The Happy Entrepreneur

Chip Conley is the founder of the Modern Elder Academy and author of Learning to Love Midlife: How to Embrace What’s Next. In this discussion with Laurence and Carlos, he delves into the opportunities and challenges of navigating purpose and professional transitions during this pivotal stage of life.If you’re an experienced professional or seasoned entrepreneur who’s achieved financial success but lost your sense of purpose, this conversation is for you.Perhaps you’ve experienced “purpose drift”, or feel weighed down by the armour you’ve built to protect yourself but which no longer serves you.Chip offers profound insights from his work and personal journey, showing how midlife is not a crisis but an opportunityto curate the rest of your life with intention, joy, and freedom.LinksJoin the conversation liveBecome a member of the Happy Startup SchoolJoin the next Vision 20/20 cohort

Lana Yelenyev, a speaker in the Happy Startup School community, shares insights on transforming fear into action. She highlights how understanding personal values can lead to meaningful entrepreneurial growth. The conversation delves into the neurobiology behind motivation, emphasizing community's role in overcoming emotional barriers when launching new ideas. Lana also discusses the 'fluffy launch' concept for building confidence and the ripple effect of personal commitments on community impact.

What if it’s punk to pause? To quote the Nap Bishop Tricia Hersey, that “rest is a form of resistance”?Caro Turlings and Jobbe Holtes are multi-talented creatives and Vision alumni with a deep love for music, dancing, and dressing up. They join Laurence and Carlos to exploreHow to forget DIY and embrace DIT (Do it Together)Stepping out and stepping upHow creativity, rest, and discovering the rebel within can help to fuel the change you want to create in the world.If you want to make a positive impact but think the only way through is to push until you burn out, this conversation will help you find a new way to make a difference more sustainably.LinksJoin the conversation liveBecome a member of the Happy Startup SchoolJoin the next Vision 20/20 cohort

Carlos and Lana dive into the concept of creating Minimum Lovable Products: products that "thingify" your thoughts and turn your ideas into tangible, helpful solutions.These MLPs help you connect with the people you want to serve, promote your mission, and build momentum for your idea.Whether you're looking to iterate your big vision or start marketing your idea, this episode is about creating connections and value.LinksJoin the conversation liveBecome a member of the Happy Startup SchoolJoin the next Vision 20/20 cohort

Sarah Bayliss is the author of Do Nourish: How to Eat for Resilience. She combines expertise with lived experience, helping professionals and entrepreneurs make intentional choices about their nutrition and overall wellbeing.Her approach goes beyond just food. In this episode, they explore how Sarah’s 7 Pillars can support resilience, energy, and clarity, the impact of small, mindful choices in nutrition and habits on your ability to live and work purposefully, and how her personal transformation from burnout to balance reignited her passion for learning and helping others to thrive.LinksJoin the conversation liveBecome a member of the Happy Startup SchoolJoin the next Vision 20/20 cohort

We know that people will benefit from what we do, and one way to help others find us is through posting on social media.But what do you do when you don't have a content strategy, a target audience, and you're not yet clear on what you're going to post about?If this sounds like you, you're not alone. A question submitted by the Happy Startup School community sparked this conversation: "How do you post on social media when I'm still not clear?"Laurence, Carlos, and Lana dive into their experiences, sharing honest reflections, and discussing how they developed an ability to post what they stand for and believe in online.LinksJoin the conversation liveBecome a member of the Happy Startup SchoolJoin the next Vision 20/20 cohort

This discussion dives into the relationship between personal values and real-world business experiences. The speakers share their own stories about how their values have guided them through tough times. A focus on the importance of clear communication helps establish a positive work culture. The critical role of leadership in modeling values is explored, with insights on building trust within teams. Finally, methods to articulate values for effective collaborations and community support for entrepreneurs are highlighted.

How do you change direction without a map? By reconnecting to your inner navigation system.But many of us fall shy of it, because it means engaging with the messy parts of ourselves that we don’t want to acknowledge, let alone embrace.Someone who’s walked this tough but rewarding path is Vision 2020 alumnae Beth Derry.As a successful copywriter for 25 years, Beth has written for and collaborated with clients such as Microsoft, Allianz, and Heineken to help them communicate their impact on people and the planet.But when she reached her mid-forties, she knew she could trust her instincts – instincts that told her she wanted more from life.Beth knows all too well how life's difficulties can shape us. As a teenager and young adult, she faced painful mental health challenges and turned to self-harm as a way to cope.At the time, the support available wasn’t enough. She didn’t have the answers she needed.It wasn’t until decades later, after years of therapy, coaching, and innovative techniques like havening, that Beth found her way back to herself – and began envisioning a new way of working.In 2023 she founded Lovely Messy Humans, an initiative dedicated to educating people on the science of being human, focusing on emotional resilience, regulation, and healing from trauma.She joins Laurence and Carlos to explore embracing the messiness of a new venture, turning struggle into strength, integration, wholeness, and the power of starting small.LinksJoin the conversation liveBecome a member of the Happy Startup SchoolJoin the next Vision 20/20 cohort

You probably know about 4,000 weeks. It’s what Oliver Burkeman suggests is the average time we all have on this earth. But do you know about 90,000 hours?That’s how long many of us will spend working during our lives. And it's essentially a third of your life.Life isn’t about work, but work can profoundly shape the quality of your life. So it can feel painful to be stuck in a rut in your work or career and not know what to do next. Especially after a profound loss.Sue Deagle is a veteran c-suite executive, mother, and widow, rewriting the story of loss and vibrant living at the Luminist. She founded it after the profound personal transformation she went through following the sudden loss of her husband.Sue’s personal journey from profound personal loss to a vibrant, purpose-driven life offers inspiration and deep insights for anyone looking to redefine success, purpose, and impact—even without having experienced a life-altering loss themselves.LinksJoin the conversation liveBecome a member of the Happy Startup SchoolJoin the next Vision 20/20 cohort

When Laurence and Carlos started the Happy Startup School, they didn’t have a business plan. Instead, they focused on what felt important: community, creativity, and meaningful work.They followed their intuition and sensed their way forward, building connections, thinking out loud, and engaging with guides, not gurus.Many solopreneurs and freelancers think they need a clear path or a step-by-step plan to reach a defined goal. But if you’re feeling stuck and procrastinating, it’s likely because that plan is missing something.Wayfinding is about trusting your intuition and tapping into your creativity to explore possibilities. It’s not about having a fixed destination; it’s about discovering the right one, through experimentation, reflection, and bold action.Join Laurence, Lana, and Carlos as they discuss what wayfinding is and how it can help you get unstuck and take action.LinksJoin the conversation liveBecome a member of the Happy Startup SchoolJoin the next Vision 20/20 cohort