Good Hearts Podcast with Kristen Harness

In this episode of the Good Hearts Podcast, Kristen Harness reflects on her personal journey with mental health, particularly depression and anxiety, and how these experiences have shaped her entrepreneurial path. She shares her story of starting businesses driven by passion and compassion, but also the mistakes she made along the way that led to burnout and loss. Kristen emphasizes the importance of self-care, setting boundaries, and healing from past trauma, while also outlining the top 10 mistakes she made as a startup founder, providing valuable insights for others in similar situations.

Takeaways

You can learn more from failures than successes.

Living out of alignment with your heart can lead to depression.

Past trauma can significantly impact decision-making.

Setting boundaries is crucial for sustainability in business.

Prioritizing health and well-being is essential for success.

Don't quit on a product too soon; it may have potential.

Hiring the right people is vital for a healthy work culture.

Listening to too many voices can lead to confusion.

Healing from past trauma is necessary for personal growth.

Passion must be balanced with financial viability in business.

Chapters

00:00 Introduction to Mental Health Awareness and Personal Journey

07:23 The Impact of Trauma on Entrepreneurship

15:22 Navigating Burnout and Rediscovering Purpose

17:41 Top 10 Mistakes in Entrepreneurship

Today my special guest is Angie Staley. Angie most recently worked with survivors of human trafficking as a program advocate and case manager under the anti -trafficking transitional housing with United Way of Pasco County. She provided advocacy, case management, and life coaching and was on call for other agencies when a client needed to stay in a hotel. whether it was from escaping a situation or from homelessness. She served on the United Way Task Force Board as well as the Tampa Bay Task Force Board as a survivor leader. Prior to working with survivors, she was a full -time single mom, coached various sports with her kids and supported them in their endeavors. She had the privilege of working with adults with disabilities as a residential coordinator case manager and a trainer in Weld County and served as a volunteer victim advocate with the Greeley Police Department for almost six years. She is a Monarch program survivor, and she was sex trafficked by her father, who was also a low -level handler in the CIA. Having lived experiences has expanded her ability to see and support others with lived experiences.

A staggering 1 in 3 people worldwide are considered medically vulnerable. Tag4Life saves lives by advocating wearable medical IDs. They offer education, provide medical IDs to those in need for a low cost, and through Codes 4 Care, furnish medical IDs to underserved communities for FREE. All of tag4life's founders received liver transplants at the Mayo Clinic in Phoenix, Arizona. Some needed more than one liver, or even another organ entirely.

Benjamin Weinberg, Tag4Life's Founder and CEO shares more about what brought him to start Tag4Life and offers insight into this important work.

www.tag4life.org

https://www.linkedin.com/in/tag4life-org-78b236284/

On this episode, you will hear from Sarah Reed, a missionary and nonprofit Founder in Mexico City. Sarah shares her journey from Denver, CO to Mexico City and what life is like as a missionary living full-time among some of the poorest people in Mexico City. Sarah is full of life and joy, and you will be inspired when you listen to her courageous story.

My guest in this episode is Elizabeth Govostis. She is a Registered Behavioral Therapist and Teacher at a school for autistic children. Elizabeth shares her experience, challenges, and vision for the future she wishes for the students she works with.

Today you will hear the story of Stephanie Botts, a Clinical Dental Hygienist turned entrepreneur and small business owner. She’s been a clinical dental hygienist for 13 years and recently founded her company, Posturepros, to help her fellow dental professionals with their ergonomics and posture. You will hear as she explains some hard truths around pain and disabilities being far too common in dentistry, She experienced it herself and decided she wanted to do something to help. She still see patients 2 days a week, but now also cares for dental professionals.

During covid she experienced the fear and fatigue so many of us did and she really felt it in her work, especially being a front line worker. Stephanie has a fascinating story to tell and I can’t wait for you to hear more. 

You can learn more about her consulting business at www.posturepros.net

You can follow Stephanie at LINKEDIN

Kelly Craighead is the Owner, Invoke Arts LLC

She describes herself as a teacher and at the core as someone who holds space for others and allows them to express themselves as she lifts them up and fills them with high spirits and optimism.

She began her work with adults with special needs/persons with intellectual and developmental disabilities in 2007. In her 8 years as a Community Partner and Life Skills Specialist she gained the experience and excellent training in the history of developmental disabilities, person centered practices and grew a passion for working with persons with cerebral palsy, down syndrome, traumatic brain injury, autism/neurodiverse, spina bifida and behavior disorders.

She guides her students in a process of sharing with her what they enjoy about life, their passions and interests, who they are in the world and how they approach creating.

In 2017, she saw an opportunity to take a leap of faith and create what she had been dreaming of, her own art program, Invoke Arts LLC.

She is eager to continue to grow Invoke Arts and the individuals she serves. She began making connections with agencies and educating herself on dementia in early 2020 and intends on expanding her work in 2021 to serve those with Alzheimer’s, and dementia. 

Learn more about her work on her Facebook page, Invoke Arts Denver.

Loni Mashke, LMT Licensed Massage and Somatic Therapist has been in practice for over 20 years. Loni is a long standing ABMP Member, CPR/AED/ First Aid certified and licensed in massage therapy by the California Association of Massage Therapy Council. She has over 2000 hours of educational training in modalities ranging from clinical Myofascial Release and Manual Lymph Drainage (MLD) to corporate health coaching and chair massage. Loni has advanced training and specializes in Lymphatic and Detox Massage, Pre/Post-Natal Massage, Myofascial Release, Trigger Point Therapy, Clinical, and Condition Specific Massage.

Special guest is Tawanda Felicianna. She was born and raised in Denver, CO and has always loved photography. She’s been in front or behind the camera all of her life. For her, taking photographs is more than a profession; it’s a true lifelong passion, ever since she was a little girl with her pink barbie camera that used film. 

She loves to capture genuine moments in interesting and unique ways and loves to create beautiful photos in all types of photography. She has such a beautiful heart for young girls to help them build up their confidence. 

Visit her website --> HERE 

Follow her on social ---> Fairest of Them All Facebook 

Email: [email protected]

Lynn Jackson-Taylor is the founder of Birth Like A Boss, where she helps pregnant women from all around the world, to go from anxious and unprepared, to fully confident in their abilities to have an EMPOWERED birth, no matter what, so that they can thrive postpartum and step into a higher version of themselves.

She does this through her unique 4-step transformational program that combines hypno-birthing, mind-body physiotherapy and “Re-self-identification”.

Having experienced a natural home birth, then a heartbreaking miscarriage, and most recently a c-section during the global pandemic lockdown, Lynn has devoted the last seven years of her career to helping others build their own internal resilience to avoid perinatal trauma.

Lynn believes that every woman deserves a beautiful birth and that the only thing that stands in their way is fear and self-doubt.

From this perspective, she champions the idea that birth is not JUST about the baby, and that our hyper-medicalized systems neglect the “re-self-identification process” that happens automatically during our transition into parenthood.

Indeed, Lynn argues that the MINDSET, which we embody during pregnancy and during the actual birth, will propagate and will negatively or positively affect our health, our relationships and our performance - both at home and at work.

The good news is that while we cannot control the external variables in our lives, we all have the power to master our mindset.

WEBSITE: www.birthlikeaboss.com