Just Keep Learning

Do You Have A Clear Dream?

There is an incredible clarity test in the John Maxwell book, “Put Your Dream To The Test” and the questions are:

• Can you explain the dream in one sentence?
• Can you answer any question about “what” the dream is?
• Have you spent many hours defining this dream in detail?
• Have you written a clear description of the dream that includes its main features or objectives?
• Does the dream align with your current values and purpose?

**For the full written version of the episode see the transcript.

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Buster talks about the rise as a broadcaster, blogger, and business owner all before the age of 16. He’s built a social media giant in Hoopsnation and works with the NBA, record labels, athletes, and artists to increase their digital impact. We got to talking about school, dealing with the haters, how to start as a rapper and building businesses from a young age. But most importantly, how to follow your dreams while being a good person along the way.

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So, who better to kick The LEARNED Podcast off than someone who started building a pretty badass basketball media company from the age of 14?

I believe strongly that there is no such thing as a self-made person. In this episode, Buster Scher talks about this when it comes to how important collaboration is.. We discussed the idea that the music we loved growing up always brings us back.

We didn’t spend too much time discussing Buster’s come up, because it’s been so well documented in previous podcasts. You can check out a great episode from Jacob Kelly’s, “My Social Life Podcast” for example where they go over some of these great beginnings.

It was really powerful to hear Buster tell us how Seth Godin. Yes, THE Seth Godin, was the person who predicted Buster would start his career without going to college. Not only did it become the reality, but he’s also done quite well without it.

We talk about this notion for a little while about whether or not college is valuable. In my opinion, if you know a program that requires specific training, then it is a must.

Buster talks about how over-priced formal education is when it comes to the amount of time wasted and the price versus what you learn. He has some great ideas about what we should teach, such as networking in third grade. He also brings up the fact that curation may be the key to helping people learn in a digital world.
Maybe we won’t learn a lot of academic things on social media, but we don’t have to learn them from a college. So, where could we learn them from? Perhaps the key is people curating great learning so that people know where they can go to learn, from the best, for free, or close to it.

Right now, the only thing everyone has to do, aside from food is learning, and so we discuss how eventually major brands and corporations will take over education. It seems inevitable.

Entrepreneurial Mindset

Buster brings us into his mindset when he goes on to talk about how important it is to find your passions, discover what you love and really pursue it full speed. He says this was one of the main reasons why “bullying” didn’t impact him as much as it could have, because he was always so grateful with being able to try to do what he loves and tune the rest out.

When discussing the potential struggles with drugs and alcohol that youth face, Buster brought up a very important point. That we need to put people into more positions where their goal is so important to them that they will decide more and more often to choose to take the more efficient route. To do things that will help them achieve that goal.

A powerful moment was when Buster talked about enjoying what you do so much that the process is the fun part, not the end result. This is coming from someone who has millions of followers across multiple social media platforms, yet still practices what he preaches.
Buster is a big believer that the majority of things we do when we find our true passions are enjoyable. There will always be additives that aren’t as exciting, but if we audit life we definitely should enjoy seventy-five percent of it.

The humble nature that Buster brings to collaboration is truly incredible. Leveraging that level of being a great teammate makes it pretty obvious as to why he is rising to the top of the online business game.
Here are some things that came up in the episode that would help anyone looking to start their own online business.

Keys To Building A Business

• Collaboration is so important from a growth standpoint because it allows you to reach other audiences you may not have otherwise and teamwork makes things way more fun.
• Paying attention to the market is one of the first most important things you should do when starting in online business. Pay attention to those who are successful doing something similar to what you want to do. Study what they do and why they’re s...

This episode will help anyone trying to find their way in life. Especially if you want to start a business online. Irina coaches people to get clarity over their business goals and get started. She prides herself on helping people find full alignment and the pragmatic steps to getting those goals.
Irina has a unique backstory that involves moving to a new country. She had to overcome a lot to learn the culture, build social networks and learn the language. Yet, in spite of the challenges, she was able to get an MBA and build a successful business.

If anyone truly believes the idea that we are all unique and have gifts that we should share it’s Irina Buse.

Our episode 7 guest, Irina Buse truly understands what it means to overcome adversity en route to achieving your goals. She is a great example for people who want to pursue their own passions but don’t know where to start.

She has an incredible resume when it comes to helping people get clarity over what they want to do in life. She has specific skills in supporting people who want to be their own boss. One of her greatest strengths is making business simple and practical for people.

While she has a lot of corporate experience and an MBA, she prefers her work as an entrepreneur. Irina is a speaker, coach and consultant that supports people in finally taking that leap to pursue their dream work.

She has quite the backstory of living in Romania during difficult political times, emigrating to Canada and having to start over, but really making a pretty special comeback.

You don’t have to look any further than the testimonials on her website to know how many people she has helped. Like all of our guests, she is an inspiring example of pursuing your passions, doing what you love first, while worrying about money second, and most importantly, being a good person along the way.

In episode 7 of The Just Keep Learning Podcast, we talked about growing up with struggles, resilience and building a coaching business. Hope you enjoy!

Keys To Keep In Mind As A New Business Owner

When you start a business, the key is to start really simple. Here are some steps

• Know your why and what that accomplishment would mean to you
• Realize that “failing” is going to happen a lot and it’s actually learning
• Get crystal clear on the community and audience you want to serve
• Understand all of the possible ways you could serve them
• Serve that community as much as possible for free
• Pick one of those ways and sit with the idea a bit so you know it’s for sure
• Share that with your community, and build testimonials, and referrals around that offer
• Get feedback and revise that offer, price, marketing strategy etc.
• Share the offer renewed, revised and continue to build the business by serving
• Once that idea is established and automated you can move on to the next one

Memorable Quotes

“When a baby learns to walk, you don’t get mad at failure. You celebrate the first step. But this is not how we function in regular life because we think that only success should be celebrated. It’s way more important to fail and learn than to get it right, because it helps us learn.”

“Everybody should try to start a business. You don’t know if you are made to be an employee, or you are made to be an entrepreneur. Everyone should try. Because, it’s like your first relationship trying to find love. You need to give things a try to know.”

“The way we conventionally measure time has nothing to do with our growth path. I think there is value in everything, because there is a lot of value that people can offer at any age. There is a huge difference between someone who is 14 and someone in their eighties.”
“It will work when people need it. It doesn’t even matter what it is, but if people want it, it will work. It’s that simple.”

“If you serve first and do it right, you won’t have to worry about money, you will have lots of money.”

Guest Bio

Irina is a mindset coach specializing in supporting people to become their own boss by the power of their mind and emotions. Initially trained for the business world, she completed her formal education in business management, got her MBA and worked in different corporations for 20 years.
Her passion is being close to people, feeling their story and helping them build the conditions for long lasting transformation.

She changed careers in her late 30’s becoming a certified health coach empowering women from all walks of life.

The programs she runs are around the concepts of spirituality, diet, mind management, habit change, communication and holistic, green living.

This is the foundation for realizing your dreams. Be and stay in shape, without stressful effort and make peace with the worries, ...

Episode Notes
Helen tells the story of how she first became involved in working with inmates on death row. She let’s us hear how she got to know her first few clients and how tough it was. At times Helen chokes up thinking about the things she witnessed in her career that brought her to work with many people she would get to know quite well and then have to watch them be put to death in the electric chair.
Her experiences on death row lead her to a life mission of trying to abolish the death penalty. It’s the old adage that while the crimes people commit are horrendous, two wrongs don’t make a right. Furthermore, there is a deep layer of systemic racism, poverty, and mental illness that creates a socio-economic link to those who are likely to end up on death row.
The fact the death penalty was such a hot topic, combined with her personal experience, Sister Helen knew it was part of her mission to write a book in order to educate the public. Dead Man Walking was not only a best selling book, but it also went on to become an academy award-winning film, and popular theater play.

Helen is a great role model for creating deep, intrinsic meaning in your work. She has been working tirelessly since the 1980’s toward educating people about murder, the death penalty, and compassion.

She speaks openly in the episode about her struggles while doing this line of work and shares that the most challenging hurdle was figuring out how to support victim’s families. While it has been a lifelong seesaw, with many conflicts, no one could argue that she has done absolutely incredible work to remind all of us how we should strive to live our best lives.

Sister Helen is an incredible storyteller, inspirational speaker, and teacher. While we spent the majority of time discussing death row and what it takes to have compassion for someone who has committed such terrible crimes, we also touched on a number of other subjects. We talked about the importance of learning, how to help people regain their lives if they’re given a second chance after jail, and how similar we are, no matter what people see on the outside.
10 Things To Keep In Mind When It Comes To Compassion

1. We are all 99.9% identical. This connection between people is the secret of life. It is what makes everything hum and come to life.
2. Empathy is an appreciation for others. You can not be “in their shoes”. You haven't been through what they've been through. You can hear what they’re saying and feel with you. You can walk with them, and go through things with them.
3. Keep your promises. Most people who require forgiveness in the first place have trouble being trustworthy. Be sure to only make promises that you can keep. Keep your work, show consistency and do not waiver as you build trust.
4. Be unconditional in your forgiveness. The root of “forgive” is the Latin word “perdonare,” meaning “to give completely, without reservation”. There is no need to hold back. Hurtful acts and forgiveness are two separate events.
5. Be patient in waiting for “sorry”. The forgiver chooses when they feel sorry. Everyone heals according to their own timeline. You do not choose when someone forgives you. So be prepared to wait. But you can choose to forgive others and steer toward peace immediately.
6. Every relationship is mutual. We’re not the wonderful, generous people, forgiving the poor, weak, wounded human beings. They give us a lot too. All human exchanges provide mutual gifts in some way.
7. Create programs, groups, classes, or partnerships that allow for people to be on a similar playing field. There is so much unlevel ground and unfair advantages in society. Given equal circumstances you would be tested in a way that would lead you to do that too. So level the playing field when you forgive and get to know someone.
8. Rewards and punishment won’t change the root cause of behavior. We must strive to keep innocent people safe. And, we must hold people accountable. The question is “what does accountability look like?” How do we define accountability? Remember that the wrongdoing is separate from the best course of action for next steps.
9. Everyone has a reason, but not an excuse for their behavior. Some may have a learning disability, trauma, addiction, mental illness, poverty, lack of sleep, malnutrition, or immaturity. If your brain's ability for effective judgment is impaired. It’s impaired, as simple as that.
10. Give everyone a voice and choice. There is dignity simply in being human. Not because of any results, or circumstances. But, simply in being human we should have input into our lives and decision making.

Memorable Quotes
“Find work and purpose in your life and do what you love. Do what you love. Let what you love be what you do to find purpose and do what you love. Not to try to make a lot of money and all...

Arielle talks about the journey of formal education in her life. She went from being more reserved and lacking confidence to finding her true passions and believing in herself more.

She opens up about being diagnosed with a nonverbal learning disability in her early years. This also lead to some traumatic memories of being removed from class for needing more help with math. Even though it’s meant to help, in her case, and probably most cases, it did more harm than good.

Through post-secondary education and entering the workplace, she was able to better connect with her passions in the real world and her confidence grew. One of these big passions was geography. The other one, was podcasting.

We talked about being a multi-passionate person and how it’s ok to have so many interests. We found out the extent of organization systems Arielle uses and some of her interests. She has many new passions from TikTok, to checking out new food, mapping, rollerblading, tennis, soccer, and of course anything new in the world of podcasting.

Like always, there were some awesome surprise tidbits in the conversation. We learned how she broke her elbow and her Apple Watch called 911. Arielle also shared that she is pretty much vegan, loves storytelling and is a geography expert. Arielle has an incredible mindset and approach to life. She is the absolute definition of a lifelong learner.

Memorable Quotes

“If you have an idea for a podcast. Awesome. Great. Think about why it should be a podcast first.”

“I Love Podcasts. When I started listening, I just became exposed to all of these new people and all of these new stories that I had not been aware of beforehand.”

“I am constantly challenged to come up with new ideas. I love marketing concepts and I love connecting with people about how to tell their stories.”

13 Things To Remember When You Start Your Podcast

1. Know your why. Not just from a philosophical, motivational standpoint. Know why it should be a podcast. Could it be a different medium? What about podcast specifically do you think is valuable to tell this story, or share this information? Make sure it is best as a podcast, it can be easier to test YouTube, or blogs first to see if you want to keep investing time and energy into it.
2. Decide on a format. Is it going to be you interviewing a guest; you and a co host interviewing; you and someone else having a conversation; a panel of guest; or a solo, scripted show; or perhaps a combination? Get some clarity on the format, template and structure of an episode.
3. If it’s an interview show make a long list of the people you would want to interview and send as many pitch emails as possible. You will get no’s, but no’s lead to yes’s and everything happens for a reason.
4. Continually and consistently put out content to continue to grow your show. Creating traction comes from consistency, so be sure to build systems that allow you to bank episodes and upload regularly. Create your show like a podcast assembly line.
5. What investments can you make up front for the show that allow for you to focus on what you do best, or to make things more streamlined? For example, hiring an editor can free you up to be the talent on the show. But, this also depends on the style of your show. With a regular conversation, the editing work is not complex, keep it simple, clean up the sound a bit, remove a few awkward pauses and hit publish. If you have a very pre-scripted, polished and produced series, then the editing will take hours to complete. It’s all about knowing what your brand message is when it comes to the style of creative you are going for. But overall being aware of how much time, or money you have to invest in the show and the next best investment is valuable.
6. Over communication with your listeners is valuable because clarity is key. As you grow an audience and want to build a community there is no room for confusion. Publish with a rhythm and cadence that is clear and people can easily understand. When can people find the latest episode? Will you be changing formats and how will your audience know? You want to build connection by being transparent and involving your audience. Let them know what you are doing. If the audio is a bit messed up in an episode, let them know up front. If you are bringing two guests on instead of one, or doing some solo rants, let them know. Communicate any new developments, or challenges with your audience.
7. The audio quality must be stellar. It is really hard to get away with audio that doesn’t sound good. Whether this means practicing editing tools, or hiring someone to do it for you, ensuring audio quality doesn’t interfere with listening enjoyment should be a top priority.
8. Choose a podcast hosting site. There are many, but use one of the popular ones because it will be stra...