Written by: JL Keez , Executive Contributor Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise. “Why, just why?” filled my thoughts as I suffered. For those experiencing mental health challenges, we find ourselves asking, “Why, just why? ”It took many years, wrong roads, and countless nights of crying before I found my answer to “Why just why?” To understand how I achieved this, and how you can too, I wonder if storytelling may assist … The Story Imagine this: You have ordered your morning coffee from your favourite coffee shop. Quietly waiting, you feel the presence of someone approaching from behind. Without warning, you begin to shake, fill with fear and want to hide. Slowly turning, you see a face looking back at you with a look that begs the answer to, “Why, just why?” Embarrassed, you collect your coffee and escape to the nearby curb, where, in solitude, you now ask, “Why, just why?” Have you ever experienced sudden responses to a trigger that bares no truth to the current situation? Across a range of scenarios, this was my life until in recovery from an eating disorder, I learned an important lesson regarding life and healing. Where the body suddenly disrupts, whether due to a thought, a behaviour, an emotion felt, or a physical response to a life event – where sensibility and truth is absent ‒ turning to our story will provide the clues and solutions desired. I learned that understanding the important connection between story , relationship and mental health is key to where healing is sought. Identifying story clues embedded within our story to date, to use each to open discussion regarding the connected relationships, and hence the expression of mental health lived, provides an opportunity for empowerment and recovery. “Why, just why’s?” become exciting discoveries once we signal we are indeed ready to heal! Additionally, to view the mental health issue as a friend rather than a foe – yes, a difficult ask ‒ is where we need to venture for recovery to be realised. With story and mental health closely entwined, answers line the corridors of the issues presented. With relationship integral to the story, the connection is clear. Story, related relationship and the mental health expression are allies anxiously wanting to share their information and explain! Currently, 2022 statistics shared across platforms tell us that globally, 1 in 7 people are experiencing a mental health disturbance; they are a leading cause of death. A disturbing 7.8% of our population suffer from an eating disorder with death rates rising yearly. I am a statistic for each of these – suicidal depression almost took me. But why had I become a statistic? Why had I developed an eating disorder? Why did I develop a range of mental illnesses ‒ chronic fatigue, migraines, depersonalization, OCD and suicidal depression? Let’s continue through storytelling … The Relationship On Sunday, February 28th a little girl turned 2. Dressed in her Sunday best, ready for church, she eagerly clambered onto the back seat of the family car alongside her big brother and baby sister. Her father drove and her mother was in the front passenger seat. Approaching the closed internal gate of the farm where she lived, unrehearsed, she felt compelled to share a secret with her mother right at that moment. Articulating words now available as a big two-year-old, she was instantly met with the ferocity of her father’s hand. With lightning speed, she was ordered out of the car. She was to open the gate and close it once the car had passed through; church was not on the agenda for her. With no one coming to her aid, she did as she was told. The gate closed; the car disappeared. Trembling, isolation, dread, fear, blame, shame, abandonment, tears and loneliness joined her. Eventually, the car returned. However, without further discussion or inquiry, this trauma determined the script, the dialogue adopted for life moving forward. People pleasing and perfectionism preceded all decisions made. Fear became her guide. With her father trading farm life for the ministry, by the age of fifteen, she had lived at several addresses. She became the target of schoolyard bullying. Her straight ‘A’ academic record was ridiculed. Creating athletic records saw her peer group turn away. Her vocal ability was scorned. The development of anorexia nervosa, in hindsight, was a given, or at least some sort of mental health disturbance. Nine years on and barely existing, the additional forms of mental health expressions joined her. Although now married ‒ however that happened ‒ life was going down the gurgler fast without a stop button in sight. Pregnancy, thought to hold the magic cure for all of the suffering, found her slide deeper into the well of despair. A second pregnancy almost signed her death warrant. With days and nights a constant blur and reality a distant memory, her marriage crumbled. Well, actually, the fear of rejection weighed heavily and over-rode sensibility. She decided that in order to heal, she needed to leave what she held in thought was a contributor to not only her failing health but the rejection falsely perceived. At thirty-seven, she stumbled into the rooms of a female psychologist who practiced Reality Therapy. The turning point question was asked, “Tell me your story.” I replied, “No one has ever asked me that before”. Tears overwhelmed and the nearby rivers were filled to the brim! Conversations of discovery unfolded. A massive number of “Why just why’s?” found their way into the dialogue. Most importantly, common ground was shared. Clues from my story emerged and gave voice to the little one trapped inside from that Sunday morning. The Mental Health Over many months I was guided through challenging each clue; in doing so I was able to form solutions. Gradually the negative backdrop that had plagued my life transformed into a positive forefront moving forward. The damning dialogue adopted, “You will be blamed, no one will believe you, it will be all your fault, I will be killed, no one will like you,” found its demise. I designed a new filter for life, a new set of beliefs of my choosing. My body responded to the newness by letting go of the fear handed to me as a child. My body healed. Unfolding before me was a story of sexual abuse and strong family control. The relationships attached to each were interrogated. I needed to release myself from the hold of impacting relationships. Even in their absence, the influence remained and frightened me into submission. I needed to assess ' why I had ' become the version I had over all those long years. I needed to allow the true version to emerge from despair to become who I am , not why I am . I gave myself permission to take 4 steps – there of course, were a ton of steps to take, but these stood tall above the rest: I gave myself permission to exist. I gave myself permission to change the embedded dialogue, allowing me to live life differently to how it had been presented to me as a child. I gave myself permission to speak of the abuse I had endured at the hands of both family and family friends. I gave myself permission to finish the conversation I attempted to have at age 2 with my mother. I told her of the abuse inflicted by my father. (As in addition, I understood why I had ‘disrupted’ to many scenarios throughout my life ‒ it was the trigger reminder of being approached from behind by my abusers.) As you can see, this story of mine is one that can fill the pages of a few books! This is a glimpse. The Understanding My story was filled with relationships that controlled my existence and development. Trapped in the fears taught, I sank into the mental health descriptions that eventuated. Healing asked me to ‘have a chat' with each of them, to learn from their knowledge. Once I could understand the connection between the story elements that caused disruption when recalled, the associated relationship input, and the mental health outcomes suffered, I could understand where my life had gone so terribly wrong. Under the guidance of someone with lived experience and who had a framework to follow, with each story clue, I was encouraged to: Identify the thought causing the disruption Describe the resulting behaviour Feel the emotion as I lived it again upon recall Identify the physical response the above 3 were having on my body and where. While experiencing massive fear, I gradually designed a new filter for life. I gave the words that confined me back to those who gave them to me. I freed myself to live under my rules. In closing, I encourage those who suffer to take 3 steps today : Research and find someone who has had your lived experience to guide you Ensure they ask that turning point question, “Tell me your story.” Ensure they understand the important connection between the story, relationship, and mental health. Navigate my website to see if I may be the number 1 you are searching for! The connection between story , relationship and mental health is real. Opening your dialogue to understand your “Why, just why?” is where recovery will be found… Follow me on Facebook , Instagram , LinkedIn , and visit my website for more info! JL Keez, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine J.L Keez survived a nine-year struggle with anorexia nervosa. She endured years of mental illness, including suicidal depression, OCD and depersonalisation. Today, she is the Director of JL Keez Anorexia Unlocked, a passionate speaker, author and Thought Leader in her field. In her role as a Reality Therapy Coach and influential teacher she empowers others to heal their lives through delivering the understanding required to do so.

Written by: LuAnne Kingston , Executive Contributor Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise. Young children are often subjected to the question “what do you want to be when you grow up?” which evolves to the cringe-worthy adult version of “what is your long-term plan?”. For many young and even not-so-young adults, it may be overwhelming to plan what you will be doing in five or 10 years, and daunting to envision where your working life will evolve to in 40+ years. Now may be an opportune time to assess your career journey whether you have a long-term plan or not. While the pandemic drove massive uncertainty and layoffs, it has also been an opportunity for individuals to consider making a job or career change with a growing number seeking to start their own business, choosing non-traditional roles, or even completely changing their career choice. Resignations were still going strong in July 2022 with more than 4.18 million Americans walking away from their jobs, and that trend shows no signs of slowing down (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics). So how do people take that leap? One way is to consider what you like to do, what you are good at, and what is important in your life. Alexandra (Alex) Robinson, founder and creator of Blue Eyed Baker, a western New York regional bakery is a great example of someone who pivoted from the corporate world to building a successful business. After graduating college in 2011 with a degree in Communications and Film, Alex joined Fisher Price in a business account management role with aspirations to transition to the toy company’s animation video editing department. While her initial role didn’t align with her passion, the job paid well and enabled her to start saving money. The seeds of opening a bakery started during this time and she frequently brought her baking creations into the office for her colleagues. After about a year, Alex moved to Los Angeles in a Finance role at Mattel, Fisher Price’s parent company. This provided exposure to a broader creative scene in both food and film. While she became disheartened with the challenges of breaking into the film editing field, Alex was inspired by the food scene, particularly the quality and creativity in baked goods that she didn’t have exposure to in her home market. We will follow Alex’s journey as a case study while considering five career foundational principles that may help guide your decision making in choosing a job or career: 1. Personal Purpose Do you have a defined purpose? What does that mean and how do you find yours? Defining your personal purpose helps guide decisions in both your personal and professional life by providing a north star. At the core of your Personal North Star is your “why” or purpose. It could encompass the values that guide your decisions, purpose of a project or business enterprise, or name something you want to create. Simon Sinek became mainstream with his 2009 Ted Talk on “Start with Why”, where he guided organizations on how to find their purpose, or why customers buy their products and services. At a personal level, Dr. Spencer Holt, Co-Founder & Chief Learning Officer at Global Leader Group, says that articulating your purpose, or reason you exist, unites and lures people with a similar purpose because it matters to them. It also helps you be more intentional in what you do every day, further supporting your purpose. Dr. Holt suggests you can find your purpose in the following way: Make a list of your personal core values, which define who you are no matter the circumstances (trust, relationships, service, honesty, lifelong learning, etc.). Identify what you do best or what you are good at (managing projects, creating, leading, relationship building, etc.)? Visualize who you’d like to become and make a list of words that describe who you would like to become (strong leader, mentor, business owner, compassionate friend, etc.). Combine the first three steps and write your Purpose Statement . This should be energizing, motivating, and fill you with energy and excitement when you read it. Here are a few examples: "Grow myself, grow my family, and grow leaders around the world.” ” Learn something new every day while supporting family members and colleagues to achieve their hopes and dreams.” “To bring joy to the world through music and lyrics that inspire.” Case Study… Alex articulates her personal purpose as: “Share my pastry passion by creating high quality products with a curiosity to never stop learning and growing a great team while supporting my family and raising children who cultivate the same passion for creating, giving and learning”. 2. Passions and Proficiency What knowledge, skills, abilities do you have, or want to learn? What do you like to do or are good at? Some people have a clear vision of what they will pursue in their career, such as a doctor or architect, and attending college or university is a step in preparing them for required certification. Other people attend university or trade school, gaining foundational education and experience in a discipline only to find out later that it doesn’t match their passion. While your discipline may not align with your passion, you will likely gain transferrable skills that may open doors to other types of work, building on and developing skills in another environment. Joe Nabrotzky, co-founder and Search Managing Partner at Global Leader Group, suggests that if you are looking to make a job or career move, first identify your passions – activities that you enjoy and give you work/life satisfaction, and your proficiency – what you are good at – your superpowers. These are your strengths in terms of hard skills (functional abilities) and soft skills (interpersonal qualities). Then you can look for roles that align to your purpose, passion, and proficiency. While there are plenty of personal assessments you can take that might help you understand yourself better (Myers Briggs Type Indicator, CliftonStrengths, DiSC, as examples) here’s a simple way to understand your passions and proficiency. Passions: Answer these questions: What work activities bring me the most joy and fulfillment? What could I read about, learn about, and talk about without getting bored? When I daydream about my ideal type of work, what do I see myself doing? Why? What have been the happiest, most fulfilling moments in my career? What parts of my prior jobs did I not like? Why? What would I do if I wasn’t afraid to fail? Proficiency: Answer these questions: “I am good at…” then fill up the page with as many sentences as possible. Finish the sentence: “I am most known by customers and/or team-mates for my ability to…” If it helps, first focus on functional or technical skills. These are the skills needed to perform your job such as: writing code, tracking software defects, or reviewing financial statements. Once you have filled the page with the first thoughts that come to mind, then think of soft skills and behaviors such as how you may be a self-starter, systematic, or your key leadership and communication skills. Then, begin to group similar items together, ideally producing 3 or 4 sections. Case Study… While Alex had a passion for baking that germinated as a little girl and grew over time, she didn’t have proficiency in her craft to start a business. She researched and applied to pastry schools and was accepted into a school run by French pastry chef, attending in the evenings while maintaining her day job at Mattel. She started with ‘The Business of Food’ course and progressed through various levels of pastry classes, including what is now one of her specialties, French macarons. Inspired by a drive to continuously learn, she later attended a pastry chef school in Paris. Additionally, Alex shared that “People think about turning their passions in to a business and don’t always consider the actual aspect of running a business.” Alex admitted that it was a lot of trial and error combined with the business knowledge and customer skills she learned at Mattel. “I was naïve in many ways, but you have to be financially savvy and prepared to make hard decisions.” 3. Individual Circumstances What are your personal circumstances, such as personal well-being, life stage, and risk tolerance? Flexibility and wellness are key for workers these days with 63% of job seekers calling work-harmony a top priority when picking a new job, according to LinkedIn’s 2022 Global Talent Trends report. In person, full remote or hybrid are all common options now but what you want may not match your prospective employer. According to Microsoft’s 2022 Work Trend Index: Annual Report, 38% of employees say that it is a challenge to know when and as importantly, why come into the office. Employers are all over the board, ranging from Tesla requiring all employees to be full time in the office, Apple moving to two or three days in the office and Airbnb supports employees from wherever they want to work. Be sure to discuss any prospective employer’s expectations and be open about your preferences. Your life stage and family considerations should factor into your decision. For example, roles that require you to move or travel extensively might add excessive stress on a family with young children, especially if you don’t have a strong support network. You may be well established in your career and have significant savings allowing you to take a risk and try something new. Whatever your personal circumstances, people in your life may be impacted by whatever you choose to do and their opinion counts. We often think of risk tolerance in terms of financial investing, but it is just as applicable in choosing your earnings livelihood. Risky endeavors can result in a huge payoff and may just as easily require you to pivot during a failure. Opening a new business or joining a startup can be risky and requires significant knowledge, preparation, and commitment to ensure success. Similarly, moving to a new industry leads you to navigating the unknown and includes a significant investment in time to thrive. Consider the risks and payoffs for whatever path you choose. Questions to consider: How much flexibility do you need in your work schedule to achieve work harmony? Do policies and values of prospective employers align with the working environment you desire? Are you able to take a financial risk by joining a financially troubled venture, start-up or launching your own business? Who are the people in your life that will be impacted by any change you make, and how will you incorporate their views into your decisions? Have you identified options and ranked them based on criteria that is important to you? Case Study… After spending two years in Los Angeles, Alex’s partner and now husband, Nick, was accepted into Nursing school in Buffalo prompting them to return to their hometown of East Aurora, NY. Alex said, “it was the right time to leave Mattel and I was ready to launch my baking business”. She didn’t analyze the financial hardships of starting a business at the same time her fiance was in school, as well as getting engaged and buying a house. Both Nick and Alex worked in the restaurant business to pay bills while starting the Blue Eyed Baker business on the side. Fortunately, Alex’s father helped jumpstart her business by building her first commercial kitchen which enabled them to avoid taking out a loan. 4. Type of Work Consider your personal purpose, passions and proficiency and how the type of work, employer, location, and total rewards you are interested in align to them. Narrowing down your options helps you to focus on where you put your energy in finding a new job. Decide if you want to stay in or join the corporate world or be entrepreneurial and start or join a new business. Begin to find organizations that align to your values and have the right cultural fit. Think about how much money you want or need to make and if the type of work you are interested in will support your lifestyle. As an example, your passion might be personal training and you can become an instructor to share your skill with others. Teaching classes might not pay your bills but can be a foundational step to building a business and potentially open your own gym or studio. Finding your next adventure may take time. Some actions to support your search include: Create a list of companies or businesses that inspire you. Would you be proud to be an employee? List the types of jobs that align with your personal purpose and passion. Will you get excited about the type of work offered? You are deciding to join a company as much as they are deciding to hire you. Do research on the company and talk to current and former employees if possible. Be prepared with questions that are important to you to ensure it aligns to what you are looking for. If you want to start your own business, research what is needed to be successful and prepare to launch! Case Study… Alex is a great example of turning her passion into a successful business, starting by creating quality products and sharing her business on social media and through word of mouth. With her enthusiasm to get business, individual catering requests spread her thin and after 10 months, she narrowed her vision and brand and defined her offering… focusing on cakes, pastries, and macarons. Expanding to the local Farmer’s Market enabled her to make connections into wholesale accounts, like coffee shops and Whole Foods. Alex said that “When you are doing what you are meant to be doing, it just feels right and happens. It doesn’t mean it happens without hard work”. 5. External Factors Do things like COVID, the economy, technology, competition for roles impact the roles you might be considering? There are many external factors that could impact your job search, and they may change over time. For example, some industries are more insulated from changes in the economy, like technology, while others are more vulnerable as economic factors grow or contract, like restaurants and hospitality. Once you identify your target industry and potential external factors, consider if you need to plan mitigating actions should those factors significantly impact you. COVID was a great example where businesses moved employees to remote working and significantly offered online sales to customers when there was limited in person interaction. Another external factor is the competition pool for roles you might be interested in. If you have a skill set that is unique and likely to be highly sought after, it will bring attention quickly to hiring managers. If your skill set is broadly available, you will likely experience increased competition for roles that interest you. If that is the case, identify what sets you apart from others so prospective employers notice you. Considerations Identify the key external factors that could impact your current role or ones you are considering. Come up with a mitigation plan should any of those factors threaten to impact your life / work. Are there any risks you can embrace and be innovative to change how they might impact you? Case Study… Looking externally at the market, macarons weren’t widely available in western New York giving Alex a competitive edge. This was validated when Whole Foods approached her to supply them with the confection. While an exciting addition to her business, it created a massive increase in orders, and she was still hand piping every macaron. Alex had just one employee and didn’t reach the point where she could trust someone with her craft. Nick and Alex looked externally for macaron machines and found a company based out of Switzerland with an operation in LA. They flew out, tested it, and bought the $20k machine, financed with credit cards. While perhaps risky, it transformed her business, going from making a small number of confections to 600 in a day and enabled her to grow and hire people. COVID, like many businesses, impacted their wholesale and events business, but propelled their farmer’s market business as government rules enabled outdoor events to continue. These became social events where they served Nick’s gourmet breakfast sandwiches using locally sourced ingredients, along with offering their baked goods. Summary Career paths don’t need to be linear as they once were expected to be, and now is a great time to consider if you want or need a change. Defining your personal purpose, passions and your capabilities will position you to understand what inspires you and are good at. Considering any personal and external factors that might impact what you do, you can be guided toward securing a position that helps you to achieve your goals, or even starting your own business. Case Study…Summary With almost seven years into her business, Alex and Nick now have a storefront, 30 employees, space at four farmer’s markets with 3 food trucks, 2 kitchens, and 75 wedding bookings annually. They just purchased their first building to expand their business and plan to include more savory food items and expanded pastry offerings. Alex also intends to add classes and create some of what she experienced in Los Angeles back in western New York. Alex acknowledges that they would have been able to grow more quickly with funding, having taken out their first loan recently. Still, they have experienced double and now triple digit growth each year they have been in business. Most importantly though, is that Nick and Alex went into the venture as a team with Alex sharing that “having a committed partner is essential.” Wishing you great success in whatever you decide and wherever your journey takes you! LuAnne Kingston has over 35 years of executive leadership experience in large international firms. She is a senior partner at Global Leader Group and continues to share her knowledge and experience with clients through Executive Search (headhunting senior leadership roles for companies along with job search coaching and outplacement services for individuals), Leadership and Learning design and execution, and Business Consulting to change the world one leader at a time. Contact LuAnne@GlobalLeaderGroup.com to see how her experience can become your expertise. Follow Global Leader Group on LinkedIn , and visit their website for more info! Read more from Global Leader Group! Global Leader Group, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Global Leader Group is a leadership firm of proven practitioners who share a deep-rooted desire to make a difference by helping organizations FIND & BUILD leaders to deliver excellence. They do that through three main pillars: Leadership & Learning: They partner with organizations to accelerate performance and belonging by pushing the boundaries of learning. Offerings: Design and implementation of Leadership and Learning Strategy and Frameworks, World-class Learning Design & Experiences, Coaching, and Speaking (Keynotes & Appearances). Talent Search (External Retained Recruiting): In addition to helping organizations build current leaders, Global Leader Group adds world-class leaders to managements teams around the globe. Practitioner Consulting: Allow the experience of their practitioners to advise and transform your business through their expertise in Driving Digital, Retail Banking, Wealth Management, Customer Journeys, Sales Management & Incentives, and Strategic HR (Culture, People Processes, Organizational Design, and Team Effectiveness). Their clients include leaders at Citi, AstraZeneca, HSBC, Google, the Governments, Airbus, Manubhai Jewellers, ACUMA, Sensata, numerous RIAs, Banks, Credit Unions, and more.

Ellyn Schinke is a former scientist turned top coach and international speaker specializing in burnout and stress management. After burning out while pursuing her Ph.D., Ellyn was sick of all the cookie-cutter, BS burnout tips online and sought out the real, tangible tactics that would actually make a difference in her life. As a result, burnout when from being her lifestyle to her passion. Now, she's focused on helping corporate professionals and businesses free themselves from burnout and take back their lives. Ellyn is the founder and CEO of Coach Ellyn LLC, one of the top burnout coaches on Google, host of the Burned Out to Badass podcast, and more. Her mission: Make burnout a choice. Ellyn Schinke, Burnout & Stress Management Coach/Speaker introduce yourself! Please tell us about you and your life, so we can get to know you better. My name is Ellyn Schinke. Online, I ditch the German last name and just go by Coach Ellyn 🤣 I was born and raised in the Pacific Northwest, which is something I didn’t appreciate until I moved away, and I’ve kind of always been that kid who did everything. Ultimately, it’s what brought me to this point: working as a burnout and stress management coach. I’ve been busy since I was a teen. I joked to a podcast guest the other day that I played Varsity soccer, did musical theater, was in choir, took vocal and piano lessons, played club soccer and was in all AP and Honors classes. So, when I say I was that kid, I’m not exaggerating. I really was! In college, I was a science major: in microbiology and genetics, to be specific. I thought I wanted to be one of those people from the movie Outbreak, curing diseases and saving the world. It was kind of this cliché picture I had in my head. I actually got my first paying lab job when I was 18, published by 22, and so on. So, I continued my overachiever tendencies through college. It wasn’t until I was in graduate school that I kind of started questioning why I was doing all these things I was doing. I love science and I’ve always been good at doing research. It’s kind of how my brain works, but I never really asked myself if I liked that life. I was validated and praised for it and constantly told how “impressive” it was, but ‒ when you’re pursuing your Ph.D. and all the stressors, comparison, and imposter syndrome that go with that ‒ that’s really when my life changed. Long story short, I completely lost who I was. I burned out in a fiery blaze of glory. I was bullied. I felt like a complete imposter who didn’t belong. All these things came to a head, but I’m grateful for them in so many ways because they led me to where I am now. I eventually dropped out of my Ph.D. program. Since then, I’ve started my coaching business, traveled around the world and visited 11 countries, stood on speaking stages, and more! It’s been amazing! What is your business name and how do you help your clients? My business is Coach Ellyn LLC. I provide burnout and stress management coaching and speaking services with the goal of helping busy, and ambitious high achievers create sustainable success without all the stress. My recipe for helping achievers get back on track combines 4 things: boundaries, self-care, awareness, and productivity systems. I offer 1-on-1 coaching services and speaking, and I have recently launched a membership to help walk achievers through these things to help them get back on track, achieving more with less burnout. What kind of audience do you target your business towards? Well, if I haven’t made it obvious already, my business targets high achievers. Taking the Enneagram was a big moment for me because I’ve never felt so understood by a personality test. I am a textbook Enneagram 3: The Achiever. I soon came to realize that that’s exactly who I serve. High-achieving personalities are often perfectionistic, people-pleasing, have a sort of “all or nothing” mentality and there’s a reason for that: like me, their entire identity was built around the praise and validation they received for their accomplishments. Because of that, high achievers are inclined toward burnout. I really focus on helping them to, yes, take better care of themselves, simplify their systems, and set better boundaries, but more than that, I help them become aware of their mindsets, habits, and behaviors and how those might be perpetuating their burnout. I saw somewhere online that stress is situational, and burnout is habitual. I’ve kind of adopted that because, for achievers, it’s so true. But, as soon as us achievers can become aware of and understand the ways in which we’re perpetuating our stress and overwhelm, that’s when we can make a change. Awareness really is the first step! What is your work inspired by? A lot of my work is inspired by personal experiences. I know in my bones what it’s like to burn out. I know how debilitating it feels, but I also know how it can call into question our entire identity as an achiever because achievement is who we are. It’s not a good feeling and that’s a lot of what inspires my work. But my work is also inspired by friends and peers that I’ve seen do the same thing. The moment I decided to niche down to burnout and stress as my coaching focus, I realized that I’d spent my entire professional life watching high achievers, particularly my female friends, do this to themselves. We work ourselves to the bone with no boundaries and minimal self-care in pursuit of career labels and professional success that define us, only to break down and get to the point where quitting feels like the only option. It’s a maddening and heartbreaking cycle to see, yet so many amazing people do this to themselves. That’s what lead me to say, “you know what? No more.” Tell us about your greatest career achievement so far. Oh, good question! I’m going to tee this up for a second… For so many years, I had really struggled in my coaching business because I really had no focus. When I niched down to burnout and stress management, my Google ranking skyrocketed and I finally started attracting the kind of clients I want to work with. People started finding me and one of those companies was LinkedIn. I’ve worked with teams at LinkedIn multiple times now, but the experience that really stands out in my mind is when one of their teams flew me down to San Francisco to speak at an in-person off-site. I’ll never forget that day. I had my slide deck all prepared, but people were asking so many questions that I finally just closed my laptop and went completely off-script. The organizer, Luis, later told me that that was the “game changer” moment in the presentation. It was one of my all-time favorite speaking engagements I’ve ever done and, even more fun, they invited me to lunch over at the LinkedIn café at the SF offices. It was amazing and I got to chat and mingle even more with the managers and executives that I had just spoken to. It is easily one of the best days of my professional life and one of the highest of my professional career, even more so than my publications as a scientist. If you could change one thing about your industry, what would it be and why? Honestly – and this might be an incredibly unpopular opinion – but the thing I would change about my industry is the seemingly endless blame game. I see coaches in my industry do it, but I also see corporations, individuals, and even thought leaders do it. Corporations put all the onus on their employees. They say, “you’re burned out and you need to go to this training to fix it” but aren’t willing to take responsibility and accountability for the ways they, as an organization, are contributing to that burnout. Individuals put all the blame on their corporations. They say, “if you just wouldn’t put so much on my plate, I wouldn’t be burned out.” Though that might be true for some employees, high achievers might need to look in the mirror, too, and say, “in what ways am I actually doing this to myself?” Heck, I even have an issue with the initial acknowledgment of burnout by the World Health Organization in 2019. They defined burnout as “chronic workplace stress that has not successfully managed,” implying that it’s the employee that is failing at managing their workload when the fact of the matter is it isn’t. Both parties – the company and the employee – are equally culpable for the burnout epidemic we’re facing. So, that’s something I struggle with in my industry. Tell us about a pivotal moment in your life that brought you to where you are today. It wasn’t necessarily a moment but more a season. It was the summer of 2016. I had been really struggling in my graduate program at that point. I had already started coaching as some side income but also to find some fulfillment in my life. Then, what I’ve described as “an avalanche of low points” happened. My Grandpa passed. While I was out of state at my grandpa’s funeral, my parked car was in a hit-and-run. I broke my elbow in a freak bicycling accident. But the big moment was when I was in the worst professional meeting of my life. This meeting was the straw that broke the camel’s back. I was presenting my data to a collaborator, and she wasn’t even giving me time to speak before ripping them apart. It wasn’t even teachable. It was just criticism. There was no learning or takeaways. It honestly just felt like shame. I remember wrapping up my presentation, closing my laptop, and sitting down in the back of the room, wondering, “If I’m in school to learn and I’m not actually learning but just beating my head against the wall, then what the heck is the point?” I kind of realized that there wasn’t one. And it was that day that I made the decision to leave graduate school. That was the day that my life changed. Tony Robbins has a quote along the lines of, “Change happens in a moment. It might take you 10 years to get to that moment, but…” and that’s how this moment felt for me. At that moment, I’d spent over 2 years exploring coaching, trying to salvage my science career, and contemplating if it was time for me to leave science. But it was that moment that led me to make the decision. I dropped out of my Ph.D. I left science 9 months later. And my life changed, but – and there’s no doubt in my mind about this – it’s only been for the better. Follow me on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and visit my website for more info! Read more from Ellyn!

Written by: Maya Zack, Executive Contributor Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise. Self-sabotage is when you actively, passively, consciously, or unconsciously take steps to prevent yourself from reaching your goals. This is powered by underlying fear & self-doubt, which undermine your efforts to create what you want, whether in life or business. You perpetuate patterns of thinking & behaving that create ongoing problems. What's worse is that you can't see the patterns until you're hit with a setback. It's an incredibly frustrating cycle that lowers your self-confidence and makes you feel stuck. So it’s a good idea to recognise self-sabotage patterns before unwanted results happen. How do you know if you are self-sabotaging? The easiest way is by thinking about your actions more than your intention. Are they aligned with what you want? Some common signs of self-sabotage include: Avoidance, resistance, procrastination & making excuses. You know some action will benefit you or move you forward, but you still don't do it. Setting goals too low (not motivating) or too high (you feel are out of reach). Staying in your comfort zone & resisting change. Perfectionism. Negative inner conversation & self-criticism. Lack of self-care or engaging in unhealthy behaviours (e.g., addictions, excessive screen-scrolling, unhealthy eating, etc.). Creating unnecessary conflict in communication and relationships. What is it that makes you do these? After all, you just want to be happy, achieve your goals, and enjoy life, right? Here's what's really going on, subconsciously. Fear of uncertainty – it’s all about our expectations. We think and behave in ways that help us predict our future. Knowing what's coming makes us feel more in control ‒ whether it's a 'successful', happy prediction or not. Distortion beliefs – if you believe you’ll fail, you’ll make sure to behave in a way that proves your mind right. Because whether it works for or against you, your mind loves being right. And again, you know what to expect. Most often, these come from past experiences or thoughts that originally weren't even your own but that you've heard over and over till you adopted them. Fear of failure – you worry about screwing up, so you’d rather excuse yourself by not taking action. Fear of success – because you feel you don’t really deserve it, or you worry about being exposed as a fraud (AKA imposter syndrome). Low self-esteem or self-worth – you feel like you're not good enough. This can sometimes come from traumatic past experiences. The lack of successful experiences this mindset results in creates even more fear, insecurity, and a weaker self-image. It then creates a loop because it'll create a future situation to keep matching these. It keeps on repeating, never-ending in a happy place. It’s an endless cycle. So how do you become free of self-sabotage and break this vicious cycle? Recognise that your mind is a powerful tool. It's not some magic force or something you can't control. It's a tool for you to learn how to use. You can take control of it and create new thinking habits. The first step is to recognize how you’re operating on this 'automatic program.' No meaningful change happens without self-awareness. Observe yourself, and pay attention to whether your actions are aligned with your dreams & values or whether they’re coming out of fear & negative beliefs. Once you know how it works, you can start to 'reprogram.' Make a decision to stop seeing every situation through your fears and doubts or attaching your experiences to them. Use mindset tools that access your subconscious. Whether it’s self-hypnosis, the Sedona Method, meditation, or whatever works for you. But do it. Because the underlying beliefs and fears need to change at the level, they were created and maintained. Set clear & meaningful goals & create a strategic action plan. Then commit & follow the plan. Be your friend. Practice replacing automatic negative self-talk. Speak to yourself as you would with a friend you love, with acceptance, encouragement & forgiveness. Make small changes, one step at a time. Self-sabotage thinking & actions are usually habitual. To break habits, you need to make gradual, incremental changes. Start with changing just one thought or action a day. Once you’re on a roll, add another one. Focus on strengths. Know yours & find ways to use them. This builds more confidence & self-esteem. Get coaching. Professional support will help you make these changes faster & easier (check out my 90 days Rise & Shine program here). You CAN stop getting in the way of your own happiness & success. You CAN start living a life you truly value and are excited about. You CAN be the person you are in your heart & soul. All you need is a strong desire for positive change, the courage to take uncomfortable action, and the determination to see it through. Follow me on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and visit my website for more info! Read more from Maya! Maya Zack, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Maya Zack is an award-winning personal development & mindset coach, peak performance specialist, and hypnotherapist. Based in the UK, she works internationally, mainly with women entrepreneurs as well as with businesses, to create high-performance teams that aim to make a positive impact on people’s lives. She helps business owners, leaders, and teams free themselves from mental & emotional habits or blocks that prevent them from experiencing more success or slowing it down. She has developed her unique signature 8-week step-by-step mindset makeover programs for aspiring as well as already established entrepreneurs that change thinking & feeling patterns on the deepest, subconscious level, reprogramming their minds for success so that new habits & behaviours quickly become automatic and effortless. She believes it’s so important to our lives, joy, and fulfillment to be doing what we love and daring to go for it regardless of the outcome. So many are held back by fear, and she wants to change that. She believes success happens from the inside out alongside mindset mastery and that as humans with imagination, we have the incredible capacity to become free, powerful creators of ourselves and our lives.

Written by: Lisa Charles, Executive Contributor Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise. Did you know there's a deep link between how your brain experiences the world and how your body reacts to this? If you aren't aware of the mind-body (or brain-body) connection, you may lose out on improving your overall health. As a health coach, I have spent years finessing my approach to integrative health. Grab yourself a tasty smoothie and a pen, and let's explore your body's emotional and physical journeys! How Your Brain Connects with Your Body The brain-body connection works with a nifty little idea called a feedback loop. What's a feedback loop? It's a chain reaction of cause and effect. This means that how you feel will affect your body, but how your body feels will also impact your mind—a little bit of a 'What came first, the chicken or the egg?' situation. This is the link between your thoughts and feelings and your physical well-being. On the science side of this, scientists have discovered neural pathways between our cerebral cortex and the adrenal medulla, which floods our body with hormones as we take in mental and physical stimuli. What Impact Does the Brain-Body Connection Have on Your Life? You likely have way more examples of the brain-body connection wreaking havoc on your life than it being a force for good. Ever feel super nervous about an upcoming meeting and worryingly find your stomach grumbling? That's your stomach being affected by your emotional state. On the other hand, if you have been in pain, whether it's something as simple as stubbing your toe or something as big as nerve pain, you will likely be in a bad mood. Ways You Can Improve your Brain Body Connection: A Guide to Integrative Health "Hold on just a minute now; what is integrative health?" Integrative health is the combination of conventional, speak to your family doctor, medicine with complementary and alternative medicine—for example, homeopath, breathing exercises, yoga, acupuncture, and hypnosis. Remember: let your primary care physician know about any complementary and alternative medicines you're incorporating into your life. Some traditional medication does not play well with certain supplements. Integrative health aims to look at your whole body and mind; many patients find relief by incorporating these techniques into their lives. I firmly believe that how you breathe, what (and how!) you eat, move, and sleep are instrumental for lasting health. Let me introduce you to some of the pillars of my work as a health coach who works with doctors and nurses to support your mental and physical wellness: Diaphragmatic Breathing Your diaphragm, the dome-shaped muscle at the base of your lungs, is one of the most efficient muscles for breathing. Engaging your abdominal muscles move your diaphragm and helps you breathe in and out more deeply. These deep, belly breaths are an excellent way to relax, improve your lung capacity during exercise, increase the amount of oxygen in your blood, and reduce your heart rate and blood pressure. That's a lot of benefits for something as simple as breathing. Want to learn how to breathe using your diaphragm? Lie on a flat surface with your knees bent and put one hand on your upper chest and the other below your ribcage. Can you feel your diaphragm working as you breathe? Breathe in slowly through your nose and let your stomach expand, then exhale through pursed lips and feel your stomach move in. Restorative Sleep You'd think all sleep was restorative if you listened to video games. However, on those days when you wake up feeling groggy and tired, you know your sleep wasn't restorative. Over time, a lack of restorative sleep can negatively affect your mind and body. The number one way to try and get more restorative sleep is through improving your sleep hygiene. No, this doesn't mean you should move your morning shower to the evening. Instead, this somewhat confusing term refers to the sleep habits you keep. Maintaining a consistent sleep schedule, having a dark, quiet, and cool bedroom, and avoiding caffeine and screen time before bed all contribute positively to good, restorative sleep. Loving Movement Moving your body is a part of lasting, therapeutic health and positively improves the brain-body connection. This doesn't have to e running a mile around the block or hitting the gym after work. Adding movement into your day by taking the stairs, switching to walking meetings, or walking your dog all releases endorphins and boost your happiness hormones. Studies have even shown that exercises that play on our mind-body connection, such as balancing on an exercise ball, positively impact our ability to learn. Switch your officer chair for a balance ball to wow your boss at the next mid-year catch-up! Eating for Health (& Pleasure!) I greatly advocate using plant-based diets to feed your body and soul. For example, we have found a clear link between a plant-based diet being associated with less risk of heart disease. Not everyone wants to go fully vegan, but integrating plenty of whole grains, fruits, vegetables, and legumes into your diet will make your body happy and allow you to experiment with an entire world of delicious spices. Did you notice that I also mentioned the importance of eating for pleasure? This leads back to that brain-body link we talked about earlier. Eating for pleasure gives rocket fuel to your body and your mind. If you over-focus on nutrition, you may not experience the joy of eating. Believe it or not, eating for pleasure often leads to better eating decisions! Conclusion Does the brain have more of an impact on your body than you might have thought? I hope you learned something extra about feeding and fueling your body and mind to serve you better. Want to bust your stress levels and further build your resilience to whatever life throws you? Time to join my Yes! Movement over here. I can't wait to teach you more about restorative sleep and share my recipe of the month. It's toe-curlingly good this month! I greatly advocate using plant-based diets to feed your body and brain. For example, we have found a clear link between a plant-based diet being associated with less risk of heart disease, and a physician-formulated, US-patented blend of six all-natural ingredients that promote overall cardiovascular health. Follow me on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and visit my website for more info! Lisa Charles, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Lisa Charles is an Author Health and Life Transformational Trainer, Age Alignment Specialist, and Executive at Plant Based Science International (PBSI). Lisa helps corporate employees experience the brain-body connection by equipping them with the innovative tools to age gracefully, release stress, renew energy, restore sleep, and gain the mental clarity to live the life of their dreams. She is the CEO of Embrace Your Fitness, LLC and the Author of Yes! Commit. Do. Live.

Written by: Shannon Rose, Senior Level Executive Contributor Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise. Energy doesn’t lie. While you could buy all the fancy funnels and hire the ad experts, what if all you really needed to turn up the heat on your business strategy was to clean up your energy? “Energy is what we are made of, we all come from an energy source, the intangible layers of us that conduct everything.” ‒ Natalie Kehran Since the Pandemic, our world has begun to ask bigger, better and more curious questions ‒ about who we are, where we came from, how to cultivate more light and purge the darkness from our collective. As the day rises and the night falls, there will always be duality in our world. The way to ride the waves between the two, especially as a woman in business, is to learn the art of ‘Energetic Hygiene’. I recently sat down with Natalie Kehran to speak into this trending conversation among women in the online entrepreneurial community. As Natalie says: “we have the power of oneness ‒ everyone contributes to the collective,” and our businesses offer a unique opportunity for us to deliver on that. RICH Conversations is the podcast for raw, real and in-depth conversations between humans who are living, loving and leading from integrity for the new world and this was the space where Natalie and I dove into this topic. Personally, my journey to running a completely location independent business, originally from Australia and now residing, well, anywhere in the vastness of the vibrant soil of Europe, has been a completely unexpected energetic and spiritual journey HOME. Entrepreneurship is a spiritual journey where with every vulnerable edge you meet, every unhappy client and lessons learnt, a more mature, aware and embodied woman rises through the fog of unwinding all of what is no longer aligned. ‒ Shannon Rose Natalie, shares her “ journey is exactly as it was meant to be, in the exact time that it was meant to be I couldn't rush it or make it slow down, I could only surrender to it” Surrendering to Sisterhood Community supports our business, but not if seeing others win triggers you. In order for us to harness the power of sisterhood we must first come to terms with releasing the masculine paradigm that preaches ‘success means doing it alone and fighting your way to the top’. “It was isolating in the beginning, I felt so alone, it was scary and I felt like I had done something wrong, going against the grain. Now I feel really held in community, women thrive in community. We really really need each other.” Natalie shares. Through colonization, the grounded power of our village has been stripped away and replaced with ‘crabs in the bucket mindset’ and competitive actions among women, fueled by scarcity, fear and greed which has deepened the Sisterhood wounds that already run deep for so many women. The question then remains: How do we surrender to sisterhood and build energetic alignment for better business practices and abundance? When we see other women who have created what we desire, know that the mantra ‘if she can, I can’ has helped many of my clients to soften and lean into what often triggers them about seeing the money, love and freedoms flow through other women's business realities. Second, actively engage and put yourself in rooms with other women. Notice what arises for you in those spaces, do you avoid sharing your wins either big or small, do you overgive or hide? As you notice your default behaviors in those rooms, bring them to your Coach, to your Mentor to guide you in acknowledging and accepting what has risen to then be able to integrate and feel more confident in sisterhood and community. “We were created to birth together, bleed together, raise children together. We were taken away from each other and taught to be in competition and in jealousy of one another. You need to train yourself to feel safe around other women again.’ Your Body and Your Business To feel safe around others, is to feel safe within yourself. To feel safe within yourself is to pour clean energy into your business and clients. Everything is connected. For far too long we have been distracted by the shiny objects and view from the top, but what if the view from becoming wealthy through wholeness, was actually what you were designed to embody and express? And this was sacred to closing the gap between where you are now and where you want to be in business and in life? Can you surrender and let it become one? Can you begin by treating your physical body as the temple she is, never sacrificing time to fill her cup for a client call, live video or need you to have to chase something other than your complete energetic alignment? Imagine the creative pulse that will course through you, from that place. Imagine the magnetic ways in which you will write because you are nourished. Imagine how effortless serving your community will become and inviting others in to experience your work will be, from this place of stability. This is where women thrive in business, because business is ‘putting your passion and purpose into the world’. We thrive when we are aligned, alive and turned on, ready, open and in touch with what our personal definition of wealth is and we are living it. The question here is: How do we bring our body online to cultivate stability and magnetism in business? Integrating our greatest wounds and fears takes time, patience and compassion. And, what Natalie and I both agree on, is that it is often the most simple, fundamental rituals that alchemize the most safety and stability within our body. Practice deepening, not widening, your journaling, mediation, somatic movement, eating high vibration foods, ice baths and daily workouts that support where you are in your cycle. “Everything in this journey of coming home and doing business is about trusting yourself in every way that you can in the most loving and healing way possible”. Anchor the fundamental ways that nature intended for you to thrive, lean on sisterhood and allow your community and your voice to be the wind beneath your wings as you fuel your dreams with clean and aligned energy. Remember, you were made for this and no you don’t need the fancy funnels or ad expert, you have you and you are medicine for this world. WORDS SHANNON ROSE Follow Shannon on her Facebook and Instagram. Read more from Shannon! Shannon Rose, Senior Level Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Shannon Rose is Founder and CEO at The Word Distillery where bold voices and big visions are stewarded onto fresh stages in embodied ways. Her words have appeared in USA Today, Hollywood Digest, The Entrepreneur Magazine, MamaM!A, Elephant Journal, So Influential and many more, she is a Senior Columnist at Disrupt and Brainz Magazine. You can find Shannon travelling the world with her husband and 2 children as they explore all that this beautiful planet has to offer while running her location independent Mentoring and Media Company.

Written by: Courtney Tidona, Executive Contributor Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise. If you’ve ever caught yourself thinking you need a ton of followers to make some serious dough on Tiktok, or you’ve posting on Tiktok with little to no conversions, you’re going to want to jump on creating Tiktok Series! This one strategy has built the backbone to my business generating over 80K sales from Tiktok alone and it’s why Tiktok now has become my go to social media platform for signing over 85% of my clients in my online coaching business. Now if you’re newer to Tiktok and you’re like okay Courtney, what’s a Tiktok series? I got you! It’s essentially a collection of videos (usually long form talking videos) where you speak on a specific topic within your niche & industry. You can create a 5-part series, 10-part series, an ongoing series, the possibilities are endless! Creating series, is single handedly one of the best strategies I use and teach to my clients because of how extremely high converting they are. So before we dive into the how behind Tiktok Series, let’s first unpack why these videos are such a potent strategy They are easily digestible They drive traffic to your Tiktok profile which allows news faces to binge the rest of the series, catch up on previous videos in your series and scroll through your already existing content on your profile. They leave your audience with cliffhangers, keeping them coming back for more and hitting that follow button to stick around for the rest of the series. They are highly engaging and niche specific They position you as the expert, go to person and build a ton of trust. This is truly your time to shine in your zone of genius and show your audience you know your stuff! And for you as the creator: It allows you to stay consistent with your posting because you have topic that you’ve broken down into a series of videos. Every video is leading into the next, giving your content structure, clarity & intention. With the big push and focus on long form video content now on Tiktok, series favour comments & saves, which allows you to build an engaged community. Each series can be, and should be targeted to a specific offer or service in your business with Call to Actions (CTA) to engage, click the link in your bio, sign up, register or opt into your email list. You also want to get your audience engaged in your series by adding in a second CTA to ask your audiences opinion or get them to ask questions in the comments! Okay so now that we got that covered, let’s dive into the 5 different types of Tiktok Series I use and teach to my clients that have generated crazy results, sales and new leads! Some of these series are meant to convert and sell, while others are intentionally used to build trust, connection and community, but all of them will help you monetize your Tiktok! 1. Storytelling & Relationship Building Series This is a creative way to build connection & brand loyalty with your audience. Use this series to emotionally connect with your Tiktok audience, using CTA to build engagement, ask your audience’s opinion, get them to engage in the comments and be sure to always respond back to comments. Bonus points if you respond back or answer a comment with a video! You don’t want to be directly selling in this series. 2. High Niche Value/Tangible Win Series This series is meant to convert and sell your audience into a specific offer or service you have within your business. This is a great way to build your email list, get your audience to opt into a freebie or low ticket item and then nurture your audience through your email list to sell them into your mid ticket offer. CTA will be a combination of getting your audience to ask questions on the specific topic you are teaching on and CTA to direct your audience to the link into your profile where they can get more information on how to work with you. 3. Educational Series Another great series to convert your audience and build a ton of trust as you educate your audience and position yourself as the go to person for overcoming their pain point. Ask yourself: What pain point are you solving in your upcoming offer? What does your audience need to know before they buy? What education can you give them in this series to move them along in the buyer’s journey? CTA will be directing your audience to your profile to register, sign up or apply for your offer or service 4. Fun & Entertaining Series At the end of the day we are sold to all the time, which is why this type of series is meant to let your personality and personal brand come through. Your audience wants to be entertained and feel something when they land on your page aside from just being sold at 24/7. What are ways you can add fun into your industry that will make you stand out and make you memorable? 5. Polarizing Series We all know the best marketing has an opinion and polarizing content is another great way to call in the right leads and weed out the people that are not meant to be your future clients. Polarizing series allows you as an entrepreneur to really stand out, state your opinion and give your audience something to rally behind. CTA will definitely be focused on asking your audiences opinion, getting them involved in the series, making it a two way conversation. Additional CTA can be used to cross nurture your audience to other platforms where they can immerse themselves more into your world. (Ex: podcast, email list, YouTube channel, blog etc) So now you are set to start creating these high converting series on Tiktok to drive in more dream clients, land your next sale and convert your content into sold out offers. Just to give you an idea of how potent these are, I created a High Niche Value/ Tangible Win Series and on part 7 of my series, I had a video go ‘mini viral’ (7K views) which allowed me to then funnel 120 people on to my email list because they opted into a freebie. I then nurtured these new leads into my paying membership. I had 700 followers at the time! Ready to dive into deeper into monetizing your Tiktok? Jump into my 90 minute Masterclass Round the Clock Sales, where I’ll be teaching you how to create sales that work like clockwork! Ready to blow up your online business beyond just Tiktok? Apply to my 1:1 Coaching where we up level every area of your online business Follow me on Instagram and visit my website for more info! Courtney Tidona, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Courtney Tidona is a 3X Founder, former 6 Figure Personal Trainer and Network Marketer, now turned Business Coach helping women in the online space start, grow & scale their business. After years of hiding her voice, struggling with anxiety and trying to hustle her way to success by copying other women and sitting in comparison, Courtney has stepped into her Modern Day CEO energy and is helping other women do the same as they unapologetically show up as themselves and lean into a sustainable Modern Day Business.

Written by: Jorge Contreras, Executive Contributor Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise. “Air Bed and Breakfast” or Airbnb is a popular online platform where guests can rent other people’s properties. This amazing platform exists as a space-sharing model and is now becoming one of the most essential parts of modern travel. But don’t get me wrong, Airbnb is not only popular among travelers and “staycationers”. It has been the talk of real estate investors as well because of its earning potential for those looking to earn extra from their properties. But what if you don’t own a property and still want to be a host? Well, here’s everything you need to know about Airbnb and how to earn from it, even without owning property or spending too much money. How it all started Airbnb was created by two industrial designers named Brian Chesky and Joe Gebbia back in 2008. At this time, they had just recently moved to San Francisco and couldn't afford to pay rent for their apartment. They thought they could earn extra by renting out their space to people who couldn’t find hotels while attending nearby trade shows. They set up air mattresses in their loft’s living room and cooked homemade breakfast in the morning for their guests. This was the humble beginning of what is now one of the biggest online property-sharing platforms in the world. Surviving the pandemic However, a lot of things changed when the pandemic started, and it included travel as we knew it. Most people believed that Airbnb would not survive and that it would become another business casualty of a worldwide health crisis. But the complete opposite happened. In fact, Airbnb has now become the future of travel for people looking for places to stay longer while on vacation. This is because most employees transitioned to working remotely and this setup allowed them to travel and work at the same time. Why people prefer Airbnb over hotels Not surprisingly, the pandemic has added doubts to people who want to start their own Airbnb business. Some folks think that this boost is just temporary and that the space-sharing platform will be gone as people will always prefer hotels over Airbnbs. But that is far from what is currently happening. In fact, here are 3 reasons why most people prefer Airbnbs over hotels. 1. Airbnb will let you travel with more people at a fraction of the cost. So let’s say you’re traveling with your whole family or a group of more than 10 people. While staying in a hotel can be an option, it’s basically impractical. You’ll be staying in separate rooms, so you’ll get less time to interact with your group, plus you’ll incur additional costs per room. However, with Airbnb, you can book a whole house with, let’s say 5 bedrooms and it will allow your entire family to stay under one roof. You can also cook and make breakfast together and have a much better experience at a lower price. You cannot have this kind of experience in a hotel. 2. Airbnb will let you enjoy amenities you won’t find in hotels. Some hotels have pools that you can use. However, you may not want to share it with others for health and safety reasons. Well, with Airbnb, you can just choose a property with a pool and you’ll enjoy it for yourself. You may even find places with a foosball table, a game room, arcades, and other amenities you can enjoy with your family. Some properties will also allow you to interact with the locals for an even more authentic experience. 3. Airbnbs will let you have more privacy. Imagine your family traveling to places together, staying under one roof, grilling by the poolside, and just enjoying your stay without having to share it with anybody else. Well, these kinds of personalized experiences are exactly why people prefer Airbnb over hotels. And now that staycations are becoming more and more popular, it’s safe to say that Airbnb is not going anywhere. So if you’re thinking about tapping into this business platform, we have tips to get you started. Setting up an Airbnb business Did you know that Airbnb hosts make about $13,800 a month on average? Of course, that’s still dependent on the kind of property they have, where they’re located, and the kind of amenities they provide – but this is still a good number. And if you have a property you don’t use or you have extra money you can spend as capital, setting up your own Airbnb business can be easier. However, in my years of experience as an Airbnb coach, I have met more people who don’t own properties or have bought one to start. Now, if this is you, just know that there are strategies to help you set up your business without necessarily having to buy or own properties. Subleasing is where you get in contact with a landlord and ask them if you can utilize their property as a short-term rental. With this strategy, you can rent the property on a 12-month lease, create a signed legal agreement that says you have permission to use the property as a short-term rental, and furnish it so you can launch it on Airbnb. Co-hosting is where you manage other people’s property. To be successful with this strategy, you need to learn the basics of managing the business first, and then you offer your services to hosts. The best thing about this method is that it will allow you to earn without actually having to put out money as capital. How to make your Airbnb business work Now both the Subleasing and Cohosting methods allow you to launch an Airbnb business without owning properties and ultimately earn passive income. But these strategies, as easy as they sound, need you to have the right kind of knowledge and experience so you can make them work. If you’re not confident about what you need to know, we’ve listed 4 of the most important things to give you an idea. 1. Contracts and Agreements You need to manage other people’s properties for both the Subleasing and Cohosting strategies. This may cause legal battles if not done right, so you really need to put things in black and white. For Subleasing, you need to have an agreement with your landlord that says you can rent their property for a period of time and use it as a short-term rental on Airbnb. Your agreement needs to show that they are aware of this and that they will allow you to change the property locks for the whole period. For Cohosting, you need to have a contract that clearly shows your role during the whole cohosting deal. Which part of the business are you managing? How much is the compensation? And how long will the contract last? You should check these important elements before you and the owner sign the paper. 2. Finding the right property in the right area One of the most challenging parts of starting an Airbnb business is the acquisition phase, where you find properties to launch. Not all spaces are created equal, so you need to know how to find the perfect one for your business. For Subleasing, you need to go for properties that are within your budget, in cities that allow short-term rentals, and have amenities like heating, cooling, and even a parking lot for 2. You can read more about the subleasing strategy here. For Cohosting, you can help new hosts find suitable properties for them too. If you know real estate agents or you’re a real estate agent yourself, you can offer your services and earn in return. 3. Learning how to talk to landlords Learning how to talk to landlords is a handy skill to have. And it is essential, especially if you’re looking to start with the Subleasing strategy, because you’re going to ask landlords if you can use their properties as short-term rentals. If you want to be a Co-host, you can also learn this skill and help newbie entrepreneurs find properties so they can start their sublease. 4. Managing properties Now, this is important know-how not only for Cohosts but also for those who want to Sublease. Knowing the ins and outs of how to properly manage and schedule your cleaning and maintenance crew, learning the ropes of communicating with them, and basically overseeing the whole Airbnb operation without pulling your hair out in stress is a great skill you must learn if you want to work on the business and grow it. Overall, you must learn not only to manage your properties but to delegate and automate your systems and processes too. So you see, Airbnb is an excellent space-sharing platform for guests looking for a place to stay and hosts who want to make passive income on the side. And now, with strategies to help you launch even without owning properties, you can now set up your business faster than before. If you want to learn more, feel free to download and check out our free training guide here so you can get your Airbnb business started from scratch in no time. Follow me on Instagram, YouTube, Podcast, and visit my website for more info! Read more from Jorge! Jorge Contreras, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine From poverty to a million-dollar business, Jorge Contreras is a real estate investor and coach. He started his real estate journey over 10 years ago, and he launched his Airbnb business 5 years ago. Before that, Jorge was overworked and underpaid. He barely had time to spend with his family, and his business wasn't exactly thriving. Once he got into real estate, he realized the potential, especially with Airbnb and short-term rentals. When he became a millionaire before the age of 30, he decided to share his knowledge with all the people who have the need to spend more time with their families and less time working. Jorge has already helped over 3000+ people reach their goals with Airbnb.

Written by: Brad Bizjack, Executive Contributor Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise. If you want 6-figure success and to become a true high-performer, you need to learn to live your life proactively instead of in reactivity. Living your life in a constant state of reaction means you'll never get ahead. In fact, you'll find yourself stuck in a 2-steps forward, 3-steps back dance. Why? Because living your life in constant reaction throws your mental doors wide open to overwhelming burnout, a feeling of constantly being behind, and, worst of all, stories. To those who live life in a state of reaction, those stories will sound something like, "It's all on my shoulders," and "I never have enough time," or they'll look to others with success and think they have it easier. And because there's no true way to get ahead while living in a state of reaction, let alone feel fulfillment or happiness, those same stories will double down into your subconscious mind having been proved "right." This means the success you seek will be even farther out of your grasp than it was, to begin with. So how do you stop living your life in reaction? The first step, as is most, is to acknowledge it. Rather than ignore or deny the reactive state you'd been living in, allow yourself to recognize and accept your previous actions and give yourself the grace to move on. The next step is to commit to living your life proactively, or in other words, to intentionally live your life as a direct reflection of where you want to go. Living in this state allows the baggage of stress, overwhelm, and that tireless 2-steps forward, 3-steps back dance to fade away because you've chosen to give your full focus and energy to what sets your heart on fire. Successful 6-figure high-performers live their lives proactively. They also know that the best way to add rocket fuel to their fire is to completely immerse themselves in an environment and culture that shares their passion and goals. Lucky for you, the opportunity to change your lifestyle from reactive to proactive and immerse yourself in an environment purposefully designed to blast you off to 6-figure success right around the corner! The Success Accelerator: A 5-Day Mindset Challenge, begins on Monday, October 10th and it's completely free to join! The Success Accelerator has helped tens of thousands of people identify the exact path they need to take to achieve sustainable success faster. This is the sign you've been waiting for. The opportunity to transform your life for the better without working more hours and 10x your level of success! Claim your spot today and prepare to learn, grow, and empower yourself as you've never experienced before, all alongside a group of like-minded, hungry individuals who have the courage to go after their 6-figure dreams with their all and who will push you to do the same. Join The Success Accelerator, and you’ll discover to narrow your focus, say no to things that don't serve you, and increase your daily energy so you can accelerate toward your dreams faster than ever before. Follow me on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and visit my website for more info! Read more from Brad! Brad Bizjack, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Brad Bizjack is a personal development expert, mindset strategist, coach, inspirational speaker, and podcast host with over 9 years of coaching experience. He's coached over 10,000 people in the area of personal development and human potential. His mission is to help people maximize their life, master their mindsets, and elevate their relationships and career to the next level and beyond! Brad is happily married to his beautiful wife, Janiece. They reside in the Lakeview neighborhood of Chicago and have a little girl named Lillian and a dog named Oliver.

Written by: Vivien Roggero, Executive Contributor Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise. Freedom is an essential component of personal development. The Freedom to explore, innovate, and create are drivers of individual growth and the creation of a healthy and prosperous us. With it, we can indeed be ourselves, which is essential for happiness, joy, and success. We all want to reach happiness, joy, a particular form of success and Freedom in our life. But achieving those requires us to understand what they are for us as they are unique and different. We can identify what they are for us and our path to reach them through self-awareness. In this article, let me explore the connection between Freedom and personal development and what it means to be free. What is commonly known as personal development? Personal development is your transition in life through your growth. It has five main areas of development: physical, mental, emotional, social, and spiritual. It is all about owning yourself, improving your skills, learning new ones, refining what you have been told before, and developing strength & talents. It would be best if you had everything to go through the different stages of your life and reach an authentic life of happiness, joy, success & Freedom. Interestingly, personal development refers to your highest & most harmonious development powers, which is about fully developing your abilities. Personal development is a conscious effort, and it is something that we need to own consciously. But to do that, first, we need to understand what it is for us. Let's put this in the open right now. One of the first things we are looking for is Freedom: we all want to be free. And it is instrumental to personal development. But Freedom is not doing whatever we want, whenever we want. Freedom is a conscious choice of consistently doing things that make us free. Freedom is not living on the edge of the cliff, it is about walking the right path. What are the fundamentals needed for effective personal development? Personal development is a significant factor in your overall well-being and improvement. It does not take much to kick-start your personal development journey. Here are some fundamentals steps of personal development: You need to have a clear vision across all aspects of life. Live consciously and have self-awareness. Being comfortable in being authentic yourself. Deliberate learning for your growth. Gradual and small changes in your habits & life. Those growth fundamentals are also crucial to understanding and building your Freedom. And the sooner you start with them, the sooner you'll see growth in yourself & your life. Also, you have to remember Freedom means you're the ruler of your inner kingdom. Without it, personal development is limited. What does it mean to be free? Being free means the ability to choose; Freedom is about making choices that empower us and bring us growth. It means no one can hold you back, no one can own you, and you're not confined by the limits others put on you. For me, it means I'm limitless, and I'm free to be myself. When you have Freedom, you're the maker of your own life. Everything you do or that happens to you is because of your own decisions. Freedom lets you do what you want, live an honourable life, build relationships, and live your authentic life by your rules. That's the worth of being free. Freedom at the core of your personal development: Like personal development, Freedom has areas, and the high-level ones are the same. You can be free physically, mentally, emotionally, socially and spiritually. And all those five major areas can then be drilled deeper into smaller areas, such as family, friendship, society, work, etc. So how can you grow your Freedom without being overwhelmed? First, you must understand that Freedom is a composition of smaller Freedoms area in your life. That you reach by focusing on what makes you feel free. Still overwhelming, I guess. While I was looking at the complexity of understanding my own personal Freedom and applying that knowledge to create a life of Freedom, Wealth, Joy, and Success, it became clear to me that I and everyone could benefit from a roadmap. That's why I created the One Freedom™ framework. The One Freedom™ framework guides people to understand what Freedom is for them and how they build their lives around it. It is a tool for consciously choosing what we need in our lives to fulfil our Freedom and how to remove what is detrimental to it. The One Freedom™ framework is built around five core principles summarised in the acronym R.E.A.D.Y.: Release, Explore, Audit, Decide, Why? I chose the word R.E.A.D.Y because this framework is about getting you ready to create your True life. The release is about releasing your baggage about what you think Freedom is. Explore is all focused on exploring what Freedom could be for you. Audit is about auditing your current life and comparing it to your actual life. Decide, that is when things get real, and you start deciding what to implement and when. Lastly, "Why?" is the universal question. Why do you need Freedom? Why is this your action plan? Those are the questions that you need to answer so you can ensure you will have an anchor when you are facing challenges. So how do you start your journey in personal development? If we are speaking of personal development in the global sense, then one of the first things you need to work on is awareness. First and foremost, you need to understand yourself, know your achievements & successes, things you need to work on, bad habits, goals or desires, and everything that affects you. In a nutshell, you need to understand the world around you and how you react to that world. Journaling In my view, one of the best ways to work on it is by journaling. Journaling is a powerful tool that lets you put your feelings and emotions on paper, allowing you to go deep inside yourself and understand yourself better. From there, you will know where you want to go. I would suggest getting some goals on paper. If you have those goals, you know where you want to go. Now you can draw the road from where you are to where you want to be. But goals need to be specific and realistic. They must be big enough that they excite you. But it is great to break them into smaller chunks and track your progress accordingly. If goals are too big, you will not be able to reach them, and you will be exhausted and demotivated. Overcome Your Fears Another way to start this life-changing journey is to overcome your fears. If you fear taking risks and trying new things, counter them by doing the things you might be uncomfortable doing to grow and learn. The experiences you get will build your confidence and improve your decision-making skills. Learn new skills Furthermore, expand your knowledge and learn some new skills. Set a goal of reading one article a day, one book a month, or learning a new language. This step will stimulate your mind. Meditate Additionally, start meditating to focus on your goals and self-progress healthily and calmly. Get a Life Coach Last but not least, get a life coach to accelerate your development journey. If you're still confused and need help identifying the ways, a professional life coach will guide you and help you to get started on this life-changing journey to being happy and free. Reminder: Good habits take time to build The personal development process is a lifelong process. You've to keep moving consistently and take action daily. To grow to those goals, you will need to create new habits. These new habits will be built day by day. They will not be like an on/off switch; you turn them on one day and, boom, have all the proper new habits. That's not how habits work. So if you want to build habits, you must remember the following. You must know which habit you want to change, which you want to add, and which you wish to remove. Removing a habit by itself is nearly impossible. Because we are used to having those habits for a long time already. As we are used to those habits deeply ingrained into us, we first need to replace them. Please find a new habit, put it there to replace the other one, and fade the old one away. If you have extreme confidence in yourself and your ability to change, delete it immediately. But with some years of experience in that field, I can tell you that most people who do that will get the habit back. A good example is people who try to quit smoking. Now, we all know habits take time to develop. You won't be able to say, "yesterday I created a new habit. It is done". It takes several months to root properly into our subconscious and body so that it becomes effortless. It would be best if you stayed committed with the determination toward self-growth and your true life. That's also a part of The One Freedom™ framework to teach you how to change habits and use the compound effect of those changes daily. (Spoiler, this is fantastically done through habit stacking. You need to queue and stack routines to make those valuable changes compound effortlessly.) Conclusion The road to your true life and Freedom is unique for each of us. But living your true life, a life of Freedom, Joy, Wealth, and Success, is worth it. Therefore, it's time to make a decision and start the first step. Remember that Freedom means you're the ruler of your own life. Until you realize that, you can never be free. Freedom is vital for a happy, healthy life as it empowers you to make the right choices, follow your path, strive for a much better life, live life without fear, and have power over yourself. Everyone has a uniquely personal path; your responsibility is to follow it. It is up to you to decide everything in your life because you have the Freedom of choice! Ready to build your true life of Freedom, Joy, Wealth, and Success? Jumpstart your new life today. Out with the old and in with being empowered! Are you interested in discovering YOUR unique FREEDOM to create your true life? Click here to apply for your FREE Freedom Call. Want to learn more about the power of a Freedom-centric life? Follow me on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and visit my website for more info! Read more from Vivien! Vivien Roggero, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Vivien Roggero is a certified Executive & Empowerment Coach and Entrepreneur. After 15 years of professional journey, expanding from Sales to IT Executive in some world-class startups’, losing his father to COVID, and going through a high-conflict divorce, he decided to dedicate his life to empowering people so they can live a fulfilling life. Those experiences also inspired him to create the One Freedom™ Framework, freedom and purpose-centric approach to life that helps his clients to accelerate their life design process and sculpt growth. His focus is to help clients who feel stuck in their professional or personal journeys or find struggles to re-navigate life after major life-changing events.

Written by: Louise Siwicki , Executive Contributor Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise. How do our emotions affect our hormonal health and our fertility? Emotions & Hormonal health. Emotions such as stress, anxiety, fear, and constant worry can affect our hormonal status and cause conception difficulty and even lead to infertility issues. Emotions & infertility Our human body uses 50 hormones to regulate different systems and bodily functions, and this also includes a number of hormones that help regulate the development and release of the female reproductive cells or eggs. Emotions such as stress, anxiety, fear and constant worry are typical emotions that the majority of women (and men) experience during the journey of trying to conceive. These emotions cause a hormonal reaction and create an imbalance within the body and the reproductive system. This, in turn, contributes to an environment that is not conducive to conceiving and, as a result, can make conception difficult and lead to infertility issues. Emotions are linked to hormone production Our thoughts and emotions are directly linked to hormone production as they influence our endocrine, immune and nervous systems. This directly affects our hormonal balance in the body. In the book “Your Body’s Many Cries for Water,” F. Batmanghelidj states that “emotions are biochemical reactions in the brain.” These biochemical reactions influence our brain waves, blood vessels, heart rate, and breathing. This, in return, affects glands that control our hormones. Emotional energy Thoughts and emotions are influenced by many different things, including patterns of thinking, our beliefs, our parents and other people in our life, our physical environment and even the type of food we eat. Dr. Frank Lipman explains that” Emotions are not limited to the brain.” In fact, there are over 100 types of emotions that exist in the body. These emotions stem from an energy called “EMOTIONAL ENERGY.” This type of energy is what we have within our bodies and it’s a form of energy that is being produced through our nervous system, which directly affects hormone balance. The mind, body connection is not a new concept. Most will understand the mind has to influence the body and vice versa. However, it is critical to consider your health holistically at this important stage of life. Mental health is essential, and we need to give consideration to what our thoughts are really doing to our bodies and our fertility. If you are currently considering trying to conceive, are currently on the journey, have been diagnosed with infertility or secondary infertility, or have suffered a miscarriage, your mental health and mindset are crucial in moving you forward on your journey to becoming a mother. Follow me on Facebook , Instagram , LinkedIn , and visit my website for more info! Read more from Louise! Louise Siwicki, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Louise Siwicki is a specialist in the fields of Neuro-Linguistic Programming, Time Line Therapy®, Hypnotherapy, and Fertility Coaching, expert. She offers specialized programs for both women and men suffering infertility issues through pregnancy and early parenthood. She uses different practical processes and techniques to rewire the brain of her clients and build new neural pathways. This eliminates and heals the root cause of stress and anxiety, the negative emotions and limiting beliefs holding them back from achieving the success and happiness they desire in life. After suffering through 6 years of infertility issues herself, she has since dedicated her life to supporting women and men through this very challenging time in their lives. She is the founder and CEO of “Louise Siwicki Coaching,” author of "The Secret to Getting Pregnant is not Just in Your Body but in Your Mind" and a public speaker. Her mission: To help everyone understand the importance of the mind and body connection. If you don’t master your mind, your mind will master you.

Nick Palladino-King (IG: @nickpalladinoking) is the Co-founder and CEO of Tribe, a San Francisco based wellness company founded on the holistic health philosophy he calls “Complete Health and Wellness.” Tribe is a leading wellness company in the Bay Area focused on inspiring leadership and health in individuals and companies. Nick is a conscious coach and mentor, with deep knowledge and understanding of physical, emotional, mental and spiritual well-being. His breath of knowledge in these fields comes from over 15 years of studying and training with master teachers in movement, mindfulness, meditation and yogic philosophy and practices. Nick is known as a “coaches’ coach” and sought after for his honesty, ability to hold nonjudgmental space, and transformational and healing presence. He coaches world-class athletes, CEOs, wellness entrepreneurs and consciousness leaders worldwide. Nick Palladino-King, Coach and Mentor Introduce yourself! Please tell us about you and your life, so we can get to know you better. I am Nick Palladino-King. As a former corporate manager and college athlete, Nick has walked the challenging path of living with chronic stress, frustration and unreasonable self-expectations. Through his dedication to personal and spiritual growth, he has transformed his pains and hardships to now inspire and move others toward more health, happiness and purpose. Nick is the co-host of the “Conscious Conversations” podcast and the co-founder of Tribe, San Francisco’s premier fitness and yoga company. His biggest passions live in the world of teaching wellness, stress management, self-transformation and conscious leadership. In his personal life, Nick is an avid exerciser, student of life, and lover of scotch and pizza. Nick currently lives in San Francisco, with his wife Emily. They one day dream of owning a french bulldog and living in Europe together. What is your business name and how do you help your clients? Nick Palladino, Coach and Mentor. I coach leaders who want to bring passion, purpose and prosperity into their lives in order to elevate the consciousness of the planet. What kind of audience do you target your business towards? Conscious Leaders who are seeking to have a more positive impact on their businesses and communities. Tell us about your greatest career achievement so far. Building multiple 6-figure wellness and coaching businesses that create positive impact in my life, in my community and in the world. If you could change one thing about your industry, what would it be and why? I see the coaching business as being set up backwards, meaning that the paradigm being presented is that the "clients are broken" and need the help of coaches to be fixed. I believe the narrative can shift to "clients are perfect" and they hire coaches so they can remember this and lead from wholeness. Tell us about a pivotal moment in your life that brought you to where you are today. In my mid-20s I was mugged by three men while coming home from a business meeting. The event changed my life forever and forced me to ask myself this question: "Would my life have been worth it if I had died?". The answer was a resounding no. This answer led me to leave my corporate career and pursue a life filled with passion and purpose which eventually led me to coaching and teaching others how to create life on their own terms. Follow me on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and visit my website for more info! Read more from Nick!