Jenny Blake
363: 🌈 Taking a Quiet Sabbatical and ...

As I round the corner into this ninth year of podcasting, after over 700 episodes today, I’m announcing a pause for both shows.

Listen in to hear what factors helped me reach this decision across time, money, energy, depressing industry articles, the pace of both shows’ growth, and mix of additional business factors that make this an important moment to pause and regroup. You might also appreciate the even deeper dive with my longtime friend (and first coach) Adrian Klaphaak in Pivot episode 360: 📦 Unpacking a Big Business Decision and Dissolving Related Doubts.

Jenny Blake
362: Setting Creative Intentions Instead of ...

“Expectations are the enemy to the creative process. Sometimes you have to let go of the known to see the unknown.”

Today I’m speaking with James McCrae, an author, poet, and meme artist based in Austin, Texas. He is the founder of 🌻 Sunflower Club, a global school and community dedicated to conscious creativity.

Jenny Blake
361: On Decision Engineering and Evaluating ...

Good decision-making is not about omniscience or clairvoyance—it's more about resilience, according to today’s guest, decision engineer Michelle Florendo. “Decision-making is harder than ever before, and it's not your fault,” Michelle says. “People feel like they ‘should just know’ how to decide.”

Today we’re talking about a framework more helpful than pro-con lists, tuning into your head, heart and gut; why the quality of your decision is not equal to the outcome—did good or bad things happen; keeping a decision journal to evaluate the quality of your decisions regardless of the outcome; and how to drop the guilt of “bad” past outcomes.

Jenny Blake
360: 📦 Unpacking a Big Business Decision ...

What happens when you make a big decision but still have lingering doubt, fear, and even despair? How do you know when a “download” from the universe is worth following, and what does test-driving a decision look like? What happens on the other side or when a pivot is taking far longer than planned?

We’re unpacking all these topics in today’s twelfth and final (for now) conversation for the Pivot x Career Pathfinder series with Adrian Klaphaak.

Jenny Blake
359: “You can’t give what you don’t have” — ...

“You can’t give what you don’t have.” That’s just one of the powerful lessons that Nataly Kogan learned the hard way seven years ago, after suffering a debilitating phase of burnout. As a former refugee from the former Soviet Union, she began her American journey in the projects and on welfare, then going on to build an impressive career as a finance and tech executive and serial entrepreneur over the next 25 years. Until she crashed at thirty-eight years old and needed to find a new way of moving forward.

As part of her healing process, Nataly began to paint when she was 40 by signing up for a painting retreat in Tuscony (that turned out to be for semi-professional watercolorists), and now her paintings are on the cover of her books—front and center as part of her bold self-expression.

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84: Former CIA Agent Michele Assad Returns: On Transforming Insecurities Into Intuition and Faith

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84: Former CIA Agent Michele Assad Returns: On Transforming Insecurities Into Intuition and Faith

"Though trepidation has haunted me every step of this journey, I have a trusted force that I cannot see." —Michele Rigby Assad, Breaking Cover: My secret life in the CIA and what it taught me about what's worth fighting for

When faced with life-or-death situations on a daily basis, Michele Rigby Assad knew she had to turn to something greater than herself for support. Drawn toward international affairs as a child obsessed with reading National Geographic, she later spent 10 years working undercover in the CIA, interrogating terrorists while stationed in the most dangerous war zones across the Middle East.

Michele's journey is a fascinating one, and I loved our first conversation so much (listen here) that I asked her back for round two to celebrate her book, Breaking Cover, launching this week!! After a seven year journey with this project, we talk about finding courage in unexpected places, trusting that puzzle pieces are falling into place even when she felt stuck or blocked, and how allowing herself to "be shaped" has provided far greater blessings and guidance than she could have ever imagined.  

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83: Pivot From Working in the Morgue to the Ministry with Former Forensic Pathologist Dr. Thomas Andrew

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83: Pivot From Working in the Morgue to the Ministry with Former Forensic Pathologist Dr. Thomas Andrew

As soon as I saw this New York Times feature story, As Overdose Deaths Pile Up, a Medical Examiner Quits the Morgue, I knew I had to have Dr. Thomas Andrew on the show.

A shift from our typical author guest, Dr. Andrew is working on an incredible career pivot-in-progress. Upset by how many opioid deaths he observed after 20 years as a forensic pathologist who performed over 5,800 autopsies in the morgue, he recently retired and is heading to divinity school so that he can counsel people in his community while they’re still alive. I’m fascinated by his story, and I know you’ll love this conversation too about his views on life, death, learning, faith, resiliency, empathy, and next moves.

An excerpt from the NYT article: 

"After laboring here as the chief forensic pathologist for two decades, exploring the mysteries of the dead, he retired in September to explore the mysteries of the soul. In a sharp career turn, he is entering a seminary program to pursue a divinity degree, and ultimately plans to minister to young people to stay away from drugs.

With 64,000 overdose deaths last year nationwide — a staggering 22 percent jump over the previous year — it is little wonder that overdoses, the leading cause of death among Americans under 50, are reducing life expectancy. They are also straining the staffs and resources of morgues, and causing major backlogs.

“After seeing thousands of sudden, unexpected or violent deaths,” Dr. Andrew said, “I have found it impossible not to ponder the spiritual dimension of these events for both the deceased and especially those left behind.”

View full show notes at PivotMethod.com/podcast/ministry. Support the show and become a founding member of the Pivot Podcast community on Patreon by donating $1 a show at Patreon.com/pivot.

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82: Hunch: How to Translate Intuition into Business Ideas with Bernadette Jiwa

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82: Hunch: How to Translate Intuition into Business Ideas with Bernadette Jiwa

"Anxiety over being more innovative leads entrepreneurs to create solutions instead of problems. But what if you could use your intuition to identify an existing problem that’s begging for a solution?”

—Bernadette Jiwa, Hunch: Turn Your Everyday Insights Into The Next Big Thing

When Bernadette Jiwa’s little book that packs a big punch, Hunch, arrived in the mail, I immediately thought, “I wish I wrote that book!” But I’m thrilled that she did, because Bernadette’s beautiful heart shines through every page as she describes tools and stories to help you transform everyday insights into big ideas that make an impact.

In this episode you’ll learn how to tap into your innate curiosity to uncover better business ideas, why distraction and external inputs are the enemies of insight, and a deeper look at the formula for uncovering your best hunches: a combination of insight (patterns and practices) and foresight (potential and predictions). 

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81: Create, Serve, Receive, Be Prosperous: Soulful Business with Jeffrey Shaw

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81: Create, Serve, Receive, Be Prosperous: Soulful Business with Jeffrey Shaw

I had such a blast talking with Jeffrey Shaw for this week’s episode. He has been running his own photography and coaching business for over 33 years, including a podcast called Creative Warriors to help heart-centered entrepreneurs create, serve and be prosperous. We talk about how Jeffrey went from overlooked to overbooked, how to find, connect and speak to your ideal customers, and the energetics of business—how to tune-in to your intuition to guide strategy and next steps. 

In Jeffrey’s own words, we are entering “The new renaissance—a time when artists, coaches, designers, authors, speakers and other purpose-driven entrepreneurs will run profitable businesses, be highly respected for their talents and free to express their work across a variety of mediums.” I hope you enjoy this episode as much as I did :) 

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80: What Happens After You Pivot? (New Paperback Afterword)

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80: What Happens After You Pivot? (New Paperback Afterword)

What happens after you pivot? In today’s episode I’m sharing the afterword I wrote for the paperback edition of Pivot, that I recently recorded for the audiobook version. That’s right, Pivot is on Audible, read by yours truly in case you want me to read to you as you cook, commute, clean, etc! 

In this short audiobook snippet episode, I share a little bit about the audiobook recording process, then dive in to two post-pivot stages that you might have missed if you read (or listened) to the first edition of the book: the pilot derby and surfing the void. I also share an approach that helps me better navigate both: Don’t-Know Mind, from the Korean Zen tradition. 

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79: Set Your 2018 Pivot Strategy with Jenny Blake

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79: Set Your 2018 Pivot Strategy with Jenny Blake

To help you kick-off the new year in style and soul-aligned next steps, I’m back with my annual Set Your Pivot Strategy episode—new and improved with the best resources and reflection questions I’ve got. 

I encourage you to get out a pen and paper for this one—yes, analog-style—and pause frequently to journal for as long as you’d like on each prompt. Go big! Go for quantity, not quality, and don’t censor yourself or worry yet about whether or not what you’re envisioning is possible—the time for that will come later. 

When you think you’re done writing, keep going! That just means you’ve gotten your most obvious ideas down. Pushing through the pauses is where you create breakthroughs, and every time you sit with a question you’ve never heard before, you are creating new neural pathways in the brain. 

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78: How to Stop Feeling Like Sh*t — With Andrea Owen

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78: How to Stop Feeling Like Sh*t — With Andrea Owen

"I stopped following, bypassing my inner critic, knowing full well the future of my total physical and mental health was not dependent on Ms. Bendy Six Pack Von Instagram."

—Andrea Owen, How to Stop Feeling Like Sh*t

Although it seems like the holidays should be nothing but rosy and bright, filled with gratitude and good cheer, sometimes being back in our home of origin (with family, longtime friends, and/or in-laws) can send us into a personal growth regression machine. In past years I’ve caught myself reverting to my worst habits—whether it’s using the tone of voice of a high-schooler, layering on guilt for not being my best self, or not taking care of myself in the ways I know that i need in order to recharge and stay sane amidst the extraversion and people-immersion this time of year. 

So I purposefully scheduled this awesome episode with my good friend Andrea Owen for this exact week. A time when, despite your best intentions, you might find yourself falling into the familiar traps of perfectionism, people-pleasing, controlling, and about 10+ others that get in our way and make us feel like sh*t. I hope you enjoy this conversation and find as much relief in it as I did! 

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77: 21+ Travel Tips, Tools and Apps — with Jenny Blake

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77: 21+ Travel Tips, Tools and Apps — with Jenny Blake

As you board planes, trains and automobiles to head home (or adventuring) over the holidays, I'm sharing 21+ of my best travel tips, apps and tools—everything from preparing to booking to packing, to travel day and routines on the road. 

Keynote speaking is one of my favorite ways to earn a living, and this year I took about 30 trips, or one every other week. In today’s episode I share the strategies, routines, apps, and products that keep me relatively healthy, happy and sane while traveling, and that help me recharge when my batteries are running low but I’m away from home.

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76: On Plan Z, Creative Finish Lines and the Graceful No—with Alexandra Franzen

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76: On Plan Z, Creative Finish Lines and the Graceful No—with Alexandra Franzen

"Please remember that every person you love and admire—every author, every artist, every business owner, every luminary who seems to 'have it all together'—just remember that their story is filled with hundreds of awkward firsts, too."
—Alexandra Franzen

It was love at first read when I encountered Alexandra Franzen online, and it has been ever since. She's a delightful, talented, prolific writer and thinker who seems to always write just what I need to hear. I love how Alex has pivoted her business over the years, and she's someone I love looking toward for inspiration and insight.

In this episode we talk about opening a brunch restaurant with her boyfriend, why she finds it helpful to dive into details on her Plan Z, how she makes time for art (so she doesn't feel "squished and sad"), her best tips for getting clients over their creative finish lines, why she quit twitter, how she says a graceful no, and so much more. I hope you enjoy this conversation as much as I did! 

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75: Become a Trend Curator + Non-Obvious Trends for 2018 with Rohit Bhargava

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75: Become a Trend Curator + Non-Obvious Trends for 2018 with Rohit Bhargava

"The secret to predicting the future is to get better at understanding the present."
—Rohit Bhargava, Non-Obvious 2018 Edition: How to Predict Trends and Win the Future

I've always been fascinated by futurists and trend spotters (turns out the latter is a myth). How do they see trends coming before the rest of us? What are they doing to sift through the noise to extrapolate a clear signal of where things are heading? Turns out, true to the Pivot Method, that the key to predicting the future lies right under our feet: we just need to get better at understanding how to spot ideas, capture them effectively, and sift through them.

Enter this week's guest, trend curator (What's that, you ask? You'll find out!) Rohit Bhargava. I'm super excited to help us all get a jump on the new year with a conversation about how we can all become better trend curators and apply Rohit's Haystack Method: gather idea hay first, then sit down to find the needles or key themes. We also had fun diving into 7 of his 15 trends for 2018 more closely; our combined list includes: lightspeed learning, approachable luxury, human mode, touchworthy, truthing, enlightened consumption, and manufactured outrage.

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74: Soul Groups: Transparency in Relationships with Penney Peirce

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74: Soul Groups: Transparency in Relationships with Penney Peirce

“See yourself from the soul's point of view: flaws are just temporary mistakes of perception."
—Penney Peirce, Transparency

We're back at it, folks! There was so much juicy material from Penney Peirce's new book, Transparency: Seeing Through to Our Expanded Human Capacity, that we decided to dive in even deeper in a follow-up episode of the Pivot Podcast (if you haven't already, check out first part, Transparency Part 1: What does your soul know?

In this conversation, we talk about transparency as it relates to relationships: how does it help us connect with soul groups and soul mates? What happens when we're trying too hard or putting on a show just to gain approval? Why, if we're all part of a collective soul group, does it seem like there's so much chaos and violence in the world? What's it like to connect with a business or book community from a transparent/soul perspective rather than marketing shoulds? I absolutely loved hearing Penney's insights on all of the above, and I know you will too :) 

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73: What's more important to you than perfection? With Jenny Blake

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73: What's more important to you than perfection? With Jenny Blake

What is more important to you than perfection? This episode is coming to you unpolished and unedited . . . to prove a point to myself and my inner perfectionist.

I realized it had been a while since I did a solo show (one where there’s no guest), just me riffing on a topic that’s on my mind. And why not? Because my perfectionism monster started running the show! I worried that if conditions weren’t perfect, if I didn’t have my fancy mic while on the road for speaking gigs, or a perfect content outline, that I’d be better off not doing one. Pfft! So for this 30-minute show I just awkwardly shared from the heart ways I push past perfection when it starts blocking my life and creative work. 

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72: BREATHE. From Burned-Out Bodybuilder to Yin Strength Trainer with Anders Varner

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72: BREATHE. From Burned-Out Bodybuilder to Yin Strength Trainer with Anders Varner

"I was broken. Everything hurt. How could I know so much but constantly be in pain? I could go fast with the best, but I was a complete amateur at going slow."
—Anders Varner, founder of The Lower Back Fix

When Anders Varner reached out to me to share his story, I only got halfway through his about page when I knew it was an immediate YES! for a podcast conversation. Many of you know that one of my passions is exploring the intersection of mind, body and business—particularly how we make time to rest, recharge, and take care of ourselves during intense career-building times so that we don't burn out, and can instead build sustainable careers (and bodies) we love.

I had a blast jammin' with Anders about his journey from ego-centric bodybuilder and Crossfit gym owner (where he also got connected to become John Cena's training partner) to an aha moment about slowing down, learning to breathe, and shifting inward. The result is Anders' new focus on yin strength training—that's right, incorporating mindfulness even while muscle-building. I loved this conversation and I know you will too! 

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71: Finding Faith, Courage and Confidence as a Secret Agent—Michele Rigby Assad's Pivot from CIA to Author

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71: Finding Faith, Courage and Confidence as a Secret Agent—Michele Rigby Assad's Pivot from CIA to Author

"Was it hard to be a CIA officer with all of the challenges and change that entailed? Yes. Scary? Of course. But if I was going to fulfill my life mission, I had to conquer my instinctual tendency to freeze in place. Fear would get me nowhere. Faith, however, would take me to places I could never have imagined."

—Michele Rigby Assad, Breaking Cover: My secret life in the CIA and what it taught me about what's worth fighting for

Grab a cup of coffee or tea and settle in, because this weeks guest is a fascinating one, a one-of-a-kind woman I'm lucky to call a friend. Michele Assad was a self-described "sweet, faith-based southern girl" in high school, the last you'd expect to become an international undercover agent for the CIA, interrogating terrorists while stationed at war zones across the Middle East. But that's exactly what she did for ten years with her husband in a real-life Mr. and Mrs. Smith situation.

In this conversation we dive into what it was like to work as a woman in interrogation rooms even when everyone told her she'd only succeed behind the scenes doing paperwork; the role of faith in Michele's career, how she honed her skills around intuition and reading body language, and what it's like for her to "come out" and try to build a public-facing platform after so many years of being required to keep her entire life secret. 

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70: Build a Referral Engine with John Jantsch

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70: Build a Referral Engine with John Jantsch

"It's not enough to have a good solution. Buzzed-about businesses have a good solution draped in a total experience that excites, delights and surprises the customer." —John Jantsch

There a few classic books—and business concepts—that I declare must-reads for every solopreneur and side-hustler I work with, and The Referral Engine is one of them. Especially if you're someone who bristles at so much of the online marketing tactics out there like I do, referrals are one of the best ways to get new clients. There is already a foundation of trust established with the incoming client, and it means that you exceeded expectations enough for the referring client to authentically spread the word about your services. In this week's show, business master-thinker John Jantsch and I dive into exactly how to create delightful experiences and systems that will make referrals a key part of your business, not just a happy accident.  

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69: Worrier's Guide to the End of the World with Torre DeRoche

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69: Worrier's Guide to the End of the World with Torre DeRoche

Contrary to what she'd probably tell you herself, Torre DeRoche is one of the bravest people I know. When we first encountered each other online, she had just finished sailing the world for two years with her boyfriend at the time. Just the two of them . . . on the open seas . . . despite her deathly fear of sharks. I've been captivated by her story and her writing, under the moniker Fearful Adventurer, ever since, and I had the pleasure of meeting her in person for a meal in Chiang Mai when we crossed paths there in 2013. 

Fast forward a few years after that, and Torre found herself in a deep state of grief and loss. Her dad was dying of cancer, and her relationship of ten years was dissolving because of it. Her new book is the story of finding her way back to life — and this time without the worry that had plagued her since she was a child.

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68: On the self-help taboo of staying inside your comfort zone—when and how to reach with Andy Molinsky

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As Andy Molinksy writes in Reach, chances are if you've ever been interested in the topic of personal growth as it relates to risk, you've heard tropes like "life begins at the end of your comfort zone" and have encountered this meme-of-all-memes: 

comfort-zone-magic-happens.jpg

He says, "And then of course, there are the stories—successful and confident people who had the courage to go for it, and are now spokespeople for Comfort Zone, Inc., imploring us to do the same: Take the leap! Go for it! The only thing to fear is fear itself!" 

But what if, as someone asked me recently at the end of one of my keynotes, you're actually (gasp!) happy in your comfort zone? Do you always have to reach? I'm excited to unpack this question in this week's episode—Andy and I talk about when to reach outside of your comfort zone, how to build a risk portfolio, and common pitfalls that get in the way such as fear of what others will think, insecurities about our own competence, and resentment, or "Why do I have to do this in the first place?"

More About Andy Molinsky

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Andy Molinsky is a Professor at Brandeis University’s International Business School. Andy helps people develop the insights and courage necessary to act outside their personal and cultural comfort zones when doing important, but challenging, tasks in work and life. His work has been featured in HBR, the Financial Times, the Boston Globe, NPR and Voice of America. Andy is the author of Reach: A New Strategy to Help You Step Outside Your Comfort Zone, Rise to the Challenge, and Build Confidence and Global Dexterity: How to Adapt Your Behavior Across Cultures and Not Lose Yourself in the Process
 

Topics We Cover

  • When is it okay to stay inside your comfort zone?

  • Managing your comfort vs. risk portfolio: when to reach and when to adjust so you don't enter your panic zone

  • Authenticity and remaining joyful in stepping outside our comfort zone

  • The vicious cycle of avoidance

  • The three C's to successful reaches: conviction, customization, and clarity

  • We tend to catastrophize stepping outside our comfort zone. Clarity helps ground our perspective

  • No matter the reach or their outcome, it is all a learning experience

  • Our reaches are also the ways we support people

Resources Mentioned

Check out other episodes of the Pivot Podcast here. Be sure to subscribe wherever you listen, and if you enjoy the show I would be very grateful for a rating and/or review! Sign-up for my weekly(ish) #PivotList newsletter to receive curated round-ups of what I’m reading, watching, listening to, and new tools I’m geeking out on.

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67: What Does Your Soul Know? Flow and Transparency with Penney Peirce

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67: What Does Your Soul Know? Flow and Transparency with Penney Peirce

“To know yourself as a soul . . . you must dissolve everything in the way. The clutter composed of fear, fixed beliefs, and unconsciously ingrained habits."

—Penney Peirce, Transparency: Seeing Through to Our Expanded Human Capacity

What does it mean to make enlightenment normal? How do you remove the filters that dim your soul's wisdom? How can you feel into what wants to happen and find greater flow in life and work? What does it mean to be so authentic and transparent that we live as truth with nothing to hide? Penney and I dive into these questions and many more on this week's show as we discuss her new book, Transparency: Seeing Through to Our Expanded Human Capacity, which I was incredibly honored to write the foreword for. 

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66: Create Multiple Streams of Income with Dorie Clark

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66: Create Multiple Streams of Income with Dorie Clark

Self-employed for eleven years, Dorie interviewed over 50 entrepreneurs, several who earn multiple six figures each month, to understand what specific tactics it takes to sustain a successful business. In her new book and on this episode, Dorie shares this gold mine of sage advice with us. We talk about how to build the courage and savvy to monetize your expertise and create multiple streams of income so that no matter what happens—the market shifts or you lose your biggest client—you can and will bounce back, and create your ideal lifestyle business in the process.