Soulful MBA Podcast

In this episode, we check in with Jeni about her family’s maker business, Woodland Alchemy. It’s now been a year since the seed of an idea began to germinate into a creative outlet, a family hobby, and (eventually) a local artisan business. Where is the business now? What’s been Jeni’s proudest achievement? What lessons have they learned? What do they plan to do differently in the upcoming year?

Joy: linen smock (similar)

Hustle: Ken Burns on MasterClass

Maura Manzo began to practice yoga to “learn to breathe” after a fire destroyed her home in 2006 and has been on a journey to share yoga with others ever since.

Following her yoga teacher training, Maura raised $20,000 for HIV/AIDS programs in South Africa in collaboration with Off the Mat into the World. She considers that project a defining moment in her life and in taking her practice to the next level, both as a student and as a teacher.

Maura has extensively studied trauma informed practices and the intersection of social justice and yoga and she is dedicated to making the practice of yoga more inclusive and accessible for all people. Maura’s deep commitment to building community shows up in all that she offers.

Maura has been invited to teach at Wanderlust Philly, has been named one of Be Well Philly’s Top 5 Yogi’s to Watch, and was featured in Origin Magazine. She teachers classes, workshops, and trainings at her studio, Yoga Home, which also offers online classes through Namastream.

Joy: Basketball Games / Travel / Netflix Binges

Hustle: Soulful MBA Podcast (blush) / loom / Off the Mat Into the World  / CTZN Well / Paper Planner

We’re sharing the down and dirty details for how we track and manage the finances for our business. You’ll learn our favorite tip for reducing our year-end tax burden and we’ll share some suggestions for what types of information you should be tracking each month in your own business.

What steps can you take now, before the end of the calendar year, to reduce your tax burden? What metrics should you be measuring each month? What is a customer journey and why/how should you be tracking it?  

Joy: Seedlip

Hustle: “I’m a Developer. I Won’t Teach My Kids to Code, and Neither Should You.”

After five years of immersion into entrepreneurship, we’ve learned a few things. Here’s the advice we’d like to share with our fellow founders, distilled into 23 suggestions for building an intentional business online.

These are the practices of Digital Artisanship:

1. Identify your core values early. These will be your touchstone and will help you to navigate every difficult decision.
2. Ask why. Daily. Don’t assume that what’s been right for others is right for you.
3. Build it well. Quality matters. Strive to be an artisan with your work—whether you’re making soap or outlining an online course.
4. Curiosity is essential. Your ability to approach problems with wonder will carry you through.
5. Audit your supply chain. Prioritize your values over what’s cheap or convenient or fast. Hire the people whose work you want to see more of in the world.
6. Embrace niching. This will be the key to your financial success. Understand a specific group of people and serve them well.
7. Value relationships over transactions. Treat your employees, contractors, and suppliers with trust and respect.
8. Demand fair prices from your customers. Avoid the negative energetic exchange that fuels resentment.
9. Pay fair wages to your team. Honor the community by respecting someone’s training and expertise.
10. Embrace the long game. Slow down. Build in buffers. It always takes longer than you think. An idea, when followed through with consistent action, can create tremendous financial liberation.
11. Be mindful of interconnectivity, the larger ecosystem, and ripple effects.  What we do affects others (and our future selves).
12. Embrace a culture of responsible generosity. Infuse your business practices with service and philanthropy, but not to a point that it drains you or breeds resentment. You know when you’re overextended. You know when you have more to give.
13. Trust your intuition. Eliminate the tasks that some advisor or random Instagram post told you that you “should” be doing.
14. Do what’s right instead of what’s easy. Treat leadership like a sacred duty. (If you’re reading this, you’re a leader.)
15. Look beyond profit and growth. Money is a metric of success, but not the only one.
16. Tell your story. Encourage others to tell theirs.
17. Amplify the work of others. Use your platform to showcase the voices that you respect and admire.
18. Connect with real human beings. Networking will get you off the ground in the beginning and it will accelerate your success as you grow.
19. Value your offline life. Carve out analog space. It will refuel you.
20. Speak up. Your voice matters. You won’t get there by playing small. Bravery is inextricably linked to your success.
21. Nobody does it alone. Find the people who will celebrate your victories and pull you out of those inevitable dips and struggles.
22. You can figure it out. You don’t know it all and you never will. Be willing to roll up your sleeves and get dirty.
23. Know that success is possible for you. It make take longer or look differently than you expect. It’s worth it.

Collectively, we have an opportunity to impact how this evolving economy shifts, to drive it in a more intentional direction. Please share these #digitalartisan practices with your people. Let’s build a world where entrepreneurship equates to creativity, service, and sustainability.

Joy: David Whyte’s Santiago

Hustle: The Digital Artisan Manifesto

As with last year, we’re bringing you a recap of the year vis-à-vis our favorite things. Here are the links for you (think of it as a stellar gift guide or a place to bookmark for inspiration later on):

Best Books

Jeni: The Lost Girls of Camp Forevermore / Charlotte Walsh Likes To Win / The Female Persuasion: A NovelSandy: Witch: Unleashed. Untamed. Unapologetic. / Dare to Lead: Brave Work. Tough Conversations. Whole Hearts.

Best Netflix Shows

Sandy: Feminists: What Were They Thinking?Jeni: Salt Fat Acid Heat + (the book)

Best Purchase

Jeni: kayakSandy: private pilates classes

Most Influential People

Sandy: Tara MohrJeni: Sandy <3

Favorite Instagram Accounts

Sandy: @selfportrait_societyJeni: @generalstore

Best Decisions

Sandy: our return to wellnessJeni: finally putting our software on sale

Best Articles

Sandy: Powerful Women Talk About PowerJeni: Reconsider / Signal v. Noise

Best Conference

Jeni: She RecoversSandy: She Recovers

Best Podcasts

Sandy: ZigZagJeni: Yoga Behind Bars: A Conversation with Jess Frank

Our Words for 2019

Jeni: AmplificationSandy: Efficiency

Our industry has evolved significantly over the past decade, and this is perhaps best exemplified by the explosion of the Peloton brand. How does a spin bike company that’s now valued at a whopping $4 billion impact regular people like us? What changes are we seeing in the mainstream yoga industry? What are our own plans for the future?

Listen on...

Joy: The Sill

Hustle: Dare to Lead / (available for sale in our Soulful MBA Shoppe)

“Ready” is relative. Most people who have done everything in the known universe to prepare themselves to become first-time parents, or move to a new country, or come out to their families will STILL be surprised or uneasy when the time comes. The same goes for launching an online business—even if you’ve taken ALL the courses and read ALL the books and worked with coaches, you’ll never be able to anticipate every triumph and setback.

Which is totally, 100% fine. Because readiness isn’t about knowing exactly what to do in every situation, it’s about being prepared to bounce back when the unexpected arises. It’s about seeing where your unique talents meet a pressing customer need. It’s about attitude and energy and momentum and consistency.

So how can you tell if you’ve got the right attitude, energy, and momentum to launch your online business RIGHT NOW? Here are seven indicators that you’re prepared to take the plunge:

1. Your product or service addresses a need.
2. You understand the risks.
3. You have unwavering faith in your idea or product.
4. You have (or are actively building) an audience.
5. You’re in a good place emotionally, personally, and financially.
6. You understand your niche.
7. You’ve got a short- and long-term plan in place.

Joy: Our “Favorite Things” ShoppeHustle: Blueline MiracleBind Notebook

In this episode, we’re discussing our favorite strategies for setting your new business (or new product, program, or service) up for success.

How do you ensure that you’ll have paying customers when you open the virtual doors on day one? Which old-school marketing strategies should you be utilizing to gather your initial pool of students? How is a client roster different than an email list?

We’re unpacking all of these questions and sharing our favorite advice for new online teachers in this episode...

Joy: 6 Ways Mushrooms Can Save the WorldHustle: old-school paper flyers

Somehow, it’s November. (Anyone else feel like 2018 was about 15 minutes long?) And that means we’re hurtling toward the holiday season at quite a clip. And THAT means many of us are madly scrambling to concoct marketing plans that will help us take advantage of the upcoming gift-buying frenzy.

We’d like to suggest a new twist: Make sure those marketing and business plans align with your ethics.

It’s so easy to get sucked into the vortex of gift guides and gimmicks, clickbait and formulas. We totally get it. The online business world is crowded and cutthroat right now, and it’s tough to stick to your beliefs. It’s tough to resist when dozens of supposed-experts tell you to push your offerings hard and often and relentlessly. It’s tough to consider dialing back during a sales season when everyone else is amping up. But you can do this. You can do what’s right instead of what’s easy. And, in the long run, it’ll benefit your business.

Why? Because you won’t burn out. You’ll remain aligned with your true goals and mission long after your competition has grown weary of tricking customers into short-term sales. Because you’ll build deep trust and lasting relationships that carry you well beyond December and January. Because you might make less money in the short term, but you’ll also make fewer compromises.

Listen in to hear our suggestions for piloting your business through the holiday shopping and gifting season in ways that promote quality, heartfelt creation, and genuine connection.

In this episode, we share some previously unshared details about our business partnership... How we met. How we work together. The pitfalls. The benefits. We also explore our opinions on different kinds of business relationships. What about partnering with an investor? Or a technical co-founder? What are the ways to work together without dividing up your company?

We’re both organically drawn to work collaboratively, so partnership was an ideal business decision for both of us. Our business is like a shared child, and we trust each other to steward the company and serve as an equal decision maker. In our case, the whole is truly greater than the sum of the parts.

Joy: jenifer lake ceramics

Hustle: The Four Agreements (especially the audiobook version)