One person business. Two-person business. Small team. Big team. Contractors. Payroll.

It's your choice. Period.

But so many people forget that when they begin comparing themselves to others, feeling like they have to scale, or boast of having a seven-figure business. 

There are as many possibilities in business as there are business owners. There is no good reason for you to get caught up trying to emulate someone you don't even really want to be. 

I have created an interview series titled:

Solo Biz Success Stories

because I want you to surround yourself with possibility. 

And our first guest is Jaimie VanSickle, a dear friend I have known and worked with for more than ten years.

She is usually behind the curtain, managing the business operations while her clients shine in the spotlight.

Jaimie has worked with brands such as:

• Michael Port's Book Yourself Solid® 
• Author David Siteman Garland
• Shawn Dill's Black Diamond Club 
• Dr. Kellyann Petrucci's Bone Broth Diet

She manages business launches, product launches, best-selling book launches, start-up businesses, membership-based businesses, and large live events. 

Jaimie started as a Virtual Assistant doing freelance work in a small apartment in Seattle that she shared with her husband and two small children. From there, she built a profitable and adaptable business.

This allowed her to move back home to Michigan, rent an office space, lead a local team with a payroll, adapt, and thrive even with COVID19 by strategically downsizing her business and finding her sweet spot (for the moment).

We will be speaking about her journey, her personal development, and the advice she has for you to streamline your business.

You can listen to our conversation by clicking the video below:

Join the conversation at Solo Biz Community. If you're not a member of this free Facebook group, please request to join, and you will be welcomed into this community asap.

When I was preparing to interview Jordan Harbinger, host of The Art of Charm podcast, I planned to focus this episode on overcoming blindspots.

In fact, I begin by telling the story about my big blindspot in relation to the Top 50 iTunes podcast The Art of Charm that has more than 1.5 million downloads per month.

Yet, the conversation with Jordan was so rich that I decided to rename the podcast.

I changed it from “Overcoming Blindspots”, to “Blindspots, First Impressions and People Skills.”

It’s about learning the art of charm with – the social dynamics expert and entrepreneur – Jordan Harbinger.

We spoke about:

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I recorded this MINDSET ZONE episode, on the Fourth of July, Independence Day, in the US.

We commemorate the adoption of the Declaration of Independence on July 4th, 1776. This was when the American colonies declared themselves as a new nation, the United States of America, no longer part of the British Empire.

Independence can be seen as self-government, self-determination, self-sufficiency, autonomy, and freedom.

These are certainly inspiring values to live for.

For my father, who passed away 6 years ago, independence was one of his core values. He raised me and always reminded me about the value of being independent.

I’m grateful for this. Without doubt, being independent has been one guidepost I hold dear.

Yet, I have to admit that when I hold this value above everything else, I limit my possibilities.

Why?

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In this episode, I had the pleasure to interview Monique Y. Wells. Monique is a productivity expert, and loves to coach women entrepreneurs who want their businesses to support their ideal lifestyles.

Monique writes regularly for the Huffington Post. There she published recently a three-article series where she interviewed several entrepreneurs in the “expert arena” – coaches, consultants, authors, speakers, online marketers – about their experiences of six or seven figure business growth.

This interview focused on mindset shifts around productivity, balance and entrepreneurship (namely what usually happen for the solo-preneurs to be able to survive the start-up phase, and grow their business to the six or seven figure mark.)

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In episode 26 of the MINDSET ZONE podcast where the topic was “Do People Really Change?”, I spoke about a Greek philosopher called Heraclitus who said:

“No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it's not the same river and he's not the same man.”

Heraclitus believed everything is in constant flow, everything always changes.

I thought about this when I watched a short video from Martha Beck, a popular life coach and author. She shared her strategy to deal with major life transitions. Martha begins with the perspective that “all life is transitory” and if we accept that, we can better deal with unexpected changes.

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To conclude my series of podcast episodes about the importance of “Focusing”, I was honored to interview Greg McKeown, author of the New York Times Best Seller Book – Essentialism: the Disciplined Pursuit of Less.

Greg has taught at companies that include Apple, Google, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Salesforce, and Pixar.

He is also an amazing keynote speaker that I had the opportunity to meet at the ICON15– The InfusionSoft Annual Conference held in Phoenix, Arizona.

Here are some of the topics we spoke about:

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I can’t stop focusing on focus 🙂

First it was the interview with Omar Zenhom – episode 35 of this podcast titled “Focus To Succeed“

Then, it was last show – episode 36 – about “Focus Without Focus.”

Today, I decided to speak about “Unfocus to Focus.”

During my conversation with Omar, he spoke about an interesting phenomenon that happens when we are on vacation, and not thinking about our to-do lists.

This situation creates space that allows us to see our priorities with more clarity.

It also creates opportunities to see new ideas and revisit old ideas with new eyes.

Thankfully, we don’t have to wait for our next vacation to experience this.

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Last episode I interviewed Omar Zenhom about how to “Focus To Succeed.”  Afterwards, several ideas emerged for me that led to the topic “Focus Without Focus.”

“Focus to Succeed” only works when we are focused on the essential projects that help us move forward.

Our focus has to be on target.

Moreover, if we take focus as the acronym F.O.C.U.S – Follow One Course Until Success – we should intentionally strategize about the “One Course” to be sure that it take us where we want to go.

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In this episode, I interviewed a fellow podcaster – Omar Zenhom.

Omar is the Co-Founder of Business Republic, where he, and his partner Nicole Baldinu, started an alternative business education program called The $100 MBA – a culmination  of his years in business and education. They also offer daily, free 10-minute business lessons with their podcast The $100 MBA Show, that I highly recommend you subscribe to.

In our conversation we spoke about:

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– Listen to this interview to find out how to win a copy of the documentary “Viktor & I”–

Movie Trailer: Viktor & I, An Alexander Vesely

In this episode, I spoke with Alexander Vesely about his grandfather, Viktor Frankl.

Viktor Emil Frankl, M.D., Ph.D. (1905-1997) is considered by many as one of the greatest thinkers of the 20th century.

He was an Austrian neurologist and psychiatrist, as well as a Holocaust survivor.

Frankl is known by many via his best-selling book Man's Search For Meaning.

Alex Vesely is an Austrian-born filmmaker and trained psychotherapist.

His movie – “Viktor & I” – is an impactful documentary about his eminent grandfather, Viktor Frankl.

For three years, he traveled the world to bring us this insightful look at Viktor Frankl through the eyes of those closest to him.

In our conversation we discussed:

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