Brainz Magazine Exclusive Interview
Lynn Howard and Amanda Furgiuele are co-authors of their first book: The Pursuit of Badasserie - How to create badass business abundance.
Lynn Howard has put in the mental, spiritual, and physical work to make things happen.
Surviving abuse, beating cancer, bootstrapping, and selling successful businesses across three continents, a COO of a global company as well as serving on NGO boards across the world, Lynn has seen a lot. She believes in putting in the work first in order to lead by example.
Howard connects with a highly engaged and growing global audience who treasure her no-
nonsense approach, transparency, “make things happen” attitude, and intuition, in creating a life on her own terms. Howard is a globally sought-after Entrepreneurial Development Strategist, a mother, a grandmother, and more.
Born and raised in the Chicago suburbs, Howard went on to live in Saudi Arabia after 9-11,
raised her kids in Hawaii, traveled the world, and is now calling Thailand home. She is living
her purpose every day to leave each place, person, and thing better than she found it.
Amanda Furgiuele is a sole parent, multiple-business owner and entrepreneur, international
performer, elite athlete, and an expert in creative problem solving and time management. She
challenges her clients to stop making excuses and start making progress through innovative
solutions to even the most mundane problems.
Having worked with countless international celebrities and multi-million-dollar companies
including the Travel Channel, VH1, MTV, The Ritz-Carlton, Four Seasons Resorts, ESPN, and
Forbes, across 15 different countries, Furgiuele truly believes that everyone has the capacity for greatness in their field. Sometimes you just need help getting there.
Furgiuele’s entrepreneurial journey began a few decades ago. From starting multiple businesses from scratch to buying into an established business only to buy the others out, while increasing their profit margins by 98% in less than a year. Amanda thrives on challenges and loves the idea, the execution, and the goal-hitting that comes with being an entrepreneur.
First of all, who are Lynn Howard and Amanda Furguiuele, and how do you work together?
Amanda and I are very similar in a lot of ways–type A, highly productive, no excuses, work faster than most, multitasking, LOVE what we do, OCD, and clean freaks (LOL). We also have our differences and individual strengths. Amanda is more numbers-driven, whereas I am more people-driven. I have the spiritual side, whereas she has a bit more of the “science” side. We have always just “gotten” each other.
Our work ethics are very similar too; we do the work, roll up our sleeves, and put in the time. We look at where we can improve, take responsibility, and have no patience for those who do not or play the victim. We come from a place of abundance and chance-taking. We know there is more out there for us to accomplish, to see, to make happen, and we are stoked about this!
We are two badasses who make things happen, not just for ourselves, but also for those around us.
We are so excited for the release of your new book The Pursuit of Badasserie - How to create badass business abundance. Tell us about the book's origins! How did you come up with the idea and when did you start working on it?
Amanda and I have known since the first day we met that we would work together. It wasn’t until many years later that we realized a book (really more of an empire with more books, podcasts, trainings, etc.) was going to come out of this relationship.
About mid-year 2021, we were joking about writing a book, and that joke turned into “why not” “let’s do this,” and so we did! We started with “data” dumping all the topics we talk about, live by, coach around, etc., that we could write about, which ended up being about 75 different topics. We knew we would write about things that came easy for us, that we constantly spoke about with others, and where we saw our fellow entrepreneurs needing support.
Since this is your first book, it must have been special to write it. What did you think of the journey of writing and have you encountered any major setbacks?
Fortunately, we had no major setbacks in writing this book, except we originally set out to have it out in May; however, a few life things happened and we were learning as we went along since it was our first time. We also self-published, so there was that learning curve, as well. The journey was special and exciting! It seemed to come easy, for the most part, just frustrating that things out of our control took longer than we expected. Marketing and publishing were definitely more challenging than the actual writing process.
In the creation of the book process, the actual writing part, I was able to break it into five parts (in retrospect): Inspiration Phase, Planning Phase, Creation Phase, Launching Phase, Post Launch. In each phase we now have an SOP to follow, starting with the inspiration phase and data dumping, which gives us a template to duplicate for our next ones and to guide others on the process as well.
Also, I would add that Amanda and I have a strong working relationship, commonality in how we work, clear communication, clear expectations, and high respect. We hold each other accountable which helped this process tremendously.
Who is this book for? Who needs to read it?
This book is for entrepreneurs: aspiring and new business owners, solopreneurs, freelancers, and long-time entrepreneurs. Whether you are just starting out, have been struggling (or succeeding) for years, or are running a day-to-day doldrum, every entrepreneur has the same challenges, fears, and unrealistic expectations. With so many conflicting strategies, confusing ideals, and competing businesses, how will you stand out and get ahead? Sometimes the answers lie within! The Pursuit of Badasserie looks at how and why you make the decisions that truly count in creating badass business abundance!
What is your favorite part of the book?
This is a hard one, as I have a few!
I love how our voices really come across, with our sarcasm, stories, beliefs, and just us!
Also, I love the way we wrote it–it is user-friendly, funny, easy to read, and easy to apply. It is written in a way so that you can pick it up, flip to any page, read it, and then apply that principle. It is more like short snippets of topics, versus one long story.
And quotes for days….
Has this book affected the way you go about your life? If so, in what way?
This book is “us.” It is what we believe, a no-nonsense approach to how we live our lives, run our businesses, and who we are to the core. I guess in that note, it is like a diary of all the items that make us who we are, and the principles that have gotten us to where we are in life and in business. It is raw, it is real, and it is relevant for the entrepreneurs out there who put in the work and want more.
Can you give us a taste of one of the tips mentioned in the book?
We broke the book into four sections: Mindset & Motivation, Efficiency & Productivity, The Negatives, and Rising Above. In the Efficiency & Productivity section, we both chose to write about delegation, where we take a different approach to help you shift your mindset, unlearn some of what you were taught and give you actionable steps to take, all while giving our own examples and stories to support you along the way. This was the only “topic” that we both wrote on, which I thought was interesting. I love this because when working with entrepreneurs, we often see how they do things they do not need to be doing (anymore), that they are keeping themselves at a plateau, or that they know they need someone to help them, but they are not sure where to start. Or if they do have employees or team members that they assign work to, they are disappointed with the outcome, the time in which it takes them, and more. These two chapters will help you fix that!
Are you happy with the outcome of the book? Is there anything you would have done differently like this in retrospect?
Extremely happy with it! And yes, isn’t there always room for improvement, with anything? But nothing major–just adding our bios, a forward, and a few other small items. Learnings to apply to the next books and the second editions.
Finally, will you continue to write and release books?
YES!
As I said above, we are. We are aiming for our second book to come out at the end of 2022. A podcast will be released in August of 2022 as well as the training/mastermind. Next year we are planning on some additional collaborations with specific classifications, such as a Realtor’s addition, across the globe. Oh yes, did I mention we will release it in other languages soon as well? Watch out, because we are just getting started!
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