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EP 11: SOLO - 8 Lessons from my First 8 Interviews · Crafted Connections

• 0:04
  SPEAKER_00: Hello, welcome to Crafted Connections.
• 0:07
  SPEAKER_00: I'm Kayla Calhoun, and this is a podcast all about storytelling and building genuine community.
• 0:13
  SPEAKER_00: Here we'll dive into the art of storytelling, unpack strategies for making meaningful connections, and hear from incredible humans who are using their story to create impact.
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_00: So grab your favorite beverage, settle in, and let's craft some connections.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_00: Hello, hello, and welcome back to Crafted Connections.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_00: I'm Caitlin Calhoun and you've got a solo episode today.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_00: I'm laughing to myself because this is taking a lot of tenacity for me to get my butt in the chair and make it happen.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_00: There's a promise of some spaghettios and Hershey's Cookies and Cream after I record this episode.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_00: I'm just literally making myself sit in the aft cabin of our boat and record this so that I can uh get the episode for this week out and to you.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_00: I'm really excited about the topic.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_00: It's not necessarily that the topic is something I'm not interested in talking about.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_00: It's just sometimes in the creative process, you're like, but do I have to?
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_00: Or in anything, you're like, but do I have to?
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_00: And yes, we have to.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_00: I've really been enjoying releasing episodes every Thursday, and I'm not planning on slowing down anytime soon.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_00: This solo episode will be number 11 for the podcast, and it feels really good to officially be in the double digits, living it up.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_00: Who knew that uh life could be lived like this in the double digits, but it is.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, yes, yes.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_00: So let's just get to the episode, shall we?
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_00: I appreciate you listening to uh my enthusiasm about spaghettios, but that's not why we're here.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_00: Today's episode is going to be a little bit of a reflective one.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_00: I want to kind of talk about the eight lessons I've learned from the eight weeks podcasting thus far.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_00: And honestly, it's gonna coincide with each guest that I've had.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_00: They've all brought their stories, they've all kind of given a little bit of their backgrounds, maybe some stuff I didn't know about them, even though I may have known them ahead of time.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_00: And those lessons have really stuck with me, right?
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_00: Because I interview them, I talk to them, and then I spend a day or two, a work day or two, if you will, editing it together for you lovely folks.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_00: So let's kick it off, shall we?
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, lesson one.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_00: You do not know people until you take the time to get to know them.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_00: So this comes from the episode with Patty Meyer.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_00: She and I have known each other for two years now, three years now, met her in summer of 2023, but I knew of her prior to that because she was uh the online business manager for a sales coach of mine, Erica Tebbins, and both wonderful humans, right?
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_00: Like attracts like, good vibes, good vibes.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_00: And I knew of Patty because she was behind the scenes, making sure all of Erica's tech was working flawlessly and didn't really know anything about Patty, though, until attended a retreat with her.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_00: And as I spent time with Patty, interesting stories started coming out.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_00: Someone who I was like, oh, she just handles the tech.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_00: No, she does not just handle the tech, right?
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_00: Like when you call the customer service person and they're helping you get a refund, they have these stories behind the scenes, right?
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_00: And while Patty is not a customer service person, on some level in my life for a few years, she was.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_00: And then we met, and then I was like, oh my gosh, you are so funny.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_00: You are so interesting.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_00: You have all these like layers of you that I would not expect.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_00: Like one time she and I were messaging about Burning Man, and I was like, you would never Burning Man.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_00: And she's like, I actually have eight times.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you very much.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_00: And you just don't know.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_00: And and I think a goal of mine with this podcast is to remind people to take a look at that, right?
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_00: We cross paths with people at the grocery store.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_00: We, you know, buy coffee from someone or a friend of a friend or like an acquaintance of an acquaintance.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_00: You know, you you hear about them and they're in your circle, but they're not really in your circle and you don't really know anything about them.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_00: Everybody can inspire you.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_00: Anybody could be your friend at any moment.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_00: So it's like I love leaving opportunities for that.
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_00: I love leaving that very open-ended.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm so grateful that it happened for me and Patty's friendship because she's a cool ass lady, let me tell you.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_00: And I get to text her on a regular basis.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_00: If not, sometimes voice note her.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_00: It's been a really good time.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_00: And I think you never know who could become a lifelong friend.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_00: Like I said, you don't know people until you take the time to get to know them.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_00: And when you do, you'd be surprised on how cool people are around you.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_00: So really cultivate that community, which actually brings us to number two.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_00: So for number two, aligned partnerships make for amazing community impact.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_00: This came out of my conversation with Mike Lee.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_00: He is a content creator, videographer, and like community organizer, if you will.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_00: He organizes community photo walks where he essentially gets photographers and creators in the community together and goes from a local photoshop to a local retail store all the way over to a coffee shop and like gets this group of 25 to 30 content creators or photographers or people that just like want to have a creative walk together to walk around the city of Indianapolis.
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_00: And what I really love about that, and what I really love about how he approaches most of his work, is that he finds aligned partners that actually connect with his people and his work and what he does so that there's actually impact.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_00: It's not about saying and spraying, it's about real intentionality.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_00: And that always inspires me about him, about people who do this.
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_00: How do you make sure that when you're building a relationship, that when you're doing something in the community or just doing something, that it actually makes an impact?
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_00: And it it's about finding what clicks, the the like attracts like.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_00: And so it's not just about doing the thing to do the thing, but having intentionality behind the thing.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_00: And who also has that similar value or intentionality behind it that you could go further and farther together.
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_00: I think it's really cool.
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_00: And I think Mike's episode really, really, really, really highlights that.
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_00: Bringing us to our number three.
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_00: The way I'm gonna phrase this is easy, does it.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_00: But the episode title for Rocky Walls was Small Steps, Big Impact.
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_00: I have had many a business conversation with Rocky about how to approach creative business.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_00: I really, really look up to him, not only for his creative pursuits, but also for the way that he has built a very sustainable life as a creative person.
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_00: He has done a great job diversifying in a way that allows him to be creative when he wants to, have a family, have businesses that support his family and businesses that are dreams of his family.
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_00: And it's it's a whole beautiful concoction.
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_00: In his episode, we talk a lot about early 20s Rocky and how he maybe didn't expect that.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_00: That wasn't really the intention, but when we walk through it together, it's a lot about like little steps, little steps, little steps, reevaluating, backing up, another step forward kind of thing.
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_00: One of my favorite quotes from his episode is stepping back can be stepping forward if it aligns with your purpose.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_00: Again, we're talking about alignment, right?
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_00: It's not about making some big giant leap that someone else is doing or a big giant leap that someone else tells you to do, but rather being like, what feels good to me and how do I get an inch closer to that, or a centimeter closer, or think about getting closer to that.
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_00: It's not about doing it all tomorrow.
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_00: It's about starting to make your way there.
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_00: And you'll look back one day and realize, wow, all those little steps did add up.
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_00: Our conversation really, really reminded me of that.
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_00: Which brings us to number four.
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_00: This lesson from Eric Salazar's episode kind of cracks me up because it's not what I would have picked for Eric Salazar prior to our conversation.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_00: But the lesson was stubbornness pays off.
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_00: Now I say that it wouldn't be what I would have guessed because Eric is a warm, giving community builder.
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_00: And I never would have been like, yeah, stubbornness is gonna be such a big part of his episode, but it was because he faced a lot of adversity in pursuing the arts during college.
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_00: He really struggled with being behind his peers when it came to wanting to be a professional clarinetist.
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_00: He faced some challenges where folks were discouraging him from a place of protection, from a place of statistically, you know, where you are at with your clarinet skills are not where you need to be.
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_00: And the stubbornness that he held, the tried and true stick with it-ness ended up getting him where he needed to be.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_00: And when I reflect on his story and I reflect on stories similar, I think about when it's something you're meant to do, you'll find a way to do it.
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_00: And we have to support ourselves, right?
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_00: And I never wanted to like ignore that fact and the privilege of being able to pursue your passion.
• 8:59
  SPEAKER_00: And I have found that I always thought I wanted to do video.
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_00: I still love video.
• 9:04
  SPEAKER_00: I love the visuals, I love this, that, and the other.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_00: But story was always at the core of it.
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I was telling stories as a little kid.
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_00: If if I've lost everything tomorrow, which on some level it feels like the last few years has been a journey in that regard.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_00: Um, more on that later, but I will still be exchanging stories.
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_00: I recently got a job at a coffee shop, and I have just been absolutely loving the conversations that I'm having with the customers.
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_00: Deep, meaningful conversations, 30 seconds while I give them a scone and a latte, right?
• 9:37
  SPEAKER_00: And it's bringing me a lot of joy.
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_00: That is what it's about.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_00: And in the same way, maybe Eric, let's say he hadn't made it through the university program to play the clarinet.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_00: He would have found a way to incorporate music in his life.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_00: You know, he tells stories from his childhood where he was harmonizing with the vacuum.
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_00: When it's a part of you, it's a part of you.
• 9:57
  SPEAKER_00: And stubbornness can pay off.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_00: You have to be smart, you have to think about things and weigh out what's what's gonna be most supportive for you as a human being, and what are ways that you can still trigger it in there.
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_00: And so I really, really loved his story for that.
• 10:11
  SPEAKER_00: If plan A doesn't work, you know, you've got 25 other letters.
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_00: So if that doesn't work out, there are so many other backup plans and you can do it.
• 10:21
  SPEAKER_00: And stubbornness may have to be a part of it.
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_00: Hey y'all.
• 10:27
  SPEAKER_00: You know I love telling stories, gathering stories, and finding a way to help people connect their story with the people that will get it.
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_00: And that's what my story strategy sessions are all about.
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_00: So over at Calhoun Creative Consulting, my strategic storytelling firm, we do one-on-one and or facilitated workshops in relation to really honing in the strategy around your story.
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_00: It's a bit of messaging meets content creation, meets storytelling, and then how do we put that out in the world?
• 10:56
  SPEAKER_00: How do we show up regularly?
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_00: There's a bit of mindset work around it, right?
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_00: To actually tell your story, whether you're launching something new or trying to rework your brand or just feeling a little foggy on how to communicate with your people.
• 11:06
  SPEAKER_00: This is how to get clear.
• 11:07
  SPEAKER_00: We'll dig into things like your narrative, how to uncover what matters most, maybe map out a few content pillars while we're at it.
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_00: You'll also get a recording of our session so you can revisit the conversation anytime you like.
• 11:18
  SPEAKER_00: Let's shape a story that actually feels like you.
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_00: So book yours today.
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_00: There is a link in the show notes.
• 11:23
  SPEAKER_00: And hey, while you're at it, use the code podcast, all caps, podcast for 25% off your session.
• 11:31
  SPEAKER_00: I would be honored to spend time with you and suss out your story.
• 11:35
  SPEAKER_00: Let's dive back into the episode, shall we?
• 11:39
  SPEAKER_00: Number five.
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_00: Ugh, Anna Zimmerman.
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_00: Warms my heart.
• 11:44
  SPEAKER_00: I love this lesson.
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_00: Sharing your story gives other people permission to be themselves.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_00: We talked about her sobriety journey and we talked about her experience at AA meetings in the sense of it's a storytelling room.
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_00: Everybody's in there telling their story.
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_00: They're telling their experiences.
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_00: I did not know that there were so many stories involved in that recovery journey.
• 12:13
  SPEAKER_00: But as a storyteller, as someone who's passionate about stories, it makes sense now.
• 12:18
  SPEAKER_00: It makes sense that sharing your story in any form of recovery, whether it be from an addiction, a financial recovery, a medical recovery, there are so many types of recoveries we go through as people, right?
• 12:31
  SPEAKER_00: And I love this because I think we all go through something where we feel alone or like that we've effed up or that we, you know, just can't figure it out.
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_00: And having stories that we can hear or connect with make us realize, oh no, we're just human beings and we're just trying our best.
• 12:52
  SPEAKER_00: I love that about her episode.
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_00: What stories give us really comes through.
• 12:56
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm just trying to capture as many of those stories as possible so that people can see every experience is a valid experience and that we're all out here doing our best.
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_00: It's as simple as that.
• 13:07
  SPEAKER_00: Number six move gently through the creative muck.
• 13:12
  SPEAKER_00: I spoke to a frequent collaborator, Luke Renner.
• 13:17
  SPEAKER_00: He's also a documentary filmmaker and editor, and has some wonderful films under his belt, leaning into the next one right now.
• 13:23
  SPEAKER_00: And we talk about his creative process.
• 13:27
  SPEAKER_00: And in learning his creative process, not only was it cool to see him and hear him talk through how his first experience making a feature film and his second experience making a feature film, he recognized the patterns.
• 13:41
  SPEAKER_00: He recognized when you're feeling really down about it, he recognized that you know it's really exciting at the beginning and it really sucks in the middle.
• 13:48
  SPEAKER_00: And then, you know, it's yeah, it's still a marathon at the end, but like you're like, ooh, we're almost there.
• 13:53
  SPEAKER_00: And and the whole experience, he talked all the way through that.
• 13:56
  SPEAKER_00: It reminded me to be gentle with myself.
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_00: And honestly, when I talk to him about creative projects in general, he's always great at reminding me of that, is to be very gentle with yourself because you are thinking about it, you are doing the work, you are making progress.
• 14:09
  SPEAKER_00: But it's hard to know that when you're in the middle of all of it and you can't see on the outside.
• 14:13
  SPEAKER_00: And I would say that this is both for creative projects and it's also for just living, which can be a creative act in itself.
• 14:19
  SPEAKER_00: If you're living truly and deeply into who you are, then there's gonna be muck, there's gonna be confusion, but be nice to yourself through that process because it's a process for sure.
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_00: Number seven, you deserve to unlearn what you thought you had to be.
• 14:35
  SPEAKER_00: Sarah Khan jumped on and shared a story of her childhood that really just set a trajectory of her just trying to fit into rooms and then what the past couple years have been unlearning all that.
• 14:49
  SPEAKER_00: There was definitely a stage of awareness of like, oh, that happened to me, and I think I need to be this way in order for people to love me.
• 14:55
  SPEAKER_00: But no, I actually don't.
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_00: Realizing that is not the same as embodying it, right?
• 14:59
  SPEAKER_00: So it does take process, it does take time, and you deserve that.
• 15:03
  SPEAKER_00: You absolutely deserve that.
• 15:05
  SPEAKER_00: It's a step-by-step process, it is bit by bit, piece by piece, and all of a sudden you'll be like, oh, wow, this is really easy because I just get to be myself.
• 15:13
  SPEAKER_00: And Sarah's story really emphasized that, especially when she shared about getting her TEDx talk and how the stars aligned for it to be life was lifing and getting distracting.
• 15:24
  SPEAKER_00: And then so something that she wanted for so long fell into place because she got to naturally be her.
• 15:29
  SPEAKER_00: I'm really excited for when I get to actually see her TED Talk because that should be on the interwebs here soon.
• 15:34
  SPEAKER_00: All to say we deserve to be ourselves fully.
• 15:38
  SPEAKER_00: And that takes maybe a little bit of unlearning because we were told to be a certain way in the past.
• 15:43
  SPEAKER_00: And then a final lesson, number eight, from the most recent episode of Crafted Connections with my dear friend Kimberly Hudson.
• 15:50
  SPEAKER_00: Your weirdness is your special sauce, and that's what's gonna find you your community.
• 15:55
  SPEAKER_00: And I think this is just a double click into what I was saying about Sarah's experience of unlearning and deserving to unlearn.
• 16:02
  SPEAKER_00: Once you unlearn who you're not, you know, once you step away from who you thought you were supposed to be, that's when the magic happens.
• 16:10
  SPEAKER_00: That's when we're leaning into our weirdness.
• 16:11
  SPEAKER_00: We're being our full selves and not in a fake way, but in a full way where you actually get to be you.
• 16:17
  SPEAKER_00: And sometimes you is freaking weird and we love it.
• 16:20
  SPEAKER_00: We want it.
• 16:21
  SPEAKER_00: Give us more.
• 16:22
  SPEAKER_00: It's delicious.
• 16:22
  SPEAKER_00: It's the flavor.
• 16:24
  SPEAKER_00: Give us the flavor.
• 16:25
  SPEAKER_00: We want lots of folks who are fully themselves because there's someone else who's gonna vibe with your flavor, who's gonna be interested in it.
• 16:33
  SPEAKER_00: Just yeah, if you just keep sharing that, you'll be surprised what comes along.
• 16:40
  SPEAKER_00: And with that, let's recap the eight lessons I learned in the first eight weeks of hosting Crafted Connections.
• 16:47
  SPEAKER_00: Number one, you don't know people until you take the time to get to know them.
• 16:51
  SPEAKER_00: Number two, aligned partnerships create great community impact.
• 16:55
  SPEAKER_00: Number three, easy does it.
• 16:56
  SPEAKER_00: Number four, stubbornness pays off.
• 16:59
  SPEAKER_00: Number five, share your stories because it gives those around you permission and compassion for themselves.
• 17:04
  SPEAKER_00: Number six, move gently through the creative muck.
• 17:07
  SPEAKER_00: Number seven, you deserve to unlearn what you thought you had to be.
• 17:11
  SPEAKER_00: And number eight, your weirdness is your special sauce, and that's what's gonna find you your community.
• 17:16
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much for going through this list again with me.
• 17:19
  SPEAKER_00: It was really fun to take some time, reflect on the guests I've had so far, the lessons that they've taught me.
• 17:25
  SPEAKER_00: If you liked this recap, please let me know.
• 17:27
  SPEAKER_00: If you like any of these like specific lessons that I shared, dive into the longer episodes because these people have wonderful things to say.
• 17:34
  SPEAKER_00: And there you have it.
• 17:35
  SPEAKER_00: Eight lessons from eight weeks.
• 17:37
  SPEAKER_00: There's more where that came from.
• 17:39
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much for listening.
• 17:41
  SPEAKER_00: Now it's time for me to go get my spaghettios.
• 17:43
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks a bunch for tuning in.
• 17:45
  SPEAKER_00: I hope those eight lessons felt good to you.
• 17:47
  SPEAKER_00: They feel great to me.
• 17:48
  SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna take them forward.
• 17:49
  SPEAKER_00: The point of this is to remind ourselves that we are frickin' human beings and we're doing our darndest.
• 17:54
  SPEAKER_00: Have a great day, have a great week, have a great whatever time frame you need.
• 17:59
  SPEAKER_00: I will talk to you next week, friends.
• 18:00
  SPEAKER_00: Bye-bye now.
• 18:04
  SPEAKER_00: Crafted Connections is lovingly produced by Calhoun Creative Consulting, a strategic storytelling firm dedicated to helping people and brands tell their stories in a way that resonates.
• 18:15
  SPEAKER_00: If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to subscribe and connect with us on Instagram at Crafted Connections Spot.
• 18:22
  SPEAKER_00: Keep creating, keep connecting, until we meet again.