Season 1 – MC12: Rocking the Small Corners with Maisie Smith

What this episode covers

In Episode 12 of The Mindful Creator, I chat with Maisie Smith about rocking the small corners, whether we are all meant to serve on the grand stage with the rest of the influencers, and learning how to define our bodies of work through our own distinct lens. Maisie is a freelance writer, storyteller, blogger and owner of the Audacious Muse Writing Studio , where she uses the power of words to connect small businesses with their people. Link Love I Wish You Nothing But the Best As You Take Over the World – Maisie Smith Building a Business You Love – Brett Henley Deliberately Small – AJ Leon In this Episode * Maisie talks about the self promotional tidal wave she encountered at WDS 2014, how that impacted her concept of service, and why it prompted her to write the blog post on this idea of rocking the small corners (note, she also talks about how much respect and love she has for the conference, and that in know way did she feel that this reflected on the overall conference experience). * Maisie on the interactions at WDS – “I felt like I was drowning in an ocean of people desperately trying to do good work.” * Why the collective struggle we all face in owning our own unique space as creators and figuring out what service means to each of us creates this air of desperation in how we promote our work. * The irony of focusing so much on the serving that we forget about the people that we’re serving (i.e. the bigger picture). * Maisie talks about her journey from personal fitness training to advertising to her current adventures as a creative entrepreneur, and how a workshop by Pam Slim at WDS 2013 helped the light bulb come on for her. * Why we tend to find what we’re looking for when we stop looking for it. * Maisie talks about her definition of small corners and how that has evolved in her work. * Maisie: “I found that I had more options in staying small; it allowed me to create exactly what I wanted to create. * Why small corners are not about being small so that you don’t have to be big – it’s not about giving up on the dream. * Why service is more and more about perspective the further you get in your journey. * Why quality of life is a big part of both Maisie and Brett’s small corner, and why they don’t necessarily identify with the parts of the hustle that a lot of entrepreneurs seem to get off on. * Brett – “Figuring out how to show up in the world is really fucking hard.” * Why part of learning how to show up is learning how to promote without losing sight of service. * Why Maisie hates the question, “what do you do?” (fist bump to JFM ). * The problem with believing that we can only truly show up to our work once we define it in concrete terms. * The danger of associating service with making a big name for yourself. * Why we (wrongfully) assume that sustainability is about bigger = better. * Why our vision of mattering to the world is too often caught up in comparing how big our platform is (or could be) to the big influencers, and why we need to realize that creating impact isn’t about the size of your audience. * The importance of being honest with what kind of platform you want to own – intimate connection vs. serving the masses? small community vs.

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