Tag Archives: business

Stephanie L H Calahan, The Business Vision Catalyst – Episode 98

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Business Vision Catalyst and founder of Calahan Solutions, Inc. Stephanie L H Calahan works with busy, purpose-driven entrepreneurs at the intersection of heart and head, to leverage their business and get their message out with power, ease and joy; so they can make a powerfully positive difference in the world, exponentially up-level their profits, shift their mindset towards possibility and take a no-excuses approach to boldly creating a highly successful and meaningful business built around who they are. In short, to enjoy a highly-successful and meaningful business… while working less.

After Stephanie chose to leave a successful-on-paper nine-to-five corporate life that was putting her through an emotional and physical wringer, she quickly discovered that if not approached correctly, entrepreneurship could be just as damaging. Ultimately, she stepped back and re-defined everything, and now lives a self-employed working and family life that brings her all the benefits she offers her customers.

Stephanie and I have a great chat about being a consultant from childhood, armchair travel, unlocking the golden handcuffs, a blinding flash of the obvious, giving a child the benefits of a stay-at-home mom without being one and the crippling fear of disappointing your spouse.

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The Soul of an Animal: Beck and Ken Drake, Zoo Studio Pet Photography – Episode 55

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After taking photos of pets as a hobby for years, it took Ken Drake answering the dreaded, “What do you do for work?” question with what he wished he could be doing (instead of the software engineer work he’d been looking for) to start him down the path of getting Paid to Play.

Ken’s wife Beck had similarly been in business and marketing for years, and when her husband’s sideline began gathering steam, Beck herself saw an opportunity to start bringing meaning into the work she’d already been doing.

The result is Zoo Studio, which produces fantastic images of people’s pets! These two were a request of my wife Vickie, and I was very glad to chat with them about going Venkman on one of the most joyous hobbies possible!

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Cosplay’s Best Mate: Beethy Photography – Episode 39

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Beethy is a photographer based in Australia who has chosen to focus his craft on portraits of cosplayers; people who not just make costumes based on fictional characters, but also go out in public and bring life to those characters. That focus has garnered him not just a living wage but also a fantastic reputation amongst the international cosplay community.

Cosplayers around the world know that the name Beethy means eminently sale-worthy portrait prints of their craft and art, but they also know it means a fun being who brings joy to the process of making great photos. I got to sample his warm personality in this chat, during which he tells his stories of the community and how he became so well known within it.

Beethy also gives a good chunk of practical photography of business advice, including a crash course in taking good cosplay photos and the rules that Beethy built his business around. You may find his experiment into who produces the best photo prints to be a real eye ear-opener!

Oh, and there’s some random geeking out about video games and consoles at the beginning too! I love asking folks what they’re digging right now!

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Putting Yourself Out There: Voice Work

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Over on my personal web log, I revisited some of the issues that stop me – and a lot of us – from getting stuck into the things that, if I gave myself a chance, could lead to my earning a living wage out of the things I’m honestly interested in and enjoy doing.

But from that post alone, you’d think I’ve not been making any progress. I’d like to apologise for that impression.

Because in the last couple of weeks, I managed to score myself a freelance gig.

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How Do You Find Your Plan B?

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I wrote this for an opportunity that didn’t work out, but I didn’t want those words to go to waste! Huge thanks to Chris Harrison for some nifty editing!

Nowadays it seems that being a full-time employee is just as risky as starting your own business. You can devote your life to a company, yet if you find yourself out of the job you’re trained for and experienced in, what do you do?

If Leigh Dall’Osto and Gavin Dunne are any example, the answer would seem to be keep doing what you were already doing – just find different, even unusual ways of doing it.

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Episode 18: Jeffrey Rufino, Social Media Guy

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It’s easy to think about starting your own business in terms of how it’s going to solve your fiscal problems, but if Jeff Rufino were happy with simply bringing the cash in, he could have stuck with playing poker at the Casino every night.

Instead, twelve months ago, Jeff took a chance on a belief of his – that social media could help Cairns’ struggling businesses get more customers through the door – and went into business for himself. In that time, he’s built himself a reputation as the local Social Media Guy, has formed a company of equally passionate individuals and is still going strong.

I’m very happy to have sat down with Jeff over Skype and talked about how he got to where he is. His passion, his confidence and his honest desire to help people out shine through as he speaks!

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How Do I Make the Paid to Play Podcast… Pay?

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For six episodes of the Paid to Play Podcast I’ve been talking with people across town, across the country and across the globe about how they took what they loved to do and turned it into something that other people paid them to do. I’ve interviewed a writer, an actor, a painter, three musicians and three shop owners.

But I’ve not talked about myself that much – at least, not myself as someone who wants to get paid to play too.

See, until now, I’ve not thought that I really had anything to offer. I’m a writer, but my first actual fiction “product” is still a ways off and freelancing seems like diluting my passion instead of picking it.

And while I’ve toyed with the idea of monetising this blog, that requires a narrowness of focus that I really didn’t want to give it – not to mention that I didn’t feel as though there was a particular subject I wanted to focus on at the expense of just blogging about where my curiosity takes me.

Now, though, I reckon I have that product that I love to make – the interviews I’ve done and have yet to do. It seems high time, then, that I started developing a plan to turn the play of talking with people into pay.

But where do I start?

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