Soulful MBA Podcast

In the new economy, where the societal gatekeepers have largely been removed, everyone has the capacity to be a teacher (and also, of course, a student). Given the explosion of online education over the past five years, we’ve taken the position that online learning represents a cultural zeitgeist. In this episode, you’ll discover the reasons why we think it would be a shame to miss out on this historical business opportunity. Joy: MOOCs, edX.orgHustle: Namastream Software

When you’re able to channel your inner curiosity, your entire relationship to your business changes. What’s the difference between passion and curiosity? What role does curiosity play in your life and business? It’s one thing to build products, programs, and services based on the surface-level needs of your audience, but it is a whole other endeavor to genuinely inquire about their deepest hopes and fears — but that’s where the magic happens. You have to learn new things all the time as an entrepreneur, so you might as well enjoy the process of discovery. Other Mentions:Curiosity improves memory by tapping into the brain’s reward systemBig Magic Joy: How Curiosity Changed My Life || This is Your Brain on CuriosityHustle: The Marketing Seminar

According to Cal Newport, “If you don’t produce, you won’t thrive—no matter how skilled or talented you are.” In an age of hyper-connectivity, it is so easy to move through our days without ever accomplishing anything meaningful. Because of the cacophony of social media notifications, text messages, and an overflowing inbox, the process of deepening our skills and creating original work has become a rare occurrence (and borderline subversive) in our culture. Today’s episode explores the reasons why deep, focused work matters if you want to create something of value in the world and live a rich, intentional life. Joy: Simplicity ParentingHustle: Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World

In this episode, we discuss why you should NOT undervalue yourself, your business, and your entire industry by offering inexpensive products, programs, or services. We talk about the difference between "free" and "cheap" and why we recommend and often create valuable "free"content but constantly urge our clients to stay away from "cheap." We also discuss the dangers that come along with underpricing, particularly the negative energetic relationship that develops between you and your clients. Resentment is dangerous territory, folks. Charge what you’re worth. Joy: You Are a Badass at Making MoneyHustle: DailyWorth

Often, we don't do a fantastic job of acknowledging our own success. Some wise folks are rumored to have said that comparison is the thief of joy (FDR and Mark Twain, to name a few). It's so true, right? When we look back and try to imagine our old selves achieving our current accomplishments, we realize that we are often WAY too hard on ourselves. Listen in to learn why we are making joy an even bigger priority in our lives and business. Other Mentions: FREE Social Media Summer Camp! Joy: The Five Minute Journal Hustle: Find an Accountability Partner

How many people do you need in your audience in order to build a sustainable online business? What’s the difference between a follower and fan? How many fans do you need in order to make a living from your craft? How can you leverage your role as a small business owner in the modern economy?Find out why generosity, kindness, and vulnerability are key to building your tribe online and learn about the seven specific benefits your business can receive from having a tribe of committed and loyal fans. Other Mentions: Episode #17: Networking, How to Build Community and Grow Your Tribe Online Joy: How We GatherHustle: 1,000 True Fans

Part of successfully launching a modern (online) business is figuring out how to create focus within an ever-expanding barrage of distraction. As entrepreneurs and innovators, we are inherently drawn to new ideas, new courses, new strategies, but we’ve seen over and over that success comes to those who are able to drill down deep and focus on executing one idea at a time. If you want to see big results in your business, we strongly encourage you to focus on just one quintessential client, one message, one call to action, one product offering, and one social media platform. Joy: Good Life Project’s Sheryl O’Loughlin InterviewHustle: Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less

We are all a part of the gig economy, whether we like it or not. How has this new economy shaped the way we live and work? How does this shift relate to each of us and our businesses? More than a third of the U.S. economy (with similar numbers in Canada) is engaged in this new way of working, but have we really considered its implications — both as individuals and as a society? We discuss the path from employee to freelancer to entrepreneur and explain why we believe that freelancing is best used as a stepping stone along the journey to entrepreneurship. Other Mentions: Female, Bootstrapped, and Profitable in Silicon Valley Joy: Tulsi TeaHustle: Is the Gig Economy Working?

One of the most frequently asked questions we receive is “What tools do I need when getting started as an online teacher or coach?” Our answers might surprise you (and cost a lot less than you might think). There are so many incredible software tools you can incorporate to streamline and simplify your online business, but it can be challenging to determine the very best (and most affordable) options — especially when you’re just starting out. We break down the tools that we recommend at various stages of business and discuss when you can get away with using free tools and when it makes sense to upgrade to paid software. Resources Mentioned: Asana, Trello, G-Suite, Canva, Namastream Software, iMovie, MailChimp, Convertkit, Squarespace, Slack, Airstory, Repurpose Joy: eteeHustle: Soulful MBA Course

What are the taboo topics that nobody is really talking about in modern entrepreneurship? We take inspiration from a blog post recently written by Grace Bonney, 10 Things People Don’t Talk About in Business (But Should), and pull back the veil to discuss some tricky truths that we’ve uncovered in our own businesses. We touch upon issues of hiring, firing, contracts, building relationships with team members, assertiveness, harnessing fear, work-life balance, apologizing, growing apart, walking away, leaving room for grace, playing the long game, and not having all the answers. Joy: In The Company of WomenHustle: Deep Work

We’ve been working for many months on a new theory of entrepreneurship for ourselves and our business — the EMPIRE. You determine the size, structure, and design of your entrepreneurial empire. You decide who belongs in your empire and who does not. An empire-centric view of business can help you embrace a longer-term set of strategies, rather than falling victim to a short-term, quick win-centric mindset. You are the leader, and you need to establish your authority as the empress or emperor. Finally, your strength as a leader comes from generosity, not from coercion. Joy: Cumulus Clay PotteryHustle: Laura Close

Are there certain rules that we can follow to achieve success in life and business? Lots of video games have cheat codes—secret tips and tricks to help you level-up—but does business also contain them? We explore issues of legacy, victimhood, personal responsibility, human connection, journaling, and shame. Joy: Archetype Quiz Hustle: Life is a Video Game—Here are the Cheat Codes

Coming off the heels of our first ever live event, we share our key takeaways and the reason why we think it’s important to connect with online friends in real life. We also summarize the topics we dove into during the live event, including social media, SEO, opt-ins, email sequence-writing, mindset, Facebook Ads, and videography. If you listened to the first episode of this podcast, you may remember that the two of us met at a live event for an online course. In our situation, a profound friendship and business partnership flowed from that chance encounter. If you run an online business, we recommend that you consider attending a (or maybe even organizing your own!) live event or retreat at least once per year. Joy: SO DELICIOUS Coconut MilkHustle: iMovie for Yogis Course

Are you brand new to online entrepreneurship? Want to know what we would do if we were in your shoes right now? This episode explores the first steps that we would take if we were starting our businesses over today. We touch on how to pinpoint your business idea, recruit your first cohort of customers, price your offering, launch to your beta group, and map out your sales and marketing strategy. Joy: Material Wit Hustle: The Hippies Have Won

We all encounter self-imposed upper limits in our work and in our lives. Don’t automatically assume that there is something wrong with you when you experience hints of failure in your business; sometimes things are just hard (especially in entrepreneurship or with respect to technology). One way to address feelings of inadequacy is to simply just sit with those feelings and let them pass, rather than allowing them to evolve into self-sabotage. It also helps to have a trusted person or group to lean on. Joy: The Big Leap by Gay HendricksHustle: kitlife planner || Bullet Journal || Passion Planner || Self Journal

"All things being equal, people will do business with and refer people to those they know, like and trust." — Bob Burg Some may associate networking with climbing the corporate career ladder (or embarrassing stock photos of people in ill-fitting business attire), but we discuss why networking is also key to finding success in entrepreneurship and online business. If you can figure out how to be a source of support and connection for other businesses, you’ll be amazed at how often those acts are reciprocated. Networking doesn’t always have to be calculated; it can be an authentic expression of who you are and what you have to offer others. It can be kind, human, generous, and a refreshing response to a culture that’s increasingly dominated by technology. Other Mentions: Endless Referrals by Bob Burg Joy: Reach out to three people whose work has made an impact in your life (via email, live event, or social media) and write them a heartfelt letter.Hustle: Join us in our free Facebook Community, Soulful MBA!

What can you let go of in order to create space for your entrepreneurial vision? Is it an activity, a relationship, an obligation, an idea? Maybe some of each? In this episode we talk about all of the things that we DON’T do in order to allow room for our businesses. You need to acknowledge that letting go is a really important part of finding success; nobody can do it all. Other Mentions: Work, Sleep, Family, Fitness, or Friends: Pick 3 Joy: Drop the Ball by Tiffany Dufu || Don’t Do It (NY Times article)Hustle: Gig Economy Apps, Skip the Dishes (Canada), Laundry Apps

In this episode, we explore the relationship between meaning and entrepreneurship. We dive into two different aspects of meaning in this episode: (1) the personal meaning that your work has for you as an individual creative being and (2) the larger question of whether or not your contribution really matters — does it fundamentally make a difference in the world to even a small group of people? We get so caught up in the idea of optimizing the individual aspects of our daily lives, that we can lose sight of bigger picture of our life’s work, but entrepreneurship can be an incredible way to leave a legacy. What’s yours going to be? Other Mentions: Viktor Frankl's Man’s Search for Meaning Joy: The Power of Meaning: Crafting a Life That Matters by Emily Esfahani SmithHustle: Thomas L. Friedman: "Thank You for Being Late" | Talks at Google

A strong public persona (or voice) is an important component of any modern business. In this episode, we dive into the four elements that we’ve identified as being important to sharing your voice online: Messenger (identify WHO is the best person to be promoting your brand or product in any given scenario) Timing (you want to be really careful about promoting yourself too soon or too often) Message (master the art of copywriting, learn to write how you speak, tailor your message to the person who will be receiving it, practice being public with your voice consistently) Medium (you want to hone in on one medium first — writing, video, audio, maybe take a cue from whatever medium you’ll be using for your paid programs) Other Mentions: Hemingway AppDragon Dictation Joy: George Lakoff || Idea Framing, Metaphors, and Your Brain (video) Hustle: Word HippoOneLook Reverse Dictionary33 Unusual Tips to Being a Better WriterPanabee

“Business is not about money. It’s about making dreams come true for others and yourself.” — Derek Sivers Our company’s internal motto is: Be kind. Be brave. Be love. There’s a lot of power in being kind. So many of us promote kindness in our everyday lives, but not so much in business (probably because it is considered to be an act of weakness). We think that this is a huge missed opportunity. We never would have imaged, until we did it for ourselves, that business could be a vehicle for love. We have incorporated kindness into our customer service, our professional networking, our team’s culture, and via the products we put out into the world. The biggest gift you can give to your clients and customers is to be a good listener -- to be fully present and fully human to their experience. But kindness without boundaries breeds resentment. It’s a balance, right? Other Mentions:Stuffed Animals on Vacation (giraffe, bunny) Joy: More Love Letters (Ted Talk) Hustle: Anything You Want by Derek Sivers

Gumption, as a word and as a concept (which Americans often refer to as “tenacity”), dates back to Scotland in the early 1700s, and although the concept is quite old, we think that it is a critical component of modern entrepreneurship. This episode explores a number of strategies we recommend for building up your own capacity for gumption: Set yourself up for success with self care. Start setting goals that you can control and then don’t let yourself off the hook. (Keep your word to yourself.) It’s ok to try something new. (Creative problem-solving is arguably the most important skill in entrepreneurship.) Capture successes + celebrate heroes and legends. Community + accountability. (It is SO hard to be brave in vacuum.)

Could artistry and entrepreneurship be intertwined? We encourage you to follow your creative pursuits and, in fact, we believe that creative self expression can help you to become a better founder and better human. Taking great ideas from seemingly unrelated disciplines and bringing them together in a new way is the ultimate creative hack. We’ve witnessed this play out in life and in business. But...you’re going to have to get comfortable with most of your work being terrible (especially at first). Just keep creating, growing, and learning and, eventually, you’ll make something that impacts the world around you (and maybe even your business).

Working together in partnership has been critical to our success in online business. You don’t have to do it by yourself and you, alone, cannot master every skill that’s necessary for success as an entrepreneur. In this episode, we explore the ways that collaboration can set you up for success. Do personality assessments matter for collaborative partnerships? What about archetypes? If you’re dreaming of having a greater impact with your work and through your business, consider ways that you can join forces with others in your market to build something bigger than any of you could do on your own.

We're living in an economy where each person is likely to work in a dozen jobs over the course of her career and where the only thing that's stable is change. We recorded this episode to pay homage to the ever-present transition that so many of us are making in our careers and in our lives. Sandy shares her own emotional and liberating journey from brick and mortar retail business owner to online entrepreneur. As you listen, you’ll learn why we believe that flexibility is the one true skill that matters in today's world.

“Intelligence without ambition is a bird without wings.” - Salvador Dali This episode explores the role that ambition plays in entrepreneurship and the ways in which our definitions of ambition can shift over time. We discuss the interplay between owning our power, yet still allowing space for humility and how ambition shifts as we transform from employee to entrepreneur or from individual to parent. How does ambition surface for you in different phases of your life? What about men versus women? “Naked ambition in a woman is problematic in the business world. We continue to walk a fine line. We have to demonstrate enough ambition to be taken seriously as ‘success material’ but not so much that we’re perceived as a freight train.” - Betsy Stark What about Sandy’s point that the word “entrepreneurship” is replacing “ambition” for many of us these days?

“I’m convinced that about half of what separates the successful entrepreneurs from the non-successful ones is pure perseverance.” - Steve Jobs Do you ever think about grit -- your ability to stick to a goal over a long period of time, even when circumstances get hard? Grit is one of the key qualities of successful entrepreneurs. You need to have a passion for (and dedication to) creating the business itself (not just a passion for the topic of your teaching or coaching). The good news is that the ups and downs of the entrepreneurial roller coaster will help you to develop that grit over time. How long should you try out entrepreneurship before you really know whether it’s a good fit for you? How do you know when you should stick with your business versus when you should give up?

“After you find your voice, you realize there’s really only one person to imitate, and that’s yourself. You do it by combining different influences. I think the first part of it is you do slavish imitations, which are almost like travesties, you know. But gradually you come under the right influences, picking and choosing, and being selective, and then maybe your voice is the combination of 6 or 8 other voices that you have managed to blend in such a way that no one can recognize the sources.” -- Billy Collins Afraid to start building a new business in such a crowded industry? Learn about why it’s actually a good thing to work in a market that’s crowded. At the same time, you’re going to need to find your own unique way of doing things if you’re ever going to stand out from the pack. Pay attention to your natural interests, even if they are seemingly unrelated to your business. The synthesis of two seemingly unrelated topics is where the magic happens. Joy: The Great Work of Your Life Hustle:Austin KleonWhite House Poetry Workshop

Well, we’re only five episodes in and we’re already discussing money. Yep. We’re a business running a business podcast, so this was bound to happen. Trying to figure out how much money it takes to start your own online business? Want to learn our perspective on bootstrapping vs. investment-backed companies? In this episode, we share our take on the various funding choices and offer our advice on how to best source funds for your own project or business. (We also share our own journey from bootstrapped, to startup accelerator, back to bootstrapped. Kind of a wild story. Maybe you can guess what we’re going to suggest that you do with your business?) Other Mentions: 11 Free Resources for Taking Your Yoga Business Online Laura Roeder’s Medium Post About Fundraising Joy: The $100 Startup Hustle: Gusto

If you’re searching for a process to de-risk your next business idea, you’ll want to grab a pen and paper and learn our best strategies for validating an idea, product, or service in your target market. We have a term for this concept -- sleuthing -- and we think that it can change your life (and set your business up for success). In this episode, we share why shifting your perspective is an essential component of success and we discuss specific tips and resources for helping you to get out of your own head. Other Mentions: Art and Physics by Leonard Shlain The Culture of Time and Space by Stephen Kern Quora Reddit Calendly Joy: Year of Yes by Shonda Rhimes (Ted Talk) My Year of Saying Yes to Everything Hustle: Will It Fly by Pat Flynn

In this episode, we deal with the third rail of online business; commitment. We are firm believers that success is rooted in the long view. How can we take action now that leads to predictable long term success? When you make a promise to yourself to take on a project in your business, we encourage you to honor that commitment. In our experience, business is often pretty underwhelming in the first few months, but can far exceed your expectations in just a few short years. Entrepreneurship is not for the faint of heart. It requires being comfortable with a certain amount of risk and it is nothing if not a fantastic adventure. (“Life is either an adventure or nothing.” - Helen Keller). Even failure can provide a tremendous learning experience. You need to experience a whole bunch of micro-failures in order to achieve macro-success. Just dig in your heels, commit, and keep going. Joy: Kitlife Planner Hustle: Google Sheets

Asking a new friend to share her list of heroes and mentors is a sneaky way to get to know her quickly (and without asking a million prying questions). To lay the foundation of what’s to come on this podcast, we each share three of the people who’ve had the most influence on us, both personally and professionally. Jennifer’s heroes include Al Gore, Seth Godin, and Mary Robinson. Sandy’s heroes are Sharon Horan, Julia Arora, and Rich Roll. We realize that you’ll probably think we’re a bit eccentric after listening to this episode. It’s true. We are totally impossible to categorize, but we kind of like it that way. Resources Mentioned: Plantpower Way http://theelders.org/mary-robinson http://www.mrfcj.org/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7JVTirBEfho Joy: Starting with Nothing Podcast with Julie Arora Hustle: The Ship It Journal by Seth Godin

Welcome to the inaugural episode of the Soulful MBA Podcast! Today’s episode is an introduction to the two of us and our vision for this project. Jennifer Barcelos and Sandy Connery are the co-founders of the Namastream Software platform and the Soulful MBA online course and community. Although we come from very different backgrounds, we found common ground as ambitious moms looking to break into an industry dominated by young men. This is the story of our meeting and our intuitively-driven decision to go into business together. About Jennifer: I believe that starting a technology company has been the single most empowering experience of my life and I want to use what I’ve learned to empower other entrepreneurs and small business owners to master their own technical prowess. I’m a recovering adrenaline junkie — formerly obsessed with both the thrill of danger and the ego boost of achievement. I’m a lawyer, a mama, an artist, a yogi… I have traveled to very dangerous places — both out in the world, but also deep within myself. I spent more than a decade of my life focused on addressing the global crisis of climate change, worked in strategic roles within multiple presidential campaigns, and somehow managed to get into the Ivy League after dropping out of high school. I believe that curiosity is the most important skill to cultivate and maintain and that lifelong learning is key to health and happiness. I believe that there is a lot of brokenness in the world and that building beautiful things, with our minds, our hands, and our words, is our responsibility and our gift. About Sandy: In 2013, I sold a traditional brick and mortar retail business and clinic after an amazing twenty year career. It was time to start something new. I didn’t know what that was going to be, but knew a change was overdue. I had no idea a software company was in my future. I took a blind leap of faith and never looked back. Creating a tech company from scratch has provided me with a new way of operating. A new way of living with freedom around when and how I work. And I love it. I revel in the unstructured-ness of my days each and every morning. I get giddy over the fact that I choose how I spend my hours. Entrepreneurship is about creativity. You are always creating (the good and the bad) and need to know how to tap into the flow of the Universe so those ideas are flowing effortlessly. It’s also about listening to your heart, finding clarity in silence, and taking an occasional leap of faith – just because it feels right. I now know that success arrives when you operate from a deep sense of purpose, integrity and a place of authenticity. These are non-negotiable traits. I don’t believe in balance, but instead work within my personal fits and starts. I take action when I am inspired and lay low when I’m not. I no longer force things. Joy: Jamie Joseph Ringshttp://www.jamiejoseph.com Hustle: One Month Learning Site https://onemonth.com