I decided to do another “story” episode today, becauseLisa Mitchell has such a unique story. These podcasts take much longer to produce, not just from an editing standpoint, although that's where the bulk of the time is spent, but from a writing standpoint as well.
To help demonstrate the work that goes into a show like today's I've made the transcript from today's show available as it was edited and read by me.
Be sure to check out Lisa's website at PowerBodyLanguage.com.
Before I start the show today, A quick note of thanks goes out to Jonathon Perrelli. Jonathon is the founder of Startupland.TV and he approved the use of the audio snippets you’ll hear on this show. You’ll learn more about Startupland later in the podcast, but for now, if you want to learn more head over to Startupland.TV.
Thanks again Jonathon. Now on with the show.
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Hello and Welcome BACK to the BRAND new you show. THE podcast dedicated to helping you build your brand.
We meet here each week to learn how building your brand can help grow your influence, amplify your reputation and ultimately impact your career.
I’m your host Ryan Rhoten and today’s guest embodies a lot of the “things” we’ve discussed since the start of this podcast.
You see becoming a brand new version of yourself takes courage, perseverance and a lot of hard work on your part.
This is especially true if the new version you see for yourself is to become an entrepreneur.
In the news, we always hear about the widely successful entrepreneur’s and all the money they’ve just made because they sold their business or their product is now the hottest thing on the planet.
When this happens the news reports almost always make us think the entrepreneur is an overnight success.
[INSERT NO OVERNIGHT SUCCESSES SNIPPET] – This is the name I gave the audio file I wanted to insert here.
We all know, or at least, I hope the listeners to this podcast know, that there’s no such thing as an overnight success. In the words of Dwayne Johnson, also known as the rock, it takes blood, sweat, and respect. The first two you give, the last one you earn.
Yet many people still think to themselves when they see a news clip about an entrepreneur who has made it big, “man are they lucky” or maybe even, “I could’ve done that.”
But the truth is we didn’t. We didn’t because, unlike the entrepreneur whose name is now all over the news, we decided not to take action.
Taking action is one of the core tenants of becoming a brand new you. Why do we choose to not take action? Simply put because action requires change and change is hard, especially if that change involves you taking the entrepreneurial path.
Our guest today agrees:
LISA [27:23 – 27:31]
To get these times, I first did a rough edit. In this way, when I assembled the final product, I would be able to quickly find the location of the audio I needed for this particular spot in the story.
Lisa Mitchell is an entrepreneur and the founder of Power Body Language.com.
Nelson Mandela once said,
“Do not judge me by my successes, judge me by how many times I fell down and got back up again.”
Lisa has fallen down more than once but she got back up again and again and somehow managed to continue moving forward.
And while Today, Lisa is a certified body language trainer and non-verbal skills expert, this wasn’t always the case. In fact, Lisa’s story is very typical for many entrepreneurs and her story offers so many great lessons for us all.
These lessons can be applied in our quest to becoming a brand new version of ourselves but as I've already said they don’t come easy or without a struggle.
On today’s show we’re going to hear all about the real struggles of an entrepreneur and the toll it can take on you physically and mentally but before we get there
You know I had to ask Lisa where she would vacation if should choose only one place for the rest of her vacation days.
LISA [2:25 – 3:19] – Go through as a transition. (Note to me here during the editing process)
Lisa learned her craft the Science of People, a human behavior Research Lab based in Portland, Oregon.
Now at power body language, Lisa helps entrepreneurs master their first impression, increase their influence and communicate with confidence through the power of body language and non-verbal skills.
And yes, I did say I did say non-verbal skills but if you’re thinking this means today’s podcast will be 40 minutes of silence, you’d be wrong I think. Right Lisa?
LISA [1:42 – 1:57]
I agree with Lisa, it is easy to play along with and get a good picture in your head of these non-verbal techniques and we’ll talk through one very important non-verbal form of communication a little later.
Like so many of us, Lisa didn’t set out to be a body language and non-verbal skills coach.
In fact, she started her career like many of us do in a corporate position.
LISA [3:40 – 4:18]
Did you notice Lisa said she had the opportunity to “serve” her customers? She didn’t say deal with them. It takes a completely different mindset to serve someone vs. dealing with them. This mindset serves her well throughout her career journey.
Because she was working in a call center type environment I wondered if this provided her with any skills she would later use in the areas of sales and/or the ability to read people if you will.
LISA [4:24 – 4:39]
Lisa recognized early on that this type of sales position was not “in her wheelhouse” if you will, but I wondered if this position and her acknowledgment of this non-skill gave have her any insight into how she should be contributing to the world as a whole.
LISA [4:54 – 5:09]
Like many of us, Lisa wasn’t thinking about starting businesses or finding work that matters when started working in the real world. Instead, she approached her corporate career using the same old school formula that many of us do.
Lisa explains.
LISA [5:09 – 5:24]
Originally. According to the internet, Originally means from or in the beginning, at first. This implies at some point there was a change, which we’ve referred to many times on this podcast as an inciting incident, borrowing the phrase from Donald Miller’s book, A million miles in a thousand years.
I asked Lisa what changed for her?
LISA [6:40 – 7:53]
As we learn, we become confident. As we learn more, we begin to change our mindset. Through the process of education, Lisa was beginning to see maybe for the first time, that her destiny waited for her outside the four walls of the corporate environment.
So I asked her, what was her first entrepreneurial venture?
LISA [8:03 – 8:21]
Wow. Talk about what must be one of the most difficult businesses to get started in. And because the restaurant business can be so demanding, I mean people need their coffee, I wanted to know if Lisa leaned into the business as Danny Flood and I discussed in show 52, or if she dropped everything and dove right in.
LISA [8:42 – 9:24]
Ok, she’s going to lean in to get the foundation in place, then give her company the obligatory two-week notice and that’s when the first curveball came Lisa’s way…
LISA [9:24 – 10:00] – Add [10:14 – 10:19] then [10:02] what could go wrong. – I combined a couple of audio clips here.
TRANSITION – This reminds me to have a few seconds of music play as a break for a transition to another topic.
Let’s recap. Lisa, the mother of a one-year-old daughter, has decided to take a promotion at her day job and run a brick and mortar business by way of a coffee house, on the side.
I wondered what her day was like.
LISA [10:45 – 10:55]
Wow. And I thought my day was busy. How many of you listening think you could handle all the responsibilities and long hours that come with holding down a full-time job and running a, essentially what was a second full-time job?
It was difficult for me to comprehend, yet so many entrepreneurs do this exact same thing. This is the non-glamours part of entrepreneurship that we generally don;t hear anything about.
[INSERT RUNNING A STARTUP IS HARD] – This is the first clip of audio from the Startupland.tv introductory video.
The hustle, the drive, the long hours and the balancing act of keeping it all together. I asked Lisa how she able to do it all during this period.
She explains.
LISA [11:01 – 11:51]
Sheer desperation. I …..can only imagine what it would be like to try and keep all of those balls up in the air. I paused her story here for just a minute because I wanted to know, what lessons from this period of her journey would she take with her into her next entrepreneurial journey. And yes, despite the desperation there would be a next venture but we’ll get into that in a little bit.
LISA [12:17 – 12:43]
Going back to the coffee shop, you can probably sense that Lisa has started to realize the business wasn’t going to work out. Knowing she had poured her blood, sweat, and tears into this business, I asked her how difficult was the decision to close the coffee shop.
LISA [13:13 – 15:54] Include both of us.
While the decision to close may seem obvious to you as you listen to this podcast, when you're in the throws of it, you’re only thoughts are how do I keep this going.
Lisa was no exception. Many of her decisions at this time, as she already stated were from sheer desperation. Trying to keep the shop open and provide for her extended family.
I didn’t fully understand the depth of her desperation during this time until I commented on her ability to understand herself well enough to know that something had to give. Here’s what she had to say about that.
LISA [16:21 – 17:26]
TRANSITION
I can only image the emotions Lisa must have felt when she hit the metaphorical bottom. The coffee shop is gone, extended family members out of work. I found myself thinking what do you do next? Where does someone go from this point? Then I remembered that during all of this emotional strife, Lisa was still working a full-time day job.
LISA [17:48 – 18:36]
Not going to do that again. From the words, it sounded like the experience had changed her, made her believe that maybe the corporate world was her path and that being an entrepreneur maybe wasn’t for her. so I asked her about it.
LISA [18:45 – 19:08]
Clearly the failure of the business impacted Lisa and her mindset. She’s decided to take her ball and go back to the “safety” of the corporate world. However knowing where she is today, I needed to know what was it that made her decide to try being an entrepreneur again.
LISA [19:31 – 20:14]
How many of feel that way? You’re good at your job, so good in fact you’re bored. You’re not being challenged at work and you feel like you’re not really adding any value. Gallup, the company that runs the Strengths Finder test, would probably refer to Lisa as a disengaged employee.
So I asked Lisa if you know this about yourself and you’re having these feelings of not adding value, how do you get yourself out of that?
LISA [20:45 – 21:37]
Wanting to learn again. This sounds so similar to Natasha Davis’ story from show 56. Natasha, if you’ll recall, also felt this same way. She was good at her job but it wasn’t fulfilling her, she needed something else.
I can relate to both Lisa and Natasha in this regard. In fact, this podcast is the result of me taking action and seeking out knowledge. Once we, you, me all of us, decide to do that, to take action, to explore and see what else is out there we almost always find someone online who’s been there done that.
Someone to look up to and emulate.
For me, that person was Pat Flynn. Pat runs the smart passive income blog and podcast. If you’ve never heard of Pat or listened to his podcast I highly recommend you check him out.
I asked Lisa if she found anyone online that really spoke to her.
LISA [22:11 – 23:12]
So Lisa was learning and immersing herself into Chalene’s community and “getting some knowledge” as Natasha said, but she also decided to do something that a lot of people don;t do.
She invested in herself by purchasing an online course from Chalene. Lisa told me about how that decision came about.
LISA [23:23 – 25:57]
TRANSITION
At this point, Lisa is starting to feel confident again. She has a framework for success and the tools to make it happen. But she doesn't have a “thing” to apply any of it.
I think many of us get to this point. We struggle with want to do next or how to apply our skills in a meaningful manner. Hoping for a magic bullet, I asked Lisa how did she determine what her thing is.
LISA [26:03 – 26:35]
Plugging things in and road testing them. This is an important distinction and a defining characteristic for Lisa and other entrepreneurs I‘ve spoken with. She kept trying new things.
In search of that one “something” that she can apply her new-found skills to in order to contribute in a more meaningful way.
I asked Lisa if she felt the entrepreneurial spirit starting to come back
LISA: [26:58 –
This is something I’ve heard a lot. Pat Flynn was the first person I heard it from. We all have gifts, something this is uniquely ours and that someone else needs.
Once we discover that what that something is, it becomes our obligation to share it
because if we don’t, we do a disservice to ourselves and others. Lisa clearly had this part figured out but she was still searching for what that might be. So I asked how did she go from searching to discovering.
LISA [28:17 – 29:32]
There are so many things happening there. Lisa has decided to dive-in this time with no backup plan. We could debate all day on the merits of this decision, but for Lisa, it was the right decision.
The severance package, in addition to coming at the right time, served as the push off the cliff she needed to go find her thing.
Everything that is happening to Lisa at this point, the decision to start following Chalene, to invest in herself through the online course, her day job not being challenging enough, and the severance package all remind of a quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson.
“Once you make a decision, the universe conspires to make it happen.”
I can see this quote playing out in vivid color at this point in Lisa’s story. This trend continues as she decides to attend a conference local conference, called Fail Fast. Turns out, this would be a pivotal decision for her.
LISA [28:59 – 29:33]
Intrigued, I wanted to learn more about this conference, You did say it was a conference right?
LISA [29:43 – 30:20]
Follow me here. Lisa decides to attend a conference where she hears a man speak on his business failures.
She reaches out to him via LinkedIn not to ask for anything but tell him how much his message resonated with her. Turns out, they both know of each from “past lives”. It really is a small world.
As they reconnected, Lisa learned about his business, which was about empowering and educating entrepreneurs in the start-up space.
Do you see the universe coming together here?
Sensing something in her voice, I asked Lisa if this gentleman kind of became a mentor for her after that event?
LISA [30:35 – 31:28]
[insert snippet 3 [:21 – :50] and snippet [:13 (music only –
Just as Lisa described it, Startupland is a documentary film founded by Jonathon Perrelli. It follows 5 startup CEOs on their journey through a 12-week tech accelerator. The film captures the highs and lows of their experiences including the nitty gritty stuff that if often never seen by the public.
Startupland is also a 6-part documentary series, an online learning platform and a social innovation program and workshops. You can learn more at Startupland.tv
pick up snippet about how tough it is: 54]
So Lisa begins working on the Startupland project and for some reason, I was curious to know if this was a paid position. Remember she jumped off the cliff this time with no backup plan and only a severance package to sustain her.
LISA [31:33 – 32:50]
If you remember back to my interview with Dorie Clark, she noted way back then that one way to gain skills or experiences is to take on an internship…for all of the very same reasons Lisa spoke about.
But even better than the experience, which I’m not discounting at all, Lisa was actually changing her circles. She was surrounding herself with people who can help take her to where she was learning she wanted to be.
She was also starting to zero in on what her thing might look like, which became very clear to her after watching several entrepreneurs pitch their products or services.
I asked her if she remembered the Ah HA moment or experience that lead to consider becoming a pitch coach.
LISA [33:32 – 34:22]
[INSERT SNIPPET AUDIO ABOUT PITCH DECKS]
So how do we go from watching people make poor pitches, as a part of her responsibilities with Startupland to founding her company power body language?
LISA [34:35 – 35:30]
As Lisa and I spoke, both during this interview and before I hit record, I was really starting to see the value in understanding the power of body language but I was very curious to understand how Lisa even found out about the discipline in the first place?
LISA [35:40 – 36:05]
TRANSITION
So we’ve come full circle. Lisa has positioned herself through action and decisions she’s made to find herself in this place where people really needed help in an area she felt very compelled to be in and in which she could add value.
Once in this place, she able to start putting to use the knowledge she had acquired in the past.
As she was “re-engaging” her brain, her words not mine, she remembered a podcast she had listened to during that time when she was gaining some knowledge.
See podcast are indeed useful. but I digress…
For those who don’t understand or may not be clear on what power body language means, don’t worry, I asked Lisa what she does in her business.
LISA [36:24 – 37:42]
Let that sink in for a minute. They way this person was communicating via her body was giving off a bad vibe that others noticed, yet she herself didn’t recognize it.
Why? Because it’s a natural tendency and the only way to change natural tendencies is to know what they are and under what circumstances you exhibit them.
I find this fascinating.
Fortunately, Lisa does as well, and I wanted to know if we could demonstrate the power of a body language over an audio medium like a podcast. Turns out you can and so I asked Lisa to help us understand the importance of a handshake.
LISA [38:35 – 39:33]
I don’t know about you, but I do it. If we were meeting for the first time as we approached each other, I will look at your hands to see if you’re going to extend their hands first or if I’m going to do it.
LISA [39:44 – 40:31]
The equivalent of 3 hours of face to face time? just for a good handshake? wow. My grandfather’s advice to me on handshakes was always if you’re shaking someone's hand, make sure they know you are shaking their hand.
Not in a break their bones kind of way mind you but in a firm I’m glad to meet you kind of way.
He was always very suspicious of anyone with a “wet fish” or limp handshake. And for good reason.
LISA [40:57 – 41:14]
I totally agree with Lisa on this point, I don’t like limp handshakes. To me it says, I’m doing this because it’s expected but I’d rather be meeting someone else. If you have a limp handshake, start working on it today.
So the secret to a good handshake lies between the limp wet fish and the potentially bone crushing handshake of the Mountain from the Game of thrones.
Knowing this, I asked Lisa what makes a good handshake.
LISA [41:22 – 43:28]
Vertical. I had no idea but now I’m going to be paying attention
As for a dry handshake? Well, I think I understand but rather than assume, I decided to ask LISA to explain what she meant by a dry handshake.
LISA [43:30 – 43:51]
Uncomfortably soggy, Two words I would have never associated with a handshake and two Words I won’t soon forget.
How about handshakes in the winter months when it’s cold? Personally, my hands have a tendency to be cold more often that not. Should I apologize for my hands being cold?
LISA [44:04 – 45:35] Combine Lisa’s answers
I can only speak for myself here, but I find power body language and non-verbal communication fascinating. What about you? Are you interested in learning other non-verbal forms of communication?
If you do, you can get in touch with Lisa in the following ways.
LISA [46:24 – 46:38]
I think you’ll agree Lisa’s journey to this point has been pretty incredible and it’s filled with lessons for us all.
Chief among them in my mind is to go out and, as Lisa said earlier try stuff. See what fits. Something will work and some won;t. that’s ok. it’s part of the process of becoming a brand new you.
I asked Lisa with all of her experiences what tips or advice would she like to leave us with today.
LISA [46:50 – 47:01]
TRANSITION
The universe conspires to make it happen. I saw evidence of this all throughout my discussion with Lisa. I also saw evidence of a true entrepreneur with all the toughness and presence you would expect.
Thank you, Lisa, for being a guest on the show today and sharing your career journey with us.
For you listening in today a heartfelt thank you to you as well. I greatly appreciate you loading up the show in your favorite podcatcher this week and every week.
If you enjoy the show I would greatly appreciate it if you would leave a rating and review for the show on iTunes.
This helps raise the visibility of the show which means we can get the words of our guests out to a broader audience every week.
If you have any specific questions about body language or non-verbal skills let’s carry the conversation over to Facebook. You can find the show page at Facebook.com/brandnewyoupodcast leave your comments and questions there and Lisa and I will be happy to answer them for you.
That wraps us up for today. The show notes can be found on the website at ryanrhoten.com/Lisa Mitchell
Until next week, I’ve been Ryan and I’m out.
Today’s show was edited and produced by Ryan Rhoten
The intro and outro music is Pulse by Soundroad.
A special word of thanks goes out to Jonathon Perrelli for permission to use the audio clips from the Startupland introductory video featured on today’s show. You can find the video and all the information about Startupland at StartupLand.tv.
