Interviews, New Economy
When Tara Mohr asked her community of brilliant women what they were frustrated with in their lives, the answer was loud & clear: playing small.
They were tired of second guessing themselves, their ideas, and their callings. They were ready to step into something… bigger.
And so, Playing Big, Tara’s signature program for cultivating a bigger life on your own terms, was born. She’s now empowered hundreds of women to channel their brilliance into bigger self-expression & actualization. As you’ll hear Tara say:
Playing big is a whole life strategy. Click to tweet!
Tara’s story is important to the You Economy because it’s a double whammy. Playing Big leveraged the one-to-one work Tara had been doing all along, allowing her to scale her vision, grow her community, and get on the national stage. But the idea of playing big and the skills it requires are also an inherently important part of realizing your own power in the You Economy.
In this interview you’ll learn:
- What does “playing big” mean?
- “When women don’t hold back, they will naturally play huge.
- How did women learn to play small in the first place?
- What are some of the different ways women are playing big in this economic landscape?
- Isn’t playing big exhausting?
To find out more about Playing Big, click here. Or visit Tara’s site and grab her 10 Rules for Brilliant Women — as seen on the Today Show.
Interviews, New Economy
Today’s conversation is with Jennifer Louden, a bestselling author, creator of the Savor & Serve project, and co-creator of TeachNow. Jen believes, as I do, that teaching – and businesses based on teaching – is an integral part of the You Economy.
Teaching really combines all three touch points of You Economy commerce. There’s the connection you create with fellow students & your teacher. Then there’s the experience you have of learning and having your new knowledge shift your worldview. And then there’s the deep meaning we associate with fresh wisdom.
Jen and I tackle these questions:
- Why is teaching an integral part of the You Economy?
- How is teaching as a business different than teaching in traditional schools?
- What are the psychological barriers those who feel a calling to teach face?
- What keeps teachers from earning what they’re worth?
If teaching is a part of your business model, I invite you to check out Jen’s free call on April 3 on dissolving the obstacles to teaching joyfully & effectively.
Interviews, New Economy
I was pleasantly surprised to find an email from Stephanie Alford waiting in my inbox a few months back. When I opened it, I found about 1000 words detailing the enormous success she had achieved in her business over the previous 6 months: quadrupling her mailing list, launching 2 successful continuity programs, and earning her first 5-figure month.
Now, what you need to know is that Stephanie isn’t trained in marketing, she’s not selling business advice, and she doesn’t have a $1k coaching program. Nope, Stephanie dyes yarn.
She’s the chief fiber advocate behind Space Cadet Creations.
Stephanie’s success epitomizes the possibilities that come from loving your product, believing in your purpose, knowing your people, and getting creative with a brand that suits you. In our interview you’ll find out how she:
- Created an ebook that become a viral marketing device, product education tool, and sales generator.
- Prioritized taking a risk as an investment in the growth of her business.
- Identified a trend & need in the market that she could capitalize on.
- Stood out in a sea of competitors who offer the same thing she does.
- Used a clever marketing idea to shift her relationship with customers & give them something with which to connect with each other.
Tomorrow, I’ll break down these points even further. Find my analysis here. But, for today, enjoy Stephanie’s story!
Visit Stephanie at Space Cadet Creations and follow her on Twitter.
Interviews, New Economy
I’ve been following Sarah J. Bray since January 2010. Yes, I know the exact month because finding Sarah marked a huge shift in my business.
For me, Sarah represents the pinnacle of both digital honesty and unflinching ambition. It’s a beautiful combination and really points to the promise of the You Economy. If you can be both truly yourself and full of the passion required to make big, big things happen, how could you call yourself anything but a success?
I spoke with Sarah about her two latest projects, A Small Nation and Tour de Bliss. Both represent the elegant, iterative process that Sarah uses to generate work that is meaningful to her team and transformative for her clients.
Her ever-evolving process of finding work that meets that criteria is something I really wanted to dive into. Her advice was to “treat it like an experiment” and to not pretend that this is going to be what you’re doing for the rest of your life.
We often get so wrapped up in getting things perfect that we forget that learning is our chief job as entrepreneurs. Perfection teaches us nothing. Striving for permanence is foolhardy. Embrace a legacy of authentic, purposeful experimentation.
We want to find out bliss, our ideal life, but we always want to reach for greatness. The thing is we’re never quite sure about what either of those things are. Our ideal life & our great work, they are unknowable. We have to purposefully experiment to come closer & closer to knowing.
What’s truly beautiful about Sarah’s process is that its goal is always moving towards her ideal instead of moving away from what is unappealing. Move toward what compels you, not away from what repels you.
Find Sarah at A Small Nation, Tour De Bliss, and her own site. Follow her on Twitter.
Interviews, New Economy
Today’s Stories from the You Economy interview is with Philip Auerswald, author of The Coming Prosperity: How Entrepreneurs are Transforming the Global Economy.
I downloaded & started reading The Coming Prosperity the day it was released. In it, Auerswald investigates the way the old economic system is crumbling and how a number of factors – not the least of which is interconnectedness – are allowing people to rebuild a new system in its place. In this system, people who have never had access to commerce are making change and transforming global institutions.
In our interview, Auerswald uses an engaging metaphor: a chess game. In the old system, “there’s a set of structured opportunities & a clear hierarchy,” just as a chess game has a clear cut set of rules and roles.
People who are off the chess board and are spending all their time trying to get back on are going to feel frustration.
But what is happening now, economically speaking, is that the real game is happening off the chess board: What happens when you start playing with all the spare pieces? Make up your own rules?
What game will you invent with the chess pieces scattered around you?
Click to tweet!
That’s a big challenge to the status quo, of course. And it’s a necessary part of the push & pull of an evolving society.
Want more? Thought so.
Listen below or click here to download this 20-minute interview. (right click then “save as”)
[audio:http://taragentile.s3.amazonaws.com/PhilipAuerswald.mp3]
Find Philip Auerswald on his site or on Twitter. Grab The Coming Prosperity here.
