Wonder Podcast: Empowering Women Entrepreneurs to Change the World

World-renowned business educator and coach, Dr. Marshall Goldsmith, gives priceless tips for today’s female entrepreneur. Today on the EO Podcast, Dr. Goldsmith discusses the difference between men and women in leadership, and teaches women how to finally be happy and free ourselves from guilt. Tune-in to listen to Dr. Goldsmith as he walks through an exercise in letting go, inspired by Buddhist philosophy and his experiences with women around the world. Marshall also discusses what advice the elderly would give their younger selves and inspires us to take their advice NOW.

Time Stamped Show Notes:

• 00:55 – Tips for Women Entrepreneurs

• 01:00 – Working on new book with Sally Helgesen about women in leadership
• 01:15 – Very similar to tips for men like; asking for input, knowing what to improve, follow-up, measuring improvement
• 01:30 – Differences: Average woman gets better 360 degree feedback than average man, average woman scores higher
• 01:45 – Women are too hard on themselves and are more hesitant to promote themselves, perhaps because of historical familial expectations on women

• 02:45 – Marshall does a class for women

• 02:53 – 4 rules: you cannot attempt to learn something, be more productive, be a better person, or try and help others
• 03:50 – One rule: Focus only on your own happiness and self-acceptance
• 03:55 – Did this exercise and women were breaking down in the course, it isn’t easy for women
• 04:10 – Men, on the other hand, don’t tend to have an issue focusing on their happiness

• 04:40 – How to be happy and let go of guilt: Exercise

• 04:45 – Buddhist philosophy – a “new me” with every new breath
• 05:05 – Think of the “previous yous” and everything those previous women (the past versions of yourself)  have done
• 05:35 – What would you say to those previous women about all the nice things they’ve done, accomplished, etc? Thank you. Thank your “previous yous” and breath
• 05:50 – The first person you need to forgive is yourself; women want others to be happy, but you should be put first
• 06:40 – Ask yourself who is being punished and who is punished when you feel bad or guilty over others (you are punished you are punishing)

• 07:19 – Monk story: Monk carries woman across stream and other monk is upset that he broke the rule (can’t touch women)

• 08:00 – 1st monk says “shit happens” and moves on while the other is still upset
• 08:25 – Monk says, “I only carried her across a stream, I didn’t carry her back to the monastery”
• 8:35 – We carry people around with us through guilt and we need to leave them at the stream

• 09:00 – Pick a path through life: any path will have trade-offs; make peace with them
• 09:20 – Farmer in boat story: Don’t get upset at others for being who they are
• 10:20 – Breathe and imagine being able to give your younger self advice on your deathbed. What would that advice be?
• 11:00 – Friends interviewed elderly on what their advice to their younger selves would be

• 11:13 – Be happy now, friends and family first, if you have a dream, go for it, life is short so have fun
• 11:47 – Help people, go for it, don’t be too hard on yourself
• 12:20 – Old people don’t regret the risk they failed, they regret the risk they failed to take

3 Key Points:

1. Women tend to be too hard on themselves – Learn to let go of guilt and be happy.
2. Pick a path and make peace with any trade-offs. Every path has trade-offs.
3. Breathe and take the advice from your older self-Go for it!

Resources Mentioned:

• Entrepreneur's Organization – The EO Network
• Marshall Goldsmith’s website

Credits:

Show Notes provided by Melissa Valder

Personal branding expert Samantha Ettus sheds light on her inspiration for her bestselling books, “The Experts’ Guide to 100 Things Everyone Should Know how to Do” and “The Pie Life: A Guilt-Free Recipe for Success and Satisfaction,” and gives valuable advice on how to live a happy, successful life while still tasting the goodness of every slice of the pie.

Susan Lindner is the founder and CEO of Emerging Media, an award-winning PR, marketing, branding, and social media company. Today on the EO Wonder Podcast, Susan discusses how she grew her company from her tiny apartment, the importance of delegation, and how she built the life that she wants. Tune-in to hear Susan’s tips on storytelling, knowing your “why,” and implementing your own PR plan (without hiring an expensive agency like hers!)

Time Stamped Show Notes:

• 00:39 – Susan’s background

• 00:40 – She’s been in EO for 10 years, has had her own business for the last 15 years, and has grown from an agency run out of her apartment to being able to see it flourish
• 01:00 – She can now watch her business succeed while she talks about what she’s learned; it’s amazing what start-ups can teach large corporates
• 01:15 – Her passion is to teach big companies what small companies have known all along

• 01:20 – How Susan started; 2 weird starts

• 01:27 – A horrible blind date with a senior editor of Forbes magazine; he introduced her to the world of PR while she was an epidemiologist at the center for disease control
• 02:09 – They became good friends and she would rewrite pitch letters; she eventually left the CDC and became a PR person
• 03:08 – Everything shifted when 9/11 happened; their biggest client that put them on the map was on the plane that hit the World Trade Center
• 03:25 – That founder was also her boss’s best friend and he lost the interest to do PR after that
• 03:55 – 9 months later her boss asked if she wanted to buy the business for $1 Million / $100k/year for the next 10 years
• 04:30 – She declined but opened her own agency when the other one closed down in 2002; she ran it out of her 550 sq. ft. apartment with an intern

• 05:10 – Business Challenges

• 05:20 – Overwhelm; you don’t realize how many people and how much time goes into running a company when you work for someone else
• 05:40 – Mental implications; marketing, bookkeeping, sales, etc. and keeping up with all of it
• 05:50 – 6 months later she ended up in the emergency room (the same place she had worked) after a week of chest pains
• 06:10 – She saw her old boss; he said to stop doing PR, it was killing her because she had internalized so much stress

• 06:35 – Business was going well, but she needed processes and people; her boyfriend at the time gave her a proposal to work for her and improve Lotus Public Relationships

• 07:15 – She weighed the pros and cons; he offered to take a $150k salary cut to work for her, she was terrified because everything was unstable and he was a widower with two kids
• 08:00 – 15 years later, they are married, happy, and running the business together

• 08:20 – How was the first day working together?

• 08:28 – It was in the small apartment with heavy, hot 2002 laptops, shorts, towels on their laps for the laptop heat, and coffee overflowing in the kitchen
• 09:07 – Clients received great work and gave them referrals; they had a great feeder system

• 09:20 – A year later they moved into a small office across the street from Grand Central; her boyfriend could run from the office to the train in 3 minutes
• 09:56 – They started hiring full-time teams and within 3 years they hit $1 Million in revenue and were one of the fastest growing PR firms in the country

• 10:10 – She couldn’t have done it without her now husband

• 10:28 – Other people that have attributed to Susan’s success

• 10:33 – Staff along the way; expansions and contractions along the way have contributed to the people that have been there for her
• 11:20 – She has surrounded herself with EO members that she sees as mentors, friends; her lawyer and accountant help her determine if she’s living the life she wants

• 12:28 – Susan feels that she and her husband now have the life that they want

• 12:33 – The agency is running great, now she knows that she wants to give back and teach what she’s learned
• 12:43 – For the past 2 years she has spoken to 700 start-ups through Venture Out New York; international companies come to NY for a week to figure out how to succeed there
• 13:11 – She’s the first speaker they meet to find out how to establish credibility, tone, message, and buyer connection in the U.S.
• 14:20 – She now speaks at conferences all over the world

• 14:40 – Her talk: “Storytelling for Innovators and Disruptors”

• 14:50 – Goes into her journey of researcher to now working with tech companies
• 14:58 – How messages need to be developed through story: How do we create stories of biblical quality?
• 15:25 – How to create the founder’s story (prophet), a core group of early adopters (apostles), and how to take that message to market (user-generated content)
• 15:45 – The people will carry the message, but you must know how to make it spread

• 16:15 – How do we do the above?

• 16:33 – Reference to Simon Sinek “why” question in his Ted Talk; it’s not what or how you do what you do, it’s why
• 16:50 – Start-ups are consumed with product road maps and prospect conversations and leave themselves off the table
• 17:20 – You need to use tools or people whose strengths help you stay on track
• 18:05 – Ask: what are your strengths? What is it about you that makes you an entrepreneur in your field?
• 18:25 – Be 100% authentic by selling a part of yourself (authentic brand); get off the path of self-doubt and be yourself
• 19:35 – Figure out who will be your story carrier (Star Wars analogy) by being clear on whose life you’re making better
• 20:50 – How are you changing the customer’s life by being in it?
• 21:20 – Know the impact; a great product has personal ramifications
• 22:00 – Ask client, “Tell me how we’re making your life better.” (Über example)
• 23:40 – Sometimes what the customer loves isn’t fundamental
• 24:14 – Summary: Find out the “why,” authentic story, gain early adopters to believe what you believe, purchase, and tell people
• 25:40 – Get innovators and early adopters first then they’ll do the storytelling for you; evangelists become loyalists

• 26:20 – How do you find influencers/innovators/early adopters?

• 26:25 – Create a feedback loop, processes, and communicate with all your clients if you are a young company
• 27:18 – As the story grows and changes, people interact differently with it; let the brand adapt and change, and let customers run with it
• 27:45 – Create processes to collect data and a way for customers to talk back
• 27:58 – Have you created a way for customers to talk to one another (Dollar Shave Club example)

• 31:39 – If someone can’t hire a PR agency, what can they do?

• 31:47 – Susan’s talk, “The 7 Day PR Plan: How to Build your PR Plan in 7 Days Without Hiring an Expensive Agency Like Mine”
• 32:00 – She believes so many people need and deserve attention that will never hire a PR agency

• 32:19 – Susan’s “7 Day PR Plan” condensed

• 32:23 – Day One: Listen. Make sure you understand the journalist’s conversation before you pitch a reporter
• 32:35 – What is going on already in your space? Make a “Google Alert” for your top 5 competitors and their CEO, then you’ll get press coverage on your competitors
• 33:38 – Competitive intelligence is not for the CEO alone, make sure you share it with your team
• 33:56 – Day Two: Get Organized. Set up a Google Sheet that everyone in the office can access that has those articles, the name of the article, the reporter’s full name, Twitter handle, and email
• 34:19 – This is building a media list; get the processes in place to make those journalists your new best friends
• 34:45 – Day Three: Stalk...smartly! Stalk their social media accounts like Twitter and Instagram; Twitter is the media environment, follow your competitors (from another account and journalists from your personal account)
• 35:58 – Their bio gives personal information, you may have a lot in common with them
• 36:34 – Follow in silence for the first few weeks, then start complimenting them, opening up a conversation, and retweeting their stories
• 38:22 – Connect with the reporter on LinkedIn to get their email address
• 38:55 – Day 4: Newsify in True Anchorman Style
• 39:00 – Determine what is newsworthy in your world; figure out the message, determine what is headline-worthy, and see what that journalist finds newsworthy
• 39:40 – In the next 6 months, what are the 3 coolest things that are going to happen to your business that are worthy of being in the news?
• 40:00 – Examples: New rounds of funding, hiring a very senior level person, rolling out a new product, attacking a new market, expanding your current market, speaking at an event
• 40:40 – Find out your “news,” go back to your list of reporters, and pitch your “why” and story
• 41:20 – Day Five: Write your Pitch (no more than 100 words!)
• 41:59 – Come with respect, “every pitch is a gift,” and ask how you’ll make the journalist’s life better
• 42:36 – Think about how that pitch will transpire because there are 5 PR people for every 1 journalist: You’ll need a killer subject line to stand out
• 43:17 – The email should come from you identifying yourself as the one in power; this is just as important as your #1 sales prospect
• 43:39 – Make sure you’re current and know how the journalists compose their piece so you can compose your pitch accordingly; some love narrative, some love statistics, some use 3rd party experts
• 45:45 – Day Six: Get Ready for the Interview
• 45:50 – Make sure you have 3 key messages; no one can remember more than 3 things so say what you need to say in 3 bullet points
• 46:30 – 90% of your interviews will be by phone so smile, speak with passion, and get excited
• 47:21 – You want to stand out amongst all the phone interviews that journalist has; it may be the only opportunity you get to speak with that media outlet
• 47:56 – Follow-up: Take as much volume up on the page as possible to get the most clicks
• 48:10 – Pictures (360dpi at least), infographics, supporting media, linkable video, and background data give the journalist more to add to the piece
• 49:15 – Day 7: Share the Love
• 49:20 – Say thank you to the journalist, after the interview and after the piece comes out
• 49:50 – Share through your social channels and site, share with your mom, and use the press coverage in different ways
• 50:11 – Press coverage can be part of your email marketing campaigns and include links back to the journalists page so s/he gets credit and wants to do more pieces with you
• 50:57 – Show them that there’s momentum in your business and keep in touch for repeat business

• 52:00 – Susan’s “Why”

• 52:04 – To deliver amazing experiences with content that helps people create an impact on their world
• 52:15 – She connects with people and wants to share in a way that moves people to action with energy and humor
• 52:50 – She did stand up at a Comedy Club; when you can give people the experience of a lifetime, they become the best leaders they can be

• 53:38 – Advice for entrepreneurs: Be vulnerable, be willing to say “I don’t know” and people will rise to help

 Key Points:

1. Know your “why,” tell an authentic story, and let your early adopters do the storytelling for you.
2. Follow Susan’s 7 Steps to build relationships with reporters and build your PR plan.
3. Be vulnerable; be willing to say “I don’t know” and people will rise to help.

Resources Mentioned:

• Entrepreneur's Organization – The EO Network
• Emerging Media – Susan’s Company
• Venture Out New York – Company where Susan connects to start-ups
• Simon Sinek “How Great Leaders Inspire Action” – Ted Talk

 

Jill Willard, founder of IM and author of “Intuitive Being,” is a gifted Intuitive, medium, and leader in meditation practice. Today on the EO Podcast, Jill discusses how we can tap into our intuition and use it to better our personal relationships and get an edge in our professional lives. Tune-in to hear Jill’s wisdom about the future, clearing space, letting go, listening to “the knock,” relationships, and emotions.

Time Stamped Show Notes:

• 00:56 – Jill’s Journey

• 01:03 – She’s always had an intuitive nature and strong internal voice, when she was young she shut it down but began honing into it in her 20s
• 01:42 – She began listening to her intuition after she had her first child

• 00:57 – Jill’s book “Intuitive Being”

• 02:00 – She started doing readings in 2008 and she found high intellect that needed to be shared; a pamphlet was information that came together
• 02:31 – In the summer of 2011 she wrote the book against Oprah’s fence at a friend’s house, in O Magazine an article was written about intuition that August
• 03:00 – She had a few high-end clients and then she got the book deal

• 03:30 – What is intuition like?

• 03:45 – We are over-trained in the left side of the brain and need more tuning into the right to address emotion, baggage
• 04:10 – Look at your closet or your junk drawer and you can get insight into what your mind is like; we need space
• 04:30 – Let the now be seen instead of the clutter from the past; slow down, pause, reflect, breathe, and you’ll hear intuition

• 04:51 – How do you know when you’re feeling intuition?

• 04:53 – It’s the small tugging voice that is calm and wise
• 05:22 – Your body doesn’t react with knots or nervous energy; intuition is love, calm, neutral, and always benefits us if we follow it

• 05:56 – Intuition is logical and factual; by the time women are 30-35 we learn to use our voice

• 06:19 – Wisdom comes in the front of the brain, and with activated intuitive center, you build on all energy centers
• 06:48 – We can get there at about 40-42 years old
• 06:55 – “Top crown” is our guidance and when it is open you get wisdom from grandparents, Jesus, guides, angels; this is the wisest information
• 07:35 – With drugs it doesn’t stick; you can get more of this information without

• 07:42 – Summarizing the 7 main energy centers

• 07:48 – Energy centers: Sexual organs (relationships), gut (power/worth), heart (love/joy), throat (purification/liberation/truth), third eye (intuition), spiritual guise (all one, connected to all that is

• 08:13 – The purpose of life is for the soul to have a journey; she doesn’t believe in reincarnation

• 08:25 – It’s about evolution; we all have a purpose, goals, and way to contribute on earth in our own essence and nature

• 08:56 – How can entrepreneurs use intuition in their businesses or personal lives?

• 09:11 – Intuition is key at home: put your phone down, detox out of work, be present at home, create more eye contact, pause, and breathe to tap into your intuition
• 09:54 – You make more whole decisions from a centered place and everyone benefits when you are in the now
• 10:30 – Your children and mate can tell when you aren’t in the “now” and this is what they truly need; come out of the brain and center
• 11:04 – “Spiritual Botox:” You look better and feel better when you allow yourself to center

• 11:20 – Eye contact: Children want their parents to be present to help them grow emotionally, spiritually, and organically

• 11:50 – Someone needs to be a champion for their kids; we come from a patterning of “toughening our kids up” because parents couldn’t be providing
• 12:20 – Masculine is physical and mental, but we are now in a spiritual and emotional power place to connect with our children and this is hard for business people to do

• 13:00 – Food as nurturing vs. love as nurturing

• 13:08 – Do something connective with the family, but don’t connect sweets or food with nurturing
• 13:25 – The human body needs connection and touch more than anything and we’ve turned that off

• 13:37 – How can we use intuition in business?

• 13:42 – Everyone who uses intuition in their business has an edge; be like Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, and Walt Disney and use intuition
• 14:15 – You need to be new and inventive and go for it; intuition helps you believe in yourself and be brave
• 14:35 – You’ll save money by using your intuition; you’ll see signs of bad decisions and skipped steps; be in it and you’ll make quality moves
• 15:00 – There are millions of things that haven’t been done yet

• 15:08 – Meditation company “IM” for intuitive meditation

• 15:19 – She know IM was coming 2-3 years ago

• 15:40 – Intuition can be way ahead; she sees negative things in the future around virtual reality

• 16:05 – She doesn’t recommend the virtual reality things that are coming out; she believe it will cause neurosis and non-touch, so people won’t be able to have sexual experiences and relationships
• 16:25 – We have the tools to create food, there should be no starvation
• 16:50 – The feminine energy is rising; a lot of people are going to be speaking their truth
• 17:04 – Growing from the inside out; gut health relation to the brain and food/health system will be reformed with this new knowledge
• 17:49 – So much is going to be exposed; opportunity is coming

• 18:04 – Jill’s thoughts on A.I.: The earth doesn’t need us

• 18:25 – It’s a farce that A.I. makes its way here; it is all an illusion of the second chakra
• 18:40 – We go east/west instead of north

• 19:00 – How does someone hone their intuition?

• 19:04 – Get quiet, go to more things that are “yin” (yoga/a walk/something slow) because the left side is so overstimulated
• 19:37 – Breathe deeply into your diaphragm and belly; be where you are
• 20:00 – Colorful foods, alkaline water, minerals and key nutrients
• 20:30 – Meditation: guided but silent is also important
• 21:40 – True mastery comes from inside; we need to focus on the guru inside and be the teacher and the student at the same time

• 22:01 – Jill’s companies: IM (meditative) and Present (non-meditative)

• 22:22 – Present helps people go in and find their color and self-regulate with love, care, nurturing
• 22:31 – IM website has videos with energy center meditations
• 23:18 – I Am Powerful/Worthy/Strong/Confident is important for female entrepreneurs in a patriarchal society
• 23:58 – Company is about allowing people to open up their intuition for themselves
• 24:10 – She is holding clear quartz to remain centered and clear
• 25:00 – Present company website is coming, when it’s launched it can be found on Jill’s website
• 25:10 – Present has been taught in schools with teens, execs, and student
• 25:45 – Jill’s Instagram @jill_willard

• 25:57 – Jill’s transition: She was a publisher and thought she’d be a stay-at-home mom as a kid

• 26:21 – She was a publisher and editor, did a graduate program that she didn’t complete
• 26:45 – She did photography in the city; she was very intuitive and was often at the right place at the right time
• 27:27 – She met her husband, got married, and her friends, mentors, and healers told her that she needed to be working with and using her intuition
• 28:00 – It grew rapidly, and she needed something creative; this is how IM was created and it started booming
• 28:39 – A friend wanted to learn a new form of meditation and she suggested IM
• 29:06 – She has 3 kids, it wasn’t easy, but her intuition helps her make sure she has everything she needs
• 29:48 – Harper Collins helped hone in the book and make it practical

• 30:10 – What was the book-writing journey like?

• 30:13 – It is a journey of the self, it is like being pregnant and birthing a child
• 31:00 – You must have patience with the process; she reviewed edited versions many times
• 31:40 – Other voices helped with the book but she had to comb them out; she met someone 1-2/week to have deadlines and track progress

• 32:19 – Your intuition connects to a higher wisdom so you’ll get information and sound bites that “hit”

• 32:45 – Everyone has it; you have to invite it in and have space for it or you won’t hear or process the genius
• 33:45 – Everything that comes in needs to be helpful for the world; it has to be new

• 34:00 – When she wrote ”Intuit,” submitted it, and it didn’t get picked up it was 11/11/11 and a girlfriend gave her the book “The Anatomy of the Spirit” by Caroline Myss

• 34:30 – How Caroline wrote the book is similar to the theory in “Intuit” and Jill didn’t realize the books were so similar until afterwards
• 34:55 – We must offer something new to the world
• 35:05 – Fresh ideas come to 3-5 different people throughout the world

• 35:30 – Chance favors a prepared mind; timing needs to be paired with preparedness

• 36:00 – Have a goal and vision for yourself and your family that contributes to the world
• 36:30 – There’s going to be a shift in energy and business and there’s going to be a fight for it that we are already seeing

• 37:05 – Clear out your roots, connect to your gut, open your heart, and intuition will follow; start now, one step at a time

• 37:30 – Remember what’s yours and what isn’t and clear out your stuff

• 38:11 – Story of how she knew the sex of her baby at the 4th month 4D ultrasound

• 38:33 – The doctor said she was having a boy but she knew that wasn’t correct, she let the doctor look around and correct himself
• 39:00 – Her husband has been used to her doing that with respect
• 39:20 – Sometimes we automatically give power to those with a title

• 39:36 – She met President Clinton, shook his hand, he tickled the inside of her hand

• 40:15 – Suddenly her intuition told her that he was cheating on his wife with a woman with dark hair, and 2-3 weeks later it came out that he was
• 40:40 – It came out that at the same party he was being inappropriate with another woman

• 41:40 – On the day of the podcast, she knew they’d get front row parking and they did
• 42:20 – She’ll say a word and someone will text her the same word, will think of a person and they’ll show up; examples like this happens all the time, it’s physics
• 43:20 – Once you understand the voice you’ll listen to it more; it’s like knocks that you should learn to hear when they’re still quite

• 43:56 – We have more say than we realize; just ask what you need and what your body needs
• 45:11 – When you listen to your gut everything aligns

• 45:50 – Trust your first instinct; don’t rehash or mull-over, that’s left-brain

• 46:35 – “Re” is backwards: Do everything fresh
• 47:10 – Go forward from where you are and take what you learned

• 48:30 – Her book can be a tough read, especially chapter 3

• 48:40 – She will be doing an audio version soon, sometimes things are better understood verbally

• 49:11 – “Emotion is energy in motion” quote is in book (originally from Peter Mc Williams

• 49:30 – Emotion is your skin, nervous system, touch, hormones
• 49:54 – It can become too energetic and become depleted (affects hair/skin/nails/eyes)
• 50:29 – Let it out: it is energy and should be recycled and not held in the body
• 51:02 – On “The Voice” people let their emotions out with their story, song, and performance
• 51:15 – Emotion can be alchemized into your business; learn not to hold it in and let it get in motion through sound and breath (men and women)

• 53:00 – You know if someone with you doesn’t have your best interest in mind

• 53:27 – Surround yourself with people who want for you what they want for themselves; face the truth but find the compassion to kindly remove yourself from adversity

• 54:20 – We have a strange view about love; we need to discuss what we feel and let go

• 55:02 – See with compassion but move on and let go
• 55:40 – Holding onto that energy creates stress and acidity within you, so find peaceful conclusion

• 56:30 – Addressing jealousy between women

• 56:40 – Why it happens: women have been repressed and view each other as competitors, we are stuck in the 2nd energy center, and we don’t have enough compassion for ourselves
• 57:56 – She has been accused a lot in life; she’s learned to let go and not get affected by the finger-pointing of others
• 58:30 – She approaches with an open space and lets go if the other person isn’t open to discuss the issue
• 58:50 – Dharam Dev Kaur Khalsa who does therapy and counseling for individuals, couples, and families taught her the Hawaiian forgiveness prayer/practice called Hoʻoponopono
• 59:26 – The practice is helpful to let go and forgive

• 01:00:00 – Be the wiser sister of your younger self, meditate, pray; Jill likes the St. Francis prayer for peace and the line “injury pardon”

• 01:00:30 – Don’t make it about you or them or be passive-aggressive
• 01:01:08 – Go all the way in and find forgiveness for those who’ve pained you in the past and get closure
• 01:01:40 – The ego needs completion/closure, and Jill’s next book is about that

• 01:02:30 – Jill’s next book is called “The Well” and is about our emotions and how to clear them

• 01:02:50 – People are annoyed with their emotion

• 01:03:03 – What Jill’s up to now

• 01:03:10 – Growing the company, gaining a media presence, and writing the book
• 01:03:40 – She is the channel for the book’s information

• 01:04:05 – The book is available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and bookstores, and is great as a gift for those around you

Key Points:

1. Let the now be seen instead of the clutter from the past; slow down, pause, reflect, breathe, and you’ll hear intuition.
2. Connect with your family and yourself through the spiritual and emotional, not just from a physical or mental place.
3. Clear out your roots, connect to your gut, open your heart, and intuition will follow; start now one step at a time.

Resources Mentioned:

• Entrepreneur's Organization – The EO Network
• Jill’s book “Intuitive Being”
• IM company website
• Jill’s website
• Jill’s Instagram
• “The Anatomy of the Spirit” recommended book by Caroline Myss
• Dharam Dev Kaur Khalsa – therapist and counselor

To listen to more EO Wonder episodes as well as our other podcasts, head to EOPodcasts.com

Welcome to the EO Wonder podcast, where each fortnight we bring you news, interviews and much much more about women entrepreneurs shaping the future. We delve into topics that discuss the future of women entrepreneurs, the highs and the lows of running a business and also the interesting things happening within EO!

Kathy and Amy Eldon, co-founders of Creative Visions Foundation, channeled their grief-energy into a foundation that creates awareness of critical issues through creative activism. Today on the EO Podcast, Kathy and Amy discuss how their foundation allows for exponential levels of impact by catalyzing change in a way that only media can. Tune-in to learn how Kathy and Amy, a mother-daughter team, supported each other after Dan’s death, found love, handle their differences, and work together towards a larger creative vision.

Time Stamped Show Notes:

• 01:10 – Kathy and Amy’s Journey

• 01:26 – Kathy was a teacher, then mother, then started writing books and telling other people’s stories
• 01:45 – She’s had an unpredictable life which forced her to be entrepreneurial

• 2:10 – Now they help others use their entrepreneurship to create important media and art projects to catalyze change
• 02:44 – Amy’s brother (Kathy’s son) was a war correspondent, activist, and artist who went to Somalia and was killed

• 04:45 – Parents responded with forgiveness and used the tragedy as a force for good
• 04:58 – This is how Creative Visions Foundation was born; to help nurture other sparks like Dan

• 05:13 – They’ve worked with more than 260 projects and productions, with a global reach of over 100 million people
• 05:38 – The impact of a media company is exponential; it is storytelling to ignite action

• 06:09 – Investing in media creates a huge impact; it’ll engage people

• 06:52 – Project examples: The first project

• 06:54 – Gave a small amount of money to brothels in India to document children in brothels
• 07:30 – They discovered that they could do more good creating a fiscal sponsorship program for people to create projects and embrace them

• 07:55 – The Creative Activist Program: Over 260 people that they’ve counseled and guided
• 08:17 – How do you build something out of a tragedy?

• 08:38 – Kathy, as a mother, had to channel the energy towards something good
• 09:10 – She wanted to make a film to share the lives of the young activists like her son, so she already had a mission
• 09:43 – Taking the energy of grief and pouring it into something else is very constructive

• 09:53 – This week, Kathy is launching a “Noisy Spirits Club” as part of the sponsorship program

• 10:12 – She’s met people all over the world who have taken grief and channeled it towards projects for good

• 10:57 – It can be used to celebrate people, too
• 11:15 – What does the world need more of?

• 11:17 – (Amy) Empathy: we need to understand the plight of others and act on it

• 11:50 – Kathy is concerned that kids aren’t as empathetic as they used to be, but Amy disagrees

• 12:23 – Kids were involved in foreign news more in the past, the news now doesn’t touch on international news as much
• 13:20 – “Be Fearless Be Kind” short films that they did for Hasbro

• 13:27 – Scarlet Lewis, a mother of a boy named Jesse who was killed at Sandy Hook Elementary, decided to take the approach of empathy, compassion, forgiveness, and love

• 13:49 – Her curriculum in schools across America brings the spirit of embrace into schools
• 14:00 – She saw the shooter with awareness of his pain
• 14:33 – Bullying is more painful for your psyche than any physical damage

• 14:50 – How can we teach children to be more empathetic?

• 14:53 – Exposure to different kinds of people who aren’t like us; Amy went to the International School of Kenya where everyone was different
• 15:26 – Children model their behavior from adults; if adults are mocking/judging, children will too
• 15:51 – It’s up to us to model loving behavior

• 16:20 – Kathy is working with Maya Soetoro-Ing who came up with a “Peace Studio”
• 16:48 – Books and projects coming up

• 17:15 – Amy felt like she was starting to lose memories of her brother Dan and her mother suggested she write in an “Angel Catcher,” a book to store memories
• 17:50 – The book “Angel Catcher” was born out of their own need to search for purpose and maintain memories of their loved one
• 18:06 – “Soul Catcher” is a guided journal to find out and become who you really are
• 18:32 – They wrote “Love Catcher” to find the male love in their lives and a friend connected Kathy with her now husband, and that man connected Amy with her now husband

• 19:40 – Amy brought some apple crumble pie to John, her now husband, who was living next door

• 20:00 – That was the beginning of their relationship; both of their husbands are incredibly supportive and wonderful

• 20:40 – Kathy believes strongly in the power of vision, hence the company name and logo that is from an ancient Chinese divination meaning “the power of the creative...that transforms the world around it”
• 21:13 – The film

• 21:20 – Kathy moved to LA and started going through his journals to generate the store
• 21:55 – After 16-17 years she felt discouraged but had a director, script, and new CEO encouraging them to complete it
• 22:16 – They pulled together the money, had an excellent producers, and shot for 8 weeks in South Africa the film “The Journey is the Destination” which incorporates Dan’s journal pages
• 22:45 – It won best film in the Garden State Film Festival and was just shown at Harvard Law School; it is compelling, moving, and inspiring
• 23:03 – It took Kathy 20 years to make and is a tribute to her steadfastness

• 24:00 – Be patient with people who hold fast to a vision and work to find angles that help them and support them

• 24:40 – Amy was always supportive of her mother and they had to learn how to work as a team

• 24:55 – How is the family dynamic?

• 25:08 – They are very close, but very different; Kathy is an “Insane Visionary” whereas “Amy” is more about planning and predictability
• 25:50 – Kathy couldn’t be with anyone like herself for very long; Dan had a noisy energy so they always bounced off each other
• 26:15 – Amy lives next door to Kathy; Amy loves how Kathy honors everyone, Kathy loves Amy’s “flow”

• 27:30 – Advice for women entrepreneurs

• 27:45 – Amy wishes she had more discipline; she hears of CEOs that wake up at 5am and she can’t, she is more effective when she sleeps
• 28:08 – Meditation is something Amy is working on, the mindfulness makes her more effective
• 28:25 – Kathy reads two newspapers daily, she’s very curious, and believes openness is important; we must read, experience, speak to others, and live
• 29:00 – Sometimes entrepreneurs can be too in their heads about achievements that we lose the chance to serendipitous and synchronistic opportunities, and LIVE

• 29:15 – They are an all-women, mostly young, company

• 29:40 – They mentor their interns and the interns learn to problem-solve in a way that many can’t experience
• 30:18 – They are very proud of everyone within their business and perceive them as grown-up and capable

• 30:39 – Their CEO will be running the company with a more of a business-style; Kathy and Amy weren’t trained in company management

• 31:00 – Kathy and Amy brought in people skilled in certain aspects of the business in order to grow it; nurture the entrepreneurial spirit in others and delegate;

• 32:00 – The culture at their company is warm and welcoming and maintains a high level of humanity, even though they are metric-driven and desire growth

• 32:34 – Kathy believes the company is magnetically attracting extraordinary people from around the world that want to connect
• 32:39 – “Connection is the solution”

• 32:50 – Entrepreneurs can bring their business brains to help their people that are in the trenches trying to make a difference

• 33:10 – Entrepreneurs are creative in their own way; they solve problems

• 33:35 – Sundowners May 18th at Creative Visions 18820 Pacific Coast Highway

• 33:55 – Activists from all over the world come and connect and make magic

• 34:30 – They have a Gala every two years and is about engagement around storytelling
• 35:00 – Find Kathy and Amy at creativevisions.org and their youth program at rock-your-world.org
• 35:20 – Learn more about Kathy and Amy at kathyeldon.com

Key Points:

1. We need to be more empathetic by understanding the plight of others and acting on it.
2. Be patient and supportive towards people who have a vision, even if you can’t see it yourself.
3. Be open to the world so that you can see opportunities, synchronicities, and serendipitous event when they happen.

Resources Mentioned:

• Entrepreneur's Organization – The EO Network
• “Angel Catcher” - Journal
• “Soul Catcher” - Journal
• “Love Catcher” – Book
• “The Journey is the Destination” – film
• Creative Visions Foundation – website
• Youth activism – website
• Kathy’s
• websiteAlmost every household has an unsolved Rubiks Cube but you can easily solve it learning a few algorithms.

To listen to more EO Wonder episodes as well as our other podcasts, head to EOPodcasts.com

Welcome to the EO Wonder podcast, where each fortnight we bring you news, interviews and much much more about women entrepreneurs shaping the future. We delve into topics that discuss the future of women entrepreneurs, the highs and the lows of running a business and also the interesting things happening within EO!

Toni Ko, founder of NYX cosmetics and owner-founder of Perverse Sunglasses, worked as an employee (on an allowance) at her family’s cosmetics business from ages 13-25. Today on the EO Podcast, Toni discusses the challenges of working at her family’s shop as a teen and young adult but also how her experience there acted as a springboard to start NYX. Tune-in to learn how Toni handled the sale of her business after 15 years and what catalyzed her next business move. 

Time Stamped Show Notes:

• 00:19 – Habits that make Toni a successful entrepreneur

• 00:33 – Having a routine is very important, especially in the morning for health and body care

• 01:27 – The book “From Good to Great” by James Collins inspires her and transformed her life
• 01:40 – Core values for NYX and Perverse are honesty and sticking to what you promise
• 02:18 – When she was little she’d volunteer for everything and was very enthusiastic
• 02:46 – She grew up in South Korea in a rural area; she’s a country girl

• 03:30 – Her family moved to the U.S. in 1986 (7th grade)
• 03:50 – She’s happy that she grew up in nature
• 04:22 – She had to learn a new language and culture, she had to be creative and hypersensitive of her surroundings to understand what was going on

• 05:20 – This hypersensitivity has helped her in business; she can pinpoint situations quickly
• 06:03 – The “gut-feeling” comes from the ability to analyze body language, energy
• 06:58 – Her family owned a small business selling cosmetics and she’d always work there

• 07:30 – She’d go to school and work at the store with customers, merchandise, POP; she experienced business from the point-of-view of an employee
• 08:20 – She started looking into how things could be done more efficiently
• 08:38 – Her older sister did her own thing and her brother, being a boy, was exempt
• 09:00 – She didn’t like being at the store all the time, her mom was the scariest person at the time

• 09:23 – Her mother was very strict: she couldn’t chew gum or sit down in the store

• 10:00 – There were fun moments, too; cleaning up, inventory, and displays were fun to do

• 10:30 – She worked with the family business until she was 25 years old and she lived at her parent’s house with an allowance

• 11:00 – This was normal to her; it’s a cultural thing
• 11:23 – She told her mom that she wasn’t going to work at the store anymore and was going to get a job

• 11:42 – She decided to start her own business with a loan from her mother and started it at 26 years old

• 12:10 – She birthed the idea out of need; she didn’t have money to spend on high-end cosmetics when she worked at the family store
• 12:44 – Her friends would buy department store products and she would buy drugstore products; she was embarrassed
• 13:35 – She knew some of the ins-and-outs of business, suppliers, and how the industry worked; she knew that high-end products were expensive due to $ spent on marketing
• 13:55 – Instead of spending on marketing, she wanted to put the money back into the product and depend on consumer’s word-of-mouth marketing

• 14:20 – She started a one-woman cosmetic company: she delivered, packed, designed, created invoices/orders, in a 600 square foot showroom

• 14:50 – In the first year, she sold $2 million worth of wholesale cosmetic pencils, which is $4 million in retail and she packed and delivered each box
• 15:27 – Her mother was her first client and she got the rest of her clients through word of mouth; people had never seen something of such quality at that low of a price point
• 16:00 – She made “sleek” packaging inspired by higher-end brands
• 17:00 – In 1999, when there was still a chain in business (wholesalers to retailers), even retailers wanted the product, not just drugstores
• 17:50 – She did a lot of tradeshows; they were the way to get your product in front of customers/suppliers during that time

• 18:16 – How it has changed since then

• 18:25 – She gets nostalgic thinking of trade shows, especially the ASDAMD show that would showcase mom-and-pop shops
• 19:10 – 10-15 years ago, the show was packed and now it is much emptier

• 19:40 – You have to adapt to the changes in business

• 20:01 – As she launches her new business for sunglasses she knows there’s 90 million millennials that shop on their mobile
• 20:46 – 90% of traffic comes from the mobile and this is important for e-commerce and when considering website design
• 21:30 – Only 18-20%(not exact) of business is done through e-commerce, the rest is still through brick and mortar businesses; retail isn’t dead
• 22:35 – Those who can be like a chameleon and adapt to change succeed and those who don’t, don’t

• 22:45 – How did Toni adapt with NYX?

• 22:55 – Organic growth and marketing
• 23:10 – In 2008 NYX got its big break with the market crash: People weren’t shopping at expensive stores and were buying drugstore makeup instead
• 24:00 – Once her product was purchased, they liked the quality and would repurchase
• 24:15 – In 2008 social media hadn’t boomed yet, but YouTubers were doing tutorials and “hauls” with NYX products
• 24:58 – Some companies resisted this change, but NYX embraced it and sent products to YouTubers to use, review, and blog about
• 25:27 – The jumbo eye pencil in white got very popular because YouTubers were using it as an eye shadow base to keep eye shadow on; it was the #2 bestselling item

• 27:10 – Struggles in business

• 27:30 – Everything was a struggle but it was all good
• 27:40 – You get into business knowing that there will be struggle
• 27:50 – No matter the size of the company, the headaches exist

• 28:16 – Why Toni sold her business

• 28:24 – She thought she was ready to retire; she was married to the company and after 15 years she felt that she needed to part from it
• 29:10 – Selling the company came down to who was going to pay the most, and L’Oréal bought it at auction
• 29:30 – The whole process took one year

• 29:50 – Feelings of unpreparedness when selling

• 30:03 – She was totally ready to sell; she started phasing herself out with a new CEO, CFO, and product developer so she wouldn’t have any doubts that it would continue to run smoothly
• 31:28 –She was miserable for 3 months after the sale, because the company felt like her identity and worth
• 32:10 – She’d wake up and not know what to do

• 32:30 – To get out of the slump she overcommitted herself to charities, boards, committees, foundations, meetings, and her real estate and investment company portfolios

• 33:12 – It was very artificial; she was just trying to fill the time
• 33:32 – Her true calling is in producing products, so she started Perverse, a sunglasses company

• 34:16 – After she sold the company, she got her wire transfer, said goodbye, drove herself home, felt like a deflated balloon, and slept for 14 hours straight
• 36:00 – Now she feels proud and happy with the decision, the brand, and the company’s direction

• 36:50 – She knows the brand will be revered globally

• 37:00 – Advice for her 26 year old self: “Just chill”
• 37:23 – Advice for aspiring entrepreneurs: Focus only on the goal, everything else is noise

Key Points:

1. Start your day with a mind and body wellness routine so that you are ready for a successful and productive day.
2. Adapt to change and advancements within your market to avoid falling behind.
3. Focus only on your goal, everything else is noise.

Resources Mentioned:

• Entrepreneur's Organization – The EO Network
• “Good to Great” by James Collins
• NYX Cosmetics – Toni’s cosmetics company (sold)
• Perverse Sunglasses – Toni’s sunglasses company
• Visit www.Rubiks Cu.be, a new website dedicated to the puzzle cube. Try the online simulator, the solver, learn the easiest solution method and measure your solution times.

To listen to more EO Wonder episodes as well as our other podcasts, head to EOPodcasts.com

Carl Gould is a best-selling author, award-winning coach, and serial entrepreneur that has clients all over the world. Today, on the EO Wonder Podcast, Carl reveals how many female entrepreneurs hold themselves back in business, and how they can use their femininity to their advantage. Tune-in to learn his insights on business development, scaling, and systems, what he says “no” to, and the habits that keep him focused on his goals. Finally, discover how Carl has broken down the book creation process so that anyone can share their expertise with the world.

Time Stamped Show Notes:

• 00:25 – How to build a personal relationship with clients, be more persuasive, sell, and grow your business

• 00:48 – Female entrepreneurs can leverage this in a way men can’t; they are born networkers and multitaskers, and this gives them an advantage
• 01:15 – Women can interconnect “web-thinking” through blog and social media use and get to more places quicker than men in many cases

• 01:30 – Carl’s Entrepreneurial Journey

• 01:37 – Started when he was a teenager; he left college due to a leg injury and started his first business 6 months later
• 01:54 – He started a landscaping company which grew for about 5 years then he sold it; he then launched a construction company and sold it in 2004
• 02:15 – Today, he coaches, consults, and advises; in 1990 he went to a Tony Robbins event and fell in love with personal development and was coaching as a passion since then
• 02:35 – In 1996 he decided to coach professionally and set up his construction company to sell; in 2002 he launched the company that he has today
• 02:54 – His internal slogan is, “I get paid to play all around the world”; he has clients all over the world in over 35 countries and has a mentoring organization as well

• 03:30 – What is your preferred wiring? Visual, auditory, or kinesthetic? Carl is visual

• 04:00 – Visual people tend to be founders and first-generation owners of businesses; they see things better/different than they are, and their current reality as unacceptable

• 04:40 – Are entrepreneurs born or made?

• 04:50 – There is no correlation between personality and performance, anyone can do anything; entrepreneurs are born and everyone is born with entrepreneurial spirit
• 05:09 – Not everyone should be an entrepreneur; it is hard work and can wear you out if it isn’t for you and businesses fail early on if your heart and soul isn’t in it
• 05:40 – His businesses wore on him because they weren’t his passion
• 05:50 – Good entrepreneurs are made

• 06:12 – Tactics to help entrepreneurs – Taking us back to the Ice Age

• 06:24 – The most polarity between male and female and back then women governed; there was no war as women are more about life
• 07:20 – After the Ice Age hit, the one fastest genetic change that happened in humans (only 800 years) was women’s hair and eye color (blonde hair and blue eyes came into existence)
• 08:07 – This change was to make them stand out and win their mate
• 08:15 – The advent of farming came to be and women allowed men to govern (fence for animals and planting food)

• 08:36 –Business is the male form of war; if and when women are in charge, they govern differently

• 08:45 – Over the years business has become masculine endeavor: Find the problem/challenge, solve it, move on
• 08:58 – Women tend to struggle when they expand/talk about/share the problem and this creates a problem in business; male counterparts are so solution-driven that they perceive the focus on the problem as incompetence
• 09:45 – Women expand on the problem but don’t tap into their masculine energy to work on finding a solution, so it can stunt the growth of their business
• 10:10 – Male and female partners or female and female partners struggle with this and it can undermine the business

• 10:20 – The Solution: Take the powerful part of your femininity, the ability to separate from the ego, and make other people the star

• 10:35 – This is a way to build culture in a business; a woman can make the team the star in a way a male can’t and build up the team and culture
• 11:15 – Don’t overdo it as that can create drama and inflate the problem

• 11:42 – Any early-stage company is personality-driven and not always process-driven

• 12:30 – Early on you can wear all the hats in a business, but once you hit $5 Million, it is time to introduce that masculine energy
• 12:57 – This masculine energy comes in the form of systems controls, processes, and masculine people; you must become a process-driven company that compliments the personality-driven aspect

• 13:27 – You can’t scale talent or yourself, but you can scale processes and systems that allows others to flourish within it
• 13:45 – Build the systems that are reliable and consistent for your team so they can shine and advances your mission, vision, values, and purpose
• 14:08 – Reinventing the wheel is exhausting: People are in the most stress when they don’t know their next move

• 14:30 – The number of overwhelm is “4” and without systems it is easy to get overwhelmed
• 15:03 – Systems keep you out of overwhelm and allows the company to grow and expand its personality
• 15:38 – When nuts and bolts are out of the way, it keeps you available to think creatively

• 15:45 – Verne Harnish quote: “Routines will set you free”: Routines, rituals, and discipline are critical
• 15:57 – Someone once told Carl, “There’s never time to get it right, but there always seems to be time to do it over”

• 16:36 – He made a call and would look at the timer and find the calls were very short and it takes just as much time to get things right the first time

• 17:16 – He uses virtual assistants and contractors in his business, so the systems and processes have to be easily transferrable and clearly communicated

• 17:40 – He would write instructions but they wouldn’t translate for his VAs, he realized his explanations needed to be better
• 18:37 – Once they could easily communicate their systems, anyone could plug in and get the work done; this allows him to do other things as other parts of the company keep running

• 19:15 – Carl has never met a dumb person; everyone is smart but just needs to tap into their talent
• 20:08 – Everyone gets a company card for $500 and can use it if they need to without asking; this allows them to grow in their responsibility

• 20:45 – The more you can allow your line worker (the ones working directly with the customer) to satisfy the customer, the more your business can flourish
• 21:18 – You set the parameters and celebrate their success; this builds a standard, habits, and culture

• 21:51 – Carl’s routines and habits

• 22:00 – Weekly planning: In 1996 he wrote his life plan (50 years), every year he plans the next year, calendars main points, and plans life around that (weekly)
• 22:52 – He anticipates what’ll come up in the next week, speaks daily goals into a recorder, and he listens to it each morning while in the shower

• 23:29 – Carl’s goals: Life, bucket list, and the year’s mantra/theme (this year is the 6-pack, last year was badass)

• 23:47 – The 6-pack is 6 goals around finance, health, nutrition, relationship, business, career and each life category has a goal
• 24:10 – Spirituality, time management, and the varying kinds of relationships all have a place within the goal categories
• 24:58 – 6 financial goals: retirement goal, asset goal, passive income goal, earned income goal, ratio of speaking/coaching/consulting goal
• 25:18 – He writes and speaks his goals (5-10 minutes) and recites them back daily and does one bucket list item a year (this year is an African safari)
• 26:00 – He does visualization around lunchtime, listens to talk radio in the afternoon, and gages his productivity in the afternoon to map out the rest of his day

• 26:41 – He always thought of himself as a writer who spoke and always wanted to be a writer; he was published when he was 8 years old
• 27:37 – Speaking required more work and practice, but he enjoys doing it; he likes to generate original content from the unique way he views the world

• 28:20 – The personality of a business will mirror the personality of its owner, including the strengths and blind spots

• 28:30 – Overcoming blind spots: addressing the masculine and the feminine and finding remedies
• 29:14 – We are taught to ask the questions no one else is asking to get the answers that no one else is getting

• 30:00 – Up until 20-25 years old, you are rewarded for your solutions, but as you grow up you have to get more out of other people
• 30:30 – If you ask a question, someone has to come up with the answer; you can become a leader by becoming more fluent in your question-asking ability
• 31:00 – You can think bigger and enroll more people with bigger questions, and this is how you can scale

• 31:34 – The Blind Window: Open the window to go from the unknown to the known with the questions we ask

• 32:05 – The movie “Hidden Figures”: They asked a different question and got the answer they needed

• 32:40 – Entrepreneurs need coaches: he was coached and has coached entrepreneurs through big advancements in their businesses

• 33:17 – A coach that has lived it can ask you the right questions and act as a time machine to propel you forward
• 33:45 – A coach can see the glass that you can’t see and can coach you past it
• 34:08 – Studies show that coaching delivers at least an 8:1 ROI and helps you miss mistakes and slow-downs
• 35:05 – Stay on the right track and maintain momentum with a coach

• 35:21 – Why wouldn’t you have a coach?

• 35:30 – Tiger Woods example: His father passed away and was his mentor, for the past 9 years he hasn’t been able to find himself

• 36:26 – Frustrations when working with entrepreneurs

• 36:37 – Entrepreneurs are independent mavericks and want to fly solo, but then start to violate their own rules
• 37:28 – It is frustrating to watch entrepreneurs make the same mistakes over and over again because they’re breaking their own rules

• 38:45 – As humans we react quicker and more forcefully to remove pain from our life

• 39:00 – This is why hitting rock bottom is a catalyst for many; pain is a push to get you started, but you have to find what you love
• 39:21 – If you can find what propels you forward and put consequences in place if you get off that track, you can find a balance

• 39:48 – Accountability partners or accountability plans (scheduling a party when you are supposed to be finished remodeling a room)

• 40:28 – Social media or apps can be used to hold you accountable
• 41:08 – Having accountability keeps us focused and helps us say “no” enough

• 41:46 – What Carl says “no” to:

• 42:04 – All animal products, he tried to go gluten-free, he drinks maybe 12 drinks a year
• 43:09 – When he went vegan he discovered the importance of his health
• 43:24 – He says “no” to complacency in business

• 43:30 – What Carl says “yes” to

• 43:35 – He and his team know that you can and do anything you want as long as you meet your promise to your clients and coworkers
• 43:45 – He says “no to keeping anyone around that can’t maintain the standard so the community he created welcomes feedback and positivity
• 44:20 – Values are: “Positive Vibe” and “All Inputs to the Result” and his team is very aligned with their core values

• 45:10 – His book “Biz Dev Done Right” is a #1 Best Seller, was co-written with Caryn Kopp the “chief door opener” and Carl is the “chief discovery officer”

• 45:30 – Caryn has a consulting company where she opens doors to help companies get key meetings
• 45:47 – Clients come to them as a team for a drive in biz dev and revenue
• 46:00 – Book demystifies sales production process and management; how to set goals, put process and metrics in place, demand excellence, map everything out, and manage it over time in an easy, fun, and tangible way

• 46:51 – The process of writing a book

• 47:20 – Hearing vs. speaking words offers a very different experience
• 47:40 – Carl has written various books before “Biz Dev Done Right”
• 47:52 – He uses a process that helps entrepreneurs create their keynote speaking business, back-end consulting business, book, and speaking all at the same time
• 48:08 – First step is to create a 12-slide power point presentation (most books have 12 chapters) and each slide has 3-5 points that you want to make, with 3 bullets below that
• 48:48 – Carl will schedule 12 2-hour conference calls with you and interview you on all points, at the end you’ll have 24 hours of interview recordings
• 49:07 – A transcriber transcribes it, a ghostwriter forms it into a book, and the transcription can become a coaching program

• 50:04 – They have published 17 authors, and it costs $10,000 for the whole project

• 50:20 – A recent work they are proud of is called “The Hot Tub Manifesto,” and is about how to create your business around your life
• 50:40 – They helped create some of the content and intellectual property in the books “The Hot Tub Manifesto” and “Polar Bears and Penguins” and have had 14 authors contribute to “Personal Discovery” and “Business Discovery” book projects
• 51:00 – He wrote “The Anatomy of a Comeback” with Chuck Getchell and “Fix it in 5” with Carl Gibbons
• 51:20 – They can help you generate top content and get it out there in 3-6 months; they bring a completed project to the publisher
• 53:00 – Carl’s team knows the questions to ask to make you sound like an author

• 53:35 – Carl’s favorite quote: “Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone.”

• 54:10 – Carl feels it is his duty to play big so that others can, too

Key Points:

1. Build the systems that are reliable and consistent for your team so they can shine and advances your company’s mission, vision, values, and purpose.
2. You can get more done through others, but you must know how to ask the right questions.
3. A coach can help act as a time machine: They’ll propel your business forward past roadblocks and mistakes that might otherwise hinder your growth.

Resources Mentioned:

• Entrepreneur's Organization – The EO Network
• “Biz Dev Done Right” – Book by Carl Gould and Caryn Kopp
• Carlgould.com – Carl’s Website

The easiest Rubik's Cube solution is available here in many languages. Learn it in an hour to impress your friends.

 

To listen to more EO Wonder episodes as well as our other podcasts, head to EOPodcasts.com

Carine Schneider, founder of WFF Connect, is proud to be one of the “Most Influential Women in Silicon Valley,” and dubbed one of the “17 Women to Watch in 2017” by Brown Brothers Harriman. Today on the EO Wonder Podcast, Carine discusses challenges that female entrepreneurs face and her mission to change the way our culture sees women in the workplace. Tune-in to learn how Carine is revolutionizing the entrepreneur-investor connection for women, and listen as she reveals what she’s learned in business, what investors are really looking for, and how to be there when capital appears.

Time Stamped Show Notes:

• 00:13 – Carine has a mission-driven company called WFF Connect and was previously working for the NASDAQ private market

• 00:24 – She worked with entrepreneurs and was an entrepreneur herself, working for non-profit and for-profit companies, and saw the challenges women faced
• 00:35 – Women struggled to run companies, raise money, find clients/partners; she wanted to focus on the fundraising part of the company, so that’s what she did

• 00:51 – As they developed their tools, investors said they were interested in investing in women-run companies but found that their companies weren’t “investor-ready”

• 01:04 – They added an educational component to help women prepare themselves so that they can raise capital

• 01:15 – Carine’s early entrepreneurial ventures

• 01:22 – Her first major venture was starting NASPP (National Association of Stock Plan Professionals): An organization for everyone who worked in the stock plan world in the U.S.
• 01:40 – She started it with a partner, and there are now about 8,000 members
• 02:00 – She had so much fun with the freedom, creativity, and daily variance of entrepreneurship
• 02:20 – She was young and had no kids; she had always seen her father in a company’s leadership role, and now she was the one making the decisions

• 02:45 – After she started NASPP she went back to Morgan Stanley, and she ended up being a partner at PWC, which was 93,000 people at the time

• 03:03 – She’s always felt the tug between entrepreneurship and working for a large, established company

• 03:24 – After a number of critical years with PWC she started her first company; at that time she felt ready, even though she had a family, was the main breadwinner, and knew the risk

• 03:58 – Her son encouraged her to go for it; her family is her biggest support

• 04:18 – WFF Connect is a company but also does something good, she’s not just peddling a product
• 04:37 – The founder of Gymboree, Joan Barnes, was on their advisory board and a big supporter; Carine loves and can relate to parts of her story in her book “Play it Forward”
• 05:33 – Gymboree was not started as a business; it started as a way for moms and kids to connect; Joan considers herself an “accidental entrepreneur”
• 06:20 – What tips would Carine give to women entrepreneurs?

• 06:55 – Get very comfortable with your numbers, not just your product or solution: Become a businessperson
• 07:42 – Get good advice; you need a good lawyer, you need to protect your idea, company, ownership stake, and accounting
• 08:20 – Network: 3-6 months of full-time work is needed to successfully fundraise, be prepared to do those things or working with an investor may not be for you

• 08:58 – Traits of women entrepreneurs that investors like

• 09:20 – Women are tenacious, have a humble quality, and work hard to make sure the company is taken care of
• 09:39 – Men make sure the office looks nice, whereas a woman will work from her bedroom to not spend money on an office or good address
• 09:55 – Women tend to be diligent and protect the capital they raise, and they make unemotional decisions about things
• 10:20 – Women entrepreneurs say things like “I can’t afford to fail” whereas men say “If this doesn’t work out, I’ve got 100 other ideas

• 10:48 – Women tend to not dream big enough

• 11:03 – Men are more confident in how big their idea can get, women give conservative estimates; Harvard has done research on this difference, and generally the audience picks the male
• 11:58 – Carine’s company is trying to change that unconscious bias

• 12:15 – Confidence is a big part of the issue

• 12:35 – When she ran a tech company, she’d present in front of the board and they’d rather she “make it up, and disappoint them later” than be upfront with the numbers
• 12:49 – People want to dream, and women tend to be practical and brutally honest

• 13:10 – Expectations of women: A man in a meeting said he doesn’t hire women because they have to be home at 5pm to care for kids and family (in San Francisco in 2017!)

• 13:36 – Women in the room were upset, speaker asked him if he had ever asked a woman to stay past 5pm, he said no and she told him he was the problem

• 13:58 – Women are expected to have more obligations at home, so they aren’t even asked

• 14:25 – This expectation is so engrained in our culture but needs to be let go

• 14:50 – How Carine does it with her family: She has a great husband and had a great nanny, she is now an empty-nester so has the time and energy

• 15:12 – Her kids saw all her failure and success and she hopes it has inspired them

• 15:35 – She was awarded one of the “Most Influential Women in Silicon Valley,” and Brown Brothers Harriman said she was one of the “17 Women to Watch in 2017”
• 16:02 – Her successes include her great family, kids doing well, being a partner at PWC, GEO, a global equity non-profit organization that she started and is now stepping down from
• 17:14 – Challenges and failures

• 17:32 – She’s learned to be more careful about picking partners, board, and advisors, it’s like a marriage: She still feels naïve at times about the intentions of others and has learned the hard way
• 18:25 – For WFF Connect she didn’t take on any investors; she didn’t want a board
• 18:45 – Be careful not to hire people too fast; be sure you are ready to take someone on financially and that you can make payroll
• 19:26 – Meet everyone

• 19:44 – How can we distinguish between the good and bad people in business?

• 19:45 – Ask the investor to talk to 1-2 CEO’s of companies they’ve invested in and do your research; if they say no, something is wrong

• 20:58 – Things that happen behind the scenes

• 20:10 – Some chairmen don’t allow women in the boardroom because they have to change their behavior
• 21:22 – Term that sheets look good at first and actually aren’t; term sheets are complicated so always have an expert look at it
• 22:30 – Use lawyers and accountants to understand all documents fully, especially overseas
• 23:04 – If you sign something, it can be used against you later

• 23:50 – One lawyer does not fit all; use the correct lawyer that is experienced in your specific need

• 24:38 – Law firms are putting together packages for entrepreneurs, look for those; you can find good people at your needed price

• 25:39 – Some of their sponsors have packages that do their books; look to outsource the things you aren’t good at
• 26:16 – Know how to cut up the pie with people you are bringing on; work with firms like Advanced HR that can help you come up with a plan that makes sense, check out wffconnect.com for resources
• 27:00 – Get a male and female mentor; they’ll give you advice and support in different ways
• 27:45 – Women Entrepreneur’s Hall of Fame will be launched in February to recognize and honor women who “did it”
• 28:15 – Joan would say “it wasn’t that hard,” while other women have a bunch of startups and can’t seem to get it financially; WFF Connect community is focused on capital and fundraising specifically

• 28:40 – Other organizations focus on other things

• 28:56 – Her event in LA is February 12-14 is called “Crossroads” and is held at the Marina del Rey Ritz-Carlton

• 29:14 – Secretary of State Madeline Albright has been confirmed
• 29:25 – Practical financial advice for women starting or growing their company
• 29:35 – Investors, peers, and potential partners will be there; a vendor hall of firms and services will also be available

• 31:10 – She supports women entrepreneurs globally; A service they offer to their members called “Connections” links investors with women-owned businesses so they can watch your business and possibly invest
• 32:35 –Carine has this mission because she’s lucky, she can, and feels she has experience to pass along; a network isn’t enough, it has to be bigger than just a single connection
• 33:55 – She want to see women be successful and invest in other women; with more women investors, more women would be invested in and we’d see an economy change
• 34:12 – Women own the majority of wealth as of last year, but aren’t investing, why?

• 34:25 – Women approach things differently: Portfolia is a different type of investment platform, Plum Alley is an investment membership, Golden Seeds are angels, 10 royal princesses are finding a way to invest in women-run businesses, too
• 35:22 – Women investors want to get into it and learn; women VCs are starting to organize themselves

• 36:11 – Become a member and support the organization so it can support you. Get on Connections (contact Carine through the website for a discount code)
• 37:05 – The capital is there; if you look and are ready, you’ll find it

3 Key Points:

1. Recognize and appreciate your support system that encourages you to fulfill your entrepreneurial dreams.
2. Know who you’re working with (advisors/employees/investors) and outsource to the appropriate people.
3. Become a businessperson; know your numbers and get comfortable with all aspects of your business and you’ll find the capital you need.

Resources Mentioned:

• Entrepreneur's Organization – The EO Network
• “Play it Forward” by Joan Barnes
• WFF Connect – website 

To listen to more EO Wonder episodes as well as our other podcasts, head to EOPodcasts.com

Lisa Sugar started Popsugar as hobby that was driven by her interest in pop culture. She transformed it, along with her husband, to this expansive media empire hailed as the #1 independent media company for women. On this episode of EO Wonder, Lisa shares her journey from being an employee to an entrepreneur, and how to manage a growing family and a growing company at the same time.

Time Stamped Show Notes:

• 00:14 – Lisa’s background
• 00:42 – Lisa shares the beginning of her career and her journey in finding the career she truly wanted
• 01:42 – While juggling a full-time job in an advertising company, she started her own business
• 01:54 – What started as a part-time writing job became the foundation of Popsugar, a blog that featured content on the latest trends and entertainment news, and eventually she quit her full-time job to focus on growing the site
• 02:53 – As the site started to get a bigger audience, Lisa discusses about getting funded
• 03:14 – Lisa on finding her voice, staying authentic, and making readers feel that Popsugar content is just like talking to a friend
• 04:04 – She talks about how Popsugar is catering from the beginners to the experts on almost any particular subject
• 05:12 – Lisa on her biggest challenges – finding their audience from different places led to restructuring almost every year to accommodate the new demands
• 05:50 – The shift to reading on mobile phones was an unprecedented challenge for Lisa and her company.
• 07:15 – Having a 500-employee global company comes with its own day-to-day pressures
• 08:02 – Keeping and finding great talent; while making it profitable at the same time
• 08:20 – Lisa recalls giving birth to her eldest child while in the process of hiring another writer whom she met a day before she gave birth
• 09:24 – Popsugar was just also in its early stages when she also started having her own family
• 09:44 – Lisa’s husband had always been her key support and saw Popsugar’s potential
• 10:49 – To keep up with the trends, Lisa thinks working with brands directly, making use of their own technology, and following interesting people on social media are good strategies
• 11:57 – Currently, she is getting a lot of inspiration from her eldest daughter and learning from the fresh graduates and interns
• 12:29 – Lisa believes on finding the time to do the things you want to improve on and setting small goals
• 13:17 – She shares that moving from a writer role to a management role was quite hard for her as writing meant so much to her, but there is a greater need for her to take charge
• 14:02 – In 2005, writing in the site was the way to break the news before magazines published them
• 15:05 – She recalls how to find breaking news and establishing working relationships with photo agencies
• 15:40 – Lisa envisions Popsugar as a legitimate news source
• 16:22 – What’s next for Lisa?
• 17:35 – The future of Popsugar is to bring it outside of the internet

Key Point/s:

1. Inspiration can be found anywhere, you just need to always keep an open mind
2. It is important to find time for the people that need you, like your family, as life has its ways to keep you busy and overlook relationships

Resources Mentioned:

• Popsugar – Lisa’s Company
• Power Your Happy – Lisa’s new book

Welcome to the EO Wonder podcast, where each fortnight we bring you news, interviews and much much more about women entrepreneurs shaping the future. We delve into topics that discuss the future of women entrepreneurs, the highs and the lows of running a business and also the interesting things happening within EO!