This week, I welcomed M. Shannon Hernandez, a sought after expert in the world of content marketing and strategy, to Authors, Creators & Entrepreneurs to discuss:

• The notion that selling is serving (let that sink in)
• The reason people aren't profitable is that they don't have a grasp on their message
• There is a way to GET a grasp on that message (which Shannon speaks to)
• A new way to think of selling: enrolling people into an idea (and then delivering on it!)
• How Shannon's Joy First, Then Money philosophy allows her to choose joy every single day (and bake a shit-ton of money while doing it)

Shannon Hernandez is not your average entrepreneur. After a 15-year public teaching career, she jumped feet first into her journey as a business owner, and within just a few years, she had built a multi-six figure business.

A sought after expert in the world of content marketing and strategy, Shannon is known globally as the creator of the Content Personality™ Wheel.

Shannon is a voice and role model for Thought Leaders around the world, teaching them how to market their innovative ideas in a way that honors who they are and what they believe.

In 2016 Shannon founded The Confident Expert Program, where she champions and rallies entrepreneurs, teaching them how to market their businesses from a place of intuition, integrity, and JOY–and make a shit-ton of money in the process.

Shannon has been featured on CBS, ABC, The Boston Globe, The Huffington Post, FOX, Identity Magazine, and NBC. When she is not speaking and teaching globally, you will find her practicing yoga, snuggling her cat, traveling the world, whipping up new recipes in her kitchen, and hanging with the love of her life.

To learn more about M. Shannon Hernandez and discover how she can help you market yourself as a Thought Leader in a way that feels good and honors who you are and what you believe, visit www.mshannonhernandez.com

In the second half of this incredible conversation with Daniel Bruce Levin, author of The Mosaic, we dive deeper into the 4 connections we all have in this life (Self, Source, Purpose, Others) as well as Danny's 4 steps to create greater connection with oneself:

1. DO UNTO YOURSELF: Because we are so inherently unkind to ourselves, it's necessary to flip the adage around

2. EMBRACE VULNERABILITY: The fact is, when my wall’s not up, I experience you and can give back to you. As Danny says, "The lie has become so easy to believe that we call it the truth. And the truth has become so easy to believe that we call it a lie.” When we listen to people’s stories, the picture we begin to see is completely different to the person we first saw.

3. LIVE PURPOSEFULLY: Do what you came here to do! Once we allow ourselves to become vulnerable, things start to come into us and go out from us. The outside world will always reflect what’s going on in the inside world. As soon as we can put into our GPS what our destination is, the road to where we’re going is clear. If you have no idea why you’re here or where you’re going, every road will take you there.

[HOLY YES MOMENT] When you ask someone what they were came here to do and they answer, "I don’t know," the simple translation of those three words is, “I’m scared of what would happen if I actually knew what I’m here to do because I don’t feel good enough to do it.”

Danny lets you in on the simply question that helps you authentically answer the question, “What did you come here to do?”

4. BUILD YOUR MOSAIC: Purposefully place the pieces that will take you in the direction you want to go.

If you want to tell your story, but believe your topic has already been covered, this podcast is just for you!

If you struggle to feel connection in this increasingly disconnected world, this episode is for you!

The purpose of The Mosaic is to help people see what they’ve never seen before and experience "unzip the sky moments," moments when we become open to the idea that, as we unzip the sky above and see through to the other side, that new perspective changes the whole story.

“A great story doesn’t directly say anything, but it hints at everything”

-Daniel Bruce Levin

This podcast could easily be titled The 97% Agreement: The Significance of Connection because Danny and I agreed to disagree 3% of the time.

We live in the most connected time the world has ever known, and we feel more alone than we ever have, which is why it was such an honor to interview Daniel Bruce Levin, author of The Mosaic. The conversation got so deep and raw, in fact, that we decided to split it into two podcasts.

Daniel has accomplished and experienced a magnificent amount. A connectivity expert and business leader, he works with governmental organizations, corporations and businesses to improve how people treat themselves and each other. Sharing a message of unification, he is a popular speaker for groups whose focus is on problem-solving, innovation and conflict resolution.

His thoughts around the concept of the book people think they are writing versus the book they are actually writing are fascinating. In short, “When we marry who we write about to who we are, we end the moment in time for our experience" and the result clarifies "how to marry the book that you needed to read with the concepts that you’ve lived since that point in time."

He also answers the question about why, of all the people who could have written this book, he was the least likely person to have actually done it.

The Mosaic, which is endorsed by Sonia Choquette, Arielle Ford, Caroline Myss (among others) has been touted as the new coming of The Alchemist (though Daniel hadn't read The Alchemist before penning The Mosaic), and, in his words, "Writing the book was erasing most of what I wrote because I was finding myself in the process."

We talk about how and when being an over-thinker is actually a good thing as well as how we are all punching ourselves in the face (metaphorically speaking) every single day. (Hint: you think you need protection from others; the person you need protection from is yourself.)

"Our story is our biggest asset. I packaged up my past. I packaged up my passion. I packaged up my pain. I packaged up my problems. I packaged up my poverty. And presented it as a product."

Joey YAK Pieper is a force to be reckoned with,. Period.

If statements such as: "If I just keep giving and giving and giving, I know that something will come back to me" or "My service is my purpose" or "When you have that fear, really what you should hear is: 'It's time to get busy.'" get you fired up or intrigue you, this episode was recorded just for you.

If you wonder how someone just "approaches" influencers like Billy Gene and Brad Lea and creates genuine, authentic, long-term relationships with them.

If you have ever believed that your not-so-ideal past determines your future, this episode was recorded just for you.

If you want to hear me rap, this episode is just for you.

Do you believe that self-confidence is an inherent personality trait that you are either born with...or aren't?

Jane Stewart doesn't, and her perspective will likely change the way you think about the the high performers who appear to have it all together all the time. On today's episode of Authors, Creators & Visionaries, Jane and I talk about how she helps her clients combine practice with consistency in order to build on their state of self-confidence.

While Jane has received numerous comments and direct messages based on an assumption that she was born with confidence, she assures listeners that confidence comes with practice. The perception of "inborn confidence" isn't the reality for your favorite speakers -- the ones who appear immovable on stage.

Jane is passionate about working with high performers to help them understand how to get back to a state of self-confidence when they're feeling anything but, and to peel away what's going on in their mind that causes them not to believe in themselves in any given moment.

After 20 years building a career (that "failed"), she shares:

Perry works with personal brands and online entrepreneurs who want to grow. He works with them to create and build their personal story to grow their influence, create a bigger impact and become an authority in their market.

In addition to Perry’s own entrepreneurial backstory, you will discover:

Why brands MUST pay attention to their story

How Perry helps consumer brands create an effective bridge between the personal life of the founder and the brand through story

Whether brands gain more traction writing social media posts in the voice of the brand or the business owner

When in your business growth you should hire someone to do your social media posting (and types of what brands should NEVER hire someone to do this task)

Perry’s unique approach to working with clients to bring out their most authentic brand story and create a movement around their message

The way most brands are creating their stories (and it’s NOT effective)

What to do if you believe you haven’t really lived enough yet to have a story

What a brand HAS to have in order to have a story that’s worth mentioning

Why Perry waited to share his own story (and it may be the exact reason you’re waiting)

Confidence Coach, instigator of joy, writer and speaker Kelsey Abbott helps driven humans learn to really love themselves, shed their "shoulds" and embrace their own unique greatness.

Conversation Highlights:

• The limiting words Kelsey quickly removes from her clients' vocabulary
• What is confidence at its core?
• Why we don't speak nicely to ourselves (and why it's bullshit)
• The #1 limiting belief of Kelsey's clients and why we develop these notions to begin with
• The activity that undeniably keeps us from being our greatest selves
• The experience Kelsey had in first grade that set the foundation for the limiting belief that held her back for years

Episode 23 of the Authors, Creators and Visionaries podcast featured the amazing Dom Faussette. We discussed his journey as a speaker and a coach for speakers, the definite dos and the please-for-the-love-of-God DON'TS when it comes to positioning yourself as a speaker.

YOU'LL DISCOVER:

✅ How Dom, with admitted PTSD, Tourette Syndrome and a stutter is incredibly confident and effective on stage and his strategies for doing so

✅ How a tiny audience (when it was supposed to be much larger) can be a great opportunity

✅ Some major DON'TS when it comes to public speaking

✅ A GREAT tip on getting past not knowing what to talk about on a Facebook or Instagram LIVE post

✅ The aspects of your brand you HAVE to have on point before you can get traction as a speaker

PLUS a surprising way to think the next time you get annoyed with someone in traffic (or anywhere)...

Isabel Hundt is an inspirational speaker, sociologist and emotions clearing practitioner who works with highly sensitive visionaries and world-changers who tend to be more introverted but have a big vision that they struggle to bring out (because they’d rather hide so as not to overstimulate their nervous system). She also studies and coaches on epigenetics and trans-generational transmitted trauma.

1:40 - Isabel’s early attempts to logically craft her road to success

8:08 – Isabel’s work with emotional healing in the area of epi-genetics and trans-generational transmitted trauma

11:08 – the amount of work necessary for her clients to experience true transformation through learning about their emotional triggers

15:50 – the way that your physical life provides evidence of your truest, deepest thoughts

16:28 – the way in which Isabel sees the color of her clients’ frequencies and how it allows her to help them uncover and heal old wounds

21:46 – How Isabel can sabotage herself (yes, it still happens to the best of the best) and how she sees it, accepts it for what it is, and then refocuses without beating herself up

24:01 – how people – especially college students -- subconsciously make decisions that are in alignment with everyone but ourselves (and what to do about it)

28:49 – the one thing that’s almost a non-negotiable prerequisite to trusting your intuition and how not trusting herself cost her $50,000

32:30 – what stopped Isabel from writing her book as well as what started her up again and got her to the finish line

45:51 – how Isabel perceives the fact that English is not her native language as a STRENGTH when it comes to her book when she could have seen it as a weakness

48:45 – the below-the-surface reason you have trouble making peace with the moments when you’re stuck in a place of “doing all the things you’re supposed to do,” but it feels like nothing’s changing/happening in your tangible reality (and what one question can help you powerfully move forward)