And She Spoke

Word-of-mouth is priceless. Every business that wants to grow (or grow fast) needs a solid online marketing strategy and a few well-timed ads, but organic promotion will always be king. When your customers spread the word about your business, they do so to people who already know and trust them. Personal referrals feel more genuine to the listener, which means they’re more likely to lead to action than sterile, geo-targeted Facebook ads. If your clients say glowing things about your services, they’re happily and naturally endorsing your wellness business. If actual, word-of-mouth is priceless, online reviews are platinum. Meaning online approval is slightly less valuable to your business, but not by much! Recent research shows that 97% of consumers read online reviews for local businesses, and 85% trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations. And we’re not talking testimonials on your own website, we’re talking about third-party platforms where reviewers can be candid and honest. We’re talking about Google Reviews! Listen in to learn some quick and simple tips for getting started with Google Reviews.

In this episode, we interview entrepreneur Rynda Laurel—who has an extensive background in the entertainment industry and with building brands in the online space. She is on a mission to help more people learn about the natural ways they can supplement their bodies and brains to truly become happy, joyous, and free. Rynda, who has a background in the music industry, is a highly sought-after consultant and currently works with a select number innovative, like-minded entrepreneurs, lifestyle brands, content creators, and experiential events. She has helped to grow multiple companies and ventures. Her network is vast and she has a knack for combining creative concepts with the right people to get achieve powerful results. Rynda has also just launched VRYeveryday, a supplement line supporting mental health and well-being. She has over 25 years of continuous sobriety and recovery from drug addiction and almost 3 years of full remission from clinical depression. It’s not everyday that you meet a woman who took it upon herself to launch a business of this nature—formulating and manufacturing her own supplements—and that’s the primary focus of this conversation. Rynda is brave and her story is vulnerable. Connect with Rynda: here / here / here Joy: messages of impact from VRYeveryday usersHustle: perseverance

“Your heart knows about your career the same way that it does about a relationship…the houses of success and failure sit right next to each other.” - Kayce Brown In this episode, we share our recent conversation with business strategist and innovator, Kayce Brown. Kayce predicts trends and seizes opportunity. She’s hard to put into a box. She is creative, impactful, and disruptive. Following over a decade in the film industry, her unique blend of talent and expertise sit at the cross-section of tech, pop culture, social good, and entertainment. Kayce’s deep knowledge and experience within these industries have allowed her to make connections and strategically partner with global brands, influencers, nonprofits, and media. (Kayce has worked with everyone from Uber to the NFL, from Bird scooters to GYFT, a recently launched digital pregnancy companion.) In this conversation, we get a peek into Kayce’s mindset, and she shares some invaluable advice for all of us in the process. Other Mentions: Mindset: The New Psychology of Success / Connect with Kayce: LinkedIn / Joy: movement + exercise Hustle: LinkedIn / AngelList

This podcast has become a diary of our business, our friendship, and a place to explore our evolving ideas about entrepreneurship. As we hit the 100th episode mark, listen in to learn about why we love recording this show, our plans for the podcast moving forward, and what we are working to improve upon. Joy: Sunrise Rock Everything OilHustle: How to Book and Prep Podcast Guests / Power Your Podcast with Storytelling

“American women are liberated, but they’re not empowered.” - Tara Sophia Mohr This episode features a raw conversation about our roles as mothers and feminists, our differing responsibilities, and the complex relationship we each have with financial security. Whenever we travel for our businesses, we encounter the double standards that have come to define our lives as modern women and mothers. It’s the truth. The truth is messy. Joy: Malibu Beach House Airbnb / diane krön chocolatier Hustle: The Wealthy Feminist / Many Women at Elite Colleges Set Career Path to Motherhood

Today’s episode features an interview with Jess Frank, who serves as the Program Director for Yoga Behind Bars (or YBB for short). YBB is a Washington State-based nonprofit that has been sharing trauma-informed yoga and meditation with thousands of incarcerated youth and adults since 2008. Starting this month, September 2018, the organization’s comprehensive trauma-informed training will be available online for the very first time. (Full Disclosure: YBB is working with us via Namastream to host this program and we’re so humbled that Jess and her team have chosen to use our platform). Jess’s passion for providing transformative opportunities to incarcerated people sparked at the start of her career and has only grown since she became a YBB instructor nearly 5 years ago. As a program coordinator for the Post Prison Education Program and University Beyond Bars, Jess became both intimately acquainted with the challenges facing people in the criminal justice system and deeply inspired by the dedication of the students. As YBB’s program director, Jess co-facilitates trauma-informed trainings, manages and mentors volunteers, oversees program creation and growth, and conducts site visits and evaluations. Jess shared with us that the highlight of her week is teaching yoga to 25 students at the men’s prison in Monroe, Washington. Connect with Yoga Behind Bars: YBB / YBB Online Joy: deflect judgement with self loveHustle: movement, being in the body

Every new business needs a sidekick–someone who understands how to set up shop, maneuver taxes and licensing issues, and build out some basic spreadsheets. In this episode we interview Jenny MacLeod (aka “Jenny Girl Friday”), who has been working one-on-one with self-employed women for over five years. She’s on a new mission to make those necessary business chores easier and even fun…for every single self-employed woman in Seattle. As a small business owner herself, Jenny offers Sidekick Services (tax reminders + how-to articles via email), one-time consults, workshops, and, coming SOON, an online business apothecary.  She also released a book last year, How to Become Self-Employed in Seattle: A Guidebook, Companion, and Reference. Jenny lives in Seattle in a half-finished house, with her husband Alex and two teenagers. You might spot her driving around town in her VW bus on her way to yoga or happy hour. Amazing, Jenny has never owned a cell-phone and she built her business out of the belief that self-employed people are essential to the soul of Seattle.  Connect with Jenny: jennygirlfriday.com / Business Apothecary Joy: Goddess Oracle Deck / Women Who Run with the Wolves / Scythe / Ladywell’s Hustle: Do the Work! / The Art of the Start / Jenny’s Weekly Flow: basic worksheet p.s. This podcast is sponsored by Audible. Head over to audibletrial.com/soulfulmba to get a free audiobook and a 30-day free trial!

We’re giving you an insider peek into our biannual business planning process. Our second 2018 business retreat is happening next week in a Malibu beach house (we can’t wait). In this episode, we walk you though our metrics analysis and tracking process, how we set and evaluate goals, how we choose the next features for our software, and why we incorporate trend forecasting into our retreats. We also reveal some updates related to our our Soulful MBA course + community! Joy: State the LabelHustle: Take a business retreat of your own.

This episode touches on our use of the word “guys” (and why it is so problematic). Usage of this term has seen a massive rise since the advent of the Internet, but it creates a subtle, yet troubling speech pattern for the plight of women. There is no gender-neutral, plural pronoun in the English language (unlike Spanish or German or a host of other languages), but choosing to default to an informal masculine plural pronoun is not the answer. The language that we choose to use each and everyday matters; by opting to be lazy with our language, we add more fodder to an existing series of microaggressions against women. According to Sherryl Kleinman, Professor Emeritus of  Sociology at UNC Chapel Hill, “...women want to be included in the term that refers to the higher-status group: men. But while being labeled one of the guys might make women feel included, it’s only a guise of inclusion, not the reality. If women were really included we wouldn’t have to disappear into the word guys.” Amen, sister. Other Mentions: Why Sexist Language Matters / The Problem With ‘Hey Guys’ / An unnecessarily long and surprisingly fascinating history of ‘guys’  Joy: Charlotte Walsh Likes to WinHustle: ZigZag Podcast

A cognition crisis is not defined by a lack of information, knowledge or skills. We have done a fine job in accumulating those and passing them along across millennia. Rather, this a crisis at the core of what makes us human: the dynamic interplay between our brain and our environment — the ever-present cycle between how we perceive our surroundings, integrate this information, and act upon it. - Adam Gazzaley We were profoundly rocked this summer by Jaron Lanier’s new book: Ten Arguments for Deleting Your Social Media Accounts Right Now, and this podcast episode explores the reasons why this book has had such an immense impact on each of us. How does social media impact our access to economic dignity? What are the long-term implications of new technology? Why is the freemium model of social media so dangerous and why does the success of HBO and Netflix highlight what’s wrong with free software? What does social media and artificial intelligence have to do with religion and spirituality? Other Mentions: The Cognition Crisis Joy: Mary Robinson launches new feminist fight against climate changeHustle: Ten Arguments for Deleting Your Social Media Accounts Right Now