Today I spoke with Shirley Chock owner of Aiping Tai Chi School.  Before being a business owner, she had a very successful career in finance working for startups, the city of New York, and at Yale University before walking away from her high profile job with a pension, benefits, and early retirement, to take over owning the Aiping Tai Chi School. 

We talked about the importance of Tai Chi in her life and how it's much more than internal martial arts, but more of a way of being.  Using it to help cope with stress and the ups and downs of life.  Shirley has not only figured out how to run the tai chi school, but then also has figured out how to keep going when a global pandemic shut down her business completely.  Instead of taking it at a loss, she used the opportunity of rest to figure out how to become even more impactful and reach a wider audience than she already had, by taking her classes to the Twitch platform, allowing her to monetize quickly and keep the school going.  She became Twitch's first affiliate to stream international martial arts, quickly reached 55k followers on TikTok, and has over 100k on IG.

I'm really excited about this conversation as I resonated with so many things Shirley spoke about, but the one that stands out to me the most is when we were talking about the difference between passion and purpose.  Shirley believes that we are here on this earth for a bigger purpose and it's up to us to figure out what that is.  Listen along as we discuss all things live and business.
 
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📍 Timestamps:

00:00 – Introduction
01:30 – Shirley’s Early Career in Finance
07:11 – Discovering Tai Chi & Dual Passions
09:09 – Decision to Take Over the Tai Chi School
13:38 – Making the Leap: Leaving Finance for Tai Chi
18:08 – Entrepreneurship: Planning and Purpose vs. Passion
24:44 – Listening To Yourself & Tai Chi as a Secret Scroll
29:30 – Teaching Tai Chi & Building an Online Presence
34:04 – Content Creation Mindset Shift
41:15 – Growing a Global Community
44:26 – How to Connect with Shirley and What’s Next
46:27 – Closing Remarks 

 💡Key Takeaways

In this episode you'll learn:

How to make a career transition 
How to follow your purpose and passion
How to make an exit strategy to leave corporate America 
How to shift your mindset for success
How to engage an online community 
How to grow an audience and brand online 

 🚀 Start Here If You’re New

1. Overcoming Imposter Syndrome: How to Trust Your Success as a High-Achiever | EP 45

2. Overcoming Others' Expectations: 3 Stages to Living an Authentic Life | EP 48

3. Should You Quit Your Job? How to Know When it’s Time for a Career Pivot | EP 39

 👥How To Connect

Workingtowardsourpurpose.com

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Connect with Shirley:

• Aiping Tai Chi Website
• Follow her on IG
• Follow her on TikTok
• Follow her on Twitch