Voice Notes is one of our recurring features. We take you inside the online brand presence of a business owner we think you should know — through a dozen evocative sentence-starters.

Abby (Chief Voice Bureau Officer) says:

I’ve been watching Tara Sophia Mohr’s career trajectory for the past few years. I was first drawn to her calming, grounded presence (and a site design that reflected it) but stuck around for her wisdom, depth, and thoughtful take on how women show up in society today — at work and in our personal lives. Tara is my very favorite kind of teacher — she’s a thinker with heart. Three years ago, when I was first offered the opportunity to become an affiliate for Playing Big, Tara’s virtual program for women, it was an immediate yes. Today, as my business and my life have expanded in all sorts of ways I never expected, my internal yes to this program is even stronger.

For me, and for many of the intelligent women in The Voice Bureau’s readership, Playing Big (high Power value, much?) is a natural fit. It’s NOT necessarily about world domination, crowning yourself queen, or climbing any socially-validated ladder of success. (“Playing big” is none of these things, to me.) Playing Big is about allowing yourself, as an independent human being, to acknowledge what you want — regardless of size or scale or prestige factor — and go get it. It’s about personal power — being at home with your yes — not about wielding power over others or participating in the socially-endorsed success machine. It’s about learning how to stop undermining yourself, address your inner critic, and develop a framework to get your message out there — whether you’re advocating for human rights, designing a new business, or making fiction-writing a priority in your weekly schedule.

I’m thrilled to offer you Playing Big again this year, and below, an interview with the woman behind the program.

(The link above is our affiliate link, which means if you click it and enroll in Playing Big, we’ll receive some thank-you monies from Tara for helping her to spread the word. There’s absolutely no pressure to buy through this link.)

Tara Sophia Mohr, Coach, Writer, and Teacher

Tara Sophia Mohr is an expert on women’s wellbeing and leadership. A coach, writer, and teacher, she is the creator of the global Playing Big leadership program for women. Visit here to get Tara’s free guide, the 10 Rules for Brilliant Women Workbook. Find her on Twitter: @tarasophia

The worst business or branding advice I ever received was:

Don’t worry about making your site beautiful. A simple free site is more than fine. (That may be true if your target market is 20-year old male engineers, but it wasn’t true for me! )

I knew I’d ‘come into’ my writing voice when:

I decided to write for me — for my own joy of writing — rather than to get gold stars or praise from anyone else.

My lifestyle, in 3 words:

Tea, dogs, dance.

I do the work I do because:

I believe visionary, creative women playing bigger is a huge part of what’s going to create a more humane, loving world.

The best moment in my work week so far has been :

Opening up the Playing Big program for registration, feeling the exhilaration of that, and the gratitude for getting to do this  — this! — as my work.

An unlikely source of creative inspiration for me is:

Tap dancing. I just started taking lessons. I thought it would be incredibly fun, and it’s even more fun than that.

One thing I know for sure about my Right People is:

They are grappling with their own playing small, and I can help.

The best compliment I’ve ever received from a client is:

There are many that really touched me, but I always smile at this one: “This Tara is a coach who combines psychology with spirituality. She is fiercely intelligent without being a dry academic, and she is also very much in touch with her intuition and inner wisdom, without being inaccessibly new age-y about it.”

On social media, I find I get most triggered when I see:

Generic or simplistic content getting a ton of attention. It’s a weakness in me — it drives me crazy and makes me feel bad. Working on it. [Abby's note: Me, too!]

I can never get enough:

Reading great books about psychology and spirituality. Right now I’m reading all of Cynthia Bourgeault’s spirituality books. They are rich and delicious.

If my clients only hold onto one piece of advice from me, I hope it’s:

Question the voice in your head that says, “I’m not ready yet.” You are more ready than you think you are.

My brand is all about:

Deep breaths, self-trust, going deeper, self-actualization.

What I really wish you could see about yourself is:

You are an expression of the sacred, and you light up the world.

In the comments, we’d love to hear:

What’s your experience with the idea of playing big, in your business or your brand? I’m interested in your take.

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Voice Notes is (now) an occasional Friday feature. We take you inside the online brand presence of a business owner we think you should know — through a dozen evocative sentence-starters.

Abby (Chief Voice Bureau Officer) says:

I vetted web designers for The Voice Bureau’s visual brand identity for a long time: a couple of years, actually. Again and again, I kept being drawn back to Allie Creative‘s site and portfolio. Her quiet, feminine presence, her graceful designs (evidence of technical and artistic chops for daaaaaays), and her thoughtful, gracious, lyrical way with words (as evidenced in her design package descriptions) sold me without even trying to. I had this feeling that Allie was the one to help me usher my new boutique agency brand into being. When I had the chance to sit down with her for coffee in the lobby of the Ace Hotel in Portland last July, I knew she and I could do great collaborations together. Friends, meet Allie.

Allie Rice, Couture Web Designer & Intentionality Coach for Creative Entrepreneurs

Allie Rice offers design services for creative entrepreneurs at Allie Creative.
Twitter: @AllieCreative, Facebook: Allie Creative, Pinterest: Allie

My top 3-5 Voice Values are:

Intimacy, Helpfulness, Clarity, Depth, and Excellence. (Note: Discover your own Voice Values when you subscribe to The Voice Bureau’s Insider Stuff e-letter. Look for the sign-up box in the upper righthand corner of the site.)

Personality typing? Why, yes:

I’m Enneagram Type 2 (The Helper) with a 1-wing (this combo is called “The Servant.”) On Myers-Briggs, I’m an INFJ (“The Protector” or “The Foreseer Developer”) — with a maxed-out, yes-to-every-question J.

My lifestyle, in 3 words:

Thoughtful, graceful, grateful.

I do the work I do because:

Design creates connection. It not only tells your story but invites others into your story. I love that, as a designer, I not only get to learn those stories myself but I also get to help make sure that those stories are shared and experienced by others. I also love that design in general, and web design especially, is *right* at the juncture of form and function. It’s beauty that has set out to accomplish something. To make people feel something, or know something, or see something. I’m definitely a beauty on a mission kind of gal.

My favorite question to ask people is:

What do you want people to know about you the moment they arrive at your website?

The best compliment I’ve ever received from a client is:

That her website made her want to do more in and with her business — that her website felt prophetic. We created an online space that not only represented where she was right then but also where she was going — and it made her want to get there. I don’t think it gets better than that.

If I couldn’t do the work I’m doing now, I’d be:

An Anthropologie window display designer. Or a food blogger. Or both.

Three online voices who really inspire me are:

• Tara Gentile
• A List Apart (a note: this is a bit of a cop-out, as it is a collective of many voices — but A List Apart, as an entity, has had a huge influence on me as a designer over the last decade plus)
• Ann Voskamp (a confession: I only read this in my RSS reader or Readability because the power of her voice gets a bit lost in her full website)

I can’t stop staring at [person or brand’s] website:

I love hand-lettering, typography, and painted illustration. As such, I spend a lot of time swooning over work by people like Jessica Hische, Anna Bond, Yas Imamura . . . the list goes on.

I can never get enough:

Afternoons to work at a favorite café. There’s something magical about the gentle hum of activity and the changing scenery of people and a vanilla latte on my table.

The next big business challenge for me is:

Completing and launching my ebook (and a guided program around that book). I’ve watched and helped so many of my clients launch their books and programs over the years, and I’ve always had such admiration for the work they were doing — but I now have a whole new appreciation for it. This stuff is hard. There are a lot of barriers — both emotional and physical — to overcome.

If my clients only hold on to one piece of advice from me, I hope it’s:

Your website is not your brand. It’s a powerful expression of your brand, but your brand is so much more, so much bigger, than pixels and programming.

What I really wish you could see about yourself is:

The work you do is important. There are things in the world that only you can do. You are the premium offer. You have a voice and a story that need to be heard.

In the comments, we’d love to hear:

What inspired you in this Voice Notes feature on Allie? We’ll be hanging out in the comments and we’d love to say hello.

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Voice Notes is (now) an occasional Friday feature. We take you inside the online brand presence of a business owner we think you should know — through a dozen evocative sentence-starters.

Abby (Chief Voice Bureau Officer) says:

A couple years ago, a writer friend gave me a tip about Jeffrey Davis’ beautiful home on the web, Tracking Wonder. (What a great name, eh?) Jeffrey says wonder is the emotional heartbeat of creativity and creative enterprising. Since that time, he and I have conversed on Twitter and over email about our mutual fascination with what works and why when it comes to leading a fulfilling creative life. I’m so happy to endorse his new mentorship program for people actively writing or re-writing a book manuscript. It’s called Your Captivating Book. If you’re feeling led to move your book forward, and it’s a book that matters, this rich experience may be well-designed for you.

(The link above is our affiliate link, which means if you click it and secure a spot in Your Captivating Book, we’ll receive some thank-you monies from Jeffrey for helping to invite his Right People into the experience.)

Jeffrey Davis, Writer & Creativity Consultant

Jeffrey Davis is a writer and creativity consultant. At Tracking Wonder, he writes about the art and science of captivating creativity.

Twitter: @JeffreyDavis108, Facebook: Center To Page & Yoga As Muse

My top 3-5 Voice Values are:

Innovation, Depth, Enthusiasm, Clarity, Helpfulness. (Note: Discover your own Voice Values when you subscribe to The Voice Bureau’s Insider Stuff e-letter. Look for the sign-up box in the upper righthand corner of the site.)

One thing I know for sure about my Right People is:

They are uncompromising when it comes to making excellent art — books, projects, businesses, next life phase.

The best moment in my work week so far has been when:

A new team member genuinely appreciated our new Team Guide that includes our Code of Wonder, our Team Principles, and brand details (down to the hex colors!).

My brand is all about:

Receiving uncertainty with openness, delight, and curiosity as we make art that matters. That’s tracking wonder.

If I couldn’t do the work I’m doing now, I’d be:

A sculptor who makes art out of junk (or a wood gnome).

The best compliment I’ve ever received from a client is:

Calling me “a mentor, trainer, beloved friend and Zen master all wrapped up in one.” (Thank you, Luna Jaffe.)

I do the work I do because:

There are so many people “out there” with meaningful ideas, books, projects, and businesses that we need.

My lifestyle, in 3 words:

Shaped for serendipity.

If I could invite 3 people to dinner to give me their take on my work in the world, I’d invite:

Thoreau, Atticus Finch (he’s not fictional in my mind), and Rainer Rilke. (I’d probably be intimidated into silence the whole meal.)

My favorite question to ask people is:

What question are you living in today?

If my clients only hold onto one piece of advice from me, I hope it’s:

“Your mind + the desire for excellence (not perfection) + falling flat on your face are your greatest teachers and allies.” That, and “Embrace rejection.”

What I really wish you could see about yourself is:

You are a beautiful work of art. Seriously, there is beauty in Every. Single. Human. Being. On. This. Planet. Even, or especially, the difficult, edgy ones.

In the comments, we’d love to know:

What’s your way of tracking wonder? Jeffrey and I would love to hear, in the comments.

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Voice Notes is (now) an occasional Friday feature. We take you inside the online brand presence of a business owner we think you should know — through a dozen evocative sentence-starters.

Abby (Chief Voice Bureau Officer) says:

For the longest time, I’ve wished there were a simple, inexpensive ‘handbook’ for putting a would-be successful online business together from the foundations up. When Paul Jarvis mentioned to me late last year that he was getting ready to release just such a guide, I told him I’d be happy to endorse it and sing its praises. I’ve been fond of Paul’s thoughtful, no-nonsense-with-a-side-of-humor writing style for a while — not to mention his clean, cool digital designs — and his new book Be Awesome at Online Business: A Handbook for Succeeding on the Web, also takes the cake (a vegan cake, in Paul’s case). It’s the exact primer I’m going to encourage all of my new-to-selling-goods-and-services-online clients to read — because it’s needed. His advice is straight to the point, never cloudy, and BS-free, and his perspectives on building a viable online brand and sales platform are tried and true. If you’re looking for a refresher in the basics, or bringing your brand to the web for the first time, this book is for you.

(The link above is our affiliate link, which means if you click it and buy Be Awesome at Online Business, we’ll receive some thank-you monies from Paul for helping to get this in front of your eyeballs.)

Paul Jarvis, Digital Storyteller, Web Designer & Developer

Paul Jarvis is the genius designer and developer behind some of your favorite online brands, including Danielle LaPorte, Justine Musk, bestselling authors, Silicon Valley startups, and Fortune 500 companies.

Twitter: @pjrvs

Personality typing? Why, yes:

My Myers-Briggs type is INTJ (“The Scientist” or “The Conceptualizer Director”), which shouldn’t come as a shocker to anyone that even slightly knows me, being the introverted, logical, constant tinkerer that I am.

An unlikely source of creative inspiration for me is:

Walks in the forest. Call me Thoreau, but I’m happiest and most inspired when I’m alone in the woods.

My brand is all about:

Helping people succeed online.

If I couldn’t do the work I’m doing now, I’d be a:

Vegan chef. With all the tattoos, it’d be either that or a cat-burglar (which I’m too clumsy for).

The iPhone/Android app I wouldn’t want to live without is:

Instagram. I never realized how much I like taking photos (of food and rats) until I started using it. I have no problem admitting I’m a sucker for their hipsteresque filters, either.

The truest branding advice I’ve ever heard is:

Be authentic. (Danielle LaPorte.)

I can never get enough:

Cuddles from my wife and rats. [Abby's note: He's not kidding about the second one. Follow him on InstaGram and see!]

Three online voices who really inspire me are:

• Matt “Chevy”
• Corbett Barr
• Julien Smith

My lifestyle, in 3 words:

Quiet, LOUD, quiet.

My favorite question to ask people is:

Why do you need a website?

The song/track/album that feels the most like my brand is:

My actual band, Mojave — because the music I compose sounds like how I design and write (at least I think it does). [Abby's note: Listen to this! Found myself some great new tracks to write by.]

If my clients only hold onto one piece of advice from me, I hope it’s:

Don’t try to emulate successful people. The reason they’re so successful is because they’re not trying to emulate anyone else.

In the comments, we’d love to know:

What does being awesome at online business mean to you? (Or feel free to say ‘hey’ to Paul. I’m sure he’d dig that, too.)

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