Jump Start Your Joy®

Life coaches Julie Houghton, Liz Applegate, and Paula Jenkins take a heartfelt look at the challenges and growth of the first two years of being entrepreneurs and starting a coaching business.

This week, I'm honored to have Andi Fairbanks of the podcast Everyday Extraordinaries join me for episode 99 to share about her role as a Creative Communications Consultant. She's a self described "idea champ," and works with visionaries and local politicians on public campaigns.

Andi Fairbanks is an entrepreneur, podcaster, and consultant, starting her own business just about a year ago. Her work focuses on the human connection, the thing that connects all of us, and she helps visionaries to craft messages that inspire and motivate clients and audiences. She works with politicians and entrepreneurs as a Creative Communications Consultant, leveraging communications and education to teach, reach, and inspire groups to positive action.

Host Paula Jenkins looks back at the lessons learned over two years of podcasting - from creating a plan, to following passion, to learning to trust yourself, she shares all about the lessons of following a creative dream.

This week it's my true pleasure to have Mandy Ford joining me for an interview, where she talks about following your inspiration, doodling, and becoming an illustrator. Mandy is a graphic designer, and she returned to drawing after many years after inspiration struck her in a writing class, and she found herself doodling. This led to her posting her art on Instagram, and landing a licensing deal with Home Goods only 4 months later.

In this episode, Mandy and I talk about: - her early love of collecting rocks, Lisa Frank stickers and Poochie - how working at a Earlham College, a Quaker seminary has changed her life and shaped her drawing - how taking a writing class brought her back to her love of drawing - how she got a licensing deal with Home Goods just four months after she returned to drawing - what her creative process looks like, now - her work with Illustrated Faith, creating scrapbooking kits - her tips for Instagram and finding a community there - the work she's most proud of to date (spoiler: it's being a mom to her twin boys) - what harmony looks like for Mandy - her thoughts on jump starting your joy - taking time to look up and notice the world around you, being kind, and giving freely to people

Read all of the show notes at jumpstartyourjoy.com/episode97

This week I'm super excited to have Sarah Shuttle joining me on the show. She's the heart and soul behind Verity Road and the site Girl Untold. She's a brand stylist from England who spent her twenties recovering from alcoholism, anorexia, binge eating and self-harm. She dove deep into healing and fell in love with graphic design. In her own words, "creating visual stories led me out of darkness and into life." This week, she shares about her journey in finding her voice, how to get past perfectionism, and getting past external expectations - Sarah's lens is to see the cross roads of how these things tie in with your marketing and personal life, and you'll love our conversation about all of it.

This week, Kira Sabin joins Paula Jenkins to chat about love and relationships. She's the Troop Leader over at the League of Adventurous Singles where she encourages single women to embrace the awesomeness of singleness, take responsibility of what is "theirs," and let go of whatever is holding them back. She leads singles to figure out what they want, how to love, making decisions based on love (not fear). She believes in adventures, and breaking down walls, and revising mindset and confidence as the building blocks of discovering a relationship that feels right.

The other thing we chat about, at the beginning of our discussion is our deep seated love of Judy Blume, and of Anne of Green Gables. Kira has worked on a cruise ship, visited Prince Edward Island (Anne's home), and she and I get into the debate of which is better? The 1985 version of "Anne of Green Gables" or the brand new "Anne with an E" that is now out on Hulu? The votes are in and you'll have to listen to hear the reviews.

See all the shownotes at www.jumpstartyourjoy.com/episode95

This week, I'm doing a solcast about Finding Your Voice. It's one of those things I'm super passionate about, and that is at the center of my Podcasting class. Today I'm sharing 6 things to consider in finding your voice and following your passion.

1. It might be easier than you think …. let it be easy
2. You probably know more about the message and your voice than you are giving yourself credit for
3. Start with whatever feels like the obvious thing
4. If you feel lost or not sure where to start, go back to what you know
5. Passion over perfection
6. It's your own message and you can do whatever you want with it

You can find out more about the show at www.jumpstartyourjoy.com/episode94

This week, I'm thrilled to be sharing what I like to call a look back episode, highlighting a favorite past guest. Early in Season One I had the pleasure of catching up with Matt Wood, who is the voice of General Grievous and R0-GR of Star Wars, and the senior sound editor at Skywalker Sound. I love this story of how he got the role of Grievous, and what's even more special is that Matt and I went to grade school, middle school, and high school together. And, he offers some amazing thoughts on how he sees life, based on his observations on sound theory.

Matt has worked on The Phantom Menace, The Force Awakens, Rogue One, and the upcoming film, The Last Jedi.

Learn more about this episode at www.jumpstartyourjoy.com/episode93

This week, I'm so excited to be speaking with Zoha Abbas of the site, Multidoer. Zoha is a multipassionate creative, who works with creative people with lots of different passions and interests to move from idea into action. We talk about how to bring your creative purpose and dreams to life.

In this episode, Zoha and I talk about: - the definition of a multidoer: a multipassionate person who is action oriented - Zoha's journey from working in creative agencies to being a coach for creatives - how you can break through the noise and become a multidoer - the difference between a multipassionate and a multidoer (action!) - our love for the Passion Planner - Zoha's thoughts on how to jumpstart your joy: smile, honor other's time, and choosing who you spend time and energy with

Learn more at www.jumpstartyourjoy.com/episode92

Host Paula Jenkins takes a look at the ways to reconnect with your purpose and lists five ways to find your joy in this solocast episode. She reflects on her recent interview with Paul Selig, and seeing Danielle LaPorte while touring for White Hot Truth