No BS Mastery Podcast

Merry Christmas Eve, everyone!

I hope you’re enjoying your holidays—whatever you celebrate (or don’t celebrate!)

Steve and I didn’t celebrate holidays for years but now we’re all about the holiday spirit so I hope you’re getting some R&R right now.

Last week, things got personal when I had part one of my interview with my partner in business and in life, Steve Wasterval. We talked about our origin story as a couple and as collaborators.

We also dug into all kinds of stuff about his evolution from a creative who gave his paintings away, never signed them and didn’t have any knowledge of—or desire–to sell his art to being someone who is actively building a career as an artist.

This week, I’m continuing the conversation with Steve but we’re going to focus more on how he’s building his art career. We’ve applied a lot of the Badass Business strategies that I teach entrepreneurs to his art business and it’s had a huge impact!

Stay tuned because I’ll be back with part three of my convo with Steve where we’ll discuss the building of Wasterval Design and get Steve’s perspective on the whole thing for the first time EVER!

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I hope you are all snuggled up and ready for this holiday season. I don’t know about you but that’s how I’m doing the holidays this year. Just keeping it low key and easy. I’m definitely bummed that we can’t travel and see family. I’m sure you are, too.

Every year, we usually go see my big family down in Virginia. We have 30-something people at these gatherings. I help my abuela make empanadas. We play games. My uncle Carlos tries to get us to do karaoke (it never works) but it’s still really fun.

I’m sad to miss out on all of that—especially because my son is almost three and he’s finally at an age where he can enjoy hanging out with the other kids and I don’t have to carry him around all the time.

BUT, hopefully we’ll do that next year. Steve and I are all about the deep chill in life right now anyway so we’re kind of excited to just have lots of comfort foods and warm beverages.

In honor of this time of year, I thought I would do something a little different from my other conversations and bring you in my world a little bit. I’ve been meaning to do for awhile which is why I’m happy to have my most special guest on this podcast—my partner in business and life, my source of inspiration, my biggest supporter—often my nemesis and biggest obstacle—and my all around favorite person, Steve Wasterval.

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Recently I’ve been thinking and talking a lot about FOCUS.

It’s essential to focus on where you spend your time, how you spend it, and how—just like your closet—your business needs to be periodically decluttered.

Like I talked about in the last episode with James Heaton, people are overwhelmed because they have so much to do—and yet most of what they’re doing isn’t moving the needle. Why? Because there’s a lack of focus.

Symptoms of unfocused energy can show up your system processes, your day-to-day life, and your product offerings. That’s why it’s so important to stay on top of. When we do too much, we dilute our work and our impact.

As you can see, focus (or a lack thereof!) touches everything from the little stuff to the big stuff and is why it’s essential to reign it in so you can create a thriving, badass business.

Today, I’m excited to have someone on the show who just wrote a book about focus, author of Get Rich In The Deep End, and seriously badass business owner, Brent Weaver.

Many of you probably know Brent because he’s a big name in the branding agency world. He is the founder and CEO of UGurus, a business training and education company, and they are on a mission to help 10,000 digital agency owners achieve freedom in business and life by helping them own their market.

Brent’s had a long and successful career building and constantly reinventing his businesses for over 20 years, and I’m excited for him to share what he’s learned.

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It’s almost 2021 and that means it’s the PERFECT time to make a plan and set goals.

Where can you declutter and make space for the badass business building activities that will serve you and your goals?

What processes, software, product offerings or tasks have you been doing for awhile that aren’t moving the needle forward in your business?

How can you hold yourself accountable, make room for learning, and embrace your failures to move forward?

I will tell you: focus is your friend!

Too many people are overwhelmed in their business because they have so much to do—and yet, most of their activities aren’t moving the needle at all. And yet they continue to do the same thing over and over with the same lackluster results. Cue the sad face.

If this sounds like you, then it’s even more important to focus because that is a good next step if you want to show your business who’s boss.

Today, I’m chatting with James Heaton, a friend I picked up from back in my networking days. James is the Lead Strategist & Creative Director of Tronvig Group, a brand strategy and management consulting agency in Brooklyn.

Drawing on his 23 years of branding experience, James developed the Tronvig Method. Its first step is a Brand Pyramid. This tool enables strategic brand decisions. James believes that strategy requires not only a differentiated brand position but also the alignment of organizational passion, natural talent, and operational behavior. Only then can your brand promises be kept.

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In honor of Thanksgiving, I wanted to share some thank yous of my own as well as share how giving thanks has been a HUGE super power in my life. It’s my go-to exercise whenever I’m feeling stressed or low-energy.

I truly believe that daily gratitude and giving thanks is something we all need more of to show up for ourselves and show up for those in our communities.

My favorite daily exercise is pretty much a daily gratitude journal but I put my own spin on it—you’ll have to listen to the episode to get all the juicy details on what I mean.

Whenever I don’t feel 100%, it’s one of the only things that makes me feel better and it’s SO easy!

I’ve truly seen MANY clients who started up this practice and it had an obvious and sustained effect on how they felt and how they approach their life once they committed to doing this for just a few weeks.

Thank you for being a part of my world. I hope you enjoy a delicious meal with the people you love today—even if we have to keep the groups small this year.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Tune into this solo episode with Pia to hear:

You DON’T need to do things just like your peers. And actually—you SHOULDN’T!

By taking a leap and doing things differently—even if you’re just getting started in a new business—you stand out which goes a LONG way in getting noticed. And getting noticed means getting tons of recognition through speaking engagements, awards, and panel invites that show her off as an expert, just as our guest will share it this episode!

In the “What’s Possible” series here on the podcast, I’m chatting with entrepreneurs who’ve experienced tremendous transformations despite everything else happening this year through my program LEAP To Badass Authority.

These badass entrepreneurs are members of my program, LEAP To Badass Authority. It’s pretty incredible what can happen in a year or less when you stay focused on taking leaps every day to get closer to your goals, have a support system to keep you accountable, help you make strategic decisions and pull you up when you falter.

Today I’m speaking with Badass Business owner, Dr. Ediuska Laurens. Ediuska is an entrepreneur, innovator, and two-time patent holder with expertise in medical device product development, regulation, and quality—and she wants to use the magical powers of SCIENCE & know how of INDUSTRY, to help the most vulnerable populations.

She has a BS in Aerospace Engineering, and MS in Mechanical Engineering, and a doctorate in Biomedical Engineering, and she spent nearly a decade at the Fortune 500 medical firm, Stryker, leading a global team that developed pediatric Craniomaxillofacial implants from concept to global commercialization. So needless to say, she’s got the chops and the background to make big things happen.

Ediuska is the founder of Genius Shield, a compliance management and regulatory readiness company that shields and de-risk medical innovators and investors so they can launch compliant medical solutions seamlessly and safely to the global market.

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In business, there is always somewhere greater to go.

That’s why taking leaps—both big and small—is essential to growing your business and building your confidence.

I know this because I've had the experience of being terrified of something new—and doing it over and over and over again.

Taking those leaps—both small and big—gets you outside of your comfort zone. It’s about going after something you really want—or something that is true to you and who you want to be—EVEN when the outcome is scary or unknown... and you do it anyway.

If you never take a leap, if you stay comfortable with the status quo, there’s only so far you can go. But when you bank true confidence in yourself, ANYTHING is possible.

The more often you take the leap that, the more times you have that experience and the more your body—not just your mind—learns that it doesn't matter if things do or don't work out exactly the way you want. You're always going to be okay.

And every time you face adversity, or you have a failure, and you get up and do something else and eventually something good comes out of it? THAT’S where the real work is. That’s where the confidence comes from. That’s where the business you want is created.

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Do you want to let go of what’s holding you back from being the most badass business owner you can be and align your purpose and create your legacy?

It’s possible and it starts with getting to know YOU. The REAL you.

2020 has dealt a lot of challenges for entrepreneurs. Businesses are shuttering across the country. In the “What’s Possible” series here on the podcast, I’m chatting with entrepreneurs who’ve experienced tremendous transformations despite everything else happening this year.

These badass entrepreneurs are members of my program, LEAP To Badass Authority. It’s pretty incredible what can happen in a year or less when you stay focused on taking leaps every day to get closer to your goals, have a support system to keep you accountable, help you make strategic decisions and pull you up when you falter.

Michelle Mercurio is a brand catalyst and co-owner of The Brand Scene where she helps transformational entrepreneurs write their brand’s story, do more of what they love and be more themselves and less of what the world expects them to be. WE can all use more of that in our business.

In 2019, hitting $100,000 was still a dream of an idea—yet after COVID hit her business, Michelle still had her best month ever in August, bringing in well over $30,000. In this episode, you’ll hear more about how she stepped up as boss of her business, letting go of the good to make room for the great, and owning her voice at a new level.

And this is possible for you, too. But there’s no silver bullet. It's the results of a thousand little decisions you make every day that add up to the life and business you want. And in each decision, doing it in a way that is true to your brand and who you are, and being seen as a celebrity expert in your space.

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When you own your brand and voice, you are seen as the authority in your space.

And when you’re the go-to celebrity?

EVERYONE wants to hire you—and they’ll pay whatever high prices you want.

But if you haven’t been showing your business who’s boss, you might be stuck in a pattern of feast and famine. You might be hustling to get clients with tons of emails, calls, and proposals—or so busy working for your clients that it feels impossible to do business development for future clients.

Inevitably, this style of working cycles over and over again. The hustle never stops.

Thankfully, there’s another way to take your business to the next level—through building your authority online so you’re seen as a respected expert in your space.

This is exactly what today’s guest went through—from doing really well to struggling to make sense of her business offerings—to well-known and booked out two months in advance. Who doesn’t want that?! And she made that happen by staying laser focused on building her celebrity status by sharing her value online in talks and in articles.

Today, I’m so excited to be speaking with Badass Business owner, Ilana Preuss.

Ilana’s company, Recast City, helps bring local “main street” economies back to life by partnering with local leaders to bring businesses back to downtown, particularly small-scale manufacturing businesses. It’s fascinating work—unlike anything anyone else I’ve worked with—and it’s been equally fascinating to watch her apply these badass brand and business principles to her company, especially because nobody in her space is doing anything like this.

Ilana is also the author of the forthcoming book, Recast Your City: How to Save Your Downtown with Small-Scale Manufacturing, being released by Island Press in spring 2021.

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