Thom Fox is a strategy consultant who helps companies with complex problems. He has created economic empowerment programs that have reached over 3 million people and has conducted 1,200 seminars, workshops and keynotes. But his story wasn’t always one filled with success.
Thom started off in a life of crime and with an addiction to angel dust. He broke into people’s homes and got arrested at the age of 14. It wasn’t until he was 19 years old that he realized he needed to make a change in his life. It was in that moment that clarity was brought into his life, and got him on the path towards success.
Here are three things you can learn from Thom:
Many people believe once you hit a snag in life, you are doomed to failure. That simply isn’t the case.
Thom started off his life as a criminal who was addicted to drugs. Yet, he still found a way to turn his life around.
Once he made the decision to change his life, he took on various customer service jobs. But the real moment of change happened when he took a job at a non-profit.
That job gave him the opportunity to learn and grow. They threw everything they could at him to see if he could figure things out. “They just kept throwing stuff at me and I looked at from that way. It was a great opportunity to just learn. I didn’t know what I was going to do with all that yet, but.. if they ask me to do this, let me understand what it means.”
It was also at this job that Thom learned to absorb information. “I guess what I learned was one of the biggest lessons is be a sponge. If anybody out there right now is trying to do something different in their lives, be a sponge and learn all that you can because you can apply that knowledge in different areas once you finally get the confidence of achieving some of those things, and then from there, it’s using your creativity to just put them in different situations.”
One day, the president of the company told Thom to become the lead of the marketing department. So Thom learned marketing on the fly, and started to do educational work for the company.
If there’s one thing we can learn from Thom, it’s that your life isn’t set for you. You can change who you are and what you do to impact other people and the world.
In 2005, Thom was working on a non-profit for college scholarships. After one of his pitches, Thom was approached by one of the directors of the board. When the director asked where Thom learned to build one of his programs, Thom told him he learned on the fly. He told him about dropping out of school and not going to college.
The director was shocked and told him he should pursue his degree. That moment convinced Thom to get his GED and pursue a degree in international business.
After graduating, Thom decided to venture out on his own. The biggest reason Thom was able to do this was because he already had good relationships. His work with the local school system and his work on a documentary allowed him to hit the ground running.
Thom’s belief is that relationships are crucial to your success. “Relationship building is probably the most important thing that I’ve seen in business… I mean the relationships that people really get to see you in your element. So I found a lot of success simply donating my time to organizations.”
When people see your involvement and passion, they are more wiling to work with you. “I fount that by serving on these boards and serving in communities and positions, people get to see what you do, and people get to see your passion for it.”
These relationships form the foundation of your reputation. They help you when you need help the most.
Thom is a huge proponent of the startup mentality. He believes it can teach you many things, even when you find failure.
Startups are often successful because the people who found them are so creative. “You don’t need a 500 person company to generate a billion dollars, you need to have people who are smart and know what they’re doing. People in that capacity are creative. You know, when your innovation takes creativity, that creativity has to come from the ability to have momentum.”
Startup founders also approach problems with an open mind and willingness to learn. “I appreciate entrepreneurs for their ability to be open minded, their ability to learn, to constantly challenge themselves, and their work ethic.”
They are also don’t let their fear of failure prevent them for continuing on. “That’s what I think I appreciate about that failure and that understanding. Just because you fail, doesn’t mean that it’s over. It just means you get to take all that stuff that you learned, and you get to do something else that’s pretty cool with it.”
That ability to learn and that ability to persevere are what make the startups mentality so special. Even if your idea fails, there is something to learn from that. We just need to be open and willing to learn and fail if we want to run a successful business.
Angela Lussier is a coach, public speaker, and author of three books. In this episode Angela talks about her journey towards creating her own business, how to overcome the imposter syndrome, why you need to live by your own rules, and the importance of play.
Here are three things you can learn from Angela:
If you think you are the only one who feels like an imposter, you are dead wrong. We all feel like imposters in some way or another. Even those who look like they have it all together have their doubts to.
Angela believes we are all students at something. “Even experts. Even gurus. Even millionaires. Everyone is a student and they may know a lot about what they’re doing in their business, but they still have a lot to learn somewhere else.”
Don’t believe people who tell you they have all the answers. We are all learning together. The key is to have the right mindset. “As long as we have the right intentions of trying to help people and trying to do our best work, then that’s the most we can hope for.”
By talking to a bunch of successful people, Angela has come to realize that you can feel like an imposter and still be successful. Don’t let the imposter syndrome keep you from achieving your dreams.
Too often we feel like we have a standard we need to live up to. We need to be like this person or run our business like that person. But that simply isn’t true.
Angela believes the problem is our fear of being ourselves. “I think a lot of people spend a lot of times being scared and afraid to show what they really want to say and what they really want to do and that’s a major problem.”
Many people get into business without ever considering the lifestyle they want to live, and that’s a mistake. At one point in her career, Angela was living life for everyone else, and it drove her to exhaustion. It was only when she started creating and living for herself that she felt whole again.
Stop living by other people’s expectations. Stop living in fear of being yourself. Determine how you want to live, and make steps towards living that way.
While creating classes for her community, the Do + Make Business District, Angela had the idea of recording one of the lessons at a playground.
Before releasing the lesson, she was scared what her community might think. Would they think it was unprofessional? Would they taker her seriously?
The beautiful thing is, her community loved the idea. They enjoyed seeing her having fun and liked the idea of having fun with business. This gave Angela the courage to experiment even more. She did classes dressed in costumes and played different characters. She wanted to make learning fun again.
Angela also believes in playing as an adult. “Just because you’re a kid doing something doesn’t mean it’s a kid thing. It’s something you can do for your whole entire life, but you abandoned it at some point because you thought you weren’t allowed to do it anymore. That’s a really freeing moment.”
We need to stop being so serious all the time. Play can be an essential part of living a more fulfilling life. We just need to allow ourselves to do it again.
Read more shownotes from episode 47 with Angela Lussier
Charlie Gilkey is is the creator of Productive Flourishing and the host of the Creative Giants podcast. He describes himself as the result of mashing up an entrepreneur, Army officer, and philosopher. In this episode, Charlie talks about mindsets, business, and the power of art.
Here are three things you can learn from Charlie:
Many artists have painted themselves into a corner by calling themselves an artist. They are afraid of the fraud police that tell them they’re not good enough to be an artist. There’s a story they tell themselves about what it mean to be an artist.
While it can be empowering to call yourself an artist. That label also carries a lot of weight. If you feel the heaviness of the artist title, Charlie suggest dropping it. He advocates “focus on the craft” rather than “evaluation of the craft.
The challenge of the artist label is, “It’s an invitation for people to evaluate your work.” It can be hard to been seen this way, even though that is one of the reasons we create art.
“We want to be seen, but we’re scared to be seen.” Often times the thought of being an artist can be unhelpful. When you feel that weight, like Atlas holding the world on his shoulders, drop the label and just create.
As artists, we have this vision of what our work will look like when it’s complete. We spend hours on end trying to achieve that vision. Often times, it can prevent us from actually releasing our work.
It is in these moments that you must move on. Charlie thinks that what you’ve created is “more beautiful than that perfect image that you have in your head.” That piece of art can change and inspire lives, but it can’t do that if they never see it.
Perfection is unattainable. If we waited for perfection every time we create a piece of art, we would have nothing to show for it. Don’t use the excuse of unfinished work for not selling or showing your paintings to others.
There’s a sacredness in allowing someone to buy a piece that you’ve poured your soul into. Be willing to let go of your art, even it doesn’t meet your standards of perfection.
Artists often have trouble determining the right price for their work. According to Charlie, they are making it much harder than it needs to be.
Far too often, we become too attached to our art. We think the amount we sell our work for determines our worth, but that simply is not true. Art is worth what someone is willing to pay for it.
Charlie suggests looking at the art market and using it to choose your price. Go to an art fair, and see the range of prices people are willing to pay, then just pick a number. Don’t try to analyze it to death. These prices work because others are already willing to pay them.
Art is hard to quantify because it’s so subjective. People buy your art based on the way it makes them feel. If you can get your art in front of people who want to buy it, they will pay you what you are worth. Just make sure you find people who are willing to pay you in kind.