Dare to Leap

Jill Salzman is currently growing her third entrepreneurial venture, The Founding Moms, the world's first and only global collective of offline masterminds and online resources for mom entrepreneurs. When Jill became a mother, she was working two businesses and losing her mind. She needed support, and there was nothing out there in her backyard, so she decided to create her own. Fast forward to today, Jill has a thriving membership with members from all over helping support each other. Find out why getting plugged into a community will accelerate your business in this week's episode.

Key takeaways:

• How did Jill get started in her career and why did she go from law school into the music business?
• Jill was running her two businesses when she became a mom and she was losing her mind.
• Why didn't Jill like selling a product-based business?
• Jill shares some of her favorite tips on how to best manage business and being a mom.
• When you dare to leap into the unknown, you're going to feel amazing afterward.
• You don't have to do it alone! Get yourself plugged into a community.
• Jill wanted to just drill down and focus on hard work, but investing in a (good) community is the best thing you can do for your business.
• Join three to five communities and see how it feels.
• Why are some people so afraid to take the leap and be an entrepreneur?
• What advice does Jill have for people who do not want to "start over" in their career?
• Kathy was told she laughed and smiled too much in corporate and she would never be promoted because of it.
• What advice does Jill have for women who have a partner that doesn't quite understand this space?
• What types of people join Jill's membership group?
• What does JIll's typical day look like?

Resources:

Foundingmoms.com Coupon Code: onemofree

Quotes:

"There are two things every woman carries: fear of failure because she's really scared she'll let her family down, and guilt. Guilt that they are prioritizing themselves and their business over their kids."

"We have found a lot of corporate flippers who have joined our community and said, 'Wait a second, business doesn't have to be boring? I can just have fun?'"

"You need a backboard to echo back to you what you're thinking and saying so you can tweak it."

Jennifer Kem is a San Francisco Bay Area-based branding and marketing expert who gets entrepreneurs seen, heard, and paid — for being themselves. She's the creator of the Master Brand Method: a framework to develop powerful brand archetypes that win customers' hearts, leveraging Jennifer's 17 years of corporate experience and her launching of multiple companies. Jennifer also has been a coach to Kathy and helped her unlock her business from a steady 100K a year to multiple six figures a year. Jennifer shares on this week's episode why marketing and core values are heavily intertwined!

Key takeaways:

• You can show up as your authentic self and still make a killing in business.
• How did Jennifer get started?
• If you want to get seen, heard, and paid, you have to develop your confidence muscles.
• What is marketing? It's simply letting people know how you can help them.
• You got to stop hiding, right now!
• How can you get yourself more out there?
• People need to know you exist!
• Why is it so important to know your values and have them show up in your business?
• We don't have triumph without challenge.
• Jennifer used to work 120-hour workweeks and never saw her family.
• You don't really know what your values are until it violates them.
• Marketing is what will lead you to great financial breakthroughs, but if you don't have your values supporting it, then it'll just become a leaky bucket.
• What are Jennifer's values today?
• Fear is fake, danger is real. Develop a healthy relationship with your fear.
• Kathy had been hiding for 20 years and Jennifer was not going to let her play victim anymore.
• And guess what! Kathy did the live event that she was so scared of doing and she didn't die!
• Good coaches aren't in the business of making you codependent on them.
• You have to believe that you're worthy.

Resources:

Masterbrand.me

Jennifer's free gift: masterbrand.securechkout.net/Dare

Jenniferkem.com

Quotes:

"If you haven't hit seven figures, your biggest gap right now is marketing."

"I am worthy of being seen, heard, and paid, and in order to do that, I must be visible!"

"It's hard to know success if you don't know failure, too. They are in a relationship with each other."

Dr. Cheryl Lentz is known as the Academic Entrepreneur and is a keynote speaker and best-selling author. She teaches others how to process their failures and move forward more effectively. The reality is, if you want to get to the other side and succeed, you have to embrace failure! Dr. Cheryl shares her thoughts and tips on how to overcome what's holding you back and to make the entrepreneurial leap.

Key takeaways:

• Cheryl loves talking about the "F" word… also known as failure!
• Don't run away from your failure. There is so much it can teach you.
• Feel the fear and do it anyway.
• Cheryl was so afraid of failure that it stunted her romantic relationship growth for 30 years!
• If you're not willing to fail, you won't succeed. Failure is just part of the process.
• What is the refractive thinker all about?
• There is a big difference between knowing and doing. Dr. Cheryl wants you to take what you learned and actually apply it!
• The key to anybody's success is by being a life-long learner.
• It's okay to admit that you were wrong!
• What are Dr. Cheryl's thoughts on the future and where we're headed?
• Commercial real estate will never be the same!
• There are so many people out there who are afraid of technology and would rather give in their retirement papers than try to share their knowledge online!
• In order to dare to leap, you've gotta have faith, and you've gotta take your first step.
• Pick one thing that Dr. Cheryl shared today and get out there and implement it!

Resources:

Refractivethinker.com

Drcheryllentz.com

Dr. Cheryl on LinkedIn

Dr. Cheryl on YouTube

Bricks to Clicks: Best Practices to Transition From the Classroom to Online

Quotes:

"What is failure telling us? Failure is a gift and I know we don't think of it as such."

"There are no shortcuts and you have to get to the other side and you have to do the work."

"If you can't learn to fail, you won't succeed."

Megan Pennypacker is a Christian Business Coach with three children at home that she homeschools. She has a packed schedule and knows how to maximize the 24-hours in a day. She offers advice to aspiring women who want to take the leap and start their own remote business. Megan outlines her journey and how she was able to create a business with three little ones at home.

Key takeaways:

• Megan shares her story and how she discovered this "online space."
• Why did Megan decide to make the leap and start her own Christian coaching business?
• What's it like running a business while also homeschooling Megan's three children at home?
• Megan had so much on her plate that she ended up not taking care of herself.
• You have to make yourself a priority! Megan made a conscious effort to eat healthier so she wouldn't gain extra pounds.
• The trick is to wake up before your kids do so you can get quality work done.
• As an introvert, Megan also had to schedule in quiet time and stay away from her phone.
• Megan offers advice on how you can start your dream business and finally make the leap.
• What happens if your spouse is not on board with your business idea?
• You never want to fight with your spouse on how you want to manage your business, but they can be an excellent source of accountability. Keeping them informed, give them updates about what you're doing; open communication is key.
• If your spouse completely shuts you down, Megan offers advice that instead of starting a business right now, the best investment to make is to work on your love relationship with your spouse.
• Your time will come. Work now as if you already have your business even if you're not doing anything. Build those muscles up.
• Who is Megan's ideal client?

Resources:

Meganpennypacker.com

Quotes:

"Make sure you're managing your time wisely and not being glued to your phone. That alone can cause anxiety no matter if you're a mom or not."

"What you can do is start working on your time management, like you have a business, learn what can be most profitable for you for when the time does come. Keep having faith time will come."

"Don't be undercharging for your services, even when you're starting out. Know that what you do is priceless."

Dan Weiss is an IT consultant with more than 30 years of experience. After leaving his corporate career and being exhausted over being a well-known road warrior, he's happy to be living in a humble part of Missouri and working virtually! He now goes into a shared office space where he's able to get his best work done and most of his clients are virtual, too. Dan shares tips on how to make this remote model work for you and your teams, as well as where he sees virtual work headed in the future.

Key takeaways:

• Who is Dan and what does he do?
• Dan's clients are located all over! There are so many benefits because he gets to do great work while remaining in one location.
• Dan doesn't miss the days where he was a "road warrior" when he was working in corporate America.
• How has COVID-19 affected Dan's business?
• People think that if you're working from home you're not actually working. This is a myth!
• Communication becomes critically important in a digital environment.
• What are some of the best tools to use now for people with virtual teams?
• Where is virtual work headed in the next three to five years?
• Changes happen when most industries aren't ready for it.
• Dan manages his work/life balance by having no technology at home! This is why he prefers to work in a shared office space.
• Dan offers his advice on how to make the leap from a physical model to a digital model.

Resources:

Google.com/docs/about

Slack.com/intl/en-cr/

Doodle.com/en/

Atlassian.com/software/jira

Grace Hopper

Quotes:

"Too often a business's knowledge is stuck [in the human brain] and it's only shareable by us being together and it is subjected to faulty memory. It's really important to commit ideas to a shared place where people can access it."

"Grandma COBOL said: I promise you here and now, if any of you say, 'we've always done it that way' I will come and haunt you for 24 hours."

"You've got to have a separation between work and non-work and if you're purely virtual, you can find work creeping into every minute of your day."

Dida Clifton is the Founder and CEO of The Office Squad, a virtual bookkeeping service. Dida is an Air Force veteran and has been working with QuickBooks for over 30 years. She is now looking to expand her business through franchising. In this episode, we learn about Dida's business model, how she makes it work, and some of the challenges she has faced.

Key takeaways:

• Who is Dida and what is The Office Squad about?
• Dida works remotely with her clients, but all of her staff comes into an office.
• Why is Dida looking to franchise her business?
• When did Dida know it was time to make the leap and start her own business?
• Dida shares why she created a bookkeeping business.
• What's the definition of a virtual assistant?
• It's so important to start with an end in mind. So often, we just start, and then we have no direction in our business.
• What's next for Dida and her business?
• Dida swore up and down to never hire family. However, she recently hired one of her daughters and she's working with her on the business.
• If you're going to do it, make sure the rest of your staff is aware and okay with it.
• The great thing about owning a business is you can choose your own destiny!
• What kind of challenges has Dida encountered over the years?
• It's huge to have mentors and a strong peer group around you.
• Mistakes are a part of life. Just learn from it and move on.
• Going to start a business? Pick one thing!

Resources:

Theofficesquad.com

Quotes:

"We need to start with an end in mind and I think a lot of us forget that."

"Step into the fear. The only way you're going to grow is to step into it and it goes away."

"The more things you're doing, the less you're going to be good at them. Focus on one thing."

Sarah Sparks is the Founder of Create the Spark. Sarah is a midwest woman and a former government employee. Before embarking on her journey into entrepreneurship, she was ashamed about her spiritual gifts. However, after having an awakening, Sarah dived headfirst into connecting with the spirit and helping people heal their soul. Find out more about Sarah's unique gifts in this week's episode!

Key takeaways:

• How did Sarah go from government employee to business owner?
• From the outside looking in, Sarah had the perfect life. In reality, she was miserable and just wanted someone to hug her.
• Sarah didn't want to be seen as the crazy lady that talks to spirits.
• How does Sarah connect with spirits?
• Sarah shares an example of how her gift has helped people heal.
• The world needs to be healed. This is not just Sarah's mission, either, this gift has been passed down from generation to generation.
• How do we connect with and listen to our divine guidance?
• Sarah was losing her mind over her job and how unhappy she was. Her friends had enough of her complaining.
• If you feel like you're out of alignment and whacked out, you are on the verge of embarking on a new journey and to be living your chosen path.
• After being confused about what she wanted to do with her life, Sarah said a prayer and ended up having the same dream once a week for an entire year.
• When did Sarah know it was time to leave her job and start her business?
• Sarah talks about her divorce and making the decision to finally move out.
• Sarah shares a little bit about what she does in her business and how she helps people become connected to their soul.
• A lot of people spend their entire lives trying to find their life's purpose.
• Do you want to know your chosen path? And when you discover it, are you willing to walk it?

Resources:

Evolutionizemedia.com/podcasts/dare-to-leap

Sarahsparks.love

Sarah's Facebook Group

Quotes:

"I felt like if I were to truly step into who I was, and show people who I really was, that they wouldn't like me or accept me."

"Don't just rely on other people to heal you. It's you and your connection to your divine guidance, to your wisdom, that is healing."

"Spirit has given you this amazing ability to connect to a soul and just let you ask, 'Why are you here?'"

Mark James is the Founder and Consultant for Performance Advisors Group and is certified in Marketing Performance Measurement by the Chief Marketing Officer Council. It's no secret Mark is a numbers guy and the numbers don't look very good for a lot of companies who want to get the most out of their team. Mark shares some interesting stats on employee engagement as well as how to fix this productivity gap problem.

Key takeaways:

• A little bit about Mark and what he does.
• What does it mean to have an abundance mindset?
• If your dreams don't scare you, they aren't big enough.
• Less than 50% of employees understand their company's values and mission.
• In a typical organization, 50‒75% of activities that employees perform adds 0 value to the outcome. That's a lot of wasted productivity!
• How can companies best communicate their vision and mission to their employees?
• In order for people to remember something, they need to hear it eight times. However, Mark believes it's around 13 times now.
• Mark explains how he has structured his business.
• Mark shares a lesson learned about hiring people as contractors vs. a business entity. Be careful! Each state is different in how they classify someone as an "employee."
• Where does Mark see how people will be navigating remote work in the future?
• What are some of the pros and cons of having a virtual team?
• Why were employers so hesitant about going remote?
• What are some of the best ways to manage a virtual team?
• When mistakes happen, the best step forward is to figure out how to be part of the solution.
• What are the types of people Mark likes to work with?

Resources:

Evolutionizemedia.com/podcasts/dare-to-leap

Performadvisors.com

Email Mark: [email protected]

Mark on LinkedIn

Quotes:

"There are two allies you have as a leader. What gets talked about in this world is what gets done and also in this world, what gets measured gets done."

"There are advantages to having your people working remotely. One of the things that can cause performance issues is stress."

"You bring the best out of people when you provide an environment where you can coach them and give them an opportunity to let their strengths come through."

Stephanie Oquendo is a passionate business owner, mom, and author while balancing a busy corporate career. With there only being 24 hours in a day, where does Stephanie find the time to achieve so much? She shares how she sets her intentions, why self-care should be a non-negotiable for you, and so much more!

Key takeaways:

• Self-care should be a standard, not a luxury.
• Why did Stephanie decide to write the book, Me Time?
• As busy women, we have to-do lists that are miles long and everything is urgent.
• Sometimes just celebrating the fact you got laundry done is enough.
• How do you come up with intentions for the day and live a life with intention?
• What does Stephanie's day-to-day life usually look like?
• It really takes a village when raising a child.
• How do you have a conversation with your husband about splitting household/child duties?
• Stephanie is very grateful she has family that lives close by that handles the cooking and the meals. If you don't have family close by, you can still tag-team with other families your children's age or even friends.
• It's okay to ask for help! Stephanie shares how to get over this barrier.
• Stephanie always looks 'put together.' How does she find the time to do it?
• Stephanie works a full-time job, how did she find the time to write a book?
• Stephanie actually suffers from shiny object syndrome, which is why she had to be incredibly intentional and strict with her time.
• Why should self-care be a standard and not a luxury?
• Time waits for no one!
• Being busy is not enough, you need direction and purpose.
• What kind of self-care practices does Stephanie make a standard?
• What's next for Stephanie?
• Have grace with yourself.

Resources:

Evolutionizemedia.com/podcasts/dare-to-leap

Me Time: A Guided Journal for Self-Reflection & Intentional Direction, by Stephanie Oquendo

Stephanie on Instagram

Stephanie on YouTube

Quotes:

"When you're trying to control everything, you feel like you're out of control; you're not in control of anything. The more you force it, the less in control you feel."

"I didn't get extra hours. Nothing became easier. I had to work with what I had. Every day for two hours I work and focus on my personal business."

"Time waits for no one. If you're not intentional with your time, it's going to get away from you."

Megan Purdy is the Marketing Manager at Cronos Consulting Group and the Operations Manager at Canadian Payroll Services. She is a huge advocate for remote work and dives into this week's episode to explain some of the common myths and misconceptions remote work has. Are you afraid your team just won't get good work done while they're away from the office? Studies show they're actually outperforming when they're comfortable and working from home.

Key takeaways:

• A little bit about Megan and her background in Content Marketing.
• Canadian Payroll Services had a "flex" policy, but due to the pandemic, they became a fully remote company. What does a flex work policy look like?
• The tech sector is a rapidly-growing space, and it's hard for companies looking for very specialized talent to find qualified people.
• How many staff members are full-time, vs. contractors at Megan's company?
• Megan shares the difference between full-time work and freelance or contracting work.
• Why should companies offer more remote work opportunities?
• Megan shares productivity tips to keep yourself engaged and doing good work.
• What are some of the social impacts and benefits of working remotely?
• If an employee is at home, how would managers know their employee is working?
• Megan predicts if the future of remote work will still hold when everything goes "back to normal."
• Remote work opens up a different kind of talent pool that you didn't have access to before.
• Does the office politics and gossip go away with remote work?

Resources:

Canadianpayrollservices.com

Teamcronos.com

Megan on LinkedIn

Quotes:

"As we return to the office as stay-at-home orders are lifting, I hope companies and every manager remembers that remote work is a possibility."

"Studies show that a majority of workers are performing better than ever, they're more productive; they get more out of their day. There's less distraction."

"It's a huge shift to go from in-office to remote first. A hybrid model, it kind of serves everyone. Introverts, extroverts, people with families, and singles. Everyone gets a little bit of what they want."