“Time is money.” It’s a phrase you’ve heard before. And probably a phrase you’ve accepted as truth. And it’s certainly true that there are plenty of ways that time and money relate to each other. But a few months ago, I started to wonder: Is time really money? And if...
My mom was a seamstress while I was growing up. She started working at her sewing machine in the wee hours of the morning, paused to help my brother and me get ready for school, and then welcomed a steady stream of customers into the house for fittings and pickups....
Emotional labor is an under-appreciated, under-compensated type of work. But it’s essential for navigating the 21st-century economy. Entrepreneurship almost always brings with it a need for managing our emotions to lead and care for others. And this expectation is only doubled when the entrepreneur is a woman or marginalized person. What’s more, the type of marketing that many of us are told to do today is thick with emotional labor: showing up with confidence, using your personality as leverage, banking on your sense of self. It’s no wonder so many business owners are burning out. In this episode, I tackle: What is emotional labor? And how does it impact our work as entrepreneurs?
A few years ago, Sean made a rule for me: no calling yourself lazy. It's a good rule—and a rule specifically directed at me. Sean never refers to himself as lazy; he values rest and sustainability far too much to label himself with such a negative term. But me? Well,...
The way we set goals often invites a load of comparison and competition. We can even create a moral hierarchy of more and better. In this episode, I explore the roots of moralizing around the goals we set, borrowing from Dr. Devon Price, Max Weber, Kate Manne, and Simone de Beauvoir.
A few years ago, I sat with a group of entrepreneurs in the living room of a cute little condo in Whitefish, Montana. My role was facilitating conversations about their obstacles and opportunities as business owners. It was a group of super successful folks, some on...
“What does growth without striving look like?”
Rita Barry posed this question 3 years ago, and it’s stuck with me ever since.
In this episode, I talk with Rita about the journey she’s been on to answer that question as her company has exploded. We dive into validation-seeking, social conditioning, and identifying what you really want in the face of so much “common sense” about what success looks like.
You’ll hear Rita’s story, plus commentary from writer Anne Helen Petersen (via Librairie Drawn & Quarterly) and psychoanalyst Paul Verhaeghe (via Renegade Inc).
Find out more about Rita Barry at ritabarry.co
This year on What Works, I’m exploring how we can navigate the 21st-century economy with our humanity intact. Read articles, listen to the archives, and sign up for What Works Weekly at explorewhatworks.com
Creative grief worker & curator Charlene Lam shares how grief impacts us—as humans, leaders, and business owners. How she discovered a passion for understanding grief and helping others process after the death of her mother. The practical exercises she uses to process feelings of loss.
Entrepreneurs tend to be optimists. And that optimism inspires persistence and creative thinking—two key traits of success. But entrepreneurial optimism can also lead to sticking with an idea or a venture longer than is beneficial. Every new creative...
What abundance means to me is a present knowing that I am enough, that I have enough, and that there is enough time, attention, and support to live a meaningful life and do meaningful work. I can’t say that this is my mindset at all times—far from it.
But in the times when I’m feeling most hopeless or desperate, it’s the mindset that I eventually bring myself back to.
Host of What Works
Tara is a podcaster, small business community leader, strategist, and speaker. She’s been helping small business owners build stronger businesses for over a decade.