Jump Start Your Joy

Mallory Wisong is a virtual assistant, certified life coach, and I have the great pleasure of both working with her, and, having her join me on this week’s episode. With a background doing admin work in the financial industry, Mal brings with her a unique blend of a knack for process and details, along with intuition, heart, courage, and the ability to hold the highest vision for those she works with. I think you will love getting to know her on this episode, and getting a glimpse of what goes on behind the scenes with the show. In this interview, Mallory Wisong and I talk about: Her earliest sparks of joy: reading books like “Dollhouse in the Attic” Her journey from the financial industry, to life coach training, to becoming a VA Taking responsibility for your life, and how that can be a life changing move Following your curiosity in being an entrepreneur, and remaining open to “what’s next” How to make room for magic in your work and life The art of creating process that works for you in your business Lett

Skip Prichard is the President and CEO of OCLC, award winning blogger and the author of The Book of Mistakes: 9 Secrets to Creating a Successful Future. As a lifelong student of what makes people successful, he’s interviewed over a thousand leaders, influencers, and notable people to talk to them about their lives. In the process of having so many conversations, Skip noticed that there were some similarities to the things that these successful people were doing, believing, saying, and living. In this interview, Skip Prichard and I talk about: His childhood, and his early start as an entrepreneur, selling things at school to classmates in grade school Being a CEO of OCLC, a library tech company His creative process in crafting “The Book of Mistakes,” and how he created the format for it The first mistake, from “The Book of Mistakes;” Don’t work on someone else’s dream How to make your current reality or situation better for yourself Filtering the shoulds that come into our lives The impact of kindness on peop

This week, two big things hit me at once: the joy that comes naturally to children, and the Netflix special with Brene Brown, where she talks about the vulnerability that adults experience around joy, making it THE most vulnerable of emotions. What gives? When did being joyful get to be hard? When did it become vulnerable to be joyful and experience joy? If you’ve watched the Brene Brown special on Netflix (and you really should, it’s amazing), you’ll know that she shares that in her study of shame and vulnerability, she has discovered that people state that joy is the most vulnerable of all of the emotions. “You can’t have joy without allowing yourself to be seen. Joy is the most vulnerable and terrifying of all human emotions. Vulnerability is the birthplace of joy. True belonging requires you to be who you are.” – Brene Brown As children, joy is easy. It comes naturally. I know this first hand, from this week. Yes, my son and I had lots of experiences that were planned out and intended to be joyful, like

Paul Selig joins the show to talk about his journey to become a psychic and channel, and share about "The Book of Truth." Paul channels the guides in this episode, and they share the truth about the nature of joy in the universe. In this episode, Paul and I talk about: – his earliest sparks of joy in drama and theater – his journey to becoming clairvoyant, clairsentient, and then telepathic and psychic – how he built his practice as an intuitive – how he channels, and receives the texts that he shares – what it feels like to sit in channel with The Guides – difference between channeling, and when he is in the role of a psychic – if everyone has the ability to tap into channeling – what The Guides have to say about the pursuit of joy in this life – what it is like to honor the call of being a channel, and the impact it’s had on Paul’s life – if The Guides were present in the time of Moses, based on the fact that the phrase “Here I am” is found in the Old Testament, and very similar to what The Guides share in

Learn all about the basics of making taking care of yourself a priority, and why you might be having a hard time making that happen in your life. A great lookback lesson full of joyful ideas on self care. I think it boils down to two things that influence decisions and when and how we eventually decide to take better care of ourselves. 1. “If you don’t prioritize your life, someone else will. But if you are determined to prioritize your own life, you can.” – Greg McKeown If you don’t set up and defend your own self care, something or someone else will. Some people call this setting boundaries (which is a topic for another post). If you don’t literally mark off time on your schedule, and take the mindful steps to practice self care, it will not happen on it’s own. You have to carve out the time to take care of yourself, or other things will always get in the way. 2. “I’ve never seen any life transformation that didn’t begin with the person in question finally getting tired of their own bullshit.” – Liz Gilbert

Stasia Savasuk is an amazing style coach, has an outstanding Tedx Talk, and is the founder of Stasia’s Style School. She’s joining me on the show, and I’m delighted to share this interview. We giggled our way through our discussion, and had a hilarious time talking about style, what lights us up, how to find what kinds of styles fit YOU, and, all about Stasia’s inspiring story of becoming an entrepreneur. In this episode, Stasia and I talk about: Her early entrepreneurial work as a child, collecting and selling worms How she broke up with style, and wore very bland clothing for many years That one size fits all is bullshit How to discover style that works for you and reflects who you really are How to get in touch with who you really are What it looks like to belong to yourself How her differently abled child has taught her so much about inside out congruency Her thoughts on how to jumpstart your joy: asking yourself how you want to show up, don’t participate in body shaming, and getting outside Resources S

Liz Applegate is a coach, entrepreneur, founder of Tame Business Overwhelm, and host of Midlife Schmidlife. I feel so fortunate to call her my friend, to share a birthday with her! And to have her on the show this week to talk about how you can tame your business overwhelm, define your own process, and, get shit done. In this episode, Liz and I talk about: -Taking action, even when it feels overwhelming -The wisdom of procrastination -The difference between self care and numbing out (and how to know the know the difference) -Dreading the first step of something, or getting started with something -How to keep projects or work moving when you have a family or other priorities in your life -Finding a happy medium in process and commitments -Getting curious about your own process, and listening to your intuition about what works best for you -How to tame business overwhelm -Setting up habits to support your process and getting work done Resources The Four Tendencies by Gretchen Rubin on Amazon A Mastermind Shares

As an entrepreneur, setting boundaries and definitions around the work you do, and around your schedule and time are two of the kindest things you can do for yourself and your growing business. When you’re in charge of your own business and dependent on the income from that business, it becomes easy to get caught up in wanting to help “everyone,” and working all the time. I want to assure you that when you make it a point to define a niche of who you work with, and set some structure around when you work, you’ll find that it’s better for you, for your clients, and for your business. Setting Boundaries is a Way of Being Kind to Yourself as An Entrepreneur This week’s show is all about setting up the mindful steps to design a business you love, and the kind of business you dreamed about when you started out on your entrepreneurial journey. In Brene Brown’s book, Dare to Lead, she shares her thoughts about creating clarity as a leader. “Over our years of researching and working together, we’ve learned something

Renee Linnell is the author of The Burn Zone, and a serial entrepreneur. At age 33 she woke up one morning and realized that she had very unintentionally joined a Buddhist cult. What had started as a quest for spiritual learning, and finding a place that felt like home to her turned out to be an intense group well versed in brainwashing, and converting others to bring in money to help support the larger cause. In this episode Renee Linnell and I talk about: Her early love of solitude, dancing, being near the ocean, and reading Recognizing she is and was a HSP (highly sensitive person) and an introvert from an early age That all the people closest to her died by the time she was 15, leaving her with just her brother and alcoholic mother How she found herself drawn to a Buddhist teacher, after being a spiritual seeker for many years The moment of walking in to a meditation retreat and feeling like she was home The fine line of being deeply inspired, and aligned with a spiritual group AND being involved with a

Francesca Hogi is a dating and career coach, 2 time Survivor contestant, and a lawyer. She and I met last year in Atlanta, and I loved her take on life and love, and very much wanted to get the chance to chat with her more about the crossroads of joy and relationships. More than anything, I love that the heart of her work is all about love: how to find it in relationships, and how to find love in the work you do. We had a fun and light filled discussion and I feel so grateful that she joined me this week.   In this episode Francesca Hogi and I talk about: -Her early love of reading, and not knowing what she wanted to be for a career -Working as a lawyer -How she was interested early on in relationships and dating -Attending the Match Making Institute -How baby steps brought her to become a match maker, and later a coach -Becoming an entrepreneur -Advice for finding the right relationship -Celebrating our “unconscious genius” -Aiming for contentment and joy in a relationship, and looking at what you prioritize

Sharon Prentice is a psychotherapist, spiritual counselor, and author of the book Becoming Starlight: A Shared Death Journey from Darkness and Light. Her journey includes having lost her daughter, and her husband, and then having a shared death experience with him when he passed away. At the time, she experienced the presence of the divine, and was instilled with a sense that everything (including the passing of two people she loved so much) was just as it should be. I’m thrilled to have her on the podcast to talk about her shared death experience, and how that event shifted so many things in her life. Inspired by the Immense Love She Felt in a Shared Death Experience One of the things that Sharon shares in her book and on the show is that at the time of her husband’s passing, she was still incredibly angry and upset with God for the loss of her daughter several years prior. Stephanie was born, and passed away the same day, and Sharon fell into a “newfound love of darkness that I carried with me always. Not a

Here are the top 8 reasons why, if I could choose to be any spaceship in the galaxy, I'd choose to be the Millennium Falcon: 1. The Falcon is a named character in the movies, with personality, and a story arc. 2. The Millennium Falcon is fast, or, is it really just super smart? 3. This ship is part of something much bigger than itself. 5. The Millennium Falcon is a symbol of hope. 6. The Falcon is always waiting for the right people, and it’s a great get away vehicle. 7. The Falcon is a connector between main characters, and they have a connection to it. 8. The Millennium Falcon is a home. Resources Episode 3: Matthew Wood (The Voice of General Grievous in Star Wars) on Crafting Joy in the Crossfade Episode 59: Finding Joy in “Star Wars in the Yard” with Russell Hurst The Ways the Millennium Falcon Were Different in “Solo: A Star Wars Story” L3-37's Story Changes Everything We Knew About the Millennium Falcon Solo: A Star Wars Story on Wikipedia Solo: A Star Wars Story Has Franchise's First Main Female Droid

There are so many ways that choice (and your mindset on choice) impacts the level of joy in your life. This week on the podcast, I’m exploring the topic of choice with these five great angles: You are always in choice Are choosing love, or choosing fear when you make a decision? Build in the mindfulness of “awareness, choice, action” Choose graciousness and spaciousness and allow others the room to do the same Choose to surround yourself with things that inspire you and uplift you Resources Oprah’s interview with Maya Angelou from December, 2000 Michelle Obama on “When they go low, we go high” Women, Food, and God: An Unexpected Path to Almost Everything by Geneen Roth on Amazon The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo on Amazon Wayne Dyer on Choosing Love or Fear

Gemma Hartley is the author of” Fed Up: Emotional Labor, Women, and the Way Forward,” and I’m thrilled to have her on the podcast to talk about emotional labor. Defined as “the invisible work women do to keep people around them happy,” emotional labor is a topic that doesn’t get talked about a lot, and often takes a toll on women and relationships. I’m excited that Gemma has opened the door for this discussion by addressing the topic, and offering thoughts on ways to move forward. Resources Gemma Hartley’s Website Gemma Hartley’s original article “Women aren’t Nags, we’re just Fed Up” on  Harpers Bazaar Fed Up: Emotional Labor, Women, and the Way Forward by Gemma Hartley on Amazon

This week on the show, I’m taking a look at how I grew my business while working a 9 to 5 job. I’ll walk you through the inspiration, intention, and actions I took, and share reflections on how you can use these same tips to start or grow your own business. See all of the show notes on the website, here: http://jumpstartyourjoy.com/2019/01/how-to-start-a-business-when-you-have-a-9-to-5-job   Resources Do a Ten in Three. The Power of Intention by Wayne Dyer Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less by Greg McKeown

Even though we are a couple of weeks in to 2019, it’s a great time to take a few minutes and map out your plans. I’m a big fan of sitting down for an hour or so and getting my thoughts for the year out on paper. I started doing something I call the “Ten in Three” in 2014, and in looking back at that first list, it’s fascinating to see that I have completed all but one thing (getting PMP certified, #2). Set the Intention for your Year You might feel, like I know have in the past, like life is moving fast and you don’t have time to really stop and soak in what’s going on. You might feel like you’re on a trajectory with your career that now feels just OK, but you know you want something more than what you’re currently doing. Or, maybe you have not stopped to think about what it is that you want to do with your one “wild and precious life” since college, and feel a bit lost. The beauty about taking an hour or so to get your thoughts in order about what you truly want to accomplish (instead of being in a reactive

Jess Ekstrom is the energetic CEO and founder of Headbands of Hope, and the developer of the Mic Drop Workshop. I had the pleasure of meeting Jess in Atlanta last year, and knew from the moment she shared the mission of her company (and it only further made me love her when she quoted Will Ferrell) that I wanted to talk to her more, and to have her on the show. Jess’ story of creating Headbands of Hope is one that resonates on all three of the Inspiration, Intention, and Action tenets that have been a part of Season 4 on Jump Start Your Joy. In her time working with the Make a Wish Foundation, she noticed that children didn’t like to wear a wig after having gone through chemo, and that many of the little girls preferred to wear a headband instead. Inspired by seeing an unmet need (there was no central place offering headbands for kids), Jess created Headbands of Hope with a “buy one, donate one” business model similar to Toms Shoes, and created a simple and impactful business that’s brought hope to children i

Jonni Pollard is a meditation and wisdom teacher, with his teachings stemming from the Vedic tradition. He’s the author of "The Golden Sequence," co-founder of the 1 Giant Mind Learn Meditation course and the 1 Giant Mind Teacher Training Academy. As a true multipassionate, he’s also been an actor, and an avid skateboarder and runner. Jonni now works with corporations, individuals and at events teaching others how to “get into the highest state of love to connect to our humanity.” The Inspiration of the Four Golden Insights I truly enjoyed getting to speak with Jonni, and felt myself sinking into the conversation in a deep way. One of the most inspirational parts of the discussion for me was when we walked through the Four Golden Insights, which are the pillars for the work Jonni does. Life is Sacred Love is our Nature - we serve, nature, and find connection Wisdom is our Power - Jonni talks about finding the intelligence of love, and reconciling the appearance of resistance and opposites. We also talked a

As entrepreneurs and solo-prenuers, let's look at a new definition of abundance that makes room for the lives we want to lead, the people we want to reach, and the we way want to show up in this world. Learn how on this final episode of 2108.

This week on the show, Andrea Owen returns for a second visit and this conversation is, hands down, the hardest I’ve laughed in quite some time. Andrea is a coach, author of two books (52 Ways to Live a Kick Ass Life and How to Stop Feeling Like Shit), and she’s the host of the amazing “Your Kick Ass Life” podcast. She and I talk about how to be taken seriously even when you’re not a serious person.   As an entrepreneur, and a woman out doing business in the world, I am betting that this episode will resonate with you strongly. It’s getting at the heart of some deep seated conditioning, and calling into question something my own personal inner critic is pretty tied to: as a person who does serious work (life coaching, business coaching and project management all require an understanding of deep emotional or business acumen), I often worry that if I present my light heartedness in front of others, my ability to be serious and taken as a credible intelligent person will be dismissed. What I love is that in this