Catalyst Conversations

Today I got to speak with Salma Benkabbou who is The Millennial Business Lawyer. She’s the Managing Attorney and Lead Legal Strategist for The Benkabbou Law Firm in Tampa, so very close to my hometown. I love her tagline, she helps entrepreneurs protect their creative greatness. We had some great conversations about why you need a business attorney. Adn ideal timing is--I don’t know if you know this aggressive, excited entrepreneur is out there--you want a business plan, then you want to consult your attorney, then you want to execute. Some of us have gotten a little backwards.

That said, a great attorney is going to help protect you and keep you out of litigation because it costs a lot less to prevent through having the correct business formation, sound contracts, protecting your trademarks, copyrights, trade secrets, all that good stuff, and not have to go into litigation.

I talk with Salma a little bit about finding a great attorney. We also talk about some of her struggles with her social media.

It wasn’t always so easy for her and in industry that is dominated by men where she is often times mistaken for the secretary and not the managing attorney. We talk a little bit about what it’s like to break out of that stereotype.

I am so excited to bring you Lesley Bohm today. She is a super talented photographer that I met while I was at a conference in Los Angeles. Her pictures are just incredible. She has worked with celebrities, actors, actresses, sports figures, entrepreneurs, and she really knows how to bring that personal touch out of a photograph.

In this interview, we have some great conversations about how she got started. She had some issues with her mom that caused her to leave when she was in high school. She moved from Canada to Los Angeles—not just to another city or another state—but another country with $800 in her pocket. She shares some of the challenges and some of the lessons learned as she grew her business into this renowned photographer.

We also talk about how important your headshots are. These days, somebody comes to your website or your social media and you have seconds—you have just seconds, take that in for just a minute—you have seconds to invite somebody in through that imagery to decide if they want to read the copy on your website, if what you have to offer is what they’re looking for, if you are the kind of person that they want to get to know. No pressure. Actually, it’s a lot of pressure to get those headshots right.

She gives us her best tips for finding a great photographer, how to get great headshots, and she’s got a special offer for our listeners. If you reach out to Lesley and you let her know that you heard her here on Jenn’s podcast, Catalyst Conversations, she’s got a special step-in rate, kind of a mini session, if you will. She’s amazing. If you get the opportunity to get on this women’s calendar, you should absolutely do it, you won’t regret it.

Today, I spoke with a licensed psychotherapist Christine Dassow who also happens to be my high school best friend—you’ve been warned, we have a good time.

I was interested in talking with someone who has an insight and expertise into how to deal with a really high-pressure career, a high-pressure lifestyle, and some of the social anxiety that comes along with having to put yourself out there.

Today it seems like technology just moves at a crazy pace and putting yourself out there in social media or on television can feel like so much pressure--just crazy pressure.

We walk through a couple of exercises that you can do anytime, anywhere to help that inner critic back into check and to get yourself centered in the here and now.

We also talk about how to find a great therapist. That's as important as having a great CPA, a great business attorney. You have to have a great therapist on your team as well. 

Today, I got to speak with Amanda Tress.

She is a digital marketing expert and she’s also a fitness and nutrition consultant. She’s the founder of FASTer Way to Fat Loss, which as you will hear, I have been a participant in her programs since January 1st. We talk a lot about self-care and why that’s so important and how that translates into success as female entrepreneurs.

We also talk quite a lot about how she’s against Photoshop and why transparency is so important.

She had a baby this year—as of the time of this recording—she’s got three kids but one of them is just a little tiny brand-new baby. We talk about balance and how balance can be a myth, but how she is really shifting her business so that she can scale it, keep it sustainable, and still be able to spend time at home with her kids.

There’s a lot of insight and inspiration that you’ll get from hearing her talk about how she is unafraid to make those changes that are best for her business.

Today, I had the pleasure of speaking with Joy Chudacoff, who is a brilliant women’s business coach. I had the opportunity to attend her Align Retreat in Los Angeles. 

Our conversation was wide ranging from how she evolved her marketing company into becoming a women’s business coach. Some of the great advice that she has to offer, for example, really embracing fear is part of the creative process—I know for me, fear and anxiety comes up and I think a lot of times with high pressure lifestyles that that’s something that you have to contend with to things like the people that you want to have in your support system, and maybe some of the people you don’t want to have in your support system. It’s a really interesting conversation. I enjoyed it very much and I hope you do too.

Today, I spoke with Keri Murphy who is the founder of lifestyle brand Inspired Living TV. She also educates women on getting comfortable in front of the camera so that they can present their meaningful message in a really polished and empowered way.

She started off as a child actor and by the time she was a teen, she was teaching acting. When she was 27, she launched her first business, the Murphy Talent Group. If you were an entrepreneur like I was in the mid-2000s, you know that the great recession was a tough time, it was really a struggle for many of us. She didn't let that get her down, she packed up, and she moved to Los Angeles, and she started her company, and has been very, very successful at really empowering women and getting their message across.

It’s so much more than just showing people how to get comfortable on camera, she's really empowering her audience. She gives us some really great insight on producing great video, which is very important in today's day and age. She also left me with this fabulous tidbit, I have to get this right, she says, “Your brand is simply an expression of how you want others to feel.”

As entrepreneurs, we’ve all had times when cash was tight.  But what if you could see that wealth wasn’t a number? Instead, what if one of the most money-savvy and credentialed authorities on women, wealth, and power could show you that a wealth mindset and wealth don’t come from what you earn - but rather from what you do with what you earn?

After being positively blindsided by her then-husband’s out-of-control gambling addictions, Barbara Huson's life changed instantly. Unfortunately, it still took her several years to admit it.

When she was finally forced to make some huge adjustments to keep herself and her children afloat (and divorced her husband, who refused to come to terms with his addiction and the impact it had on their family), Barbara went for it.

And, thanks to some positively amazing coincidences that Barbara credits to The Universe’s intervention, Barbara finally learned how to manage money by interviewing a series of powerful, successful, and wealthy women. And that’s when she realized that a wealthy mindset isn’t just a quick paradigm shift: it’s a series of 7 life-changing realizations that impact every decision you’ll make.

Podcasts are a hot topic right now, and rightfully so, according to Podcast Insights, 44% of the U.S. population has listened to a podcast. Podcast listeners are loyal, subscribing to an average of 6 shows, and they also skew affluent and educated.  Podcasting has become a popular medium for connecting with your audience.

You may be wondering about starting a successful podcast for your own business.

In an engaging interview recently with 20-year broadcasting veteran, podcast expert and radio personality Shannon “The Shan Man” Hernandez, we discuss all things podcasts and all about starting a successful podcast. He shared some helpful technical pointers before we dove into the soul of the matter.

Joanie Simon is more than just a leading food photographer and educator. She’s been featured on The Food Network, has a popular YouTube Channel, and recently launched a wildly successful new Instagram account, @thebiteshot, focusing on food photography education. She’s already accumulated more than 12 and a half thousand followers - a number that’s steadily growing.

But beyond the success, Joanie is a gifted, quality human being and woman who loves to inspire others to do what they’re creatively equipped to do. But in order to really get a feel for who Joanie is and how authenticity rocketed her to success, first we need to take a look at where she started.