What CAN’T Be Solved with Technology? - with Jaime Slutzky

SHOW NOTES:

Today's episode features Jaime Slutzky, the CEO of Tech of Business and host of the podcast by the same name. She is a lifelong techie who thrives when connecting online tools together to benefit her clients and their audiences. We talk about being a tool-agnostic, the appeal of steampunk, and the benefits of using different tools for similar tasks.

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HIGHLIGHTS and RESOURCES [season II, episode 1]:

  • What CAN’T be solved with technology? - Not having enough substance.

    “There’s still time before AI completely replaces up. We still have to rely on human creativity.” {Marina}

  • Favorite tools (do you really want to open this can of worms?!) and why it’s a good idea to be tool agnostic -” If a client comes to me using a specific tool, I’m not going to make them switch”.{Jaime}

  • The benefits of using different tools for similar tasks - having fun with the tools, not just with the contents. It’s not always the best tactic - we discuss when it works and when it doesn’t

  • Different *keyboards* for coding vs. social media and the importance of tactile feedback: “When I’m working, I need the feedback, but when I’m socializing I get the feedback from interaction and visuals”. {Jaime}

  • The big appeal of steampunk and why it’s relevant to system maintenance


RESOURCES mentioned in the episode:

A special GIFT for Systems Meet Humanity Listeners:

Jaime’s checklist for hosting a virtual summit

About Jaime:

Jaime Slutzky is the CEO of Tech of Business and host of the podcast by the same name. She is a lifelong techie who thrives when connecting online tools together to benefit her clients and their audiences.

Jaime obtained her Bachelors in Computer Science, spent over a decade in corporate IT and then started a WordPress freelancing business in order to be mom first. From there, Jaime found her zone of genius and refined her business to integrate and implement tech tools to help her clients accomplish their next online business goal. 

You can find her at her website, Tech Of Business and on Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn



Emotions as Signposts - with Writing Coach Jenna Avery

SHOW NOTES:

Today's episode features a sci-fi screenwriter, columnist, and blogger who redesigned her life and career to support her calling as a writer - Jenna Avery. Among many juicy topics in this conversation, we discuss emotions as signposts - how Jenna teaches to use these emotions to guide us. 

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HIGHLIGHTS, QUOTES and RESOURCES [episode 14]:

We talk about 

  • Emotions that holds up back and emotions that propel us forward in creative endeavors.

  • How to know when it’s resistance (you need to overcome) and when it’s deep intuition telling you to stop doing something because it’s bad for you.

  • Why do creative people tend to be more susceptible to emotional overwhelm and how to harness this sensitivity to produce powerful work.

  • Breaking down creative task to the smallest chunks, go so small you can handle it. For example, writing for one minute and them celebrating the heck out of it, because in reality you faced down a huge fear.

  • “Deep work” is a myth?! Jenna’s contrarian opinion on a requirement for huge blocks of time to write.

Jenna on moving forward in a writing project:

Because we as creative visionaries can see so far ahead, we need to narrow our focus to one tiny small thing, and only do that thing.

Marina, on system evolution:

A good system is like a live creature - it has to evolve. Otherwise it’s dead and you don’t want dead things around your office.

RESOURCES mentioned in the episode:

 

KEY TAKEAWAY:

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About Jenna:

Jenna Avery is a certified life coach and the founder of the Called to Write Coaching Circle — an online small group coaching program designed to help writers overcome procrastination, perfectionism, and resistance so they can get their writing onto the page and into the world where it belongs. Jenna blogs about writing, creativity, and life purpose at www.calledtowrite.com.

Jenna is also a sci-fi screenwriter, columnist, and blogger who redesigned her life and career to support her calling as a writer. She is currently working on assignment for a Canadian producer/director on a sci-fi feature. 

Systems to Rein-in Emotions in Digital Marketing - with Marc Guberti

SHOW NOTES:

This time I scored a really cool guest to come and join me  - Marc Guberti. He is an Author, Entrepreneur, Podcaster and Public Speaker with fewer years on Earth than most people have of business experience. Don’t let that fool you.

He’s a social media influencer with half a million followers that helps people grow their online businesses. He wrote and published 19 (!) books before turning 20. In 2014, Marc also won the People’s Choice Rule Breakers Award for teaching on a college campus before attending college. Marc started his Breakthrough Success podcast in August 2016 and had the privilege of interviewing Seth Godin, Neil Patel, Mike Michalowicz, and many other incredible guests. (And me too!) And now he’s joining us for an episode of Systems Meet Humanity.
 

HIGHLIGHTS, QUOTES and RESOURCES [episode 13]:

We talk about 

  • The hardest part of Content Marketing in Marc’s experience – regardless of results, good or bad.

  • Navigating “Shiny Object Syndrome” in the realm of digital marketing – how do you choose between Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, etc, especially when you’re told you have to be on ALL the platforms?

  • Why do people avoid delegation, and when do you know it’s time to delegate? (with a great example, “an act of delegation” Marc’s describing for his podcast)

  • Technology to automatically distribute your Content across platforms, as well as a surprising perk that Marc points out using HooteSuite, especially for the ADHA-gifted folks.

  • The desire to make an outstanding impact – the driving emotion for Marc to achieve his incredible success – and how Content Marketing became the vehicle for making a difference in the world.

Marc on the right time for delegation:

“When you plateau, and you feel you’re not moving forward, that’s where the delegation comes in. It’s when you want to pursue another opportunity. But you don’t want to delegate too early, because that can be a lot of money.”

 

RESOURCES mentioned in the episode:

 

 

KEY TAKEAWAY:

We're doing an awesome free training!

Its's called How to be 10x more productive doing your digital marketing".  This workshop is really cool and comprehensive:

We’ll be teaching how to expand your audience by following influential people in your niche, and following their followers, how to master Pinterest and LinkedIn , and also how to leverage podcasts to grow your following.  

Marc is a leading expert in digital marketing so you don’t want to miss his expertise shared for free.

Since it’s already sound like a lot to do, our training also includes advanced productivity hacks, to help you make the most of the time you’ve got. Besides, I’m going to teach how to approach the highly charged topic of putting your name out there as a project with a start, an end and metrics for success (!). Knowing you’re doing it right reduces anxiety (and therefore exploding productivity) and we’ll be talking about tools and techniques to KNOW.

For example – how to create rituals that work to start (and finish) uncomfortable tasks -  because let's face it, the discomfort of putting yourself out there is the biggest reason people remain stuck. 

Sign up here, we think you're going to like it!

 

 

About Marc:

Marc Guberti is an Author, Entrepreneur, Podcaster and Public Speaker with fewer years on Earth than most people have of business experience. Don’t let that fool you.

He’s a social media influencer with half a million followers that helps people grow their online businesses. He wrote and published 19 (!) books before turning 20. In 2014, Marc also won the People’s Choice Rule Breakers Award for teaching on a college campus before attending college. Marc started his Breakthrough Success podcast in August 2016 and had the privilege of interviewing Seth Godin, Neil Patel, Mike Michalowicz, and many other incredible guests. (And me too!) 

Where can you find Marc?

His website, marcguberti.com 
His latest project: Content Marketing Success Summit
Breakthrough Success Podcast

 

Free Training: HOW TO BE 10x MORE PRODUCTIVE DOING YOUR DIGITAL MARKETING

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DURING THIS FREE TRAINING YOU'LL LEARN HOW TO:

  1. Expand your audience by following influential people in your niche, and following their followers.
     
  2. Master Pinterest and LinkedIn , going beyond the usual Facebook/Twitter/Instagram
     
  3. Leverage podcasts (and maybe start your own show!) to grow your following
     
  4. Know you're doing it right. Treat it like a project with a start, an end and metrics for success (!)
     
  5. Make a plan and use simple tools to track your progress
     
  6. Create rituals that work to start (and finish) uncomfortable tasks -  because let's face it, the discomfort of putting yourself out there is the biggest reason people remain stuck. 
     
  7. Learn a few advanced productivity tricks to make the most of the time you've already got

 

 

Making a Creative Business out of a Creative Hobby - with Jess Van Den

SHOW NOTES:

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This episode, episode #12, I get to host Jess Van Den. She’s the creative and business engine behind Epheriell  - a jewelry brand that specializes in eco sterling silver wedding rings and other beautiful creations. She’s also the founder of  Create & Thrive podcast and the Thriver Circle, where she teaches fellow makers how to turn their handmade hobby into a thriving business. 

We talk about running a creative business vs. having a creative hobby, about the emotional bumps in the Creative Process, and about focusing on customer needs and wants.

 

HIGHLIGHTS, QUOTES and RESOURCES [episode 12]:

  • Turning adversity into opportunity: How Jess’s health issues kept her from traveling, while accidentally helping her kick-start the business or “My teeth wouldn’t get better until my business really took off”.

  • The most emotional part of the creative process - Jess has a surprising take.        

  • The systems for money-exchange, and how they make this emotional part of the process more manageable.

  • The vital piece of money-exchange system - a system for customer communication, and the emotional and “brutal business” benefits of such a system in place.

  • On finding the sweet spot - products that feel very authentic to the creator but also respond to what the customers ask for.

  • The different challenges of a starter business vs. a mature business - the reverse direction of a creative process: from creating solely for your fulfillment to creating for your business, aka, your customers.

Jess on creating for customers:

Constraints are a positive force for creativity, because they narrow your focus. You may end up creating things you wouldn't have created otherwise, because you are forced to go deeper.”

On the ratio of creative work to business-related activities:

The actual creative work is about a quarter, maybe a third of what you do in the first few years in business.

Marina on passion vs. work:

If you turn your passion into a business you have to love the business part. Otherwise you might be better off NOT turning this ideas into a business. It’s OK to stay a creator just for yourself. It’s a totally valid choice

On systems as means to an end:

Business gets easier when you start putting systems and processes in place.

 

RESOURCES:

 

KEY TAKEAWAY:

In Jess's words: 

If you want to make a living, it’s not about you. It’s about your customers. When you turn your business into a hobby you need a new hobby."

 

About Jess:

Jess Van Den is a self-employed silversmith working under the Epheriell label. She’s been making jewelry since 2008, when she opened her Etsy shop to sell her jewelry as a hobby, and turned Epheriell into her full-time occupation in 2010 – bringing her husband Nick on board soon after. She specializes in eco sterling silver wedding rings, and works out of her solar-powered home studio in the countryside north of Brisbane, Australia. She’s also the founder of Create & Thrive & the Thriver Circle, where she teaches fellow makers how to turn their handmade hobby into a thriving business.) 

 

Where can you find Jess?

Epheriell website
Ephiriell Instagram  
Ephiriell Facebook

Create & Thrive website
Create & Thrive Instagram
Create & Thrive Facebook

Twitter

 

The real conversation we need to have with people who want to start a business - with Jason Connell

SHOW NOTES:

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This time I got to interview someone truly exceptional - Jason Connell. He is a writer, speaker, and former magician. He writes about leadership, personal development, self-compassion, and finding the courage to truly live while you’re alive.

He’s also one of my business role models, a handful of people whose work I routinely share, and whose approach to life and business I truly admire. His outlook on life is where I want to be when my business is all grown up.

We talk about systems vs. self-care, about the responsibility of being a thought leader, and about the real conversations we need to have with beginner entrepreneurs. I think you'd love this episode - it's one of those conversations that stay with you for a long time.

HIGHLIGHTS, QUOTES and RESOURCES [episode 11]:

We talk about 

  • The emotional price of entrepreneurship.

  • Jason’s vision for “Spa for Mental Health” and why we as a society desperately need to invest in our emotional fitness.

  • Is “fronting” a really necessary skill when you run your own business?

  • The outsized perception of success being inevitable if you only work hard enough.

  • How do you keep sane when the storm is happening around you? – Both Jason and I are sharing deeply personal experiences of pain and recovery.

  • I ask Jason about his own systems and rituals but we end up talking about self-care. Jason talks about a few key things to “tip the scale in your favor” helping us produce good work and keep sane and maybe even happy. He describes his own, and encourages us to find what works for us.

Jason on his systems and rituals (or, more precisely, his self-care practices)

What I think anyone should do is figure out three-four self care things that would do the heavy lifting for them. For me it’s meditation, journaling, and – when I can get away with it – sleeping for 8 or 9 hours. And then build your day to fit in everything that can tip the scale in your favor

On being a thought leader:

We live in a world where anybody with a passable marketing acumen can present themselves a thought leader. And I realized that a responsible thing for me to do if I really want to help people and their relationships was to actually become an authentic expert – with credentials, with training, and mentorships.

RESOURCES:

Putting yourself back together: guidance for when your life collapses  
The truth about entrepreneurship
Permission to dream small

KEY TAKEAWAY:

Marina: 

"We are living in a gig economy, with entrepreneurs being our cultural heroes. More and more people are choosing entrepreneurship and going through the rollercoaster that’s an inevitable companion of running your own thing. That means we NEED, as a society and as individuals, to invest in our mental and emotional fitness".

 

About Jason:

Jason Connell. He is a writer, speaker, and former magician. He writes about leadership, personal development, self-compassion, and finding the courage to truly live while you’re alive.

You can find Jason on  his website http://jasonconnell.co/

“Do what works”: using systems that work for YOU, personally - with Jodi Hume

SHOW NOTES:

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In this episode I talk to Jodi Hume, a personal strategist & facilitator for busy leaders and their teams. She is a passionate guide for the conversations that really matter, whether they're with your team, with your loved ones, or in your own head. We discuss business taboo conversations, custom systems that work (no matter what anyone says), and separating fears from facts. Actually, we discuss many more juicy bits - tune in!

HIGHLIGHTS, and QUOTES [episode 10]:

We talk about 

  • Outsourcing – battling your weaknesses and allowing you to work with more people.

  • Turning your weaknesses into your signature strength - finding the right words was a struggle for Jodi because of learning disability, so she started using metaphors. Now these metaphors are part of the magic she creates for her clients.

  • The unhealthy dynamic caused by doing what you’re not good at ("I’m a flake!").

Marina on tools vs. systems:

“You can have the greatest tools– Acquity or Calendly, or any other wonderful software. If your process is broken – because it doesn’t tap into the right part of your brain and your genius lies elsewhere – the best tools in the world aren’t going to fully help you.”

  • Taboo conversations in business and about business – mostly about failure, but actually about anything that’s not raging success.

  • The right time for systematizing things – going from a "field medic" to a "surgical team".

  • Systemic failures that cause miscommunications and badly hurt company culture (and bottom line).

KEY TAKEAWAY:

Jodi: “Progress looks like a new set of problems, and I love that! It takes away the shame – if you want to grow, expect to have problems!”
 

About Jodi:

From an early age, Jodi Hume has been making sense of tough situations. She has a knack for separating the truth from fears & fiction, and a keen way of discerning and synthesizing the core issues that keep people, and their organizations, from moving forward.

Whether Jodi is leading a strategic planning session, a corporate retreat or working one-on-one with a senior leader, Jodi’s is untangling the important conversations and decisions that shape lives and businesses. She has a particular soft-spot for the conversations that stuck swirling with no place to go… which led to her newest project: So Here’s My Story… a weekly podcast for real, honest, business.

You can find Jodi on:

Her website: www.JodiHume.com on her podcast  So Here’s My Story

Freedom to Experience Full Intensity of Emotion - with Dianne Allen

SHOW NOTES:

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In this episode I talk to Dianne Allen, a mentor to the Gifted and Talented (yes, G&T is an official term), about permission to experience the full intensity of emotions, about the specifics of navigating the world as an officially recognized Gifted person, and what can the rest of us learn from Gifted and Talented experience.

HIGHLIGHTS and RESOURCES [episode 9]:

We talk about 

  • "Gifted" means a different brain wiring - these people experience a higher-intensity, qualitatively different reality.

  • The MEPSS Model – Balancing the Mental, Emotional, Physical, Spiritual, and Social

  • What's wrong with mind-body-spirit paradigm

  • Tactics for dealing with intense emotions without cognitive tools.

  • Marina and Dianne disagree about the nature of ADHD vs. intellectual over-excitability.

Dianne on coping with intense emotions:

"Feelings are our friends"

RESOURCES:

Someone Gets Me Podcast
Books by Dianne

 

KEY TAKEAWAY:

Marina, summarizing Dianne’s approach:

“When you encounter an intensely emotional situationת to the point when you can barely cope, your first step is to connect with your spiritual self, to meditate. Some would say to check in with your gut, to listen to your inner voice. And that’s where you begin – you look at MEPSS model and decide what parts need to be strengthened. Once in equilibrium, you’ll be in a much better place to navigate the situation.”
 

About Dianne:

Dianne Allen is a mentor, author, speaker, podcaster and life catalyst for bright and sensitive people. She creates exciting and diverse avenues of personal and business transformation that range from the written word to live retreats and conference appearances.   With over 3 decades of working with personal and business development, Dianne is committed to presenting ideas and strategies in understandable and empowering ways.

You can find Dianne on

Her website: www.visionsapplied.com, at her Facebook Group call Someone Gets Me , or on your favorite social media platform:
Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn

 

 

Perks and Pitfalls of Delegation - with Henry Lopez

SHOW NOTES:

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Today my virtual studio is proud to host Henry Lopez, that you might know as one of the two voices of the popular The How of Business show.

Henry has over 34 years of diverse business experience, including successful careers in the information technology industry, sales, sales training and business ownership. He is the co-founder of Levante Business Group (supporting entrepreneurs and small business owners), co-owner of iTopIt (a self-serve frozen desserts restaurant in Colorado Springs), co-owner of Wild Blue Car Wash (an exterior-express car wash under development in Colorado), and L3 Destinations (a Travel Agency co-founded with his wife).

We talk about running multiple businesses at the same time, about perks and pitfalls of delegation, and about surprisingly simple systems Henry uses to keep all the balls in the air.
 

HIGHLIGHTS and RESOURCES [episode 8]:

We talk about 

  • The benefits of, no, scratch that, the DEMAND for regular and frequent team communication – fighting the tendency to stay in your head (because your team can’t read your mind).

  • Team meetings to look forward to rather than to resent – Henry describes the detailed flow to a weekly call that makes his team not only work effectively but maintain a great relationship with the business owners.

  • Managing a big project via email or text vs. using a legit project management tool like Asana

  • The damage of unintentional exclusion

  • Delegation: how systems, checklist and documenting make it easier by orders of magnitude

  • Simple systems Henry uses to run multiple businesses

RESOURCES:

 

KEY TAKEAWAY:

Marina, summarizing Henry’s brilliant delegation tactic:

“Let’s say you need to delegate an important task to one of your employees, your JV partners, or even your clients. Instead of spelling it to the t, create an outline and let the other person flesh it out. It empowers them, it gets their buy-in. They are now much more engaged because they’ve described it in their own words, they used their imagination, and their own skills to really give this task a shape.”

 

About Henry:

Henry Lopez has over 34 years of diverse business experience, including successful careers in the information technology industry, sales, sales training and business ownership. He is the co-founder of Levante Business Group (supporting entrepreneurs and small business owners), co-owner of iTopIt (a self-serve frozen desserts restaurant in Colorado Springs), co-owner of Wild Blue Car Wash (an exterior-express car wash under development in Colorado), and L3 Destinations (a Travel Agency co-founded with his wife).

.

You can find Henry on

His website: www.TheHowOfBusiness.com, or on Facebook or Twitter

 

 

Systems that Power the Team behind FreeeUp - with co-founder Connor Gillivan

SHOW NOTES:

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Today I'm interviewing Connor Gillivan, a co-founder of FreeeUp, a marketplace  that connects businesses of all shapes and sizes with hundreds of top (vetted!) freelancers all over the world. We talk about systems that helped him not only stay sane, but grow FreeeUp over 500% during the last year alone. 

HIGHLIGHTS, QUOTES and RESOURCES [episode 7]:

We talk about 

  • The essential qualities that create good systems for different parts of FreeeUp community: freelancers, business owners, and internal team. It's all about clear expectations, really.

  • Making it easy: using software that supports a good clear user experience (Connor: “almost directions”) and combining it with a live person. (Marina: "It's comforting,  it builds trust,  and makes you feel safe").

  • The commonalities between Marketing systems and Operations systems:
    At FreeeUp these two are run by completely separate teams. But there regular interation between them and they need to know what each other are doing.

    Connor: “Both inside and outside it’s the same Mindset, they are just tackling different areas.
     

  • Coping with emotional challenges using a strict regimen and a rigid schedule
     

RESOURCES:

 

 

KEY TAKEAWAY:

"Sometimes you don’t know what you’d need a process for. But you should always approach it from a standpoint of “how do I make it into a process”. Especially once you find success, it’s a great idea to trace back your steps, see what you’ve done right and make it into a process.

 

About Connor:

Connor a 27-year old serial entrepreneur that started out of his college dorm room. He sold over $25 million on Amazon, have grown FreeeUp.com over 500% in the past year, runs his own blog, ConnorGillivan.com, and recently published a book for bootstrapping startups. Before starting his first business, he lived and worked 2 summers in South Africa building social businesses in extremely impoverished communities.

You can find Connor at

His website: www.ConnorGillivan.com
Or on Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn

Which Emotions are Good (or Bad) for Business? - with Naomi Dunford

SHOW NOTES:

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Today’s episode is the most special to date. I’m talking to Naomi Dunford, the sharpest, most effective, and most compassionate growth coach I’ve ever known. She’s, honestly, one of my favorite people on the internet and in real life. While this conversation is deep and personal, Naomi shares priceless practical insights on systems, emotions and the interplay between them. Tune in, I think you’d really enjoy this one.

HIGHLIGHTS and QUOTES [episode 6]

In this rich conversation we discuss...

  • Emotions in business – when they propel us forward and when they paralyze us  
     
  • Speaking of propulsion – it could be positive feelings (like love)  as well as negative (like stress from deadlines)

  • The system “beyond my salary cap” that helped Naomi to stay in business despite mountainous overwhelm, and the dizzying relief it provided. As in “The freedom of it… I want to say it was exhilarating, but it actually made me cry.” 

  • Feeling constantly under a microscope  - and how the observer is not necessarily outside your head

  • Getting back to business after a huge tension drop, once “the creative whirlpool is over” 

     
  • Systems in “linear realms” like launches (easy) and the challenge in “blue ocean” realms, with no defined rules (“makes me crazy”) 

  • Naomi’s systems for publishing blog admin (15-20 min a post)

...and finally

  • Can anyone build a successful business? What are the practical and emotional traits that predict a comfortable level of success, and which traits cannot be overcome and will ensure failure?
     

Naomi on emotional landscape of a business owner:

“When we run a business we have none of the culturally created structures, feedback mechanisms, no reward-and-punishment matrices that we have virtually in every other arena of life. When we have a business, that matrix… disappears entirely and our emotions just flounder.” (Tweet that)

on self-control:

"When there’s any kind of external authority, consequence, social pressure, we are remarkably in control of our emotions. But when we are in our own private space – this could be a marriage, this could be a friendship, or a family relationship, or it could be a business – anything involving self-initiative - we CAN allow our emotions overwhelm us, and therefore we do.” (Tweet that)

 

KEY TAKEAWAY:

Marina: 
Can anyone build a successful business? What are the practical and emotional traits that predict a comfortable level of success, and which traits cannot be overcome and will ensure failure?
Naomi:
It's the maturity to know that certain of your weaknesses, your peccadilloes, your resistances, must be overcome before your move forward. There’s an ability to get over yourself and over your story that creates “Unstoppable”.
 

About Naomi:

Naomi Dunford is a marketing and growth coach to hundreds of small online businesses. She works with a range of clients, from the newest of startups to NYT bestselling authors, internationally renowned coaches, and established personal brands. She has been coaching and teaching online marketing since 2006.

Past clients include Danielle Laporte, Chris Guillebeau, Clay Collins and Jen Louden.

She has been featured in major outlets such as Forbes, Cosmopolitan and USA Today, and her newsletter has attracted over 50,000 subscribers from across the globe.

You can find Naomi at

Her website: IttyBiz.com
Or on FacebookTwitterPinterest , or Instagram

 

 

 

Jumping from a Plane Every Morning with Carolyn Cole

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SHOW NOTES:

“I jump from a plane every morning”

“How do get the courage to do that? Metaphorically speaking, where do you get your parachute?”

“I don’t get one. I just flap really hard”

My guest today is Carolyn Cole, the Host of the global Boomtank Business Show, a podcast for sharp female entrepreneurs and cool guys who support them. For nearly two decades, she was a Fortune 100 and Fortune 200 Senior Corporate Trial Attorney. Now she makes the case on behalf of our business dreams – and happiness too.

We talk about "prepared visibility", the courage to take action and how different are the challenges in the beginning vs. later in business.
 

HIGHLIGHTS, QUOTES, RESOURCES [episode 5]

Carolyn on courage to take action:

“Don’t dream fantastic things, take action on fantastic things. Unleash the innovation with a business plan attached to it.” (Tweet that)

  • Appropriate vulnerability and appropriate exposure

  • The message trifecta of a clear “who am I, what do I offer, how do I say it”. If you have all that it’s OK to be nervous, you'd be fine.

Carolyn on Prepared Visibility:

“Just do it” kamikaze-style could be really good from a personal development perspective. But I’m asking people to be more precise about it.” (Tweet that)

  • Why is “showing up” rather than hiding behind the mic works better today than 2 or 3 years ago.

  • Charting your business journey “The bottom rung is crowded, but there's SO much room at the top”

 

Resources we mention in the episode:

WordPress Divi
Brag! by Peggy Klaus

 

KEY TAKEAWAY:

Carolyn: “Visibility is the lifeblood of your business. Take action every day where you’re gaining visibility, you’re unleashing your creativity, and you have the technology to support that”. (Click to tweet)

About Carolyn

Carolyn Cole is Show Host of the global Boomtank Business Show, a podcast for sharp female entrepreneurs and cool guys who support them. For nearly two decades, she was a Fortune 100 and Fortune 200 Senior Corporate Trial Attorney. Now she makes the case on behalf of your business dreams – and happiness too.

You can find Carolyn at
Her website: BOOMTANK.com or on 

 

 

Happy Accounting with Katherine Pomerantz

SHOW NOTES:

My guest today is Katherine Pomerantz. She’s an incredibly enthusiastic, resourceful, and knowledgeable money mentor. Katherine translates accounting and business jargon into happy English and trains her clients to lead, think strategically, and improve (read: love) their relationship with money.

She combines 1:1 coaching and worksheets with practical tax and bookkeeping services. And she is absolutely in love with her job!

This episode is a lively debate - we disagree about quite a few things. Why people resent systems, how we feel about Quickbooks,  when is the right time to install a big boy system for your business. I think you'd like hearing us disagree and me being a difficult host.

 

HIGHLIGHTS, QUOTES, RESOURCES [episode 4]

Katherine on money mindset:

If your heart and your head is not really in the game, then you can’t move forward. (Tweet that)

  • Building trust: there's a step before clear communications. It's understanding what you want vs. what you need.

  • Financial Documents security - are Google Drive and DropBox secure enough?

  • Why do people hate systems? Is it because we only notice when a system breaks, or is it about giving up control to a system you don't fully understand?

  • When it's time to upgrade to a big girl system like QuickBooks or InfusionSoft or some such?

Marina on control and resentment:

People don’t what to relinquish control to a black box they don’t fully understand. 
If you don’t trust the system and don’t fully understand it, there comes resentment, which leads to avoidance, and you end up with no systems and it’s a mess. (Tweet that)
 

Apps we mention in the episode:

Hubdoc
Shoeboxed
SmartVault
QuickBooks online

 

KEY TAKEAWAY:

Strategic money mindset and healthy attitude are as essential to recurring revenue as your accountant's tax and bookkeeping expertise.

Katherine, in her own words:

Hi! I'm the most enthusiastic, resourceful, and dedicated money mentor you'll ever meet. I help entrepreneurs on the edge of burn out improve their relationship with money so they can build their business empire authentically and sustainably. I translate accounting and business jargon and train my clients to lead, think strategically, and love their money by combing 1:1 coaching and worksheets with practical tax and bookkeeping services. And I love my job! I absolutely live for the moment my clients stop stressing and start acting like the badass CEO they always were.

You can find Katherine at
Her websitebookkeepingartist.com
Pinterest
Facebook
LinkedIn

 

Special offer from Katherine:

Book a Financial Strategy Session with me for the special rate of $97!
See details on my website, or book directly here: https://bookkeepingartist.as.me/schedule.php

 

The Wall of Awful with Brendan Mahan

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SHOW NOTES:

This time I’m hosting Brendan Mahan  - an ADHD/Executive Function coach, a veteran educator, and the host of the ADHD Essentials podcast. We are going to explore the "Wall of Awful"  - a model he created to helps people better understand the emotional toll that negative thoughts and repeated failure have on their ability to take risks and initiate tasks. While the Wall of Awful applies to any life aspect, I find it EXTREMELY relevant to entrepreneurship.
 

HIGHLIGHTS, QUOTES, RESOURCES [episode 3]

  • What IS the Wall of Awful? And how does it explain why anxiety happens
     
  • Wall of Awful in professional and personal relationships
     
  • The 5 ways people try to get past the Wall of Awful: two that don’t work, one that works but it’s damaging, and two that are effective.
     
  • Hulk-smashing through the Wall of Awful – does it work, and what’s the emotional price?

Brendan on the pain of disappointing others:

“Once we disappointed someone, whether they know it or not doesn’t matter. All the previous disappointments are wrapped up in there. It’s about how we perceive things, about our emotions and perspectives.” (Tweet that)
  • How the Wall of Awful provides a concrete way to talk about shame, frustration, and other emotions tied to failure, making these feelings easier to navigate and ultimately resolve.
     
  • Unintentionally building a Wall of Awful for other people – how to avoid it

Marina on dealing with Awful:

 One of the most productive ways to deal with the Wall of Awful is to climb it (Tweet that)
  • Changing our emotional state as a way of putting a door in the Wall of Awful - by  transforming the environment (on the outside) or by shifting our way of thinking (what would Gary V do? Heck, what would Batman do?)
     
  • In the world of entrepreneurship we bump into Walls of Awful… what’s the opposite of “few and far between”? How amazing would it be to recognize these Walls and have the tools to get past.
     

KEY TAKEAWAY:

In the beginning stages of business 80% of your time and energy are spent… battling your own emotions. Not the practical activities of setting up a business, building a list, getting exposure, hiring, or serving clients.  These all present themselves, sure. But the emotional component is so overwhelming, and paralyzing, and distracting, and painful, and… I can go on with the list of adjectives.

Just think – what if you have the ability to find a door out of this emotional state. To get to the other side where it’s calmer.  This is what Wall of Awful model is about.
 

About Brendan:

Brendan Mahan, M.Ed., MS. is an ADHD/Executive Function consultant/coach, veteran educator, and host of the ADHD Essentials podcast.  Brendan works with adults, children and families to address the emotional, academic, lifestyle and career effects ADHD has on the lives of the people who have it, and those who love them. His "Wall of Awful" model helps people better understand the emotional toll that negative thoughts and repeated failure have on their ability to take risks and initiate tasks.  He can be reached at brendan@ADHDessentials.com.  Learn more at www.ADHDessentials.com.

You can find him on
His website:  ADHD ESSENTIALS
Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn 

Brendan's Free E-Book:
5 Ways to Overcome The Wall of Awful

An INSANELY Prolific Content Schedule with Marc Mawhinney

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SHOW NOTES:

This time Systems Meet Humanity welcomes Marc Mawhinney. He’s a lifelong entrepreneur that helps coaches get more clients without paid advertising, a speaker, a big-name podcaster, and he also runs one of the most ENGAGED groups in the entire Facebook universe. We’re going to talk about “paint-by-numbers” methods, about pulling an insane content-creation schedule, about the systems he swears by, and much more.

HIGHLIGHTS and RESOURCES [episode 2]

  • Why Marc uses somewhat of a “paint-by-numbers” system to help his coaching clients
     
  • The unique importance of systems for a coaching business using Tim Hanks’ Castaway and Marc’s own examples.
     
  • How to find the delicate balance between following a known systems and finding the framework that works with your strengths and weaknesses.

  • How Marc pulls off his insanely prolific content-creation schedule - a mega-engaged Facebook group, daily emails, Alexa flash briefing, two weekly podcasts, and that’s not even all of it.
     
  • The story of overcoming two business closures and leveraging this energy into building a coaching business, or in Marc’s words how “Coaching business saved my life”,

  • The emotional landscape of running a business: the steep climbs - the negative emotions that hinder our progress in business, and the green valleys – feelings that help us grow and keep us motivated and fulfilled.
     
  • A systems Marc swears by, the he’d be completely lost without. If you disagree with him, he wants to challenge you to a fierce debate, because there’s no running a business without it!
     
  • Fantastic examples for how to spark a debate among your audience.

KEY TAKEAWAY:

The real "secret" to creating A LOT of quality content - don’t be afraid to open up. Use your life. Don’t try to make yourself look perfect. Don’t fret over not pleasing everyone.- Controversy and debate are great for business. Ideas spring up all around,  - in pop culture, movies, clients’ lives. Just don’t be afraid to pick up a few and go with it.
 

About Marc:

Marc Mawhinney is a lifelong entrepreneur who helps coaches get more
clients (without paid advertising)! He achieves this with his coaching
programs; his podcasts (Natural Born Coaches and The Marc Mawhinney
Show); his Facebook group The Coaching Jungle, and his exclusive print
newsletter – Secret Coach Club.
He's been a speaker at events like Social Media Marketing World, frequently
makes media appearances and contributes for Entrepreneur.com

You can find Marc on:
His website: NaturalBornCoaches.com 
The Coaching Jungle Facebook group
The Marc Mawhinney Minute (Alexa Flash Briefing)

TREAT: Productivity and Emotional Well-being with Mike Vardy

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SHOW NOTES:

My first ever guest on Systems Meet Humanity is MIKE VARDY! Mike is a writer,  a productivity strategist, and the founder of Productivityist, a podcast that routinely tops all kinds of “best productivity podcast” lists.  He’s  the creator of TimeCrafting, a simple, durable, and flexible personal productivity methodology.

Tune into our gem-packed conversation about his TREAT model for personal productivity and emotional well-being. I promise - the TREAT acronym is really fitting.
 

HIGHLIGHTS, QUOTES, RESOURCES [episode 1]

  • Ultimately, what is TimeCrafting? It’s definitely not a mere set of tools, it’s more of a philosophy. It’s a simple, durable, and flexible way of life to be productive.
     
  • How to avoid being swept up by our to-do list.
     
  • Working by mode is a TREAT, which stands for

o   Themes

o   Resources

o   Energy

o   Activity

o   Time-Based

(to learn more click here)

  •  Working by mode is the best (and the only effective) way to multitask.
The right mindset is getting half the job done” –- Marina Darlow
  • Using verbs to move you along your to-do list
     
  •  Horizontal modes – why and how? 
     
  • Don’t! Use all 5 categories for every task.
 “Using emotion alone to guide you through your to do list will likely make you choose the wrong thing”  -- Mike Vardy
  • How email can be a dangerous thing
     
  •  “All or nothing” approach in weight loss leads to opposite results. Same is true in adopting good systems. Better do it in bite-size chunks.
     
  • The difference between tools and methodology and how the former is kind of worthless without the latter.
     

KEY TAKEAWAY:

“Productivity is very personal. And you have more ownership over your time than you likely realize. Ultimately, productivity is intention fueled by applied attention
-- Mike Vardy (Tweet t hat)


About Mike:

Mike Vardy is a writer, productivity strategist, and the founder of Productivityist. He has served as the Managing Editor at Lifehack, and contributed articles on productivity to 99u, Lifehacker, The Next Web, SUCCESS Magazine, The Huffington Post, and more. Mike is also the author of several books, including The Front Nine: How to Start the Year You Want Anytime You Want (published by Diversion Books) and is the creator of TimeCrafting, a simple, durable, and flexible personal productivity methodology - formerly known as The NOW Year Method.

You can find Mike at:
His website: https://productivityist.com/
Twitter
Facebook 

Instagram 
YouTube
 

RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THE EPISODE:

Mike's exclusive bundle for Systems Meet Humanity Listeners:
 - The 5 Categories of Modes: The Way to Make Work and Life TREAT You Better
 - Productivityist Daily Progress Planner
 - How I Added Flexibility and Freedom to My Weekends
 - Why I Journal (and Why You Should Too)