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Episode #62 Women in the IT Workplace with Cat Lam

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When it comes to women in the IT workplace, Cat Lam is here as living proof that it doesn’t take anyone especially talented, brainy, or extra-special to go into business for themselves as an independent IT contractor or freelancer. There is a way that you can use your current expertise, make a bunch more money, and have a whole lot more control over your own time and career.

This year marks her 12th year as an independent IT contractor / freelancer. She now call the shots. The day she became self-employed, and got that first contract, she instantly more than doubled her income, and was 100% accountable for her own career. Now, she assists others in finding their own way in that transition.

We speak about her career evolution, how she helps those starting out in an IT workplace, especially women going through the negotiation process, and the value of developing multiple income streams, no matter your industry.

In our conversation about negotiation and income equality, Jen mentioned the 3/5ths compromise, read more about that here.

Quotes

  • “I’ve actually had to learn a lot of stuff on my own.” – Cat Lam
  • “Being in IT, there aren’t a lot of “people” people, so if you have the soft skills you will be that much better than the rest of your peers.” – Cat
  • “Sometimes being a freelancer with multiple clients is more secure than having one job, because if you lose one of them, it’s not like a pink slip and all your income is gone.” – Jen
  • “It’s so easy online now to read bad reviews.” -Jen
  • “The art of the negotiating to being able to read people and figure out what is important to them in order to get what you want.” – Cat
  • “Pair your passion with money making potential, then you get to do what you love almost on somebody else’s dime.” – Cat

To connect with Cat Lam, follow her on her blog at itsolopreneurs.com, and catch up with her on Twitter or Facebook.

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Cat Lam 11Cat Lam is living proof that it doesn’t take anyone especially talented, brainy, or extra-special to go into business for themselves as an independent IT contractor or freelancer. There is way that you can use your current expertise, make a bunch more money, and have a whole lot more control over your own time and career.

When she moved from accounting into the IT workplace, it meant a big change for her. When you sign up for Oracle, or any consulting company for that matter, you sign up for 100% travel. It was fun at the beginning. But eventually, you start to schedule your life months in advance. Marriage meant a big change, and a break from consulting to work briefly with her husband and in the fitness industry. She grew bored of that and returned to her previous work as her own boss.

This year marks her 12th year as an independent IT contractor / freelancer. The day she became self-employed, and got that first contract, she instantly more than doubled her income, and was finally accountable for her own career. Now, she assists others in finding their own way in that transition. 

Episode #61 Build Your Money Muscles with Joan Sotkin

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Today I have the truly inspiring Joan Sotkin with me! Joan has been working people on their finances for over 20 years, she is the author of Build Your Money Muscles: Nine Simple Exercises for Improving Your Relationship with Money and the host of the Prosperity Show podcast. She has a story that you will not want miss, and has learned trust like no one I have ever met.

She shares with us the connection between our financial choices and our emotions. Years of working to release her own repressed emotions helped deepen her understanding of how we act out family-of-origin issues through our businesses and finances.

She loves working with forward-thinking individuals who are willing to implement new ways of being with themselves and their commercial ventures. As she continues to learn and grow, her passion is sharing with others and helping them find both peace of mind and prosperity.

A major portion of Joan’s work is helping people change the habits in their emotions so they can change the habits in their money management. This involves rewiring the way that your brain works.

Rewiring your brain for prosperity

When you move into a new way of being, you get the Moving Stupids!

How to deal with the Moving Stupids

  1. Recognize you are dealing with the Moving Stupids – acceptance IS the first step with this too!
  2. Become ok with the discomfort of being there – Go through the Tunnel of Transition – it can be dark and disorienting inside, but once you start to see the light at the other end, you get your footing
  3. Have a Prosperity Buddy, going through the same process you are – company makes all the difference!

Quotes

  • “I learned how to be ok with whatever was going on.” – Joan
  • “Money problems, like weight problems and a lot of other things, have an emotional base.” – Joan
  • “I was doing what people want to do, but I learned that you have learn how to manage the money.” – Joan
  • “If there wasn’t an emotional component, anyone could just read a book [about money] and be successful.” – Jen
  • “What I’ve come to understand is that everything about us is a habit.” – Joan
  • “It’s your emotions that inform your decisions that are behind your behaviors.” – Joan
  • “You have to be able to recognize what you’re doing, decide if you want to change it, and have a plan for changing it.” – Joan
  • “Underearning and overearning are both expressions of longing.” – Joan
  • “Getting rid of that longing means you are threatening your identity.” – Joan
  • “It’s the process of change that’s the problem, not creating new financial habits. The amygdala is saying you are walking into the unknown, danger! danger!” – Joan
  • “People who have billions of dollars and need more very possibly don’t feel wealthy because they are trying to get to that point of enough.” – Joan
  • “I think it’s also important to eat right, I have not had sugar since August 11th, 1973.” – Joan
  • “This is why it’s so important to meditate: it teaches you to focus on the moment, not the future.” – Joan
  • “Fear doesn’t solve any problems.” – Joan
  • “Losing money is not bad, it’s just uncomfortable. What does it take to accept where I am and take action to move some place else? When you are in fear it’s hard to take action.” – Joan
  • “If someone comes and says that they need more money, I help them understand that they need more people. Because money comes from people.” – Joan
  • “The feeling alone doesn’t come from the financial issues, the financial issues come from feeling alone.” – Joan
  • “Money by itself has no power at all, it’s just coins or paper, or numbers on a spreadsheet, it’s when it passes between two people or entities that it gets it’s power.” – Joan
  • “Money is actually a symbol of relationships, how you deal with your money is similar to how you deal with your relationship to yourself and others.” – Joan
  • “So many people want their lives to change, but they don’t want to change.” – Joan

Joan has several main programs running right now: Rewire Your Brain for Prosperity and Financial Freedom,  Financial Freedom Formula, a holistic blueprint for success and Simple Meditation for Busy Entrepreneurs. Both of which can be found on her website at prosperityplace.com/programs.

Joan’s website: www.prosperityplace.com

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Book Resources

The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business

Build Your Money Muscles: Nine Simple Exercises for Improving Your Relationship with Money

Childhood Disrupted: How Your Biography Becomes Your Biology, and How You Can Heal

joan-long-500For the past 30 years, Joan Sotkin has been examining alternative ways of dealing with life on many different levels. Defining success as merely making a lot of money and having social or career status has never made sense to her. As a result, she has been looking for something deeper and more meaningful and learning to integrate what she discovers into her business and personal life.

In the early 1980s, while attending 12-step programs including Debtors Anonymous and Codependents Anonymous, she began to understand the connection between emotions and the life stories we create for ourselves, including our finances. Years of working to release her own repressed emotions helped deepen her understanding of how we act out family-of-origin issues through our businesses and finances.

She loves working with forward-thinking individuals who are willing to implement new ways of being with themselves and their commercial ventures. As she continues to learn and grow, her passion is sharing with others and helping them find both peace of mind and prosperity.

She lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico. With its expansive skies, friendly people, and abundance of healers, it provides her with the comfort and peace she has always craved. Thanks to the Internet, which she has been using since 1995, she can live in this wonderful town with her precious dog, Angel, and reach out to clients around the world.

Episode #60 Write to Profit with Tepsii

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Today I’m so excited to have Tepsii (one name, like Madonna!). She has a true corporate to self-employment success story.

Tepsii is a creative copywriter and coach who crafts simply-amazing-tailor-made copy for entrepreneurs ready to make serious moola online and create the freedom lifestyle they’ve always dreamt of.

She was inspired to be a copywriter by listening to Kimra Luna’s copywriter in the first round of Be True Brand You. She started out as a life coach, but copy was obviously her thing. She made $25K in her first two months and decided that she could probably quit her day job.

Less than four months later, her husband quit his job, they sold their house, and they packed up their entire family, including three daughters, and moved back to her home country of South Africa, all on her copywriting income.

Let her story inspire you and check out how you can sharpen your copywriting skills.

A Few Copywriting Tips from Tepsii

  1. Focus on the part of your life that pertains to your ideal client (If you are writing to single women, don’t talk about being a married mom).

  2. Throw in a bonus, mention a special interest! Talk about being a pilot – keeps things interesting. Or how being a rocket scientist can help you be a business coach.

  3. Think you don’t have material? Here’s a strategy to find your stories – Take out a piece of paper and draw a bunch of circles on it. Some big, some small, 15-20 circles. On each circle write one word that reminds you of an experience you’ve had that was really memorable. Places, college, sad moments, proud moments, etc, and fill up that page with all these experiences and then from there you can look at that paper and realize how much really have to work with.

Quotes

  • “Copy writing, for me, is a creative skill, it comes from my heart.” – Tepsii
  • “When you are starting your business, you can’t be throwing money in lots of areas. Some things you need to invest, and other things you need to DIY.” – Tepsii
  • “Copy writing is an awesome skill to have.” – Tepsii
  • “My process is a lot about figuring out what your story is.” – Tepsii
  • “We just keep asking ‘why’ until we get to the heart of the matter, about the difference this is going to make for your client in their life.” – Tepsii
  • “Your shame is actually your victory.” – Tepsi
  • “How do I figure out from all these things I’ve done what my story is and what the core is?” – Jen
  • “Figuring out your ideal client is a lot about what you’ve been through.” – Tepsii

Find Tepsii at writetoprofit.com and check out her Sold Out and Booked Solid program at booked.tepsii.com. 

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tepsii@Tepsii is a creative copywriter and coach who crafts simply-amazing-tailor-made copy for entrepreneurs ready to make serious moola online and create the freedom lifestyle they’ve always dreamt of.

She’s been a sought after professional writer in the corporate space for 12 years, using my bachelor’s of science from one of the top universities in New England to write scientific, engineering, aviation, and other technical documentation.

All this time she’ been dying to merge her creative side with her work, so after she had her third baby girl she decided to get serious about creating a life of her own design. For her, this means ditching the boring 9-5 where she’s busy making someone else’s dreams come true. Now, she’s found her sweet spot; she gets to help entrepreneurs by channeling their words to create cohesive and compelling copy to grow their business.