45: Design Thinking: The fundamentals and how to use it to grow your business (solo series)

08/28/19 • 37 min

Today’s episode is the first in my new solo series! Today I am teaching the fundamental principles and steps in the design thinking process, a creative problem-solving methodology that puts user empathy at the center point of your offerings. This way you are designing for your market and making it inherently desirable, not creating something and then convincing your market that they need it! I have taught and used this tool for 7 years now, and I can say confidently it will change the way you do business. You can skip to 6:40 if you want to bypass the part where I talk about the solo series and why I am launching it!

In this episode, I discuss:

Why I am launching a solo series
What is design thinking? And why is it useful? (Starts at 6:40)
The roles of desirability, feasibility, and viability
What user empathy is and why it’s fundamental to your business
The three phases of design thinking: inspiration, ideation, implementation
What happens in each phase of design thinking
Examples of design thinking and how I have used it in my business

Mentioned in this episode:

My offering to you: a live 75-minute design thinking workshop where I will walk you through each of the steps and how to use them in your business
Helpful graphics to reference

All the deets:

Find all the previous episodes of Medium Well on my website.
Tag me ( @saraweinreb) on Instagram with your favorite takeaways from the episode and how you will use design thinking in your work.

Related episodes:

Episode 44: Practical and mystical tools for building and scaling a wellness startup with Michelle Pellizzon of Holisticism

In this episode, I discuss:

Why I am launching a solo series
What is design thinking? And why is it useful? (Starts at 6:40)
The roles of desirability, feasibility, and viability
What user empathy is and why it’s fundamental to your business
The three phases of design thinking: inspiration, ideation, implementation
What happens in each phase of design thinking
Examples of design thinking and how I have used it in my business

Mentioned in this episode:

My offering to you: a live 75-minute design thinking workshop where I will walk you through each of the steps and how to use them in your business
Helpful graphics to reference

All the deets:

Find all the previous episodes of Medium Well on my website.
Tag me ( @saraweinreb) on Instagram with your favorite takeaways from the episode and how you will use design thinking in your work.

Related episodes:

Episode 44: Practical and mystical tools for building and scaling a wellness startup with Michelle Pellizzon of Holisticism

Previous Episode

44: Practical and mystical tools for building and scaling a wellness startup with Michelle Pellizzon of Holisticism

I am thrilled to have Michelle Pellizzon, founder and CEO of Holisticism, as my first repeat guest on Medium Well! Michelle’s first episode (episode 25) on her health and healing journey, her career, wellness, and how she came to start Holisticism was well-loved, and she’s back for round two to talk all things business. This episode is a deep dive into how she started Holisticism, what practical and mystical tools she used, her advice for starting something new, and lots of helpful nitty-gritty details on building a mission-driven business. If you are an entrepreneur, someone considering starting a side hustle, or just want to learn about the behind-the-scenes of a fast-growing startup, you will love and learn so much from this episode.

In this episode, we discuss:

Why Michelle is sharing more of her behind-the-scenes at Holisticism
Using KPIs (key performance indicators) to chart your growth
How to determine which KPIs to use in your business
The importance of starting with why
What Michelle’s KPIs currently look like for Holisticism
Why entrepreneurship is really a personal development tool
How to build a content business model
Why Holisticism has two business models
How Michelle uses her intuition to run her business
How to use content as a laboratory
The importance of vulnerability in business
How Michelle used user interviews to scale her business
How Michelle integrates mysticism and spiritual tools into her operations
How to not get distracted by all the tools out there
Which tools Michelle used to start her business and which she uses regularly now
The question Michelle asks herself every day to stay in alignment in her business
Michelle’s approach to alternative revenue streams and funding options— and why she gave the money she fundraised back
How Michelle scaled her business
The importance of reaching out to your network and strategic partnerships
How to increase your SEO (search engine optimization)
Michelle’s productivity tips
How Michelle determines what she wants to focus on next in her business
Michelle’s advice for learning new things in business

Mentioned in this episode:

How great leaders inspire action, Simon Sinek’s TED Talk
Kirtan Kriya— the Kundalini meditation Michelle used when starting her business
Wild Oat, Bach flower remedies
Human design: read about it on Holisticism, listen to our episode on human design (episode 3)
Akashic records: read about it on Holisticism, listen to our episode (39) with Ashley Wood
Golde superfood company
The soul writing exercise from The Intuitive Way: A Guide to Living from Inner Wisdom by Penney Peirce, or read the recap on Holisticism
Michelle’s super helpful pieces on how she runs her business on Holisticism:

Next Episode

46: My existential crisis in sharing my work (solo series)

This episode is my reflection on how challenging it is to have “business as usual” when there is seemingly an endless amount of suffering in the world at the moment. Between the Amazon fires, mass shootings, immigration issues... I am struggling to balance my work in “wellness” with the overall challenges in the world. It’s hard to feel like my work is making an impact when there are so much huge issues to tackle.

In this episode, I discuss:

How I am having trouble balancing my work with my emotions and the feeling like it’s not enough
What wellness is and isn’t in my perspective
Why it’s important to connect to others
How if you are feeling this way too, you’re not alone

Mentioned in this episode:

Sign up for my new newsletter, Sara... lately (bottom of my website!)
I am hosting Design Thinking 101 virtual webinars for $11! Tickets and details here.
Come say hi and hear me chat about sustainable living at the Coco Bakes popup in LA on 9/7. Tickets + deets here. You can use code SEESARA for a discount!

All the deets:

Find all the previous episodes of Medium Well on my website.
Tag me ( @saraweinreb) on Instagram with your favorite takeaways from the episode and how you will use design thinking in your work.