Have you ever felt like you should be happy with your life, but part of you is itching for what's next? Of course, you have. You're human. And you’re not alone.
Our guest on the podcast this week has felt that way, too, and she's created an entire business around her experiences. Jenny Blake is a speaker, coach and business strategist. She is also the best-selling author of Pivot, a book about learning how to be better at the one constant in life: change.
Believe it or not, Jenny was not always resilient when it came to change. In fact, the impetus for Pivot and her current business model stem from her lack of ability to handle change well. She hit plateau after plateau and felt like there was was something wrong with her because she wasn’t happy despite having several “dream jobs” in her 20s.
Although she worked for a great start-up and for Google, she was always looking for what was next and looking to evolve. What she realizes now is she simply wanted to grow, and that she in fact was an entrepreneur at heart.
On this episode of The Portfolio Life, we talk about why she thought she wasn’t cut out for the life of an entrepreneur, why she is so passionate about pivoting, and how the skills she developed along the way helped her be who is she is today.
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Show highlights
In this episode, Jenny and I discuss:
- Why are we sometimes wrong about our own shortcomings?
- How to embrace change knowing our pivots won't be perfect.
- What does it mean to pilot and why is it one of the most critical skills we can develop?
- Are you a high-net growth individual and how do you adapt if you are?
- What are the three Es?
[share-quote author=”Jenny Blake” via=”JeffGoins”]Many of us are pivoting and getting pivoted by choice and circumstance.
Jenny on taking a project to the next level
- Why you don't have to figure everything out overnight!
- When do you know a pivot is working and when it is not?
- How do you know if you should leave a job you hate?
- How to balance your day job with a side project.
[share-quote author=”Jenny Blake” via=”JeffGoins”]If change is the only constant let's get better at it.
An inside look at Jenny’s professional portfolio
- Why what works isn't what we would necessarily expect.
- How did she build her portfolio?
- Why doesn't she identify as a writer?
- Are royalties a big part of her income?
- Why does she offer licensing and how does that revenue model work?
Resources:
- Jenny Blake's web site
- Pivot, by Jenny Blake
- 10 Reasons I Love My Cubicle, article by Jenny Blake
- Duchamp: A Biography, by Calvin Tomkins
- Lives of the Artists, by Calvin Tomkins
- Real Artists Don’t Starve
- The Art of Work
- Subscribe, rate and review on iTunes
What disparate interests and experiences have come together in your life that make you unique as an artist? Let us know in the comments.
