was created by women for women. If you're looking for a simple, streamlined way to build and grow an online business. You can learn more at Namastream.com

Know Your Numbers In our business, we're big fans of financial literacy and accountability. Knowing your numbers is an essential aspect of building a successful business and inherent responsibility for any entrepreneur.

What you focus on grows, so pay attention to your money.

We use Bench for our bookkeeping. It's simple, elegant and saves us so many hours that would otherwise be spent neck-deep in receipts on the other side of a spreadsheet.

Each month our transactions are automatically imported into Bench and we get on-demand financial reports. We even enjoy opening up our profit and loss statement to review each month. When tax time comes around, we are up to date and ready to go. And this is what Financial Empowerment feels like.

Use this link to save 20% off your Bench Accounting plan for the first six months!

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We’re a female-owned software company, and take a LOT pride in what we’ve built.

And we love supporting other woman-owned ventures, which is part of the reason we were both big fans of THINX. This was a product developed by women, for women, and it helped to change the public conversation about women’s bodies.

Good for women, and good for the environment? Consider us sold.

So when we heard about what went down with THINX and Miki Agrawal, we knew we needed to talk about it.

Investigative journalists did a little digging and found that both THINX underwear, and their work environment, were toxic.

As consumers, we felt duped. But as business owners, we were curious to see how this would pan out.

As female business owners, this sparked a lot of conversations about the ethics of branding, the reality of female-owned business, and why being female-owned doesn’t necessarily imply feminist.

Here’s a peek at what else you can expect:

• The strict standards for female business owners
• Cancel culture and the space to fail
• Our main takeaways from THINX
• Taking ownership of our failures
• The ripple effect of the failure of one female-owned business
• Can you be a feminist company and still be aiming for rapid growth?

RESOURCES * Patriarchy Proof: Thinx and the Perils of Emphasizing Female Founders * The rise and fall of Elizabeth Holmes * A Culture of Failure: The Story of Elizabeth Holmes: Episode 119 of And She Spoke * My Menstrual Underwear has Toxic Chemicals In It * Taylor Swift - NPR Tiny Desk Concert * Disrupt Her: A Manifesto for the Modern Woman

Know Your Numbers In our business, we're big fans of financial literacy and accountability. Knowing your numbers is an essential aspect of building a successful business and inherent responsibility for any entrepreneur.

What you focus on grows, so pay attention to your money.

We use Bench for our bookkeeping. It's simple, elegant and saves us so many hours that would otherwise be spent neck-deep in receipts on the other side of a spreadsheet.

Each month our transactions are automatically imported into Bench and we get on-demand financial reports. We even enjoy opening up our profit and loss statement to review each month. When tax time comes around, we are up to date and ready to go. And this is what Financial Empowerment feels like.

Use this link to save 20% off your Bench Accounting plan for the first six months!

This podcast is brought to you by Namastream This podcast is brought to you by the Namastream software platform. Namastream is an easy to use platform that helps you build and sell your own courses memberships and live-streamed programs. Go from idea to open for business in just minutes. Unlike other startups, Namastream was created by women for women. If you're looking for a simple, streamlined way to build and grow an online business. You can learn more at Namastream.com

This Week’s Joy: We’re big fans of Taylor Swift as a person (‘Shake it Off’ is still the best advice ever) which is why this week’s joy and hustle are all about her!

We recommend watching Taylor’s NPR Tiny Desk concert, especially with your little girl if you want to show her what a great role model looks like.

This Week’s Hustle: Seriously, we cannot get enough of Miss Americana, Taylor’s Netflix documentary. We love that we get to see Taylor evolve from this people-pleasing girl, to a woman who’s not afraid to speak her own mind.

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Remember when you’d work your tush off just so that you get handed a shiny gold star in front of the whole class?

Yeah, us too.

Our theory is that this behavior is why so many women in business identify as perfectionists today.

When we had a show of hands in our community, there were SO many of you who identified as loud and proud perfectionists.

And, we can definitely relate.

But, perfectionism has a dark side. And that’s what we’ll be exploring in today’s episode. Tune in to learn more about how to reign in your perfectionism and find the courage to fail (with pride).

Here’s a peek at what else you can expect:

• Our own struggles with perfectionism
• How the quest for perfection can damage your business
• Baby-steps to help you get over wanting to be perfect 24/7
• Why we embrace the ‘B minus’ Method
• Why the perfectionism you picked up at school and uni might not work in business

RESOURCES * Seth Godin - Linchpin (and the concept of ‘Ship It’)

Know Your Numbers In our business, we're big fans of financial literacy and accountability. Knowing your numbers is an essential aspect of building a successful business and inherent responsibility for any entrepreneur.

What you focus on grows, so pay attention to your money.

We use Bench for our bookkeeping. It's simple, elegant and saves us so many hours that would otherwise be spent neck-deep in receipts on the other side of a spreadsheet.

Each month our transactions are automatically imported into Bench and we get on-demand financial reports. We even enjoy opening up our profit and loss statement to review each month. When tax time comes around, we are up to date and ready to go. And this is what Financial Empowerment feels like.

Use this link to save 20% off your Bench Accounting plan for the first six months!

This podcast is brought to you by Namastream This podcast is brought to you by the Namastream software platform. Namastream is an easy to use platform that helps you build and sell your own courses memberships and live-streamed programs. Go from idea to open for business in just minutes. Unlike other startups, Namastream was created by women for women. If you're looking for a simple, streamlined way to build and grow an online business. You can learn more at Namastream.com

This Week’s Joy: It’s Peloton Bike! (Tune in to hear about Jeni’s newfound love)

This Week’s Hustle: Two words - Inbox. Zero. This week, we finally cleared out our inboxes to zero and are actually surprised by how clean and visible our mailbox looks. Mental peace is an added bonus.

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With more and more women getting into online business, we decided that it was time to have an honest conversation about what it means to grow an online business in 2020.

Running an online business has its advantages: you can work when you want, where you want, while wearing what you want. But...there’s a downside.

People who work a 9-5 can switch off at the end of the day, but as business owners that’s a habit we need to intentionally cultivate (and it isn’t easy!). When your entire business can be accessed on your iPhone, the urge to check-in can be almost impossible to resist. If you aren’t militant about safeguarding your boundaries, all of a sudden it can feel like you’re working all the time. Tune into this week’s episode to hear about setting boundaries and maintaining work-life balance as an entrepreneur.

Here’s a peek into what else you can expect:

• How to spot the time-sucks in your day.
• The importance of disconnecting and taking that vacation!
• Seth Godin’s work-life philosophy.
• The challenge of being truly anonymous in the age of Instagram.
• The pressure to always promote your brand or voice a public opinion.

RESOURCES * ‘What if surfing was your job?’ by Seth Godin

• ‘Workaholics’ by Seth Godin

This Week’s Joy:

Move towards a more sustainable lifestyle by thinking about your lifestyle and recycling by trying out zero-waste products from https://notoxlife.com/.

This Week’s Hustle: Our upcoming retreat in Wickaninnish Inn in Tofino, Canada and all our photo and video content we’re planning to do there.

Know Your Numbers In our business, we're big fans of financial literacy and accountability. Knowing your numbers is an essential aspect of building a successful business and inherent responsibility for any entrepreneur.

What you focus on grows, so pay attention to your money.

We use Bench for our bookkeeping. It's simple, elegant and saves us so many hours that would otherwise be spent neck-deep in receipts on the other side of a spreadsheet.

Each month our transactions are automatically imported into Bench and we get on-demand financial reports. We even enjoy opening up our profit and loss statement to review each month. When tax time comes around, we are up to date and ready to go. And this is what Financial Empowerment feels like.

Use this link to save 20% off your Bench Accounting plan for the first six months!

This podcast is brought to you by Namastream. This podcast is brought to you by the Namastream software platform. Namastream is an easy to use platform that helps you build and sell your own courses memberships and live-streamed programs. Go from idea to open for business in just minutes. Unlike other startups, Namastream was created by women for women. If you're looking for a simple, streamlined way to build and grow an online business. You can learn more at Namastream.com

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On an average day, we make 35,000 decisions. It can be as simple as deciding what to wear, or what to eat for breakfast, or something a little consequential like deciding to diversify your business revenue streams, or as tense as dealing with conflict.

As entrepreneurs, our power comes from being decisive. Making a decision, following through, and knowing when to pivot.

Tune in to this week’s episode to learn more about the mindset shifts to help you take the stress out of decision-making.

Here’s a peek at what else you can expect:

• How decisions affect the way you live and feel
• Learning to rely on your intuition
• Why there is no such thing as a wrong decision
• How to stop spinning out from a place of indecision
• The elements of decision-making
• Decisions, choice, and victim-mentality
• Why grit’s a character-trait

RESOURCES * ‘5 ways to make tough decisions faster (and not regret them later)’ by Elizabeth Grace Saunders

Joy: Cleo Wade

Hustle: Bonnie Christine’s Flourish Planner

Know Your Numbers In our business, we're big fans of financial literacy and accountability. Knowing your numbers is an essential aspect of building a successful business and inherent responsibility for any entrepreneur.

What you focus on grows, so pay attention to your money.

We use Bench for our bookkeeping. It's simple, elegant and saves us so many hours that would otherwise be spent neck-deep in receipts on the other side of a spreadsheet.

Each month our transactions are automatically imported into Bench and we get on-demand financial reports. We even enjoy opening up our profit and loss statement to review each month. When tax time comes around, we are up to date and ready to go. And this is what Financial Empowerment feels like.

Use this link to save 20% off your Bench Accounting plan for the first six months!

This podcast is brought to you by Namastream This podcast is brought to you by the Namastream software platform. Namastream is an easy to use platform that helps you build and sell your own courses memberships and live-streamed programs. Go from idea to open for business in just minutes. Unlike other startups, Namastream was created by women for women. If you're looking for a simple, streamlined way to build and grow an online business. You can learn more at Namastream.com

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Welcome to the first official episode of And She Spoke. This week, we’re diving into everything that’s changed in the three years since we first launched the Soulful MBA. Entrepreneurship has been a journey of personal transformation for both of us. It’s given us a sort of unshakeable sense of self and confidence, and with it comes the comfort of knowing that no matter what happens we’ll be okay.

Tune in to this week’s episode to learn more about why we believe that entrepreneurship offers an important path to self-actualization.

Here’s a peek at what else you can expect:

• Looking at the biggest differences between now and three years ago.
• The focus of the new show; business and entrepreneurship as the path to self-actualization.
• Meeting adversity in life and the choices we have in entrepreneurship.
• Changes we have experienced; confidence, competence and appreciation.
• The most surprising events from our journey and how they fit into the broader picture.
• Our hopes and dreams for starting a company together.
• Cashing in on today's opportunities and online business real estate.
• What life was like before we started our business and how it all changed.
• Things that set us apart and allowed us to experience success in creating software.
• Avoiding burnout and quitting; why this is so common and how it can be sidestepped.
• This week's Joy and Hustle! Amazing bras and a must-see film on Netflix!
• The future of our lives; data points, advertising and weaponizing of profiles.

RESOURCES * Episode 1 of the Soulful MBA * Third Love * The Great Hack

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With a new decade, we wanted to take a second to say goodbye to the Soulful MBA, it’s brought us so far, and we’ve gained so many loyal listeners in the process, but we realized that we’re now at a point in our lives and our businesses where we want to go deeper.

For the last three years, we’ve been talking about all the different ways that you can grow and market your teaching platform, but now we’d like to start talking about what it takes to be the woman behind a successful business.

Presenting, ‘And She Spoke, our brand new show that peels back the different layers of entrepreneurship so we can dive into the messy, the chaotic, and the heartfelt stories and lessons that define the lives of the entrepreneurs we know. 

You’ll hear from successful female entrepreneurs about how they’ve grown their businesses, how current events have affected, the role money, mindset, and philosophy play in shaping the kind of business you run. 

Think of And She Spoke as an inner circle of successful women in business having honest conversations about how they got there, the road bumps in the way, and their big plans for the future. 

We’re setting aside the tactics, and we’re stepping into our truth.

We hope you’ll join us. 

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We all face self-sabotaging thoughts on occasion and it is important for us, as women, to collectively confront these issues so that we can move passed them as a community.

Today we get into self-imposed limitations, balancing vision and action, the ever-present victim mentality, and setting realistic goals.

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Kelly helps feminist entrepreneurs and culture makers sell to women without selling out by teaching feminist principles, including how they apply to marketing and other facets of business. She talks openly about controversial topics, including the false perceptions that exist around poor people and money.

As a busy mom of five kids and a thriving entrepreneur, Kelly’s story is motivating and her message is profoundly important.

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Emily is a success coach and the author of the new book: I Heart My Life. Emily teaches women to examine their mindset around money and to do away with the limits we so often put on ourselves. She reveals how our false backstories are holding us back, and she shows us that, as ambitious women, we need to have more conversations about what we desire—including stories and examples that represent successes we can emulate. Emily is such a great example of this kind of success and her fearless attitude is something we can all learn from.

Emily shows us that we have such amazing power to transform and mold our very existence through our thoughts, including the amount of money we have access to.

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In this episode, we’re getting vulnerable and sharing our money stories with you.

This is not always an easy topic to discuss publicly, yet we need to start having these conversations in order to remove some of our collective shame about money—shame that is not helping any of us, particularly women.

Going back to our memories of childhood, we share some of the difficult circumstances that shaped our understanding of—and relationship to—money. We hope that our experiences will give you the courage to confront your own stories about money.

Don’t miss out on this heartfelt conversation!

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On this re-released episode of the Soulful MBA podcast, we talk about a slightly controversial topic—the value of a wife. We touch on several articles we’ve read recently about the economic benefits for men who have a wife at home (or at least in a position where she is still primarily responsible for childcare and the emotional labor that takes place in families).

As feminists and entrepreneurs, we felt that it was important to invite this conversation into our community because there is still so much we need to shift in our culture around gender and the workplace.

Do you also wish for a wife—someone to take care of all the details and homework so that you can focus on your career and on building your business?

The first article we’re discussing is “70% of Top Male Earners in the US Have a Spouse Who Stays Home”. Another article we’d like to talk about is titled “What ‘Good’ Dads Get Away With”, which is the other side of the coin. You might have a husband who does a lot more than most husbands and fathers, yet you still find yourself being the primary caretaker and filling in all the gaps in your family’s day-to-day life.

Either way, women are often financially marginalized by gender roles and these seem to be exacerbated when we become mothers. This conversation affects almost all of us and it has to be acknowledged that it is still largely an unequal playing field. Something’s got to give!

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As with last year, we’re bringing you a recap of the year vis-à-vis our favorite things. Here are the links for you (think of it as a stellar gift guide or a place to bookmark for inspiration later on):

Best Books

Jeni: The Great Alone / Start Finishing: How to Go from Idea to Done

Sandy: The Testaments: The Sequel to The Handmaid's Tale

Best Netflix Shows

Sandy: Bikram

Jeni: The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel / Country Music: A Film by Ken Burns

Best Purchase

Jeni: Blackbird Dagger Earrings

Sandy: Moose Knuckles Coat (super Canadian)

Most Influential People

Sandy: Claire Pelletreau

Jeni: Nathan Latka (loved his book)

Favorite Instagram Accounts

Sandy: https://www.instagram.com/alexandriaslens/

Jeni: www.instagram.com/dudewithsign/

Best Decisions

Sandy: key hiring decisions

Jeni: taking a legit family vacation / hiring

Best Articles

Jeni: The ladders of wealth creation: a step-by-step roadmap to building wealth

Best Podcasts

Sandy: Unf*ck Your Brain

Jeni: Episode 126 | The Value of a Wife

Our Words for 2019

Jeni: Expansion

Sandy: Explosion

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147 An Intentional Approach to Your Numbers

It is a common misconception that numbers are out of a business owner’s control. This pervasive thinking is not only untrue but also lends itself to a passive financial approach. Jeni and Sandy want you, as the powerful entrepreneurs you are, to take charge and be intentional about your numbers.

During this episode, they debunk this passivity myth and discuss why it is so important to realize that you have financial agency as well as what you can do once you make this pivotal mindset shift. They also move past the conventional understanding of profit and offer an alternative lens. Profit should be the ultimate goal of every business endeavor, so changing current thinking unlocks unlimited potential. They have used this model to great success in their own businesses and they share these stories today. Ultimately, in shifting thinking about profit and numbers, you change your approach to business entirely.

Key Points From This Episode:

• Why moving from financial passivity to realizing you have agency can fear-inducing.
• Learn why it is not a good idea to start a business with the ultimate goal of getting a salary.
• Profit and financial freedom should be the motivators of any business.
• Women carry their experience as employees over into their roles as business owners.
• The long game: why it is crucial to have an overarching vision to drive business decisions.
• Unpacking the conventional understanding of profit and an alternative suggestion.
• By adopting a ‘profit-first’ mentality, you gain clarity on the tools you need to get you there.
• Learn how Jeni used a profit-first approach in her family business and how it succeeded.
• Discover how Jeni and Sandy handled their salaries with Namastream.
• A look at the suggested percentages of salaries, taxes, and revenue from Profit First.
• Find out why the snowball effect gives you the psychological momentum to keep going.

Words of Wisdom:

“When you hold agency for your outcomes, you’re responsible both for your successes as well as for your failures.”

“We are not the victim of our businesses.”

Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

Bench — https://soulfulmbapodcast.com/bench

Namastream — https://namastream.com/

Joy: Hilma af Klint at the Guggenheim — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CHdud9km7bQ

Hilma af Klint: Paintings for the Future — https://amzn.to/2MPHz02

Hustle: Profit First — https://amzn.to/37uV1hV

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Far too often business owners either fear or dread looking at the numbers or simply find it impersonal and boring. This is not an empowering way to approach your financials and does not have to be the case!

Looking at the numbers can become a sacred monthly ritual where you take time to pause and reflect on all that you have accomplished and where you have room to improve. If this sounds like something you’d like to incorporate into your business, today’s show is just for you! Jeni and Sandy believe that what you track grows, not only because these numbers are in your consciousness, but also because you can create systems based on the data you uncover. There is often shame around small numbers, but every business has to start somewhere, so take time to understand and appreciate them.

Every lesson the numbers teach you can be put to use to grow your business or make informed choices for how to move forward. Jeni and Sandy share two aspects of tracking numbers. They first talk about bookkeeping, what it is and the bookkeeping tools that they have found most useful for their businesses. Then they move onto a different aspect of tracking – the other metrics they use to measure their business performance. Tracking the numbers puts you back in the driver’s seat and empowers you to make decisions that align more closely with your goals. Don’t fear the numbers, embrace them!

Key Points From This Episode:

• Some of the reasons why what you track will grow.
• Numbers are simply neutral data and not an indication of your worth.
• Tracking can be separated into bookkeeping and other kinds of non-financial metrics.
• Bookkeeping options: do it manually, hire a bookkeeper, or use an online bookkeeping tool or software tool.
• How to choose a bookkeeping tool based on the specific needs of your business.
• Insights into some advantages of using bookkeeping software.
• Discover the specific reasons that Sandy and Jeni love using Bench for Namastream.
• Learn more about the way that Sandy and Jeni track their sales goals.
• Knowing your numbers allows for better decision-making and goal alignment.
• Why it is useful to see differentiated product sales that comprise the total revenue.
• If you have different products, differentiate goals and allocate energy accordingly.
• Further expenses that Sandy and Jeni keep track of in their business.
• Business performance metrics: numbers other than money that matter.
• Make time to go over your numbers and let it be part of the ritual of running your company.

Words of Wisdom:

“The more you analyze and understand how you made that first dollar, the easier it is going to be to make your next dollar.”

“If you’re not looking at this stuff, you’re really shooting from the hip and making decisions whimsically. And I love whimsy but not when I am talking about my business.”

Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

Bench Accounting — https://soulfulmbapodcast.com/bench

Namastream — https://namastream.com/

QuickBooks — https://quickbooks.intuit.com/

FreshBooks — https://www.freshbooks.com/

Stripe — https://stripe.com/

Tezza on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/tezza/

Joy: Tezza App — https://apps.apple.com/us/app/tezza/id1393061654

Hustle: Start Finishing on Amazon — https://amzn.to/2LBeR2n

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In this episode, where we dig into everything you need to know about profit and loss statements.

Understanding the numbers and margins that our business generates each month can be intimidating—and understandably so—but we are here to tell you why it is actually incredibly empowering to be aware of your finances. Our profit and loss statements and balance sheets give us valuable incremental information that we use to make decisions each and every month in our company. While P&L statements may seem impenetrable, having a clear understanding of what they are telling us makes it SO much easier to make properly educated decisions moving forward.

We help you understand the different sections of a profit and loss statement, the difference between gross and net profit, as well as the difference between top line and bottom line revenue today. We also get into the logical progression any new business must take, from requiring capital to breaking even and, finally, to generating revenue.

We speak about the side hustle as a strategy to weather during the first few years of starting a business while still earning an income, which helps the prospect seem less intimidating.

Our key message today is that it’s reasonable to build a company that, within a few years, is supporting you and your family. BUT is usually does take some time, so don’t sacrifice this amazing opportunity because it doesn’t happen in the first couple of months!

Key Points From This Episode:

• Why understanding profit and loss (P&L) statements is empowering rather than scary.
• It is OK to not know everything and ask questions as a business professional.
• An explanation of why a P&L statement is only ready two weeks in arrears.
• The goals and advantages of the P&L statement: price and expense surveillance.
• P&L statements and balance sheets are the two most valuable monthly financial documents.
• How revenue is defined in this conversation: not as accrual but cash-based monthly income.
• The makeup of a P&L statement (‘revenue’, ‘cost of goods’, and ‘other expenses’) explained.
• A definition of ‘gross profit’ as ‘revenue’ minus ‘cost of goods’.
• ‘Net profit’ is ‘gross profit’ minus ‘other expenses’.
• Why having a lot of gross profit rather than a little is vital.
• The business owner’s salary is not included in a P&L statement.
• Focus on making money instead of assessing which items money was spent on each month.
• Earnings are one’s ‘top line revenue’ while savings are one’s ‘bottom line revenue’.
• Products which generate top line rather than bottom line revenue are risky but lucrative.
• Starting a business costs money and just breaking even after the first year is good.
• Understanding reinvestment in relation to growth trajectory.
• The value of keeping your business as a side hustle for the first few years.
• Building a successful business is reasonable but just takes time.
• What makes the bookkeeping tool Bench amazing and how to use it.
• The brilliance of the analogue/digital mixture of Bench and its new tool called Pulse.

Words of Wisdom:

“Numbers and accounting reports are so avoided, but the truth is that this is the most empowering thing you can do.”

“You do need to spend money to create a business, period, and in the first year you’re doing well if you break even.”

“It’s absolutely reasonable to build a company that within a few years is supporting you and your family. Don’t sacrifice that amazing opportunity because it doesn’t happen in two months.”

Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

Namastream

Become an Online Teacher

Beta Launch Lab

Joy: Bench

Hustle: TED Talks: Finance

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In this episode, we talk about something that makes many of us uncomfortable: financial numbers. As an entrepreneur, it is so important to know and understand the numbers in your business, where to look, and what to be tracking. Whenever we talk about numbers, we see the fear it triggers.

This episode is packed with our tips for tracking your data and using it to make realistic predictions. We also discuss the value of separating your personal and business finances, as well as how to maximize the skills of an accountant in the not-so-sexy world of bookkeeping.

By the end of this episode, you’ll walk away no longer feeling fear or shame about the numbers in your business. If you want to take control of your money, know how it is working for you, and make smart decisions toward financial independence—this is the episode for you!

Key Points from This Episode:

• Why so many entrepreneurs, especially women, fear and avoid looking at their numbers.
• Why women need to dream bigger and work toward ultimate financial independence.
• Discover why the only way to look at your numbers is as 100% neutral—no judgments!
• How to examine the feelings you have around your numbers and recognize the results.
• The importance of celebrating your wins and your sales to help eliminate fear and dread.
• Find out how to use data to make realistic predictions about your launches and sales.
• Top tips for separating your personal and business finances in the USA and Canada.
• The importance of manually tracking everything that comes in and out of your bank account.
• Why paying for an accountant to prepare and plan your taxes is crucial to your business growth.
• Why taking ownership of your life and business often means asking the “dumb” questions. (There are no “dumnb” questions.)

Words of Wisdom:

“You will never have any amount of success if you run away and bury your head in the sand from your numbers.”

“Find a great accountant that you’re comfortable with and know that their job is to answer your ‘dumb’ questions.”

Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

Bench

Become an Online Teacher

Beta Launch Lab

Namastream

Joy: Meet the Frugalwoods: Achieving Financial Independence Through Simple Living

Hustle: Stripe App

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In today’s episode, we are talking all about in-person gatherings and the powerful effects they can have on your online business. As online entrepreneurs, we find that our offline and online identities can become incongruent with one another. This can lead to feelings of isolation, which is why it is so important to connect with like-minded people in-person.

Attending live events can often seem like a hassle, but because as humans, we are hardwired for connection, the benefits of attendance far outweigh these perceived obstacles.

We love attending these gatherings so much and believe in their power so much that we have decided to organize a retreat of our own in April 2020 in the hills of Santa Fe, New Mexico. Although organizing the event is a great deal of work, it ‘s worth it for the connection and all-round magic that takes place. These events have helped us connect with one another and so many others and we hope to inspire you to attend or even organize a gathering of your own to foster deep and boundless connections.

Key Points From This Episode:

• Some of the benefits of having in-person gatherings.
• Why these events are gifts of connection and growth.
• The capacity for in-person connection is much higher than what is possible virtually.
• Even though we work online, we should place equal importance on our offline lives.
• Paying for an event puts ‘skin in the game,’ and enhances the richness of the gathering.
• Work trips are opportunities for busy moms to put your needs front and center.
• Meeting in person can save time because it offers a dedicated, continuous work period.
• Some of the details of our 2020 Sante Fe retreat (including a chance to save $200).

Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

Namastream

Soulful MBA on Facebook

Joy: Ken Burns’ Country Music Documentary

Hustle: Gather + Grow Retreat

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Welcome to another episode of The Soulful MBA podcast! Today’s guest is Becca Tracey. Becca is Founder of The Uncaged Life, where she teaches solopreneurs – typically life-coaches, designers, and consultants – how to get new clients and launch their businesses.

We invited Becca on the show to share with you how she has crafted a life based on freedom and adventure. Becca lives a life that is the definition of “uncaged”—a type of life we’ve all spoken about having but often don’t know what steps to take to make it a reality.

Becca launches just one-product twice a year— that’s it! This business model enables her to spend most of the year traveling in her van, rock-climbing throughout North America with her partner and dog, and take weeks off at a time to go backpacking—while still maintaining high-revenue and consistent offerings.

In this episode, you’ll discover exactly how Becca set up her business, what she sells, and how often she launches. Becca shows us that less really can be so much more and how the uncaged life is possible for you too!

Key Points from This Episode:

• Becca’s backstory as a life coach and how she transitioned to where she is today.
• Giving others the permission to let go of the things they think they have to do.
• Discover how Becca runs her business on one offering that launches just twice a year.
• Why doing one thing and doing it well is the key to a successful online business.
• Becca explains the evolvement of her product from the start to where it is today.
• Why it takes two years before you have something that will make your business lift-off.
• Owning what you don’t know: Why humility is an important characteristic for entrepreneurs.
• Money mindsets and talking to friends about your online business, goals, and earnings.
• Becca shares what her business and her lifestyle look like on a yearly basis.
• Going evergreen and making the decision to hire team members for support.

Words of Wisdom:

“I learned from watching successful business owners. Most of them who are killing it, just sell one thing.” — @rebecca_tracey

“It takes a while to get confident with owning what your expertise is and letting the rest go.” — @rebecca_tracey

“Don’t not do something because of a future problem that hasn’t happened yet.” — @rebecca_tracey

“Building an online business is not rocket science. Our mindset is usually what gets in our way.” — @rebecca_tracey

“I didn’t build a business so I could just work Monday to Friday with two weeks of vacation!” — @rebecca_tracey

Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

The Uncaged Life

Becca Tracey on Instagram

Becca Tracey on Facebook

Becca Tracey on Twitter

Beta Launch Lab

Namastream

Joy: Becca’s boyfriend + dog

Hustle: The Voxer App

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If you’ve ever worried that you need a massive email list or social following to successfully launch as online program, this week’s guest is living proof that you absolutely do not.

Ericka Thomas, founder of Elemental Kinetics LLC, joins us on the show to share the juicy numbers from her first-ever online launch. As a recent graduate of our new Beta Launch Lab course (our Inner Circle clients got first dibs!), Ericka has truly embraced a new entrepreneurial mindset and found well-earned success right out of the gate.

Ericka breaks down her real numbers for us on the podcast—including the size of her email list, and the number of sales she saw come in during her launch. This episode is really about embracing the very beginning of the business journey—when it’s all about those first sales, the three- and four-figure launches, and the tiny email list. There is SO much emphasis on the six-figure launches, but this is not where any of us start. We all start small and this is such a thrilling place to be!

Fundamentally, Ericka’s story is about embracing a new identity and transitioning from employee to entrepreneur. If you have ever doubted your readiness for starting your own online because you aren’t experienced enough, famous enough, technical enough, big enough—Ericka’s story will help you to see that you are probably more ready than you think.

Key Points from This Episode:

• How Ericka transitioned from an independent yoga practitioner to starting her own business.
• Ericka’s passion for trauma-informed yoga and tension-release exercise (TRE) and how she is working to weave this into her online business.
• The process of figuring out what your clients want: Who to ask and what to ask them?
• How to take the information your clients have given you and use it to expand your network.
• Shift Under Pressure: Learn more about the product Ericka launched for her Beta Course.
• The importance of the 27-word persuasion sentence for your first product launch.
• 16 sign-ups by midnight: Discover the surprising results from Ericka’s first launch.
• Dealing with an identity crisis in the middle of your launch and realizing your self-worth.
• How to get at least half the people on your email list to buy your Beta program.
• Connecting with your clients and the value of launching to an audience that knows you.
• And much more!

Words of Wisdom:

“You just need to pick your people and stick with them.” —@namastream [0:08:20]

“Sometimes if you want something different, you have to let the other thing go.” — Ericka Thomas [0:26:20]

“You can’t quit before you start.” — Ericka Thomas [0:28:20]

“Before, I never looked at what I did as a business.” — Ericka Thomas [0:28:50]

Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

Elemental Kinetics LLC — http://www.elementalkinetics.com

Elemental Kinetics on Facebook — https://www.facebook.com/elementalkineticsmovewell/

Ericka Thomas on LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/ericka-thomas-282060b7/

ConvertKit — https://convertkit.com/

Beta Launch Lab — http://betalaunchlab.com/

Namastream — https://namastream.com/

Joy: salad for breakfast!

Hustle: Inner Circle (which includes Namastream, Beta Launch Lab, + lots more!)

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Our guest today is Nicole Lebreux. Nicole is a yoga instructor, a whole-plant herbalist, a mom, and the founder of Nicole Lebreux Yoga and Wellness.

One of our Inner Circle clients, Nicole is an inspiring example of what you can achieve when you take action and invest in yourself. She has achieved fantastic results by following the step-by-step process that we lay out in our Beta Launch Lab—our brand new course on how to launch a profitable digital product within 30 days.Rather than come up with excises, Nicole went through the course, got down to business, and made some money! Although she has a smaller email list and a not-massive following on social media, she still had a fantastic launch.

We see SO people delaying an online launch because they believe they don’t yet have a big enough following. In this episode, Nicole debunks this myth by sharing her numbers, walking us through her beta launch process, providing tips on pricing, digital product curation, and community interaction.

Most importantly, we hear about the massive mindset shift Nicole experienced when she decided to invest in herself and in her business, and the impact this had on her results. Nicole is a force of nature, passion, and enthusiasm—and by the end of this episode, she’ll have you feeling like you can take a chance on yourself and your business too.

Key Points From This Episode:

• Why Nicole was inspired to move into the online/digital space after the birth of her child.
• Making the shift from working for someone else to working for yourself using an online model.
• Challenges with adapting to teaching online from a background of teaching in-person.
• Navigating tech, software and digital strategies and products for your online business.
• The Beta Launch Lab and how to use it to build a solid foundation for your online business.
• Using your online and in-person community to help you develop your first digital product.
• Nicole shares what she built for her Beta Launch Lab course product and how she did it.
• Why you don’t need great numbers to achieve great success in your online business.
• From “cart open” to “cart close”: How many sign-ups do you really need?
• Tips for deciding on how to price your first beta course or program.
• Where to turn for support and how to take action if you’re not a self-motivated person.
• Discover how investing in yourself can help you take your business more seriously.
• And much more!

Words of Wisdom:

“Everything I have to share, you can find online, but it’s not coming from me. People want to hear it from me.” — Nicole Lebreux [0:20:20]

“I didn’t know how powerful investing in yourself is, energetically. Once I did that, it totally changed the game.” — Nicole Lebreux [0:25:50]

“I think the investment, at first, is probably the scariest thing if you’re not used to spending on yourself.” — Nicole Lebreux [0:26:30]

Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

Nicole Lebreux

Nicole Lebreux on Instagram

Journey With Your Chakras

Elements of Abundance

Beta Launch Lab

Namastream

Joy: local CSA (community supported agriculture) programs

Hustle: Namastream’s Inner Circle Program

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This episode of our show was inspired by a recent blog post by Seth Godin, titled “What Do You Own?”

Today’s economy is rapidly shifting. The old capitalist model of going to school, getting into college, and settling down into one job for the rest of your life – is almost non-existent. There are very few jobs out there today that can provide an absolute sense of security.This is why we believe that everyone should be an entrepreneur, if not full-time, then at least as a serious side-hustle.

If all we have to trade for survival is our time, that’s a really sad predicament to be in, and like Seth Godin says in his article, “If you own nothing but the next eight hours of your time for sale to the highest bidder, you may be disappointed in the bids you get.” There is nothing more empowering than creating something of your own, learning how to run it, controlling it, and experiencing money come in based on how hard you work and how much risk you’re willing to take.

Today, we take stock of what we own by looking at our assets in a whole new light. By the end of this episode, you’ll feel inspired and supported in your decision to start building something that you own, right now!

Key Points from This Episode:

• The shift happening in today’s economy and how to secure your future within it.
• Why owning your time does not provide the same security it did in the old economic model.
• Discover the lessons entrepreneurship can teach you and why these are important right now.
• Re-defining “assets” and what it really means to own them to propel your own business.
• How to build and store a collection of unique assets that no one can take away from you.
• A recap on capitalism and Marxism and why owning something is the only way to thrive.
• Why now is the time to think about the reality of the economic system we’re living in.
• Entrepreneurship as a path out of oppression for the historically under-represented.
• The common excuses we make to avoid entrepreneurship and making that small start.
• Choosing to make a change in your life, creating space, and taking small steps every day.
• And much more!

Words of Wisdom:

“There’s no such thing as long-term stability, that doesn’t exist anymore. Your safety comes from being adaptable.”

Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

Namastream — https://namastream.com/

Seth Godin — https://seths.blog/

“What Do You Own?” by Seth Godin — https://seths.blog/2019/09/what-do-you-own/

Become an Online Teacher FREE Course— https://www.soulful.mba/teacher

Joy: FOREO LUNA mini 2 Facial Cleansing Brush — https://amzn.to/30jIsCc

Hustle: Beta Launch Lab Checklist — http://betalaunchlab.com/

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As we move into Fall, we honestly cannot wait to get down to more serious work and slide right back into high productivity mode. This is traditionally the busiest time of year for us. School is starting again, colder weather and the end of the year is looming, and it’s time to sip coffee and get down to business. It's the season for more work and there is literally no better time to get down to launching your first, or your new, online offering.

These days, online courses have become akin to a business card and clients and students are increasingly coming to expect you to have some kind of dynamic online content. Online courses, membership sites, and group coaching programs can be an incredibly lucrative income stream.

In this episode, we lay out the main reasons why now is a better time than ever to get started, so put that fear of failure aside and let's get things rolling!

Key Points From This Episode:

• It is the season of more work! We love getting down to things in fall!
• Online teaching and using this service as your new business card.
• Experiential interactions; the trends of web-based platforms.
• Creating another source of income from your online space.
• Building a reputation, multiple revenue streams, and a solid audience.
• It is so affordable to get online and start selling your expertise!
• The ongoing puzzle and the success that constantly grows with time and effort.
• The availability of cheap and amazingly useful tools for doing your thing!
• Taking action to get past your fear of failure and anxieties around starting.
• Learning and laughing at your failures; the correlation between wins and losses.
• Our signature beta launch formula and why it is easier than ever to get yourself out there.
• The timeline for getting to a launch from where you are!
• And much more!

Words of Wisdom:

“You need more than just a static presence on the internet, even social platforms are moving towards more experiential interaction.”

Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

Namastream — https://namastream.comBecome an Online Teacher Course — https://www.soulful.mba/teacherKevin Kelly — https://kk.orgWireless Go — https://www.rode.com/wirelessgoSweetwater Audio — https://www.sweetwater.com

Joy: EmmaClaireShop on Etsy — https://www.etsy.com/shop/EmmaClaireShop Hustle: Beta Launch Lab Checklist— http://betalaunchlab.com/

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On this episode of the show, we talk about mindset triggers that may be holding you back from making the kind of money you’re looking to make online. This episode is an important next step in our Women and Money Series, where we share the tough-love lessons we’ve learned about our own mindset traps and how limiting beliefs can drastically affect your ability to make money.

We see these patterns, these excuses, these victim mentalities play out all the time online and in this episode, we take the opportunity to address the common thought patterns that get so many of us stuck in a rut. Here, we break down the Top 7 limiting beliefs/excuses we hear way too often:1. I can’t do what everyone else is doing.2. There’s so much free stuff out there...who’s going to pay for mine?3. Not embracing your inner salesperson.4. I won’t be able to figure it out.5. I’m not techie enough!6. Always telling old stories.7. I don’t really believe yoga teachers (or health coaches or spiritual teachers or personal trainers or ______ ) can make money.If any of these excuses ring true to you, we’re going to help you kick them to the curb!

Key Points From This Episode:

• Failure to launch: The two types of dreamers you don’t want to be.
• Why you need to take action and take a chance on yourself.
• The comparison game and how to finally stop playing it.
• Why you should still charge a fair price even though everything already exists for free.
• Discover how to embrace your inner salesperson.
• How to actively start believing that you CAN do hard things.
• Find out why your excuses about technology are not helpful.
• A shout out to the softer skills: empathy, communication, compassion.
• How to break the “belief ceiling” and stop telling yourself old stories.
• The importance of writing a new story and acting on it every day.
• The value of building a scalable teaching/coaching business online today.
• And much more!

Words of Wisdom:

“Keep your eyes on your own page and do the work.”

“Saying you’re ‘not technical’ is not a valid excuse. Of course you can do it.”

Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

Soulful MBA — https://www.soulful.mba/

Namastream — https://namastream.com/

Joy: TAXA Cricket — https://taxaoutdoors.com

Hustle: Apple Watch — https://www.apple.com/apple-watch-series-4/

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“I wanted the business more than I was afraid of the fear of not being able to pay the debt back.” - Lori Kennedy

Our current series on women and money has encouraged many of you to reflect on your own money stories. During this process, you may have uncovered beliefs that are preventing you from reaching your full potential and this series is meant to unshackle you from these restraints through the stories shared by other women who have experienced similar circumstances.

In today’s episode, you’ll get to hear more about Lori Kennedy’s money journey, including her bold sales goals, her belief in the importance of women starting businesses, and why she gets frustrated when she sees women holding themselves back as entrepreneurs.

Given her level of success today, you may be surprised to hear that Lori is “not good with numbers” and even failed high school math, but she is living proof that obstacles like these are possible to overcome. Once an overspender, she shares about learning to view money and debt as neutral and to remove emotion from the equation in growing her business.

Key Points from This Episode:

• How Lori came into her role as an entrepreneur and being self-employed from a young age.
• Discovering her purpose and how the journey helped her to become a better human being.
• Growing up in an affluent home and always wanting to make her own money.
• Not understanding the value of money, compulsive shopping and getting into credit card debt.
• What Lori has learned about the importance of paying attention to and tracking the numbers.
• Cultivating a mindset where she has faith that everything will be ok.
• An incident of running into a cash flow crisis, how she dealt with it, and what she learned.
• Why she was not afraid of incurring debt to grow her business.
• How defining what rock bottom looked like for her served her well from early on.
• Where she starts the money conversation with the women she coaches.
• Showing the reality of growth to people based on straightforward numbers.
• Looking critically at how you spend your time and accepting the pre-revenue phase.
• Getting beyond the conversation about money blocks.
• Having her home professionally organized and the hustle of integrating a sales department.
• And much more!

Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

Namastream — https://namastream.com/

Soulful MBA’s Become an Online Teacher Course — https://www.soulful.mba/teacher

Connect with Lori:

Lori Kennedy on LinkedIn — https://ca.linkedin.com/in/lorikennedyinc

Lori Kennedy on Instagram — https://www.instagram.com/lorikennedyinc/

Lori Kennedy on Twitter — https://twitter.com/lorikennedyinc

Take Your Health Practice Online Group — https://www.facebook.com/groups/takeyourhealthpracticeonline

The Business of Becoming Podcast — https://thewellnessbusinesshub.com/podcast/

Joy: hiring a professional organizer

Hustle: integrating a sales department

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In this episode, we discuss the benefits of joining a group coaching program and explain why being part of one can help fast-track your company’s growth. We have both served as students and as mentors in group coaching programs and we have seen the power that comes from working in community.

We discuss the five key results we’ve observed within our Inner Circle community, from stress-free decision-making to feeling less isolated and more inspired. A group coaching program can also help you conserve your energy in order to allow you to focus on what’s really important to you.

Starting a business is not easy, but being uncomfortable is often where the magic happens. So why not step out of your comfort zone, while being supported and mentored by those who have been through it all before?

To learn more about the huge advantages of joining a group coaching program, tune in today!

Key Points From This Episode:

• How groups help alleviate decision fatigue through mentorship and peer learning.
• How being in a facilitated community can save you time—both long- and short-term.
• How mentorship and support can help you to fast-track your growth, which leads to quicker financial freedom.
• How a sense of community helps keeps you motivated.

Words of Wisdom:

“There is no right or wrong; there are just two decisions that reveal different outcomes. Make the decision, make it quick, and move on.” — Sandy Connery

“It’s going to be uncomfortable either way. Choose the brand of discomfort that’s going to give you the result you want.” — Jeni Barcelos

Joy: Atomic Habits by James Clear

Hustle: On-demand Masterclass

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Continuing with our women and money series, we are thrilled to share this recent interview with Claire Pelletreau—a Facebook Ads expert who runs a six-figure online business and hosts The Get Paid Podcast.

As you may infer from the name of her show, Claire loves to talk about all things money. Once a week, she sits down with entrepreneurs and asks them tough and very personal questions about their businesses. A standout from these episodes is her tradition of asking guests what they pay themselves—a question that most people would admit is quite uncomfortable.

In this episode, Claire shares insights about her own business journey and reveals what it’s like to ask her guests about money. We also get into why Claire believes paid ads are so important and how she manages her own success.

We absolutely love Claire's work and we both listen to EVERY episode of her show. It is so affirming and enlightening and we are grateful for her contribution to the broader money conversation. Enjoy the episode!

Key Points From This Episode:

• Asking the questions that no one seems to want to ask on a podcast.
• How Claire started work as a freelancer while employed elsewhere.
• Finding early guests for the podcast who were comfortable talking about money.
• Why Claire still gets nervous asking what people pay themselves.
• Unpacking a particular person's story and looking beyond a snapshot.
• Claire's younger years, career dreams, and how she came into entrepreneurship.
• Discovering money mindsets and how important this moment was for Claire's journey.
• Claire's current money goals; why she is currently focussing on income over revenue.
• Business scaling and why ads are so essential.
• Claire's family, friends and social community; their reactions to her success.
• The divide between online entrepreneurs and the rest of the world.
• The most surprising elements of hosting a podcast about money.
• This week's top of mind question round with Claire!
• Claire's joy and hustle recommendations.
• And much more!

Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

Become and Online Teacher — https://www.soulful.mba/teacher

Namastream — https://namastream.com/

Brooke Castillo — https://thelifecoachschool.com/

Brooke Castillo on The Get Paid Podcast — https://clairepells.com/63/

Nathan Barry — https://nathanbarry.com/

ConvertKit — https://convertkit.com/

Denise Duffield Thomas — https://denisedt.com/

Get Rich, Lucky Bitch — https://www.amazon.com/Get-Rich-Lucky-Bitch-Release-ebook/dp/B00BSG124I

Crazy Rich Asians — https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16085481-crazy-rich-asians

Joy: Show Your Work Podcast — https://laineygossipentertainment.libsyn.com/

Hustle: Instagram + Facebook Ads

Connect with Claire

Claire Pelletreau — https://clairepells.com/

The Get Paid Podcast — https://clairepells.com/category/podcast/

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Our series on women and money continues, and today’s episode is about getting your mindset set up for building wealth. We want you to confront your own money stories and to uncover those internal narratives that could be holding you back.

We’ve heard some encouraging feedback from listeners who have benefited from our conversations and we want to continue the discussion—this time focused on mindset and limiting beliefs. We all face self-sabotaging thoughts on occasion and it is important for us, as women, to collectively confront these issues so that we can move passed them as a community.

Today we get into self-imposed limitations, balancing vision and action, the ever-present victim mentality, and setting realistic goals.

Key Points from This Episode:

• How the things we surround ourselves with unknowingly define our limitations.
• Why we tend to set ordinary goals when we should be aiming for the extraordinary.
• Banishing your self-imposed limiting beliefs by reflecting on your childhood dreams.
• How the messages we receive about money as little girls impose certain limits on us.
• Committing to a goal and starting to ask “Why not me?”
• The need for a balance between having a strong vision and taking action.
• How we set ourselves up for failure in the language we use to describe our goals.
• The victim mentality that has people waiting for the universe to make their dreams come true.
• Being careful not to glorify the first step and forgetting about the hundreds of steps thereafter.
• Taking ownership of and committing to the process of getting to where you want to be.
• Setting realistic goals, realizing that it takes time.
• The unrealistic expectations we have of the first years of business.
• The advantages and disadvantages of the normalization of online business.
• And much more!

Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

The Soulful MBA — https://www.soulful.mba/

Kelly Diels — http://www.kellydiels.com/

Emily Williams — https://www.iheartmylife.com/

Bill Gates on Twitter — https://twitter.com/BillGates

Joy: One Big Happy Life on YouTube — https://onebighappylife.com

Hustle: The Big Leap on Amazon — https://amzn.to/32Kurjt

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Welcome to another episode of the Soulful MBA Podcast! Inspiring us today is feminist marketing consultant and writer, Kelly Diels, who joins us for the next episode in our Women and Money series.

When we first came across Kelly’s website, we could not stop reading through her refreshing body of work on the intersection of feminism and online business. What struck us in particular was her focus on women and their finances and her own personal story, which she shares with us today.

Kelly helps feminist entrepreneurs and culture makers sell to women without selling out by teaching feminist principles, including how they apply to marketing and other facets of business. She talks openly about controversial topics, including the false perceptions that exist around poor people and money.

As a busy mom of five kids and a thriving entrepreneur, Kelly’s story is motivating and her message is profoundly important.

Key Points from This Episode:

• How growing up shaped Kelly’s relationship with money.
• Dispelling the myth that poor people are “bad” with their finances.
• The need for more narratives around stabilizing your revenues before attempting to scale.
• Research that proves female entrepreneurs are incredibly capital resource efficient.
• Teaching, coaching, and self-development as necessary skills for any culture.
• Women filling in the gaps and doing uncompensated labor as a societal expectation.
• Why you should charge someone for ‘picking your brain!’
• Fast fashion and being more mindful with your purchasing decisions.
• Shifting her business model after a family crisis required her to increase her income.
• Raising capital and using credit to build a business.
• Defining what the Female Lifestyle Empowerment Brand (FLEB) is and aims to do.
• Signing with a literary agent and writing a book about culture making.
• Kelly’s tool for calculating your break even, thrive, and stretch numbers.
• And much more!

Words of Wisdom:

“There’s this idea that women are risk averse and not good entrepreneurs and they need all this extra training. In fact, we get to profitability faster and we are way more capital resource efficient.” — @KellyDiels [0:07:08]

Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

The Soulful MBA — https://www.soulful.mba/

Kelly Diels — http://www.kellydiels.com/

SheEO — https://sheeo.world/

Namastream — https://namastream.com/

PayPal — https://www.paypal.com/

Stripe — https://stripe.com/

Gloria Steinem — http://www.gloriasteinem.com/

Bell Hooks — http://www.bellhooksinstitute.com/

Adrienne Maree Brown — http://adriennemareebrown.net/

Soraya Chemaly — http://www.sorayachemaly.com/home.html

Linda Bacon — https://lindabacon.org/

The Myth of Capitalism on Amazon — https://www.amazon.com/Myth-Capitalism-Monopolies-Death-Competition/dp/1119548195

Sister Citizen on Amazon — https://www.amazon.com/Sister-Citizen-Shame-Stereotypes-America/dp/0300188188

Audre Lorde — https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/audre-lorde

Joy: lemon oil / Donte Colley on Instagram / favorite mug

Hustle: business spreadsheet

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As part of our Women and Money series, we’re thrilled to bring you an interview with the powerful and inspiring Emily Williams.

Emily is a success coach and the author of the new book: I Heart My Life. Emily teaches women to examine their mindset around money and to do away with the limits we so often put on ourselves. She reveals how our false backstories are holding us back, and she shows us that, as ambitious women, we need to have more conversations about what we desire—including stories and examples that represent successes we can emulate. Emily is such a great example of this kind of success and her fearless attitude is something we can all learn from.

Emily shows us that we have such amazing power to transform and mold our very existence through our thoughts, including the amount of money we have access to.

Key Points From This Episode:

• The beginnings of Emily's business, life coaching and discovering purpose.
• Emily's snowballing experience of starting I Heart My Life.
• The work that Emily does with women now and how she fell into this role.
• Day to day to life for Emily and getting started early every morning.
• Working with her husband—how this all came together and their great partnership.
• Emily's process and the opening phase with clients; removing denial.
• Making more money in order to serve more people, more powerfully.
• Why we should not be worrying about money and creating more space and energy.
• Holding back, lack of belief, fear and how limiting these feelings can be.
• The power of envisioning your plans, creating new beliefs and making things happen!
• Drawing on available resources and spending what is necessary to start a business.
• The collection of limiting beliefs that hold us back from reaching our potential.
• Emily's thoughts and tips for pricing; start with your own intuition.

Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

Namastream Software — https://namastream.com/

Soulful MBA — https://www.soulful.mba/

Bulletproof Coffee — https://www.bulletproof.com/blogs/recipes/official-bulletproof-coffee

Marianne Williamson — https://marianne.com/

Law of Divine Compensation — https://www.amazon.com/Law-Divine-Compensation-Money-Miracles-ebook/dp/B007HB8EV2

Big Magic — https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/24453082-big-magic

Elizabeth Gilbert — https://www.elizabethgilbert.com/

Oprah Winfrey — http://www.oprah.com/index.html

Nicholas Sparks — https://nicholassparks.com/

The Notebook — https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/33648131-the-notebook

David Neagle — https://davidneagle.com/

Trello — https://trello.com

Connect with Emily:

Emily Williams — https://www.iheartmylife.com/

I Heart My Life — https://www.amazon.com/Heart-My-Life-Discover-Transform/dp/1788172868/

Joy: The Successful Mind Podcast — https://successfulmind.wpengine.com/

Hustle: Asana — https://asana.com/

p.s. This podcast is sponsored by Audible. Head over to audibletrial.com/soulfulmba to get a free audiobook and a 30-day free trial!

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In this episode, we’re getting vulnerable and sharing our money stories with you.

This is not always an easy topic to discuss publicly, yet we need to start having these conversations in order to remove some of our collective shame about money—shame that is not helping any of us, particularly women.

Going back to our memories of childhood, we share some of the difficult circumstances that shaped our understanding of—and relationship to—money. We hope that our experiences will give you the courage to confront your own stories about money.

Don’t miss out on this heartfelt conversation!

Key Points from This Episode:

• What growing up with a single mom taught Sandy about hard work and owing money.
• Why Sandy decided to transition from the medical field to business and entrepreneurship.
• Jeni’s father: a musician, a brilliant mind and the drug problem that ruined him.
• An unstable financial life of alternating between being wealthy and poor.

• Jennifer’s experience of money as something you can’t control.

• The additional financial strain when Sandy’s mom took in a paraplegic foster child.

• Jeni leaving home at 16 and applying for financial emancipation from her parents.

• Losing her father and deciding to postpone grad school for fear of student loan debt.
• The common problem of women not having their own money (and therefore little agency).
• How Jeni felt like she needed to prove her worth through success in her work.
• Why hustling and working really hard do not always equate to success.
• Having to still recognize and address mindset problems about money.
• Holding on to money versus investing it in real estate and the fears around it.
• Views on retirement, saving toward it and preparing for the unknown future.
• The need for women to build wealth for themselves and become investors.
• And much more!

Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

Soulful MBA — https://www.soulful.mba/

Namastream — https://namastream.com/

FreshBooks — https://www.freshbooks.com/

QuickBooks — https://quickbooks.intuit.com/

Joy: Bench

Hustle: points-based business credit card (like this one)

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In this episode, we chat with entrepreneur Sara Christensen—a leading expert in business mastermind groups, who has been curating and running them since 2010.

Sara’s current business, Kickass Masterminds, rigorously curates and professionally facilitates structured mastermind groups and Sara shares how masterminds can be an extraordinary way to get the support and accountability you need to grow your business.

Over the past 25+ years, Sara has started and grown five businesses—the largest being a telecommunications company that was doing upwards of $10 million in revenue per year and which employed 75 people.

When Sara is not masterminding, she can be found sipping bourbon or singing along to Fleetwood Mac. She currently lives in Austin, TX with her man and their three dogs.

Sara is a total dynamo and we know that you’ll love this episode!

Joy: rescue pug

Hustle: Apple Watch

Other Mentions:

Learn more about KICKASS MASTERMINDS

Sara on Instagram

Traction

The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles

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We’ve just celebrated the 5 year anniversary of our fateful meeting at a gathering for tech entrepreneurs in the mountains of Colorado. This was the birth of a friendship that’s evolved into the business we run together today.

In this tell-all episode, we discuss what’s surprised us so far in our business journey, what we’re most proud of, and what advice we’d give to someone just starting out in online business.

Joy: On Being Human by Jennifer Pastiloff

Hustle: real estate investing

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Kelly DiNardo is a freelance journalist and the author of several books including Living the Sutras: A Guide to Yoga Wisdom beyond the Mat, which gives readers a modern, accessible and personal look at ancient yogic philosophy and the wisdom found within.

She is also the producer, editor and co-host of the Living It podcast and owner of Past Tense yoga studio in Washington, DC.

As a freelance journalist, Kelly specializes in exploration – whether it’s internally through yoga and meditation, physically through health and fitness, culturally and socially through profiles, or the myriad ways travel brings all of that together.

Kelly has written for magazines and newspapers such as O: The Oprah Magazine, Martha Stewart Living, The New York Times, National Geographic Traveler.

Kelly embodies a level of grounded ambition. With a career that embodies freelancing, entrepreneurship, writing, and yoga, she offers us an example of what’s possible if we’re really willing to dig deep and own our multifaceted, whole selves.

Joy: take time off Hustle: pen + paper list / clean desk / podcasts

Connect with Kelly: https://kellydinardo.com/

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On this episode of the Soulful MBA podcast, we talk about a slightly controversial topic—the value of a wife. We touch on several articles we’ve read recently about the economic benefits for men who have a wife at home (or at least in a position where she is still primarily responsible for childcare and the emotional labor that takes place in families).

As feminists and entrepreneurs, we felt that it was important to invite this conversation into our community because there is still so much we need to shift in our culture around gender and the workplace.

Do you also wish for a wife—someone to take care of all the details and homework so that you can focus on your career and on building your business?

The first article we’re discussing is “70% of Top Male Earners in the US Have a Spouse Who Stays Home”. Another article we’d like to talk about is titled “What ‘Good’ Dads Get Away With”, which is the other side of the coin. You might have a husband who does a lot more than most husbands and fathers, yet you still find yourself being the primary caretaker and filling in all the gaps in your family’s day-to-day life.

Either way, women are often financially marginalized by gender roles and these seem to be exacerbated when we become mothers. This conversation affects almost all of us and it has to be acknowledged that it is still largely an unequal playing field. Something’s got to give!

Key Points From This Episode:

• Examples of the silent labor we as women do that we’re not always aware of.
• How men still have a higher earning capacity in the existing economic structures.
• The unequal playing field, where men have a different set of opportunities than women.
• The double pressure on women to be home with the kids while also building a career.
• Why so many women choose to hold back on their own ambitions.
• The gender pay gap as a root cause of women staying home with the kids.
• Drop the Ball and what women can do to change the patterns of unequal burden.
• Why women often don’t ask for help.
• Buying your way out of these part-time family responsibilities as a possible solution.
• And much more!

Words of Wisdom:

“He can turn off when he comes home from work and I can’t because there are just so many little, minute things that we have to deal.”

“Not only do customers expect to pay less for products from women owned companies, but women who launch their own businesses also have a harder time attracting venture capital funding or bank loans.”

Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

Soulful MBA — https://www.soulful.mba/

Soulful MBA on Facebook — https://www.facebook.com/soulfulmba/

Article 1 — https://qz.com/work/1607995/most-men-in-the-top-1-of-us-earners-have-a-spouse-who-stays-home/

Article 2 — https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/04/opinion/sunday/men-parenting.html

Tiffany Dufu — http://tiffanydufu.com/

Drop the Ball on Amazon — https://www.amazon.com/Drop-Ball-Achieving-More-Doing/dp/1250071739

Rachel Hollis — https://thechicsite.com/

SOMA System on Amazon — https://www.amazon.com/SOMA-SYSTEM/s?k=SOMA+SYSTEM

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Today on the show, we will be giving you seven tips for creating captivating and impactful social media videos! Video has been the format for social content for years and it shows no signs of letting up.

So what better way to master your social media skills than to brush up on your video creation strategy? These tips apply to both live and recorded video, and we touch on video primarily for Facebook and Instagram.

It is very important to keep your video content and each individual video within the larger picture of your social media strategy, so be sure to consider your audience and you can reach them in the most appropriate spaces and ways.

The tips we run through in this episode include having a clear goal and purpose for a video, deciding on a platform, headline creation, content and message preparation, calls to action, captions and subtitles, and lastly, thumbnail selection.

Key Points From This Episode:

• Making sure you have a clear goal and purpose for your video.
• Which platforms should you use to share a video?
• How to create a compelling headline.
• Outlining your content while steering away from full scripting.
• Your all important call to action!
• Captions, subtitles and adding supplementary text to your videos.
• Selecting an amazing and compelling thumbnail.
• The joy and hustle for this week!
• And much more!

Words of Wisdom:

“You should really consider how a single video fits into your larger editorial calendar.”

“You audience is a little bit different everywhere!”

“You must drill down and figure out where your people are spending their time and how to reach them best in that space.”

Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

Namastream — https://namastream.com

Namastream on Twitter — https://twitter.com/namastream

Soulful MBA — https://www.soulful.mba

Audible — http://audibletrial.com/soulfulmba

Clipomatic — https://www.apalon.com/clipomatic.html

Handbrake — https://handbrake.fr

Joy: Benro Let’s Go Selfie Stick + Tripod

Hustle: The Social Media Video Checklist

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In this episode, we take a look at some of the current trends in online business we’re noticing in the Spring of 2019. From Facebook groups to the “new” Pinterest to shifts in membership and subscription model businesses to the rise of nanoinfluencers and IGTV.

We dive into five exciting trends that we’ve been noticing, both on social media and in online business in general, over the past few months. We give you our take on what’s working, what’s not, and how you can embrace some of these changes, rather than be overwhelmed by them.

By the end of this episode, you’ll have some concrete evidence of the powerful role Facebook groups still play in connecting us, as well as what to make of the new ads that are going to be popping up all over your Pinterest feed! In addition, we take a look at the exciting shifts big brands are taking toward nanoinfluencers and WHY you should consider becoming an early adopter of IGTV.

Key Points From This Episode:

• Why many women are only on Facebook for the groups.
• Why we still recommend Facebook groups.
• Pinterest recently went public: what does this mean?
• What the next wave of Pinterest means for bloggers and podcasters.
• Why we are getting back in the Pinterest game.
• Shifts we’re noticing in membership and other subscription model businesses.
• Why your audience really just wants to connect with you.
• The rise of nanoinfluencers and how this model works.
• The benefits of being a nanoinfluencer and how to become one.
• Why are we seeing so much more IGTV?
• How Instagram is rewarding early adopters of IGTV.
• And much more!

Words of Wisdom:

“If it’s difficult for you to be on social as a business owner, there’s a mindset shift that has to happen.” — @namastream

Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

Audible Free Trial — https://www.audibletrial.com/soulfulmba

Pinterest — https://www.pinterest.com

Namastream — https://namastream.com/

Namastream on Twitter — https://twitter.com/namastream

Tailwind — www.tailwindapp.com/

Obvious.ly — www.obvious.ly/

Soulful MBA — www.soulful.mba/

Soulful MBA on Instagram — www.instagram.com/namastream/

Become and Online Teacher FREE Course — www.soulful.mba/teacher

Joy: Felix Gray Glasses — https://shopfelixgray.com/

Hustle: Are You Ready for the Nanoinfluencers? — www.nytimes.com/2018/11/11/business/media/nanoinfluencers-instagram-influencers.html

These Women Are Only on Facebook for the Groups — www.buzzfeednews.com/article/annehelenpetersen/facebook-private-groups-online-abuse

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After reaching peak perfection on Instagram sometime in mid-2018, Instagram has started to shift to less-beautiful, less-curated content. Listen in to hear our views about this changing trend, as well as our evolving beliefs and predictions about social in general.

Looking for some Insta tips? We discuss a number of the new features that Instagram will be rolling out in the near future…

Joy: @trinnylondon / @trinnywoodall Hustle: The Instagram Aesthetic Is Over / 7 Exciting Instagram Features Coming in 2019

Other Mentions: How to Use the Donation Sticker on Instagram Stories

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We’ve got a complicated relationship with our Facebook Group. Every few months we have a serious conversation about shutting it down. Neither of us would ever choose to spend time on Facebook for fun, so our Group is really the only reason we both maintain our accounts on the platform.

Although there’s #noshame in archiving a Facebook Group that’s run its course, there are a few key strategic reasons why we’ve decided to keep ours going (and why you might want to keep yours up and running too).

Joy: connect via old-fashioned IRL networking

Hustle: News Feed Eradicator for Facebook

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In this episode, we explain the concept of beta launching—and why we encourage all of our clients to use this strategy to launch new products, programs, and service packages. You’ll learn why we think that releasing an imperfect offer is the most efficient path to success in online business.

To illustrate the power of beta launching, we share our detailed stories of founding two software companies with this method.

Joy: Drunk Elephant

Hustle: Beta Launch Checklist

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Kelly Covert is an inner voice coach with a passion for helping women believe and achieve their big vision by connecting deeply with the wisdom that is inside of them (all while owning their worthiness each and every day). Through her intuitive, heart-centered coaching, she helps women awaken to their true power as creators and world-changers.

She is the creator and host of the In Her Voice Podcast. Her work has been featured on The Huffington Post, The Elephant Journal, and YourTango.com

Kelly, a recovering perfectionist, is also a professional flutist with Symphoria, a wife, the mother of two teenage boys, and the mama to a beagle named Piper.

Connect with Kelly: website // Instagram

Other Mentions: The Cut: Can You Be Ambitious and Happy? / Girl, Stop Apologizing

Joy: Take a (week )day off!

Hustle: Moonsight Planner

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In this controversial conversation, we share our thoughts and feelings about the downfall of Elizabeth Holmes—the youngest self-made female billionaire in history. After dropping out of Stanford at age 19, Elizabeth founded the heath-tech company, Theranos, and went on to raise a staggering $700 million before losing everything in an epic public scandal.

Listen in to hear our take on Elizabeth and her story, including the implications we think it has on other female founders.

Joy: The Dropout Podcast

Hustle: Loom

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Brit Kolo is a Marketing Coach who helps online business owners build marketing strategies based on their Myers-Briggs personality type.

As the creator of the Marketing Personalities Framework, Brit has created a set of sixteen personality-specific strategies to help you to grow your business in a feel-good way. Her unique work is designed to help you go deep, find your true self, and grow that business of yours without feeling fake and sales-y.

Connect with Brit: Marketing Personalities

Joy: listening to podcasts

Hustle: Asana

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We’ve been noticing FAR too much attention lately being placed on the technical intricacies of building a business. We, as humans, tend to obsess over the things we can easily control or measure (Equipment! Productivity! Instagram followers!), but it’s much more important to focus on the bigger picture (such as the role your business plays in your niche market).

We encourage you to invest your energy into mapping out your story, refining your message, and your connecting with your audience. What can your program do for the people in your community? How does working with you lead to a transformation for another human being?

Joy: +Acumen Storytelling CourseHustle: Building a StoryBrand: Clarify Your Message So Customers Will Listen

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Taryn is the co-founder of SHE RECOVERS (with her mama, Dawn Nickel.) SHE RECOVERS® is an international movement of self-identified women in or seeking recovery from a wide variety of issues, including substance use disorders and other behavioral health issues, trauma, abuse, codependency, cancer, grief, low self-esteem, perfectionism and other life challenges. SHE RECOVERS® creates welcoming spaces and transformative opportunities – online and in real life – to connect, support and empower recovering women.

Taryn is a Trauma Informed Yoga instructor, dōTERRA Wellness Advocate and soon to be Recovery Coach. She has led over 25 yoga for recovery retreats, presented at several Yoga conferences, and has co-taught alongside Elena Brower. More recently, Taryn has started teaching SHE RECOVERS Yoga at Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health and launched an inaugural SHE RECOVERS Yoga Teacher Training Program (October 2019.)

Connect with Taryn: She Recovers | Instagram

Joy: move your body everyday in a joyful way

Hustle:The Four Hour Workweek / The Beautiful Life Lab

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In today’s episode, we interview Emily Hirsh—an industry leading Facebook Ads and Sales Funnel Strategist who works with high-profile entrepreneurs to grow their businesses online.

In less than three years she has expanded her business from a single client to a multi-million dollar agency with over twenty people on her team. Emily now works with some of the biggest names in online business—from life coaches to fitness experts to Internet celebrities.

Emily and her team work with business owners to take the fear and overwhelm out of marketing and make even the most complicated launches feel stress-free.

When Emily isn’t growing her online empire, you can find her traveling the world with her family or playing in the park with her two young children.

Connect with Emily: website / podcast

Joy: morning routine / house manager

Hustle: to-do list (top 3), momentum masterclass planner

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If you’re working in the online sphere, you’ve probably heard the term “sales funnel” more times than you can count. But understanding what it is (and how it can help your business) is a whole other story.

A sales funnel is a series of steps that potential customers take on the way to purchasing. It’s a marketing term for the customer journey, although that “journey” is definitely a guided tour led by the seller. This marketing model allows online entrepreneurs to simultaneously refine their messaging, and get real-time data capturing which customer segments are responsive to their offers. Sounds great, right?

Maybe...

While the analogy of a funnel can be useful to a point, we believe that it oversimplifies the relationship that we have with or audience.

(Listen in to learn what kind of model we use instead.)

Other Mentions: How the Flywheel Killed HubSpot's Funnel

Joy: Roar. 30 Women. 30 Stories.

Hustle: More Start-Ups Have an Unfamiliar Message for Venture Capitalists: Get Lost

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In this episode, we check in with Jeni about her family’s maker business, Woodland Alchemy. It’s now been a year since the seed of an idea began to germinate into a creative outlet, a family hobby, and (eventually) a local artisan business. Where is the business now? What’s been Jeni’s proudest achievement? What lessons have they learned? What do they plan to do differently in the upcoming year?

Joy: linen smock (similar)

Hustle: Ken Burns on MasterClass

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Maura Manzo began to practice yoga to “learn to breathe” after a fire destroyed her home in 2006 and has been on a journey to share yoga with others ever since.

Following her yoga teacher training, Maura raised $20,000 for HIV/AIDS programs in South Africa in collaboration with Off the Mat into the World. She considers that project a defining moment in her life and in taking her practice to the next level, both as a student and as a teacher.

Maura has extensively studied trauma informed practices and the intersection of social justice and yoga and she is dedicated to making the practice of yoga more inclusive and accessible for all people. Maura’s deep commitment to building community shows up in all that she offers.

Maura has been invited to teach at Wanderlust Philly, has been named one of Be Well Philly’s Top 5 Yogi’s to Watch, and was featured in Origin Magazine. She teachers classes, workshops, and trainings at her studio, Yoga Home, which also offers online classes through Namastream.

Joy: Basketball Games / Travel / Netflix Binges

Hustle: Soulful MBA Podcast (blush) / loom / Off the Mat Into the World  / CTZN Well / Paper Planner

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We’re sharing the down and dirty details for how we track and manage the finances for our business. You’ll learn our favorite tip for reducing our year-end tax burden and we’ll share some suggestions for what types of information you should be tracking each month in your own business.

What steps can you take now, before the end of the calendar year, to reduce your tax burden? What metrics should you be measuring each month? What is a customer journey and why/how should you be tracking it?  

Joy: Seedlip

Hustle: “I’m a Developer. I Won’t Teach My Kids to Code, and Neither Should You.”

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After five years of immersion into entrepreneurship, we’ve learned a few things. Here’s the advice we’d like to share with our fellow founders, distilled into 23 suggestions for building an intentional business online.

These are the practices of Digital Artisanship:

1. Identify your core values early. These will be your touchstone and will help you to navigate every difficult decision.
2. Ask why. Daily. Don’t assume that what’s been right for others is right for you.
3. Build it well. Quality matters. Strive to be an artisan with your work—whether you’re making soap or outlining an online course.
4. Curiosity is essential. Your ability to approach problems with wonder will carry you through.
5. Audit your supply chain. Prioritize your values over what’s cheap or convenient or fast. Hire the people whose work you want to see more of in the world.
6. Embrace niching. This will be the key to your financial success. Understand a specific group of people and serve them well.
7. Value relationships over transactions. Treat your employees, contractors, and suppliers with trust and respect.
8. Demand fair prices from your customers. Avoid the negative energetic exchange that fuels resentment.
9. Pay fair wages to your team. Honor the community by respecting someone’s training and expertise.
10. Embrace the long game. Slow down. Build in buffers. It always takes longer than you think. An idea, when followed through with consistent action, can create tremendous financial liberation.
11. Be mindful of interconnectivity, the larger ecosystem, and ripple effects. What we do affects others (and our future selves).
12. Embrace a culture of responsible generosity. Infuse your business practices with service and philanthropy, but not to a point that it drains you or breeds resentment. You know when you’re overextended. You know when you have more to give.
13. Trust your intuition. Eliminate the tasks that some advisor or random Instagram post told you that you “should” be doing.
14. Do what’s right instead of what’s easy. Treat leadership like a sacred duty. (If you’re reading this, you’re a leader.)
15. Look beyond profit and growth. Money is a metric of success, but not the only one.
16. Tell your story. Encourage others to tell theirs.
17. Amplify the work of others. Use your platform to showcase the voices that you respect and admire.
18. Connect with real human beings. Networking will get you off the ground in the beginning and it will accelerate your success as you grow.
19. Value your offline life. Carve out analog space. It will refuel you.
20. Speak up. Your voice matters. You won’t get there by playing small. Bravery is inextricably linked to your success.
21. Nobody does it alone. Find the people who will celebrate your victories and pull you out of those inevitable dips and struggles.
22. You can figure it out. You don’t know it all and you never will. Be willing to roll up your sleeves and get dirty.
23. Know that success is possible for you. It make take longer or look differently than you expect. It’s worth it.

WE WANT YOUR HELP… Collectively, we have an opportunity to impact how this evolving economy shifts, to drive it in a more intentional direction. Please share these #digitalartisan practices with your people. Let’s build a world where entrepreneurship equates to creativity, service, and sustainability.

Joy: David Whyte’s Santiago

Hustle: The Digital Artisan Manifesto

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As with last year, we’re bringing you a recap of the year vis-à-vis our favorite things. Here are the links for you (think of it as a stellar gift guide or a place to bookmark for inspiration later on):

Best Books

Jeni: The Lost Girls of Camp Forevermore / Charlotte Walsh Likes To Win / The Female Persuasion: A NovelSandy: Witch: Unleashed. Untamed. Unapologetic. / Dare to Lead: Brave Work. Tough Conversations. Whole Hearts.

Best Netflix Shows

Sandy: Feminists: What Were They Thinking?Jeni: Salt Fat Acid Heat + (the book)

Best Purchase

Jeni: kayakSandy: private pilates classes

Most Influential People

Sandy: Tara MohrJeni: Sandy <3

Favorite Instagram Accounts

Sandy: @selfportrait_societyJeni: @generalstore

Best Decisions

Sandy: our return to wellnessJeni: finally putting our software on sale

Best Articles

Sandy: Powerful Women Talk About PowerJeni: Reconsider / Signal v. Noise

Best Conference

Jeni: She RecoversSandy: She Recovers

Best Podcasts

Sandy: ZigZagJeni: Yoga Behind Bars: A Conversation with Jess Frank

Our Words for 2019

Jeni: AmplificationSandy: Efficiency

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Our industry has evolved significantly over the past decade, and this is perhaps best exemplified by the explosion of the Peloton brand. How does a spin bike company that’s now valued at a whopping $4 billion impact regular people like us? What changes are we seeing in the mainstream yoga industry? What are our own plans for the future?

Listen on...

Joy: The Sill

Hustle: Dare to Lead / (available for sale in our Soulful MBA Shoppe)

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“Ready” is relative. Most people who have done everything in the known universe to prepare themselves to become first-time parents, or move to a new country, or come out to their families will STILL be surprised or uneasy when the time comes. The same goes for launching an online business—even if you’ve taken ALL the courses and read ALL the books and worked with coaches, you’ll never be able to anticipate every triumph and setback.

Which is totally, 100% fine. Because readiness isn’t about knowing exactly what to do in every situation, it’s about being prepared to bounce back when the unexpected arises. It’s about seeing where your unique talents meet a pressing customer need. It’s about attitude and energy and momentum and consistency.

So how can you tell if you’ve got the right attitude, energy, and momentum to launch your online business RIGHT NOW? Here are seven indicators that you’re prepared to take the plunge:

1. Your product or service addresses a need.
2. You understand the risks.
3. You have unwavering faith in your idea or product.
4. You have (or are actively building) an audience.
5. You’re in a good place emotionally, personally, and financially.
6. You understand your niche.
7. You’ve got a short- and long-term plan in place.

Joy: Our “Favorite Things” ShoppeHustle: Blueline MiracleBind Notebook

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In this episode, we’re discussing our favorite strategies for setting your new business (or new product, program, or service) up for success.

How do you ensure that you’ll have paying customers when you open the virtual doors on day one? Which old-school marketing strategies should you be utilizing to gather your initial pool of students? How is a client roster different than an email list?

We’re unpacking all of these questions and sharing our favorite advice for new online teachers in this episode...

Joy: 6 Ways Mushrooms Can Save the WorldHustle: old-school paper flyers

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Somehow, it’s November. (Anyone else feel like 2018 was about 15 minutes long?) And that means we’re hurtling toward the holiday season at quite a clip. And THAT means many of us are madly scrambling to concoct marketing plans that will help us take advantage of the upcoming gift-buying frenzy.

We’d like to suggest a new twist: Make sure those marketing and business plans align with your ethics.

It’s so easy to get sucked into the vortex of gift guides and gimmicks, clickbait and formulas. We totally get it. The online business world is crowded and cutthroat right now, and it’s tough to stick to your beliefs. It’s tough to resist when dozens of supposed-experts tell you to push your offerings hard and often and relentlessly. It’s tough to consider dialing back during a sales season when everyone else is amping up. But you can do this. You can do what’s right instead of what’s easy. And, in the long run, it’ll benefit your business.

Why? Because you won’t burn out. You’ll remain aligned with your true goals and mission long after your competition has grown weary of tricking customers into short-term sales. Because you’ll build deep trust and lasting relationships that carry you well beyond December and January. Because you might make less money in the short term, but you’ll also make fewer compromises.

Listen in to hear our suggestions for piloting your business through the holiday shopping and gifting season in ways that promote quality, heartfelt creation, and genuine connection.

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In this episode, we share some previously unshared details about our business partnership... How we met. How we work together. The pitfalls. The benefits. We also explore our opinions on different kinds of business relationships. What about partnering with an investor? Or a technical co-founder? What are the ways to work together without dividing up your company?

We’re both organically drawn to work collaboratively, so partnership was an ideal business decision for both of us. Our business is like a shared child, and we trust each other to steward the company and serve as an equal decision maker. In our case, the whole is truly greater than the sum of the parts.

Joy: jenifer lake ceramics

Hustle: The Four Agreements (especially the audiobook version)

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“In 2018, there is no earthly reason, biological or otherwise, why men should have more power than women.” - Hanna Rosin

In this episode, we explore our relationships to power. Are you comfortable with the concept of power? What about empowerment? What about laying claim to your own power (Can you get behind the idea of power for other women, but not for yourself)? This is a term that many of us wrestle with regularly in our work and lives.

Perhaps we ought to take Mary Beard up on her suggestion to transform power from a noun into a verb. This way, it is less about power being a character trait and more about power being an intentional practice, comprised of multiple daily acts.

Our takeaway? Collectively, we need to stop judging other women for exercising power, while constantly finding ways to effect our own.

Joy: Cauldron Hustle: Powerful Women Talk About Power (And Powerlessness)

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“The view you adopt for yourself profoundly affects the way you lead your life. It can determine whether you become the person you want to be and whether you accomplish the things you value.” — Carol Dweck

In this episode, we discuss Carol Dweck’s work on the difference between a fixed mindset and a growth mindset. The bottom line? Your true potential is unknown and malleable. It is so often shaped by the internal language you use to define your experience.

How can you overcome a fixed mindset? Identify it, recognize it, name it, and ask for help.

Joy: Vijay Gupta Hustle: Mindset: The New Psychology of Success

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Word-of-mouth is priceless. Every business that wants to grow (or grow fast) needs a solid online marketing strategy and a few well-timed ads, but organic promotion will always be king. When your customers spread the word about your business, they do so to people who already know and trust them. Personal referrals feel more genuine to the listener, which means they’re more likely to lead to action than sterile, geo-targeted Facebook ads. If your clients say glowing things about your services, they’re happily and naturally endorsing your wellness business.

If actual, word-of-mouth is priceless, online reviews are platinum. Meaning online approval is slightly less valuable to your business, but not by much! Recent research shows that 97% of consumers read online reviews for local businesses, and 85% trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations. And we’re not talking testimonials on your own website, we’re talking about third-party platforms where reviewers can be candid and honest. We’re talking about Google Reviews!

Listen in to learn some quick and simple tips for getting started with Google Reviews.

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In this episode, we interview entrepreneur Rynda Laurel—who has an extensive background in the entertainment industry and with building brands in the online space. She is on a mission to help more people learn about the natural ways they can supplement their bodies and brains to truly become happy, joyous, and free.

Rynda, who has a background in the music industry, is a highly sought-after consultant and currently works with a select number innovative, like-minded entrepreneurs, lifestyle brands, content creators, and experiential events. She has helped to grow multiple companies and ventures. Her network is vast and she has a knack for combining creative concepts with the right people to get achieve powerful results.

Rynda has also just launched VRYeveryday, a supplement line supporting mental health and well-being. She has over 25 years of continuous sobriety and recovery from drug addiction and almost 3 years of full remission from clinical depression.

It’s not everyday that you meet a woman who took it upon herself to launch a business of this nature—formulating and manufacturing her own supplements—and that’s the primary focus of this conversation. Rynda is brave and her story is vulnerable.

Connect with Rynda: here / here / here

Joy: messages of impact from VRYeveryday usersHustle: perseverance

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“Your heart knows about your career the same way that it does about a relationship…the houses of success and failure sit right next to each other.” - Kayce Brown

In this episode, we share our recent conversation with business strategist and innovator, Kayce Brown. Kayce predicts trends and seizes opportunity. She’s hard to put into a box. She is creative, impactful, and disruptive.

Following over a decade in the film industry, her unique blend of talent and expertise sit at the cross-section of tech, pop culture, social good, and entertainment. Kayce’s deep knowledge and experience within these industries have allowed her to make connections and strategically partner with global brands, influencers, nonprofits, and media. (Kayce has worked with everyone from Uber to the NFL, from Bird scooters to GYFT, a recently launched digital pregnancy companion.)

In this conversation, we get a peek into Kayce’s mindset, and she shares some invaluable advice for all of us in the process.

Other Mentions: Mindset: The New Psychology of Success /

Connect with Kayce: LinkedIn /

Joy: movement + exercise

Hustle: LinkedIn / AngelList

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This podcast has become a diary of our business, our friendship, and a place to explore our evolving ideas about entrepreneurship. As we hit the 100th episode mark, listen in to learn about why we love recording this show, our plans for the podcast moving forward, and what we are working to improve upon.

Joy: Sunrise Rock Everything OilHustle: How to Book and Prep Podcast Guests / Power Your Podcast with Storytelling

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“American women are liberated, but they’re not empowered.” - Tara Sophia Mohr

This episode features a raw conversation about our roles as mothers and feminists, our differing responsibilities, and the complex relationship we each have with financial security. Whenever we travel for our businesses, we encounter the double standards that have come to define our lives as modern women and mothers. It’s the truth. The truth is messy.

Joy: Malibu Beach House Airbnb / diane krön chocolatier

Hustle: The Wealthy Feminist / Many Women at Elite Colleges Set Career Path to Motherhood

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Today’s episode features an interview with Jess Frank, who serves as the Program Director for Yoga Behind Bars (or YBB for short). YBB is a Washington State-based nonprofit that has been sharing trauma-informed yoga and meditation with thousands of incarcerated youth and adults since 2008. Starting this month, September 2018, the organization’s comprehensive trauma-informed training will be available online for the very first time. (Full Disclosure: YBB is working with us via Namastream to host this program and we’re so humbled that Jess and her team have chosen to use our platform).

Jess’s passion for providing transformative opportunities to incarcerated people sparked at the start of her career and has only grown since she became a YBB instructor nearly 5 years ago. As a program coordinator for the Post Prison Education Program and University Beyond Bars, Jess became both intimately acquainted with the challenges facing people in the criminal justice system and deeply inspired by the dedication of the students. As YBB’s program director, Jess co-facilitates trauma-informed trainings, manages and mentors volunteers, oversees program creation and growth, and conducts site visits and evaluations. Jess shared with us that the highlight of her week is teaching yoga to 25 students at the men’s prison in Monroe, Washington.

Connect with Yoga Behind Bars: YBB / YBB Online

Joy: deflect judgement with self loveHustle: movement, being in the body

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Every new business needs a sidekick–someone who understands how to set up shop, maneuver taxes and licensing issues, and build out some basic spreadsheets.

In this episode we interview Jenny MacLeod (aka “Jenny Girl Friday”), who has been working one-on-one with self-employed women for over five years. She’s on a new mission to make those necessary business chores easier and even fun…for every single self-employed woman in Seattle. As a small business owner herself, Jenny offers Sidekick Services (tax reminders + how-to articles via email), one-time consults, workshops, and, coming SOON, an online business apothecary. She also released a book last year, How to Become Self-Employed in Seattle: A Guidebook, Companion, and Reference.

Jenny lives in Seattle in a half-finished house, with her husband Alex and two teenagers. You might spot her driving around town in her VW bus on her way to yoga or happy hour. Amazing, Jenny has never owned a cell-phone and she built her business out of the belief that self-employed people are essential to the soul of Seattle.

Connect with Jenny: jennygirlfriday.com / Business Apothecary

Joy: Goddess Oracle Deck / Women Who Run with the Wolves / Scythe / Ladywell’s

Hustle: Do the Work! / The Art of the Start / Jenny’s Weekly Flow: basic worksheet

p.s. This podcast is sponsored by Audible. Head over to audibletrial.com/soulfulmba to get a free audiobook and a 30-day free trial!

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We’re giving you an insider peek into our biannual business planning process. Our second 2018 business retreat is happening next week in a Malibu beach house (we can’t wait).

In this episode, we walk you though our metrics analysis and tracking process, how we set and evaluate goals, how we choose the next features for our software, and why we incorporate trend forecasting into our retreats. We also reveal some updates related to our our Soulful MBA course + community!

Joy: State the LabelHustle: Take a business retreat of your own.

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This episode touches on our use of the word “guys” (and why it is so problematic). Usage of this term has seen a massive rise since the advent of the Internet, but it creates a subtle, yet troubling speech pattern for the plight of women. There is no gender-neutral, plural pronoun in the English language (unlike Spanish or German or a host of other languages), but choosing to default to an informal masculine plural pronoun is not the answer.

The language that we choose to use each and everyday matters; by opting to be lazy with our language, we add more fodder to an existing series of microaggressions against women.

According to Sherryl Kleinman, Professor Emeritus of Sociology at UNC Chapel Hill, “...women want to be included in the term that refers to the higher-status group: men. But while being labeled one of the guys might make women feel included, it’s only a guise of inclusion, not the reality. If women were really included we wouldn’t have to disappear into the word guys.” Amen, sister.

Other Mentions: Why Sexist Language Matters / The Problem With ‘Hey Guys’ / An unnecessarily long and surprisingly fascinating history of ‘guys’

Joy: Charlotte Walsh Likes to WinHustle: ZigZag Podcast

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A cognition crisis is not defined by a lack of information, knowledge or skills. We have done a fine job in accumulating those and passing them along across millennia. Rather, this a crisis at the core of what makes us human: the dynamic interplay between our brain and our environment — the ever-present cycle between how we perceive our surroundings, integrate this information, and act upon it. - Adam Gazzaley

We were profoundly rocked this summer by Jaron Lanier’s new book: Ten Arguments for Deleting Your Social Media Accounts Right Now, and this podcast episode explores the reasons why this book has had such an immense impact on each of us.

How does social media impact our access to economic dignity? What are the long-term implications of new technology? Why is the freemium model of social media so dangerous and why does the success of HBO and Netflix highlight what’s wrong with free software? What does social media and artificial intelligence have to do with religion and spirituality?

Other Mentions: The Cognition Crisis

Joy: Mary Robinson launches new feminist fight against climate changeHustle: Ten Arguments for Deleting Your Social Media Accounts Right Now

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This episode explores some recent news stories that have caught our attention, including articles that explore topics like facial recognition software, gender imbalance in journalism, and the ubiquity of product-placement ads in mainstream publications geared toward women. It’s all a bit heavy, isn’t it?

Joy: make something by hand

Hustle: NPR’s sexist blunder is proof that women’s work isn’t just overlooked—it’s erased / Women’s Media Is a Scam / How Facial Recognition Could Tear Us Apart / The Calmest iPhone Yet

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We’ve been thinking a lot lately about the value of building a personal brand, even though this is a concept that makes the two of us a bit uncomfortable.

We’ve both been known to “hide” behind our corporate brand because we’re part of a larger team, but are we doing this at the expense of our future success?

There’s a feeling that many women share, that we need to have a doctorate (or more!) in a subject in order to speak publicly about it. But the truth we're realizing is, that in business, we each just need to show up fully as our imperfect selves.

Some great examples of personal brands we follow: Patricia Russo, Danielle LaPorte, Carmenspagnola, Elena Brower, Lisa Lister, Brené Brown.

Joy: How to Make Shrubs, Girl Meets Dirt Hustle: 2 Years From Now, If You Don’t Have A Personal Brand, Nobody Is Going To Work With You

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Change is the only constant in life (and business). Here are a handful of interesting trends/shifts that we’ve been noticing over the past few months:

• Email Marketing: The traditional advice in the online business space has been to grow your list and email your subscribers A LOT. The new trend we’re noticing? Email only when you have something of value to share. As the Internet has become more noisy, we need to be mindful about adding to the cacophony…

• Live Video: Part of showing up and embodying your brand these days involves live video. We don’t see this trend going away anytime soon, so we suggest becoming comfortable with this medium if you’re looking to grow your business online.

• Long-Form Blogging: Put out LESS content, but make it BETTER. It should be in-depth, comprehensive, and useful for your quintessential clients.

• Audio + Digital: The sweet spot of business (and modern culture) is increasingly the intermixing of digital and analog. Human connection PLUS (or via) tech. Passive income is getting harder and harder to come by, but digital offerings PLUS physical products and/or real human connection is HOT. (Plus, you can charge more money for this type of offering.)

Joy: The ShopkeepersHustle: Zoom

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As a follow-up to Part 1 of our Online Coaching conversation, this episode reveals some specific tips for how to determine pricing for your live-streamed coaching sessions.

Let’s start with a huge and incredibly important DON’T: Never sell your services by the hour (or even by the session). Going this route means giving your clients total control of your process and an escape hatch if the work gets too tough. (Of course, you’d never want to trick your clients into purchasing more services than they need, but most clients need far more support than they realize.) One big breakthrough is not enough; they may feel done long before they actually are done.

What’s the alternative? Create packages of sessions. Doing this allows you to deliver real value to your clients, truly help them improve and develop, and embrace a business strategy that creates sustainable income for you as a coach.

Here are some rules of thumb for pricing your online coaching packages:

1. Keep it simple.
2. Offer at least three options / levels.
3. Know your audience.
4. Set a revenue goal and work backwards. (Check out our full blog post on this topic here for examples of calculating your own pricing.)

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We’re bringing back Office Hours this week to discuss the practical tactics of how to take your in-person coaching practice online. It’s a little known fact that online one-on-one coaching sessions are often more reliable money-makers than courses or memberships!

Far too many entrepreneurs dive into launching an online course before they’re truly ready. And courses may seem like “passive” revenue streams, but they actually require some serious prep work and behind-the-scenes management.

One-on-one online consults, on the other hand, are the perfect way to build both revenue and clout while offering valuable services to eager clients. You may want to eventually build a course, but starting with online coaching sessions can help you build the foundation you’ll need to make that future online course a massive success.

Need more reasons to take the live-streaming route right now for your coaching business? Here you go:

• Private online coaching requires virtually no prep. Unlike pre-taped videos, classes, and courses, you can work with a client in any tidy, relatively well-lit room. And as soon as you hit the live-stream button, you’re ready to rock.
• Online client consults help you build your fan base while earning money. Cultivate meaningful relationships with your students, bring in revenue, and develop your impeccable reputation all at once!
• One-on-one live-streamed sessions allow you to hone your craft. Refine your content and coaching style by working one-on-one with clients. Spend a year or so learning about your clients’ common questions, problems, or issues through individual sessions. That way, when you’re ready to build a group program or course, you can tailor it to address their specific needs.
• Virtual coaching saves you time. Coaching in person is a great way to build rapport, but often means commuting to an office, a studio, or the client’s home. Online sessions allow you to save travel time and therefore book more sessions per day (or take some much-needed time off).
• Private online coaching creates instant boundaries. Many teachers have told us that they struggle to end their in-person sessions diplomatically. People love to stand around and chat once the work is done, even if the coach has a mountain of other work to tackle. Live-streamed sessions mean clicking off when you’re done without any drawn-out goodbyes.

In Part 2 (which comes out next week), you’ll learn about how to price and package your online coaching sessions. Stay tuned!

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We’ve been collecting some of our favorite resources to share with you this summer, including our newest Instagram favorites, some powerful, yet simple, tech tools to try out, our favorite new podcasts, and some bonus online shops that we recommend you check out.

Favorite Instagram Accounts

Sandy: @helloplantlady / @knitatude / @thehellyeslifeJeni: @accidentallywesanderson / @riseandwander / @ritual_botanicaBusiness + Tech Resources

Sandy: CutStory for Instagram StoriesJeni: DuckDuckGo Chrome Extension

Podcasts We’re Crushing On

Sandy: Call Your Girlfriend / Ear HustleJeni: Werk It: The Podcast

Online ShopsSandy: Piece on Peace / RMS BeautyJeni: Primary Children’s Clothing

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“The fitness industry needs this invitation towards embodiment.” - Brooke Tyler

In this episode of the podcast, we interview powerhouse Namastream client Brooke Tyler about her experience growing her Asheville, NC-based acupuncture and pilates studio online.

After growing her local studio and clinical business to a 4,000+ ft location with twelve employees, you’ll learn why Brooke chose to pursue the online growth path (rather than opening up an additional studio location).

Brooke discusses her decision to incorporate seasonality into her online program, how she balances single motherhood with her business, and the specific way that she schedules her time each week and month to fit everything in.

Connect with Brooke: Clasique Acupuncture & Pilates Studio / Core Self Online / Instagram 1, 2, 3

Other Mentions: Dorothee VandeWalle

Joy: You Are a Badass: How to Stop Doubting Your Greatness and Start Living an Awesome Life / You Are a Badass at Making Money: Master the Mindset of Wealth Hustle: blank journal + favorite pens

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In this episode, we interview beloved Namastream client, Nikiki Estrada, about her transition to online business.

Nikki, who lives in Northern California with her husband and two daughters, has more than 20 years of teaching experience and has been leading 200- and 300-hour teaching trainings for more than a dozen years. She is YA500hr E-RYT and was Director of Trainer Development for YogaWorks for more than 7 years, where she supported and mentored teacher trainers. She leads intensives, immersions, and workshop series in the San Francisco Bay Area and beyond.

In addition to offering her own yoga membership on Namastream, Nikki contributes to Yoga International, served as a 2016 Athleta Ambassador (for embodying the Power of She), was sponsored by Zobha, has presented at Yoga Journal conferences, and was voted best yoga teacher by Marin Magazine in 2016.

In our conversation, Nikki shares her opinion on the relationship between yoga and tech and offers tactical insight for building a thriving virtual studio.

Connect with Nikki: Nikki Estrada Yoga / Instagram / Nikki’s Membership on Namastream

Joy: look into your Dosha / Ayurveda by Siva / Monica Yearwood / Mark HalpernHustle: How I Built This Podcast

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In this episode, we dive into our “must read” books for the summer. Here they are, in no particular order…

Sandy: Witch: Unleashed. Untamed. Unapologetic. / Warlight: A novel / Walden / The Josephine B Trilogy / The Female Persuasion: A Novel

Jeni: Tell the Machine Goodnight: A Novel / The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They Communicate―Discoveries from a Secret World / Make Trouble: Standing Up, Speaking Out, and Finding the Courage to Lead / Dear Madam President: An Open Letter to the Women Who Will Run the World / The Green Witch: Your Complete Guide to the Natural Magic of Herbs, Flowers, Essential Oils, and More

Joy: The Crafter’s BoxHustle: VSCO

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At some point in our mainstream culture, brand authenticity started to equate to the physical reality of the space where we are completing our work—but that’s often the least interesting part of what we do.

More interesting questions: What is your work making possible? How is it impacting our culture? Our guest today, Amy Walsh, reveals that deep expertise in Photoshop and an eye for a pretty flat lay is not a requirement for producing interesting and important imagery for your brand.

Amy is an artist, visual storytelling specialist, sculptural worldmaker, and founder of the Bureau of Tactical Imagination. She helps people uncover the visual story of their work, and use it to communicate their most important ideas.

As a visual artist she has exhibited in places as institutional as museums and as everyday as the streets. She has devoted her life to understanding and teaching about visual culture and creative process - a road that winds through her work as a university educator, a museum exhibit interactive designer, an activist and now digital culture maker.

Amy helps her clients and communities build the creative and risk-taking skills to be true innovators in all areas of their work. Connect with Amy: The Bureau of Tactical ImaginationOther Mentions: Art Objects, Draw Your Weapons

Joy: go outside and feel the earth under your feetHustle: mastermind, Co-Commercial

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With summer upon us, we dive into the concept of vacation in this episode (and the cultural and legal differences between the United States and Canada). With Sandy about to take an extended trip to Europe, we discuss the importance of time off and reflect on some of our favorite trips.

Joy: Daily HarvestHustle: Logitech Slim Folio

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“Every now and then go away, have a little relaxation, for when you come back to your work your judgment will be surer. Go some distance away because then the work appears smaller and more of it can be taken in at a glance and a lack of harmony and proportion is more readily seen.” - Leonardo da Vinci

In this episode, we interview Namastream client, Kate Case. At the intersection of Eastern wisdom and Western science, Kate's body of work combines twenty years of experience as a professional yoga therapist, yoga teacher, Thai massage therapist, Eastern medicine (Chinese medicine and Ayurveda) practitioner, women’s wellness leader, women’s moon circle facilitator, and eastern energy anatomy expert.

Kate is a Nature-based Yogini, Moon Maven, Ritual Queen, Anatomy Geek, and Hormone Whisperer specializing in women's health, cycles, rhythms, body wisdom, and soulful integration.

You can learn more about Kate’s company, SHE Collective (the “SHE” stands for soulful, holistic, and embodied) here and her Ritual Box subscription here.

Connect with Kate: www.shecollective.ca / www.ritualbox.ca / Instagram

Other Mentions: The Great Work of Your Life by Stephen Cope

Joy: Red Hot and Holy: A Heretic's Love Story, NatureHustle: High Speed Internet, Journal

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Inspired by a recent graduation speech by Abby Wambach and the classic book by Clarissa Pinkola Estés, Women Who Run with the Wolves, this podcast episode dives into the importance of women supporting one another in business and life.

In her 2018 commencement address to Barnard College, Abby Wambach delivers four pieces of advice to women embarking on their careers out of college. This is amazing advice for young women, but we believe that these themes are universal:

1. Make failure your fuel.
2. Lead from the bench.
3. Champion each other.
4. Demand the ball.

We’re grateful to be part of this collective wolfpack with each of you…

Joy: 2018 Barnard Commencement Address Remarks as Delivered, video versionHustle: 13 Reasons Why You Should Read “Women Who Run With the Wolves” Instead

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This episode features an interview Mae Karwowski, the founder of Obviously—a tech startup that matches brands with social media influencers.

After working in social media management after of college, Mae had a hunch that influencer marketing was coming and had an idea to build a different kind of business—pairing an agency with a tech platform. Mae has gathered a team of experts to help her turn her vision into a reality, and in the process, she’s built a client roster of some of the world’s most iconic brands.

We loved interviewing Mae, a fellow bootstrapped female founder, because her story is incredibly inspiring and her experience is so similar, in many ways, to ours.

Listen in to learn why innovation requires thinking outside of the box and why listening to your customers is such a powerful strategy for getting an edge on the competition. 

Other Mentions: obvious.ly, Mae on Instagram

Joy: half-day FridaysHustle: Trello

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In this episode, we dive into Jeni’s new side hustle, Woodland Alchemy. Listen in to learn about why she created a new business this year with her young daughter and how she fits it in while running our software company and co-hosting this podcast. Other Mentions: Stop Stealing Dreams: What is School For?

Joy: Woodland AlchemyHustle: OnlineLabels.com

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In this episode, we chat with Seattle-based communications expert Dr. Michelle Mazur. Michelle’s motto is “Incite Action Always” and she’s known as the Communication Rebel.

Michelle has a PhD in Communication and was a university professor prior to starting her own online business. We chat with Michelle about her own entrepreneurial journey and then dive into her process for helping brands to craft their unique three-word “rebellion” (and why it matters to do so). 

Other Mentions: Michelle Mazur’s website (where you can download her “3 Word Rebellion” worksheets for free!)

Joy: Game of ThronesHustle: The Four Tendencies

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“Like workout culture, wellness is a form of conspicuous consumption. It is only the wealthy who have the resources to maintain the illusion of an integral and bounded self, capable of responsible self-care and thus worthy of social status. The same logic says that those who smoke (read: poor), or don’t eat right (poor again), or don’t exercise enough (also poor) have personally failed and somehow deserve their health problems and low life expectancy.” - Gabriel Winant

We explore some controversial themes in this episode as we question the fundamental societal shifts that have caused “wellness” to explode as an industry in North America (and “medicine” to effectively function as big business).

Although we’ve questioned some of our culture’s intense demands for “productivity” and “exercise culture” in the past, this is the first time that we’re questioning the concept of mindfulness.

We’re not placing any stakes in ground on this issue quite yet, but the conversation is important.

Joy: Joule Sous VideHustle: Natural Causes, Mind Control: Barbara Ehrenreich’s radical critique of wellness and self-improvement

p.s. This podcast is sponsored by Audible. Head over to audibletrial.com/soulfulmba to get a free audiobook and a 30-day free trial!

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In this episode, we interview video marketing expert Dana Goldstein. Dana’s company, ChicFlicks, is Calgary’s leader in video production for small to medium sized businesses. She specializes in helping women business owners effectively share their stories with authenticity.

In this interview, we dive into Dana’s entrepreneurial journey from journalist to mom to entrepreneur and author. She shares advice on how to best integrate live video into your social media presence and how to keep your social media schedule grounded and realistic.

Other Mentions: Dana’s website

Joy: Google HomeHustle: Dubsado

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We were recently guests on the Mend podcast with Anne Fricke and Amy Day, and we’d like to share an excerpt of the conversation here with you. We discussed the relationship between women, technology, and power, the restrictions we put on our children with respect to screen time, and our perspectives on charging what you’re worth.

You can listen to the full episode here. Thank you, Anne and Amy for inviting us onto your show! 

p.s. This podcast is sponsored by Audible. Head over to audibletrial.com/soulfulmba to get a free audiobook and a 30-day free trial!

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Joining us on the podcast is the legal powerhouse, Autumn Witt Boyd. Autumn is a lawyer who specializes in helping entrepreneurs protect their intellectual property. She provides legal guidance with copyright and trademark protection, contract negotiation, and problem solving. Along with her team at The Law Office of Autumn Witt Boyd PLLC, she loves helping entrepreneurs grow their dream business through smart collaborations and deals.

Autumn is the mother of three small children, lives with her family in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and hosts the Legal Road Map® podcast. Her law firm’s mission is to provide “innovative legal services with integrity and joy, so that ambitious entrepreneurs can grow profitable businesses and create the life of their dreams.”

In this episode, Autumn shares her entrepreneurial journey, as well as some tactical insights into trademarks, privacy policies, contracts, and website terms and conditions.

Other Mentions: Autumn’s Website, Autumn’s GDPR Checklist

Joy: vacationHustle: Asana, Harvest

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In this episode, we walk your through our “Before You Film Checklist,” which serves as a cheat sheet of sorts for new online teachers. Make sure you never film another video with your mic off or your iPhone oriented the wrong way!

You can download a copy of the checklist here (scroll to the bottom of the post).

p.s. This podcast is sponsored by Audible. Head over to audibletrial.com/soulfulmba to get a free audiobook and a 30-day free trial!

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We’re joined in this episode by Leah Neaderthal, a serial entrepreneur who specializes in teaching other women how to become comfortable (and successful) with sales.

Leah teaches her clients how to think of selling in these terms: Build the house. Furnish it. Move in. THEN, invite people over…

How is the your sales process organized? Do you have a sales pipeline? According to Leah, the health of your pipeline is a good indicator of the health of your business.

Leah didn’t learn to sell by being a commissioned salesperson; she learned it experientially through entrepreneurship. She taught herself everything she could about selling by reading over 60 books, which helped her overcome the natural “selling shyness” most entrepreneurs have.

Prior to starting Smart Gets Paid, Leah built, grew, and sold multiple businesses. She co-founded Lesbians Who Tech, a global organization to foster more LGBT women in technology. She also co-founded Lean Impact, where she helped nonprofits use Lean Startup principles to increase their impact and run their businesses more efficiently.

Leah’s best advice? Focus on articulating YOUR VALUE. When you can step into your value and really own it, the sales process becomes about offering that value instead of asking to be hired.

Other Mentions: Smart Gets Paid

Joy: sweater shaverHustle: CRM tool (Leah uses Nimble)

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We’re becoming big fans of producing fewer, but more thorough, blog posts and we think that you should consider this strategy too. Here are the reasons we’re in favor of more comprehensive content:

1. The majority of blog posts are short (under 500 words), so you will stand out by producing longer content.
2. You can establish yourself as an authority and expert by writing high-quality, comprehensive posts (3,000 words or more).
3. Search engines (like Google) reward long-form content. The Internet doesn’t need more fluff.
4. Epic blogs posts can be easily repurposed. Think Instagram captions, podcast episodes, YouTube videos, email-based free course, ebooks, etc.

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“We want you to be in this for the long haul, but you can’t do that if you’re working yourself to death… Your business is only as healthy as you are.”

Startup culture is defined by quick growth and fast exits, but we believe that true accomplishment and innovation results from longer-term thinking.

Starting a business is really not that different than starting a garden. You plant the seeds, water them, show up day after day—trusting that you’ll eventually see the garden bloom. Somewhere along the way, our culture became convinced that flowers that don’t bloom overnight are unworthy of planting. This kind of thinking is not only absurd; it’s dangerous.

We love the idea of building companies that will support our families and communities for years to come, but this means making choices sometimes that prioritize longer-term goals over short-term gains. This is actually not a novel concept—it’s roots run deep and sustainable growth was a common practice prior to the “expand or die” economic paradigm that evolved out of the Cold War.

Economic history aside, sustainable growth just makes sense in a world of finite resources.

Some questions we want to leave you with… What does success mean to you? What do you want your legacy to be with respect to your current business?

Joy: High Vibrational BeautyHustle: Overcast

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Videography is kind of our jam and we get asked about this autofocus issue all the time. If you’re struggling to get yourself into focus while filming your online classes or having trouble staying in focus for the duration of your session, you’ll want to listen to this episode.

When should you use autofocus and when should you disable the feature in favor of manual settings? If you’re filming in low light, filming around a bunch of reflective surfaces, or filming a fast moving object, you’ll want to disable autofocus on your camera. (We break down how to do this on a few of our favorite devices like the Canon Vixia, the iPhone, and the Logitech C920.)

p.s. If you’re using the Logitech C920 for live-streaming per our recommendation, Sandy suggests that you download Logitech’s free gaming software in order to have more control of your video settings.

p.p.s. This podcast is sponsored by Audible. Head over to audibletrial.com/soulfulmba to get a free audiobook and a 30-day free trial!

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“Women often speak about their ambition in terms of altruism. This isn’t the full story.” - Laura Close

This episode features a candid conversation with Laura Close. Laura is a Seattle-based executive leadership coach and career consultant who leads a select portfolio of clients through the transformative work of leadership development, helping them reach their next level of career and business achievement.

In this episode, Laura explains why it’s problematic for women to lead with soft skills in business (and what they should do instead). She also shares her fascinating 4-part framework for identifying your own type of selfish drive:

1. Money
2. Fame
3. Power
4. Authority

To summarize, Laura recommends two primary strategies for business success: (1) lead with your most technical value, and (2) identify (and come to terms with) your most selfish motivation.

Other Mentions: Hero’s Journey Framework, LauraClose.com

Joy: Brent MartinHustle: Herding Tigers: Be the Leader That Creative People Need

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We’re sharing our favorite new-to-us technology on this week’s Office Hours episode — Voxer. It’s super efficient (and addictive) to communicate via walkie talkie and it’s now a core part of our team’s communication strategy. Listen in to learn why we love this technology, why we think it beats texting, and why we think you should consider incorporating it into your own business.

p.s. This podcast is sponsored by Audible. Head over to audibletrial.com/soulfulmba to get a free audiobook and a 30-day free trial!

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One of our favorite benefits of entrepreneurship is the flexibility we have in our days and weeks. In this episode, we share about the specific ways we’ve built our business around our lives.

The standard 40-hour work week was a product of the late 19th century and early 20th century labor movement, and while it did its job to protect factory workers who were—quite literally—being worked to death, it’s quickly becoming obsolete.

In our era, most professionals work far more than 40 hours per week. (We found a stat that Americans employed in full-time jobs work an average of 47 hours per week, which is almost 6 full days of work.) We’re also constantly tethered to our phones, even during our non-working hours. And with all of this added connectivity, many employers are not adding in additional flexibility benefits (the ability to work remotely, flexible hours, etc.).

Because of the autonomy it affords, entrepreneurship can be fundamentally liberating for women. The ability to be with our children after school, to take care of them when they’re sick, and to work nights to make up for family time during the day is priceless for us.

If you feel called to entrepreneurship, you know it. It’s not for everyone. If you’re called to build something for yourself, there’s a fire in your belly that you can’t ignore. The drive to create your own schedule and define your own success outweighs your need for security (or the illusion thereof).

You can find fulfillment in a side hustle, but for some of you, that side hustle will turn into your full-time gig—in which case you’ve won the lottery. (Only you made your own luck.)

Joy: Wild Wild CountryHustle: Moo

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This quick episode shares our five rules for sending cold emails. By following these simple guidelines, you’re much more likely to receive a positive response (or any response at all).

1. Introduce yourself. Dropping a note to a new person? Want to pitch yourself for a podcast guest spot or a guest blog post? Please share a bit about yourself and include a link for how to learn more about you.
2. Be authentic. Personalize with context or, even better, a compliment. Don’t blast people a blanket request without any personalization. Let the person receiving the message know that you’ve actually engaged with her/his content.
3. State the value proposition. What’s in it for the person receiving the message?
4. Use complete sentences. Maybe even proofread? Enough said.

Have a specific call-to-action. What do you want the person to do? What action would you like for her to take?

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Good sound quality is EVERYTHING when you’re running an online business. In this quick episode, we share our top recommendations for high-quality microphones: 

Sandy’s Mic: Shure SM7B Vocal Dynamic Microphone

Jeni’s Mic: Electro Voice RE-20 Cardioid Microphone

Our favorite Wireless Option: Rode RodeLink FM Wireless Filmmaker System

Inexpensive Webcam with Mic Option: Logitech HD Pro Webcam C920

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In this episode, we explore the topic of expertise. Our new tagline, “leverage your expertise into a profitable online business,” has become a bit controversial in our community and we want to offer some thoughts as to why “expertise” might be a troublesome concept for some of you.

Perhaps you identify with Sandy, who is fine with someone else calling her an expert, but not ok with calling herself an expert? Or maybe you’re generally uncomfortable with the word and don’t know why?

Here’s a loose list of criteria we’ve come up with for evaluating your expert status:

1. You have more knowledge that other people in a particular area of work
2. You have credentials in a given area
3. You have a demonstrated track record of excellence
4. You’ve impacted people through your work
5. You’re receiving referrals
6. You’re confident in your expertise

We’d like to encourage you to explore your own relationship to expert status, since it can be such a powerful driving force in the growth of your business.

Joy: FREE Workshop: 7 Ways to Leverage Your Expertise into and Online BusinessHustle: If Only Quoting Women Were Enough

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In a follow-up to last week’s Office Hours episode, we now dive into some specific pre-selling strategies, including how to offer a beta group and why we recommend using webinars to pre-sell your offering.

A few general guidelines:

Don’t promise specific results: Never pre-sell by guaranteeing measurable results. This is especially important if your offering is more informative than tactical.

Don’t plow ahead if feedback is negative: If you go the Beta group route and the reviews are abysmal, consider trying a different topic or format. Even if you’ve already sunk some time and money into this offering, it may still fail to resonate. Honor the input you get.

What happens if your pre-sale brings in your revenue goal? You’ve hit on a winner. Build it out, heed the feedback you get from your first customers, refine and hone, iterate, and celebrate.

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“You have to hire for the talent and then train for the skillset.” - KayLee Hansen

This episode features an interview with KayLee Hansen. We met KayLee through a mutual friend and quickly hired her to carry out a personality assessment test on the two of us, known as the Lumina Spark Portrait.

KayLee is a certified Lumina practitioner, a facilitator, and a training and development coach for executive teams and individuals. She’s spent 13 years working in the luxury hospitality industry and has also independently consulted with the leaders of industries ranging from engineering to construction to higher education.

Working with KayLee, as you’ll hear, has been incredibly eye-opening and also validating for both of us. We think you’ll enjoy the conversation (and you may just feel the urge to sign up for your own Lumina portrait assessment).

Other Mentions: KayH Consulting Inc

Joy: The Book of AwesomeHustle: The Lumina Spark

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Pre-selling is the practice of creating a private launch before your product is completely built and perfected. Why do this? Because it validates your concept and means you get paid for conducting market research. Because it allows you to sell your pilot products instead of offering them for free. Because it WORKS.

If you sink time, energy, and money into an endeavor, you want to be sure it will pay off. Unfortunately, simply asking your followers if they’d shell out for a program or class will not get you reliable feedback: Your fans are inclined to tell you what they think you want to hear, so polling yields dubious results. (What people say and what they do are often divergent.)

So to determine if an idea really has income potential, you need proof that people will pay. You need to build something you know you can sell, and then push it into the market and see how much it can earn. If it does well, gather user feedback and iterate on it. Improve it, revise it, and resell it. And then you’ve got a business model that’s predictable, reliable, and consistently profitable.

How should you decide what to build? Ask questions that gauge interest, and get people talking about their pain points. Don’t construct your offering around your own interests or expertise; Build it on what your people want and need.

(Join us next week for Part 2, where we dive into some specific pre-selling strategies for launching your next online offering.)

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In this episode, we talk with Cathryn Lavery. Cathryn is a serial entrepreneur and designer. As co-founder and CEO of BestSelf Co., she took the company from zero to 8-figures in less than two years. After launching the Self Journal on Kickstarter, she went on to win Shopify’s Build a Business Competition in 2016 and the Build a BIGGER Business competition in 2017 – making BestSelf Co. the only company to win both awards consecutively.

Originally from Belfast, Ireland, Cathryn moved to New York City to work as an architect, but soon realized that she wanted something more. We met Cathryn back in 2014, when all three of us were learning how to build software products from scratch. Cathryn is a powerhouse and her work has been featured in Fast Company, Entrepreneur, MTV, Huffington Post, Forbes, and Inc.  

Other Mentions: Deep Work, Little Might

Joy: Coffee MeetingsHustle: Self Journal, Win the Day

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In this quick episode, we share some productivity and lifestyle tools that we each use to make our lives easier and have more time and mental space to grow our businesses.

Head on over to the show notes to download the full list (including links) of the resources mentioned in this episode.

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In this episode, we chat with Minneapolis-based writer, Sally McGraw. Sally is a freelance writer, ghostwriter, editor, and copywriter with more than 15 years of professional experience. She specializes in ghostwriting non-fiction books and book proposals, but has written everything from artist statements to self-help books for her clients.

In the interview, Sally gives us some insight into her writing process and shares her inspiring journey from employee to fashion blogger to freelance writer.

We are both impressed with Sally’s ability to shape her entrepreneurial work around her lifestyle—choosing to pursue her own brand of ambition and define her own terms of success along the way.  

Other Mentions: Sally McGraw, Already Pretty, The Power

Joy: Katie KroeckHustle: CoSchedule Headline Tool

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In Part 2 of our Instagram micro-blogging episode, we dive into several additional strategies you can implement to ensure your Instagram posts perform well:

Use location tags: Whenever you can (and feel comfortable doing so) forego mentioning location in your caption and simply use Instagram’s geotagging feature instead. Users love to know both what they’re seeing, and where it is in the world. Plus, location tagging increases engagement by 79%.

Lean on “link in bio”: Although Instagram makes you work for it, putting in the extra effort to direct people from your posts to your website pays off. At the end of each caption, include the words “link in bio” then create a trackable, unique URL with a tool like bit.ly so you can monitor traffic flow from your Insta posts to your site. (We use and recommend the paid linktree software.)

Use hashtags: This is a great way to get your content in front of people who aren’t following you yet! Using hashtags allows your posts to appear in search results with other posts sporting the same hashtag, exposing your brand to a wider audience. Start typing related keywords and Instagram will show you the most popular related hashtags. (Check out our previous hashtag episode if you’d like a deeper dive on this topic!)

Interested in checking out some active Instagram micro-bloggers? Here are some of our faves:

@thehellyeslife

@local_milk

@foxmeetsbear

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In this episode, we discuss a major pivot that we’re currently experiencing in our software business. We’re branching out beyond the yoga and wellness industry, which runs counter to everything we were taught about niching down into a very specific market. Learn why we’ve decided to make this risky decision, what we’re doing to smooth out the transition, and what advice we have for you if you’re considering a major pivot in your own life or business.Other Mentions: Lightroom and Photoshop for Bloggers Joy: Adobe LightroomHustle: FREE COURSE: Become an Online Teacher

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Instagram can a fantastic platform for connecting authentically with your audience. Although it seems natural to focus primarily on the images you’re posting, we want to encourage you to focus just as much on your captions.

Micro-blogging is the practice of creating information-packed, short-form blog posts that accompany social media images. Doing this allows you to convey important news, helpful tips, and other rich content quickly and effectively, without having to write and promote a traditional 500-800 word blog post.

We love to use Instagram for micro-blogging and here are six strategies you can use to build community and trust through your posts:

1. Be short and sweet.
2. Make sure that your content is unique and original.
3. Lead with the most important information early on in the post.
4. Encourage comments and interaction.
5. Share relevant tips and tricks for your followers.
6. Offer a peek behind the curtain.

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“I am not lucky. You know what I am? I am smart, I am talented, I take advantage of the opportunities that come my way and I work really, really hard. Don’t call me lucky. Call me a badass.” - Shonda Rhimes

This episode explores the juxtaposition between luck and hustle. Ultimately, we believe that luck, flow, determination, and hustle all come into play in the ability we have to achieve our goals.

Perhaps it’s a divine responsibility to go after your dreams when you’re born into this lucky of a situation (i.e. anyone listening to this podcast)? If you identify at all as an entrepreneur, you are likely driven to build something and grow every single day. That’s hustle.

If you’re called to build something new in the world, we encourage you pursue it with all reasonable effort.

Other Mentions: Flow, Julie Arora

Joy: Brave Women + Female Entrepreneurs Pinterest BoardHustle: Make Room for Magic

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Today’s episode dives into the Japanese concept of ikigai, which roughly translates to “a reason to live” or “a reason to get out of bed in the morning.” To find your own ikigai, experts recommend that you answer the following four questions:

1. What do you love?
2. What are you good at?
3. What does the world need from you?
4. What can you get paid for?

In an ideal situation, you are able to build a career and a life around your answers to these questions.

We discovered the concept of ikigai after creating our own core values assessment exercise, and we were astonished to see that the exercises overlap quite a bit.

Other Mentions: Is this Japanese concept the secret to a long, happy, meaningful life?, How To Find Your Ikigai And Transform Your Outlook On Life And Business

Joy: Spring Dragon Longevity Tea (U.S.), Gynostemma Tea (Canada)Hustle: Masterclass

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As you learned in last week’s Office Hours episode, incorporating targeted keyword phrases into your blog content is essential. Those SEO-driving phrases need to be sprinkled throughout all of your content, but you can also benefit from placing them strategically in a few more places.

This episode shares our specific recommendations on where else to load up your keywords within a blog/podcast/vlog post:

1. The post URL: WordPress, Blogger, Squarespace, and many other blogging platforms allow you to alter the URLs of your posts, so take advantage of that flexibility!
2. The post title: It’s essential that your post title include your target keyword phrase since titles are among the top elements examined by search engine algorithms.
3. The name of the featured or primary image for the page/post: When editing and saving your images, name them using your keyword phrase. Also add your keyword phrase to the “alt text” and “title” fields when you upload the image via WordPress/Squarespace/Blogger.
4. Any relevant internal links: Linking to other posts on your blog helps keep readers circulating through your content. When you do this, be sure to link related keyword phrases instead of simple directives like “click here.”
5. The first paragraph of text in the post and/or the first subheading: You don’t want to hammer on this phrase too much, but working it into the first few lines of body copy is vital to your SEO efforts.
6. The names of any additional images
7. The final paragraph of text

For more information on how to incorporate SEO into your online business, check out this blog post (with screenshots)!

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“The words you speak become the house you live in.” - Hafiz

We’re discussing all things related to #girlboss culture in today’s episode. We would never consider using the term #girllawyer or #girldoctor, so it’s fascinating that this child archetype been so widely adopted by women in business. How does this self-imposed characterization impact us, both individually and culturally? According to a recent New York Times article, “female entrepreneurship is on the rise because gender equality efforts in the workplace to address issues like the salary gap and advancement to positions on corporate boards have stalled.” Entrepreneurship is increasingly becoming the answer for women who are fed up with glass ceilings or a biased workplace.

But once women venture into entrepreneurship, the gendered stereotypes are overwhelming and we can’t help but worry that some self-sabotage is at play...

Joy: OmmwriterHustle: We Should All Be Feminists, Ted Talk

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The advice most brick-and-mortar businesses owners are given when they first start out is “location, location, location.” For online business owners, the equivalent advice is “SEO, SEO, SEO.” SEO, or search engine optimization, is a series of practices that makes your web content easy for search engines to find, understand, and recommend to their users. A search engine’s job is deliver relevant and authoritative content to the people using their platforms. Your job as an online entrepreneur is to load your content with appropriate keywords to help those search engines find you and your work. Many of the businesses we work with, ourselves included, receive more than half of their traffic from organic Google search. Listen in to learn how you can start optimizing your content to get seen by more people.

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We had the honor of interviewing the co-founders of Bravery Magazine, Elyse Beard and Ashley Aikele.

Ashley and Elyse met seven years ago and have dreamed of doing something big ever since their friendship started. At first they dreamed of opening up a shaved ice shack, but years later they finally had an idea that stuck...Bravery! The idea for Bravery Mag was born from their shared frustration at the lack of kid-friendly resources to help teach their children about bravery and strong female role models.

In 2017, the ran a Kickstarter campaign to fund their idea and they were fully funded in three days. Ashley and Elyse hail from small towns in neighboring states (Ashley-Idaho, Elyse-Utah) and, between the two of them, they have five children. They have a few key things in common (like their love for rice-crispy treats and The Office), but mostly they are an opposites-attract-kind-of-duo.

Elyse has a background in education and handles all the writing for the magazine while Ashley has a background in Advertising and handles the design. They both swear they couldn't have picked a better business partner and have loved seeing their friendship reach a new level.

Other Mentions: Bravery Magazine, Bravery’s Kickstarter

Joy: family time, Acai BowlsHustle: Big Magic, How I Made This

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If you’ve been listening to the podcast for any length of time, then you know that we’re not fans of discounting.

Here are some of the reasons why discounting is bad news for your business:

1. Customer Acquisition Costs (CAC) are increasing across the board.
2. Discounting creates a race to the bottom in your industry.
3. Pricing too low attracts the wrong customers.
4. Selling cheap products tarnishes your brand.

What should you do instead? Differentiate yourself with these strategies:

1. Tell your story. Share your essence.
2. Create unique offerings in your niche.
3. Bundle! Keep the price the same, but add something extra to it.

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“Just is a word that minimizes whatever follows. And somehow I got it in my head that adding that little ‘just’ in there made whatever request I had smaller, easier to handle, and less of an inconvenience to whoever I was emailing. Basically, it’s another word for sorry.” - Chelsea Stone

The podcast gets personal this week. After releasing more than 60 episodes, we want to check in about the observation that we use a lot of qualifiers like “just” and “actually” in our speech and dialog with one another. We know we do it, we know that it’s an expression of internalized sexism, and we believe that it undermines our authority.

“It’s not a huge deal, is it? But language shapes consciousness...” - Tracy Moore

This episode is our commitment to doing better, owning our power, and standing in our leadership. Want to join us?

Joy: Just Not Sorry (Chrome Extension)Hustle: 'Just' Say No, Google Exec: Women, Stop Saying 'Just' So Much, You Sound Like Children

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Blogging is a powerful way to build your brand online, but it’s also pretty time-intensive. Since you’re putting in all of that effort to draft, edit, post, and promote, how else can you repurpose your blog content give it some additional legs in your business?

Here are 9 strategies that we’ve used to repurpose content within our own company:

1. Sharing on Facebook (both within Groups and on Business Pages)
2. Discussing the post on Facebook Live
3. Discussing the post on YouTube
4. Micro-blogging about the post on Instagram
5. Sharing the post in an Insta-story
6. Recording a Podcast about the topic (or uploading audio to Soundcloud)
7. Creating relevant Pins and Infographics (if applicable)
8. Building an email sequence or email course on the topic
9. Turning the post into a future opt-in

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In this episode, we chat with Danielle Joseph of Function Creative Co. Danielle is responsible for the branding of our podcast (and the design of the podcast’s website), but she is a talented entrepreneur in her own right.

Danielle discusses her journey from employee to becoming the founder of her own design agency and shares some tips for working with designers (such as the one skill she wishes that all of her clients could learn).

Other Mentions: Function Creative Co., The Brand Planner, Playing Big, Worth It: Your Life, Your Money, Your Terms

Joy: Chef’s Plate

Hustle: Adobe Creative Cloud

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Pinterest is a powerful tool for anyone who runs an online business. A whopping 92% of our social traffic comes from the platform, so it's time we share with you our secret sauce: Promoted Pins. With Facebook Ads, you generally target people by demographic or psychographic information. With Pinterest, you can target by search terms (i.e., you only pay to expose your advertisement to people who are already looking for what you’re selling).

In this episode, we share seven tips for optimizing your Promoted Pins:

1. authenticity
2. use text overlays strategically
3. optimize pin descriptions with keywords
4. create vertical pins to take up more real estate on the screen
5. try out a collage (such as a yoga sequence broken down by pose or a recipe broken down by step)
6. be sure to include your logo or website on your image (People steal!)
7. don’t use hashtags

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Starting an online business? You need to run (not walk) to go hire a virtual assistant (VA). At least that’s the conventional wisdom we were told when we first started this entrepreneurial journey...

We’ve streamlined our team in recent months and taken over tasks that were once delegated to virtual assistants and agencies and it has been THE VERY BEST decision we could have made for our business.

We call this process “insourcing,” and although we naively thought we coined the term, it turns out to be a well-studied business phenomenon. (Heck, even the Obama Administration had a directive on insourcing back in 2012.)

When is the right time to insource vs. outsource? Listen in to learn the powerful strategies that we’ve uncovered to increase our revenue while cutting costs and reducing stress and anxiety in our business.Joy: Hand Wash Cold: Care Instructions for an Ordinary LifeHustle: Tailwind

(This post contains affiliate links. If you click through to purchase, we may receive a small credit or commission at no extra cost to you.)

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Given that your business and personal life are likely to overlap, should you create a separate Instagram account for your business?

Many online entrepreneurs consider their personalities to be part of their brands. A single account shows you walk the talk without getting overly sales-focused. If you mix business and personal, that balance makes your online presence feel more authentic and grounded.

If you have a partnership like we do (or a larger team), on the other hand, you’ll need to create a separate account. You’ll also want to consider opening a separate business account if you’d like to keep your personal life more private (or if your personal posts seem like too much of a departure from your business).

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In this episode, we discuss our theory of why tools like Snapchat and Instagram Stories have become so popular (and why they worry us at times). We’ve been wrestling for months with our opinions about ephemeral content on social media. Why, as entrepreneurs, would it make sense to put time into creating content that’s fleeting? At the same time, ephemeral content is often refreshingly honest and unscripted. 

Joy: Baron Fig Lock + Key Hustle: Plann

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Today’s episode dives into strategies for using hashtags (on both Instagram and Pinterest) to grow your online following. Hashtags allow your posts to become searchable on social media, so it’s a powerful way to get new eyes on your content.

For Instagram, we recommend that you:

• Research the hashtags that influencers in your niche are using and exploe the hashtags that your quintessential clients are including in their posts as well
• Mix up your hashtag blocks so that you don’t get shadowbanned

For Pinterest, we recommend that you:

• Use 4-6 hashtags max in your Pin descriptions
• Don’t use hashtags in promoted (paid) Pins
• Don’t waste your time revisiting old Pins to incorporate hashtags
• Incorporate at least one long-tail keyword hashtag in ALL of your Pins moving forward (to create a curated feed if someone clicks the tag)

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“We are being sold on the need to upgrade all parts of ourselves, all at once, including parts that we did not previously know needed upgrading.” - Alexandra Schwartz

It’s a brand new year, so that means our culture is abuzz with the aspirational narcissism of self development. In this episode, we discuss our opinions on New Year’s resolutions, the self help movement, and our society’s increasing focus on productivity.

Other Mentions: Improving Ourselves to Death, Kids These Days: Human Capital and the Making of Millennials Joy: Grain Mill

Hustle: Calendly Chrome Extension

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Today’s episode is Part 2 of our quick overview of online challenges. (You can listen to Part 1 here.) Offering a challenge can work wonders for your email list, but only if that challenge truly appeals to your audience. You’ll want to be strategic at every step in the process.

Here are our tips for creating a successful email-based online challenge:

Find out what your audience wants. If you offer a 10-day core strength challenge but your readers are more interested in meditation, you’ll get far fewer new subscribers. Utilize polls, track your own stats to see which articles and other content users are reading, and start conversations on Facebook to test the waters before settling on a topic.

Make sure your challenge is unique. OK, it doesn’t have to be one-of-a-kind, but it certainly can’t be dime-a-dozen! Pick an angle, add a twist, and find a way to customize your offering.

Keep it short and make it doable. Length is key. Too short and you don’t get bankable buy-in from new readers, too long and participants lose interest. Most experts recommend seven to 10 days for an online challenge. Make your challenge meaty, but not overwhelming (aim for participant actions steps that take under 10-15 minutes per day).

Promote, promote, promote. Buy Facebook ads, post promos to Instagram, start a challenge-specific pin board, create a series of YouTube videos, post daily reminders to your blog, or commit to a daily Facebook Live broadcast. Tell everyone everywhere about the stellar challenge you’ve created, and (gently) nudge them to sign up.

Incorporate interactivity. It may be tempting to write every word of your content challenge ahead of time and then step back and watch it all unfold, but resist the urge to remove yourself. Online challenges that include a social or interactive component are far more popular and effective.

Don’t forget to follow up! Hopefully your challenge doubled or tripled your list, but don’t just congratulate yourself and move on. As we mentioned earlier, these folks are now primed to buy from you, so consider offering challenge participants a deal on one of your products or classes. If nothing else, prep and send a quick poll to find out what worked and what didn’t so you can tweak the challenge for its next round.

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In this episode, we summarize our big picture approach to online marketing. We see so much excitement among our clients about their teaching content, but all too often, marketing is an afterthought.

We have four basic suggestions for getting your brand in front of new people:

1. Master the Hashtag.
2. Incorporate SEO.
3. Invest in Paid Marketing.
4. Be an Inspired Guest.

Once you’ve got someone’s attention, how do you keep them interested in your brand?

1. Get them on your email list via a generous, free opt-in offer.
2. Create and share great free content on a regular basis.
3. Send out a regular newsletter that showcases your free content.
4. Add a call-to-action to your social media platforms at least once per week.

Joy: Clear Window Bird Feeder Hustle: linktree

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Today’s episode is Part 1 of our quick overview of online challenges. An online challenge is a multi-step, user-driven series of activities guided by pre-written content. Challenge creators are usually trying to build their followings, and the challenge itself offers subscribers a tangible, fun, motivating reward for signing up.

Online challenges can be run through blogs, Facebook Groups, Instagram, virtually any online medium, but if you’re aiming to build your email list, your challenge should be email-based.

A well-crafted challenge can:

• teach your subscribers to open your emails
• build rapport and connection with your community
• highlight your expertise as a teacher or coach
• prime subscribers to purchase

Tune into next week’s office hours episode to hear our favorite strategies for building an impactful challenge!

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“Singularity is the source of innovation.” — Carol Sanford

Although new entrepreneurs can benefit from initial coaching and mentorship, your value proposition ultimately comes from your unique essence. In this episode, we discuss the work of Carol Sanford and the reason why it is so important to identify your business’s essence.

In some ways, essence is related to branding, but your business’s essence is bigger than its brand. As Sanford notes, “Essence is unique to each company, and cannot be made up...It is similar to the uniqueness each child has in a family. Children prosper best when their essence is honored and contributed. Only years later will you know their brand and how they apply it to their work in the world. They will be most successful and creative when their life and work are aligned with their essence. The same is true for business.”

So many potential clients reach out to us asking “How can I possibly be successful when there are so many other yoga teachers, health coaches, fill-in-the-blanks, online already?” The answer we always give is “But they’re not YOU.” The world doesn’t need a handful of famous, untouchable gurus. Human beings crave connection and there are people that can benefit from YOUR unique way of teaching, coaching, and serving.

Other Mentions: Quintessential Business Workshop

Joy: @carissabaktayHustle: Finding Your Company’s Essence – and Using it for Growth, What Is Regeneration? Part 4 – Singularity, The Regenerative Business

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Being the founders of a software company, we kind of geek out on software tools. In today’s Office Hours episode, we dive into our favorite apps for new online business owners.

Project Management: We love Trello best, but Asana is great too.

Personal Email, Word Processing, Spreadsheets: G Suite

Graphic Design: Canva

Online Teaching Platform: Namastream

Payment Processor: Stripe

Video Editing: iMovie

Email Marketing: Convertkit

Website/Blog: Squarespace

Team Communication: Slack

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All of us, to some extent, borrow from others, from the culture around us. Ideas are in the air, and we may appropriate, often without realizing, the phrases and language of the times. We borrow language itself; we did not invent it. We found it, we grew up into it, though we may use it, interpret it, in very individual ways. What is at issue is not the fact of “borrowing” or “imitating,” of being “derivative,” being “influenced,” but what one does with what is borrowed or imitated or derived; how deeply one assimilates it, takes it into oneself, compounds it with one’s own experiences and thoughts and feelings, places it in relation to oneself, and expresses it in a new way, one’s own. — Oliver Sacks

Inspired by Austin Kleon’s book, Steal Like an Artist, and the writing of Oliver Sacks, this episode is devoted to the topic of emulation. To what extent should copying or stealing impact our work? We believe that everyone benefits from an incubation period, where we are immersed in the work of others, but that the key to becoming successful is making it your own and producing original work.

Other Mentions: Oliver Sacks on the Three Essential Elements of Creativity

Joy: Good and Well Supply Co. Perfume BalmHustle: Steal Like an Artist

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Gamification involves taking an application or an online community and integrating game mechanics into it to motivate participation, increase engagement, and foster loyalty. In other words, gamification is the process of applying psychological triggers to tech products in order to manipulate the way we behave.

We, as humans, are animals who are hardwired to respond to incentives (and disincentives) in certain ways. We should all understand some of these basic triggers so that we can know when (and how) we’re being manipulated.

We believe that when you understand the underpinnings of human behavior, and you have the power to build psychological triggers into a technology product, you have an obligation to ensure that you’re wielding that power responsibly. Unfortunately, it seems that many founders take this responsibility for granted.

What we’ve tried to do within our own software platform is to ensure that incentives are tied to meaningful accomplishment rather than contrived, artificial rewards. Intentionality is key.

Joy: The Light PhoneHustle: Hooked, Nir Eyal’s work

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If you want to create professional looking videos for your online business, good lighting is mission critical. Lighting is an art form that can seem intimidating when you’re first starting out as an online teacher, but this episode shares some basics to get you started without the stress.

When setting up your lighting, you’ll want to keep these three simple goals in mind:

1. Make the featured speaker (you!) look fabulous (i.e., prioritize lighting yourself over your background).
2. Make your setting look welcoming and natural.
3. Eliminate shadows, especially on your face.

Here’s a fabulous, inexpensive lighting kit (similar to the one that Jeni uses), as well as a simple DIY tutorial for creating your own!

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This week’s episode dives into our favorite finds of 2017, along with a hearty dose of reflection. Listen in to learn why we love the following books, tools, thinkers, and ideas:

Best Books: Deep Work, Drop the BallBest Netflix Shows: The Crown, Brojects, Reno My RenoBest Purchases: Madewell High Rise Jeans, Bellicon, Denim Jogger, Jamie Joseph RingsMost Influential People: Austin Kleon, Kelly DielsFavorite Instagram Accounts: @hellofunction, @code_likeagirlBest Decisions: restructuring our team, starting our podcastFavorite Articles: Life is a Video Game—Here are the Cheat Codes, 1,000 True Fans, Zebras Fix What Unicorns BreakBest Podcast Episodes: Sheryl O’Loughlin on Good Life Project, Danielle LaPorte on The Lively ShowBest Conference: Craft + CommerceWords of the Year: Flourish, Implementation

Other Mentions: The Royal Family on Instagram

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Many online teachers and coaches don’t realize that live-streaming can be a fantastic way to build the foundation for a new online business.

If you leverage live-streaming wisely, you don’t have to have a single piece of pre-made content ready prior to taking your business online. So long as you have a basic website or Namastream site up and running, you can start offering live-stream sessions immediately.

There are multiple way to leverage live-streaming, but these three are the most common and effective, which is also why we’ve built them into Namastream:

• One-on-One Private Sessions
• Collaborative Small Group Sessions
• Broadcasts

You need far less equipment for a successful live-streamed class that you’d need to create high-quality pre-recorded video content. Whenever you use Skype or go live on Facebook, you just use your webcam, right? Well, it’s exactly the same for live-streaming. As long as you have a built-in camera, you’re good to go live! (With that said, our very favorite live-streaming tool, the Logitech C920 webcam, provides an unbelievably crisp picture quality for around $50.)

Other Mentions: Blue Yeti, Rode RodeLink FM Wireless Filmmaker System

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“Caring for myself is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation, and that is an act of political warfare.” — Audre Lorde

A flyway is an ecological term that describes a migratory bird route. It’s also the name of an incredibly forward-thinking investment firm founded by Hillary Strobel. We met Hillary at DazzleCon ‘17 and were immediately taken aback by her humility and unique attitude about investing. As a single mother with a background in literature and nonprofit management, Hillary made the bold and unconventional choice to start a social impact investment firm founded on the principle of “patient capital.”We both loved interviewing Hillary and left the conversation deeply inspired and hopeful about the possibility of business to be a vehicle for service.

Other Mentions: The Flyways, Wefunder

Joy: self-preservationHustle: lifelong learning

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In this episode, we discuss some of the differences in pricing online memberships vs. online courses.

For memberships, you’ll want to anchor your prices to your local economy. A monthly online yoga membership, for example, should cost roughly the same amount as a single drop-in class in your area. If your students are used to spending more for in-person classes, they’ll be comfortable spending a bit more for online programs, too.

Pricing for online courses vary widely in cost, much more so than memberships. Most of our clients price their offerings based on the following two factors:

1. Amount of content: The more you offer, the higher the price tag can be.
2. Demand: A highly specialized package might appeal to a smaller audience and require a lower price point. A more general (but still niched!) offering can skew a bit higher.

We recommend that all online courses be priced at least $97 USD. Any product you offer is going to take some serious work to build and hone, and you’ll want to be in a position to recoup your investment! Additionally, selling fixed-price offerings in the $20 to $30 range forces you to scramble to sell more units and devalues your expertise.

Finally, we’ve got to circle back to the concept of undercharging. DO NOT undervalue yourself, your business, and your entire industry by offering inexpensive products, programs, or services. We can’t emphasize this strongly enough. Underpricing sets you up to be in a constant scramble to meet your financial goals, and creates a negative energetic relationship between you and your clients. Resentment is dangerous territory, folks. Please charge what you’re worth.

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“I’m not at the top of my field, but I’m also a long ways from the bottom.” — Nathan Barry

Establishing yourself as an authority figure in your niche is paramount to sustaining a business and growing a following online. Consistent content creation, be it in the form of a blog, a podcast, or a Facebook Live or YouTube show, is the best way we can think of to become known as an authority within your community.

If you’re interested in becoming a blogger or beginning a writing project, a great place to start is Medium. Alternatively, if you want to go all-in, check out the National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) and challenge yourself to write a full book within a single month.

Other Mentions: Sex & Startups, Zebras Fix What Unicorns Break, How to Get Published on the Huffington Post, Seth’s Blog

Joy: Why You Should Write DailyHustle: Authority

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In our very first installment of Soulful MBA’s Office Hours, we’re going to share our 7-factor framework for pricing your online programs:

1. Location: If you’re aiming to build a global brand online, location won’t be nearly as essential. But if you run a yoga studio in your hometown, or operate a hybrid of in-person and online services, your initial client base will come from your local community. Which means you need to make sure that your prices are appropriate for the people who live within that community.
2. Demand: If you have a product that’s created for a specific audience, you need to take a hard look at how many other people are offering similar products to the same customer base. You also need to weigh how popular your subject is among the folks in your target market.
3. Amount of content: A fully loaded, content-packed 12-week program should be priced very differently from a streamlined 3-week program. Similarly, if you’re hosting a community and can offer members 100 stellar videos, you’ll be able to charge more than if you’ve only got 10 videos in the bag.
4. Production quality: This is where most folks get hung up. If you’re a newbie to videos and handling everything yourself, you simply can’t charge as much as someone who employs a professional film crew. That said, you should absolutely start wherever you’re at right now! As your business grows, begin investing in better tools and more help, and let your pricing reflect those improvements.
5. Background and experience: If you’re a brand new teacher or coach, you’d be wise to charge a little bit less than someone with decades of experience. It’s what your customers will expect.
6. Competition: You want to carve out a place in the market for yourself where you’re not facing a tidal wave of competition. A little competition is actually essential; It validates the viability of your offerings. But throwing yourself into a saturated space and selling the same products as dozens of other experts is a recipe for disaster.
7. Revenue goals: Your pricing should account for your specific income goals, and the products you offer at various price points should be built around those goals. If you have to hit a certain dollar mark each month, you need to know how many of each product must sell to reach that goal. And you need to ensure that selling that number of products each month is truly feasible for you.

Creating a fair and sustainable pricing structure for your business will take some research and careful calculation, but it’s well worth the effort.

Tune into next week’s Office Hours episode, where we will discuss the different strategies we recommend for pricing online memberships vs. online courses!

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We’re fifty episodes into this project, so we thought it would be fun to share a bit of personal reflection on this whole podcasting adventure so far. Listen in to hear about our most important (and surprising) lessons as new podcasters, discover the one episode that we almost didn’t release, and check out what’s next for the show. Other Mentions: Good Life Project, Voice-only communication enhances empathic accuracy. Joy: Aston HALOHustle: SuperHi: Learn to Code Now

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After spending many months feeling uneasy about the public face of our brand, we’ve made the decision to consciously “embody” the company. We’ve chosen to do this in three ways:

1. by being very open and honest about our Story
2. by being intentional about our use of Imagery
3. by making decisions from our Values

In an era when products and services are increasingly commodified, we believe that embodiment can serve as an antidote. By showcasing our businesses as natural extensions of ourselves, we can bring much-needed authenticity and human connection into the economy.

Other Mentions: @hellofunction, Jen Wende, The Four Agreements

Joy: Sarah Wilson || first, we make the beast beautifulHustle: Burt’s Buzz

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Known for her expertise as a renowned Facebook ads strategist, Amanda Bond gets real with us in this episode about the mindset hurdles she’s had to overcome in order to find success in her business.

Amanda has learned to come to terms with her fear of not being “enough” by surrounding herself with people who support her, whether it’s through mindset coaching or within mastermind communities. She’s also learned how to lean into her fears over time and through her daily experience as an entrepreneur.

Amanda encourages all of us to view our marketing as expansive (rather than fear-based)… How can we nurture people towards making a better decision for them? How can we create an attractive brand that people are magnetized toward? How can we intuitively find alignment in our businesses?

Joy: Brain.fmHustle: Old-school Clipboards

Connect with Amanda: The Ad Strategist Facebook Page

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After sifting through our own clients’ stories (as well as the experiences of our friends and colleagues in online business), we’ve observed that it takes about eighteen months of consistent daily action in order to create a significant recurring revenue base — what some folks refer to as passive income.

After taking hundreds of our community members through a free 5-Day Challenge last month, where we helped them go from idea to first paying customer, the same question came up over and over… “This was amazing, but what happens next?”

Although asking for the first sale is often the hardest for many of us venturing into entrepreneurship, what happens between day five and day five hundred is what really matters. Consistent daily action sets the stage for predictable recurring revenue. There’s no magic sauce. You need to put in the daily work to see the payoff later.

Because so many of our clients were confused about which specific steps to take to grow their online teaching businesses, we built the Soulful MBA. Here’s a peek at our six-phase course roadmap, where we’ve outlined our best thinking on how to start, develop, and grow a teaching business online:

• Phase 1 - Build Your Foundation
• Phase 2 - Develop Your Voice
• Phase 3 - Create Your Offering
• Phase 4 - Excite Your Audience
• Phase 5 - Launch Your Offering
• Phase 6 - Fine Tuning

Other Mentions: Soulful MBA Course

Joy: encircledHustle: Joseph Campbell’s Routine

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The Internet is chock full of people who are famous for being famous (or famous for teaching other people how to become famous). It’s exhausting.

But we worry that this is more than a mere annoyance. The danger, we fear, is that SO many people with real gifts (and a true calling to teach and serve) are holding themselves back because their lives don’t look like what they see online.

And although we’re in the online business space ourselves, we are constantly impressed with the meaningful work that’s being done daily by our own community online. This is a love letter to our people and a whisper of encouragement to KEEP GOING.

Joy: MÛR Lifestyle Hustle: JOBY GorillaPod

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So many people in our community share the dream of building an online business, but feel overwhelmed by the process. We’ve taken the entire journey from idea to first customer and distilled it into a free 5-Day Challenge (soulful.mba/5days). While the challenge itself covers the nuts and bolts of creating a digital product, this episode focuses on the reasons why taking your business online is worth considering.

Here are some of the major benefits that can come from taking your teaching online:

1. An online offering serves as a de facto insurance policy against your local, brick-and-mortar business or job.
2. If structured properly, your online business can afford you the ability to take a break without significantly cutting into your income. It also gives you much greater geographic freedom.
3. The overhead is extremely low. You have the freedom to take risks and experiment without any real negative implications.
4. The opportunity is big (financially and for impact).

The bottom line? It’s smart to build redundancy into your finances.

Joy: StripeHustle: From In-Person to Online: 5-Day Challenge

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“When perfectionism is driving us, shame is always riding shotgun and fear is the backseat driver.” - Brené Brown‏

In this episode, we discuss the ways that perfectionism holds us back in our businesses. We often see perfectionism used as an excuse for procrastination or as a reason to hold ourselves back once we’ve reached a certain level of success.

Here are the 7 perfectionistic tendencies we’ve identified in our own business and with our clients. Listen in to hear how we address each one.

1. You procrastinate until the stars align.
2. You often spend copious amounts of time just to perfect something that just isn't that important.
3. You have an all-or-nothing approach.
4. Inflexibility. You have a very specific manner in which things should be done.
5. Intolerance for mistakes. You are extremely hard on yourself.
6. You focus on the destination, rather than the journey. It’s all about the end result.
7. Your success is never good enough.

Joy: Why Brené Brown Says Perfectionism Is a 20-Ton ShieldHustle: Lighting Kit, Ring Light

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In our first time featuring a guest on the podcast, we’re bringing you a raw, unfiltered conversation with Kimra Luna. Know widely in the online business and branding community for her unique and rebellious style, Kimra has built her Freedom Hackers® Mastermind Facebook Group to over 60,000 people and leveraged her personal brand into a 7-figure business.

In this episode, we discuss Kimra’s unwavering confidence, her fears, her spirituality, her new identity as a single mom to three young boys, and her role as a female founder. We were impressed by her honesty, her authenticity, and her willingness to boldly follow her intuition in business.

Other Mentions: Freedom Hackers, Freedom Hackers® Mastermind Facebook Group, Sacred Mama

Joy: Amazon PrimeHustle: Airtable

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Once you’ve set goals for yourself in your business, how do stay committed and on track? Are you able to follow through when you’re accountable to others? To yourself? How you manage both external and internal expectations, according to Gretchen Rubin, holds the key to whether (and how) you’ll be able to take consistent action.

How do we structure our accountability to one another as accountability partners? What do we think about mastermind groups? Listen in to learn our tips for staying on track with our goals (and why we each have different strategies that work for us).

Other Mentions: RRP #317

Joy: Jelena | The FilmHustle: The Four Tendencies Book + Quiz

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“There becomes an innate knowing…”

When you first start something new, it helps to follow the existing path, seek mentorship, and embrace best practices. At some point, however, you’ll need to start listening to your own intuition.

As we’ve matured in our business, we’ve begun to withdraw from the cacophony of advice around us and, instead, turn inward for guidance. It’s been an incredibly liberating, exciting process—and one that is far from complete.

In this episode, we discuss our own journeys toward wholeness and the joy that has come from making choices in our business that embrace our core values.

Joy: LeVar Burton Reads, to AdultsHustle: Female Lifestyle Empowerment Brand

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“Go make a ruckus.” - Seth Godin

Regardless of your particular brand of business, money is not enough to drive most of you — there’s something deeper. There’s a problem that you’re trying to solve or an improvement to an existing way of doing things. If you’re an entrepreneur, there’s something special that you’re bringing to the table that no other person or business is doing in the exact same way. In our minds, you’re all making a ruckus.

Ruckus-making, in the context of business, is the same thing as innovation (with maybe a little bit of a political bent). In fact, YOU having a business is a very political act. You are veering outside of the path of the dominant economic culture.

The antidote to the monopolistic economic culture comes in the form of the artisan. As modern humans, we’re drawn to local, small-batch, unique. They serve as a counterweight to the heavy core of big business, big agriculture, big healthcare, and big tech.

As a community creating intentional, conscious businesses, we are paving the way for a new brand of artisan: digital artisans.

How can you shake things up in your own small corner of a market somewhere?

Other Mentions: The Filter Bubble: How the New Personalized Web Is Changing What We Read and How We Think, Seth Godin: Keep Making a Ruckus

Joy: Tartine BakeryHustle: The Content of No Content by Elizabeth Kolbert

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“We form each other. We are bound up in each other’s choices.” - Eric Liu and Nick Hanauer

Integrity is about doing the right thing, being honest and consistent, and being in harmony with what you believe and how you act. It is also a critical element of being able to build anything that’s going to exist in the long run (a business, a government, a community).

Do you make regular decisions in your business from a place of integrity or do you get sucked into the allure of Groupon, clickbait social media posts, or other short term solutions to sales and profitability? Most of us would not make the decision to intentionally pursue shady business practices, but integrity falls along a spectrum that creates a lot of grey area. Integrity sometimes requires that you make decisions for your business that are not optimized for short-term profitability, but rather, long term sustainability.

Joy: The Lively Show #233Hustle: The Gardens of Democracy

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“Our accelerating disappearance into the digital ether now defines us—we are the mediated people, whose contact with one another and the world around us is now mostly veiled by a screen. We threaten to rebel, just as we threaten to move to Canada after an election. But we don’t; the current is too fierce to swim to shore.” - Bill McKibben

After returning from summer holidays, we feel compelled to incorporate more analog habits into our lives and into our business. We’ve both felt the physical acknowledgement that the pen is an extension of the human body in a way that typing on a keyboard will never be. The writer and activist Bill McKibben writes that humans have come to use screens as mediators that color virtually every experience and relationship in our modern lives.

If the solution to digital overwhelm is to make a conscious effort to engage in offline living, how do we apply these analog tools to business? Offline connections. Word of mouth. Sales calls. Good old-fashioned networking. We’re all trying so hard to automate and to minimize the contact that we have with potential clients and customers, but the truth is that people trust (and crave) human connection. How can you find ways to take your online community offline? How can you add just a little more humanity into someone’s life?

Other Mentions: Why I Love My Paper Dictionary, Pause! We Can Go Back!, Surviving This Summer on the Internet

Joy: The Artist’s WayHustle: The Revenge of Analog

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“Waiting for a train to go or a bus to come, or a plane to go or the mail to come, or the rain to go or the phone to ring, or the snow to snow or waiting around for a Yes or No or waiting for their hair to grow. Everyone is just waiting. Waiting for the fish to bite or waiting for wind to fly a kite or waiting around for Friday night or waiting, perhaps, for their Uncle Jake or a pot to boil, or a Better Break or a string of pearls, or a pair of pants or a wig with curls, or Another Chance. Everyone is just waiting.” - Dr. Seuss

So many of us are constantly playing the waiting game in our business. We’re, personally, in the midst of a huge transition on this front. We’ve decided to make the future of our company about agency. Taking action. Figuring it out. Self reliance. (It feels great.)

We’ve identified a handful of places where we see folks get stuck in the waiting game in their businesses (many of which we’ve found ourselves in as well):

• Waiting for the money (to close the round, to win the next pitch competition, to sell out your next program, etc.)
• Waiting for that perfect person to come and join your team
• Waiting to be heard or to be acknowledged by others
• Waiting for the product, program, service to be built or perfected
• Waiting for the customers and clients to come to you

So how do you break out of the waiting game? Take action. Take control back. Be willing to make mistakes and even to fail. Embody the archetype of the empress. Decide what you need to do, own it, and lead. Do what it takes to go out and make it happen.

You’re not less than anyone. You’re fully capable.

Joy: The Holstee ManifestoHustle: Kaouthar Darmoni and her Tedx Talk

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“It’s hard to explain until you’ve experienced it. The level of power wielded over women in the tech industry rivals that in the film industry… It is so normalized, we brush it off and many of us casually participate because it’s easier. From what I’ve learned from friends, it permeates the finance and legal industries too… all these professions where the white male slightly sociopathic genius is put on a pedestal. The power at the top of that pedestal can be absolute. The struggle to get there can produce even more brutal showmanship of power. The last few weeks have helped to uproot some of the truly deep, dark abuse of power that propels white cisgender physically able men to wealth and success, and largely keeps everyone else out.” — Melinda Briana Epler

With all of the headlines making news on the women in tech front, we felt it was appropriate to chime in on the conversation. Although we walked away from the investment-backed startup world over a year ago, we remain connected to a diverse community of other female founders and women in tech. And the stories we’ve been reading sound familiar, yet disturbing.

With only 5% of startups having (at least one) female on the founding team, it not hard to imagine why there are countless subtle—and not so subtle—biases against women. An entire subculture has developed within startups and tech companies. And this subculture doesn’t look like many of us. It looks white, male, and young. This subculture, often, doesn’t represent our most pressing needs or long-term interests.

But something interesting is starting to happen — in private Slack groups for female founders, in female-run co-working spaces, in secret Facebook groups for female CEOS and others for female gamers…another subculture is developing. It looks and feels a lot like the beginnings of a revolution.

Other Mentions: Disrupted: My Misadventure in the Start-Up Bubble, How to Uproot Systemic Racism and Sexism in Venture Capital, Male and Female Entrepreneurs Get Asked Different Questions by VCs — and It Affects How Much Funding They Get

Joy: Hello Ruby: Adventures in CodingHustle: Geek Girl Rising

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“At the end of our lives, all we have is our attention and our time.” - Tristan Harris

We’ve led about two thousand people through social media training programs in our business, but we want to come clean in this episode and share some of our fears about the role that social media is playing in our (collective) lives. While we love social for its ability to help us leverage our brands online, we believe that there is a time and place for our digital activities.

Tune in to discover why we worry about free apps more than paid tools and what’s at stake when we fail to take time to disconnect.

Although social media is difficult to compartmentalize, we’ve got some simple tips to help you add more sanity into your digital life:

1. Turn off ALL notifications on your phone.
2. Use the Facebook News Feed Eradicator Chrome extension
3. Freedom
4. Read blogs on Feedly.
5. Facebook Groups App (unfortunately, Facebook just announced they will be removing this from the App Store)
6. SmarterQueue

Joy: You Can Thank Instagram for Your Rosé ObsessionHustle: Tristan Harris // Time Well Spent

If you’re enjoying the podcast, we would be so grateful for a rating and review on iTunes! Head over to: soulful.mba/itunes

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“Simply put, feminism is a movement to end sexism, sexist exploitation, and oppression…. I liked this definition because it did not imply that men were the enemy. By naming sexism as the problem it went directly to the heart of the matter. Practically, it is a definition which implies that all sexist thinking and action is the problem, whether those who perpetuate it are female or male, child or adult.” - bell hooks

It probably won’t come as a surprise to you that this podcast is hosted by two (proud) feminists. This fact is juxtaposed with the reality that we also inhabit the hyper-masculine world of technology. Tune in to hear about some realizations we’ve recently had related to our relationship to feminism, to our industry, and to our bodies.

Joy: Call Your Girlfriend Hustle: Feminine Economy

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“Not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted counts.” - Albert Einstein

The relationship between humans and technology goes back thousands of years, but who decides what gets built — and how? As science and engineering surges within academia and within our broader culture, the humanities have been in steady decline. But what gets lost when art, literature, and philosophy constantly take a backseat to STEM?

Other Mentions: Learning to Be Human, Tech’s Moral Reckoning, Toward Humane Tech, Nir & Far

Joy: Edward Tufte’s WorkHustle: IDEO’s Design Kit

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In the new economy, where the societal gatekeepers have largely been removed, everyone has the capacity to be a teacher (and also, of course, a student). Given the explosion of online education over the past five years, we’ve taken the position that online learning represents a cultural zeitgeist. In this episode, you’ll discover the reasons why we think it would be a shame to miss out on this historical business opportunity.

Joy: MOOCs, edX.orgHustle: Namastream Software

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When you’re able to channel your inner curiosity, your entire relationship to your business changes. What’s the difference between passion and curiosity? What role does curiosity play in your life and business? It’s one thing to build products, programs, and services based on the surface-level needs of your audience, but it is a whole other endeavor to genuinely inquire about their deepest hopes and fears — but that’s where the magic happens. You have to learn new things all the time as an entrepreneur, so you might as well enjoy the process of discovery.

Other Mentions:Curiosity improves memory by tapping into the brain’s reward systemBig Magic

Joy: How Curiosity Changed My Life || This is Your Brain on CuriosityHustle: The Marketing Seminar

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According to Cal Newport, “If you don’t produce, you won’t thrive—no matter how skilled or talented you are.”

In an age of hyper-connectivity, it is so easy to move through our days without ever accomplishing anything meaningful. Because of the cacophony of social media notifications, text messages, and an overflowing inbox, the process of deepening our skills and creating original work has become a rare occurrence (and borderline subversive) in our culture.

Today’s episode explores the reasons why deep, focused work matters if you want to create something of value in the world and live a rich, intentional life.

Joy: Simplicity ParentingHustle: Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World

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In this episode, we discuss why you should NOT undervalue yourself, your business, and your entire industry by offering inexpensive products, programs, or services. We talk about the difference between "free" and "cheap" and why we recommend and often create valuable "free"content but constantly urge our clients to stay away from "cheap." We also discuss the dangers that come along with underpricing, particularly the negative energetic relationship that develops between you and your clients. Resentment is dangerous territory, folks. Charge what you’re worth.

Joy: You Are a Badass at Making MoneyHustle: DailyWorth

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Often, we don't do a fantastic job of acknowledging our own success. Some wise folks are rumored to have said that comparison is the thief of joy (FDR and Mark Twain, to name a few). It's so true, right? When we look back and try to imagine our old selves achieving our current accomplishments, we realize that we are often WAY too hard on ourselves.

Listen in to learn why we are making joy an even bigger priority in our lives and business.

Other Mentions: FREE Social Media Summer Camp!

Joy: The Five Minute Journal Hustle: Find an Accountability Partner

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How many people do you need in your audience in order to build a sustainable online business? What’s the difference between a follower and fan? How many fans do you need in order to make a living from your craft? How can you leverage your role as a small business owner in the modern economy?Find out why generosity, kindness, and vulnerability are key to building your tribe online and learn about the seven specific benefits your business can receive from having a tribe of committed and loyal fans.

Other Mentions: Episode #17: Networking, How to Build Community and Grow Your Tribe Online

Joy: How We GatherHustle: 1,000 True Fans

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Part of successfully launching a modern (online) business is figuring out how to create focus within an ever-expanding barrage of distraction. As entrepreneurs and innovators, we are inherently drawn to new ideas, new courses, new strategies, but we’ve seen over and over that success comes to those who are able to drill down deep and focus on executing one idea at a time.

If you want to see big results in your business, we strongly encourage you to focus on just one quintessential client, one message, one call to action, one product offering, and one social media platform.

Joy: Good Life Project’s Sheryl O’Loughlin InterviewHustle: Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less

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We are all a part of the gig economy, whether we like it or not. How has this new economy shaped the way we live and work? How does this shift relate to each of us and our businesses? More than a third of the U.S. economy (with similar numbers in Canada) is engaged in this new way of working, but have we really considered its implications — both as individuals and as a society?

We discuss the path from employee to freelancer to entrepreneur and explain why we believe that freelancing is best used as a stepping stone along the journey to entrepreneurship.

Other Mentions: Female, Bootstrapped, and Profitable in Silicon Valley

Joy: Tulsi TeaHustle: Is the Gig Economy Working?

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One of the most frequently asked questions we receive is “What tools do I need when getting started as an online teacher or coach?” Our answers might surprise you (and cost a lot less than you might think).

There are so many incredible software tools you can incorporate to streamline and simplify your online business, but it can be challenging to determine the very best (and most affordable) options — especially when you’re just starting out. We break down the tools that we recommend at various stages of business and discuss when you can get away with using free tools and when it makes sense to upgrade to paid software.

Resources Mentioned: Asana, Trello, G-Suite, Canva, Namastream Software, iMovie, MailChimp, Convertkit, Squarespace, Slack, Airstory, Repurpose

Joy: eteeHustle: Soulful MBA Course

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What are the taboo topics that nobody is really talking about in modern entrepreneurship? We take inspiration from a blog post recently written by Grace Bonney, 10 Things People Don’t Talk About in Business (But Should), and pull back the veil to discuss some tricky truths that we’ve uncovered in our own businesses.

We touch upon issues of hiring, firing, contracts, building relationships with team members, assertiveness, harnessing fear, work-life balance, apologizing, growing apart, walking away, leaving room for grace, playing the long game, and not having all the answers.

Joy: In The Company of WomenHustle: Deep Work

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We’ve been working for many months on a new theory of entrepreneurship for ourselves and our business — the EMPIRE. You determine the size, structure, and design of your entrepreneurial empire. You decide who belongs in your empire and who does not. An empire-centric view of business can help you embrace a longer-term set of strategies, rather than falling victim to a short-term, quick win-centric mindset. You are the leader, and you need to establish your authority as the empress or emperor. Finally, your strength as a leader comes from generosity, not from coercion.

Joy: Cumulus Clay PotteryHustle: Laura Close

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Are there certain rules that we can follow to achieve success in life and business? Lots of video games have cheat codes—secret tips and tricks to help you level-up—but does business also contain them? We explore issues of legacy, victimhood, personal responsibility, human connection, journaling, and shame.

Joy: Archetype Quiz

Hustle: Life is a Video Game—Here are the Cheat Codes

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Coming off the heels of our first ever live event, we share our key takeaways and the reason why we think it’s important to connect with online friends in real life. We also summarize the topics we dove into during the live event, including social media, SEO, opt-ins, email sequence-writing, mindset, Facebook Ads, and videography.

If you listened to the first episode of this podcast, you may remember that the two of us met at a live event for an online course. In our situation, a profound friendship and business partnership flowed from that chance encounter. If you run an online business, we recommend that you consider attending a (or maybe even organizing your own!) live event or retreat at least once per year.

Joy: SO DELICIOUS Coconut MilkHustle: iMovie for Yogis Course

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Are you brand new to online entrepreneurship? Want to know what we would do if we were in your shoes right now? This episode explores the first steps that we would take if we were starting our businesses over today.

We touch on how to pinpoint your business idea, recruit your first cohort of customers, price your offering, launch to your beta group, and map out your sales and marketing strategy.

Joy: Material Wit Hustle: The Hippies Have Won

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We all encounter self-imposed upper limits in our work and in our lives. Don’t automatically assume that there is something wrong with you when you experience hints of failure in your business; sometimes things are just hard (especially in entrepreneurship or with respect to technology). One way to address feelings of inadequacy is to simply just sit with those feelings and let them pass, rather than allowing them to evolve into self-sabotage. It also helps to have a trusted person or group to lean on.

Joy: The Big Leap by Gay HendricksHustle: kitlife planner || Bullet Journal || Passion Planner || Self Journal

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"All things being equal, people will do business with and refer people to those they know, like and trust." — Bob Burg

Some may associate networking with climbing the corporate career ladder (or embarrassing stock photos of people in ill-fitting business attire), but we discuss why networking is also key to finding success in entrepreneurship and online business. If you can figure out how to be a source of support and connection for other businesses, you’ll be amazed at how often those acts are reciprocated.

Networking doesn’t always have to be calculated; it can be an authentic expression of who you are and what you have to offer others. It can be kind, human, generous, and a refreshing response to a culture that’s increasingly dominated by technology.

Other Mentions: Endless Referrals by Bob Burg

Joy: Reach out to three people whose work has made an impact in your life (via email, live event, or social media) and write them a heartfelt letter.Hustle: Join us in our free Facebook Community, Soulful MBA!