Laura Berg founded My Smart Hands, a baby sign language company, and authored two books: The Baby Signing Bible and Thriving Life. She’s also a professor in the Professional Writing and Communications Program at Humber College.
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Guest Resources
My Smart Hands – Check out Laura’s company website.
Laura Berg Homepage – Check out Laura’s speaker website.
3 Value Bombs
1) Knowing your failures is very important. You can translate those failures in teaching and relating as a real person to your students.
2) Define what success is to you. People grow up with the idea of what success looks like to others but success is different from each person.
3) Mistakes and bad things happen but don’t let those things take you down because it’s a learning experience. Take that label away and turn it around. Bad things will happen and that is okay.
Sponsor
HubSpot: Get ready for growth, without the growing pains! Visit HubSpot.com/spotlight to see the dozens of major product updates that’ll make impossible growth feel impossibly easy!
Show Notes
**Click the time stamp to jump directly to that point in the episode.
Today’s Audio MASTERCLASS: From Passion Projects to Global Adventures
[1:12] – Laura shares something that she believes about becoming successful that most people disagree with.
- Many people think to become a successful entrepreneur you have to work 24/7, but for her that is not necessary. Each person needs to figure out his or her own definition of success.
[1:58] – Laura talks about her AHA moment that led her to founding My smart hands.
- Its sort of a means to an end when she had her daughter. She wanted to stay home and have an income and so she figured to start to teach sign language classes. She doesn’t plan to be an entrepreneur but she fell in love to it, a kind of crazy fluke.
- Her breakthrough moment was when she posted a video on YouTube on introducing the concept of sign language for babies. People started emailing her asking to be an instructor on her program. At that point, she realized it can become big if she added teachers and it snowballed from there.
[3:56] – Laura talks about the two very different books that she wrote.
- Her first book was about baby sign language for parents which became successful.
- Years later, she decided to go back to school and took a Psychotherapy degree. The second book that she wrote was about the experiences she had while growing up through her relationships from an educational standpoint. Its basically about her experience thriving in life and how she was able to overcome things that other people also struggled with.
[5:52] – Laura shares her life during covid and when she went back to school to get her MA.
- A lot of people had a hard time during covid but the beauty in it was she was able to figure out what she wanted and that was to go back to school in an online environment. She was able to get her MA and became a professor.
[8:25] – A timeout to thank our sponsor!
- HubSpot: Get ready for growth, without the growing pains! Visit HubSpot.com/spotlight to see the dozens of major product updates that’ll make impossible growth feel impossibly easy!
[11:38] – Laura talks about how her experience as an entrepreneur influenced her approach to teaching.
- Knowing her failures is very important. She translated those failures in her teaching (e.g. mental health issues, insecurities) and tried to relate as a real person to her students.
[13:10] – Laura shares how being an entrepreneur allowed her to pursue passion projects.
- She doesn’t want to be an entrepreneur working 24/7 because she wants to spend more time with her family and do the things she loves and so she set up her business to allow her to live her best time for her loved ones and for herself.
[14:20] – Laura gives her advice for aspiring entrepreneurs looking to find a similar balance in their lives.
- Define what success is to you. People grow up with the idea of what success looks like to others but success is different from each person.
- Her definition of success is living her life the way she wants to live it by spending time with her family and going on vacation. She makes enough money to live life the way she wants and gets to enjoy it.
[15:38] – Laura gives her final takeaway.
- Mistakes and bad things happen but don’t let those things take you down because it’s a learning experience. Take that label away and turn it around. Bad things will happen and that is okay.
[16:26] – Call to action.
- My Smart Hands – Check out Laura’s company website.
- Laura Berg Homepage – Check out Laura’s speaker website.
[16:47] – Thank you to our Sponsor!
- HubSpot: Get ready for growth, without the growing pains! Visit HubSpot.com/spotlight to see the dozens of major product updates that’ll make impossible growth feel impossibly easy!
Killer Resources!
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