Explorez tous les épisodes du podcast What Works
| Titre | Date | Durée | |
|---|---|---|---|
| EP 484: The Freedom to Buy | 12 Dec 2024 | 00:27:31 | |
So, health insurance is in the news. And so is Americans' feelings about it. I got to wondering how we ended up with this terrible health insurance system in the United States. I uncovered a fascinating story about the marketing campaign that sunk Truman's national health insurance program in the 1940s. I also discovered some interesting parallels to popular marketing messages among today's influencers, gurus, and marketers. Today's episode is a little trip through history that will hopefully put some of our current issues in perspective. Footnotes:
Find an essay version of this episode at whatworks.fyi! ★ Support this podcast ★ | |||
| EP 483: Avoiding Acquiescence Bias | 05 Dec 2024 | 00:21:09 | |
A problem, question, or challenge is often more than meets the eye. But we're biased to accept how an issue is initially framed. We acquiesce to the original terms. That's called acquiescence bias. When we don't counteract our acquiescence bias, we miss opportunities to get to the root cause or think creatively about a challenge. Today, I share 3 ways to resist acquiescence bias as you consider your next moves, goals, or plans. Footnotes:
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| What Does Power Sound Like? | 15 Aug 2024 | 00:39:41 | |
This is the 6th installment in the Self-Help, LLC series, which originally ran in October 2022. Today's episode has been revised and re-engineered! We form an impression of our voices early in life. While it might shift some as we age, those impressions tend to stick with us. For many of us, what we learn about our voices is how they don’t quite measure up to the ideal: too high, too low, too soft, too loud, too this, too that. This is especially true for women, queer people, transgender people, non-native English speakers, Black people, people of color, indigenous people, and really anyone whose voice doesn’t fit into the white, male baritone mold.
As always, find the essay version of this episode at whatworks.fyi ★ Support this podcast ★ | |||
| EP 404: What lights your fire? | 29 Nov 2022 | 01:10:07 | |
Over the last two years, I've transitioned from identifying as a business owner first to identifying as a writer and podcast first. In the first year—2021—I didn't realize that's what I was doing. But over the course of this year, it was quite intentional. Making that shift has allowed me to explore creative territory that I didn't think I could explore when my primary function was content marketing. In this week's episode, I talk with India Jackson about transitioning from content marketer to writer and podcaster. I share what it's meant for my work, my sense of identity, and my mental health. Plus, we talk about some of the difficult decisions I had to make on this journey. Tune in to India's show, Flaunt Your Fire, wherever you listen to What Works or at flauntyourfire.com Footnotes:
Grab your copy of my new book, What Works: A Comprehensive Framework to Change the Way We Approach Goal-Setting! ★ Support this podcast ★ | |||
| EP 403: Have your values been hijacked? | 22 Nov 2022 | 01:12:36 | |
The shelves are full of products that promise to fulfill your values: ecofriendly, independent, cooperative, woman-owned, Black-owned, sustainable, etc. And right on! Unfortunately, not every product that claims to align with your values really does. Often, values-marketing is more about maintaining the status quo than it is about doing things differently. That’s what I call “values hijacking.” Values hijacking occurs on the consumer level, but it also occurs on the cultural and political levels. Marketing, government policy, incentive structures, and cultural norms can all short circuit our critical thinking about what action to take. On today’s episode, you’ll hear about one my husband’s biggest soapbox issues, and then I’ll turn the mic over to Erica Courdae, host and founder of Pause on The Play, and we’ll go deep on how our values become hijacked by systems of power. Footnotes:
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| EP 402: How do you crack the code on goal-setting? | 15 Nov 2022 | 01:03:00 | |
What is a goal really? What purpose does a goal really serve? And is that purpose truly benefiting us, the goal-setters? These are big, messy questions. But they are far from abstract. Our answers to these questions—whether we know it or not—shape the way we work and live on a daily basis. This intermediary space—the space between philosophical questions and practical implications—is a place I happily hang out in all day long. Luckily, I know someone who likes hanging out in that place as much as I do! His name is Charlie Gilkey. He’s a friend of the pod—as well as the co-founder of Productive Flourishing and author of Start Finishing. He’s also the host of the Productive Flourishing podcast. Today’s episode is a rebroadcast from the Productive Flourishing feed. Charlie and I talk about why in the world I wrote a productivity book, how the cultural code we operate in impacts the way we plan and set goals, how that code disproportionately harms some more than others, and much, much more. Footnotes:
Written versions of each episode drop on Thursdays at explorewhatworks.com. Get them deliverable to your inbox by subscribing at explorewhatworks.com/weekly. Introducing Recovering Overachiever Club Recovering Overachiever Club is a 3-week deep dive into why we strive and what we can do differently in the new year. Join us November 29-December 20 for exclusive essays, podcast episodes, and conversation—oh, and earn a few merit badges, too. Learn more! ★ Support this podcast ★ | |||
| EP 401: Do we really all have the same 24 hours? | 08 Nov 2022 | 01:02:19 | |
Do we really have the same 24 hours as Beyoncé? Yes. And no. And… it’s complicated. There is a never-ending stream of advice about how to make the most of your time. And honestly? Most of it is just bullsh*t. That’s because there is no way to hack yourself or your work to produce more in less time if your emotions are fried, your energy is drained, or you’re dealing with the effects chronic illness. This conversation—originally broadcast as a Spotify Live—is an unflinching look at what it means to consider our multidimensional capacity in the realms of work and life. You’ll hear from my friends Jenny Blake, author of Free Time, and Charlie Gilkey, author of Start Finishing—and me, too! Note: the audio quality on this episode is totally listenable—but it’s not our normal podcast quality. Footnotes:
Written versions of our podcast episodes land on Thursdays at explorewhatworks.com. Get them delivered straight to your inbox by subscribing at explorewhatworks.com/weekly Introducing Recovering Overachiever Club Recovering Overachiever Club is a 3-week deep dive into why we strive and what we can do differently in the new year. Join us November 29-December 20 for exclusive essays, podcast episodes, and conversation—oh, and earn a few merit badges, too. Learn more! ★ Support this podcast ★ | |||
| EP 400: The Power of Practice | 01 Nov 2022 | 00:27:38 | |
It’s been almost exactly 7 years since this podcast first launched as Profit. Power. Pursuit. Since then, we’ve produced 400 regular episodes (with some bonuses here and there). You know, I’ve written many more than 400 blog posts and emails. But we don’t number those—plus, they are published across different sites on the web, so I never have a handled on just how many times I’ve hit “publish.” 400 episodes is a lot. It’s more than the vast majority of podcasters will ever make. The only reason I bring that up is because today’s episode is about the power of practice. Developing a podcasting practice is the only way to consistently put out a strong episode week after week. But developing a practice of any kind was not something I knew how to do 7 years ago. This episode dives into what I’ve learned about practice from 7 years of podcasting. Plus, I share an excerpt from my book (out today!) about the satisfaction of practice in an achievement-oriented world. Footnotes:
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| EP 399: Self Help, LLC: The Politics of Hustle Culture with Jadah Sellner | 25 Oct 2022 | 00:52:36 | |
Hustle. Grind. Boss up. Do more. Love them or hate them, these words are embedded into the ways we think about work and entrepreneurship. But as we’ve seen with the enormous growth of the r/anti-work subreddit and the panic about quiet quitting, more people than ever are thinking about different ways to go about building their lives, careers, and businesses. As we close out the Self-Help, LLC series, I wanted to address where our productivity hang-ups come from, who our productivity really benefits, and how we might go about doing things differently. This episode is in 2 parts. The first half or so is an introduction to how employers (including self-employers) profit from unpaid work and why the productivity-wage gap has become so immense. The second half of the episode is my conversation with Jadah Sellner, about the vision for business she lays out in her new book, She Builds. Footnotes:
Essay versions of each episode of the podcast come out on Thursdays at explorewhatworks.com and in my newsletter. Sign up free: explorewhatworks.com/weekly ★ Support this podcast ★ | |||
| EP 398: Self Help, LLC: Good Bodies With India Jackson, Tiffany Ima, and Jessica DeFino | 18 Oct 2022 | 00:54:46 | |
I wanted to include an episode on bodies in the Self-Help, LLC series because so much of our modern discourse around productivity, empowerment, entrepreneurship, and personal growth includes messages about our bodies. These messages might not be explicit, but the messages are there—and our brains pick them up loud and clear. Similarly, we might not realize that we’re sharing messages that insert themselves into how others perceive their own bodies—but many of us are. It’s impossible to talk about self-discipline, accountability, or efficiency without those concepts leaving their marks on our flesh. This episode covers a tiny sliver of all the ways that the medium of self-help acts on our bodies. But my hope is that it will encourage you to think critically about the messages you receive about your body and the messages you share that might impact others’ bodies. You’ll hear from independent beauty culture journalist Jessica DeFino, body confidence influencer Tiffany Ima, and Flaunt Your Fire founder India Jackson. This episode contains frank talk about bodies, weight, beauty, dieting, and related topics. I know that these subjects can trigger harmful thoughts and behaviors for me if I’m not careful. So please, take care while listening to this episode. Footnotes:
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| EP 397: Self Help, LLC: Bad Usage With Samara Bay | 11 Oct 2022 | 00:41:11 | |
We form an impression of our voices early in life. While it might shift some as we age, those impressions tend to stick with us. For many of us, what we learn about our voices is how their don’t quite measure up to the ideal: too high, too low, too soft, too loud, too this, too that. This is especially true for women, queer people, transgender people, non-native English speakers, Black people, people of color, indigenous people, and really anyone whose voice doesn’t fit into the white, male baritone mold. So what do we do? We try to sound more like everyone else. And that can not only mess with our ability to use our physical voices, but it messes with our ability to use our metaphorical voices and confuses our sense of self. Samara Bay, a Hollywood dialect coach who’s worked on blockbusters like Wonder Woman and Guardians of the Galaxy, is on a mission to help everyone find “permission to speak.” In this episode, we dig into how the self-help imperative to “own your voice” might be more complicated than it sounds. Footnotes:
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| EP 396: Self Help, LLC: #MakingMemories with Sara Petersen | 04 Oct 2022 | 00:36:20 | |
There’s an influencer for every thing these days. Camping equipment? Sure. Nutritional supplements? You bet. Miniatures? You know it. College admissions? But of course. In this episode, though, we’re going to focus on one of the original influencer niches: MOMS. The rise of the influencer ushered in a new outlet for self-help. Now, not only are there motivational books and talks, there’s a product endorsement to help you live your best life. Influencers give us, perhaps, the direct line between personal growth and consumer capitalism. I talk with the author of the forthcoming Momfluenced, Sara Petersen, about all of that and more. Footnotes:
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| EP 395: Self Help, LLC: Instagram, the Algorithm, and Personality Types with Steph Barron Hall from Nine Types Co | 27 Sep 2022 | 00:31:09 | |
If your Instagram feed or Explore page looks anything like mine, then you likely see a preponderance of posts about personality types, conditions, or other self-knowledge. We’re hooked on learning about ourselves! And perhaps even more hooked on sharing what we’ve learned—which means that the Instagram algorithm (as well as TikTok’s and Pinterest’s algorithms) has learned to love this kind of content, too. In this episode, I explore discovering ourselves versus making ourselves, why self-knowledge is big business on Instagram, and how creating viral personality content can wreak havoc on the creator’s psyche. To dig into this with me, I invited @ninetypesco creator, Steph Barron Hall, onto the show. Footnotes:
Essay versions of each episode are posted at explorewhatworks.com every Thursday. Or, sign up FREE at explorewhatworks.com/weekly to get them delivered straight to your inbox. ★ Support this podcast ★ | |||
| The Spectacle of Influence(rs) with Sara Petersen | 08 Aug 2024 | 00:38:50 | |
How influencers, well, influence the way we see the world, our work, our families, and ourselves? And how does the spectacle we immerse ourselves in daily contribute to our perfectionism, anxiety, or fear? In the fifth installment of Self-Help, LLC, I talk about all that and more with Sara Petersen. This is an edited version of an episode that originally ran in October 2022. There’s an influencer for every thing these days. Camping equipment? Sure. Nutritional supplements? You bet. Miniatures? You know it. College admissions? But of course. In this episode, though, we’re going to focus on one of the original influencer niches: MOMS.
If you're bored by your current content strategy, tired of coming up with new how-tos or advice posts, and want a fresh and impactful way to approach how you write, podcast, speak, or communicate in any way, this seminar is for you. You'll work week-by-week through on-demand learning, office hours, workshops, and small assignments so that by the end, you have the draft of an essay, script for a video, outline of a podcast series, or slide deck for a presentation. Learn more about Making Sense! | |||
| EP 394: Self Help, LLC: The Paradox of Self-Help Expertise with Patrick Sheehan | 20 Sep 2022 | 00:30:01 | |
Our quest for self-improvement requires us to decide who (or what) to trust with our time, energy, and money. What book do you decide to read next? Which coach do you hire? What accounts do you follow? Our consumer choices seem endless—so finding someone or something to put your trust in might feel like an Olympic feat. On the flip side, as business owners or independent workers whether explicitly or implicitly in the business of self-help, our goal is to cultivate trust. Why would someone trust us with their business, their marriage, or their hopes and dreams for the future? In this episode, I sit down with sociologist Patrick Sheehan to talk about his study of career coaches and the role they play with job seekers. We examine the roles that both credentialed and experience-based experts play in society and why uncertainty and instability might inspire us—for better or worse—to put our trust in prophets rather than priests. Footnotes:
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| EP 393: Self Help, LLC: Selling Empowerment with Kelly Diels | 13 Sep 2022 | 00:35:06 | |
It’s not only self-help or entrepreneurship products that are sold as tools for “empowerment” today. It’s just about everything: makeup, clothing, workout equipment, vitamins, office supplies… Whole brands are built around the promise that a purchase won’t just solve your problem, it’ll make you a better, more fulfilled person. But empowerment isn’t for sale—only the status quo. In this episode, I talk with writer and coach Kelly Diels about empowerment marketing and what she calls the “female lifestyle empowerment brand.” You’ll also hear from independent beauty writer Jessica DeFino about how empowerment is leveraged by the beauty industry. Footnotes:
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| EP 392: Self Help, LLC: Winners & Losers | 06 Sep 2022 | 00:30:57 | |
It’s hard to escape the language and politics of self-help today. Whether you’re browsing your LinkedIn, Instagram, or even TikTok feed, there’s a very good chance that the first post you see offers up some idea for living a better life or growing a more successful business. Shoulds and supposed-tos are cultural currency. We gain social capital sharing advice or “giving value.” And that’s left me wondering: are we all in the self-help business now? Today’s episode kicks off an 8-part series called Self-Help, LLC which will explore that question from a number of different angles. In this episode, I’m taking a close look at a particular construction of personal growth and entrepreneurship culture: winners and losers. Footnotes:
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| COMING SOON: Self-Help, LLC | 23 Aug 2022 | 00:03:45 | |
Self-help is everywhere. But for a long time, I tried to avoid it. "I just focus on business," I'd say. What I didn't realize back then was how much the structure, grammar, and discourse of personal growth permeate every layer of a business—and the entrepreneur behind it. Self-help sells. It's an $11 billion industry that's predicted to go to $14 billion in the next 3 years. And that's only counting products and services that are sold under the banner of "self-help." Even bigger than the explicit "live your best life" market is the valence of messaging, media, and cultural ventures that orbit it. In fact, there is a very good chance that, in one way or another, you and your work are part of the greater self-help ecosystem. You don't have to be a life coach, motivational speaker, momfluencer, or day planner designer to produce products and services that tap into the desire for a better, easier, or more fulfilling life. You might be a copywriter that leverages personal growth messaging in the copy you write. You might be a non-profit director that leverages donors' desire to "make a difference" to raise funds. You might be a management consultant that helps companies build better workplace cultures so employees feel a greater sense of purpose. Or, like your humble podcast host, you might one day make the startling discovery that: yes, you wrote a self-help book after more than a decade of declaring that you help people build better businesses, not better lives. I've gotten really curious about the business and politics of self-help. What makes self-help-inspired messaging so effective? Why are we constantly on the lookout for better ways to live and work? What compels us to follow aspirational Instagram accounts? Are we all in the self-help business? Next up on What Works, I have an 8-part series called Self-Help, LLC. It's a look at how the gospel of self-improvement shapes our lives, our work, and the businesses we're building I talk with writer Sara Petersen about Momfluencing, sociologist Patrick Sheehan about the coaching industry and backlash to credentialed experts, and brand strategist India Jackson about how our bodies are shaped by self-help. I also talk with Nine Types Co founder Steph Barron Hall about the draw of self-knowledge on Instagram, coach and writer Kelly Diels about the female lifestyle empowerment brand, and coach and author Jadah Sellner about the politics of hustle culture. My intention is that this series gives you a fresh perspective on what you create, what you consume, and how the underlying values of self-help culture influence them both. We'll dig into the business models behind explicitly self-help ventures and examine how less explicit personal growth businesses build on self-help's logic. The first episode in this series—Winners and Losers—drops September 6. Make sure you hit "follow" in your favorite podcast player and share the show with a friend who loves to think critically about the world we live in. ★ Support this podcast ★ | |||
| EP 391: How do human decisions shape the economy? with Stacey Vanek Smith | 09 Aug 2022 | 00:33:08 | |
The economy seems like a monolithic entity we measure, manage, and adapt to. But really, economics (as a field) and the economy (as a system) is really just an agglomeration of human decisions. What’s in? What’s out? What’s up? What’s down? And most importantly: Why? In this episode, I talk with Stacey Vanek Smith, a co-host of NPR’s The Indicator from Planet Money and this summer’s guide for Planet Money Summer School. We talk about how someone with no economics background can get so obsessed, how the economy is a profoundly human system, and, of course, inflation.
Leave a review, browse old episodes, or leave a voicemail at whatworkspodcast.com Pre-order What Works: A Comprehensive Framework to Change the Way We Approach Goal-Setting at explorewhatworks.com/book ★ Support this podcast ★ | |||
| THE BOOK: Do your Big-G Goals Serve You? | 26 Jul 2022 | 00:10:39 | |
What’s a Big-G Goal? Well, those are the kind of milestone targets we set. At that time, my Big G Goals were about how many new members I could enroll or what kind of stages I could speak on. At another time in my life, writing a book was a Big G Goal of mine. And before that, completing a Ph.D. was my Big G Goal. They’re the kind of goals that make you feel validated for about 24 hours after you achieve them—or make you feel like a failure if you don’t. Well, "a failure" was exactly what I felt like. So I went back to the drawing board. I wiped the slate so clean that I started to question whether Big-G Goals were helping me make my life better or whether they were simply squeezing me into stories someone else was telling. My new book, What Works: A Comprehensive Framework to Change the Way We Approach Goal-Setting, arrives on November 1. But you can pre-order wherever you buy books: explorewhatworks.com/book My guess is that, as a listener of this podcast, you’re interested in approaching life and work in new ways. You think critically about the shoulds and supposed-tos you grew up with. You notice how it always seems to be “up to you” to fix yourself, rather than questioning whether you’re broken at all. You question conventional ideas of success and achievement. You notice when conventional wisdom starts to infringe on your values. This book is for you. I can guarantee you that it’s different than any other book on goal-setting—because it’s not really about goal-setting at all. It’s not a thinly veiled pep talk. It’s not about turning structural problems into your personal to-do list. What Works will change the way you think about goal-setting—but it will also change the story you live in. Life and work don’t have to be structured around the next achievement or milestone. What Works will help you take on the big questions that bubble under the surface of most advice on success and productivity—the philosophical, cultural, and political discourses that unconsciously shape how we think. But in the end, What Works will also offer you a practical framework you can use to discover what works for you. ★ Support this podcast ★ | |||
| EP 390: Context Clues: Is a recession inevitable? | 12 Jul 2022 | 00:49:52 | |
How do you prepare your small business for economic ups and downs? Is a recession inevitable? And what even is a recession? In this episode, unpack why the economy cycles through periods of boom and bust. I also demonstrate how a similar cycle is at play in the online business space. And I offer some strategies for making sustainable business decisions—no matter what happens with the economy. Footnotes:
Article versions of episodes are posted at explorewhatworks.com every Thursday. To get those articles delivered straight to you, free of charge, go to explorewhatworks.com/weekly Have a question about an episode of What Works? Is there something you've noticed online, in the news, or in your business that you're curious about? Go to zipmessage.com/whatworks! Leave me a message, and I'll try to respond in a future episode! ★ Support this podcast ★ | |||
| EP 389: Context Clues: Does everyone need a personal brand? | 05 Jul 2022 | 00:30:22 | |
Personal brand development is now a mainstay of college career preparation. Young social media influencers are well-versed on the language of personal branding. It seems cultivating your personal brand is a prerequisite for navigating the 21st-century economy. Public image has a long history, of course. But how has our relationship with ourselves changed since we started to put so much effort into emphasizing the most marketable parts of our identities? This episode tackles the history of personal branding, the labor of self-branding, and why so much value is being created in the “social factory.” Footnotes:
Essay versions of each episode are available every Thursday at explorewhatworks.com. To get them delivered straight to your inbox, sign up free at explorewhatworks.com/weekly ★ Support this podcast ★ | |||
| EP 388: Extra Context: Not Getting Paid | 28 Jun 2022 | 00:21:23 | |
“You could make money with that!” That’s probably the first thing you hear when someone discovers you’re an excellent baker, or designer, or potter. Even if your hobby is collecting super hero figurines, someone has probably suggesting “monetizing” that interest. There is all sorts of historical, economic, and sociological context for this. But in this episode, I talk with someone who typifies not getting paid for what you love to do: my husband, Sean McMullin. You’ll hear how Sean’s extended family in Utah and Montana, as well as his time living in an Iñupiat village in rural Alaska, shaped how he thinks about work he doesn’t get paid for. Footnotes:
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| EP 387: Context Clues: Is there hope beyond positive thinking? | 21 Jun 2022 | 00:41:45 | |
“Positive thinking” comes in many forms: New Thought, the prosperity gospel, manifestation teaching, self-help guides, and more. It’s hard to argue with thinking positive thoughts! But when positive thoughts become a substitute for curiosity and inquiry about real challenges, positive thinking can lead us away from real solutions. In this episode, I explore my own encounters with the world of positive thinking and how facing reality has actually given me more hope.
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| What's Your Type? with Steph Barron Hall | 01 Aug 2024 | 00:31:05 | |
This is the 4th part of my series Self-Help, LLC, which I'm replaying over the summer! Enjoy!
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| EP 386: Extra Context: Getting Paid | 14 Jun 2022 | 00:20:20 | |
Who doesn’t love to get paid? So we’re going to talk about how that actually happens. Not the dollars and cents of getting paid, but the form and structure. In the previous two episodes, we examined our relationships to work—both paid and unpaid. And it got me thinking about how we actually account for the ways paid work, well, pays—and especially how that impacts business owners and independent workers. I’m talking the difference between wages and profit, how surplus labor creates profit, and specifically how I structure my own pay in order to have a better perspective on my work. Footnotes:
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| EP 385: Context Clues: Who do you work for? | 07 Jun 2022 | 00:36:12 | |
It seems like every business owner or freelancer I know wants to quit social media. But very few people are actually doing it. It seems easier to imagine the end of your business than the end of social media, to paraphrase Mark Fisher. There’s something about our relationship to social platforms that makes them feel inescapable. And, perhaps without even noticing, it’s started to see like we’re working for them more than working for ourselves. In this episode, I unpack our relationship to platforms and who profits from our labor. And it starts in an unusual place: the recent Etsy strike.
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| EP 384: Context Clues: Do you love your work? | 31 May 2022 | 00:37:02 | |
I grew up expecting to love what I did for a living. I was encouraged to choose a career that I was passionate about. But when I did, I bumped up against the stark reality that work I loved didn’t pay the bills. At least not in any straightforward way. In this episode, I explore the context of “doing what you love” and how it shapes the way we build our businesses or careers today. Footnotes:
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| EP 383: Extra Context: Rugged Individualism | 24 May 2022 | 00:11:48 | |
“Rugged individualism” is the very language we speak in America. It shapes the way we approach work, family, and society. And rugged individualism has a direct impact on the decisions we make about our businesses and careers. In this short Extra Context bonus, I unpack where rugged individualism comes from and highlight a different way forward. Footnotes:
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| EP 382: Context Clues: What makes for a fair refund policy? | 17 May 2022 | 00:57:42 | |
No one likes being asked for a refund. In fact, I find the thought of it stomach-churning. And when what’s being refunded is the product of your time, experience, and expertise… it’s tempting to put every obstacle you can think of between a customer and a refund. In this episode, I’ll take you on a journey from the 17th century all the way through the modern era of online business refund policies to answer the question: What makes for a fair refund policy? Footnotes:
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| EP 381: What happens when you take a 4-month break from business as usual? | 10 May 2022 | 00:25:21 | |
At the end of 2021, I stepped away from my business: left our community, off-boarded my employee to another company, and focused on my mental health. Over the next 4 months, I wrote a book and thought about what might be next for me and my work. In this episode, I share what I’ve been up to in that time and what I might do in the months to come. Resources: * What Works: A Comprehensive Framework For Changing The Way We Approach Goal Setting* NYU’s Intro To Creative Nonfiction course* Catapult’s Writing Pitches That Land Bylines* How Your Personal Priorities Shape The Way You Design Your Business Essay versions of new What Works episodes are posted on Thursdays. Sign up for What Works Weekly to get it in your inbox! ★ Support this podcast ★ | |||
| EP 380: When does overdelivering become overcompensating? with Allison Davis | 05 Apr 2022 | 00:26:35 | |
I’m sure you’ve heard it before: underpromise and overdeliver. But is that really the best way to do business? Or does it just give us a permission slip for self-exploitation? When does overdelivering become overcompensating? And when does being generous just morph into entrepreneurial martyrdom? I sat down with sales coach Allison Davis to talk about overdelivering, generosity, and when it all gets to be too much. We talk pricing and scope of work—but we also talk about familiar relationship patterns and how they play out in our expectations for ourselves or others. Resources: * Allison Davis* Down Girl: The Logic Of Misogyny by Kate Manne* Kate Manne on Forever35* Living A Feminist Life by Sara Ahmed* EP 371: How does emotional labor impact our work? ★ Support this podcast ★ | |||
| EP 379: Why do we choose squeezing more in over taking time off? (Time & Money 8) | 29 Mar 2022 | 00:28:48 | |
I’m bringing our Time & Money series to a close this week by exploring why we choose squeezing more in over taking time off. I share how The Squeeze works, why work gets more intense over time, and some of the economic incentives that keep us from making different choices. Resources: * “Feeling The Squeeze? Why Your Business Feels So Tight” by Tara McMullin* “Busy vs Squeezed: How To Tell The Difference & Why It Matters” by Tara McMullin* “Economic Possibilities For Our Grandchildren” by John Maynard Keynes* Capitalist Realism by Mark Fisher* Protestant Ethic & The Spirit Of Capitalism by Max Weber* “When Time Is Money: Contested Rationalities of Time and Challenges to the Theory and Practice of Work” by Barbara Adam* Can’t Even by Anne Helen Petersen* Wintering by Katherine May Love the show? Share What Works with a friend: pod.link/whatworks Or leave a tip! ★ Support this podcast ★ | |||
| EP 378: How much time do you work? with Anne Ditmeyer (Time & Money 7) | 22 Mar 2022 | 00:25:53 | |
A lot of the work we do today doesn’t much look like “work.” The divide between work-life and life-life is flexible and porous. So what does that mean for the way we spend our time? Or how we earn a living? In this episode, I share designer, coach, and consultant Anne Ditmeyer’s story of rethinking how she works thanks to a big move to Paris. And, I argue that perhaps we need a radically different way of thinking about what work is—instead of a better “work-life balance.” Resources: * Learn more about Anne Ditmeyer* Lost In Work, by Amelia Horgan* Episode 349 with Brittany Berger ★ Support this podcast ★ | |||
| EP 377: What game are you playing? (Time & Money 6) | 15 Mar 2022 | 00:31:37 | |
The systems we operate in all have different incentive systems: our business models, the social media platforms, our economy, the culture at large… And many of these incentive systems have become simplified and gamified—changing the way we view the results of our work and the goals that we hold. In this episode, I explore how the philosophy of games can help us identify when we’re just trying to “game the system” instead of taking effective action based on our own values and goals. Resources: * C. Thi Nguyen at the Royal Institute of Philosophy* Nguyen on The Ezra Klein Show* How Twitter Gamifies Communication* *What Tech Calls Thinking* by Adrian Daub* *Games: Agency As Art* by C. Thi Nguyen ★ Support this podcast ★ | |||
| The Paradox of Self-Help Expertise with Patrick Sheehan | 25 Jul 2024 | 00:27:56 | |
This is an updated version of the 3rd installment in my series Self-Help, LLC, from 2022. Enjoy! Our quest for self-improvement requires us to decide who (or what) to trust with our time, energy, and money. What book do you decide to read next? Which coach do you hire? What accounts do you follow? Our consumer choices seem endless—so finding someone or something to put your trust in might feel like an Olympic feat. On the flip side, as business owners or independent workers whether explicitly or implicitly in the business of self-help, our goal is to cultivate trust. Why would someone trust us with their business, their marriage, or their hopes and dreams for the future? In this episode, I sit down with sociologist Patrick Sheehan to talk about his study of career coaches and the role they play with job seekers. We examine the roles that both credentialed and experience-based experts play in society and why uncertainty and instability might inspire us—for better or worse—to put our trust in prophets rather than priests. Footnotes:
As always, find an essay version of this episode at whatworks.fyi ★ Support this podcast ★ | |||
| EP 376: What Is Our Time Worth? With Keina Newell (Time & Money 5) | 08 Mar 2022 | 00:30:55 | |
Most of us learn the value of our time in our first jobs. Even as we get more experience and our hourly jobs turn into salaried jobs or freelance projects, the specter of selling your time for a particular wage looms. In this episode, I talk with Wealth Over Now founder & Money Files host Keina Newell about how she thinks about the intersection of time and money. I also offer up a light history of wage work and how that history influences as business owners. Resources: * Wealth Over Now — Keina Newell* Money Files — Keina’s podcast* What is the domestic system?* What is the Fair Labor Standards Act?* Further reference: Labor writers Kim Kelly & Sarah Jaffe in conversation* EP 341: Taking Better Care Of Each Other with Kate Strathmann* Games Against Humanity: C Thi Nguyen on the Conspirituality podcast ★ Support this podcast ★ | |||
| EP 375: Is this really a new economy? (Time & Money 4) | 01 Mar 2022 | 00:34:33 | |
I’ve been talking about the “new economy” since about 2010. But more and more, I recognize that the economic possibilities created through the internet aren’t nearly as new or innovative as I’d first thought (and hoped). It seems that the old economy is just making itself over as the not-so-new economy. In this episode, I explore 3 processes of the old economy—speculation, financialization, and liquidation—to pinpoint how they’re showing up in our digital world of independent work. I weave together the housing market, creator economy, Great Recession, and crypto promises to help you situate yourself in this strange, not-so-new world. At times, it’s a bleak story—but ultimately, understanding where we’re at gives us a better opportunity to make different, more humane choices. Resources: * CNBC Interview with NewNew Founder Courtne Smith* Investopedia on financialization* *The Big Short* by Michael Lewis* Michael Lewis on 60 Minutes* “How the financial crisis changed jobs” from Marketplace* Gig Economy explainer via Marketplace* NFTs explainer via Marketplace* “How Money Became The Measure Of Everything” by Eli Cook* “The complicated reality of doing what you love” by Marian Bull* Greater Fool Theory on Investopedia* “I crowdfunded a novel using cryptocurrency” by Elle Griffin ★ Support this podcast ★ | |||
| EP 374: How do you measure quality time? with Elisabeth Jackson (Time & Money 3) | 22 Feb 2022 | 00:27:50 | |
There’s more than one way to measure success—and there’s more than one way to measure time. How do you account for the time you spend working? And is it really the most effective—for you—to spend it? In other words, what constitutes quality time when it comes to the way you work? I talked with business operations coach Elisabeth Jackson about how she changed her overwork habit, how she measures quality time for herself & her clients, and why she doesn’t love the word “productivity.” Resources: * Find out more about Elisabeth Jackson* More about Frederick Winslow Taylor* *Lost In Work*, by Amelia Horgan* EP 373: The Eggbeater Effect, listen or read ★ Support this podcast ★ | |||
| EP 373: Should we lower our expectations? (Time & Money 2) | 15 Feb 2022 | 00:25:27 | |
We spend money on lots of tools designed to save us time and work. But all too often, those tools just end up raising our expectations. Why do work in less time when you could do more work in the same amount of time?! In this episode, I examine “the egg beater effect” and why we should, just maybe, lower our expectations a bit. Resoures: * You’re Wrong About: The Stepford Wives* More Work For Mother by Ruth Schwartz Cowan* Episode 371: What is the creator economy? with Gina Bianchini* Episode 364: The Abundant Value Of Virtual Assistants with Janice Plado Dalager* Economic Possibilities For Our Grandchildren by John Maynard Keynes ★ Support this podcast ★ | |||
| EP 372: What Is Money? with Paco de Leon (Time & Money 1) | 08 Feb 2022 | 00:32:42 | |
“Time is money.” Ben Franklin gave us that chestnut in 1748—and ever since, we’ve been trained to think of our lives as opportunities for making a buck. This week, we start a series exploring the “time is money” construction. But before we think through how we spend our time, we’re going to think through money: what it really is, how we relate to it, and some of the factors that make it “weird.” I talk with Paco de Leon from the Hell Yeah Group and author of the brand-new book, Finance For The People. Resources: * Finance For The People, by Paco de Leon* The Hell Yeah Group* The Nerdletter ★ Support this podcast ★ | |||
| EP 371: How does emotional labor impact our work? | 01 Feb 2022 | 00:35:17 | |
Emotional labor is an under-appreciated, under-compensated type of work. But it’s essential for navigating the 21st-century economy. Entrepreneurship almost always brings with it a need for managing our emotions to lead and care for others. And this expectation is only doubled when the entrepreneur is a woman or marginalized person. What’s more, the type of marketing that many of us are told to do today is thick with emotional labor: showing up with confidence, using your personality as leverage, banking on your sense of self. It’s no wonder so many business owners are burning out. In this episode, I tackle: What is emotional labor? And how does it impact our work as entrepreneurs? Resources: * The Managed Heart by Arlie Russell Hochschild* The Impact Equation by Chris Brogan and Julien Smith* What Is The Creator Economy? With Gina Bianchini* The emotional labour of academia in the time of a pandemic: A feminist reflection by Michelle Newcomb ★ Support this podcast ★ | |||
| EP 370: What is the creator economy? with Gina Bianchini | 25 Jan 2022 | 00:28:07 | |
What is the creator economy? And why are so many creators… miserable? Mighty Networks founder Gina Bianchini was the first person I knew talking about the creating economy. She’s passionate about helping entrepreneurs, organizers, and creators see why building independently beats trying to amass huge audiences on the usual platforms. In this episode, we talk about what the creator economy is, how the game is rigged, what’s making creators miserable, and how she sees a different way forward. Plus, we’ll discuss research from the massive independent study that Mighty Networks commissioned. Resources: * How “Building An Audience” Is Different From “Finding Customers”—And Why It Matters* What Tech Calls Thinking by Adrian Daub* Lost In Work: Escaping Capitalism by Amelia Horgan* The New Creator Manifesto (Research on the creator economy)* Mighty Networks* Creators Calculator* Subscribe To What Works Weekly Looking for a transcript? I’m publishing every episode in essay form on Thursdays at explorewhatworks.com! ★ Support this podcast ★ | |||
| EP 369: Do your goals make you a better person? | 18 Jan 2022 | 00:21:14 | |
The way we set goals often invites a load of comparison and competition. We can even create a moral hierarchy of more and better. In this episode, I explore the roots of moralizing around the goals we set, borrowing from Dr. Devon Price, Max Weber, Kate Manne, and Simone de Beauvoir. Resources for diving deeper: * *Laziness Does Not Exist* by Dr. Devon Price* Max Weber* Morality* Kate Manne on the immorality of diet culture* *You Belong* by Sebene Selassie* Simone de Beauvoir & The Ethics of Ambiguity ★ Support this podcast ★ | |||
| EP 368: What Does Growth Without Striving Look Like? with Rita Barry | 11 Jan 2022 | 00:25:44 | |
“What does growth without striving look like?” Rita Barry posed this question 3 years ago, and it’s stuck with me ever since. In this episode, I talk with Rita about the journey she’s been on to answer that question as her company has exploded. We dive into validation-seeking, social conditioning, and identifying what you really want in the face of so much “common sense” about what success looks like. You’ll hear Rita’s story, plus commentary from writer Anne Helen Petersen (via Librairie Drawn & Quarterly) and psychoanalyst Paul Verhaeghe (via Renegade Inc). Find out more about Rita Barry at ritabarry.co This year on What Works, I’m exploring how we can navigate the 21st-century economy with our humanity intact. Read articles, listen to the archives, and sign up for What Works Weekly at explorewhatworks.com ★ Support this podcast ★ | |||
| EP 367: Moving Into A New Chapter with Darden Creative Founder Tamera Darden | 14 Dec 2021 | 01:00:01 | |
In This Episode: * Why Darden Creative founder Tamera Darden decided to shut down her business at the end of 2022—and how that decision evolved* How she wrestled with the practical, emotional, and financial questions around this big decision* The experience that led her to reclaiming her original vision for the business* How she’s planning to move forward and what it means for the way she works in her own business How do you know when it’s time to quit? It’s a question I’ve been asked countless times over the years. Sometimes, the question is asked in frustration or sadness. A business owner will tell me they’ve tried everything; they’ve tried everything; they’re at a loss about what to do next. Other times, the question is asked sheepishly, with almost a tone of guilt. The business owner will tell me that they’ve been successful, maybe even more successful than they dreamed. But that something isn’t right. They’re unhappy or just feeling the pull of a new challenge. Either way, knowing when to quit is almost never clear cut. When I sat down with Tamera Darden a couple of months ago, we were scheduled to talk about values and how her business has operationalized those values. But in our pre-show warm-up, she told me she’d decided to shut down her business at the end of 2022. So we pivoted. I let her know we were doing this series on letting go & beginning again and offered, if she was ready, to talk about her decision. We went there. I was struck by her willingness to occupy uncertainty and liminality. And I was impressed by her self-confidence, even when things weren’t quite crystal clear. I told her to let me know if anything changed in the 8 weeks or so before our conversation would actually go live. A few weeks ago, she sent me a message. She needed to make an update. Her decision had evolved. I hesitate to say she’s changed her mind—you’ll hear why. Instead, she asked more abundant questions about what was next for her, why she felt compelled to shut down the business, and what other options could look like. What follows is both parts of that conversation. It’s a rare look into the reality of how entrepreneurial decisions evolve if we let them. Tamera Darden is the founder of Darden Creative. She’s a photographer, creative director, and business mentor with a vision for helping Black women-owned businesses thrive. Changing your mind is hard. Doing so in a public forum is even harder. I believe very strongly we owe it to ourselves to normalize coming to new conclusions based on new information, questions, or perspective. I hope this conversation creates some space for you to let your own positions evolve. ★ Support this podcast ★ | |||
| "She Looks Like an Instagram" Or, How Empowerment Became a Brand with Kelly Diels | 18 Jul 2024 | 00:36:18 | |
I’m continuing my rebroadcast of a series I did a couple of years ago called Self-Help, LLC, and asked the question, "Are we all in the self-help business now?" Today’s episode is all about the aesthetics of self-help and what my guest Kelly Diels has dubbed the female lifestyle empowerment brand. If you’ve ever fussed with your hair or outfit before taking a selfie or sought out the perfect Instagram-worthy spot on vacation, this episode is for you. And if you haven’t? Well, hopefully, this episode will put your mind at ease: you don’t need to do any of that to be successful. It’s not only self-help or entrepreneurship products that are sold as tools for “empowerment” today. It’s just about everything: makeup, clothing, workout equipment, vitamins, office supplies… Whole brands are built around the promise that a purchase won’t just solve your problem, it’ll make you a better, more fulfilled person. But empowerment isn’t for sale—only the status quo.
Read the updated essay version of this episode at whatworks.fyi Love What Works? Want to support the work of asking big questions about how we work today? Become a premium subscriber and get exclusive content and live quarterly workshops for just $7 per month. Go to whatworks.fyi/subscribe ★ Support this podcast ★ | |||
| EP 366: Unpacking Business Grief with Charlene Lam | 07 Dec 2021 | 00:45:09 | |
In This Episode: * Creative grief worker & curator Charlene Lam shares how grief impacts us—as humans, leaders, and business owners* How she discovered a passion for understanding grief and helping others process after the death of her mother* The practical exercises she uses to process feelings of loss Toward the end of 2020, I started to hear the murmurs of something I’d come to learn was called “ambiguous loss.” Of course, 2020 was full of loss and grief. There were goals, events, and—of course—people who were no longer with us. But there was also an amorphous, chronic type of grief that set in. The murmurs spoke softly of pain and exhaustion that couldn’t be attributed to any one particular loss. In 1999, Pauline Boss coined the term ambiguous loss for exactly this kind of feeling. In a conversation with Krista Tippett, Boss said: “We like to solve problems. We’re not comfortable with unanswered questions. And this is full of unanswered questions. These are losses that are minus facts.” For me, the ambiguous loss of the last 2 years has been felt as a sort of ongoing liminality. I’ve felt stuck between the life, goals, and identities that were part of my pre-2020 life and the next life, goals, and identities that have yet to take form. And while this is my sense of a personal ambiguous loss, I think it also mirrors the ambiguous loss we’ve faced as a society. As the pandemic has worn on and social change has stagnated, we keep catching glimpses of what might be on the other side. But the promises that “it’ll be over soon” have become ever harder to believe. We’re stuck between our pre-2020 world and the world that has yet to come into focus. Grief in general, and ambiguous loss in particular, might seem like an odd topic for a business podcast. But it was conversations with small business owners that made me realization how important talking about grief is for us. Business owners like us go through all sorts of experiences that can bring on a sense of loss or grief: the failed launch, a canceled event, the lost opportunity, an unmet goal, the loss of a team member, or the end of a working relationship. But our natural optimism as entrepreneurs, as well as a culture that doesn’t make much room for grief, means that we rarely pause to observe and process the transition. So last December, we decided to devote this December to letting go, processing grief, and beginning again. At the end of last year, this topic felt urgent—but now, this topic feels timely. While I think we’re all still feeling deep uncertainty about what’s next, we have a little distance from the onslaught of fear. I’ve talked to a bunch of people who finally feel like they have the capacity to make a decision about moving on and process what that means for them. Today, I want you to meet Charlene Lam, a creative grief worker, as well as a business mentor, content marketing strategist, and curator. She’s the creator of The Grief Gallery and Grief. Grit. Grace., where she writes, speaks, and curates exhibitions that help people process their grief. Charlene and I talk about what grief is and how we process it—as well as how grief shows up for us as business owners and what we can do to let go of what was and begin again with a new vision. ★ Support this podcast ★ | |||
| EP 365: Asking Abundant Questions To Solve Business Challenges | 30 Nov 2021 | 00:23:46 | |
I always hesitate to talk about practicing an “abundance mindset…” …because it so quickly veers into positive vibes only, charge what you’re worth, girl, wash your face territory. And to my mind, that territory is steeped in scarcity and its cousin, precarity. Abundance isn’t about ignoring unpleasant feelings or people who ask hard questions. When we do that, we’re essentially signaling that our positive vibes are so precarious that something challenging or unpleasant could cause us to lose our high. Practicing abundance, instead, invites us to wrestle with hard things without fear of losing our way. Abundance isn’t about charging what you’re worth because abundance knows that markets are fickle and that human experience can’t be quantified in hourly rates or flat fees. While I readily acknowledge that “charge what you’re worth” has helped lots of people ask for more, it also reinforces scarcity thinking in the form of “getting what’s yours” or “they’re out to get me.” Abundance also isn’t about equating endless hard work with deserving more abundant rewards. It’s certainly not about sucking it up. This kind of thinking reinforces that there’s a limited supply of resources out there and you better get up before dawn to grab your bit. Truthfully, I’m not sure I can define abundance succinctly. What it means to me is a present knowing that I am enough, that I have enough, and that there is enough time, attention, and support to live a meaningful life and do meaningful work. I can’t say that this is my mindset at all times—far from it. But in the times when I’m feeling most hopeless or desperate, it’s the mindset that I eventually bring myself back to. It’s the Truth that’s guided difficult decisions and unlocked completely unexpected paths forward. An abundance mindset—when I’m truly in it—shifts my perception and presents new possibilities. Maybe one way to think about it is that an abundance mindset isn’t so much an answer to the problems of scarcity, urgency, and precarity, but a series of questions that remind you there is always a way forward. Throughout this month, my goal has been to speak some of those questions out loud. Hopefully, you’ve experienced at least a small shift in perception as a result. Today, we’ll round out this series with 3 more stories about interesting questions and new ways forward. You’ll hear from sales coach Allison Davis, business strategist AnnMarie Rose, and Athena Village founder Kelly Pratt. Listen for the shift in perception that allowed them to see a new possibility for their work and businesses. ★ Support this podcast ★ | |||
| EP 364: The Abundant Value of Virtual Assistants with Janice Plado Dalager | 23 Nov 2021 | 00:54:56 | |
In This Episode: * Consultant and virtual assistant Janice Plado Dalager joins Tara for a conversation about the unique skill set that virtual assistants and other support professionals bring to small businesses* How VAs end up mistreated by entrepreneurs—and the gendered and racialized components of these relationships that make mistreatment more likely* Why emotional labor is an undervalued skill for support pros, as well as why it should be a key part of how this work is compensated* How small business owners can check their own behavior to make these working relationships more humane Back in 2016, the odd-job platform TaskRabbit ran a series of ads in New York City subways. Imagine a photo of a thin, white woman in upward facing dog pose on a yoga mat. She’s blissed out. Above her, the poster reads “Mopping the floors” in trendy, pseudo handwriting script. Below her, the TaskRabbit tagline reads “We do chores. You live life.” The ad campaign communicates the promise of letting your chores disappear into someone else’s workload. We do chores, you live life: Who is “you?” And who is “we?” Do the folks who are mopping floors ever get to be the “you” who lives life while someone else does the chores? I’m Tara McMullin and this is What Works, the show that explores entrepreneurship for humans. Independent work, the gig economy, online business—they’ve all been sold to us as ways to transcend old class divides. They promise a more level playing field for offering your time and skills. No fancy resume needed, just a willingness to put in the work. Of course, this is far from the truth. Michael Zelenko puts it this way in an article for The Verge: Instead of establishing partnerships within a community, the gig economy and TaskRabbit’s ads reaffirm a class divide, between the “You” — whose life is defined by recreational activities — and the “We,” whose lives are devoted to doing your chores. Rather than leveling the playing field, gig work and the ever-increasing push to classify more workers as independent contractors has, in effect, reestablished a servant class. Now, however, it’s not just elites and the aristocracy who get access to servant labor—it’s anyone with a smartphone and a few extra bucks to spend on takeout or housework. The more times I get my groceries delivered, the more I see my time, work, and self-care as more important than running errands. It’s a short jump to start to see those who are running my errands as less important than me. Less deserving of the good life. And, in classic upstairs/downstairs Downton Abbey fashion, the more I use these services, the easier it is to allow the people doing them to be invisible. Sarah Jaffe, the author of Work Won’t Love You Back, recently talked about the culture of entitlement to service that we have in the United States on The Ezra Klein Show. She suggested that our sense of freedom hinges, in some ways, on being able to get what we want, when we want it—without consideration for those who are making it happen. And this is where I want to pivot to talking about micro entrepreneurship and digital small business. ★ Support this podcast ★ | |||