Martinis and Pipe Dreams

Dating is hard in general. Add the element of entrepreneurship and we've got a whole new ball game, and freedom being a core value makes it extra interesting.On today's episode, Sarah and Quinn discuss their experiences with dating as entrepreneurs and what they're looking for in a future partner. They also discover that they may have a few unrealistic expectations, but hey, nobody's perfect!

If you're considering entering a business partnership, then this podcast is for you.On today's episode, Sarah and Quinn talk about forming their own partnership, which is interesting considering neither of them wanted to go into business with a friend. They talk about the pros and cons of a partnership, as well as what made them change their mind about going into business together. Quinn has never been in a partnership, Sarah has been, and it went very wrong. There was a lot to consider and they dive into all of it. Let us know why you decided to form a business partnership, or what's stopping you from forming one.

Deciding to start a business isn't a difficult choice. Freedom, autonomy, being your own boss, it sounds amazing, in theory. What's hard, are the choices that need to be made after your initial decision to start.Money is tight. Do you downsize or move to a new location to save money, get rid of your high-end car, cut back on shopping and dining out? They sound like easy decisions to make, until you're actually faced with the reality of what it is to own and start a business. It sounds like an easy decision to downsize, drive an affordable car, and push pause on shopping trips and nights out. But we become surprisingly attached to our creature comforts, we also fall into comparison traps and can get caught up in people's perception. On today's episode, we talk about our personal experiences with the difficult decisions we've had to make in order for the business to work. While we're happy with the decisions we've made, making certain choices wasn't easy.What difficult decisions have you had to make for your business?

As entrepreneurs, we know the difficulties and time it takes to start and stick with a new business. The days are long, "no" is a word you hear often, and your finances are tight. It's hard to stay motivated when you're up against so many challenges, yet people do it.Today, Sarah and Quinn talk about their experiences with entrepreneurship and how they stay motivated when the going gets tough.

On today's episode we talk about starting your business on a budget and how you can build your company without going broke.We all want the bells and whistles, it's difficult to see a successful person you look up to recording their content in a professional studio when you have to record in your living room with your phone propped on a flower pot. But you can't compare your starting point to someone else's end point.Every successful business owner has started small and has figured out how to make do with what they've got. It also forces you to get resourceful and creative- strong attributes of every entrepreneur.How are you building your business on a budget?

When you work for yourself, you can do whatever you want when you want. But that can be dangerous, for two reasons. The first is that you pressure yourself so much to succeed that you work non-stop and burnout. The second, is that you fully embrace your freedom and neglect the necessary work you need to do for your business.It can be hard to strike that balance, especially when your business demands change from day to day. So how do you manage your time?That's what we talk about on today's episode. For both of us, taking care of ourselves is numero uno, and what self-care looks like for one person, isn't going to be the same for another. It also takes a little bit of time to find the right balance, so don't stress if you're still trying to figure it out.How are you managing your time as a business owner?

As entrepreneurs, we often want to share our new, exciting venture or vent a frustration, but when we do it's met with advice that does more harm than good.Today, Sarah and Quinn talk about the worst business advice they'd ever been given- both solicited and unsolicited.It served as a great reminder that while people are well intentioned, they often lack the experience or knowledge to serve as a proper mentor or guide.Let us know the worst piece of advice you've ever received!

We look at successful people and think if we do what they're doing we'll be just as successful, it will come fast and it will be easy, they already laid the framework.They did indeed lay the framework, but what we underestimate in that framework is the middle, it's messy and it's where most people stop. Starting a new business is fun, it's exhilarating, but inevitably, mistakes will be made, the "no's" will be never-ending, and there's no money coming in. It will make you doubt yourself and your abilities and you'll tell yourself you need to make a decision- stop everything you're doing and take the easy road, or keep pushing. The one thing that all successful people have in common is that they kept moving through all of the awkward, uncomfortable moments that make up the messy middle.

As an entrepreneur it can be difficult to figure out WHAT to entrepreneur.What if you're multi-passionate? What if you don't want to get stuck doing ONLY one thing? What do you do?In today's podcast episode, Sarah and Quinn discuss what it's like to be multi-passionate and what that means as an entrepreneur. Fortunately, there are options and multiple ways to move forward in a business without feeling like you're backing yourself into a corner or limiting what you really want to do.The first step is to get started! Tune in to find out what that looks like and why you should celebrate loving that you like to do more than one thing!

There's no doubt we're fascinated with the power Millennials now have in every industry, but that also includes buying power.In recent conversations, we've heard of brands struggling to abandon their old ways of advertising, not understanding that their new customer are no longer listening to the radio or watching TV.In this episode, we talk about the places Millennials are hiding- in plain sight and how brands are finding them.We also talk about what some of our favorite brands are doing and why others need to follow.What are some brands you love and why? 

We HATE networking!Ok, that's not entirely true, we just dislike the fact that networking events seem to be more transactional than relational.It leaves us feeling dissatisfied, having made no real connections that benefit us personally or professionally, so we don't see any need to attend.It's our goal to change that, especially for creatives.Today, we spend some time talking about the positives and negatives of our networking experiences, and why we're going to start hosting events specifically for creators.It's important that we start developing a community to help us excel both personally and professionally, and we're happy to lead that charge.

Social Media can be an overwhelming place, especially if you're having a bad day. What's worse, is when you come across someone that invalidates the way you feel. On today's episode, Sarah and Quinn talk about Toxic positivity, how it appears on social media, and why you don't want your content to come off that way. We'll discuss the negative impact toxic messaging can have and what you can do instead. 

Companies that are now calling their employees back into the office full-time are having a problem, the people are quitting to find jobs that offer remote work and it's been dubbed The Great Resignation. Sarah and Jaudia break it down and talk about the major shift that's happening in the corporate sphere and what it's going to look like in the future. Let us know if you're heard of this and how you feel about it! 

Rachel from Ebb and Flow is back and today we tackle the coaching industry. If you're on Instagram, there's no doubt you know someone that's ventured into the world of coaching. While that person you know may have the experience and credentials to help people, there are plenty of others that don't and are more or less "influencer" types that are just after your money.Rachel shares her perspective as a professional counselor and how her industry differs from coaching. I share my experiences with counselling, with coaching, and my one month stint as a career coach. The major takeaway is this, you need to use discernment. I wised up enough to know nobody can help me navigate the road I'm on except for me, so counseling is where I need to be because it's self-lead. If you have a specific goal, like cleaning up your resume or getting help developing your interviewing skills, then a career coach may be the person for you. You just need to know your goal.Remember that the coaching industry is also a sales industry, the perfectly manicured newsfeeds are there for a reason- if you thought sex sold well, wait til you see what the idea of perfection can do. Treat it like OZ, pull back the curtain to find out who the actual "wizard" is. If you need help with a resume or fitness goal, ask the business/wellness coach what credentials they have that qualify them to help you write your resume or get in shape.(Note: Losing 200 lbs. does not make someone a nutrition coach, a divorce does not make someone a relationship coach.)The same goes for therapy, if you're looking for someone with specific qualifications, ask for it. If you end up with a counselor you feel you don't mesh with, try someone else, you're not bound to that person. Rachel and I touch on a few examples and specifics that will hopefully give more clarity, but also empower you to make the decision that's right for you, and that may mean using a coach and a counselor. Either way, it's you're journey and you're in the driver's seat, choose your passengers wisely.

Rachel is back! Today we analyze the behavior of leaders. Why is it that some leaders are better than others, or some leaders think it's ok to behave in a way that we think is unacceptable? Simple, it's because somewhere along the way they learned that that behavior was permissible. So is your boss  or manager really a bad person? Truthfully, we can't fault people for knowing what they don't know.However, it's the responsibility of an individual in leadership to constantly challenge their own beliefs and be willing to admit what they've learned and know, may not be true. These are hard truths to admit, mostly because they force us into a new way of being and thinking which can feel unsettling. But, if you want to excel and get ahead in life (if you want to be a leader), you have to be able to look at what you think and believe and see how that may be stopping you from getting what you want.Example, when I was little my parents would yell at my brother and I if we did something wrong. By the time I got to the classroom and started teaching, I'd engage in argumentative behavior with my students because that's what my parents did with me and it worked, so that kind of reprimanding had to work on my students too, right? NOPE. It was one of the very first things that I had to learn how to break and it took a while!The great thing about this is that if we're serious about growing and changing and becoming better leaders, we can take the appropriate steps to do so. Rachel fills us in on this process and gives us all the hope that with some work, we can improve! 

Today I sat down with Brianne Rush, VP of Operations for a local marketing agency, and we discussed one of my favorite topics, leadership.I'll say over and over again that leadership isn't about telling people what to do, real leadership is about the ability to lead yourself. Unfortunately, I've worked for and with quite a few leaders that lacked control over their emotions, handed difficult situations over to other people to fix, and operated from a place of ego. These kind of leaders are everywhere, and Brianne not only offers some good tips on how companies can better train their leaders but also how employees can work with difficult bosses/managers.Brianne also talks about becoming the best at what you do, how you may find greater success and inadvertently become a leader in your field because you've become the master at what you do. A  good example of this is LeBron James. LeBron has become the best at what he does, but just because he's a great player doesn't mean he'd be a great coach- and we're certain he knows that and that's the key. It's knowing what you're good at.

Today we have a bonus 6th house episode. After last week's podcast I realized how common it must be for eating disorders to develop, so I called in the professionals from Ebb and Flow Counseling in Cleveland, OH to get some insight. Rachel Waggoner, founder of Ebb and Flow and her colleague, Nicole Ryan, registered dietician, joined me and shared a wealth of information.Turns out, I didn't know the difference between eating disorders and disordered eating and learned that we're (mostly females) conditioned to partake in disordered eating without even realizing we're doing it, ex: "I'm skipping lunch because I know I'm having a big dinner," "I'm not having toast with my eggs because I shouldn't eat carbs." We've gotten so deep into this that we don't understand what we're doing or why we're doing it. Sadly, a number of people will develop diagnosed eating disorders and it's not hard to understand why, or is it?Rachel and Nicole explain how and why a disorder develops and how it's treated through work with a licensed counselor, dietician, and medical professional. Yes, there's a team of people involved because what you'll learn from this episode, is that you can't just tell a person they look great and shouldn't worry about food because that's not a cure, that can actually do more harm.Speaking of which, Rachel and Nicole also explain how to get help or support a loved one going through this. I want to make a note here that Nicole says that just because we eat food does not make us experts in nutrition and she's exactly right. While we have the best intentions and don't want to see the people we love suffer, we could actually end up shaming them, which could make things worse.*If you're in Ohio, please reach out to Ebb and Flow counseling or another professional counseling group to get help for yourself or a loved one.

Mary Sorma, Head Trainer at Tremont Athletic Club in Cleveland, stopped by to bust some dieting myths and help us understand what we should really be eating. After this conversation, you'll understand how much we like to complicate things for ourselves. The pressure to diet and look Instagram filter-perfect has consumed our society. Dieting trends have become so powerful that they've made their way to stores and product labels- "low carb," "Keto friendly," "Paleo friendly," "Healthy Fats," "Low Calorie." One diet tells you to eliminate carbs, another tells you to do without fats, but our bodies need those things, you stand in the grocery store feeling completely and totally defeated so you just go home and order a pizza (I can't be the only one that does this). Mary not only gives us all the tips and great advice when it comes to healthy fitness and nutrition habits, but she emphasizes what we all want to hear-  that we don't need to stop going to taco Tuesday because we're trying to eat healthier. It's all about building healthier habits that help us strike that balance so we don't feel the guilt and shame around eating a taco and having a margarita or two. Listen to the full episode to get all the details on how you can begin to build your own healthy habits that will help you strike a better balance. 

Jaudia is back and today we tackle the world of modern dating. Jaudia met her partner on Bumble, I absolutely refuse to use dating apps and have an obvious and not so obvious reason why I stay off of them. We talk about our preferences and why neither of us are wrong for our choices. Dating truly comes down to knowing and honoring what you want.We also talk about nude photos. I told Jaudia I get disappointed when it seems I finally talk to someone that would be a great match and then they ask for photos. I find it aggravating, then I feel like a bad feminist because while I want to support women's choices I feel like women have also set this precedent that it's ok for men to ask for photos. Or maybe it's just the wrong men? We dive into reasons behind females sending photos and talk about how we've been conditioned to find our worth through a man's approval. If you're single or have been single in this age of app dating, I'm sure the ups, downs, and overall confusion that is modern dating will resonate. Godspeed my friends, Godspeed.

Living alone is something I think every person should experience, at least once. You'd be surprised what you learn about yourself and how much harder you need to push yourself when there's nobody there to hold you accountable. My friend Kristyna Hix joins me at The Pour House today to talk about the ups and downs of living alone. She shares some of her struggles and the things she's done to get herself out of those negative slumps that might keep her in bed or on the couch.If you're living alone and sometimes struggle with it (especially the cost), cheers to you friend, we know it can be tough. 

The majority of our problems and frustrations stem from poor communication. I talked to my friend Rachel Waggoner, owner of Ebb & Flow counseling in Cleveland, OH and she gives some great tips on how we can be better, more effective communicators. Whether you have communication issues with your friends, family, partner, or coworkers we talk about it all. We even talk about when it's time to leave a toxic situation. We all have those relationships, the ones where we think we just need to try harder, speak more thoughtfully, change our tone, listen more intently, but despite our efforts the situation still stays the same. Rachel tells us when it's time to pack our things and exit that relationship. 

If you feel like you might be in the wrong career or relationship, or if you feel like your life in general could use some improvement, then we need to take a look at your values. What are core values? How do you define them? How do you uphold your own values? Marianne Goldweber stops by to answer all of those questions and explain exactly how important it is to name and live according to what you've prioritized as your own core value system.Unfortunately, when our values are loosely defined or not something that we uphold, we keep ourselves in jobs and relationships that aren't good for us. We have way more power than we think, and it's by honoring our core values that we actually get the jobs and relationships we want and deserve.Learn more about Marianne and her work at A Village- Personal and Spiritual Development at mariannegoldweber.com. 

Today, Jordan Serpentini showed up at the Pour House to talk about leaving her old self behind to become who and what she wanted to be.She goes into detail about the moment she knew she was living her life wrong and the aftermath that followed, including the reactions from others when she decided she no longer wanted to live according to anyone else's plan.Change is extremely difficult and we talk about the courage and strength it takes to stay on the path that you know is right for yourself. If you take anything away from this episode, know that whatever direction you're heading is correct as long as you feel it's right for you. Keep going, everyone else will eventually adjust. 

Here I give a brief introduction about The Pour House, what it's all about and why I created it. 

Shayne Moon is on the show today and we talk about spiritual bypassing. Believe it or not, you've actually done this. It's when you have something difficult going on in your life and you dismiss the importance of it by saying, "It could be worse." It's what you're dealing with and it's OK if it hurts, it's important to acknowledge that and Shayne tells us why. We not only talk about spiritual bypassing in all it forms, but also share ways you can start to deal with the difficult things that are going on in your life so you can start to heal and move forward.

Today I sit down with Greg Buzulencia, an entrepreneur, dad, and athlete. Greg is currently training to be the first person to run the NY state section of the Appalachian Trail in under 24 hours, it's about 88 miles. With the demands of running a business, being a father, and training as an athlete, he has found that he has to be intentional about his days in order to balance the demands of life. As we're all searching for some kind of balance in our own lives, the tips and tricks Greg uses may help the rest of us in being more intentional about our days so we feel more balanced and productive. To follow Greg's journey and support him as he trains for the Trail, you can follow him on Instagram @beaconmountaingoatYou can also follow his business on IG @ViaHero to have your next trip planned by locals, or visit the website at www.viahero.com. For more on career and life, visit www.martinisandpipedreams.com

We're living in an uncertain time and I'm sure many of you are struggling with career issues. This pandemic has definitely brought a lot to the surface regarding our careers, whether you've lost your job or discovered you're unhappy and want to make a career change. Fortunately, Holly Weber, a veteran job recruiter, talks to me today about the ins-and-outs of the job market during the pandemic. She has some reassuring news, as well as expert tips on updating your resume to stand out in a competitive market, and networking in a time of social distancing.

Today I talk to Brian White, a certified trainer and fitness professional. Brian was one of those fortunate people who knew since college that he wanted to be in the fitness industry. His ultimate dream was to become the strength and conditioning coach for the Cleveland Browns, he got a fortunate opportunity and began training professional athletes. Unfortunately, it wasn't what he thought it was going to be and he realized he needed to move in a different direction. Brian and I talk through what it's like to have your heart set on a particular job only to find that you're unhappy. He re-evaluated his wants and needs, and while he's still in the same industry, he made the decision to start his own training business. To connect with Brian you can visit www.bwperformancelogic.com or find him on IG: Performance_logic

In today's episode we talk to Coach Ryan Snyder, he's a Math teacher and head coach for the high school girl's basketball team in his local school district. He's passionate about the work he does as a coach and pushes his players to not only become better athletes, but better people. We talk about the differences between coaching boys and girls, a very important lesson he personally learned from coaching girls, and he also shares a key acronym he uses when it comes to training his team in mental toughness. I have to say the one thing that surprised me was a story he shared about the girls receiving a lack of support from the boys team. It was an important reminder about the amount of work that still needs to be done in regards to the lack of support females receive for their achievements.

Today I talk to Jordan Serpentini, she's a spiritual guru and is here today to help us make sense of ourselves and 2020. If you've struggled through the uncertainty of the world right now, if you've been having meltdowns and moments of confusion, Jordan explains it all and offers her words of wisdom on how we can best navigate our new reality.

Ever think you're invincible and your company will never fire you? So did Sarah. Turns out your company will replace you, they will hire someone new and no, the company will not fold because they got rid of you. Today we explore the hard truths of the workplace while reminding everyone that quitting or getting fired isn't a bad thing- it's fantastic!

We all know this guy! The guy that says he wants the strong independent woman- until he gets her. Jaudia and Sarah break it down and discuss the male and female brains, societal conditioning, and why it's NOT the responsibility of the woman to change to make this guy feel better! Read that again, ladies!!

On today's episode we talk about ways to build trust in your business and personal relationships. While it's important to build trust in all of your relationships, what happens if trust is broken? Is it possible to rebuild that relationship? Listen to find out.

Sarah and Jaudia talk about boundaries. What it means and how you can draw them to improve your relationships and give you peace of mind.

Sarah and Jaudia discuss their relationships with alcohol and when they realized it needed to change. They'll share the strategies they used to implement changes that lead to more productive days and a better overall lifestyle. It's amazing what you can accomplish without a hangover, not to mention the next day anxiety.

In the first episode, we discuss how we know we need to either move on or try harder in our careers and relationships.