Soulful MBA Podcast
278 episodes - English - Latest episode: almost 2 years ago - ★★★★★ - 42 ratingsOur binge-worthy podcast is a sanctuary for those curious about what it's really like to build a company from scratch, work remotely with your best friend, and consciously engage with other humans on the Internet.
Our mission is to help other ambitious women build and grow businesses online.
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Episodes
100 Reflections On Podcasting
September 30, 2018 20:09 - 29 minutes - 27.3 MBThis podcast has become a diary of our business, our friendship, and a place to explore our evolving ideas about entrepreneurship. As we hit the 100th episode mark, listen in to learn about why we love recording this show, our plans for the podcast moving forward, and what we are working to improve upon. Joy: Sunrise Rock Everything OilHustle: How to Book and Prep Podcast Guests / Power Your Podcast with Storytelling
99 Money, Motherhood, and Madness
September 24, 2018 16:39 - 29 minutes - 27.4 MB“American women are liberated, but they’re not empowered.” - Tara Sophia Mohr This episode features a raw conversation about our roles as mothers and feminists, our differing responsibilities, and the complex relationship we each have with financial security. Whenever we travel for our businesses, we encounter the double standards that have come to define our lives as modern women and mothers. It’s the truth. The truth is messy. Joy: Malibu Beach House Airbnb / diane krön choco...
98 Yoga Behind Bars Goes Online: A Conversation with Jess Frank
September 19, 2018 12:15 - 47 minutes - 65.4 MBToday’s episode features an interview with Jess Frank, who serves as the Program Director for Yoga Behind Bars (or YBB for short). YBB is a Washington State-based nonprofit that has been sharing trauma-informed yoga and meditation with thousands of incarcerated youth and adults since 2008. Starting this month, September 2018, the organization’s comprehensive trauma-informed training will be available online for the very first time. (Full Disclosure: YBB is working with us via Namast...
97 Jenny Girl Friday: Why Every Business Needs a Sidekick
September 17, 2018 15:16 - 49 minutes - 68.3 MBEvery new business needs a sidekick–someone who understands how to set up shop, maneuver taxes and licensing issues, and build out some basic spreadsheets. In this episode we interview Jenny MacLeod (aka “Jenny Girl Friday”), who has been working one-on-one with self-employed women for over five years. She’s on a new mission to make those necessary business chores easier and even fun…for every single self-employed woman in Seattle. As a small business owner herself, Jenny offers S...
96 Fall Business Retreat
September 12, 2018 16:10 - 38 minutes - 53.2 MBWe’re giving you an insider peek into our biannual business planning process. Our second 2018 business retreat is happening next week in a Malibu beach house (we can’t wait). In this episode, we walk you though our metrics analysis and tracking process, how we set and evaluate goals, how we choose the next features for our software, and why we incorporate trend forecasting into our retreats. We also reveal some updates related to our our Soulful MBA course + community! Joy: Stat...
95 Guys, Language Matters
September 06, 2018 18:24 - 20 minutes - 28.1 MBThis episode touches on our use of the word “guys” (and why it is so problematic). Usage of this term has seen a massive rise since the advent of the Internet, but it creates a subtle, yet troubling speech pattern for the plight of women. There is no gender-neutral, plural pronoun in the English language (unlike Spanish or German or a host of other languages), but choosing to default to an informal masculine plural pronoun is not the answer. The language that we choose to use each...
94 Quitting Social Media
August 28, 2018 04:17 - 40 minutes - 55.9 MBA cognition crisis is not defined by a lack of information, knowledge or skills. We have done a fine job in accumulating those and passing them along across millennia. Rather, this a crisis at the core of what makes us human: the dynamic interplay between our brain and our environment — the ever-present cycle between how we perceive our surroundings, integrate this information, and act upon it. - Adam Gazzaley We were profoundly rocked this summer by Jaron Lanier’s new book: Ten A...
93 Currently: August 2018
August 21, 2018 02:34 - 29 minutes - 41 MBThis episode explores some recent news stories that have caught our attention, including articles that explore topics like facial recognition software, gender imbalance in journalism, and the ubiquity of product-placement ads in mainstream publications geared toward women. It’s all a bit heavy, isn’t it? Joy: make something by hand Hustle: NPR’s sexist blunder is proof that women’s work isn’t just overlooked—it’s erased / Women’s Media Is a Scam / How Facial Recognition Could...
92 Building a Personal Brand
August 14, 2018 17:54 - 27 minutes - 37.3 MBWe’ve been thinking a lot lately about the value of building a personal brand, even though this is a concept that makes the two of us a bit uncomfortable. We’ve both been known to “hide” behind our corporate brand because we’re part of a larger team, but are we doing this at the expense of our future success? There’s a feeling that many women share, that we need to have a doctorate (or more!) in a subject in order to speak publicly about it. But the truth we're realizing is, tha...
91 Trends in Online Business
August 06, 2018 19:04 - 30 minutes - 27.7 MBChange is the only constant in life (and business). Here are a handful of interesting trends/shifts that we’ve been noticing over the past few months: Email Marketing: The traditional advice in the online business space has been to grow your list and email your subscribers A LOT. The new trend we’re noticing? Email only when you have something of value to share. As the Internet has become more noisy, we need to be mindful about adding to the cacophony… Live Video: Part of sho...
Office Hours: Online Coaching (Part 2)
July 31, 2018 01:19 - 11 minutes - 10.8 MBAs a follow-up to Part 1 of our Online Coaching conversation, this episode reveals some specific tips for how to determine pricing for your live-streamed coaching sessions. Let’s start with a huge and incredibly important DON’T: Never sell your services by the hour (or even by the session). Going this route means giving your clients total control of your process and an escape hatch if the work gets too tough. (Of course, you’d never want to trick your clients into purchasing more ...
Office Hours: Online Coaching (Part 1)
July 27, 2018 19:09 - 13 minutes - 12.5 MBWe’re bringing back Office Hours this week to discuss the practical tactics of how to take your in-person coaching practice online. It’s a little known fact that online one-on-one coaching sessions are often more reliable money-makers than courses or memberships! Far too many entrepreneurs dive into launching an online course before they’re truly ready. And courses may seem like “passive” revenue streams, but they actually require some serious prep work and behind-the-scenes manag...
90 Favorite Things
July 24, 2018 02:12 - 27 minutes - 25.5 MBWe’ve been collecting some of our favorite resources to share with you this summer, including our newest Instagram favorites, some powerful, yet simple, tech tools to try out, our favorite new podcasts, and some bonus online shops that we recommend you check out. Favorite Instagram Accounts Sandy: @helloplantlady / @knitatude / @thehellyeslifeJeni: @accidentallywesanderson / @riseandwander / @ritual_botanicaBusiness + Tech Resources Sandy: CutStory for Instagram StoriesJeni: ...
89 Brooke
July 19, 2018 05:04 - 38 minutes - 53.5 MB“The fitness industry needs this invitation towards embodiment.” - Brooke Tyler In this episode of the podcast, we interview powerhouse Namastream client Brooke Tyler about her experience growing her Asheville, NC-based acupuncture and pilates studio online. After growing her local studio and clinical business to a 4,000+ ft location with twelve employees, you’ll learn why Brooke chose to pursue the online growth path (rather than opening up an additional studio location). Bro...
88 Nikki Estrada: A Veteran Yoga Teacher Goes Online
July 16, 2018 22:44 - 41 minutes - 57.6 MBIn this episode, we interview beloved Namastream client, Nikiki Estrada, about her transition to online business. Nikki, who lives in Northern California with her husband and two daughters, has more than 20 years of teaching experience and has been leading 200- and 300-hour teaching trainings for more than a dozen years. She is YA500hr E-RYT and was Director of Trainer Development for YogaWorks for more than 7 years, where she supported and mentored teacher trainers. She leads int...
87 Summer Reading List
July 12, 2018 01:49 - 22 minutes - 31.2 MBIn this episode, we dive into our “must read” books for the summer. Here they are, in no particular order… Sandy: Witch: Unleashed. Untamed. Unapologetic. / Warlight: A novel / Walden / The Josephine B Trilogy / The Female Persuasion: A Novel Jeni: Tell the Machine Goodnight: A Novel / The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They Communicate―Discoveries from a Secret World / Make Trouble: Standing Up, Speaking Out, and Finding the Courage to Lead / Dear Madam President: An...
86 Amy
July 09, 2018 21:21 - 1 hour - 82.5 MBAt some point in our mainstream culture, brand authenticity started to equate to the physical reality of the space where we are completing our work—but that’s often the least interesting part of what we do. More interesting questions: What is your work making possible? How is it impacting our culture? Our guest today, Amy Walsh, reveals that deep expertise in Photoshop and an eye for a pretty flat lay is not a requirement for producing interesting and important imagery for your br...
85 Holidays
July 04, 2018 16:32 - 31 minutes - 44 MBWith summer upon us, we dive into the concept of vacation in this episode (and the cultural and legal differences between the United States and Canada). With Sandy about to take an extended trip to Europe, we discuss the importance of time off and reflect on some of our favorite trips. Joy: Daily HarvestHustle: Logitech Slim Folio
84 Kate
July 03, 2018 00:31 - 47 minutes - 65.5 MB“Every now and then go away, have a little relaxation, for when you come back to your work your judgment will be surer. Go some distance away because then the work appears smaller and more of it can be taken in at a glance and a lack of harmony and proportion is more readily seen.” - Leonardo da Vinci In this episode, we interview Namastream client, Kate Case. At the intersection of Eastern wisdom and Western science, Kate's body of work combines twenty years of experience as a pr...
83 Wolfpack
June 27, 2018 21:32 - 35 minutes - 32.9 MBInspired by a recent graduation speech by Abby Wambach and the classic book by Clarissa Pinkola Estés, Women Who Run with the Wolves, this podcast episode dives into the importance of women supporting one another in business and life. In her 2018 commencement address to Barnard College, Abby Wambach delivers four pieces of advice to women embarking on their careers out of college. This is amazing advice for young women, but we believe that these themes are universal: Make failure...
82 Mae
June 25, 2018 21:39 - 44 minutes - 60.8 MBThis episode features an interview Mae Karwowski, the founder of Obviously—a tech startup that matches brands with social media influencers. After working in social media management after of college, Mae had a hunch that influencer marketing was coming and had an idea to build a different kind of business—pairing an agency with a tech platform. Mae has gathered a team of experts to help her turn her vision into a reality, and in the process, she’s built a client roster of some of ...
81 Alchemy
June 21, 2018 20:41 - 30 minutes - 42.1 MBIn this episode, we dive into Jeni’s new side hustle, Woodland Alchemy. Listen in to learn about why she created a new business this year with her young daughter and how she fits it in while running our software company and co-hosting this podcast. Other Mentions: Stop Stealing Dreams: What is School For? Joy: Woodland AlchemyHustle: OnlineLabels.com
80 Michelle
June 18, 2018 20:29 - 34 minutes - 46.9 MBIn this episode, we chat with Seattle-based communications expert Dr. Michelle Mazur. Michelle’s motto is “Incite Action Always” and she’s known as the Communication Rebel. Michelle has a PhD in Communication and was a university professor prior to starting her own online business. We chat with Michelle about her own entrepreneurial journey and then dive into her process for helping brands to craft their unique three-word “rebellion” (and why it matters to do so). Other Mention...
79 Wellness
June 14, 2018 19:57 - 29 minutes - 40.9 MB“Like workout culture, wellness is a form of conspicuous consumption. It is only the wealthy who have the resources to maintain the illusion of an integral and bounded self, capable of responsible self-care and thus worthy of social status. The same logic says that those who smoke (read: poor), or don’t eat right (poor again), or don’t exercise enough (also poor) have personally failed and somehow deserve their health problems and low life expectancy.” - Gabriel Winant We explore ...
78 Dana
June 12, 2018 00:06 - 39 minutes - 54.7 MBIn this episode, we interview video marketing expert Dana Goldstein. Dana’s company, ChicFlicks, is Calgary’s leader in video production for small to medium sized businesses. She specializes in helping women business owners effectively share their stories with authenticity. In this interview, we dive into Dana’s entrepreneurial journey from journalist to mom to entrepreneur and author. She shares advice on how to best integrate live video into your social media presence and how to...
Dropping In: The Mend Podcast
June 07, 2018 19:28 - 31 minutes - 42.7 MBWe were recently guests on the Mend podcast with Anne Fricke and Amy Day, and we’d like to share an excerpt of the conversation here with you. We discussed the relationship between women, technology, and power, the restrictions we put on our children with respect to screen time, and our perspectives on charging what you’re worth. You can listen to the full episode here. Thank you, Anne and Amy for inviting us onto your show! p.s. This podcast is sponsored by Audible. Head over...
77 Autumn
June 05, 2018 05:57 - 34 minutes - 47.1 MBJoining us on the podcast is the legal powerhouse, Autumn Witt Boyd. Autumn is a lawyer who specializes in helping entrepreneurs protect their intellectual property. She provides legal guidance with copyright and trademark protection, contract negotiation, and problem solving. Along with her team at The Law Office of Autumn Witt Boyd PLLC, she loves helping entrepreneurs grow their dream business through smart collaborations and deals. Autumn is the mother of three small children,...
Office Hours: Before You Film Checklist
June 02, 2018 02:48 - 10 minutes - 14.6 MBIn this episode, we walk your through our “Before You Film Checklist,” which serves as a cheat sheet of sorts for new online teachers. Make sure you never film another video with your mic off or your iPhone oriented the wrong way! You can download a copy of the checklist here (scroll to the bottom of the post). p.s. This podcast is sponsored by Audible. Head over to audibletrial.com/soulfulmba to get a free audiobook and a 30-day free trial!
76 Leah
May 29, 2018 02:44 - 34 minutes - 48.1 MBWe’re joined in this episode by Leah Neaderthal, a serial entrepreneur who specializes in teaching other women how to become comfortable (and successful) with sales. Leah teaches her clients how to think of selling in these terms: Build the house. Furnish it. Move in. THEN, invite people over… How is the your sales process organized? Do you have a sales pipeline? According to Leah, the health of your pipeline is a good indicator of the health of your business. Leah didn’t lear...
Office Hours: Epic Blog Posts
May 25, 2018 18:48 - 12 minutes - 17.8 MBWe’re becoming big fans of producing fewer, but more thorough, blog posts and we think that you should consider this strategy too. Here are the reasons we’re in favor of more comprehensive content: The majority of blog posts are short (under 500 words), so you will stand out by producing longer content. You can establish yourself as an authority and expert by writing high-quality, comprehensive posts (3,000 words or more). Search engines (like Google) reward long-form content. ...
75 Sustainability
May 21, 2018 19:38 - 33 minutes - 46.6 MB“We want you to be in this for the long haul, but you can’t do that if you’re working yourself to death… Your business is only as healthy as you are.” Startup culture is defined by quick growth and fast exits, but we believe that true accomplishment and innovation results from longer-term thinking. Starting a business is really not that different than starting a garden. You plant the seeds, water them, show up day after day—trusting that you’ll eventually see the garden bloom. S...
Office Hours: Autofocus
May 17, 2018 02:18 - 12 minutes - 17.7 MBVideography is kind of our jam and we get asked about this autofocus issue all the time. If you’re struggling to get yourself into focus while filming your online classes or having trouble staying in focus for the duration of your session, you’ll want to listen to this episode. When should you use autofocus and when should you disable the feature in favor of manual settings? If you’re filming in low light, filming around a bunch of reflective surfaces, or filming a fast moving obj...
74 Laura
May 15, 2018 06:03 - 38 minutes - 52.6 MB“Women often speak about their ambition in terms of altruism. This isn’t the full story.” - Laura Close This episode features a candid conversation with Laura Close. Laura is a Seattle-based executive leadership coach and career consultant who leads a select portfolio of clients through the transformative work of leadership development, helping them reach their next level of career and business achievement. In this episode, Laura explains why it’s problematic for women to lead w...
74 Laura
May 15, 2018 06:00“Women often speak about their ambition in terms of altruism. This isn’t the full story.” - Laura Close This episode features a candid conversation with Laura Close. Laura is a Seattle-based executive leadership coach and career consultant who leads a select portfolio of clients through the transformative work of leadership development, helping them reach their next level of career and business achievement. In this episode, Laura explains why it’s problematic for women to lead with soft ...
Office Hours: Walkie Talkie
May 10, 2018 16:04 - 12 minutes - 17.1 MBWe’re sharing our favorite new-to-us technology on this week’s Office Hours episode — Voxer. It’s super efficient (and addictive) to communicate via walkie talkie and it’s now a core part of our team’s communication strategy. Listen in to learn why we love this technology, why we think it beats texting, and why we think you should consider incorporating it into your own business. p.s. This podcast is sponsored by Audible. Head over to audibletrial.com/soulfulmba to get a free audi...
73 Day Job
May 07, 2018 18:44 - 31 minutes - 43.2 MBOne of our favorite benefits of entrepreneurship is the flexibility we have in our days and weeks. In this episode, we share about the specific ways we’ve built our business around our lives. The standard 40-hour work week was a product of the late 19th century and early 20th century labor movement, and while it did its job to protect factory workers who were—quite literally—being worked to death, it’s quickly becoming obsolete. In our era, most professionals work far more than ...
Office Hours: Inbox
May 03, 2018 02:10 - 11 minutes - 15.8 MBThis quick episode shares our five rules for sending cold emails. By following these simple guidelines, you’re much more likely to receive a positive response (or any response at all). Introduce yourself. Dropping a note to a new person? Want to pitch yourself for a podcast guest spot or a guest blog post? Please share a bit about yourself and include a link for how to learn more about you. Be authentic. Personalize with context or, even better, a compliment. Don’t blast people a...
Office Hours: Microphones
April 26, 2018 04:07 - 12 minutes - 17 MBGood sound quality is EVERYTHING when you’re running an online business. In this quick episode, we share our top recommendations for high-quality microphones: Sandy’s Mic: Shure SM7B Vocal Dynamic Microphone Jeni’s Mic: Electro Voice RE-20 Cardioid Microphone Our favorite Wireless Option: Rode RodeLink FM Wireless Filmmaker System Inexpensive Webcam with Mic Option: Logitech HD Pro Webcam C920
71 Expertise
April 23, 2018 17:58 - 23 minutes - 32.2 MBIn this episode, we explore the topic of expertise. Our new tagline, “leverage your expertise into a profitable online business,” has become a bit controversial in our community and we want to offer some thoughts as to why “expertise” might be a troublesome concept for some of you. Perhaps you identify with Sandy, who is fine with someone else calling her an expert, but not ok with calling herself an expert? Or maybe you’re generally uncomfortable with the word and don’t know why?...
Office Hours: Pre-selling (Part 2)
April 19, 2018 15:26 - 14 minutes - 20 MBIn a follow-up to last week’s Office Hours episode, we now dive into some specific pre-selling strategies, including how to offer a beta group and why we recommend using webinars to pre-sell your offering. A few general guidelines: Don’t promise specific results: Never pre-sell by guaranteeing measurable results. This is especially important if your offering is more informative than tactical. Don’t plow ahead if feedback is negative: If you go the Beta group route and the revi...
70 KayLee
April 17, 2018 02:29 - 32 minutes - 44.2 MB“You have to hire for the talent and then train for the skillset.” - KayLee Hansen This episode features an interview with KayLee Hansen. We met KayLee through a mutual friend and quickly hired her to carry out a personality assessment test on the two of us, known as the Lumina Spark Portrait. KayLee is a certified Lumina practitioner, a facilitator, and a training and development coach for executive teams and individuals. She’s spent 13 years working in the luxury hospitality i...
Office Hours: Pre-selling (Part 1)
April 12, 2018 00:03 - 12 minutes - 17.8 MBPre-selling is the practice of creating a private launch before your product is completely built and perfected. Why do this? Because it validates your concept and means you get paid for conducting market research. Because it allows you to sell your pilot products instead of offering them for free. Because it WORKS. If you sink time, energy, and money into an endeavor, you want to be sure it will pay off. Unfortunately, simply asking your followers if they’d shell out for a program...
69 Cathryn
April 09, 2018 23:24 - 32 minutes - 44.9 MBIn this episode, we talk with Cathryn Lavery. Cathryn is a serial entrepreneur and designer. As co-founder and CEO of BestSelf Co., she took the company from zero to 8-figures in less than two years. After launching the Self Journal on Kickstarter, she went on to win Shopify’s Build a Business Competition in 2016 and the Build a BIGGER Business competition in 2017 – making BestSelf Co. the only company to win both awards consecutively. Originally from Belfast, Ireland, Cathryn mov...
Office Hours: Productivity Tools
April 05, 2018 00:00 - 15 minutes - 22 MBIn this quick episode, we share some productivity and lifestyle tools that we each use to make our lives easier and have more time and mental space to grow our businesses. Head on over to the show notes to download the full list (including links) of the resources mentioned in this episode.
68 Sally
April 02, 2018 16:13 - 43 minutes - 60.4 MBIn this episode, we chat with Minneapolis-based writer, Sally McGraw. Sally is a freelance writer, ghostwriter, editor, and copywriter with more than 15 years of professional experience. She specializes in ghostwriting non-fiction books and book proposals, but has written everything from artist statements to self-help books for her clients. In the interview, Sally gives us some insight into her writing process and shares her inspiring journey from employee to fashion blogger to fr...
Office Hours: Instagram Micro-blogging (Part 2)
March 29, 2018 03:45 - 12 minutes - 17.2 MBIn Part 2 of our Instagram micro-blogging episode, we dive into several additional strategies you can implement to ensure your Instagram posts perform well: Use location tags: Whenever you can (and feel comfortable doing so) forego mentioning location in your caption and simply use Instagram’s geotagging feature instead. Users love to know both what they’re seeing, and where it is in the world. Plus, location tagging increases engagement by 79%. Lean on “link in bio”: Although I...
67 Pivot
March 26, 2018 21:04 - 26 minutes - 36.4 MBIn this episode, we discuss a major pivot that we’re currently experiencing in our software business. We’re branching out beyond the yoga and wellness industry, which runs counter to everything we were taught about niching down into a very specific market. Learn why we’ve decided to make this risky decision, what we’re doing to smooth out the transition, and what advice we have for you if you’re considering a major pivot in your own life or business.Other Mentions: Lightroom and P...
Office Hours: Instagram Micro-blogging (Part 1)
March 22, 2018 03:08 - 8 minutes - 11.3 MBInstagram can a fantastic platform for connecting authentically with your audience. Although it seems natural to focus primarily on the images you’re posting, we want to encourage you to focus just as much on your captions. Micro-blogging is the practice of creating information-packed, short-form blog posts that accompany social media images. Doing this allows you to convey important news, helpful tips, and other rich content quickly and effectively, without having to write and pr...
66 Luck
March 19, 2018 14:16 - 26 minutes - 36.3 MB“I am not lucky. You know what I am? I am smart, I am talented, I take advantage of the opportunities that come my way and I work really, really hard. Don’t call me lucky. Call me a badass.” - Shonda Rhimes This episode explores the juxtaposition between luck and hustle. Ultimately, we believe that luck, flow, determination, and hustle all come into play in the ability we have to achieve our goals. Perhaps it’s a divine responsibility to go after your dreams when you’re born int...
65 Ikigai
March 12, 2018 17:53 - 25 minutes - 35.3 MBToday’s episode dives into the Japanese concept of ikigai, which roughly translates to “a reason to live” or “a reason to get out of bed in the morning.” To find your own ikigai, experts recommend that you answer the following four questions: What do you love? What are you good at? What does the world need from you? What can you get paid for? In an ideal situation, you are able to build a career and a life around your answers to these questions. We discovered the concept o...