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Jen Oleniczak Brown: Author and Founder of The Engaging Educator

By Cheval John

February 28th, 2018

Today’s episode of What’s The Word? features Jen Oleniczak Brown, founder of The Engaging Educator.

The company helps organizations find their authentic voice to be successful.

Jen worked in a museum when she started the company on the side in 2012.

As of today, The Engaging Educator has served more than 30,000 students across 33 states.

Jen written a book called “Improv(e), Using Improv To Find Your Voice, Style, And Self” from her experience in running her business.

In this episode, you will hear:

-what led Jen to found her company
-why she self-publish her book
-why people should engage on social media
-how her acting background helped her to be successful with her company

This episode was recorded on Facebook Live via Blue Jeans Network

Snippet on Vallano Media TV

Full Episode on BlogTalkRadio

You can also subscribe to the show on Apple Podcast, Stitcher and Google Play Music.

Jen’s Company Website: www.theengagingeducator.com

Twitter: @JenOleniczak

Quotes from Jen Oleniczak Brown on:

SELF-PUBLISHING A BOOK

I just found a self-publisher that I liked.

A close friend designed my front and back cover.

Of a million edits beyond anything, there’s is still one error that people keep pointing out to me and I’m like, “Thank You”

OVERCOMING FAILURE

I teach people to make mistakes and to fail.

It’s better to fail than to wonder what if.

It is such a powerful thing to fail because when you are in your worst, I think you learn the most because you are at the lowest possible point you could be in.

In that same sense, when you want to create something, it’s never gonna be perfect on the get-go.

It’s always gonna be something.

How I see failure is by knowing my definition of success.

My definition of success is doing something and pushing forward.

So failure for me is doing nothing.

As long as I am not sitting back and waiting for the world to happen to me, then I’m succeeding.

If the first step back that sets you back and causes you to quit, then you probably aren’t doing the right work.

I think it’s like one of those ideas that if you love what you do, the hard times are worth it.

I couldn’t imagine doing anything else.

I couldn’t imagine being anything but what I am right now.

I look back at how upset I was when I quit acting and I was like, “Oh, that so strange” because now you can’t get me on stage.

I hate it.

I have no interest in doing it.

I’m glad I didn’t end up on a movie or something that made me a lot of money because I feel like I would not be as happy as I am right now.

IMPROV AND SOCIAL MEDIA

Improv is listening and responding.

That’s it.

At it’s core, you listen to what’s happening around you.

Not just with your ears, you’re listening with your eyes.

You are seeing what is happening around you in all senses and responding to your environment.

If you think about social media, we are not only taking it in, we are responding to it.

We are adding our opinion.

We are adding attention to it.

When you are truly thinking about being social on social media, you want to be having conversation.

You want to be responding. You don’t want to be spouting out information.

If you are spouting out information, then you have a firm reason about why you are doing this like your means to an end.

Is it just because this is what you do and this is the only thing you do?

Then that’s not social.

It’s just informative.

If we were having a conversation like this, it won’t be fun if we’re not listening or paying attention to one another.

If you ask me, “Jen, tell me about your book” and I start talking about my dog, then it’s a disjointed thing.

I think people do that often on social media for some reason.

The facebook change is attempting to bring it back to the roots of having a conversation like I say something, you say something, I say something back.

In improv, that’s actually called a three line conversation.

I see all of my interactions on social media as a three line conversation where my job is not to negate what someone else said.

My job is to add something to it, even if I disagree because it’s all just opinions.

Instead of saying like “hey you think that social media needs to be super social, but I like to consume things,” I negated what you think.

I’m just choosing to be social in this too.

I think people are running for the hills because we’ve automated so much.

You can’t schedule everything anymore.

You have to communicate.

You have to be part of something.

You can’t just say, “Well, I’ve got my month scheduled out” or “My social media intern can run this.”

Critical conversation is not attacking people.

Examining behavior isn’t attacking.

It’s asking someone to practice what they preach.

You are just calling them out on what they are saying.

Forward Thinking Companies Look “Backwards”

By Cheval John

We are told to not dwell on the past.

That is very sound advice because we might be missing out on the possibilities of improving ourselves and our business.

It is the same thing with old social media advice regarding certain tactics to grow our audience.

These tactics which worked in the past will not work right now because social media changes all the time.

Sometimes, it might be good to look at the past because you can appreciate the journey to being where you are right now in your business and life.

Have you notice why users of WordPress see their blog posts archived from most recent to the oldest?

Or your podcast archive from the newest to the very first episode?

You might also see on Twitter and Facebook the posts going “backwards” too.

Mel Robbins‘ message on the Video Advice YouTube channel, gives a deeper explanation indirectly on why it is important to look backwards in order to move forward.

Hope you enjoy.

Maria Ross Shares About Building Momentum In Your Business

By Cheval John

A brand is about building it’s reputation.

This was the quote shared by Maria Ross, founder of Red Slice, when she made her seventh appearance on What’s The Word?

In this episode, you will hear:

-How To Streamline Your Marketing

-How To Align Your Target Audience With The Work You Are Good At

-Why Some Businesses Might Not Need To Be Active On Social Media

-Figuring Out Your Goals Before Starting On Any Social Media Platform

Snippet of The Interview on Vallano Media TV

Full Episode on BlogTalkRadio

Here is the backstory to why Maria has been on the show seven times.

I found out about Maria through Twitter three years ago when Amy Schmittauer Landino mentioned about being featured in her second edition of her book, Branding Basics For Small Business.

I knew she would be a great fit for the show.

So we scheduled the show to air live on BlogTalkRadio.

Maria shared value to my audience on how she founded her company and the health scare which led to her self-published memoir.

I did not know she would become one of the most valuable mentors indirectly.

I also would not have known she would be the only person to have made seven appearances on the show.

Maria is an example of how to grow a business the right way.

She understood the power of the press when starting out with her business.

Maria did not go after the big name media in the early stages of her company.

Instead, she went for the niche media for the first few years of her business before the mass media discovered her.

She has shown her humility and giving spirit which has allowed her to get clients regularly.

You can find out more about Mrs. Ross’ company and her social media accounts at

Website: www.red-slice.com

Facebook: Red Slice

Twitter: @RedSlice

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Cynthia Bazin’s Transition To Founding “The Smart Chic”

By Cheval John

Live video has changed the way how we interact on social media.

Before, we would chat with many people via social media platforms like Facebook (Instagram), Twitter, LinkedIn, Snapchat, YouTube to keep up with what is happening in the world.

With Twitter, it made communication much easier in “real time” because of the instantaneous response.

When live streaming arrived in 2015, interaction on social media went to the next level with no signs of slowing down.

According to Cisco, 82% of all internet traffic will be drived by video by 2021.

Which means if you are not using video for your business, it will become much harder to reach your ideal audience in the future.

Another reason why you should be using live video is to meet people you would not have met before even with social.

I was very fortunate to have met Cynthia Bazin two years ago via live streaming.

She was among the early adopters of Periscope and also made some guest appearances on shows which was hosted on the now defuncted video platform called blab.

Cynthia have the drive of helping business owners to be laser focused and her company “The Smart Chic” is centered on her values.

I had the opportunity to interview Cynthia on this week’s episode of What’s The Word?

The show was recorded on Facebook Live via Blue Jeans Network

In this episode, you will hear:

How she transitioned from a private investigator to running her company

Why she did not dive immediately into entrepreneurship

How to run a business on the side while you working in a toxic company

How she overcame doubts to become successful with her company

How live streaming help take her business to the next level

The importance of having a mentor

Why video should be part of the business’ marketing strategy

Snippet of the interview on Vallano Media TV

Full episode on BlogTalkRadio

Cynthia Bazin’s Business Website: www.smartchic.me

Facebook: The Smart Chic

Twitter: @thesmartchic

Did you enjoy this post and who would you want to make a guest appearance on the show?