Your Next Chapter With Angela Raspass | Business & Life Beyond 40 |inspiring Possibility

Like so many women who are also Mums, Cat had put her kids and husband first, right up the top of the Priority Totem Poll. Years were spent on the road delivering her elite sports kids to events, fundraising and on planes. She even home-schooled them towards the end of their high school years so they could juggle school and competing. 

During the last five years in the corporate world, it became increasingly obvious to Tammy that she was not living her purpose.   A volunteer role at a women’s shelter in her spare time opened a new door where she discovered an absolute love of counselling and social work. This led to graduate study in Clinical Counselling and a now 20+ year career in this space.  

“Liam, my 18 year old son, died on November the 5th, 2015. He had just taken his sister to the bus stop. He was worried about being late, he drove to fat, he lost control and he hit a tree. I lived for the next 15 months with a kernel of wishing it was all a bad dream. What sort of Mother was I, if I couldn’t keep my son safe?”   I’ve worked so hard since then to make my grief my guide, rather than a place where I wallow. I plunged into busy-ness. People saw this as strength. That was not my experience. It was a life-saving response. It was self-protection”.  

After a career I banking that she “fell into”, and the significant life change that divorce often heralds, Carolyn stepped away from the corporate world and started her own marketing business. She quickly became well regarded in the small business marketing world, publishing “Small Business Marketing for Dummies” and “Small Business, Big Brand”, running workshops and consulting to a wide range of businesses. 

From the earliest days of teenage angst, locked away in my bedroom journaling intensely, I seem to have been asking the question “what am I here for???” I still check in with that question today. Quite regularly. But now, rather than seeking a lightening bolt of inspiration from the sky, I’m asking it to pivot, to stay on my path, to ensure I am aligned in my business and life.    And given the fact there are more than 135,000 searches on Google for “purpose” each month, it seems that I’m in good company. And so are you.   I believe our Next Chapter Businesses are very much at the intersection of contribution and fulfilment. We’re happiest when we are being of usefulness and value to others, using our unique talents, skills and life experiences to serve. When we feel light and energised, immersed in work that has meaning for us in a business that serves us just as much as it serves our clients.   This new series on the Your Next Chapter Podcast, Business and Life Beyond 40, explores Purpose, Passion and Reinv

“I’d had my fair share of challenges and turning points” said Cas McCullough in our wholehearted conversation. “A life threatening ectopic pregnancy, divorce, children with health issues, work demands, business  trials… It would be easy to stay in victim mode, but I prefer to be a survivor. And after all, drama and ups and down are all part of the human experience aren’t they?”. And that attitude of acceptance, refocus and determination reflects the true core of Cas. She is a shining example of making the decision to choose to smile. To shrug off stories of doubt and intimidation. To choose not to listen to the mind chatter that can try and defeat you. To keep taking action and moving, staying focused on the impact you want to make, not the fears that want to unmake you.  If you’ve ever felt that the road to your own Next Chapter has more than a few bumps and detours, you’ll find both solace and inspiration in this episode that has led Cas  to being the founder and CEO of a innovative tech startup, Writally,

A passionate focus on making a difference and a contribution with Your Next Chapter Business is so very important. At this stage of life, that feeling of fulfilment and significance is vital – soul food even. But even the most passionate of business owners would soon feel deflated if they did not have actual clients to work with!   I’ve heard the lament so often – “if someone else could just take care of the marketing so I can just focus on doing what I love – the actual service, that would be heavenly”. Heck, even I feel that way some days and I’m a marketer by trade!   We both know the truth. Client Attraction and subsequently generating cashflow is essential for our business growth. And that means taking action. Consistently. But the news is good! You can design your business model to complement your skills and preferred way of working and you can also choose the marketing activities that align with you and meet your potential clients where they are. You can be of high service whilst marketing, providing

Many of us think about how we can make a tangible difference in the world. We read about so many wonderful people who, upon seeing a need, make the decision to do something about it. They step up and give back selflessly and inspire others to do the same.    Liz Davidson is one such woman and I am delighted and honoured to know her, and to be in her support team – she has been a part of my Next Chapter Success Circle Masterminds since the beginning of 2017. Liz had a burning desire to have a positive impact on women in crisis and she channeled her considerable energy and compassion into creating Our Kitchen Table, a charitable organisation located in the heart of Melbourne, Australia.  As a part of the Mastermind program, Liz has personal business mentoring calls with me and she has kindly agreed to have her latest session aired on the Podcast so that other businesswomen who are also building their own enterprises can listen in to the challenges and triumphs she is experiencing, knowing these insights we shar

Barbara Huson (nee: Stanny) grew up wealthy. Her Father was the R in the famous H&R Block who impressed upon her the unspoken assumption that she could always “let a man take care of you”. This perspective had a significant impact of her life, allowing the belief that “money was not her thing” to influence her thoughts, actions and…. inaction.   

"I know now that I was largely unconscious in my 20’s. I was simply living, like most of us do. And then I was plunged into the abyss at 32 when my partner died, everything changed. I was in therapy for a year. I moved away from the city to be near the water. I slowly began to piece myself together; I began to emerge form the cocoon I had spun around myself to heal. And I can see that who I became was forged in that fire”. 

As the end of 2017 draws ever nearer, we need to take the time to review our year, to consider what went well, what didn’t go quite as planned and what you will continue, change, let go of and introduce for the new year. In my Mastermind end of year review sessions, we talk about how the year can deliver curve balls, medicine balls and wrecking balls – in all, it seldom goes exactly as you envisaged! What is vital is your ability to reflect and extract the learning’s from your experiences, to tune into your heart and make some choices about how you’d like to show up in 2018. And so this audio training walks you through some of the key steps to do just that and it comes complete with a copy of my slides from the webinar this audio is drawn from and the workbook attendees received to complete – to turn their ideas into action.

“I’ve realised why women are often not as successful in business as they can be” says Louise Laffey. “There’s such a battle going on between the push and pull energies. We live in a modern world where there is such financial pressure and our heads tell us to work towards that definition of success, but our hearts are just not happy.

Emma and Audrey literally had one of those classic “eyes meeting across a crowded room” moments many years ago when they were both at a Coach Training event in Melbourne. 

When her coach told Karen that “it was obvious she wanted to start her own business”, even though she knew it was true, she froze. She knew she was unhappy. An accountant by trade, her 25 year career had brought a great deal of success, but she had changed and so had the company she worked for. She knew she wanted more but the risk of letting go of a regular, lucrative paycheck was scary. And so for 2 years she stayed. Until the uncomfortability of an unrealised dream become too much to sit with.

Leanne O’Sullivan has been a business owner for over 18 years and, as you can imagine, has seen the digital landscape expand and change considerably in that time. “I’ve found that the small business journey, whilst immensely rewarding, is not for the faint-hearted. Babies and small children at your feet whilst growing a business? Not recommended! And Motherguilt? That’s a fierce emotion we all experience to a degree. But I’ve realised if you stay aligned with your values and understand you don’t need to “toughen up” to do well in business, you actually need to soften, and I’m now fully opening into my Next Chapter.

The first step into Sarahs Next Chapter came when her children, a daughter, and twin boys, were born within a short period of time. “I needed to leave, as my then husband was traveling a lot and it was just not feasible for two corporate careers to coincide. But even though I did make the choice, I struggled with the loss of identity. It took me some time to let go of what had been. Since then, I’ve had many chapters!"    

I believe that having a strong “Circle of Support” – practices to help you stay physically, emotionally and spiritually buoyant and connections, community and mentoring to build your mindset and boost your growth, is a vital part of your Next Chapter journey.

How do you see your personal brand? How do others perceive you? How can you align the two for Brand Clarity? Diane Diaz, the Brand Teacher shares how you can develop distinct brand personality, clarity and alignment in an episode that’s rich with insights and guidance for all Next Chapter Businesswomen. If you are enjoying this show, please take a moment to review the Next Chapter Podcast in iTunes - your feedback is hugely appreciated and very helpful. If you have not left an iTunes review before and are not quite sure how to, I've created a page on my website that takes you through the very easy steps- you can view that page here. Thank you so much!

Ten years ago is when the journey began… illness, major surgery, divorce and the need to take care of 3 young boys on her own, this Next Chapter had a tough beginning for Jenny. “How an I earn a living and maintain my sanity without a safety net” was the biggest question that she needed to address.

Emma had always been drawn to making the world more beautiful. As an artist in Switzerland she taught adults how to paint and completed commissions for her own clients as she raised her children. But when her family moved to Sydney the door to her Next Chapter as flung wide open in ways she could not have imagined.  The GFC hit hard the family hard, as her husband was in the financial industry. Emma found herself needing to transform her hobby and skills into a business entity that could contribute at a higher level. Once she moved through what she described as the “middle class taboo”, the experience of admitting and accepting that “the system” of comfort she had known was no longer available, she took a deep breath, focused, and began to explore how she could generate income in a sustainable way. “I started by looking at how I could transfer my current skills into a new endeavor. I knew the key was to create something useful, something that was really needed by people. My first Next Chapter. Bespoke Chairs,