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The Couragemakers Podcast | Encouragement, Inspiration & Rebel Rousing for Mission Driven Doers, Makers & Shakers |

Couragemakers is the weekly podcast for creative and multi-passionate women. Because building the life you want and putting stuff in the world takes a boatload of courage, but you don’t have to do it alone. Couragemakers is designed to encourage and rebel-rouse mission-driven doers, makers and world-shakers to spark a movement of women who are choosing themselves. Meg chats to unconventional couragemakers all over the world who share their stories, their advice and their dreams as we have honest conversations about everyday courage, living a wholehearted life and dream chasing. We’ve figured out what we don’t want in life, now we’re figuring out what we do want. And we talk about the things that make us feel on fire as well as the monsters that hide under our beds. Couragemakers is brought to you by Meg Kissack of The Rebel Rousers. Because everything changes when you believe you matter. Let’s shake things up together. Warning: This podcast contains courage, vulnerability and a desire to leave the world a brighter place than how we found it.
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The Couragemakers Podcast | Encouragement, Inspiration & Rebel Rousing for Mission Driven Doers, Makers & Shakers |
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Now displaying: February, 2018
Feb 28, 2018

Couragemakers turns 2 today! And as a birthday special, past guest, the wonderful Katie Snyder is interviewing me! We talk struggles, money, creativity and some serious vulnerability!

To listen to last year's birthday episode with Mr. Meg, click here!

You can listen to Katie's episode here!

And to find out all about Couragemaker's Patreon page, go here :)

THANK YOU for being the most wonderful community I could ever ask for.

 

Feb 26, 2018

Hello Couragemakers and welcome to episode 82 of The Courgemakers Podcast!

Before we dive into this week’s wonderful episode, I want to let you know that Couragemakers turns 2 this week and there is going to be a very special behind the scenes episode on Wednesday where past guest, the lovely Katie Snyder is interviewing me! I think you’re going to love the birthday special and I’m excited to share it with you!

For this week’s episode, I’m talking with Kerstin Pressler. Kerstin is a fine artist, who lives between the borders of Germany and the Netherlands and has been living the creative life for nearly a decade. Through The Sparkling Creative, Kerstin is a mentor to visual creatives who strive to live their creative passion without suffering financially and seek to combine their creative passion with entrepreneurialism. You can usually find her in her studio, where she's creating new artworks daily.When she's not working on one of her artworks or taking care of her amazing creative clients, she's out and about exploring nature with her son and husband.What is making Kerstin extremely happy right now is having time to experiment with new pens and papers. 

In this episode we’re diving into the myth of being a starving artist. We’re talking all about the intersection between creativity and making money, and have a really honest conversation about what that looks like.

Kerstin shares her story, from choosing to go to art school and business school at the same time, what helps her stay focused and disciplined to get her work done as a creative and the behind the scenes of how she runs her business.

We dive into figuring out what you want versus what you think you should want, some practical tips around vision boards and journalling and how looking after yourself is a key part of running a business.

We talk about how Kerstin has fallen in love with the business side of her creative business, some books she recommends as well as how the myth of the starving artist is a choice and we have the ability to merge creativity and money without sacrificing our values.

I think it’s fair to say that as creatives, talking about money can often feel weird and awkward, and this is a wonderful way to really start having that honest conversation with ourselves and remind ourselves that sustaining ourselves through our work isn’t selfish. As Kerstin says, we each have magic fairy dust as creatives that only we can give, and sharing that with the world is a great thing!

This is going to be a great episode for the any one thinking about making money through their art, any one who runs a business and anyone who really wants a great behind the scenes glimpse at what it takes to run a creative business!

Enjoy the show!

 

About Guest:

 

Kerstin Pressler is a fine artist, who lives between the borders of Germany and the Netherlands and has been living the creative life for nearly a decade. Through The Sparkling Creative, Kerstin is a mentor to visual creatives who strive to live their creative passion without suffering financially and seek to combine their creative passion with entrepreneurialism. You can usually find her in her studio, where she's creating new artworks daily.When she's not working on one of her artworks or taking care of her amazing creative clients, she's out and about exploring nature with her son and husband.What is making Kerstin extremely happy right now is having time to experiment with new pens and papers. 

 

Website | The Sparkling Creative Podcast | The Sparkling Creative Community | Instagram

 

Things We Talked About:

 

  • Figuring out what you want versus what you think you should want
  • The power of consistency
  • Kerstin’s work debunking the myth of the starving artist

 

Resources Mentioned:

 

 

About Meg & That Hummingbird Life

 

I’m Meg and I’m the host of Couragemakers and founder of That Hummingbird Life. I’m an INFJ creative and multipassionate who has a bit of a notebook and post-it note obsession, loves foot-stomping country music and likes her hot chocolate with way too much chocolate.

I started Couragemakers because I wanted to create a platform for passionate and unconventional women to have honest conversations and to share their stories, struggles and dreams. The intention behind this podcast is to inspire and encourage creative and mission-driven women to live a wholehearted life and follow the beat of their drum.

When I’m not recording episodes, writing bullshit-free, very vulnerable and encouraging Sunday emails to fellow couragemakers (join the party here!) or making new friends with the wonderful guests, you can find me working on all manners of magic over at That Hummingbird Life. THL is the online home for unconventional creatives and multipassionates who want to show up unapologetically and intentionally as who they are, and really own, live and share their many stories. It’s made for couragemakers who have so much great shit to give the world and want to leave their mark but have too much self doubt standing in the way!

 

Feb 12, 2018

Hello Couragemakers and welcome to episode 79 of The Couragemakers Podcast!

Before we dive into this week’s episode, I just want to remind you that Get Shit Done! Brigade starts this Thursday, 15th February and I would love for you to join us. Get Shit Done! Brigade is the Ultimate 30 Day Accountability Coaching & Encouragement Community. From encouragement parades and accountability buddies to check-in days and 1:1 coaching, it’s about an epic 30 days of action where we feel the fear and do it anyway. If you want to bring your projects into life, brainstorm ideas with a group of like-minded couragemakers and get a gentle kick up the bum to focus on the work that matters the most, then this might just be the thing for you! I Like I say on every episode of Couragemakers, building the life you want and putting stuff in the world takes a boatload of courage, but you don’t have to do it alone. Join the brigade and allow yourself to receive the support and encouragement you so often reserve for other people and let’s get shit done together! 

Now, onto today’s episode! This week I’m chatting to the lovely Jessica Brauer. Jessica is a brunch-loving, wine-drinking, introvert with a passion for storytelling, feeling all the feels, and big, crazy dreams. She is one of the three-part team behind Enkindle, a lifestyle company devoted to empowering women to live their authentic, unique life with their hearts on fire. By day she works closely with businesses and organizations on building partnerships, uplifting one another, and championing for success as a coach and manager for communications and outreach in Laramie, Wyoming. Whether putting pen to paper on the Enkindle blog or cheering for a struggling, local entrepreneur, she's a firm believer in the power of a like-minded tribe, starting before you're ready, and healing every bad day with tacos.

In this episode we’re really diving into what it means to live a courageous life, own your story and get really honest about how things are for you.

We have a great conversation about how we like to think we can handle everything ourselves, but how asking for help can be a sign of strength. We talk about the loneliness that comes with feeling like everything has to be perfect when we’re struggling alone and how we can start to dismantle that online. We really tear down some of the bullshit about instagram perfect lives, aspirational branding and believing everyone has their shit together and talk about what happens when you start to share your real life

We also dive into the importance of celebrating your small wins, not needing to fit into boxes to make other people happy and the things we gain when we stop people pleasing and start saying no.

Jessica is a breath of fresh air and she has some fantastic advice for when when the pressure to have a perfect life sinks in. If you ever struggle with endlessly scrolling online, comparing yourself to other people and wondering if you’re the only one who hasn’t got their shit together (spoiler alert: that’s definitely not the case!), you’re going to get so much out of this episode!

Enjoy the show!

About Jessica:

Jessica is a brunch-loving, wine-drinking, introvert with a passion for storytelling, feeling all the feels, and big, crazy dreams. She is one of the three-part team behind Enkindle, a lifestyle company devoted to empowering women to live their authentic, unique life with their hearts on fire. By day she works closely with businesses and organizations on building partnerships, uplifting one another, and championing for success as a coach and manager for communications and outreach in Laramie, Wyoming. Whether putting pen to paper on the Enkindle blog or cheering for a struggling, local entrepreneur, she's a firm believer in the power of a like-minded tribe, starting before you're ready, and healing every bad day with tacos. 

Website | Twitter | Instagram | Facebook

 

Things We Talked About: 

 

  • the importance of being listened to 
  • the loneliness that comes with feeling like everything has to be perfect and struggling alone
  • not needing to fit yourself into a box to make other people happy
  • getting really honest when someone asks you how you’re doing

 

Resources Mentioned:

 

About Meg & That Hummingbird Life

I’m Meg and I’m the host of Couragemakers and founder of That Hummingbird Life. I’m an INFJ creative and multipassionate who has a bit of a notebook and post-it note obsession, loves foot-stomping country music and likes her hot chocolate with way too much chocolate.

I started Couragemakers because I wanted to create a platform for passionate and unconventional women to have honest conversations and to share their stories, struggles and dreams. The intention behind this podcast is to inspire and encourage creative and mission-driven women to live a wholehearted life and follow the beat of their drum.

When I’m not recording episodes, writing bullshit-free, very vulnerable and encouraging Sunday emails to fellow couragemakers (join the party here!) or making new friends with the wonderful guests, you can find me working on all manners of magic over at That Hummingbird Life. THL is the online home for unconventional creatives and multipassionates who want to show up unapologetically and intentionally as who they are, and really own, live and share their many stories. It’s made for couragemakers who have so much great shit to give the world and want to leave their mark but have too much self doubt standing in the way!

 

Feb 10, 2018

 

On this episode of Couragemakers, to celebrate the launch of the Get Shit Done! Brigade, we're diving into 20 ways to Get Shit Done!

 

To get all of the links from today's show and to read the transcript on the blog, click here.

 

To find out more about Get Shit Done! Brigade, visit here! 

 

About Meg & That Hummingbird Life

 

I’m Meg and I’m the host of Couragemakers and founder of That Hummingbird Life. I’m an INFJ creative and multipassionate who has a bit of a notebook and post-it note obsession, loves foot-stomping country music and likes her hot chocolate with way too much chocolate.

 

I started Couragemakers because I wanted to create a platform for passionate and unconventional women to have honest conversations and to share their stories, struggles and dreams. The intention behind this podcast is to inspire and encourage creative and mission-driven women to live a wholehearted life and follow the beat of their drum.

 

When I’m not recording episodes, writing bullshit-free, very vulnerable and encouraging Sunday emails to fellow couragemakers (join the party here!) or making new friends with the wonderful guests, you can find me working on all manners of magic over at That Hummingbird Life. THL is the online home for unconventional creatives and multipassionates who want to show up unapologetically and intentionally as who they are, and really own, live and share their many stories. It’s made for couragemakers who have so much great shit to give the world and want to leave their mark but have too much self doubt standing in the way!

 

Feb 9, 2018

On this week's first solo Couragemakers episode of 2018, I'm making an announcement and a commitment to you, my lovely Courage-making audience!

 

Keep your eyes peeled for the special 21 Ways To Get Shit Done! episode of Couragemakers coming out tomorrow, and if you want to find out more about the brigade, click here!

Feb 5, 2018

Before we begin this week's episode, I want to share something that will be right up your street if you crave a community with like-minded women, want accountability, and need some motivation and cheerleading. Get Shit Done! Brigade is the ultimate online community, coaching and accountability experience and kicks off on 15 February. The brigade is a 30-day online experience where we collectively seriously get shit done. Together we wade through the mud of creative resistance, encourage the shit out of each other and work on the things we’ve been putting off, for let’s face it, WAY too long. You can find out more about the brigade and sign up here.

 

For this week’s episode, I am speaking to the absolutely inspiring Christina Thatcher.

 

Christina is a writer, teacher and researcher who believes that reading transforms us, writing drives social change and doing both benefits the world. Christina grew up in America but has made a happy home in Wales with her husband, Rich, and cat, Miso. She is a part-time teacher and PhD student at Cardiff University where she studies how creative writing can impact the lives of people bereaved by addiction. Christina keeps busy off campus too as the Poetry Editor for The Cardiff Review and as a freelance workshop facilitator and festival coordinator. Christina was shortlisted for the Bare Fiction Debut Poetry Collection Competition in 2015 and was a winner in the Terry Hetherington Award for Young Writers in 2016.  Christina’s poetry and short stories have featured in a number of publications including The London Magazine, Planet Magazine, Acumen and The Interpreter’s House. Her first collection, More than you were, was published by Parthian Books in 2017.

 

In this week’s episode, we’re really diving deep into what it means to be a multi-passionate and Christina is sharing her story of having a multi-passionate career that really weaves her interests and her passions together. Christina shares her insatiable desire to learn and what she has learned about generosity and kindness through so many of the community projects she has done, and really putting your skills and strengths out there into the world.

 

We talk about Christina’s experience of writing her debut poetry collection which explores what it means to lose a father to addiction and live on, her experience of meeting people at her book tour and starting a conversation about grief and how sharing our own stories can make radical change in the world.

 

Christina also shares fantastic tips, advice and lessons on how to thrive when you are balancing lots of projects and roles (including a great musical metaphor) and the importance of restorative self care and the notion of rest weekends.

 

I am in awe of all of the work Christina does, how she shows up in the world and what an impact she makes. I love Christina’s honesty in sharing her journey, own struggles and lessons of finding a work life balance while being a pillar in her community and how much joy and enthusiasm she has for life. Christina’s attitude to life is contagious and I know you’re going to absolutely love this episode!

So, enjoy today’s show!

 

About Guest:

Christina Thatcher is a writer, teacher and researcher who believes that reading transforms us, writing drives social change and doing both benefits the world. Christina grew up in America but has made a happy home in Wales with her husband, Rich, and cat, Miso. She is a part-time teacher and PhD student at Cardiff University where she studies how creative writing can impact the lives of people bereaved by addiction. Christina keeps busy off campus too as the Poetry Editor for The Cardiff Review and as a freelance workshop facilitator and festival coordinator Christina was shortlisted for the Bare Fiction Debut Poetry Collection Competition in 2015 and was a winner in the Terry Hetherington Award for Young Writers in 2016.  Christina’s poetry and short stories have featured in a number of publications including The London Magazine, Planet Magazine, Acumen and The Interpreter’s House. Her first collection, More than you were, was published by Parthian Books in 2017.

 

Website | Book | Twitter | Instagram | Facebook | LinkedIn

 

Things We Talked About:

  • Christina’s thematically similar work and her experience of building a body of work and letting go of the need to have a linear narrative
  • Christina’s experience of writing and publishing her debut experience, her book tour and experience of running death writing workshops
  • The importance of planning rest weekends, restorative self care and a great metaphor for work/life balance

 

About Meg & That Hummingbird Life

I’m Meg and I’m the host of Couragemakers and founder of That Hummingbird Life. I’m an INFJ creative and multipassionate who has a bit of a notebook and post-it note obsession, loves foot-stomping country music and likes her hot chocolate with way too much chocolate.

I started Couragemakers because I wanted to create a platform for passionate and unconventional women to have honest conversations and to share their stories, struggles and dreams. The intention behind this podcast is to inspire and encourage creative and mission-driven women to live a wholehearted life and follow the beat of their drum.

When I’m not recording episodes, writing bullshit-free, very vulnerable and encouraging Sunday emails to fellow couragemakers (join the party here!) or making new friends with the wonderful guests, you can find me working on all manners of magic over at That Hummingbird Life. THL is the online home for unconventional creatives and multipassionates who want to show up unapologetically and intentionally as who they are, and really own, live and share their many stories. It’s made for couragemakers who have so much great shit to give the world and want to leave their mark but have too much self doubt standing in the way!

 

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