Hundreds of Ways

Kat Jamieson (formerly Tanita) started writing her blog; With Love From Kat 11 years ago. While working in the fashion industry and living in NYC, Kat found herself endlessly inspired. What initially began as a creative outlet, quickly turned into a blossoming career. Today, Kat is an expert in all things lifestyle. She is known for her elevated yet attainable style across the fashion, beauty, travel, food and decor sectors. Her goal remains to inspire and uplift women through every piece of content she shares.

This week's guest is Steven Wilcox, founder of the PARKIT Movement and creator of "the world's greatest outdoor chair," The Voyager. 

Since Steven was our first product-founder, we spent a lot of time talking about the intricacies of Product design and development. If you've ever had an idea for a physical product, but were never sure how to make it a reality, this week's episode is for you.

Learn more about PARKIT: https://parkitmovement.com/
Buy the Voyager chair: https://parkitmovement.com/products/the-voyager-chair
Check out their successful Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/parkitmovement/the-voyager-re-engineer-the-way-you-enjoy-the-outdoors

On this week's episode, Anna Bogdanova—founder at Shiba500 and expert in all things branding—shares her experience building one of the most fun and innovative brands in startup marketing. 

We also talk about:

• What makes a brand work.
• The importance of positioning your business.
• Building an all-remote, global team.
• Working alongside the world's foremost dog marketing expert, Brutique, Chief Shiba Officer at Shiba500.

Learn more about Anna and Shiba500 at their site:
https://shiba500.com/
 

This week's guest is Drew Sing, author of recently released book "Work From Abroad". We chat about how he manages to travel full-time, all while maintaining his 9-5 job back home.

You can learn more about Drew at his site:
https://www.wfabroad.com

This week's guest is A.J. Bond, founder of Discomfortable: a "shame education" platform and podcast. We discuss how shame and other negative emotions can hold entrepreneurs back, and A.J. shares some tips for getting comfortable with discomfort.

We also talked about his work on Discomfortable, including his successful podcast, and his upcoming book.

Here's A.J. describing a bit more about Discomfortable:

“A few years ago, I had a crazy breakthrough about shame that dramatically improved my life. I started this podcast to help others demystify their shame as well. Getting Discomfortable is all about getting comfortable with the discomfort of shame and other unpleasant emotions so that we can get closer to understanding ourselves and connecting with others. Topics include psychology, philosophy, self-help, and of course a whole lot of shame. To learn more about me personally, check out the episode on Identity.”

Learn more about A.J. and Discomfortable at his site.

Here are some of the episodes we mentioned on the show:
https://discomfortable.net/productivity/
https://discomfortable.net/uncertainty/
https://discomfortable.net/loneliness/
https://discomfortable.net/identity/

This week we chat with Rishon Blumberg—founder of 10x Management and author of upcoming book "Game Changer: How to be 10x in the Talent Economy"—about what it means to be 10x across all aspects of your life. He shares his 25 years of experience protecting talent, starting with rockstars at Brick Wall Management, then "rockstar developers" at 10x Management. We also give you a sneak peek into his upcoming book, as well as a behind-the-scenes look at what the non-fiction writing and publishing process looks like.

If you want to learn more, check out:
10x Management: https://www.10xmanagement.com/
Game Changer: https://www.harpercollinsleadership.com/game-changer/
Brick Wall Management: https://www.brickwallmgmt.com/

If you're interested in learning more about Dr. Anthony Balduzzi, check out:

• The Fit Father Project
• The Fit Mother Project
• Revivery
• The Fit Father Project on Youtube

This week, Tom Critchlow talks to us about his career as an Independent Strategy Consultant. We cover his early days in SEO, through his time as a Product Marketing Manager at Google, as well as his transition to working as a freelance strategy partner for clients like the New York Times and Gartner.

We also chat about his prolific writing career, how "thinking in public" has helped him grow his network, and discussed his newest project, "Little Futures."

You can learn more about Tom at his site, and check out Little Futures here.

This week's episode features Julia Xu, Independent Startup Business Consultant. Unlike our previous guests, Julia has just recently made the shift into entrepreneurship, having left her job at Alibaba North America earlier this year. We talked about what drove that decision, going in-depth into what that change was like and how she found her first clients,

We also chat about:

• How Julia uses modeling to help startups chart their path forward.
• How being a consultant has allowed Julia to experience a multitude of business models and industries.
• Why your "dream job" might not actually be that much of a dream.
• How you can leverage your existing networks to find your first clients.
• How to sell without being "salesy".
• What a great sales page looks like.

Read more about Julia here: https://www.juliaxuconsulting.com/
Check out Intimately here: https://www.intimately.co/

"What do you want to be when you grow up?"

It's a simple question. But for being so simple, it rarely has a straightforward answer.

Maybe that's why we stop asking it so soon.

For most of us, the last time we heard the question was when we were kids—or maybe one last time at the end of high school. After all, having arrived at the terminus of our youth, haven't we grown up?

For CJ Johnson, that question comes up daily. And the answer keeps changing. At six, he wanted to be Batman. When that didn't pan out, he settled for the entertainment industry. But cameras brought egos and attitudes, and CJ wanted something better. 

His interests shifted from Hollywood Boulevard to Venice Beach, where LA's competitor to Silicon Valley—the so-called "Silicon Beach"—was separating itself from that area's bohemian past. CJ found himself shifting from entertainer to marketing consultant. But his journey was far from over:

"I was having more and more conversations as a consultant, as a marketer, and as an influencer. And I just kept getting asked more and more personal questions. And I realized my purpose: it has nothing to do with me being an actor, or writer, or director, or CEO. It has everything to do with inspiring someone."

With 31K followers on Instagram and a total social reach of over 10 million people, it's safe to say that CJ is inspiring more than just someone. And for good reason: his career has seen him co-found one of the top digital agencies in Los Angeles, become the "on-demand marketing guru" of Silicon Beach, and be recognized as both a Google NextGen Policy Lead and GQ Insider. 

On this week's episode, CJ shares his experience as an entertainer, marketing consultant, and influencer. He explains what it means to "empower emerging generations," how you can monetize your interests, and how to find opportunity in times of crisis. 

We also chat about:

• CJ's work at NextGen and GQ.
• How Technology has fundamentally reshaped entertainment.
• The pros and cons of there being "Hundreds of Ways."
• How to keep focused in times of crisis.
• What it's like balancing the Influencer life with being a single dad.

You can find out more about CJ on his site, or reach out to him directly on his Instagram.