The Self-Employed Life

Today we’re going to travel along on the journey of an uncommon entrepreneur. Our guest has gone from having a "real job," to becoming a yarn maker, to helping thousands of others build successful businesses as creative makers. An exciting, inspiring story laced with lots of practical advice. Tara Swiger is the author of Market Yourself, a system for creating a marketing plan for your craft business. She began her entrepreneurial journey as a yarn-maker and quit her day job in 2009 to be a full-time maker. She has been writing and teaching about handmade business for over five years, via (free) weekly lessons and in-person and on-line courses. Her superpower is translating complex business principles into the language of artists and makers and turning theory into doable Action Plans.

We have a guest as close to Santa Claus himself as we can ever get. Year after year his creations inspire all the wonder, the joy, the childlike spirit, that is this time of year. It was a privilege and honor to get a glimpse into the creative process and passionate inner workings of Paul Busse is the award-winning creative genius of Applied Imagination. Paul and his creative team are behind one of New York City's top 5 holiday attractions: the Holiday Train Show at The NY Botanical Garden. As well as numerous landscape model train exhibits across the United States. Once you've seen a masterpiece by Applied Imagination, combining model trains meandering through landscaped forests and cityscapes, crossing bridges towering overhead, passing by replicas of famous landmark buildings created with all natural materials, this botanical architecture is something you will never forget. Paul is retired, but remains creatively involved, and the driving force of Applied Imagination lives on through it’s enthusiastic, artistic crew.

In this season of giving and receiving, we are fortunate to have the co-authors of the book The Go-Giver to help us get to the heart of what it means to give and receive. The value of understanding how to give and also receive is one of the many gifts we can unpack from this episode. Like a coin, you can not have one without the other. Think about that. Bob Burg and John David Mann are the co-authors of the Go-Giver and how to be leaders of the Go-Giver culture. The Go-Giver, has sold more than a half-million copies, has been translated into 21 languages. John has been writing about business, leadership, and the laws of success for more than 30 years. As a high school student, he led a group of friends in successfully creating their own high school. After establishing himself as a concert cellist and prize-winning composer, he built a multimillion-dollar sales organization of more than a hundred thousand people before turning to writing and publishing. Bob is a sought-after speaker that shares the platform with everyone from business leaders, broadcast personalities, and even a former US President. His books are currently in over a million readers hands and counting. Bob is an advocate, supporter, and defender of the Free Enterprise system, believing that the amount of money one makes is directly proportional to how many people they serve. Be a Go-Giver I double dare you!

Do you think of yourself as a writer? In today's online world, we're all writers. Between emails, social media posts, marketing materials, and content creation we are all writing more than ever before. Learning how to be an effective writer is key. We're joined today by one of the world's leading marketing experts who wants to shed light on writing and the future of marketing. Ann Handley is a Wall Street Journal best-selling author, keynote speaker, and the world’s first Chief Content Officer. She speaks and writes about how you can rethink the way your business markets. Cited in Forbes as the most influential woman in Social Media and recognized by ForbesWoman as one of the top 20 women bloggers, Ann is the Chief Content Officer of MarketingProfs, a training and education company with the largest community of marketers in its category. She is a monthly columnist for Entrepreneur magazine, a member of the LinkedIn Influencer program, and the co-author of the best-selling book Content Rules: How to Create Killer Blogs, Podcasts, Videos, Ebooks, Webinars (and More) That Engage Customers and Ignite Your Business. Her most recent book, Everybody Writes: Your Go-To Guide to Creating Ridiculously Good Content is a super useful read!

When was the last time you heard a creative person say "I don't have a career I have a business? Well, buckle up because we've invited the Warrior of No Fear to join us for a passionate conversation about being a successful artist and business owner. All Creative Warriors want to be seen and heard for their work. The ultimate acknowledgement for your work IS a sustainable business. Ann Rea is on a mission to stamp out the "Starving Artist" slur and to help artists secure their creative freedom through business savvy. Her artistic talent is commended by Wayne Thiebaud, an American art icon, and she has been featured on Creative Live, HGTV, ABC, and The Good Life Project, in Fortune and The Wine Enthusiast magazines, and in the book Career Renegade. Ann teaches The MAKING Art Making MONEY Semester. An interactive, eight-part, foundational, business semester specifically for artists. Ann is always ready to get down to business whether she's holding a brush, teaching or speaking.

Let's face it. It's hard to make changes in our lives. We've all heard really good information about creating change. But what you're going to hear today, may be the best we've come across. It's a clear, systematic, effective way to make a Smart Changes. This episode is for anyone who has struggled to make a sustainable change. Art Markman is the Professor of Psychology and Marketing at the University of Texas at Austin. He is also the Founding Director of the Program in the Human Dimensions of Organizations. Art's research explores thinking. He has studied the way people form and use analogies, the mechanisms of decision making, the modes that allow people to form categories, and the influences of motivation on reasoning. Art is the author of 3 books- Smart Thinking, Habits of Leadership and Smart Change. Art is also on the scientific advisory boards for the Dr. Phil Show and the Dr. Oz Show. This conversation was so incredibly inspiring; it's a game-changing episode.

A Creative Warrior wants to be at their best. Maximizing personal energy so we can put our best work out in the world. For many of us this is a key motivation. Today we are digging into where we get our energy from, what sustains it and how to best manage both positive and negative energy sources. Dr. Bob assist leaders in discovering their potential and how to maximize their energy. He is a Certified Executive Coach, Registered Corporate Coach, and Senior Consultant with Birkman International and a Founding Partner with the John Maxwell Coaching, Training, and Speaker Program. Dr. Bob has authored four books and numerous articles on leadership. He is the founder and president of Energy Driven Leader Inc. and combines his Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology with 30 years of experience working with Corporate Executives and Entrepreneurs. Most importantly, this work is clearly Dr. Bob's calling, and I'm thrilled to bring his insights to our community!

We don't often think about our online marketing, social media or website as being peaceful. Our guest today has a way of making the complex-simple, the noisy-quiet and marketing a bit more zen-like. Known as the “Zen Master of Marketing” by Entrepreneur Magazine and the “Millennial Master of the Universe” by Fast Company, Shama Hyder is a visionary strategist for the digital age. She is the bestselling author of the Zen of Social Media Marketing and international keynote speaker who’s shared the stage with the world’s top leaders, including President Obama and the Dalai Lama. As the CEO of the award-winning Marketing Zen Group, Shama was named as one of the “Top 30 Under 30” Entrepreneurs in America by Inc Magazine in 2013 and was honored at the White House as one of the top 100 U.S. companies to be run by a young entrepreneur by Empact100. A trusted media expert, Shama has frequently appeared on Fox Business, CBS, CW33 and Fox News and has been featured in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Entrepreneur, Inc Magazine and Forbes. She was recently named to the Forbes 30 Under 30 list of movers and shakers for 2015.

I'm looking forward to an awesome conversation today! That is what's considered a power lead. Leading with a powerful and optimistic statement that hopefully made you feel optimistic too. In this episode, you're going to hear about power leads and many other techniques so that you can live with a positive attitude, influence others and learn to broadcast happiness. Michelle Gielan, national CBS News anchor, turned positive psychology researcher, is the bestselling author of Broadcasting Happiness. Michelle is also the Founder of the Institute for Applied Positive Research and is partnered with Arianna Huffington to study how transformative stories fuel success. She is an Executive Producer of “The Happiness Advantage” Special on PBS and a featured professor in Oprah’s Happiness course. Michelle holds a Master of Applied Positive Psychology from the University of Pennsylvania, and her research and advice have received attention from The New York Times, Washington Post, FORBES, CNN, FOX, and Harvard Business Review.

Welcome to our special Thanksgiving episode! When you think about it, Thanksgiving is a savory holiday. The stuffing, the turkey, the delicious pies. All savory. But these are also the moments that can so easily slip by in all the busyness and be forgotten. Today we're going to talk about being present so you can get the most out of your holiday while savoring the moment. Achim Nowak and his work have been featured on 60 Minutes, Fox News, NPR, in The New York Times and The Miami Herald. His weekly Energy Boost message champions an energized life delivered to his devoted global following. Achim is an author, speaker, C-Suite coach, and international authority on personal presence. His new book The Moment: A Practical Guide to Creating a Mindful Life in a Distracted World which follows his previous books, Infectious and Power Speaking, both have become prized resources for executives around the world.