My 3 favourite work podcasts
Have you got addicted to podcasts yet?
I TOTALLY have over the last two years, and I’ll tell you why. It’s because they have allowed me to fill my brain with the best and most up to date career, business and life advice, wherever I am. Whether I’m cooking a meal at home, riding the bus into town, or going for a run around the park.
And whilst binging on the latest Netflix series can be fun and relaxing, it's not directly feeding your brain with the knowledge it needs to navigate that tricky situation at work or reduce your stress levels.
I’ve tried and tested quite a few recently, to whittle them down to the ones that really add value to my life or my work, and now I couldn’t be without them. They have helped me come up with many new creative ideas, grow my business, and navigate all kinds of personal challenges too.
So I thought I’d introduce you to some of my favourite podcasts, some for work and some for wellbeing and good mental health, and see if you’d like to join me in making listening to podcasts a regular habit of yours too.
So here are my current top 3 work and business podcasts:
This new podcast sprang to life last year and actually made it to #1 on the podcast chart. It’s hosted by organisational psychologist Adam Grant, and he chats to all kinds of fascinating people doing unusual jobs, in order to understand some of the science behind, in his own words, ‘making work not suck’. Some of my favourite episodes have been ‘Faking your emotions at work’, ‘A world without bosses’, and ‘Become friends with your rivals’. This show is always guaranteed to bring fresh ideas and make you think differently about the world of work.
Janet is a former journalist turned online PR and marketing expert for small business owners. What I love about Janet is that she’s very straight talking, and gets down to brass tacks straightaway! Her podcast episodes are always highly practical, and she isn’t afraid to say what doesn’t work or where you might be going wrong. If you want to learn about the basics of marketing your business online and making more sales, this is a great starting point and I learned loads from her when I was a newbie business owner.
Uncomplicated Your Business with Racheal Cook
For those of you who are a little further along your business journey, but feeling overwhelmed or like you’re not hitting your goals, Racheal is a godsend. She’s incredibly relatable and inspiring at the same time, running her six figure business from the basement of her home in Richmond, Virginia and has managed to do all this whilst only working 25hrs a week, retiring her husband from his job and raising their 3 kids! I just love her simple, actionable and effective advice on productivity, goal setting, streamlining, increasing your income, leadership and loads more.
So those are my current top 3 favourite work podcasts. What about you? Do you have a recommendation? Let me know in the comments below if there’s a show you think we should all be checking out!
Next week, I’ll share 3 favourite podcasts for wellbeing and good mental health.
Should you tell your boss about your side business?
I was chatting with a client recently about a dilemma she had.
She was starting to put the wheels in motion for a potential career change, but felt guilty about not sharing her plans with her boss whom she has a great relationship with.
She was particularly worried about her boss finding out about her new business by accident, or through someone else rather than her.
So we hatched a plan to help her manage this tricky transition and stay on good terms.
And when the time came to have 'the chat', her boss was actually incredibly supportive and could fully see how the new skills that my client was learning could be of benefit to her current role.
So here are my top tips for keeping your boss happy when you are starting a side business:
Check your contract, just to make sure that you are in fact allowed to take on work outside of your current job, and whether there are any clauses about the type of work or clients you can have.
Just remember that there is a lot of prep work needed when setting up a business e.g doing a course or re-training if required, building your website, networking, marketing etc, so until you're actually earning money then it's technically just a hobby and you won't need to legally disclose it to your boss if you don't want to.
However, when you are ready to start taking on clients and getting paid, then it's probably best to get ahead of the curve and have 'the chat'. You can keep it low key, say it's a side project for now and emphasise that you are learning lots of new skills which will be of benefit to your current job. Your employer just needs to know that you are still fully committed to him/her, and don't need to know every little detail about your future business plans.
It might take longer than you expect to build up a client base and start replacing your salary, so it's always worth keeping your boss and colleagues happy in the meantime. Just keep doing your job well, don't 'blur the lines' by talking about your business when you're at work, and you should be absolutely fine.
Are you in a similar situation? Or have been through this in the past? What questions do you have? What tips can you share? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
Are your New Year resolutions not going anywhere? Here's what to do
It's mid-January and it can be a tough time for sticking to your New Year resolutions. It's cold and grey outside, and whilst you might have started the year with the best of intentions, your motivation could be flagging a bit by now.
Maybe you made a resolution to get healthy, or make more time for self care, or take up a new hobby, or finally think about changing career or starting a business. And you wanted this to TO BE IT. 2019 was the year that it was all going to finally happen for you.
And whilst that vision we create for ourselves about how our new life is going to be can feel exciting and intoxicating, it can also sometimes make us unrealistic about how long those goals will take to achieve.
Life starts to get in the way. A stressful work assignment comes in, one of the kids gets sick, the boiler packs up and you need to pay for a plumber, the house needs cleaning etc etc.
And so your good intentions to make a change go to the bottom of your 'to do' list, you lose motivation and start to feel discouraged.
However I want to step in here and say that THIS IS TOTALLY NORMAL.
All you need to do is have a reality check about how much time you have available, and how long the process of change might actually take.
With career change for example, I often have to remind my clients that their journey towards a more meaningful career is precisely that… a journey. One of the biggest mistakes that people make when searching for meaningful work is to expect to find the ONE BIG THING straightaway. The mythical unicorn job that will make all of their problems disappear.
And what I’ve observed from walking through this process with many clients is that there is no ‘one size fits all’ approach to creating a career and life you love. It can be tough at times, take longer than you think, and you may need to try out a few different ideas and avenues before finding the perfect one for you.
So don’t get downhearted, just persevere and stay open to the new opportunities and experiences which will inevitably come your way. Break it all down into baby steps and ask yourself:
What is ONE small thing that I could fit in this week to move closer to my goal?
When exactly could I do this (day? time?)
What might stop me from doing this? Is it something practical, or something emotional? Where could I get some support to overcome this?
You can 100% get there, just be patient with yourself.
Chat soon,
Juliette
