Structure & Flow

Episode 128: Organizing Your Photos

32 min · 26. nov. 2018
episode Episode 128: Organizing Your Photos cover

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[http://pathtoprofitacademy.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Episode-128-300x300.jpg]Why is it so important for us to pay attention to how we preserve printed and digital photo content? What are some good first steps towards curating a printed or digital photo collection? How can we make the task of organizing less overwhelming? These are just some of the questions we answer in this episode of Structure and Flow, with our special guest Bonnie Shay. How does this relate to your business? The answer is simple: you need to have the same organizational systems in place for your business assets (images, other digital assets) to be more productive. If you’re spending hours searching for that one image you downloaded once, that’s very inefficient! TAKE THE UNIQUE PRODUCTIVITY STYLE QUIZ Once You Know Your Productivity Style You Can Learn The Best Way To Become More Productive In Your Creative Business. Take the Quiz [http://pathtoprofitacademy.com/upsquiz] today and get your results! https://youtu.be/JE_heU345wU [https://youtu.be/JE_heU345wU]You can also subscribe to this podcast on our Youtube channel [https://youtu.be/ItbNtHudSbY]. BIO Bonnie Hillman Shay is a Certified Photo Organizer and founder of Mariposa Photo Organizing based in Highland Park, IL. Bonnie helps her clients organize, edit, and back-up their printed and digital photo and video collections as well as create photo books, online photo galleries and other ways of sharing their photos. She wants her clients to have access to their family photo treasures so that they can enjoy them, manage them and share them with generations to come. Bonnie has been featured in numerous publications and presents for live audiences, on teleseminars, and webinars. Bonnie is a member of NAPO (The National Association of Professional Organizers) and APPO (The Association of Personal Photo Organizers). Facebook [https://www.facebook.com/MariposaPhotoOrganizing] Twitter [https://twitter.com/bonniehshay] Organizing is what you do before you do something, so that when you do it, it is not all mixed up. – A.A. Milne [https://www.addtoany.com/add_to/facebook?linkurl=http%3A%2F%2Fpathtoprofitacademy.com%2Fepisode-128-organizing-photos%2F&linkname=Episode%20128%3A%20Organizing%20Your%20Photos] [https://www.addtoany.com/add_to/twitter?linkurl=http%3A%2F%2Fpathtoprofitacademy.com%2Fepisode-128-organizing-photos%2F&linkname=Episode%20128%3A%20Organizing%20Your%20Photos] [https://www.addtoany.com/add_to/google_plus?linkurl=http%3A%2F%2Fpathtoprofitacademy.com%2Fepisode-128-organizing-photos%2F&linkname=Episode%20128%3A%20Organizing%20Your%20Photos] [https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Fpathtoprofitacademy.com%2Fepisode-128-organizing-photos%2F&title=Episode%20128%3A%20Organizing%20Your%20Photos] The post Episode 128: Organizing Your Photos [http://pathtoprofitacademy.com/episode-128-organizing-photos/] appeared first on Path to Profit Academy [http://pathtoprofitacademy.com].

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episode Episode 128: Organizing Your Photos cover

Episode 128: Organizing Your Photos

[http://pathtoprofitacademy.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Episode-128-300x300.jpg]Why is it so important for us to pay attention to how we preserve printed and digital photo content? What are some good first steps towards curating a printed or digital photo collection? How can we make the task of organizing less overwhelming? These are just some of the questions we answer in this episode of Structure and Flow, with our special guest Bonnie Shay. How does this relate to your business? The answer is simple: you need to have the same organizational systems in place for your business assets (images, other digital assets) to be more productive. If you’re spending hours searching for that one image you downloaded once, that’s very inefficient! TAKE THE UNIQUE PRODUCTIVITY STYLE QUIZ Once You Know Your Productivity Style You Can Learn The Best Way To Become More Productive In Your Creative Business. Take the Quiz [http://pathtoprofitacademy.com/upsquiz] today and get your results! https://youtu.be/JE_heU345wU [https://youtu.be/JE_heU345wU]You can also subscribe to this podcast on our Youtube channel [https://youtu.be/ItbNtHudSbY]. BIO Bonnie Hillman Shay is a Certified Photo Organizer and founder of Mariposa Photo Organizing based in Highland Park, IL. Bonnie helps her clients organize, edit, and back-up their printed and digital photo and video collections as well as create photo books, online photo galleries and other ways of sharing their photos. She wants her clients to have access to their family photo treasures so that they can enjoy them, manage them and share them with generations to come. Bonnie has been featured in numerous publications and presents for live audiences, on teleseminars, and webinars. Bonnie is a member of NAPO (The National Association of Professional Organizers) and APPO (The Association of Personal Photo Organizers). Facebook [https://www.facebook.com/MariposaPhotoOrganizing] Twitter [https://twitter.com/bonniehshay] Organizing is what you do before you do something, so that when you do it, it is not all mixed up. – A.A. Milne [https://www.addtoany.com/add_to/facebook?linkurl=http%3A%2F%2Fpathtoprofitacademy.com%2Fepisode-128-organizing-photos%2F&linkname=Episode%20128%3A%20Organizing%20Your%20Photos] [https://www.addtoany.com/add_to/twitter?linkurl=http%3A%2F%2Fpathtoprofitacademy.com%2Fepisode-128-organizing-photos%2F&linkname=Episode%20128%3A%20Organizing%20Your%20Photos] [https://www.addtoany.com/add_to/google_plus?linkurl=http%3A%2F%2Fpathtoprofitacademy.com%2Fepisode-128-organizing-photos%2F&linkname=Episode%20128%3A%20Organizing%20Your%20Photos] [https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Fpathtoprofitacademy.com%2Fepisode-128-organizing-photos%2F&title=Episode%20128%3A%20Organizing%20Your%20Photos] The post Episode 128: Organizing Your Photos [http://pathtoprofitacademy.com/episode-128-organizing-photos/] appeared first on Path to Profit Academy [http://pathtoprofitacademy.com].

26. nov. 201832 min
episode Episode 127: The Connection Between Gratitude and Productivity cover

Episode 127: The Connection Between Gratitude and Productivity

[http://pathtoprofitacademy.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/36798008_m-300x199.jpg]Definition of word gratitude in dictionary In this episode, Minette and Brad dive into how important giving thanks is to our productivity. Gratitude can help you stay present in the moment, enjoy what’s happening now, and be less focused on worry over outcomes Gratitude can create a powerful ripple effect in the workplace (or at home – between the two of us) when we tell people how much we appreciate them they are happier, and happier people are more productive – go figure ! Keeping a gratitude journal is the best way to improve productivity: writing down what you’re thankful for increases happiness, and happiness increases productivity. Here’s a couple of great articles for you to dive into this topic: * Does Gratitude Make Us More Productive? [https://medium.com/taking-note/does-gratitude-make-us-more-productive-fb336beeaf78] * 20 Ways Gratitude Improves Productivity [https://www.lifehack.org/articles/communication/20-ways-gratitude-improves-productivity.html] TAKE THE UNIQUE PRODUCTIVITY STYLE QUIZ Once You Know Your Productivity Style You Can Learn The Best Way To Become More Productive In Your Creative Business. Take the Quiz [http://pathtoprofitacademy.com/upsquiz] today and get your results! Gratitude puts us in more positive relationship to life and others around us. It separates our attitude from our circumstances so that our current reality does not drag us down. Gratitude is a way of being that lets us participate fully in life without concern for rewards and status.  – Maria Hill, Lifehack https://youtu.be/jL_2omnLQ6E [https://youtu.be/jL_2omnLQ6E]You can also subscribe to this podcast on our Youtube channel [https://youtu.be/ItbNtHudSbY]. TRANSCRIPT Show Transcript (2,084 More Words)Brad Dobson: Hi and welcome to Episode 127. Is it 127? Minette Riordan: Yeah. I hope so. Brad Dobson: Oh, did I commit? I guess we’re committed now. I think that’s right. Yeah, because this week is 126. Minette Riordan: Yes. So, talk about organization and productivity. Woo! And where’s our structure? We have a structure. Brad Dobson: Awesome. Today Dr. Minette Riordan and myself, Brad Dobson, we’re going to talk about the connection between gratitude and productivity. Minette Riordan: We are and I’m excited about the topic. So, here in the United States, it is Thanksgiving. It’s American Thanksgiving, because you Canadians celebrate yours at a different time. Brad Dobson: That’s right. And I need to remember that more often. Minette Riordan: Yeah, because we could celebrate it twice. We could have turkey twice. Brad Dobson: More turkey is better. That’ll make me more productive, I’m sure. Tryptophan. Minette Riordan: Yeah, exactly. Brad Dobson: It’s a known productivity enhancer. Minette Riordan: Well, I don’t think so. Anyway, we’re going to be short and sweet today and just go with that classic November theme of gratitude, but with a twist, because it’s actually been proven that expressing gratitude can increase productivity. Brad Dobson: I don’t get it. I’m cynic- Minette Riordan: He doesn’t believe me. Brad Dobson: Yeah, I’m cynical. You got to prove this to me. Minette Riordan: Okay. Well, I did a bunch of research, right? Because you guys know I like to do the research and, problem is, he didn’t go read the research yet. Brad Dobson: Uh-huh. You sprung it on me. Minette Riordan: I did. I totally sprung it on him. So, first of all, here’s a great quote from a writer named Maria Hill. This was an article on Lifehack. And she says that gratitude puts us in more positive relationship to life and others around us. It separates our attitude from our circumstances so that our current reality does not drag us down. Gratitude is a way of being that lets us participate fully in life without concern for rewards and status. Brad Dobson: Interesting. Minette Riordan: And so, what I love about that particular perspective and definition of gratitude is that it equals focus and mindfulness. And when we’re focused on what’s happening in the moment without getting bogged down by it, by noticing what it is that we’re grateful for and experiencing, then we can stay focused. And guess what? When we’re more focused, we’re more productive. Brad Dobson: So, I think of gratitude as, I’m going to be grateful for my great-aunt for baking a pie. Or I’m going to be grateful for … I don’t know … my paycheck. Or grateful for … I don’t know … my kid’s A plus on their test. Minette Riordan: So, let’s talk specifically about when you’re having a bad day and you’re feeling distracted and not focused and- Brad Dobson: I get that a lot. Minette Riordan: Not getting things done, right? If you take a moment to pause and to physically write down just a few things that you’re grateful for in the moment. Like you’re grateful for your awesome computer and your stand-up desk. Or you’re grateful you’re in partnership with your awesome wife. Or you’re grateful that you can go out for a bike ride at 10:00 in the morning or 4:00 in the afternoon, that you have the freedom and flexibility to do that. Brad Dobson: Gotcha. Minette Riordan: Right? It literally shifts your body and your mindset. It physically creates a serotonin release, I think, so that you feel happier and you feel calmer and you’re not bogged down and feeling dragged down by what’s not working. So, Brad and I play this game a lot about … It’s called the What’s Working Game, right? And sometimes you got to dig deep for, what’s going right, right now? What is working well? What is bringing you joy and excitement? What can you express gratitude for? And when you’re focused on what is working, then you have energy to look at, what do I need to do next to keep me moving forward? Brad Dobson: So, it’s that perspective shift that’s the most important part. Minette Riordan: I think so. Brad Dobson: And it’s, I guess, getting us, especially me, getting me out of my head- Minette Riordan: Yup. Brad Dobson: As it relates to all the things that go wrong or cycling downwards emotionally or all that other crap. Minette Riordan: Yeah. And we can get into such a deep cycle of worry and fear. And we can get really focused on outcomes. And when we’re more focused on outcomes, we’ve lost sight of, what’s the one action I need to take right now, right? Brad Dobson: I heard a great piece on this the other day. I guess it was on Joe Rogan podcast, which I like- Minette Riordan: A lot. Brad Dobson: Because I’m a guy. But it related to the fact that it’s almost like all the bad stuff is amplified more than the good stuff by our brains and- Minette Riordan: And this is normal to humans. Brad Dobson: Right. It’s because the lizard brain is millions of years worth- Minette Riordan: Keeping us safe. Brad Dobson: Of evolution to keep us safe and so … Oh, it came up in the context of Twitter comments and how … I think this was Neil deGrasse Tyson had … or somebody had gotten- Minette Riordan: Get a thousand awesome comments and then one really negative one. Brad Dobson: Right. One negative one and that’s the only one you’re focused on. And it’s actually because our brains are keyed to do that, right? We’ve got that fight or flight response. It’s our lizard brain responding and it’s our higher brain that is actually what we want to engage and bathe in all of the grateful comments. Minette Riordan: There was a really great article on HubSpot that I found in my research and I didn’t write down the title of it. That would have been smart of me, but it was like he had Brad’s negative attitude and- Brad Dobson: Oh, I wasn’t negative. Minette Riordan: It was about how gratitude journals can improve productivity, “supposedly,” right? That says something about the title of this article. And he actually dives into the research and it has been proven that when you write down the things that you’re grateful for, it makes you happier and when you feel happier, you are inevitably more productive. You have the energy, right? Because this is all about the emotional drag of not feeling good. And when we don’t feel good, physically or emotionally, it makes it really hard to stay in action. We just want to go to bed or binge on Netflix all day and eat Cheetos or Doritos or whatever your numbing habit of choice is. And gratitude gets us out of that feeling, that need to just totally numb out, and back into a place where we can take action. Brad Dobson: Yeah. I think this is … One of the problems I’m struggling with right now is that I feel like I have to work hard to get out of these ruts, whether it’s distraction or negativity or … It’s like I have to … There’s effort that I have to put in. I don’t feel like I can just live and be happy. I have to actually put effort into trying to get these things working. Minette Riordan: And that just drags your mindset down- Brad Dobson: Yeah. Right. Minette Riordan: Where what if it was easy, right? What if it was as simple as just- Brad Dobson: But it takes building a habit. Minette Riordan: It does. Absolutely. Gratitude is a habit worth cultivating, right? Brad Dobson: Yeah. Definitely, definitely. Minette Riordan: And you can do this around the dinner table with your kids and family. And one of the other pieces of research I found talked about how, in the workplace, expressing gratitude to your staff has a huge impact on their productivity, because when you acknowledge what it is that they’re accomplishing and what they’ve done well, they feel rewarded, they feel seen and witnessed, and then they’re excited to do the next thing. Brad Dobson: Right. Minette Riordan: And there have been a few times when you’re like, “Can you please tell me I did a good job on this?” Brad Dobson: Yeah. Minette Riordan: Because I tend to just like, “Okay, let’s keep going,” right? Brad Dobson: Right. Minette Riordan: Instead of pausing for a moment to acknowledge and say, “Oh, my gosh. This is amazing. Thank you so much for getting this done”. Or if it’s not related to me, “Ooh, I’m so excited for you that you got this done”. Brad Dobson: Right. Right. Minette Riordan: And it’s funny, because I think it’s something you do naturally with your fitness and exercise where you have rewards and gratitude in the experience of reaching your fitness goals with training peaks. So, it’s looking for fun ways to bring gratitude into your life on a regular basis and, as Brad said, make it a habit. Journaling is just one way to do that. Other fun ideas are a gratitude jar, where you just write on little slips of paper and drop them into a jar and then periodically you can pull them out and read them- Brad Dobson: Gotcha. Minette Riordan: Which is a fun one. Sticky notes are another great one. Maybe leaving little sticky notes around the house for what you’re grateful for- Brad Dobson: I might put those on the background of my screen, digital ones. Minette Riordan: Digital sticky notes. Brad Dobson: Instead of making a giant mess with them. Minette Riordan: I know you’re way more organized. We don’t have sticky notes all over the house. Piles of them, but not stuck up on mirrors and kitchen doors. Maybe we should. Maybe it would be better. Pause and take a breath before opening up the pantry cabinet to grab a snack. But handwritten notes to others or to yourself. Mailing yourself a love note, right? A gratitude note or other ways. They all involve the physical aspect of writing down what you’re grateful for. There’s something magical that happens in the brain when you take the time to, not just think about it, but to physically write it down, to read it back. And it’s really cool to keep a record of your gratitudes and then reflect back over time, especially when you’re having one of those extra hard days and you’d rather be watching Netflix than getting your work done. Brad Dobson: So, now you’ve got me thinking I want to systematize this. Minette Riordan: Well, it’s just like … you’re already journaling every day. Brad Dobson: Yeah. Right. Minette Riordan: So, especially in the evening journaling when you’re getting ready for the next day, what if you just added three things that you were thankful for? Brad Dobson: Oh, definitely, but I’m thinking- Minette Riordan: So building on habits that you already have. Brad Dobson: Maybe even more often than that. Minette Riordan: More frequently throughout the day? Brad Dobson: Yeah. Exactly. Minette Riordan: So, at the end of your focus box? Brad Dobson: Something like that. If I was actually doing the focus box. Minette Riordan: Brad’s in a rut. I think he needs a vacation. Brad Dobson: Yup, definitely. And Thanksgiving is a good time for that. Minette Riordan: Yes. And so, we’re actually not recording this during Thanksgiving, just in case you didn’t notice that, so … Brad Dobson: Thanksgiving is one of my- Minette Riordan: We’re taking the week off. Brad Dobson: It’s one of my favorite times of the year, because I think giving thanks- Minette Riordan: There’s no Christmas decorations? Brad Dobson: Yeah. Right. Giving thanks is actually one of the most important things that we can do and it’s a great reminder. Minette Riordan: It is. And giving thanks to others is important, but pausing to just notice, what are we personally grateful for? So, again, when you pause to reflect on what you’re grateful for, you feel more satisfied, you feel happier. And when you’re happier with how things are going in your life, it’s easier to have the energy and focus to increase your productivity. There is a direct correlation there. Its been proven, not by me, by other people. Brad Dobson: Couldn’t say it any better. Minette Riordan: All right. Happy, happy Thanksgiving from our home to yours or happy thankful gratitude day, just for listening wherever you are in the world- Brad Dobson: Exactly. Minette Riordan: We appreciate you. We’re very grateful for your listenership. We’re 127 episodes into this baby. It’s been a lot of fun. I’m grateful for you. Brad Dobson: I’m grateful for you. Minette Riordan: Yeah. Brad Dobson: Love you guys! Minette Riordan: All right. See you next week! [https://www.addtoany.com/add_to/facebook?linkurl=http%3A%2F%2Fpathtoprofitacademy.com%2Fepisode-127-connection-gratitude-productivity%2F&linkname=Episode%20127%3A%20The%20Connection%20Between%20Gratitude%20and%20Productivity] [https://www.addtoany.com/add_to/twitter?linkurl=http%3A%2F%2Fpathtoprofitacademy.com%2Fepisode-127-connection-gratitude-productivity%2F&linkname=Episode%20127%3A%20The%20Connection%20Between%20Gratitude%20and%20Productivity] [https://www.addtoany.com/add_to/google_plus?linkurl=http%3A%2F%2Fpathtoprofitacademy.com%2Fepisode-127-connection-gratitude-productivity%2F&linkname=Episode%20127%3A%20The%20Connection%20Between%20Gratitude%20and%20Productivity] [https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Fpathtoprofitacademy.com%2Fepisode-127-connection-gratitude-productivity%2F&title=Episode%20127%3A%20The%20Connection%20Between%20Gratitude%20and%20Productivity] The post Episode 127: The Connection Between Gratitude and Productivity [http://pathtoprofitacademy.com/episode-127-connection-gratitude-productivity/] appeared first on Path to Profit Academy [http://pathtoprofitacademy.com].

20. nov. 201812 min
episode Episode 126: Productivity Hacks from a Busy Mompreneur cover

Episode 126: Productivity Hacks from a Busy Mompreneur

[http://pathtoprofitacademy.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Screen-Shot-2018-11-12-at-3.14.42-PM-300x300.png] In this week’s episode we talk with Lisa Pezik (another Canadian!) about how to get more productive and get more done without it really taking over your life. We go deep into how our different roles as a entrepreneurs affect our productivity. It’s all about blocking time and singular focus! Lisa shares her best productivity hacks, including power pockets 🙂 [https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/2.3/72x72/1f642.png] “Amateurs sit and wait for inspiration, the rest of us just get up and go to work.” – Stephen King, On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft BIO In Lisa’s words, “In 2016, I was seconds away from being sideswiped by a transport truck. I was upset and distracted. “Enough is enough.” I swapped Netflix for personal development books, low calorie diets for whole foods, and learned from the best mentors in High Performance, Personal Story Power, and Online Marketing. I still had a full time job. I was raising our little dude, and my business grew in the focused power pockets of my day. In two years, I released over 100lbs and built a six-figure online speaking, writing,  and coaching business from my kitchen table. As a Registered Nurse, ACE Certified Trainer in Fitness, Nutrition, Youth Fitness, Seniors Fitness and Pain Free/ Function First Movement, I have a unique background and passion for freedom in families. Freedom of time, freedom of debt, freedom from suffering. I’ve been a featured expert on the Hamilton Life Show, published in Thrive Global and The Huffington Post, and I speak on stages all across the world. Be savage, and gritty, and eloquent, and resilient. The world needs YOU.” TAKE THE UNIQUE PRODUCTIVITY STYLE QUIZ Once You Know Your Productivity Style You Can Learn The Best Way To Become More Productive In Your Creative Business. Take the Quiz [http://pathtoprofitacademy.com/upsquiz] today and get your results! LINKS * https://www.instagram.com/lisa.pezik/ [https://www.instagram.com/lisa.pezik/] * https://www.facebook.com/LisaPezikCoach/ [https://www.facebook.com/LisaPezikCoach/] * https://twitter.com/lisa_pezik [https://twitter.com/lisa_pezik] * https://lisa135.clickfunnels.com/free-gift-15ps [https://lisa135.clickfunnels.com/free-gift-15ps] https://youtu.be/uv9bMNqQeWE [https://youtu.be/uv9bMNqQeWE]You can also subscribe to this podcast on our Youtube channel [https://youtu.be/ItbNtHudSbY]. TRANSCRIPT Show Transcript (6,053 More Words)Minette Riordan: Hey, good morning from Santa Barbara California. I’m Dr. Minette Riordan, here with my almost-awake husband- Brad Dobson: Sleepy. Minette Riordan: … Brad Dobson. We are the co-hosts of Structure and Flow: The Productivity Podcast for Creative Entrepreneurs, bringing you great tips. And today, an awesome guest on how to get more productive, get more done, without it really taking over your life. So, you know on this show if you’ve been listening for a while, we’re all about grace and ease. Not about the hustle. So we’re extra-excited to have Lisa Pezik, all the way from Toronto, Canada, as our guest today. Welcome, Lisa. Brad Dobson: Welcome, Lisa. Lisa Pezik: Thank you so much! I’m so excited to be here. Minette Riordan: We’re super-super happy to have you. And Lisa and I have a really fun conversation a couple of weeks ago, and started getting to know each other a little bit. And Lisa, are you coming to Santa Barbara next year? I’m trying to remember if that’s where I met you, was through Soul Success Summit. Lisa Pezik: I’ll be speaking at the summit in April, which I’m very excited about. Minette Riordan: So we’ll both be speaking at the summit in April. Lisa Pezik: Hey, awesome! Minette Riordan: Yeah, so this is how the magic of growing your creative business works, people. As you’re listening, so Lisa and I are both speaking at the same event next April. We met in a Facebook group online, and here we are, taking it a step further, creating those connections and collaborations. One of the fastest ways to improve your productivity is go talk to people! People who are- Brad Dobson: Oh, that’s hard. Minette Riordan: … [inaudible] your business faster. Said the introvert. Brad Dobson: That’s right. How do we talk to people? Minette Riordan: How do we talk to people? That’s a tough one for creatives. Brad Dobson: Yeah, a lot of them. They just want to create. Minette Riordan: And they just want to create. Which is what Stephen King says in our Quote for the Day. You want to share the quote? Brad Dobson: Yeah. So we always have a quote on this podcast, and she surprised me this morning. It was like, “Stephen King? Where’d that come from?” “Amateurs sit and wait for inspiration. Rest of us get up and go to work.” Stephen King is a writer, is definitely someone who works at his craft. Minette Riordan: He is. And I picked this because it resonated with me around your story, Lisa. And some of the amazing things that you’ve accomplished in your life, not the least of which is letting go of 100 pounds, starting your second business, starting to work with your husband in the last year, like so many things happening. So rather than us sharing your bio, we’d love to hear in your words, who are you and what are you excited about right now? Lisa Pezik: What a great question. I am a business strategist and content expert. But first and foremost, I am a mom to a crazy five-year-old who keeps me on my toes. I’m a wife. And it took me a long time to realize that the beauty of being an entrepreneur is the freedom that it allows you to be with your family. It can’t get wrapped up and be the other way around. Sometimes when you’re talking about hustle earlier, it’s like you’re hustling and hustling and hustling, while the rest of your life is falling apart. And you have to recognize that, because you don’t want to build the dream, get to where you want to be, and realize that everything behind you crumbled. And that was the rat race that I got myself into, when I first opened my first business, which was actually in fitness and health. So I’m a registered nurse by degree, and always had that passion to help people. But the fitness industry is very transactional in terms of you’re trading hours for dollars, you have to take more clients, you have to work longer, and I was doing that on top of working a nine-to-five job as a nurse. And actually, I was working shift work before that. But it got into a nine-to-five job, so my days were crazy. It was wake up, train, work all day, get the kid to bed, train at night, and there was no time left for me. Which is where the 100 pounds came. I was, on paper, I looked so accomplished. My business was booming and people were like, “I don’t know how you do it! You’re amazing,” when on the inside I was feeling like such an impostor. I’m overweight, I’m out of shape, I never get to see my son. My husband’s getting angry at me, and those were all choices that I made. Right? So, fast forward to about a year and a half ago. What I did was, I learned from the best, how to take my business online. And it was like, wow. The universe just opened when I realized the power of systems, the power of automation, the power of online courses, the power of social media. I just realized there was a different way to do it, because growing up, I came from blue-collar parents, which were like, great advice, but it was like, “Keep your head down and work hard, work that job, be thankful for that job, don’t make waves.” And just the idea of entrepreneurship was out in left field. So got my business online, finally, got my priorities in alignment — my health got better, my relationships got better, parenting got better, everything go better because of the choices that I decided to make. I was like, “Oh, this is good. Now I have to help other people spread that message and do the same.” Because so many people as you said, in that hustle, in that rat race. And we’re conditioned to think, “Do more, achieve more, walk more, work more.” And, it’s like, “What is the cost of that, when you’re doing that?” For me, the cost was being overweight, being stressed, hormones being out of whack. It took us a little bit to conceive our first child, and it was just because I was just so misaligned with who I am and what I wanted to be doing. So, here I am, a couple of years later now, working with my husband, working when my son is at school. I’m on contract, actually, with my jobs, so I didn’t completely leave my nine-to-five. I was able to restructure it to make it work in my life, ’cause I’m still passionate about the work that I do there. So, I really like to challenge people with that, “This is the way it’s always been done. This is the way it has to be.” I really want to challenge you that it doesn’t have to be that way. Think about what you want, how you want to show up, what your expertise and knowledge is. And then go out and do that. ‘Cause it’s possible. You go after it. And that’s kind of the story for me. I knew what I wanted, I went after it, for the sake of getting my health back, getting my family back, and getting my life back. Brad Dobson: Very neat. I like that you, one of the terms you use was “rat race.” And this came up, I just read a book called Happier, which is from a … Oh gosh, I think it was a Harvard course given about happiness. Fantastic book. But he said that, “Rat racers are people that are looking for, they’re giving things up now for happiness later.” And so rather than having … I mean, it’s okay. You always want to look for long-term happiness. But they’re having no short-term happiness, because of the rat race. Lisa Pezik: Yeah. Yeah. Brad Dobson: And I think that kind of aligns with the story that you told. That’s very neat. Minette Riordan: Well, I’m listening to Lisa’s story, and I’m thinking about where we were a decade ago as well. Brad was working a full-time job that he didn’t love. And that we were trying to raise kids. I was trying to grow a business and was really struggling. This was 2008, 2009. It was so incredibly stressful. And everything you said was so true. It all looked so pretty from the outside, like, “Happy family! Two amazing kids! Great partnership! And winning awards, left and right! And my business!” And yet we weren’t making money, we weren’t spending enough quality time together, we had, and around that time I lost my stepmom to cancer, and my weight ballooned. And it was all so true, and it does make you feel like an impostor. And I think I particularly appreciated what you said about this was a choice that you made. It might have been conscious choice, it might have been an unconscious choice. And so many times I think that we aren’t aware that we’re choosing this, that we feel that something is being placed upon us or happens to us. And it’s when we come back to that moment of choice, that change is possible. Lisa Pezik: Amen. And being in it for the long haul. Someone once asked me, “What is a trait that an entrepreneur must have?” And I’m like, “It’s resilience. And playing the long game.” Because, again, it’s so easy to compare, compare on social media, compare and you’re like, “Well, this person made this income with their first launch,” or “We made zero to six figures in three months,” and then you’re going, “What’s wrong with me? Why aren’t I doing that? What am I doing wrong?” And that’s not the case, it’s the daily intentional stuff that you do. That I almost think that book, The Compound Effect by Darren Hardy, that leads up to you can have that big boom. But there was some daily intentional work that was done to have that big boom. And it’s doing that daily intentional stuff that probably nobody will ever ask you about. Minette Riordan: Right. Lisa Pezik: Like which media [inaudible], like showing up, giving readings, blogging, podcasting, taking care of your health, connecting [inaudible] with whatever that is. It’s that needle moving, getting rid of the to-do tasky stuff. And really tackling that needle-moving stuff, consistently, day in and day out. That I think is what gets you … Nobody knows that back story behind, “Yes, they might have made six figures in three months, but what did they do consistently, every day, for those three months?” Minette Riordan: Right. I’m like, “How many hours did they put in, how big was their team, the people that are going that big that fast, they’re not doing it alone. They have support. There’s so many things I think that happen to make it go faster that are all important to the productivity puzzle. You mentioned in your story, wife, mom, now couple-preneurs, entrepreneurs, still working a job that you love. How do all these different roles impact productivity from your perspective? Lisa Pezik: Yeah. I am such a ninja with my block time. People are like, “I don’t want to put stuff in the calendar, I don’t want to plan every minute of my day.” I’m like, “Oh no, I plan every minute of my day.” Is accounted for. And that, I think, was a huge thing for me to be able to get time back with my family, with my husband. With my son. When I’m with my son, I’m with my son. And I’m not answering emails, I’m not thinking about anything else, and when I’m on a date night, or I’m having coffee with my husband in the morning, even if it’s five minutes. I’m 110% there with my husband for those five minutes. When I choose, once a day, that’s it, to answer my emails; I answer my emails once a day; I’m fully in it with my emails, writing back to people. Whatever I’m doing, I’m blogging, I’m podcasting, I’m coaching as a nurse, I’m teaching, I’m doing, whatever I’m doing, whether it’s mom, wife, nurse educator — I teach as a nurse now — trainer, coach, whatever it is, that has my 110% attention. And also, blocking the right amount of time for that task, because when I first started, I was like, “Oh, I get block time. I know how to do that. I can do that.” And I’m like, “It’s gonna take me 20 minutes to do a podcast, 10 minutes to do a blog, and 15 minutes to write a social media post.” And I was trying to block all these things in one time. And you know that sometimes technology doesn’t work, emergencies do happen. One thing at one moment can get your time. I think that [inaudible] multitasking, … 100 things at once, I really don’t think that serves you because your brain is just scattered. And then, you may be producing, but I don’t think you’re producing to the best of your ability. Minette Riordan: Right. Lisa Pezik: When you’re 110% focused, you could be more productive. You could write about your post, you could create something better, you could be more inspirational and show up with more energy or focus. You could be a more patient mom. Every- Minette Riordan: I know, right? All those things. Yeah, and I love focus blocks is something we talked about before. On, I think we did a whole show probably on time blocks. And then Brad had a great strategy we talked about as well, about focus blocks. And he had to practice. And so he started with- Brad Dobson: Yeah, I just started with really small 10-minute blocks, then worked my way up to longer ones. The eventual goal was to get to that Cal Newport peak work level of at least 90 minutes, but I was struggling with focus. And so it was a good way to habituate myself to just working that way. Lisa Pezik: Yeah. Brad Dobson: But I love the wisdom you’re bringing in. It’s very zen, quite literally, that’s the practice, is to be present and not separated by your thoughts and other things that are going on; to be in the moment. And that’s a lot of what you’re talking about, is to be able to bring your whole self to a single task. Minette Riordan: Yeah. And it’s a gift to your kids, and it’s a gift to your husband. To be that focused on them as well. And I think the appreciation we get back from clients, from family, is unique when we do that. And one of my very first mentors, she used to say the same thing, that she lived by her calendar. If it wasn’t on the calendar, it didn’t happen. And so we’re huge fans of time blocking. But other than time blocking, what’s your next best productivity hack? Because I know you have a whole bunch of them. Lisa Pezik: Hmm. I know power pockets kind of fall in that. That’s what I was going to add on to that. Even if you don’t have 90 minutes, don’t think, “Well, I can’t do that.” I’m- Minette Riordan: [crosstalk]. I’m super curious, I don’t know what a power pocket is. Lisa Pezik: Oh, a power pocket is like, for me, it’s like the busy mom’s code of what we do sometimes, to get things done. This might be an overshare, but sometimes when I get that five minutes in the bathroom to myself, I’m writing something, texting something, getting an idea, taking action on a thought, waiting for 15 minutes to pick my kiddo up from school. That’s one of the freedoms I love now, being an entrepreneur. I don’t have to miss dropping him off, I don’t have to miss picking him up; that time is sacred. But, I’m just standing there for 15 minutes. I’ll make the most of that. So, I got a lot of stuff done in my business, in literally 15-, 20-minute power pockets that add up to that hour. And I think it goes back to that focus. But again, sometimes it is clunky. Sometimes it is messy. Sometimes you only have 15 minutes. So instead of saying, “Forget it, I can’t even begin to wrap my head around this,” take those 15 minutes, work in that power pocket, steal that time back. Because we say we don’t have a lot of time. And you do. You’re just not analyzing that dead time or that wait time that you have standing around. And then again, aligning what’s the best thing you can do in that time. I always like to say that whenever you’re pushing for a goal, or you’re doing something big, there’s five big moves to what you need to do. Beginning with that, like Stephen Covey, beginning with that end in mind. Minette Riordan: Yeah. Lisa Pezik: It’s like, “What … achieve? And then, what are the five strategic moves that are going to get me there?” And you may be able to do one of those moves in 15 minutes. It might not have to wait another day or another day or Monday or next week. It’s like, where is that dead time, where you’re just waiting around, you’re standing around. So that’s like a little power pocket that I have, where I’m standing here for 15 minutes. I can still do something productive. So, really thinking about not quantity in minutes, but the quality of those minutes that you’re putting in. So, power pockets, is another huge one. Minette Riordan: Yeah. That’s really brilliant. I love that idea. ‘Cause I know my tendency is when I have those few minutes in between calls or sitting in the parking lot waiting for our daughter, I tend to check into social media. So sometimes that could be a power pocket, if I’m using that time productively, to go create engagement, as opposed to just surf my Instagram feed, looking at all the pretty pictures. It’s such a fine distinction that connects beautifully back to that moment of choice. Brad Dobson: Mm-hmm (affirmative). Minette Riordan: And choosing to be intentional with our time. We make all of our clients do a time audit, and so it’s so important that people just really understand where their time is going. Brad Dobson: So I have a question. We often use this podcast for free coaching. Minette Riordan: I love it. Brad Dobson: One of the questions you pose was, “What exercises do you take people through to design their day?” And I would love to hear that. Lisa Pezik: Yes. So my favorite word of all time is “no.” I don’t think people use that word. I say “no” first. ‘Cause sometimes people pleasers’ gut reaction is to be, “Yeah, I can do that.” And when you’re good, and people ask you to do more, and you want to serve people, you load your calendar up with all these things you said “yes” to. And you look back and you’re like, “Ohmigod, my whole day is,” all these things that don’t move the needle forward for you. So, the first thing I tell people, get really comfortable saying “no.” Say “no” first. And it might sound mean, but make people state the case why you have to be the person that does this. Only you. Right now. In this moment. Sometimes when you start asking people deeper questions, like, “Well, am I the only person that can do this? What about, have you thought about talking to this person? Have you asked this person? When is the real deadline that you need this by? Do you absolutely need this by the end of today?” People say, “Well no, that’s kind of what I wanted it for.” They’re like, “I could actually have it by next Friday.” And you’re like, “Cool.” And I’ll schedule it later. So, get really comfortable with saying “no,” and asking those questions around why does it have to be me, and why does it have to be right now. Second, every Sunday is my reflection day, where I journal, and I take that life space time where I’m not mom/wife/coaching/thinking about my business. I look at my week, and I see, is there anything that I can just flat-out cancel? Is there anything that just does not need to happen this week? Minette Riordan: Love that. Lisa Pezik: Anything I can move, anything I can shift? We worry people are going to get mad, or people are depending on us. We put all this false pressure on ourself. Where, nine times out of 10, if you’re just honest with people, if you’re like, “Hey, I got this big deadline,” or, “I’m working on this.” People understand when you explain. Not that you have to explain, but when you explain why you’re doing what you’re doing, and why it’s so important to you, people get it. So it’s like that old thing communication, when people are asking you something. And when you’re in turn, giving something. It’s just making sure you’re always keeping those lines of communication open, and that understanding is there, that you’re really truly doing the things that move your needle forward, and move other people’s needle forward. Minette Riordan: I love that. It’s all about managing expectations, right? Lisa Pezik: Yeah. So, say “no,” look at your Sunday, have a good bird’s eye. ‘Cause when you’re in it, you’re just sometimes going from to task to task to task to thing to thing to thing, that you don’t have that bird’s-eye view to go … It’s easy to look at a day and be like, “Here’s all my to-dos.” But then when you look at a week sometimes, you’re like, “Whoa,” right? Minette Riordan: Yeah. Lisa Pezik: “I way overscheduled myself.” Minette Riordan: Yeah. That’s another Stephen Covey tip. I’ve been re-reading The Seven Habits lately, and such good reminders. But that’s something he says. And I think it’s so crucial to, and we say, you need your annual view, your quarterly view, your monthly view, your weekly view, before you get to the daily task list, to make sure that it’s all connected. Lisa Pezik: Yeah. And you need to know what those needle-moving things are in your business. Other people could be telling you, “Oh, you need to do this, you need to reach out this way and talk to this person.” But that might not be true for you. Only you know what those necessity things are that you do in a day that has to be done.` I’ve got what’s called a production calendar, so I know exactly what I’m focusing on. I know when I’m blogging, when I’m podcasting, when I’m going live on social media, when I’m doing newsletters. And it’s one focus a day, and that’s it for me. And that’s how I know how to do all those things in one day, because I have it blocked out, and that has to happen first. So if I’m gonna podcast, podcast first. Then I can answer social media messages, answer email. You have to be a little bit selfish as an entrepreneur. Be like, “Me first, my needs first.” Because if you’re constantly giving away all those pieces of you, then you’re not going to build that business that’s aligned with how you want to show up and how you want to serve. Right, [inaudible]. Brad Dobson: That’s interesting. I think one of the struggles that we’ve had is how that editorial calendar, and even the developing promotions and that type of stuff, can eat your shorts in terms of moving the needle. Obviously, promotional calendar and the work that you do there is to actually sell things, which is great. But, by the time you add a podcast and blogging and email marketing and social media and engagement in social media, that’s a lot of bandwidth on its own. Lisa Pezik: Yes. Brad Dobson: And then all of a sudden you’re not doing business development things. Lisa Pezik: Right. Brad Dobson: We’re kind of running into that, ’cause we’re trying to develop a few different brands right now, and- Lisa Pezik: Yep. Brad Dobson: … there’s this balance that we haven’t figured out yet, in terms of what moves the needle best. Minette Riordan: Yeah. Like one of the things that we’re looking at right now is just statistics. Brad went on a big old rant this week about, “We’ve gotta get better at headlines and open rates.” Brad Dobson: Yeah. Minette Riordan: And it’s so true. That’s something that moves the needle forward. And as a creative, I’m like, “Okay, great, tell me what to do. I’m all in, I’ll do it, but I don’t know necessarily what to do.” And I think we see this in so many of our clients, which is what impacts productivity, is we go into the overwhelm of, “Okay, I need to make this better, but how do I do that?” Lisa Pezik: Yeah. And it goes back to that “more isn’t always better.” … I always say, “Pick one, and rock it.” So like social media. People are like, “Well, what do I do? Do I do Facebook? Do I Instagram, do I do LinkedIn, do I YouTube?” I’m like, “Pick one, and consistently show up and rock it.” Minette Riordan: Yeah. Lisa Pezik: Do I blog, do I podcast, do I write, do I this? Pick one, and consistently rock it. Then, when you identify a learning need, you’re like, “Okay, nobody’s opening our email. We need better subject lines.” That is your quarterly focus. So, again, like I always think, I always have all these grand plans too, and I gotta check myself. Where I’m like, I want to be a keynote speaker, I want to be a New York Times bestselling author, I want to write a play like … I have all these grand things that I want to do, but I’m like, “I can’t write a play, write a book, write keynote speeches all at once.” You’ve got to almost, “Okay, for the next three months, I’m writing that book. And that is it. The next three months, I’m taking a course. I’m rewriting email subject lines. I’m putting stuff out. I’m testing it, I’m tweaking it, following it.” See, as creatives, that’s the curse of being creative. Minette Riordan: That’s the curse and the gift. Lisa Pezik: [inaudible], it’s like everything grabs your attention, and you want to jump to that next thing. And it comes from that place of you want to be the best, you want to serve people, you want to learn, you want to grow. You don’t want to get stagnant and stale; creatives love new and fresh and exciting. And we work hard. But you have to, again, it goes back to playing the long game. I believe that you should work quarterly at things that you’re trying to achieve in your business. If it’s email subject lines, make that your end of the year, till January, October, November, December. Maybe January, that’s your focus, then. Because then you can truly make change, tweak, test it, learn. That gets your 110% focus. And- Minette Riordan: Yeah. I love that. Such a great perspective. Lisa Pezik: Yeah. Yeah. Minette Riordan: So, so much juicy stuff we can talk about. But I’m really curious about, ’cause we have a lot of freelancers, we have a lot of people that are still working day jobs. And you have a real attitude about the word “side hustle.” Lisa Pezik: Yeah. I don’t like it. Minette Riordan: Can you talk about that? Lisa Pezik: … I’ve used it for such a long time. And I didn’t realize that cascade in my brain of what that was creating, by calling it a side hustle. Because it made me think that it wasn’t important. And anybody that’s working a side hustle, or has a project on the side, the reality is, when you’re not working that nine-to-five, or eight-to-four, or 12-hour shift, if you’re a shift worker, whatever it is. And then outside of those necessity things, like your family and that stuff that has to get done that needs your attention, you’re working that side hustle. Or that passion project. Your constant focus and attention is relentless on growing that thing, or you wouldn’t be doing it. I don’t think we should call it a side hustle, because it minimizes the work that you’re doing, and minimizes your attitude towards it. It minimizes the way, it’s almost like you’re afraid to say it. I think you’re afraid to say it when you call it a side hustle. You’re like, “Well, I’m a registered nurse, by degree, but I’ve got this side hustle where I coach people in business, and content and social media on it.” Your confidence and your tone changes when you call it a side hustle. Minette Riordan: I love that. I never thought about it from that perspective. So, I’ve been making art for a while. Recently selling my art and I always thought about it as first, a hobby, then another revenue stream. I never thought about it as a side hustle. That would feel really icky to call it that. Lisa Pezik: Right. Minette Riordan: And yet people do that, plus I don’t love the word “hustle,” period. I don’t think we need to hustle. I think we need to focus. And we need to commit. We need to, like Stephen King said, “We need to just get up and go to work.” And, in fact I talked to a woman who’s a landscape designer, mom of two young kiddos, she’s in doing a business training class, and trying to her contractor’s license. She has all this stuff going on in her life, and she’s like, “I don’t know what to do.” And I’m like, “I think what you need is just some patience.” Because given the nature of all these things that you’re doing, and her husband is a writer. So all these things are happening. So just that noticing our attitudes towards things, our own natural sense of impatience. And “hustle” implies impatience, as opposed to, as you said, doing the planning, putting the groundwork in. Brad Dobson: Right, right, right. Lisa Pezik: And stopping and asking. It’s such a simple question, but, “Does this make me happy? Do I enjoy doing this? Is this what I want to be doing?” Minette Riordan: Yeah. Yeah. Lisa Pezik: It’s like, sometimes that can be a blessing and a curse too, sometimes, when you take something that you’re really passionate and good at, and make it a job, make it an income-producing activity. ‘Cause that sometimes, … it feels like work. And it doesn’t feel like the joy that you once got being creative and doing that. So I think it’s okay that to maybe step back and say, “I love teaching group fitness classes.” That was how I started. I loved being on stage. And what I take from that is, I love being on stage. I love speaking, I love being on podcasts. I love giving speeches. But I had to let go, that teaching those classes because that pulled me away from my family. So, as hard as that was to say “no” to that … And it was a revenue stream and the whole bit … that just wasn’t bringing me joy and I wasn’t showing up the way I wanted to. There was a different way I could tweak it and do it. Yeah, I don’t like the word “hustle,” either. And I don’t like the word “side.” I think you can be “and.” Like, you are a coach and an artist. I am a nurse and a coach and a wellness expert. You can have all these ands. You don’t have to be like, “I am …” You know, it’s almost cruel in school, when you have to pick a profession in college. Who knows what they want to be when they’re 18? Minette Riordan: That’s one of the things I love about Marie Forleo, really making a stand for being multi-passionate entrepreneurs, and being able to do all of those things. And you can’t necessarily do all of them at the same time. You’re building them and getting them in place sequentially. And so, I think what I’m taking from you is your priorities are really really clear. I think it’s something you worked on- Brad Dobson: Oh, definitely. Minette Riordan: … over the last few years as well. Brad Dobson: Yeah, that’s a tough one. Priorities is, well, it relates to what I was discussing earlier. … If you’re not clear about them, it’s like core values. If you’re not being guided by those things, your days just become unfocused. Then you’re working on minutiae that don’t move the needle, like you talked about. Lisa Pezik: Yeah. And knowing what, I always say, you have to know what you’re willing to sacrifice and what you’re not willing to sacrifice. And for me, I’m not willing to sacrifice time away from my son, and time away from my family. So it’s like, I don’t get my stuff done by five or six o’clock at night, then I’m gonna be upset because it’s like, that’s time to get dinner on the table, talk about the day. He’s a little one, so it’s still bath routine, story. He wants 17 stories, which I do. That motivates me. Then I’m like, “I’ve gotta get my stuff done by this time.” Be really clear and intentional, ’cause if I don’t, then I gotta make that hard choice between, “Do I take time away from my family?” And then the mom guilt comes in. And that’s a whole ‘nother side topic about mom guilt that we could talk about. Minette Riordan: Yeah. I was going to say, we could do a whole podcast on- Lisa Pezik: A whole podcast on that. Brad Dobson: I’ll let y’all talk about that. Minette Riordan: Well, I think there’s dad guilt, too. Brad Dobson: Oh, sure. Minette Riordan: Yeah. Lisa Pezik: Parent guilt, 100%, I shouldn’t just say mom guilt. But you don’t want to put yourself in that position. Because that mom guilt, dad guilt, parent guilt, guilt serves no one. Minette Riordan: Yeah. Lisa Pezik: So for me, 100%, you have to know what you’re not willing to sacrifice. And then you’ve gotta get really intentional about are you getting all those important things done, so that you can live that life [inaudible]. Minette Riordan: I love it, Lisa. So many great tips. Where can people go to connect with you, to find out more about what you’re up to, and get more of all this juicy goodness? Lisa Pezik: Yeah! So if you go to my Web site, www.lisapezik — L-I-S-A P-E-Z-I-K — the Canadians say zed — P-E-Zed-I-K — .com. It’s got my blogs, it’s got my podcast, it’s got some freebies on there, business related that you can pick up, talking about the cost of inaction. What happens when you’re not moving the needle. There’s a freebie PDF on there. There’s a freebie PDF that you can get about how to network more, how to connect, how to present an offer if you’re afraid about asking people how to work with you, how you get out there. There’s an exact script that you plug and play your information with, that you get more comfortable with who you are, how you serve, your stories. That sort of stuff. There’s a whole bunch of goodies on there. And it’s actually, I just launched, I redid my entire Web site. I just- Brad Dobson: Yeah, I took a look. It looks beautiful. Lisa Pezik: Thank you. Minette Riordan: We’re about to have to redo ours as well. So we’re always looking for fun examples. Lisa Pezik: Yeah. Brad Dobson: I think maybe we’ll get a picture of you talking with your hands. I think that’s why you and Lisa connected. She’s a hand talker, too. Minette Riordan: That’s so funny. I didn’t even notice. I was so focused on you and what you were saying [inaudible]- Brad Dobson: [crosstalk]. I’m just messing with y’all. Minette Riordan: Anyway, Lisa, thanks for taking time out of your full schedule to block us in. We really appreciate it, and we encourage everybody to go to LisaPezik.com, L-I-S-A P-E-Zed, or Z-I-K.com. And check out all the goodness and the tips galore on social media. And better yet, come play with us in Santa Barbara in April of 2019, at the Soul Success Summit, which is going to be a really fun event. Brad Dobson: Cool stuff. Thank you so much, Lisa. Minette Riordan: All right, and we’ll see you guys all next week. Have an awesome, super-productive, and creative week. 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13. nov. 201834 min
episode Episode 125: Are You Speaking Your Customer’s Language? cover

Episode 125: Are You Speaking Your Customer’s Language?

[http://pathtoprofitacademy.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Screen-Shot-2018-11-01-at-9.54.53-AM-300x300.png] We all see the world through our own eyes and the filters of our own experiences and environment … that’s natural But that’s not what our customers are seeing. Our customers are on their own journeys and they have their own reasons for behaving the way they do. If we are unable to understand, deeply, what drives our customers we will never create the connection with them necessary for them to trust that we are selling them products and services that are valuable to them. Jeffrey Shaw teaches businesses how to connect more deeply with their customers. He tells us some great stories that show what it is we can do to use the language that our clients understand. BIO Jeffrey Shaw is host of the popular business podcast Creative Warriors, a featured storyteller on The Moth, and a nationally acclaimed keynote speaker at creative and business conferences. For more than three decades, Jeffrey has been one of the most sought-after portrait photographers in the U.S. His portraits have appeared on the Oprah Show, in People magazine, O Magazine, and others. Having a keen eye isn’t just for what one sees, but also for what one senses. Jeffrey Shaw, a.k.a. the Lingo Guy, uses this honed intuition developed as a photographer to teach entrepreneurs how to attract their ideal customers by speaking their Secret Language. He’s the author of the book, LINGO: Discover Your Ideal Customer’s Secret Language and Make Your Business Irresistible [https://www.amazon.com/LINGO-Discover-Customers-Language-Irresistible-ebook/dp/B0784YW4D5]. Jeffrey is the father of three adult children and resides with his two dogs in Miami Beach. TAKE THE UNIQUE PRODUCTIVITY STYLE QUIZ Once You Know Your Productivity Style You Can Learn The Best Way To Become More Productive In Your Creative Business. Take the Quiz [http://pathtoprofitacademy.com/upsquiz] today and get your results! IN THIS EPISODE YOU’LL LEARN: The 5 emotional triggers that will help your ideal client know that you are speaking their lingo: 1. You have to understand their Perspective 2. Familiarity – We are innately drawn to things that are familiar to us 3. Style – we choose art, products, and services based on the style that we like 4. Pricing Psychology – pricing creates perception. Are you high-end or affordable? 5. Words – speak to them using their words LINKS * LINGO: Discover Your Ideal Customer’s Secret Language and Make Your Business Irresistible [https://www.amazon.com/LINGO-Discover-Customers-Language-Irresistible-ebook/dp/B0784YW4D5] * Jeffrey’s quick website review http://jeffreyshaw.pages.ontraport.net/websitereviewapplication https://youtu.be/nUC2E9PjiJg [https://youtu.be/nUC2E9PjiJg]You can also subscribe to this podcast on our Youtube channel [https://youtu.be/ItbNtHudSbY]. TRANSCRIPT Show Transcript (7,905 More Words)Minette Riordan: Hey everybody. Welcome back to Structure and Flow, the productivity podcast for creative entrepreneurs. I’m Dr. Minette Riordan in here with my husband. Brad Dobson: Brad Dobson. Minette Riordan: Brad Dobson, I’m flow if you haven’t guessed and he’s structure. Brad Dobson: That’s me. Minette Riordan: It is so true, but some kind of roles flip. Brad Dobson: Yeah, yeah, yeah. I get into my creative flow modes as well, that’s for sure. Minette Riordan: Yeah, and then we meet other awesome creatives like our guests today who also loved that space between Structure and Flow and know that it takes both to get business going. So today we are so excited to bring you Jeffrey Shaw. Welcome Jeffrey. Brad Dobson: Welcome. Jeffrey Shaw: Well, thank you. I’m thrilled to be here with you now. Minette Riordan: We are Super excited to have you on this show, so we want to tell you a little bit about Jeffrey and then have him share more, but Jeffrey and I were recently connected by an amazing woman who was also a guest on our show name, Ellen Rogin. We had a great conversation about generosity, kindness, and productivity. It was a really good conversation. So I know this one’s going to be awesome as well, but Jeffrey is the author of a book, I’m in the process of reading called The Lingo. Let me make sure I get the subtitle right, discover your ideal customers secret language, and make your business irresistible. And I love this concept, it reminds me a little bit of Seth Goden, but in a language I think that people get like I think that you personally model so beautifully Jeffrey, getting your entrepreneurs lingo, so I’d love to hear more about your journey, how you got to where you are and what are you excited about right now in your business? Jeffrey Shaw: Right now I’m excited to talk to you guys. So yeah. It’s not a long shot, right? I get the lingo of the people I wrote the book for because I’ve lived the journey, right? We lived the journey of a creative entrepreneur my entire life. Literally I’ve never received a paycheck from anyone. I’ve never had a … I know it didn’t strike me how odd that was until recently. I’m now 54 years old and I literally have never had anybody write me a paycheck. Minette Riordan: Wow. Not even through high school and university. Jeffrey Shaw: No. I sold eggs door to door when I was to start at 14 years old. That was my first entrepreneurial venture, because I lived in the country and one thing we had an abundance of were chickens and eggs and it was a couple hours north of New York City and people were moving out to the suburb from New York City and they thought it was really cool to buy this is before farm raised eggs, right by literally had farm raised eggs and they thought it was cool to buy eggs. Jeffrey Shaw: I sold eggs door to door from the age of 14 and have never looked back. So throughout my career I’ve sold eggs and I never saw him Christmas cards door to door. And by the age of 20, actually 19, I went off to photography school and by age 20 it went into the business of a portrait photography. By the age of 20. And I still do that to a limited degree now. But 34 years later, still doing a little bit, but prior to several years ago, it was my entire mainstay and I in particular, I’ve photographed, I did family portraits for very affluent families. And as I often say, I basically was in the business of selling something nobody needed to the hardest market in the world. Right? And then because of my success in that industry, people started coming to me for coaching and then I went to coach training. Jeffrey Shaw: So for the past 10 years I’ve been supporting entrepreneurs through their entrepreneurial ventures and helping them. We’re helping them with their branding and marketing because as though even though as a coach, as a brand new consultant, I serve a huge and broad range of people in different industries. The one thing we all have in common is that there’s no business school for what we do. And that is my area of expertise. I like to market the impossible. I like to market which challenging. I like to help people develop the lingo with the people that they want to connect with so that they feel like they’re building a community not just a business. Minette Riordan: So I’m curious what was the moment when you realize that this idea of lingo, which I’ll ask you also to define or this concept of the secret language was like your secret sauce? Jeffrey Shaw: Great question. Because it actually it’s a 30 year old story if you will. I mean it’s and that’s what’s really both shocked and pleased me about the book is that it’s a 30 year old story that’s more relevant today. Because I had been lived, I think innately I understood so a little background here. So I grew up lower middle class in a country town. A couple hours in New York City, had a failing business. I knew, I realized that I needed to change that business and realized that I was selling a luxury product. As I said something nobody really needs and the people that can afford the luxury are the affluent market. So I understood that that was the market I needed to reach. The problem was I knew nothing at 23 years old at this time. I knew nothing about affluence, right? As a small company, affluence to me was, hey, made $50,000 you’re affluent, right? Jeffrey Shaw: I mean, what do I know if people at multimillionaires and 25,000 square foot home, I know nothing about that, but what I realized instinctively, even at the age of 20 was that I could understand their lingo if I put some effort into it and understanding their lingo to me that means understanding someone’s essence. When you understand someone’s lingo, then here’s the irony of the whole concept of lingo is that when you truly understand someone’s lingo, you knew how to connect with them in a way that it’s so emotionally powerful and yet actually unspoken, right? So it’s the thing that happens in our own personal lives. When you do something, hey, you guys are married team, hopefully Minette, Hopefully he does something for you occasionally that so powerfully and special then you didn’t even know to ask for it. Brad Dobson: Every once in a while. Jeffrey Shaw: Every once in a while, but it’s a home run, right? It leads to good things, but that’s the power of it. Like when you’re able to do something for someone that you know them so well, you know what they need before they know they need it. Right? Or you know what they need and they can’t even identify what they need. Right. And I believe businesses can do this for the customers as well. Not to me is what it means to speak their lingo and you actually speaking, I mean lingo by definition is a jargon, et cetera. But really at the depth of it, it’s an empathetic understanding of your customers so well that you’re speaking to their emotional triggers and that’s what ultimately really moves people. Brad Dobson: So this fascinates me. And we had at least some level. We work through this with our clients. I think proBably every body coaching in the business world does a little bit. I’m guessing that through. Well you said you sort of knew that initially, even at 20, you knew how to do this with your clients. There’s a lot of people obviously that don’t have that skill and you’re helping them. Interested tactically what it is you’re able to take them, the journey you’re able to take them on to develop that lingo. I mean, you could do interviews, you could do focus groups, you could do quizzes, whatever it is, or what is it that, what are the key parts that you develop that lingo with someone who’s selling painted ducks too, whatever it is. Minette Riordan: Yeah, he’s going to share the Bergdorf Goodman started. Right. Brad Dobson: Sure. I’ll tell you this, right? So, a strong distinction that was actually didn’t know how to do it. I just knew I needed to do it. Brad Dobson: Gotcha. Jeffrey Shaw: So 23 years old, I would have no idea how to do this. I just knew that I needed to do it because I needed to reach a market that I knew nothing about. And actually I’m going to kind of get back to Minette’s question a little bit that how this story came about is here it is 30 plus years later I was having a conversation with who turned out to be the editor of lingo. I was having a conversation with her and I told her that Bergdorf Goodman story she was like there’s your book, like everything you learned and that story is exactly what you need to teach others. Jeffrey Shaw: So I had lived this experience but now needed to figure out how to lay down in a book. And the goal was, as I was working with AJ, my editor kept saying to, we’re running a linear book for non linear thinkers. We all serve the same similar audience. Like we are the squirrel chasers, we are all the … And I embrace all that. Like I’m not looking to, you might have to harness the squirrels to go in one direction, but I’m not looking to shut down anyone’s creativity. So I wanted to figure out how can I give the creative minded person a strategy to do this in their business in a linear fashion. So what I did is I worked at down to the five key emotional triggers that in even after all these decades, these five emotional triggers seemed to be the emotional triggers that you want to capture when branding your business and communicating to your clients that is most likely to attract to your ideal customer. Jeffrey Shaw: And at the end of the day, that’s goal, right? The goal, it would none of us know business exists for everybody. We all have our ideal customers. Those customers that are the easiest to work with, that are the most profitable. And I will say probably most important is they allow us to do our best work. And that’s what’s important for creatives. We want to work the customer so already value what we do so we’re not wasting our time proving our value, but they already value what we do and who we are. And with those customers, those clients, we create our greatest value. We do our best work and when we do our best work, we have happier clients and they are more likely to tell other people. If there’s ever a journey or a secret to exponential success, it truly is only working with your ideal customers. Brad Dobson: Sure. Jeffrey Shaw: The problem is a lot of people get stuck in the cycle that some money is better than no money, but it’s not in the long run. Right? So, maybe to set the stage as I do feel like you have to give value to your listeners. Want to make sure we go over those five emotional triggers, but it sounds like Minette wants me to back up a little bit and tell you the Bergdorf Goodman story. Minette Riordan: Yeah. Because I think it’s a visual example that answers Brad’s question of well, how do I figure this out? Right. And even whether you stumbled in the door or you went on purpose, this was how you figured it out. Jeffrey Shaw: Yeah. And I very much went on purpose. We’re talking about also about the 80s. So brick and mortar was really the only approach nowadays you can do a tremendous amount of work by just really researching online and find out more about your ideal customers. So the Bergdorf Goodman story. Once I realized that I had this awareness that I need to reach the affluent market, but I knew nothing about them, I wanted to understand their lingo, meaning I didn’t. Again, I didn’t want to understand what the business did. I wanted to understand the people that went to the business. And that’s a big difference. Too often we study other businesses. I wanted to understand what the people that went to that business that I wanted to model experience. What were their emotional triggers. So Bergdorf Goodman, if anyone’s not familiar with it, it’s a one of a kind, department store, exclusive department store in New York city on fifth avenue at 59th street. Jeffrey Shaw: One of the busiest interceptions in the world. And yet most people don’t even know it’s there because it’s not for everybody, but it is a one of a kind store. So I go in this store, of course, the marble floors, it’s salespeople are impeccably dressed. I grew up going to cost, cheap department stores, Kmart, Caldor back in the day. So here I go into the store and I had literally at 23 years old I had $20. That’s all I had. I had $20 in my pocket and as soon as I walked in, I walked into what was the jewelry department. I realized right away there is nothing here that would be $20. But I had up to the home comic accessories floor hoping there’d be something there for $20 I could buy. And I found this tiny votive candle and it’s really small little candle. Jeffrey Shaw: Nonetheless, I asked for to be gift wrapped because I suspect that I could tell already that presentation was a big part of the lingo of affluent people. The lingo of making something look high quality and expensive. So I asked for it to be gift wrapped as I walked over to the gift wrap department. Actually, I was escorted to the gift wrap department by the sales lady. When she left me, I leaned over this window to the woman at the gift wrap department and I said to her, “Excuse me, but can you show me how to make this look expensive and high quality because I’m trying to figure out what rich people like?” Was blunt with her. Brad Dobson: I love it. Jeffrey Shaw: Right? She laughed. I mean, first this was like the first person in the store I felt like I could relate to somebody that gets their hands dirty. So she actually invited me into the back room and she started wrapping this candle in wads of tissue paper, like full sheets of tissue paper bunched together for this tiny little candle. And then she goes to put the candle in a silver metallic box, which is clearly their signature packaging. She goes to put this candle in the box and then she stops because ridiculously dramatic pause. She looks up at me and she said, “Don’t use any tape.” Minette Riordan: I love this. Jeffrey Shaw: And I’m like, why wouldn’t I use any tape? Like gift wrapping is always involved tape. I greW up in a family, we wrapped our Christmas presents and newspaper and duct tape, like, how do you not use tape? So I asked her, so why can’t I use any tape? She goes, Oh. She goes, well, this high quality customer who is a perfectionist, they’re going to say before they give this as a gift, they’re going to untie the ribbon on the box top. Jeffrey Shaw: They’re going to take off the top of the box. They’re going to unfold the tissue paper or make sure the candle is in perfect shape, put the tissue paper back the top back on and retied ribbon. If there was any tape, you would not be able to do that without ruining the packaging. It was such a small detail, but I really. It was like a secret code. That’s where I came up with a secret language. This was like a secret language because if you aren’t a wealthy person, if you don’t shop at those stores, you would have no idea that no tape is a secret language. Right? If I didn’t know that I would have taped the heck out of that tissue paper and given it to my clients and I would have appeared to be a slouch to them. Jeffrey Shaw: I would not have been speaking their lingo, but believe me, even learning that small thing into this day, by the way, 34 years later, I still package every photograph I deliver the same way. It is a clear indication to my high end clients that I know exactly how they tick. That’s speaking their lingo. Now, that was one of many small demons. Once I became … This was like a light bulb moment, I realized, okay, there’s like a whole other language and I’m not in that world, but if I can understand the lingo of that world, I can be in that world. Then I started looking around at the pricing psychology and the designer that are everywhere. My business wasn’t in my name at that time. I had a cute photography name, but I changed it to Jeffrey Shaw being in my own name because that clearly carried a cache. Part of the lingo of this market was they wanted to buy brand names, people’s names, right? So it literally was an afternoon that changed my life that I then set about, giving myself a goal of three months to completely repositioned, rebound brand my business and move it to an art market that could afford my services and no turning back within one year my business multiplied five times. And it’s never been nothing but uphill sense. Brad Dobson: This is a fantastic story. It’s so interesting because it’s timely for me. I just started listening to the guy Ross podcast, how I built this- Jeffrey Shaw: Yeah [crosstalk 00:15:40] Brad Dobson: … And I think one of the most recent ones was a with the lady who developed rent the runway. And so when she was pitching this, the realization for her about that she could make this work was when she was talking to these young women who are not affluent at all, people who would look at runway level dresses and never be able to afford them. But we’re also saying, I just went out in my three different dresses, three different club nights and I’ve been on Instagram in each dress and I can’t be seen in that same dress again for the next Instagram photo. And to realize that they wanted experiences, they didn’t want to bUy the dresses they wanted the experience of them and to be able to put that into the world and on their Instagram for instance. And so the reason I relate that is that it’s very much similar to the story you just told in terms of being inside their heads and understanding what the key thing is that person really wants. Jeffrey Shaw: I love that yo just said that. Brad Dobson: EmotIonal level, lIke you said, not even at a verbal level, isn’t the communication. I’m getting this now. It’s a communication, a nonverbal communication. Jeffrey Shaw: In my. And I wish the irony of writing a book called lingo, right? But in my keynotes, one of the things, it’s actually on a slide and everybody wants to take a picture of it, but I say the ultimate compliment in business is, wow it’s like you’re in my head. Minette Riordan: Yep. Jeffrey Shaw: Right. When your brand messaging, your core messaging speaks so much to someone’s heart, speaks to their lingo and they say, wow, it’s like you’re in my head like it’s a done deal. You can charge them Whatever they want, whatever you want. Like premium price, no longer matters as much. The bond that it creates creates loyalty, retention, referrals. It’s like there is no stronger emotion I think for people to feel like, wow, it’s like you’re in my head and I also often refer to it as the new standard of know, like and trust. Jeffrey Shaw: Right? Because in business for years we’ve been saying, well, you need to get people to know, like, and trust you before they’ll buy. It’s like I believe people want more than that. They want more than your know, like, and trust. They literally want to feel like you get them. Brad Dobson: Yeah. They want a connection. Jeffrey Shaw: They want a connection. And I think this is only, this is I said earlier that it’s a 30 year old story that it’s more relevant today because as the world continues to head towards more technology and AI and all this stuff we’re headed towards, I’ve been in business and in the world long enough to know that every time the world goes in one direction, the opposite is true and is going to become a more technology advanced world is going to be a stronger craving for connection and humanity. And those businesses that understand their customers with such deep empathy and speak their lingo will stand out because it’s going to be a rare experience compared to how we’re treated in the rest of the world. Minette Riordan: Yeah. And I love in the book you talk about instead of know, like, and trust, what people want to feel is that they’ve been seen and heard and it’s something you learn in coaching training, right? It’s something you learn in parenting, the power of reframing, but it’s that people want to show up and just instantly go, wow, you get me. I think that’s so crystal clear and we always joke that we love getting a lot of coaching from people on our podcast, right? We get walk away with so many insights and things to do and is how I felt when I was reading your book. It’s like this is so good and it’s like so easy for me to do it for other people and I struggled to do it for myself and I think entrepreneurs needed to be reminded of that you cannot build your business in a vacuum. And I think so often creatives are very introverted and they’re at home behind their computer trying to figure all this out and at the end of the day you got to go talk to real people. And so I so appreciated this idea of really getting out and looking at, talking to, connecting with, having conversations to get to the place where you understand those five secrets of the emotional landscape that you’re creating for them. Jeffrey Shaw: And honestly this is the business model that fits creatives the best. I’m a creative, This is why I can relate so well more, the book speaks to the audience that it does because this has been my life. This is the business model for creatives. For years I would walk off the stage and people would walk up to me and say, thank you for giving me permission and I didn’t know what they meant, like what have I given you permission for? And I realized that through my work I was actually offering a business model for creatives that didn’t exist because they feel, that horrible pressure of, oh, I have to pick a niche. I had to focus on one thing. I am so not a focus on one thing person. Why is the world telling me to focus on one thing and I guess I can never be successful in business, which is why so many creative say, well, I hate the business side. Jeffrey Shaw: Of course you hate the business side because you’ve never been allowed to be in business in a way that leverages your strengths and introversion, I’m an introvert. I am a trained introvert, but I’ve outgrown it. But I mean, introversion, relationship building or everything, empathy, empathy, like that is the biggest buzzword in business that I think it should be, is these are the natural strengths of most creatives. Like if there’s ever been a time when we get to be at our best in business this is it. Like these are actually the skillsets that I think the creative business owner is best at. Minette Riordan: Yeah. It’s so true. So I’d love for you to share about the five secrets and I also wanted to talk about this. So I want to talk about the french fries story. Brad Dobson: We just throwing stories at you today. Jeffrey Shaw: I love that. Anybody even asked, I have done. Oh my gosh, I’ve probably done a hundred interviews since January to promote the book and no one’s asked me about the french fry story. So, and I love that story. Minette Riordan: It’s my favorite. Because I felt like you got me in that moment you got me. Jeffrey Shaw: And it was so insane. So I can’t wait to get back to that because it was like, it was one of the. Yeah, it was insane. So the five, and I refer to them as emotional triggers, right? Because these are five identifiable emotional triggers that will help your ideal client know that you were speaking their lingo. So step number one is perspective. You have to understand people’s perspective in order speak their lingo. Jeffrey Shaw: The problem with this is as I was saying earlier, when people saying I’d give them permission, I think I give them permission to do, to build business the right way because businesses are inherently built backwards the way businesses are typically built. Businesses are built from an idea and built … They’re born from ideas and built on ambition, right? People have an idea and then they build this business. First thing we do is we design a logo and a business card. We build a website, we fill it up with words, and we put ourselves out there and we wonder why we’re not getting any customers or our ideal customers. Well, it’s because you haven’t built the business for the people you want to speak through to. So that’s why in this order, these five steps are imperative and you cannot build a business speaking anybody’s lingo until you really understand their perspective. Jeffrey Shaw: That’s why I went to Bergdorf Goodman. I needed to understand the perspective of a world I knew nothing about. So if you’re an artist and you’re your patrons are wealthy, then do you know their lingo? Do you understand their perspective? How do they view things? How do they view the value of your art? If your audiences are millennials, do you really are without judgment and assumption, right? Because there’s tons of judgements and assumptions about people we don’t understand in our world. And that’s the point. It’s like without judgment or assumption, do you want to go to the effort of empathetically understanding their perspective? So step number one is you have to … It’s the proverbial walking a mile in their shoes and I don’t care if the shoes or high heels, you got to do it right? You kind of figure out what does the world look like from those you want to serve. Jeffrey Shaw: Step number two, truly the most powerful emotional trigger I know of is familiarity, right? We are innately drawn to that which feels familiar to us and familiarity create, we’re drawn to it and it gives us comfort. I challenge anyone if you to Europe, I challenge anyone to not see a Starbucks or a or a McDonald’s logo. You can’t not see it because it’s so familiar to us. But familiarity is also a wrong emotional tug at our heart. It’s why there’s comfort food. It’s why we have traditions like thanksgiving or Christmas where we eat the same meal every year because there’s such a comfort in what is familiar and it stands out. I mean, you were just naturally drawn. I think everyone knows the feeling of there’s something, maybe it’s a movie or a book or something you’ve never heard of until someone tells you about it, but then you can’t not see it, right? You see it everywhere. Minette Riordan: It’s like you buy a white minivan and then all of a sudden now you see on the road or white minivan. Jeffrey Shaw: Right? And actually literally happened to me when years ago, my kids were younger, my daughter was about 10 years old and I bought a land rover because I had a Mini Cooper which was no longer working as a single dad with three kids, so I had to get all SUV, got the land rover, and literally my 10 year old daughter said that one day we’re driving a road and we were living in Connecticut. So what she saId was true. We’re driving to the road and she said, daddy, before you bought this Land Rover, now every other car on the road is a Land Rover. And to hear that from a 10 year old was like she couldn’t have thought that it’s just an awareness, that’s the power of familiarity and incredibly powerful. Jeffrey Shaw: So you want to recreate in your own business that feeling of familiar doesn’t mean you’re copying, but what feels familiar in their world, right? Are they more comfortable in home depot or a high end boutique what environment feels familiar to them? The third is style. Style is similar to familiarity but different and that style is the decision maker. We make decisions every day based on whether we feel like the style of something speaks to us. And this is so true of art. Why do we buy style? Why do we buy certain art? We choose art based on the style. Like I like abstract landscapes, right? And when I vacation I will tend to buy a piece of art from where I vacation rather than some trinket. Minette Riordan: That’s too. Jeffrey Shaw: Yeah. So I’ve got beautiful art from Italy and Ireland. And I like abstract landscapes. That’s a style I like. I’m much more of an abstract person but not so abstract. You don’t know what it is, but you can tell to a landscape, right? I often compare it to, if you’re shopping at a discount store, like a TJ Maxx and all the designers styles are on one rack for your size. You flipped through those hangers. What makes you stop the style? You hold it up and you think, this is so me. So you want to create a brand image and a website that your customers, that it stops them in their tracks because it feels like it’s speaking to them. Right? So that style. The next is pricing psychology. And let’s face it, you both know that a lot of creatives hate pricing. We’re afraid of pricing, but pricing creates perception. So the first thing I say to my clients when I start working with them as what, how do you want to be perceived? Jeffrey Shaw: What perception do you want to create? Do you want to create a perception that your high end, do you want to create a perception that you’re affordable, and if you want to create the perception that you are high end and an artist to be respected, then you better command a price that says that, right? Because we all have all made decisions to not purchase something because it was so inexpensive. We assumed it was poor quality. Right? I have always been one of the most expensive portrait photographers you’ll find because it was an intentional effort to create a perception that this was going to be quality, this was not for everybody and that, it was low volume. I did a limited number of shoots, even at the peak of my career. This was not for everybody. So the price create that perception. Brad Dobson: Yeah. Those folks that you’re selling to don’t want to feel like they’re buying the equivalent of a Walmart portrait studio type of thing. Right. Jeffrey Shaw: Unless that’s your market, right? If you’re in business as higher volume and that’s it. Yeah. I love that you bring up Walmart and I often ask audiences that I’m speaking to because once you understand the concept of lingo, you realized that you can’t unsay it. Right. Walmart has a very specific lingo. It’s very cost conscious. Brad Dobson: Yup. Jeffrey Shaw: Right. Everything about their business rollback pricing the pricing is priced to the 100th of a cent. So you don’t feel like you’re paying more than a 100th of a cent more than you have to. The land of the bright lights, the end caps that are busy clutter because clutter is associated with lower end. Jeffrey Shaw: You go into a high end store, you’re not going to see a register, right? You go into a Walmart, all the registers aligned up front. You go into Neiman Marcus, you’re lucky if you can find the register. It’s tucked away. It’s tucked to merchandised, maybe in Bergdorf Goodman, they’re in separate rooms. It’s not transactionally minded. They don’t want to bring any attention to the cost. Right? So Walmart is an example, is very cost conscious target similarly in a way, but they’re very value conscious, right? People at target, we’ll spend money. They just want to feel like they’re getting more money than what they’re paying. And if you’ll notice, target and Walmart are almost always right down the street from one another because the truth is both exist in the same market. Cost conscious people and value conscious people. They’re just carving out their space because they’re speaking the lingo of the people that want to reach. Minette Riordan: I love that. And what’s number five? Jeffrey Shaw: Number five is a words, right? So now, and that’s why I said these steps have to be done in order you can apply your words to attract your ideal customers and filter out the ones that you don’t want. Right? So you the words that you use. It’s not until you understand someone’s perception, what feels familiar to them, what looks like a style that speaks on their behalf and you’ve aligned your business with their pricing psychology. It’s only then can you actually start speaking to them and put words on your website that actually are speaking to that specific person. Otherwise it’s a shot in the dark. You’re just putting whatever words you want out there and there’s no attempt to speak to a specific customer. Minette Riordan: I love that and I love everything you said and I really do feel their emotional triggers and I’m curious about what you see on the emotional side for your clients because what we’ve experienced working with creatives is that their head in their emotions get in the way. I’m doing this work, right? And it’s hard to see the perspective familiarity, style and pricing when you’re also being told I have to be an original or I’m worried about, well, what if they don’t like it or what if I’m pricing it too much? So how do you support people with kind of the personal development side of building a business? Jeffrey Shaw: Yeah, so my entire, everything in my world of coaching, whether it’s my podcast is Creative Warriors, the coaching, the branding work that I do. In fact, the tagline on Creative Warriors says it all and it is business with a soul, right? So that’s that’s the lingo I speak and those of the people I draw forward, right? I want to draw forward the people that want a new way of doing business. They want to do business with a soul, so they’re neither so business oriented that they just, they want to work with anybody that are overly aggressive, but they’re also not so wow wow that they just sitting back and manifesting, that’s not my ideal client. Like I want clients, my ideal client are people that want to do business, but from a place of soul, again, I’ve tried both. I just, I don’t resonate with the people that are so spiritual that we spend countless hours with them talking about visions that came to them. Jeffrey Shaw: I’m like, but yeah, what are we doing about that? I’m too reactional. I don’t want to just sit around the campfire. It’s like, what are we doing with that? Right. And that’s imperative as a branding consultant, because I’m brutally honest with people. It’s like, I understand you have a great idea, but if I don’t see it as marketable, I’m not going to suggest that you invest in my services to help you brand it. Right. It has to be marketable, but the thing is, I think most things are marketable. Minette Riordan: Yeah. I totally agree. Jeffrey Shaw: Yeah. I think most things are marketable if you figure is there something out there for everybody. You just have to really figure out, I think a couple of … One of the phrases I use that tries to reset the mindset of the creatives is how different would the world of business feel to you if you believe the audience that you want to reach is already there, just waiting for you to show up, and I do believe that. I think there’s an audience for everything. Brad Dobson: Well especially these days. Jeffrey Shaw: Right? Your job is to figure out how to show up in their world. One of the most retweeted post I’ve ever done. I put in every one of my keynotes and everybody takes a picture of it and it winds up all over the place, is that it’s not your job to prove your value to anyone. It is your job to find the people who value what you do. Minette Riordan: Nice. Jeffrey Shaw: Right? We to stop again, businesses are soul. We have to stop trying to sell people. We have to stop trying to convince people. It’s a waste of time because inherently you can’t really convince anybody to value something they don’t already value then you’re selling. But there is a whole audience of people out there that already value who you are and what you do. Find them, make your brand messaging so strong that you stand out above everybody else and they see you like a beacon of light. Brad Dobson: I think the wonderful thing here is just, I hope that people hear how intentional this approaches to connecting, getting that connection with the people that value you. And we see this so much and I admire it so much in people like yourself, Jeffrey and other experts we see in the business is the intentionality that they bring to developing these things. You got to sit down and do the work to really understand. Minette Riordan: Yeah, yeah. It’s beautiful. And when I think about, okay, so how does this relate to Structure and Flow and productivity? Like when you get this nailed, you get to let go of all the stuff you’re doing, all the busy work and all the marketing and the means. And the blogging and the like, you get to let go of all of it and just write love letters to your people and they show up. Minette Riordan: Right? To me, it’s when people really get that a solid brand that’s built to attract your ideal clients is right. The people do show up and that you’re not just shooting in the dark. Jeffrey Shaw: Yeah, and I think how it all ties into productivity as well as my favorite quote of all time is by Jim Roan and his quote is that our level of success rarely exceeds our level of personal development. That means everything to me, even from a productivity standpoint, because when I want to grow up on a road, grow my business, I want to be more productive. I first turned to how do I need to grow as a person? How do I grow as the person to raise the ceiling for which the level of success that I want is going to come up underneath that ceiling and touch that ceiling. Jeffrey Shaw: And then I can raise it again. So I always turn towards how can I improve myself? How can I develop who I am and how I think in order to become more successful and productive. Minette Riordan: I love that. And it’s a lot what we talk about that productivity is the mindset. Jeffrey Shaw: And the French Fry story you mentioned, right? So let’s kind of- Minette Riordan: Yeah the French Fry story please. Jeffrey Shaw: It’s truly one of, I think it’s something I kind of want to bust up in the world because we live in such a black and white world and I think it is truly one of the biggest obstacles with people’s own personal development that everything has to be so black and white. So it happened the French Fry stories as I was writing the book and really feeling the frustration of living in a world where you have to be this or that, black or white. Jeffrey Shaw: So this waitress, while I’m at a kind of a casual, I live here in Miami and it was a casual fish and burger restaurant on the water. Those waitress takes my water and I think I was ordering a cheeseburger, what have you, and just so kind of fries, would you like with that? And I said, what kind of fries you like, I said, what kind of fries do you have? Almost with a socratic size. she’s like, we have regular fries, curly fries, spicy fries, waffle fries, steak fries. Like it just is never ending list of the types of fries. So I looked at her and said, I’d like all of them. That’s because you can have all of them. I said, why not? She goes, because we don’t do it that way. I said, no, no, I’m not asking for more fries than normal. I just want a little sampling of all of them. Jeffrey Shaw: She’s probably can’t do that. I’m like, why not? They’re all made, right. I just want a little sampling of all of them and this through her for such a loop because this isn’t how the world functions, right? I have to be. I’m forced to make a choice. Pick a fry, but I don’t want to pick. I don’t like picking between black and white this way, that way. Why not sample the whole world. So she was getting frustrated and I said, look, just talk to the chef. I’ll bet you can if you try. So then I just kind of wanted to kind of pick her up. I’m like, I’ll bet you could do it if you really try. I’ll bet if you go back there, he’ll think you’re crazy, but I bet you can do it. I was trying to cheer her on and a little while later she came with my burger and a plate of sample of all the fries and she was beaming from ear to ear. Jeffrey Shaw: I think she was proud of herself that she. And I think I felt like I taught her a lesson that day that going through like she was young and I’m like, we don’t have to go through our life always being forced to choose between things that when you stop choosing between things, you start choosing everything. And that to me is the fundamental lesson of abundance and having a creative business. We all want everything. We want personal fulfillment. We want success in our life. We want success in our business. We know we want happiness, we want everything. Then why live a life of choosing things? Why not choose everything? I actually did a whole keynote talk about this a couple of years ago. It was called life as an everything bagel and I studied the history of everything bagel and I said, I admire the brilliant baker who at some point got frustrated, choose in between sesame seeds and garlic and onion, and just said, screw it. I’m going to put everything in one bagel. Minette Riordan: I love that. [crosstalk 00:37:48] Bagel. Jeffrey Shaw: Who doesn’t love an everything bagel? It’s got everything in it, so why shouldn’t we live that way? Minette Riordan: Awesome. I think that’s a great place to wrap this up. So much juicy goodness. We could keep talking for hours. Brad Dobson: I think so. Minette Riordan: We probably need to have another podcast and just like keep this conversation going. Thank you very much for your time. And Jeffrey, where should people go if they want to connect with you? Follow you, listened to your podcast? Brad Dobson: Find out about the book? Minette Riordan: Find out about the book. Jeffrey Shaw: Sure. Actually, a fun thing I like to do on podcasts, which I’ll offer to you already. I don’t always, but hey, you seem like a fun group. I actually spent a fair amount of my week reviewing other people’s websites. I do a quick review of the website and then I emailed them back and say, here’s some of the lingo breaks I see in your website and it doesn’t take me that long. It sounds like a daunting task, but unfortunately it’s so obvious that it actually doesn’t take that long. So if you go to lingoreview.com is a real quick application to fill out, because I want to hear who you think you’re talking to and then I look at your website and I’m like, oh honey, you’re not. That’s actually not what you’re saying. Sorry. And 98 out of 100 websites in my own research have it wrong. 98 out of 100. Minette Riordan: Yeah we know we have it wrong. Brad Dobson: That’s a fantastic offer. Jeffrey Shaw: So it’s really fun. Like I said it sounds more daunting but it doesn’t take me long because I look at your website the way your potential customers are looking at your website and I can instantly see the break. So lingoreview.com. And then once you’re there, I think my links to my book, the lingo, the book, the book is also available on amazon, but and I’m easy to find on social media, everything you need to find is there. But hey, rather than just chatting, let me do something for you, a value, and then we can start a relationship. Brad Dobson: Lovely. Minette Riordan: I love that. Thank you so much. That’s an incredibly generous offer and I know all of the creatives that are listening to this will take advantage, including us. Brad Dobson: Good stuff. We’ll have that in the show notes. Minette Riordan: All right everyBody. We’ll see you on the next episode of Structure and Flow. Have a great day. 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6. nov. 201841 min
episode Episode 124: Generosity with Ellen Rogin cover

Episode 124: Generosity with Ellen Rogin

generosity [http://pathtoprofitacademy.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Episode-124_-Generosity-with-Ellen-Rogin-300x300.png]Do you ever find yourself saying… “Oh, I just don’t have a head for money,” or, “I’m really not good at this [money]?” Actually, our special guest, Ellen Rogin, has found that creatives (and yes, that means you) can be pretty darn awesome at it. Oftentimes, we’ve simply grown up learning that creative skills aren’t necessarily the ones that make you good at money. “But the beauty happens when you can marry the creative, the intuitive, the visioning side of money by taking the right actions to make it work for you.” – Ellen Rogin When you think about it, if you don’t create a vision of where you want to go or listen to your own intuition, you’re not going to be as successful with money as when focused solely on the analytical. For the past 30 years, Ellen has been helping people with their money as a financial advisor. During that time, she’s also written several books including New York Times bestseller, Picture Your Prosperity: Smart Money Moves to Turn Your Vision into Reality. Early in her career, she realized that it wasn’t just about doing all the smart money moves or having lots of money that made people successful and content. A lot had to do with their mindset and approach to money that really had the whole package work. According to Ellen, generosity is the new currency in business. People who are going to do well are the ones out there seeing how to add value to someone’s life, and be generous with not only your clients but your team. Consider what’s the most generous response you can have to somebody? Let’s find out how to bring in more prosperity and success in your business, and make you and everyone around you feel better! JOIN THE PRODUCTIVITY FOR CREATIVE BUSINESS OWNERS FACEBOOK GROUP Interested in joining a growing online community of people like yourself? Join [https://www.facebook.com/groups/productivityforcreativebusinessowners/] today and introduce yourself! IN THIS EPISODE YOU’LL LEARN: * How generosity and abundance leads to better profitability at the end of the day * What makes people successful and truly content with their money * Piece of lucky networking advice that Ellen learned early on * What’s an Abundance Activist * A beautiful and practical way to give from the heart BIO [http://pathtoprofitacademy.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/EllenRogin-174x300.png]Ellen Rogin, CPA, CFP® and Abundance Activist® is the co-author of NY Times best-seller, Picture Your Prosperity: Smart Money Moves to Turn Your Vision into Reality. Ellen speaks across the globe on creating success and abundance. Chock full of “left-brain” credentials (MBA, CPA, CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ [https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/2.3/72x72/2122.png]), Ellen also walks on the “right” side, balancing values, big picture ideas, meditation and a sense of humor with her professional training. She’s as comfortable talking about the power of compound interest as she is the power of belief. Ellen is a TEDx presenter, and her work has been quoted in such national publications as The New York Times, Money, Time.com, Forbes.com, and The Huffington Post. Ellen is founder and president of a wealth management firm north of Chicago and serves on the Board of Directors for Metropolitan Capital Bank in Chicago and The Ghana Scholarship Fund. LINKS www.facebook.com/AbundanceActivist/ [https://www.facebook.com/AbundanceActivist/] www.twitter.com/ellenrogin [https://twitter.com/ellenrogin] ellenrogin.com/goodies [https://www.ellenrogin.com/goodies] https://youtu.be/g3AsZmPU4oA [https://youtu.be/g3AsZmPU4oA]You can also subscribe to this podcast on our Youtube channel [https://youtu.be/i0yZf-Z_7JYhttps://youtu.be/g3AsZmPU4oA]. TRANSCRIPT Show Transcript (6,584 More Words) Minette Riordan: Have you ever said to yourself I don’t have enough time? Brad Dobson: I am so overwhelmed. Minette Riordan: I need more clarity. Brad Dobson: I don’t know how to do this. Minette Riordan: My to-do list is miles long. Brad Dobson: I’m exhausted. Minette Riordan: There’s got to be a better way. Brad Dobson: Hi there. I’m Brad. Minette Riordan: And I’m Minette. Not only have we said all these things ourselves, but we’ve heard our community of creative entrepreneurs say them over and over again. Brad Dobson: That’s why we created the Structure and Flow podcast. I’m Structure. Minette Riordan: And I’m Flow, and this is the Productivity Podcast for Creative Entrepreneurs. Brad Dobson: We believe that doing more and working harder are not the solution to your productivity challenges. Minette Riordan: We believe in more play, more fun and more profit. Join us as we explore the interplay between structure and flow so that we can bring more grace and ease to your creative business. Minette Riordan: Hello, and welcome to the Structure and Flow podcast. I am CEO and co-founder of the Path to Profit Academy, along with my fabulous other half. Brad Dobson: Me. Minette Riordan: Brad Dobson. And we’re taking a little bit different direction in the podcast. We’re not going to be talking specifically about productivity today. But we’re going to be talking about money, one of my other favorite topics. We’re going to be talking about generosity, and I think it’s going to all tie in really neatly with productivity by the end of the conversation. And we have a guest today. We haven’t had a guest for a while. Brad Dobson: Welcome, Ellen. Minette Riordan: I’m kind of excited to have a new face on the show, Ellen Rogin. Ellen, welcome. Ellen Rogin: Thank you. So excited to be here with you two. Minette Riordan: Yeah. Ellen and I met through another organization, had a great conversation and I got so excited about what you’re doing with generosity that I could not wait to share this. Because I think, and I’m sure you do too, that when you feel generous you feel abundant, you’re more prosperous, and all of that leads to better productivity at the end of the day. Ellen Rogin: And profitability. Minette Riordan: And profitability, yes. Brad Dobson: So let’s dive into this, and what are you talking about when you talk about generosity? I mean, I think about helping somebody across the road or giving a million dollars as a philanthropist. You know, where on the scale of things? Is it all of those things? Ellen Rogin: Yeah, to me it really is all of those things, and more. So certainly there’s financial generosity, which I’m a big proponent of. I think it’s actually a driver of prosperity which we can talk about. And it’s also doing kind acts and coming at your life and your business with a generous filter and viewpoint of how you can make things better for another person. Minette Riordan: I love that. And before we go too deep into the conversation- Brad Dobson: Oh, this gets me excited. Minette Riordan: I know. It’s going to be juicy. We may be here a while. But first we should say why should you listen to Ellen? And who is she and why does she know what she’s talking about? So, Ellen, rather than sharing the bio which we will have in the show notes for everybody, tell us a little bit about your personal journey. ‘Cause I love your story of how you got to where you are today and why you’re so passionate about this. Ellen Rogin: So I started my career on the financial side of things, in public accounting. And then for the past close to 30 years, I hate to say that ’cause it makes me sound old, but for the past 30 years have been working with people individually and helping them with their money as a financial advisor. During that time I’ve also written several books and been out there speaking, which now I’m focusing on, kind of all in, and sharing this information with a bigger audience. But one of the things that I realized super early in my career is that it wasn’t just about doing all the smart money moves or having lots of money that made people successful and actually content with their money. It was also a lot about their mindset and their approach to money that really had the whole package work. Ellen Rogin: The financial services industry is really skilled at talking about what tends to be thought of as left brain kinds of things, the analytical, the budgeting. And I think pretty much ignores what people believe about money, what they do with it. Are they happy or not? I mean, we can all think of examples of someone who has tons of money and then maybe is miserable in their life. Or someone with very little means but is just feeling blessed and grateful. And you don’t have to be on either extreme. But the beauty happens when you can marry the creative, the intuitive, the visioning side of money with taking the right actions to make it work for you. Minette Riordan: I love that. And she’s not just an author, but she’s a New York Times best-selling author. If you’re watching on YouTube you can see the cover of her book behind us. And her book is Picture Your Prosperity: Smart Money Moves to Turn Your Vision into Reality. And I love the emphasis on vision, on creativity, on intuition, and that there’s so much more to the money story than just, hey, let’s get money in investment so that we’re thinking about retirement. Like it’s really based in core values more than anything. Ellen Rogin: Yeah, and I was thinking about your audience of creative people. And what I’ve often heard from people that tend to be more creative is they’ll say things like, “Oh, I just don’t have a head for money.” Or, “I’m really not good at this.” And I think they’re actually awesome at it. It’s just they’ve been taught through growing up or whatever that those aren’t the skills that make you good at money. But really, if you don’t have a vision of where you want to go or you can’t be more creative or listen to your own intuition, I don’t think you’re as successful with money as you are if you’re just focused on the analytical things. Minette Riordan: I love that. I love that perspective ’cause I’m on a personal mission to completely bust the myth of the starving artist. Like I am so over hearing people say you can’t make money as an artist, and how that has squashed so many people from feeling successful in their lives. There’s a lot of amazing artists who can make a great living by shifting some of their belief around their money mindset. Brad Dobson: Yeah, I think those things come to us as secondary or tertiary learning. If we’re lucky, we’ll learn about our art as a primary skill. But we don’t learn about business, we don’t learn about money very much at all in our formative years, I think. And it’s to everyone’s detriment. Minette Riordan: And I think that it is a skill, right? That business building is a skill. Money making, keeping, saving, investing are skills. Art making is a skill and we can all get better at all of those things. But let’s pull the conversation back around to generosity. And what inspired you to go down this path of generosity and really make it kind of a focal point of some of the work that you’re doing? Ellen Rogin: I think it was two things. One, when I think about building my business, initially I was really lucky to learn about networking from a woman whose name is Suzanne Stone. And I ended up in a networking group she was in, and she gave me advice very early in my career. It was one of those groups where you share leads, and she said, “Ellen, every time I go to a meeting every month, I want to be the person who talks about the most business I gave. And what you sow, you reap. And if you’re out there supporting other people in their business, whatever that looks like, whether you do business with them or you refer them or you bring them somewhere where they can get more business, it will flow back to you. And not necessarily from the person you gave to.” Ellen Rogin: So that belief about how to grow my business, which was really a generous approach, how can I support you in growing your business, was fundamental in terms of me being able to grow a business very early on. And that’s really a start of how can I be more generous? And in the financial services industry, there’s this old expression like you give to get. And that’s not what I’m talking about. This is a give to give. And it will flow back, but who knows from where? Minette Riordan: Right. Ellen Rogin: The second part, which is more of the financial giving, is when I wrote my first book, with my co-author Melissa Burke, called Great With Money. Melissa taught me a lot about this idea of giving a percentage of your income away. I mean, there’s lots of religious background to that, but the idea that really sank in for me is if I pick a percentage of the money that I want to give away, I’m loosening my grip on money. So if you’re hanging on so tightly to what you have, and you think back in 2008, 2009 during the recession, people were so freaked out, right? They had all this belief of I don’t have enough, just at the time when people in their lives and charities needed their money more than ever. Ellen Rogin: Well, if you’re clenching your fists hanging on to what you have, how can you possibly receive? It’s even with the visual of clenched fist. Now, on the other side there’s people that are always giving, giving, giving, giving, giving. And for whatever reason, they have beliefs or attitudes that it’s not okay to receive. That doesn’t work either. They’re both important, giving and receiving. Minette Riordan: I love that. Brad Dobson: Right. Who was it? Didn’t Gretchen Rubin in one of her archetypal, was the one who just kept giving? Minette Riordan: Yeah. Brad Dobson: I think that was right. Minette Riordan: I think maybe the obliger tends to totally over-give. Brad Dobson: Yeah, that’s right. Yeah, they just give and give and give, and never find value in themselves. Minette Riordan: Right. Brad Dobson: Or to receive things. I’m interested, you mentioned that a lot of the tradition about generosity comes out of religions. Minette Riordan: Tithing, I think, she was talking about specifically. Brad Dobson: Yeah, I guess. I see it a lot as compassion, like comes out of Buddhism. So is that something that came out of your personal tradition, something you learned from other people? Ellen Rogin: Well, I learned that it was part of my tradition but it wasn’t part of my upbringing afterwards. My parents, I think, were generous but they never talked about charitable giving, even though they did it. And so this was talking about a learned skill. So when Melissa and I started writing the book, I’m like, “Okay, I’m in.” And every quarter, I would do it quarterly, I would take 10% of my income and we’d put it into a separate account. It was just a savings account, nothing fancy. And what it allowed me and my husband to do is a few things. First of all, starting this made me feel okay with it ’cause I wasn’t giving it all away right away. So if I had any little bit of fear like, oh, my gosh, I’m putting so much money in this account, it’s like I could always take it back if I needed to, which I never have. Ellen Rogin: And once it was in that account, Steven and I knew what we had to give. So if someone was walking in a breast cancer walk or someone passed away and we wanted to make a donation to a charity in their honor, we found ourselves being more generous ’cause we knew what pool of money we had. We also found that when it was a charity that was important to us, we could make a bigger donation because it was all planned out. We’ve taken our family on many volunteer vacations around the world. And that was where the money came from to do that too. It’s a charitable contribution. So it’s done some really beautiful things for us, just by having that discipline of moving money into a separate account earmarked for giving. Minette Riordan: I love that. Totally love that. Brad Dobson: Yeah, it is beautiful. So I’m a listener and I’m really not making a lot of money right now because I’m a starving artist. What is it that I can do to be generous? How can I give? Ellen Rogin: Okay, so let’s talk about a couple of different things. Let’s start with the financial because that’s, I think, where you were going with this. If you choose a percentage of your income, whatever percentage makes sense to you, and earmark it for giving, then as you make more money you proportionately give more. And if you make less, you can give less. And every bit of money makes a difference. You know, someone might think, “Well, what’s my $10 going to do for X, Y, Z organization?” A friend of mine is very involved in Alzheimer’s research and she’s like, “Are you kidding? Yes, there’s some big grants we get but it’s thousands of small donations that really make a difference.” Ellen Rogin: Or maybe it’s to a friend in need. I don’t have anything on where you give your money to. It’s up to you and what feeds your soul. So I think you can start with a small amount. Research and giving is very interesting. There is something called subjective wealth, and they found that the way our brains work is when you make a charitable donation your brain processes this as, “Oh, I must be rich to be able to do this.” And so you start to feel wealthier. Giving $500 gives the same buzz as getting a $10,000 raise. Minette Riordan: Wow. Brad Dobson: So it’s like a mindset feedback loop. That’s really cool. Minette Riordan: But it’s also the endorphins, right? A sort of adrenaline hit too of feeling generous. So I love that it’s like a whole body impact when you give. Whether it’s $5, $10, 500, 5,000 or 5 million, you still feel the impact of that. Ellen Rogin: Right. And that endorphin, I mean, there’s lots of research on kind acts and generous acts, and how that makes … I mean, it’s like the dirty little secret with giving. The reason we do it is it feels so good. Brad Dobson: Right. Ellen Rogin: I’m sure everyone can think of a time you did something nice for someone, and it feels good to do that even if it was just a small thing. The other day I was at Costco and I was actually upset about something else that was going on, and I was really trying to widen back a little bit and go, “Okay, how can I not be so focused on this?” And as I was taking my cart back there was the car next to me, this woman unloaded hers and I grabbed her cart. And I’m like, “I’ll take it back for you.” And then when I went there to the cart she’s like, “Oh, my God, thank you so much.” Like I didn’t even need a thank you, but a kind act can make a really big difference for someone. And even just that little bit of an act of kindness. Minette Riordan: Yeah, I love that. So in the work that you see yourself doing going forward, how does generosity play a role in that? Ellen Rogin: Well, I believe that generosity is the new currency in business and the people that are going to do well are people that are out there seeing how you can add value for someone else, how you can be generous with not only your clients but your team. Like what’s the most generous response you can have to somebody? It will, I believe, truly bring you more prosperity and success in your business and make you and everyone around you feel better. Minette Riordan: Yeah. Yeah, totally. So say more about this idea of generosity being the new currency of business, ’cause my head’s kind of spinning and I’m thinking about giving referrals and leads is one way that looks like. What else does it look like in terms of growing your business? Ellen Rogin: Great. So, clearly when you give referrals and leads, that’s one way. There’s something about building a corporate halo that people want to do business with good people. So there’s a couple of ways that that can look. It can be supporting your clients or customers and their good work. The nice thing about having that charitable account is that I like saying yes when someone asks me to support their good act. I feel like I’m giving them a standing ovation for their work in the world, even if it’s not my charity. As long as it’s not something I’m violently opposed to it, which has never happened. That’s one thing. Ellen Rogin: I think there’s also you don’t do volunteering to get something personally back. However, you can share your good work with the people you do business with. So in my office there’s a picture of our daughter Amy with some of the kids that she became friends with when we’ve been to Ghana, right? So that leads to a conversation. Now, I’m not doing that so people are like, “Oh, Ellen goes to Ghana and does good work there.” But why would I keep that a secret? It’s something that I believe in and it’s been helpful. And so people want to do business with people that are doing good things. Minette Riordan: So I love that, ’cause I think that sometimes people do get that perspective, “Oh, it’s bragging.” Right? I mean, women in particular tend to think it’s bragging to talk about their successes and achievements or their generosity. Brad Dobson: Well that’s the Jewish tradition, right, is to give anonymously. Minette Riordan: Mm-hmm (affirmative). Brad Dobson: I can’t remember what it’s called where the best kind of giving is giving anonymously. I’m not saying that that- Minette Riordan: Is good or bad? Brad Dobson: Right. Minette Riordan: But what I loved what you said is that it creates this opportunity to have a conversation about what matters to you, which leads to connection around core values. So for me, looking at generosity from the perspective of creating deeper relationships with people. Ellen Rogin: Yeah, for sure. And so my head’s spinning with a couple of things. So I’m Jewish by background and I’ve done some research on what they call tzedakah, which is giving is our responsibility. Minette Riordan: There we go. Brad Dobson: There we go. Ellen Rogin: But the interesting thing is, and I’m not sure about if that’s the highest form of giving. It very well may be. The interesting thing is for a lot of the Jewish organizations like the Jewish Federation where they’re trying to raise huge amounts of money, I’m from Chicago and a really big donor, they actually publish how much people give. Brad Dobson: Interesting. Ellen Rogin: ‘Cause they found when it was totally anonymous, people didn’t give as much. So who knows on that? Brad Dobson: Right. Ellen Rogin: And I think the thing, even on how I would reframe that for people that want to be kind of quiet about it or they don’t want to brag about it, ’cause I’m not talking about bragging, but what if instead of you feeling like you were bragging about it, you were inspiring someone to do more kind acts themselves? Minette Riordan: Yeah. Brad Dobson: Right, right. Ellen Rogin: A different reframe of the same thing. Minette Riordan: It is absolutely a beautiful reframe of that. And I think it’s true for everything that I teach in business about when we celebrate our successes it totally inspires people. And we’ve had a couple of different times in our lives where we’ve done things that were just about us, and they inspired other people. And our intention wasn’t to share to inspire. Like moving across country, just packing up our kids and our family and moving across country six years ago, people were like I can never do that. Or Brad’s a three-time iron-man triathlon. And after his first one, so many people were like, “Oh, my gosh, that’s so inspiring. I couldn’t do that.” And yet he’s done it three times. And if Brad can do it, you could do it too, right? Brad Dobson: Right. Minette Riordan: And so it’s noticing that perspective of when we share from a place, I think, of authenticity and a place of generosity and vulnerability of this has been my experience, like I would love to hear your story about taking your kids to Ghana, how amazing. What a fabulous conversation. It is inspirational. It makes me curious and more connected to you, and has nothing to do with I’m trying to make a sale or I’m trying to close a deal or anything like that. Brad Dobson: Right, right. I think it’s like a subset or a bigger part of your authenticity as a business or a person, right? I love the term corporate halo, and it would be easy for someone to say, “Oh, you know, that’s somebody who’s just trying to be better than everybody else.” But I don’t really think it is when you’re genuinely giving and you’re just starting from a place of giving. And you’re not doing the giving or the generosity, I think you hinted at this or said it earlier, you’re not being generous for corporate reasons. You’re being generous to be generous. Minette Riordan: Right. Brad Dobson: Not trying to get something out of it. Ellen Rogin: I was just reminded of, and so I started my career in public accounting. I was working for a big auditing firm. It was horrible for me. Was that my career? And when I knew I wanted to get out, I would come home every day after work and just kind of be miserable. And I don’t know what made me do this, but I’m like, “You know what? I need to go volunteer somewhere.” And I ended up volunteering with elderly people. And within three months I had a new job. And I think that the other thing that doing kind acts does is it takes your attention off you and your issues, whatever that is. And it wasn’t like I got the new job from someone I met through volunteering. Sometimes that happens. But I think that there’s just this way of like other benefits that come out of that. I also want to make sure we talk about the receiving part of giving. Minette Riordan: Yeah. And before we go there, I have one more question about giving. And I agree that we want to go to the receiving part. But I also am curious about time. We’ve talked a lot about money, giving. And I love the idea of just setting up an account where it just goes into the account and then either quarterly or annually you decide what to do. But can we talk about time and people saying they have really busy lives, they don’t have time to give or they’re over-giving of their time because they think they don’t have money to give and they’re compensating? What happens in relationship to time and generosity? Ellen Rogin: Well, I think people really need to figure this out for themselves too. I remember hearing a woman who runs a place called Misericordia in Chicago, which helps developmentally disabled adults. It’s a housing place for them. And I remember her saying that she’ll have mums of young kids say I don’t have time to volunteer. And she said, “How can you not do that and be an example for your kids?” I was, oh, like I was that mum sitting in the audience. I’m running a business, I’ve got two little kids. And so some of it’s finding the thing you’re interested in sharing your time with. Minette Riordan: Yeah. Ellen Rogin: And finding the way that it works for you. So a lot of my volunteering now is when we do go to Ghana I’m there for two weeks. So I love my volunteering and work. Minette Riordan: Yeah. Ellen Rogin: And I’m on a board, whatever. But that’s like my big volunteer time, ’cause that seems to be what works for me. Now, other people may be able to do something or choose, not that I couldn’t do it, but do something every week. And I think to your point, that if people are over-giving, that’s something to look at too. Like are you taking care of your whole life by doing that? Because it’s not okay, I don’t think that it’s the bigger picture, to give to the point where you’re not taking care of yourself. ‘Cause then you have less to give ultimately. If you don’t have enough money in your business, you can’t give. If you don’t have enough time or you’re not taking care of yourself physically, how can you give? It’s really all tied in with that. Brad Dobson: Yeah, and there’s more than enough places to give. Minette Riordan: There absolutely are. Brad Dobson: You could fill your time with them. Minette Riordan: So we live in Santa Barbara, California, which statistically has the highest number of nonprofits per capita in the United States. Brad Dobson: I didn’t know that. Minette Riordan: Yeah. It’s a crazy stat about SB. Lots and lots of nonprofits in a very small community. And so the nonprofits are struggling because there are so many of them, and they’re all diving into the same well. But one of our clients took a really interesting approach to this. It was really important to her to give and be generous. And she realized that she was over-delivering on her time. She didn’t quite have the amount of money that she wanted to give, so she started tracking her time and attaching a dollar value to her time. And so she put a real limit on the number of hours and dollars that she was giving. And I thought it was such a great perspective ’cause it shifted her mindset that time is money. And that so she was able to really cut back and be very, very specific on how much she was giving. And I thought that was a really beautiful perspective and a great way to approach it. If you don’t feel like you have cash to give right now, give your time a dollar value. Ellen Rogin: I love that. I love that suggestion. That’s great. Minette Riordan: So let’s talk about receiving. Because generosity, there’s two sides of the equation here. Ellen Rogin: Absolutely. There cannot be a giver without a receiver. You know, many people have been brought up with the idea that it’s better to give than receive. And I don’t think that’s true. I think they’re both important. Research on generosity has shown that people that are givers live longer, they’re happier, they’re healthier. Kids that give are more successful as adults. They have lower rates of depression. So if you are not open to receiving, you’re hurting somebody’s ability to give. It’s actually a selfish thing to be not open to receiving in some ways. And when I speak, I often give the analogy of checking in on this when you think about compliments. So a lot of the audiences I speak to are women’s audiences, and women tend to communicate in compliments. Minette Riordan: Oh, this old rag? Ellen Rogin: That’s exactly what it is. Right, so either it’s diminishing the compliment, like you said this old rag, or it’s throwing it right back. Like, “Oh, Minette, I love your blouse. It looks great on you.” “Oh, but your bright pink is so pretty too.” You know, it’s not taking it in. I think about a time once I was doing some video stuff and I was having my makeup professionally done, and the woman who was doing it said to me, “Ellen, you have such nice skin.” And in my mind, I didn’t say this out loud, I’m like, “She tells that to everybody.” Like my skin’s not that great. Could I have just said thank you? But even if she was saying it to make me feel good, that’s still a gift. That’s fine. Minette Riordan: Yeah. Ellen Rogin: And so one way to practice this is to notice your response. ‘Cause it’s really throwing a gift back in someone’s face without saying thank you, if you’re not taking in their compliment. Minette Riordan: Yeah. This is something I’ve worked really hard on the last five or six years or so, is just being in that space of just saying thank you, right? Just saying thank you. And when you say thank you, then you actually believe it. You’re more likely to believe the compliment as well, then instantly go into that place. And I’m seeing this talked a lot about in business right now, in terms of people showing their work and putting their work out into the world and asking for money in return for their work. That too is an act of generosity. When you have a gift, a talent or an incredible solution to someone’s problem and you’re just sitting on it, right, that’s also an act of selfishness. Because even if you change one person’s life, to me it creates this beautiful ripple effect where it has an impact on that person, who goes and touches more people, who touch more people. Brad Dobson: Sort of like not sharing your artwork. Minette Riordan: Kind of like not sharing my artwork. Yes, he’s laughing at me. It’s been a very emotional journey for me over the last number of years to go from sharing my work to showing my work to selling my work, right? Which are all different things. And so I have a lot of empathy for people on similar journeys. But I think that it behooves us as women to share our gifts. Ellen Rogin: And to remember that people value things they pay for. Minette Riordan: Yes. Ellen Rogin: So sometimes when I was doing financial advising, I would do a pro bono consultation if someone really couldn’t afford our services. But there is people value advice. They would value artwork, they would value consulting more when they pay for it than if it’s just given to them for free. They may be more committed to following through if you have them pay for it, so it’s sometimes selfish to not be asking for the money that you deserve for the work that you do. Brad Dobson: It’s interesting. There’s sort of this commonality between the discussion about generosity, the discussion about receiving, the discussion about value, monetary value, spiritual values, societal value. They just kind of intersect in this discussion where there’s a commonality between them. It’s like you said, the term currency is a good one. There’s an exchange of value that goes on there. And that flow that we talk about in some of our money mindset sessions is true for generosity in the same way as it is for money. Minette Riordan: I tell my clients when they’re paying their bills and they’re worried about it, and they’re in anxiety or annoyance, to pause and to literally pay their bills with love. Maybe write a little thank you, because that one payment of an electric bill supports the people in the electric company who keep your electricity running. And then they pay their taxes and that supports the school system. Money has to stay in continuous flow for us all to be successful. And I personally just believe there’s enough to go around. Which makes me really curious about this concept of the abundance activist. Would you like to share a little bit about that? Ellen Rogin: Yeah, sure. So it’s really based a lot on what you were just explaining. That there’s people out there thinking in more abundant ways, and people thinking more in scarcity ways. And I think a lot of our world problems are people who think in scarcity ways. The pie is only so small, I can’t win. You know, we both can’t win, right? I have to win, you have to lose. And it’s very restrictive and it’s not the way that I see the world works. I think the pie is ever-expanding. If you think about love, is there enough love to go around? Of course. There’s not a limited supply. And I feel like that with abundance as well. Ellen Rogin: I also know that when you’re focusing on what’s working well in your life, what’s going well, having positive conversations, being grateful for it, it’s easier for things to flow through to you. Just a small digression and this is they’ve found that when people are super stressed out about their finances and they’re really focused on what isn’t working, your IQ actually drops. Minette Riordan: Wow, wow. Ellen Rogin: You can’t make a good decision. So it’s a very practical thing. Besides, it feels crappy to be focusing and scared, and it’s easy to get that way with money. When you can focus more abundantly about how there’s opportunities out there, the universe is a good place out there to support you, you have more of a likelihood of being able to create that for yourself. So this idea of being an abundance activist was really started with this idea of how can I be more generous and focused on it? So I mentioned I wasn’t brought up to be stingy and not help people, but it wasn’t something that our parents talked about a lot. Ellen Rogin: So I started this concept of creating a wristband, and it just says Abundance Activist on it. You could use a wristband like this or you could just use some bracelet that goes back and forth. And the idea is that every time I do a kind act, an act of generosity, I move it to the other wrist. So it could be mentoring, it could be writing a charitable check, it could be really giving someone a total compliment. It could be receiving when you know you’re receiving to make the other person feel good. Does that make sense? Minette Riordan: Yes. Brad Dobson: Yeah. Ellen Rogin: You know, when my mum was alive and she used to want to do stuff for us, sometimes I was like, oh, I don’t really need your help. But it made her feel good. So that being open and receiving was an act of generosity, and so I’d move it to the other wrist. When I started to do this it had me being much more aware and awake to the ways that I am generous, and maybe the ways that I’m less than generous. You know, we all have different ways we do it, right? So I noticed, and I’m not proud of this but it’s something for me to notice and get better at, that I tend to be more generous when it’s convenient for me. Brad Dobson: Sure. Ellen Rogin: So happy to help you if I’m not that busy, or happy to help you when it’s something that’s important to me. Where my husband is generous in totally different ways. He doesn’t know you guys. If you were coming to Chicago and needed a ride from the airport, he’d be there to pick you up. Brad Dobson: Wow. Ellen Rogin: Be happy to do that. And so is it good or bad the different ways we’re generous? No, it’s just a noticing in how can I step up more? Another way to use the wristband is to shift the conversation. When people are super doom and gloom, like, oh, my God, the market’s been up for nine years, it’s got to go down, or things are so scary, or whatever it is, if I can shift the conversation to something that is more positive, more optimistic, having them think about what’s really working well, then I’m being an abundance activist in the world. Minette Riordan: Wow, wow. I love that. So how can I become an abundance activist? Brad Dobson: I want to be an abundance activist. I want to be their first. Ellen Rogin: Yeah. Well, I’ll send you guys wristbands. Brad Dobson: Perfect. Ellen Rogin: But even for those listening that don’t have a wristband, just be aware of it. It can be a rubber band, it can be a bracelet. And just notice, and maybe set a goal. Five times today I’m going to do a kind act for someone. It can be a smile. It can be calling someone who needs you. It doesn’t have to be donating a kidney. Brad Dobson: Right, right, right, right, right. Minette Riordan: I love that and I’ve loved this whole conversation around generosity and abundance, and the give and take of both being generous in your giving and generous in your receiving. Such a beautiful conversation. The work you’re doing is so important. So if people want to learn more about you or find out what’s up with you, where can they go to find out more information? Ellen Rogin: Yeah, sure. So if you go to ellenrogin.com, that’s E, L, L, E, N, R, O, G, I, N dot com. First of all, there’s a generosity quiz right on my website that will tell you whoever you are, ’cause we’re all different. Minette Riordan: Oh, awesome. Ellen Rogin: And then if you go to ellenrogin.com/goodies, there’s also two visualizations that you can download for prosperity flow. And anyone who has kids, there’s a special report on there on how to have more abundant children in your life. Minette Riordan: Beautiful. I love guided visualizations. Brad Dobson: I’m ready for this. Minette Riordan: Yes, totally ready for this, being an abundance activist. Ellen, thank you so much for your generosity of time today. We know how busy you are and we so appreciate you. And we just want to really champion what it is that you’re doing. This is so important. Brad Dobson: Thank you so much, Ellen. Minette Riordan: Yeah, thank you. Ellen Rogin: And what a joy to talk to you about this. My favorite podcast. Minette Riordan: Yeah. It’s just so exciting to talk about it. And we’ll have links in the show notes for how to connect with Ellen, where to go find out more information and how to become an abundance activist yourself. Thanks, everybody, and we’ll see you on the next episode of Structure and Flow. And if you loved this episode, go give Ellen some love on iTunes and tell her how much you loved, and if you’re going to become an abundance activist. Brad Dobson: Cool. Bye, guys. Brad Dobson: Thanks for listening to Structure and Flow, the productivity podcast for creative entrepreneurs. To find out more about this episode and others, go to pathtoprofitacademy.com and click on the podcast link. [https://www.addtoany.com/add_to/facebook?linkurl=http%3A%2F%2Fpathtoprofitacademy.com%2Fepisode-124-generosity-ellen-rogin%2F&linkname=Episode%20124%3A%20Generosity%20with%20Ellen%20Rogin] [https://www.addtoany.com/add_to/twitter?linkurl=http%3A%2F%2Fpathtoprofitacademy.com%2Fepisode-124-generosity-ellen-rogin%2F&linkname=Episode%20124%3A%20Generosity%20with%20Ellen%20Rogin] [https://www.addtoany.com/add_to/google_plus?linkurl=http%3A%2F%2Fpathtoprofitacademy.com%2Fepisode-124-generosity-ellen-rogin%2F&linkname=Episode%20124%3A%20Generosity%20with%20Ellen%20Rogin] [https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Fpathtoprofitacademy.com%2Fepisode-124-generosity-ellen-rogin%2F&title=Episode%20124%3A%20Generosity%20with%20Ellen%20Rogin] The post Episode 124: Generosity with Ellen Rogin [http://pathtoprofitacademy.com/episode-124-generosity-ellen-rogin/] appeared first on Path to Profit Academy [http://pathtoprofitacademy.com].

30. okt. 201836 min