This past weekend, Michelle and Joan went to a local tree farm to cut down their Christmas Tree. It was a long sprawling piece of land where you could choose any tree of any size for a flat fee and get assistance cutting it down if desired. Initially, all the trees looked much bigger than they needed, but that didn't stop them from circling every row of every field and eventually settling on the last "little" tree in the outermost perimeter of the property. Michelle held the trunk, bending it slightly for stabilization, and Joan hacked it down. Then, realizing how far they'd wandered from the farmhouse, Michelle dragged the short but squat beauty through the wet grasses a quarter mile uphill to meet the farm's owner.
Michelle and Joan are doers. They don't just have ideas, they go after them - sometimes too hard and for too long. Sometimes to great success and following. This first episode of Proofing Stage lays the groundwork for why, after a professional lifetime of going after things, creating and improving, it's time to take a look back and figure out where to go from here. And, why doing it with others is the only way to do it.
As the episode title suggests, we answer the question: "Why are we doin' the podcast?"
Together with our host, Amanda, the answer includes:
- Capturing years of entrepreneurship
- Shining a light on the challenging experiences we face as minority business owners
- Describing what Michelle and Joan did before the bagel biz
- Explaining how businesses reflect their founders
- Demonstrating what goes into a minimally viable product
- Fostering community
- Talking about how others perceive your dreams
- To open up our networks
- Highlighting mistakes for others to learn from
- Because the hustle and grind wants to keep us from communing
- Along the way, you learn more about Joan, Michelle and Amanda.
- And, yes, Michelle explains the significance of this pod's name.
Theme music by Thorn Haze @thorn.haze. Artwork by Lisa Orye.
Follow us on Instagram @proofingstage
Referenced in this episode:
A deeper dive into Fugue, the app:
