Ep 143: Our latest lessons and insights on all things careers and dating

🎧 You can also listen to this and all of our other podcasts on iTunes, Spotify or wherever you enjoy listening to your podcasts 

Hi lovelies!

In this month’s Project Love podcast we explore the topics that have been really firing us up recently in our coaching sessions, Vicki’s Sunday love letters and Selina’s Monday Crew weekly podcast, now on Patreon

We take a deep dive into:

• Side hustles, side projects and hobbies – what’s the difference and how to tell which one is best for you?

• Selina’s appearance at Cheltenham Literary festival talking to Sam Baker about burnout, creating a career you love and a new way of working.

• Vicki’s appearance on BBC Radio London talking to Salma El-Wardany about the rise in women seeking love and dating coaches

• How we naturally fall into an ‘infatuation fog’ in the early days of dating and how we can clear that fog with Vicki’s new ‘Dating Debrief Tool’. It’s a self reflection exercise that helps you to feel clearer and more confident while you date. It’s brand new (launching today!) and you can download it for free here

• And how Selina is learning from her slow COVID recovery that rest is sacred

And if you want to keep these conversations going every week with us, then you can!

🌟 Sign up to receive Vicki’s weekly Sunday Love Letter and download her brand new Dating Debrief Tool for dating confidence here

🌟 Join Selina’s Monday Crew for weekly podcasts, monthly video tutorials, live online sessions and more here!

We really hope you enjoy this episode. See you back here next month!

Lots of love, 

Selina & Vicki x

I

Ep 109: What it's like to start your own business and be your own boss

🎧 You can also listen to this and all of our other podcasts on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you enjoy listening to your podcasts

This week on the Project Love podcast we are talking about what it's like to run your own business. 

With so many of us spending much more time at home and travel being limited, more and more people seem to be using the time to embark on the adventure of starting a business or a side hustle. Particularly coaching businesses and online businesses.

And so as two people who have found huge joy and fulfilment in running our own businesses over the years, we decided to make this the topic of this week's episode, sharing our experiences of quitting employment and starting our own businesses and what it's really like being our own boss.​

Listen-in as we talk about:

•  How we started our own businesses

• What we believe has been key to making those businesses a success

• What we love about the work that we do 

• What we find challenging about running our own businesses and being our own boss

And a whole lot more!

DO ​YOU ​DREAM OF STARTING YOUR OWN BUSINESS?

If you are dreaming about starting your own business and you’d love to have a coach by your side, helping you to get really clear on what you want that business to be and getting it off the ground and happening, then I have just opened the doors to my Career Change Coaching programmes 🎉​ 🎉​ 🎉

The 6 week Career Change Kickstart programme is particularly good for you if you have a business idea you want to get off the ground. You could have your very own business up and running as early as November! Imagine that!

If that idea gets you really excited, then head on over to selinabarker.com and book yourself in for a discovery call!

I can't wait to hear from you :)

x Selina

EP 81: Everything is Figureoutable

🎧 You can also listen to this and all of our other podcasts on iTunes), Spotify or wherever you enjoy listening to your podcasts

A couple of weeks ago we went to see the absolutely brilliant Marie Forleo at her event in London, celebrating her new book ‘Everything is Figureoutable’.

If you saw our instagram stories you’ll know that we were like the ultimate fan girls. Giddy with excitement!

Why? Because Marie Forleo is someone who we have followed and admired for years. She is an unwavering example of someone who brings so much love and joy into her work. And she believes, like us, that our careers can be the source of so much joy, love and fulfilment in our lives and that anything is possible if you allow yourself to dream it and believe in it.

Being at the event and hearing her share the ‘Everything is Figureoutable’ philosophy really had us reflecting on all the times in life where we’ve gone after a dream, not having a clue of HOW we were going to make it happen, but committing to it none-the-less. And so we wanted to dedicate an episode to diving deep into the ‘Everything is Figureoutable’ philosophy and share how we’ve used this approach in our coaching and in our own lives and careers to follow our dreams, even when we had no idea of HOW we were going to do it.

So if you have a dream that you’d love to go after but you’re not sure how to make it happen, then this one is for you!

X Selina & Vicki

Self-celebration and creating a career you love with Sarah Powell

It’s Selina here 👋with this week’s podcast episode. And I cannot wait for you to hit play on this one, because I am joined by the Queen of Self-Celebration and all round joyous creature: Sarah Powell.

I have head-over-heels fallen in love with Sarah via her instagram stories (if you are on instagram and you don’t yet follow Sarah Powell on @thissarahpowell then go and do so immediately). She is hilarious, courageous, loving and inspiring.

She is one of those people that has created a career that is a total expression of who she is and what she loves in life.

She is a celebrant, founder of Celebrate Yourself (the first Celebrate Yourself Live event recently sold out in just 4 hours!), she is co-host of not one, but two hugely successful podcasts - Jules and Sarah and Wobble - both of which she does with her co-host Jules von Hep and she has a rapidly growing instagram community that she pours love into every day.

And yet just a few years ago Sarah was stuck in what she calls ‘the wilderness’ - that no-man’s land of not knowing what you want to do with your life and career, where you’re feeling totally lost and afraid that you’ll never figure it out. The place where everyone (yes everyone) begins their career change journey (or any big journey of transformation for that matter).

And so we talked about the power of self-celebration, finding humour in the mundane and how Sarah made her way out of the ‘wilderness’ to create a career that makes her heart sing and brings joy into the world.

This is such an inspiring episode and one that I guarantee will put a smile on your face!

Look at how much we were grinning by the end of it!

And if you felt like I was speaking to YOU at the start of the episode and you know that it is time for you to make your career change happen, then I would love to hear from you.

I am opening the doors to my 3 month 1:1 Career Change Coaching programme this month and as always will only be taking on a handful of clients.

And I would love for one of those clients to be YOU this time.

So if you’re ready to take the leap, come and book yourself in for a discovery call!

Let’s do this!

X Selina

EP 70: Let's talk about Career Change with our very own Selina Barker!

Selina here! So excited about this week’s episode because in celebration of me opening the doors to 6 new clients this summer and starting a YouTube channel all about career change (eeeek!), we decided to dedicate this week’s podcast episode to...you guessed it, career change!

We dive deep into:

Why it might be that so many people are miserable in their jobs today (over 50% of the UK population wish they could change career!)

What the key phases to making a career change are

Why career change can feel so scary

How to manage those fears

And a whole lot more!

So if you are feeling miserable in your job and wishing you had a career you loved, then this episode is for you.

Aaaaaand if you want to be one of the six new clients I am taking on this summer on my 3 month career change coaching programme then head on over here to check out the programme and if it sounds like just what you need, then fill in the form to book in a discovery call with me.

And don’t forget to check out the first of my new YouTube video series on career change over on selinabarker.com.

Lots of love,

X Selina

P.S. Find out more about my career change coaching over on loveprojectlove.com/careerlove

🎙✨PODCAST: Emma Gannon and her amazing new book 'The Multi-Hyphen Method'

🎧 You can also listen to this and all of our other podcasts on Apple Podcast (iTunes) and Spotify.

There are SO many reasons for why I am ridiculously excited about this week’s episode on the Project Love podcast.

First of all I got to interview one of my ALL TIME heroes.

Secondly she has just written a book which I truly believe is going to spark a MASSIVE movement in the world of work and will play a big part in encouraging people to really take their careers into their own hands and design careers that work for THEM.

I am talking about the amazing author, broadcaster and podcast host Emma Gannon and her truly brilliant book ‘The Multi-Hyphen Method’ which is about to hit the shelves on 31st May (pre-order it this minute over on Amazon).

I have been a HUGE fan of Emma and her work and in particular her Webby Award nominated podcast - Ctrl Alt Delete - for a long time. Her podcast is honestly my number #1 podcast to listen to - it has me introduced me to so many amazing female authors, entrepreneurs, thought-leaders and activists. Guests have included Liz Gilbert, Reni Eddo-Lodge and Lena Dunham to name but a few. And I LOVE the way Emma digs deep into topics with her guests in a down-to-earth, smart and insightful way.

So when I found out that Emma’s new book was focused on one of my all-time-favourite topics: working less, creating more and designing a career that works for you, I said to Vicki ‘I HAVE to interview her for the Project Love podcast and I have to get my hands on that book!’.

And so that is exactly what I did.

A few weeks later I met up with Emma (every bit as lovely in person as she is on her podcasts) in a sweltering Soho and got very excited talking with her about the new world of work that is emerging and how it is offering us exciting new opportunities to design careers that really do work for us.

So tune in, order your copy of ‘The Multi-Hyphen Method’ and let's get you designing a career that works for you.

x Selina

P.S. If you're not already subscribed to the Project Love podcast on iTunes then why not pop over and subscribe now :)

Discover what you really want to do with your life (and how to get paid for it)

It’s Selina here and I’m so excited for you to hit play on this week’s podcast. It is dedicated to those of you that are feeling stuck and miserable in your career, but don’t know what else you could do (or you have some ideas but can't choose which one to go for). And even more so if you love the idea of doing your own thing and being your own boss, but you just don’t know how to find that ‘right’ thing. Because THAT is what my guest on the podcast this week is ALL about.

Say hello to the wonderful Marianne Cantwell!

Marianne is best-selling author of ‘Be a Free Range Human’ - THE book that I always recommend when it comes to discovering what you love to do and finding a career that gives you fulfilment and freedom. She also delivered a killer TED Talk last year on ‘The power and importance of not (always) fitting in’ that has had almost 200,000 views to date.

And when it comes to creating a career for yourself that doesn’t require you leaving a piece of yourself at the door, then Marianne is your woman.

In fact together we’ve been designing and running courses to help people bust out of careers that make them miserable and show them how to create a career out of doing something they LOVE for almost a decade (!) And we are back together again after a 2 year break to run our most popular course - the Ideas Adventure - a 6 week online programme to help you discover what you really want to do with your life and how to get paid for it (sign up here if you want to find out more).

And so I invited Marianne to join me for this week’s episode to dive deep into…well all of it.

We talked about how to know when a traditional job is not for you (a lot of us simply aren’t suited to being employees!), how it’s not a case of having a job OR running your own business - there are all sorts of options out there for you - and how it’s not about finding the career that’s right for you, but creating the career that’s right for you. Plus a whole lot more.

There is nothing that Marianne and I love more than getting together to dive deep into the topic of escaping the 9 to 5 and creating a career you love so it was hard frankly to keep the podcast to under an hour. But I sort of managed it… 🤫

So I hope you enjoy it and if figuring out a new career direction is on your mind and listening to the two of us got you feeling fired up then click here to learn more about the Ideas Adventure over the next few weeks 💛

I hope to see some of you joining us on the journey. It will be my main focus in April :)

And as ever, if you enjoy this podcast and our podcasts in general then please do subscribe over on iTunes and leave us a review - you will make us very happy!

Much love,

x Selina

P.S. I am not currently taking on any 1-2-1 coaching clients so if you would like my help in figuring out a way of earning a living doing something that you love then the Ideas Adventure is THE way to work with me (and it is a LOT of fun)!

VIDEO | Selina's five top tips on how to start your career change

Today’s video is for those of you that are feeling fed up with your job and either thinking about changing career or starting to make it happen.

I’ve put together a little 18 minute Career Change Session specially for you, sharing with you my 5 top things to do (and one NOT to do) when you start wanting to make a career change.

I’ve been helping people change career and find work that they love for the past 10 years, helping over 2,000 people to figure out what it is they really want to do and how to make it happen. What I’ve found in all those years is that the big difference between those you go for it and make it happen and those who don’t, is that those who make it happen COMMIT to it, they make time in their lives to work on making that change and they TAKE ACTION.

Watch the video below and I’ll tell you more.

And if you are serious about really getting your career change going before the year is up then GET IN TOUCH.

I don’t often open the doors to coaching clients these days (full on with other Project Love stuff!) but autumn is always a time of year when people really start to get that back-to-school ‘I can’t do this for another year!’ feeling. And so this is the time of year that I like to focus on helping some of those people.

And so we are opening up TWO new spaces onto our 3 month 121 Career Change Coaching programme this autumn.

This is the programme where you get to have me as your personal coach for 3 months, helping to guide and support you as your figure out what it is you want to do with your career and then create a plan to make it happen.

I have just had the most amazing season with my two clients who are coming to the end of their journey with me. One (you know her on here - the wonderful Nicole) has quit her corporate job in that time, made a plan to travel the world for a year surfing and has found a new and exciting path as a coach and is already taking on her first guinea pig clients (whoop!), while the other has moved to a super cool new company and gone down to a 3 day week and is using the other two days to test out an amazing new biz idea (still top secret so I can't say more) and is writing a children's book

It's amazing how, when you really commit to making a change and get the right kind of guidance and support, how much can happen and how differently you can feel in just a few months.

So if you are ready to get serious about making a career change and you're ready to invest in getting the right guidance and support in helping you to do it then get in touch.

Drop me a line over at hello@loveprojectlove.com and let me know where you're feeling most stuck and when you'd be free for a chat this week or next.

X Selina

The power of projects when you’re starting a business or changing career

For those of you with dreams and ideas of changing career or starting your business (or making any life change for that matter) then THE BEST way to try things out and see what it is you really enjoy, is to set yourself small 1-3 month projects that allow you to try on your ideas for size and bring your dreams to life in small ways.

When I was trying out different career and business ideas I turned them all into mini projects. In fact I have built my whole career out of projects and the projects that didn't work out were often the ones where I learnt the greatest lessons.

Here is a video that I pulled out of the archives where I share about a 6 week business that I ran, that taught me SO much about what I did and didn't like AND gave me the experience of setting up a business from start to finish.

Excuse the slightly glowing and smudged quality of the video - video effects had just arrived on iphone in those days and I was getting experimental!

x Selina
 

PODCAST | Women who follow their hearts | interview with Victoria Roberts

For our second podcast in the series ‘Women who follow their hearts’ I got to interview one of my coaching clients - the wonderful Victoria Roberts. She has been on a beautiful journey of transformation over the last few years and I wanted her to share her story to inspire others that it is never too late to change...

Victoria came to me two years ago when she was living a fast-paced life in London. On paper it looked like she had a great life - money was good and she had a busy social life, with lots of friends and a successful career. But when we finally chatted on the phone she burst into tears. This wasn't the life she wanted to be living. Something was missing but she wasn't sure what. All she knew was that something needed to change.

After that first teary phone call Vic embarked on an amazing journey during which we saw her transform her relationship with herself, her love life, how she lives and what she does for a career.

She is a wonderful and inspiring example of someone who, despite the fear (and there was a lot of it at times) remained true to her commitment to creating a life and career that she loved.

I won’t spoil the surprise and tell you what her new career path is but I will say that in October she will be our special guest on our Project Love Salon that month and we expect it to be packed out…

So with that I will leave you to have a listen in. My heart was bursting by the end of it - I hope you’ll find it equally as inspiring and heart-warming.

Lots of love,

x Selina

P.S. IF YOU'RE READY TO MAKE A CHANGE IN YOUR LIFE OR CAREER (even if you don't know what that change might be) then come and check out my 3 month 1-2-1 'Career Change' coaching programme - I am opening up the doors to two new clients this month. So if you're ready to make a career or life change then that client could be you!

>>> Head over here to arrange a call with me.

Our *new* podcast series | Women who follow their heart | first interview with the beautiful Laura Lee

We have such a delicious treat for you this week: The first in our series of interviews where we talk to women who have had the courage to follow their heart.

Our aim with these interviews is for you to feel inspired, fired up and connected to a tribe of women who, like you, are committed to following their heart in life.

This is your tribe.

And we want their stories to inspire you to continue following your own heart in life more and more.

So to kick things off we have an interview with the wonderful and inspiring Laura Lee.

(You can also download this podcast (and our whole Project Love podcast series) over on iTunes or Soundcloud)

Two years ago she was settled in her marriage and job in London and had just completed her first album with her band, Kurangbing. She felt change was ahead, but wasn’t sure what that change would be and was afraid of what that change could bring.

Two years later and her life looks totally different. Things changed exactly as she had feared and more, but that change turned out to be the best thing that could have ever happened. Not just for her, but for all involved.

I won't spoil it for you by telling you what happens, only to say it is a truly beautiful story of transformation and one that has been a huge source of inspiration to me and the people around her.

I came away so full of love after recording it.

I hope you will too.

x Selina

P.S. if you are ready to make a career change then make sure you check out our 'Career Change Day' intensive - it's on 8th May and with only 4 spaces available you must apply by TODAY
 

Have you ever dreamed of starting your own business doing something you love?

Last week we shared an interview of Vicki and me being interviewed over on Passion Pods about what it’s like to start your own business and do what you love for a living.

This week we thought we’d share a bit more about what it really takes to quit the 9 to 5 and become your own boss and encourage you, if you’ve dreamed of starting your own business, to take that dream seriously.

Because we only dream of the things that are meant for us.

So you have to listen to those dreams.

But the dream of starting your own business is a BIG one.

It can be one of those dreams that we can dance around for years, never quite daring to pick it up, because it just seems…well too big.

So if that sounds like you, if you’ve always loved the idea of being your own boss and running your own show, then it’s time to get you started on that journey.

You don’t even need to know what kind of business you’d like to run yet.

All you need is a commitment to take action and a willingness to try stuff out.

That is how businesses are born.

That is how Project Love was born.

We just started doing stuff.

We started with small projects that got us excited, involved things we loved to do and tested out our ideas.

Our first idea – a course on helping women sort out their love lives – was tested out on 15 single women and was the basis of what later became Get Ready for Love.

At the time of doing it we didn’t even have a website and we certainly didn’t have a plan.

We just had passion for what we were doing, a commitment to following our hearts and a willingness to explore, experiment and get help and guidance when we needed it.

And that really IS all you need to start a business.

How do I know?

Because I started my first business aged 26 and over the past 10 years I have helped over 1000 people start their own businesses through online courses and 121 coaching programmes.

And what I’ve learnt in that time is that the key to success is action.

Don’t lie in bed trying to come up with a unique award-winning business idea that will make you rich quick.

You don’t need a unique, never-before-thought-of idea to be a success.

What matters most is you doing something that you love.

That is the secret to success.

So do things that help you to figure out what activities, people and places you’d love your working day to be filled with, what your strengths are and what you’d like to offer the world.

Don’t think about it. Do it.

By trying out ideas one project at a time, you will grow a business that is right for you.

And if you want to be shown exactly how to do that, then come and join me and the legendary Marianne Cantwell (author of the best-selling book ‘How to be a Free Range Human’) on our 6 week course ‘The Ideas Adventure’ starting in just a few weeks.

We run this course once a year and it’s all about how to come up with a business idea that is right for you.

It’s an amazingly powerful course. Not only will you go away with a process that you can use over and over again to help you grow your business, but you will find out so much about yourself, what makes you come alive and what your strengths are.

You will be surprised at how much you can learn and do in just 6 weeks. And how much fun you can have in the process.

I love running this course with Marianne because she has been one of my own business mentors for the past 6 years and every time we run it together magic seems to happen in our own lives and businesses!

(Here we are with Marianne coming up with some magic for Project Love not so long ago)

So if you’re ready to have some fun and figure out a business idea that is really right for you then sign your name up here  >>> THE IDEAS ADVENTURE

Marianne will send you more details about the course (emails will come from Free Range Humans) and you’ll be the first to hear when tickets go on sale (there is a very special 48 hour offer when it first goes on sale)

And if you have any questions in the meantime about the course then you can email me at hello <at> loveprojectlove.com

And then let’s make this the year you get your business idea off the ground!

X Selina

What it’s like to do what you love, start your own business and spread love for a living

This week we were interviewed by the wonderful Emily Chiswell of Passion Pods about what it’s like to do what you love, start your own business and spread love for a living.

We had such a good time doing the interview that we wanted to share it with you too. Plus Emily's passion and enthusiasm is infectious - you can't help but grin as you listen to her talk!

So whether you have always wanted to start your own business, are longing to do what you love for a living or just want to hear about how Project Love all began, then this is one to listen to on your way home today: http://www.passionpods.co.uk/passion_pod/86-project-love/

x Selina & Vicki