Joué
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Today we are connecting with you again through another exciting ‘Ask Me Anything’ episode. We take your recorded questions that you’ve submitted on our website and we go deep and get totally honest with our answers.
We felt truly energized by your questions, not to mention that we recorded them through our new, super professional microphones for even better sound quality. This week we are answering 4 extremely important, interesting and diverse questions.
Here’s what you guys asked:
How to win the battle with passion, is passion important to grow your business? Where would you recommend to live and why – Portugal, France or Italy? How to deal with environmental anxiety? How can women obtain self value, other than in superficial things?How to win the battle with passion?
It might sound surprising, but if you want to grow your business – you need to forget about your passion. You need to understand the main differences between passion and purpose. The first step is to always find the purpose, why are you doing this? Knowing the purpose of your business is what makes the difference and gets you results.
Next to purpose there is a need for consistency. In this episode you’ll hear more about the formula we use called QVCA – Quality. Value. Consistency. Authenticity.
“When you are creating content, you have to break it down, it needs to mirror, not your passion but what people care about, and that is the value you’re giving.” – Alex
Where would you recommend to live and why – Portugal, France or Italy?
Moving abroad is always a big step in life. To make sure you are choosing the right country, you need to make sure about your requirements and the possibilities of being there are aligned. Mimi shares her experience with all three countries – the affordable and great vibe of Lisbon, the romantic but more expensive beauty of Paris and the always refreshing adventure of Italy.
Living abroad is a great thing, however, get ready for the challenges you might face.
“Putting yourself out there, being challenged will make you grow.” - Alex
How to deal with environmental anxiety?
The environment is something we care a lot about. We do understand the limit of our planet and want to secure that our daughter Alexa will grow up with less environmental challenges than us. Even though the topic can be very upsetting, we do see that things are improving.
What we all need to understand is; that every single person can make a difference. Start to shop at farmers markets, reduce the use of single use plastic as much as you can, buy only when you really need something, or maybe eat less meat – every small step counts.
What it is important to remember, is that it is OK to be imperfect. Getting more sustainable will be hard in the beginning, but it is totally fine to make little mistakes from time to time. The most significant thing is that you are trying and doing the best within your circumstances.“There are so many ways to become mindful about changes we can create. Most importantly becoming aware and taking responsibility. Getting people into your community and create change. Nobody else can do this.” - Mimi
How can women obtain self value, other than in superficial things?
The way we look is the outside shell of a beautiful and diverse person inside. Sexy does not mean the look – being sexy means to be confident by yourself. When you find your confidence, you are becoming more attractive for people around you.
Mimi’s book: The Bingo theory can help you to find the right balance between your feminine and masculine side. If we balance it well, we will grow and become the best version of ourselves.
What is your vision of powerful person? By answering this question to ourselves we remove ourselves of the stereotype of women or men – we are all equal, with the same purpose, to love and be loved, and live better lives while helping others do the same.
“Being comfortable in your skin that is to me a vision of every woman. A strong woman, who can carry herself in confidence.” Mimi
Books and resources from this episode:
Abundance - The Future Is Better Than You Think (Exponential Technology Series) By Steven Kotler
Bingo Theory - A revolutionary guide to love, life, and relationships. By Mimi Ikonn
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Today’s episode is a classic tale of rags to riches, with Denys Zhadanov, VP of Marketing at Readdle. Readle is a successful app company with over 100 million downloads and a legacy that extends beyond the launch in the App Store, all the way back to the beginning of iPhone.
Having only just turned 30, he is so young given his accomplishments and his early adoption as one of the first creators of Apps, some that have gone on to inspire the technology we take for granted today.
We dive into Denys humble beginnings, raised in a small village in the Ukraine, his father worked as a communications engineer for the KGB and moved around from country to country until it’s collapse in 1991. He gathered huge inspiration from his mother's determination to accomplish something great, as she went from consulting farmers to becoming governor of the region where they lived. This would set him and his brother up with the right mindset for creating their business later in life.
In 1998, him and his brother got their first pc and got to work almost immediately, geeking out on the potential of this new technology and learning to code, by the time the first iPhone dropped in 2007, they’d be one of the first people in the Ukraine to own one and set about making it easier for others to use it, by offering a cloud based solution for things that the iPhone couldn’t do as standard. All the things our phones now do off the shelf but back then didn’t, including apps similar to what we see in DropBox and Google Docs now.
Their creativity earned them a prize place on the front page of the App Store on the day of its launch, and as a personal invite directly from Apple, they have been a huge help in the Readdle’s success. In the first few months they had 60,000 downloads and made their first $20,000, which they invested straight back into the company. Bootstrapping their way to the staggering success they’ve achieved today.Here’s what you’ll learn:
From a shared room in Odessa to becoming a Silicon Valley tech giant Hard work, intelligence and a whole lot of good luck and good timing How positivity and high energy keeps connected with the right people Redesigning how we email with Spark Email app Innovating fast is the only way to stay ahead, the real David and Goliath story. How to become an early innovator that inspires industry leaders like google and apple. The correct way to think about the future - with 100 life goals. People will share when you offer something with real value Why it’s much harder to find peoples problems than most think. How you can accomplish half of your life goals in 1 single year! The correct way to cold approach a business connectionHope you enjoyed this week’s episode with Denys, you can find out more about him here:
Denys’s Instagram
Readdle Instagram
Full show notes: https://www.ikonns.com/podcast/episode40
Produced by Jason Sanderson - Podcast Tech
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This episode should come with a WARNING, you’ll probably learn more here about how to run successful businesses than ever before... and this was a delight to record too. That’s because today we are talking Marcia Kilgore, the super successful serial entrepreneur of brands like Bliss Spa, Bliss Labs, Soap & Glory, Fit Flop and the revolutionary new Beauty Pie. We can clearly see she is doing everything right. We find out what?
Originally from the Canadian province of Saskatchewan, she grew up with very humble beginnings. She and her sisters suffered a sad loss of her father around the age of 11, causing the family to further struggle. But her mum instilled the rule of never complaining - about anything! She’d boldly explain “There are people out in the world that have no legs and have it way harder than you”.
With this her mum instilled the practice of gratitude and a friend of the family also brought her attention to the importance of discipline, when he introduced her to his gym. So from an early age, these life lessons kept her feet planted safely on the ground.
“By the time you turn 18 you are your own thoughts, grab a book and take responsibility for them” - Marcia [57:28]
She applied to Study in New York when she was 16, and on arriving in the US her plans fell through, so she found herself on the streets of NYC needing to earn money fast. Already being a regular at the gym, she used her previous bodybuilding competition experience to land herself a personal training role at a fairly prolific gym, which put her in front of many minor celebrities. Including her clients Douglas Keeve and his then partner Isaac Mizrahi of fashion fame. This opened the door to access super models who she’d eventually practice her new hobby on, having recently trained in facial therapy.
Word spread fast and at the heart of it was Marcia’s politeness, kindness, warm and friendly service. She sums it up by saying it’s all about delivering the goods and being positive. Oh and the details, people come because of the smallest details. She write personal thank you notes for every client she had.“It’s up to you to deliver the goods, don’t be half assed about anything, be full assed. Did you ever had a hair colourist call you the next day and ask how your hair is doing? Well if you did, do you think you’d every go elsewhere ever again?” - Marcia [32:55]
She quickly went from a small one room studio with film stars like Uma Thurman sitting and waiting in the halls, to a 3 room studio, then a 10 room and finally a 24 room studio with a booked up schedule 18 months in advance. They’d always be cultural icons like Oprah Winfry, Madonna, Calvin klein and Courtney Love, amongst many more, as regular clients. Then after a decade of building this business from the ground up she sold a stake in the company to french company LVMH, which allowed her to expand into skincare products, creating Bliss labs. Countless skincare products later, under a few different umbrellas like Soap & Glory, Soaper Dooper, Marcia shares her secrets to getting your products stocked on premium shelves, from Harvey Nichols to Douglas and around the world.
Her’s what else we chat about:Taking responsibility for your own mindset and actions
The power of reframing - “you say she’s not interested, I say she was on vacation and missed it”
How business is not just about the details, business is THE details
Hobbies can grow into big businesses very fast
The markup of most beauty brands and not putting the customer first
The value revolution in her new company Beauty Pie
Avoid defensiveness at all costs
The early bad experiences that shaped Marcia’s entire business strategy.
You can find out more about Marcia here:
Books here:
The Work… of Byron Katie, An Introduction.Full show notes: https://www.ikonns.com/podcast/episode39
Produced by Jason Sanderson - Podcast Tech
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In this episode Alex and Mimi chat with the good friend and regular visitor to the Ikonn household, but a first time guest on the show, Lazo Freeman. Lazo is so inspirational to us and a fantastic transformational healer that you need to listen to. He has infinite wisdom that we love.
Born in Iraq to a mix of both Kurdish and Arab parents, Lazo tells of his difficult and challenging first few years in life, having crossed mountain borders on the back of a donkey - to fleeing Saddam's soldiers on their uncles murder charges - to spending weeks in a romanian prison. Laza’s start to life was anything normal by our western standards.
Finally he ended up in the UK, where he was excelling in chemistry classes and studied Biomedical engineering at UCL in London. After a short time he realised there was more to life than lectures and decided to train in body transformation. Making a connection to his desire of helping others. Although quitting an engineering degree was a big deal for his family, small things like this no longer bothered him. After all, life could be a lot worse than living in London.
“Inherently i can be very lazy, but all of a sudden i just shift and I end up performing on higher level” - Lazo [9:30]
After witnessing only 50% of clients transforming he quickly realised that exercise wasn’t the key. That he needed to look deep into the psychology and mindset that makes for a deeper, more solid transformation. He hit upon a working formula, that the decisions we take are not intellectual and that most decisions, especially successful ones are rooted in emotion.
Unfortunately, a lot of the negative things in life, especially things that hold us back are also rooted in emotion. So Lazo set about finding ways to clear out the soul, including shifting both current and past life traumas and toxins.“Our highest quality vibrational thought is one that is conducive of our greater good” - Lazo [36:48]
Positive tears - Crying because you’re happy. Negative tears - Crying because you’re upset. Neutral tears from the soul - These are the type he urges you to regularly find.
Lazo shares his 3 crying styles:He combines this with meditation and the correct way of breathing using the Wim Hof technique from your diaphragm instead of shallow throat parasympathetic breathing. He even guides us through his own inspirational, truly amazing meditation. Practice this and we are sure you’ll be impressed.
“We all have different perceptions, what else are we not seeing because humans don’t have the senses or aren’t tuned into it? The process is like cleaning a mirror and seeing a deeper picture” - Lazo [26:00]
Here’s what else we get into:
Healing is all about unlearning Alpha and Beta consciousness - which is critical and which is trance like Intuition is your real tutor Journalling opens your heart Consciousness is like playing music that is in tune with the universe Opening your heart is a treasure chest Early experiences and cleaning out trauma. Finding the signs that your body is telling you, you’re off pathHope you enjoyed this week’s episode with Lazo, you can find out more about him here:
Full show notes: https://www.ikonns.com/podcast/episode31
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As parents, seeing Alexa grow and develop so quickly, like others Alex and Mimi have seen the true magnitude of change. But to some people, change isn’t always welcomed so easily, some people fear change. Change can be a huge deal. This is the topic of today’s episode.
For the most part we don’t remember our early lives, but it’s in those moments seeing a baby grow into a child and develop a character and soul of their own, that you can truly appreciate how change is happening. Much faster than you could ever imagine.
“A lot of people leave comments on our videos, saying please don’t change… like that’s a bad thing” - Mimi Ikonn [4:00]
In meeting with an old friend Mimi asked ‘so what’s new’? She was shocked at the reply she was given ‘oh, nothing new’. Maybe for some of us we aren’t mindful that change is happening all the time, whether we perceive it or not, But things change, ALL THE TIME.
Change can be a good thing, but a lot of us naturally fear it. When we know change is coming it’s like being confronted with the flip of a coin. Will it land on the good side or the bad? So many chose to not flip the coin, avoid it as much as possible, staying right where they are. Safe and sound. In their comfort bubble.
“Paint a picture of where you’re going and know your journey, give yourself a roadmap to your goals” - Alex Ikonn [16:35]
Again it’s about reframing. Change could be giving yourself a chance at a new career and finding a new passion. Others might say ‘I got fired and lost my job’. Which in Alex’s case, is true, this actually happened. Proof of the importance of embracing change. He was so happy to be working in banking and would have probably stayed there forever had he not been fired. Lucky that wasn’t to be and life forced his hand and he got to choose a better life.
Understandably there are evolutionary reasons and our trible nature at play here, that we need to be aware of. Also the story we tell ourselves keeps us firmly rooted to the spot. Think about how many times you’ve said out loud ‘oh, i just don’t do that’ or ‘oh that is not me’? While often having never tried.
“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us” - Marianne Williamson.
The process of transformation and trying something new is DIFFICULT, unfortunately it’s a challenge that a lot of people aren’t willing to work through by choice. After returning from their first trip to france, Mimi realised this. She set about completely renovating their home. Days and weeks of living in the mess reflected her own internal struggles at the time with mental health issues she was going through. renovating wasn’t going to be easily fixed in 1 day. Fortunately hard work and persistence paid off and the apartment looked as beautiful as she’d imagined. Eventually all the internal mentality hard work also paid off too. Remember not all change happens quickly and is usually a work in progress.
Here’s what we talk about today:
From getting your heart broken to losing your job, there’s always a brighter side. Embrace change, use it to your advantage The only way to enjoy life is to not fear the change that is always happening Change at the speed of light, like Moores law, everything is getting quicker Be perceptive and mindful of what changes are happening around you People’s capacity to grow and adapt is one of life’s remarkable wonders Getting to the good is often through a VERY MESSY journey How to stop creating comfortable habits of staying the same Journalling, creating your goals and a road map to them Change leads to a better stronger youFull show notes: https://www.ikonns.com/podcast/episode29
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In this episode Alex and Mimi have a long overdue talk about Mimi’s book The Bingo Theory. In this in depth conversation you’ll learn everything you ever wanted to know about the amazing and life changing power that is masculine and feminine polarity.
There is a common misconception when we talk about men and women. Growing up, girls play with dolls and boys play with cars, boys wear blue and girls wear pink. Then we get to our teenage years and feel confronted with an identification crisis.
As a guy, am I masculine enough?
As girl, am I feminine enough?
As we get into our teens and find sexuality this confusion goes into overdrive, Girls start playing hard to get, hoping that the guys persistence might show real character. Guys go to the gym and pump muscles in hopes they can out matcho the next guy and get the girl. Games, back and forth the courtship goes, like a scene from a David Attenborough wildlife documentary.
By the time you’ve hit your mid 20’s, you’re still stuck with the same kind of partner that you’ve always found yourself with. You’re stuck in the wrong type of relationship that always makes you unhappy. This is because you need to learn about Bingo Theory!
Mimi first got the idea while chatting to friends who all thought Alex was a great partner and wanted their very own Alex of their own. Mimi instinctively knew this wouldn’t be a perfect match for them either, and decided to look into why and what makes the 2 Ikonns such a great fit.
The answer is they both compliment each other and fill areas, character traits and behaviours that one or the other might be lacking. Like a Ying Yang.Men are often thought of as having masculine energy and women more feminine. What Bingo theory explores is a revolutionary idea that this old myth doesn’t have to be true. In truth both sexs have both; men carry some female energy and women carry some masculine energy. The trick is firstly finding your own balance that works for you and then finding a counterpart energy in a partner. Someone that carries the exact opposite.
Masculine energy being; logic driven, math orientated, grounded, sceptical, decisive.
Feminine energy; emotionally driven, caring, creative, artistic, intuitive, stress free.
You’ve heard it on the show countless times, Authenticity is the key. You have to find your place on this polarity scale if you ever expect the world to see your true authenticity. Finding the RIGHT partner should be easy once you have found consciousness in this area of yourself.
Here’s what we get into on today’s show:
There are 4 types of polarity & energy types, not only 2 Everyone, both male and female have both masculine and feminine behaviours. Stop thinking why am i not enough, start realising it’s fine to be who you truly are Finding balancing, and knowing when to push more into the opposite polarity When you surround yourself with people of the same energy, the more it is amplified. Too much of the same energy makes you not empathetic and none understanding of others. How this works in friendships and workplaces How to tell which polarity is someone’s dominant energy Beware that too much relying on your dominant energy is not a good thing.Show notes: https://www.ikonns.com/podcast/episode25
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In this episode Alex and Mimi explore how to overcome and best use, the innate human emotion of fear.
This is one subject where Alex and Mimi really do differ, both realising their own fears, differently in their own lives. So let’s hear what’s so scary?
Mimi has a very creative imagination that sometimes takes her fears to irrational places, like her fear of flying and swimming in deep water, these are things she fears all the time.
“I've had a lot of worries in my life, most of which never happened.” - Mark Twain
Meanwhile, Alex’s finds his fear in spontaneous places having never given time to think over what actually scares him… Until it creeps upon him - like finding himself in front of an unfamiliar audience that he wasn’t expecting to be speaking to.
Alex explores the evolutionary aspects to our fear and why, as humans we are born to be afraid. Mimi concludes her stories with; whenever she overcomes fear, something good always comes from it. They both challenge the uncomfort we must go through, when talking about and facing our fears, stating the importance to do so, in order to truly grow.
Here’s how you can navigate your fear
Start with acknowledging your fear - respect that it’s there and we all suffer from it. Talk about it - open up transparent dialogue with trusted friends and loved ones Write it down - often seeing it on paper reveals just how small the fear can actually be Integrate logic - moving from the creative right brain, to a more rational left brain might ease your fear Rewarding yourself on the other side of overcoming fear, can soon have you loving life’s challenges Do a firewalk - How to dance with your fear, realise anything is possible with Tony Robbins Keep rowing - there’s no time for fear if your in the middle of the ocean - The Steven Shenley way of dealing with fear! Recognise the difference between surface level fears and subconscious fears The future of Alternative therapies like Hallucinogenic mushrooms and hypnotherapyBooks and resources mentioned in today’s show:
Episode: 8 - With Stephen Shanly, rowing the Atlantic Ocean
Tony Robbins - Dancing with your Fear
Tony Robbins - How to Face Your Fears
The Biology of Belief - Unleasing the Power of Consciousness, Matter and Miracles by Bruce Lipton
Hope you enjoyed this today’s episode, you can find out more about Alex and Mimi here:
Mimi’s Instagram
Alex’s Instagram
https://www.youtube.com/mimiikonn
https://www.youtube.com/alexikonn
And here’s where you can find 5-minute journal by Intelligent Change
Produced by Jason Sanderson - Podcast Tech -
In this Episode Mimi and Alex revisit the golden vault again with this special audio version of a very popular video, originally published on YouTube.
They go head to head, 15 rounds in a game of relationship tag with quick fire questions, sharing each other’s best and worst. How much do this entrepreneur couple know each other?
You’ll hear all the juice behind this relationship; From Mimi’s messy habits leaving hers socks everywhere, to Alex being stuck in his airpods and not listening properly. To romantic gestures and affectionate smooches, favourite traits and first opinions
Hear what they can’t live without... or what they wish they could live without - “that red lipstick”
“Stress Is The Biggest Killer - I Love MY Airpods”
What was the last argument they had, What was the last text message they sent to each other and WHO WEARS THE PANTS IN THIS RELATIONSHIP?
Hear all this and so much more.
Hope you enjoyed this week’s episode with Alex & Mimi
Intelligentchange.com - The Five Minute Journal
Full Show Notes: https://www.ikonns.com/podcast/episode17
Produced by Jason Sanderson - Podcast Tech
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In today’s episode Alex and Mimi are talking with a special guest Aggie Lal, AKA ‘Travel In Her Shoes’ successful Instagram and YouTube travel blogger.
Growing up in Warsaw, Poland Aggie was dreaming to travel the world, absorb different cultures and see amazing places. At 18 years old she made a life-changing step and moved to Australia alone to study English. At the same time she was working as a waitress, saving up every dollar to live out her travelling dreams. During her stay she had a major car accident, and even though it was very painful working with a broken arm, she pooled her money alongside her insurance compensation, to helped fund her journey.
After finishing her university studies, 25 years old Aggie and her ex-boyfriend found a 40 year old sailboat on eBay and bought it for $10,000. After fixing it up in Mexico, painting it blue and giving her a pretty sea name, the couple dared to sail the Pacific ocean without any previous experience. During the year of sailing, spending 185 days on the actual boat Aggie found her truth self.
“Success without fulfilment is the ultimate failure. Most people believe that when they reach a certain point in their careers, that they will instantly become fulfilled” - Tony Robbins
At the beginning of this journey Aggie was driven by curiosity and ego. But this changed while on the water. Thanks to the close connection to the nature, a near-death experience and meeting people of different cultures Aggie found herself appreciating life and respecting nature more than she could have ever dreamed of.
After a year on the ocean Aggie and Chris ended their journey in front of the Sydney Opera House. Thrilled by her memories during her time on the ocean and wanting to share, Aggie started to use Instagram. Her very first posts were interviews with different women from countries she’d visited. But when she got more reaction on her outfit she had to rethink why she was there.
“Creating trust with the audience is the first step before posting heavy content.” - Aggie
It was 2015 she embraced the social media platforms that she’d lost touch with whilst on her travels. After a very successful video on Vine with 6 million viewers, her Instagram account started to grow to nearly 1 million followers, just by being authentic in herself and sharing her travels.
During the podcast we will also learn:
Why authenticity is the key for success on social media How and why to prepare for possible failure How to start business step by step what to do if you’re staring into a wave of death Why having the right mindset is important Why living your truth self is the only way to live How keeping daily routine helps in self growth
“The most attractive thing to a human being is to seeing another human in a flow state, being effortless in what they do.” - Aggie
Hope you enjoyed this today’s episode with Aggie, you can find out more about her here:
Find Books and resources from this episode here:
Get The Edge - Tony Robbins The Talent Code - Greatness Isn't Born, It's Grown, Here's How by Daniel Coyle Alter Ego Effect - The Power of Secret Identities to Transform Your Life by Todd Herman The Artists Way - A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity Julia Cameron 5 minute Journal by Intelligent Change
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Jim Quick is one of our smartest friends and is one of the world’s leading learning experts and brain coaches. He regularly works with A-list celebrities, movie stars and learns people - how to learn more effectively.
After suffering multiple brain injuries as a child, he was named the boy with the broken brain. So he had to do one thing to fix himself, he’d become the genie of learning, instead of a wishing for more wishes, he’d grant wishes to learn how to learn.
“That boy over there is the boy with the broken brain” - Jim’s school teacher
Having suffered a second traumatic accident as he woke from a coma to einstein's face on a mug of tea, he realised that we aren’t taught how to learn, that just like a super computer we need to learn how to program it. While struggling at college, Jim found a new perspective on his broken brain when a mentor turned him onto reading a book a week. This was the moment where his poor grades at school stopped getting into the way of his education.
“If you fight for your limitations, you get to keep them” - Jim Kwik
His technique for memory development includes building a mind palace, which is a technique used by the ancient greek to remember long speeches and performances. To do this you have to implement 3 things:
Creativity - the brain learns by being an active creator, not a just consumer Imagination - making the invisible - visible, so dream big! Strategy - planning a route to get there.Jim shares some valuable advice on why it’s important to build your memory, including; how the most successful people that get rewarded, ALWAYS remember people’s names. They know the secret; that nothing sounds sweeter to someone than hearing their own name. Try it yourself next time you’re in a coffee shop, but don’t be surprised if you end up getting a discount. People put trust in you when you use this fantastically simple technique.
Meet Jim’s M.O.M. And remember her…
Motivation - why would you want to remember anything, the importance of rewards. Observation - it’s not retention that is the problem, it’s paying attention that matters. Mechanics - The tools to remembering - diet, meditation, physical and mental exerciseJim treats presence like giving a gift. To be present to someone’s words is like giving them a present. He says the best way to listen is to just be silent and stop thinking of how to add your own piece.
“Seek first to understand, then to be understood”
Stephen Covey - 7 Habits of Highly effective PeopleYou’ll learn Jim’s 10 key tips to super learning and high performance brain function:
Good brain diet - treat what you read and information you consume as seriously as the food you put on your plate. Killing Ants - “Auto Negative thoughts”, positive environments shape how we remember. Movement - When the body moves, the brain grooves. Brain nutrients - how eating an healthy diet can support brain function. Positive peer group - surrounding yourself with 9 smart people, you’ll become the 10th. Clean environment - a messy house = a messy mind. Sleep - Consolidate your long and short term memories allowing your brain to learn. Sleep - Clean the plaque from your brain. Clear that next day mind fog. Sleep - Dreamers are creators, the best inventions started in the land of Zzzz’s. Protect your brain - wear a helmet when riding a bike, avoid sleeping next to your phone.Wow, Sleep snagged 3 out of 10 there, but Jim really does value sleep as a huge import role to brain health, reminding us that we dream for about 3 years of life. Imagine if you started to journal all your dreams, just how much creativity you could manifest. He shares the importance avoiding your phone for the first hour of your day, starting off small with better morning habits. He even recommends the 5-minute journal as a great way to get started in the morning.
“Technology is meant to be used, when we use technology out of habit or boredom, we have to ask which of us is being used, and who is the tool?” - Jim Kwik
There’s so much here in this interview, here’s what else we get into:
Starting out your day without being wired for distraction Begin with the end in mind Speed reading tips from someone who has read a book a day for 6 years Stress management tools How consistency compounds over time Why self-love and self-care are not selfish The importance of teaching what you learn as a way to learn better Doing the difficult thing makes life easier Collective consciousness How your big life questions are probably someone else’s questions What you practice in private becomes what you’re rewarded for in public How knowledge in and of itself isn’t as life changing as you think“If you fuel yourself on other people’s opinions, you’ll soon run out of gas” - Jim Kwik
Hope you enjoyed this today’s episode with Jim Kwik, you can find out more about him here:
Resources and books from this episode:
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People - Powerful Lessons in Personal Changeby Stephen R. Covey
Power of Positive thinking - by Dr. Norman Vincent Peale
Mimi’s Morning Routine video
5 minute Journal by Intelligent Change
Mimi’s Instagram
Alex’s Instagram
https://www.youtube.com/mimiikonn
https://www.youtube.com/alexikonn
Produced by Jason Sanderson - Podcast Tech -
In today’s episode Alex & Mimi share the mic with London’s most exclusive real estate agent, Daniel Daggers. Who recently sold “The most expensive terrace house in UK” for a breathtaking 130 million US dollars.
Alex and Mimi talk to Daniel about his journey from childhood, having a dream to be a professional football (soccer) player, up to current days where he only works with clients wishing to buy luxury properties over £10 million pounds.
Daniel’s dream was to become a professional football player. Growing up in a council house, his parents gave him a secure environment and saved up, sending him to a private school in Maida Vale. This was where Daniel soaked up the multicultural environment he was surrounded by, giving him a foundation to get on with everyone. An important step in becoming a ‘people person’ he would have to become later in life.
Daniel started his carrier when he was 17, while studying GNVQ in business. His school required 2 weeks experience in properties. Unfortunately at the time, and due to a broken collar bone, he had to seek other opportunities outside of football, so he started to work in a real estate company.
He started to develop his knowledge, experience and assets everyday. After 11 years in the company he realised he was dominating and doing things no-one else was doing. In 2007 when the credit crunch hit, he realised the target market that he needed to be working with in order to survive the market crash. During this year he joined Knight Frank real estate, where he chose to focus on 4-10 million pound properties.
He understands that business is much more than selling, and shares the importance to engage and create a bond with the customers through the right communication, emotions, trust and a personalised approach.
His success did not come automatically – he had to work hard and learn the ability to listen and observe. During his journey he took baby steps, built his confidence and created a business environment, where people want to do business with him.
“I love the journey more than the result. Do everything to the best of your ability.”- Daniel Daggers
Daniel also shares the importance of social media in real estate. Via his Instagram account @daniel_daggers, he tries to engage young people showing both the ups and down in business.
You’ll also learn:
How your upbringing can influence your future assets How to define your clients What are the patterns of ultra successful people The importance of social media in business How to become a better more genuine sales person How to incorporate storytelling when selling properties Daniel’s top negotiation tricks How your environment influences your business How his clients value efficiency and time.
Connect with Daniel Daggers online here:
Hope you enjoyed this week’s episode, you can find out more about Alex and Mimi here:
Mimi’s Instagram
Alex’s Instagram
https://www.youtube.com/mimiikonn
https://www.youtube.com/alexikonn
Produced by Jason Sanderson - Podcast Tech -
In this episode Alex and Mimi do a deep dive into perfectionism. When is it good... or bad to be aiming for PERFECT.
Mimi finds that perfectionism, at least for creative people like herself, can hold her back. Forcing her to shelve projects she’s worked on, but are not good enough (...in her own mind)!
Alex argues the opposite. That it’s that very same desire to do better that spurs genuine excellence. The need to push through those moments when you wish to give in, often lead to a much better quality outcome. Mimi agrees. She even feels she’s had to work twice as hard because she didn’t feel exceptional at times.
“People say why are you improving on things that already work - Well, i completely respect those that do, because they are the ones pushing boundaries” - Alex Ikonn
Mimi explores her own past and looks into how labels imprinted on young people have an effect later in life, with a need to live up to those superimposed titles. She shares one of her favourite books on the subject of Fixed Vs. Growth Mindset By Carol Dweck.
They then go deeper with a concept from a favourite book - Linchpin by Seth Godin.
Perfectionism is a very ‘Lizzard-Brain’ part of our evolutionary biology. It’s one of our innate survival techniques, it’s imperative we avoid being ostracised or thrown out of our social group that we depend on. It’s this very concept the holds back from sharing when we feel things aren’t perfect.
“Screw it - Ship it - At some point you need to just get it out there” - Mimi Ikonn
There’s always going to be a gap between your starting skills and where you will end up, if you just keep creating. When you’re young your work isn’t the best. As you mature you grow taste and your work gets better. Alex shares a great video on the subject by Ira Glass. Instead of asking ‘does the publisher agree with this’, ‘what will people say?’ Just live by your own standard and then get it out there. The more you can move on to the next thing, the more you can develop taste and learn as you go.
“I built so many crap websites before i built a good one” - Alex Ikonn
Mimi shares one more book for your reading list Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert, where a few choice words of what to spread on your sandwich... and then eating it, will surely get you pushing through your moments of doubt when perfectionism strikes.
Hope you enjoyed this week’s episode with Alex & Mimi
Find the inspirational books mentioned in this episode here:
Mindset - The New Psychology of Success by Carol Dweck
Linchpin - Are You Indispensable? By Seth Godin
Big Magic - Creative Living Beyond Fear by Elizabeth Gilbert
Video about ‘The Gap’ by Ira Glass
Produced by Jason Sanderson - Podcast TechShow notes @ https://www.ikonns.com/podcast/episode5
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Today’s episode is a very special one, because Alex & Mimi are taking turns to share the mic, while interviewing their very good friend and favourite Yoga teacher - Celest Pereira.
Originally from Richards Bay in South Africa and immigrating to the UK 10+ years ago to study a BSc (Hons) in Physiotherapy. Celest is being labelled as one of the best Yoga teachers in London and is internationally recognised by big Activewear brands like lululemon.
Alex and Mimi investigate what makes this shy small town girl with packed out classes, so special.
“Celest is living proof of the concept of never judging a book by it’s cover, now I really know her, I can totally see how hard she must have worked to make this happen” - Mimi Ikonn
She applied for so many physiotherapy jobs on graduation but a bottleneck in the industry, with too little jobs and too many like minded graduates all scrambling for the same position, had he working 12 hour shifts at McDonalds. With massage therapy jobs available for her qualification, She was grateful for the odd substitute Yoga teaching job for a friends class.
After a month learning how to teach Yoga properly in India, she started gaining more interest in her own right and classes started to pick up in demand. But some people were not used to her own original take on the traditional dry boring Yoga class. Celest instead crafted her own fresh approach that has made for a much more enjoyable experience.
“The look on someone’s face when they get it, that smile, that connection. I love it, it’s like a drug” - Celest Pereira
She explains how it used to really upset her to see people leaving the class if they didn’t get it and found it easy to get caught up in the fuss, somethings that really didn’t matter. She soon found a change in her mindset after a long time trying to copy what other Yogi’s did. “All that chanting, sanskrit and chakras just never resonated with me”, she says. So she gave up the the focused, dry, quiet room for her favourite playlist and a more friendly, lively, relatable approach.
It was time for Celest to drop the ego that surrounds many Yoga instructors.
She is keen share the importance of ‘making students feel like you ACTUALLY CARE’. Also how she picked up some quick simple teaching tips from a martial arts class, siting other learning materials for developing her confidence too. She had real fear and anxiety about standing and speaking in front of a crowd, but the Tony Robbins course UPW (Unleash The Power Within) and Paul Mckenna hypnosis course Instant Confidence helped her on her way!
You’ll also learn
How a quick mirror visualisation trick can bring goosebump revelations Why it’s important to be grateful for living in our time How big cities can seem like the loneliest places Why being desperate can fuel you How important it is to accept every opportunity Finding your own niche of people that give you energy That don’t just step into authenticity Take influences from outside of the usual How darker clubland self kick started her need to always improve
Hope you enjoyed this week’s episode with Celest, you can find out more about her here:
Find Books and resources mentioned here:
Unleash The Power Within - by Tony Robbins Instant Confidence - by Paul McKenna Ph.D.Lululemon - Activewear
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In today’s episode Alex & Mimi are talking to their good friend Stephen Shanly, who believes that pushing your limits and trying new things are the key to seeing the world through a different lens.
Alex met Stephen a few years ago while competing in the Big Change Strive Challenge. Stephen’s level of endurance is off the charts.
He’s truly inspirational and it’s why we had to interview him!
Not many people would purposely choose to be stranded alone, in a one-man row boat, in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. HE DID! And he climbed Mount Matterhorn with little previous climbing experience, along with paragliding down Mont Blanc whilst suffering a fear of heights.
“People will want to jump in your boat and go along for the ride, if they know you’re going to paddle like crazy to get where you’re going” - Stephen Shanly
We’ll hear Stephen’s story of how his failed App business lead him to crossing the Atlantic Ocean alone, in a small boat, setting a record crossing time of 41 days while risking his life. Currently his next challenge is to write a children’s book, even though he is dyslexic.
In this podcast, we explore what can drive a person to take on these remarkable challenges. What makes Stephen push so hard to achieve things, that seem almost impossible. After working to achieve his goals by the age of 30 and shouldering the disappointment of solely focusing on his career and material things. He realised a need to refocus his life.
He tells us that his main drivers are the new things he has never tried before. He is pushing himself over his limit by focusing on the very next steps in front of him. This mental direction helps him to win his challenges, continue and go further.
“Its amazing how much more you can do if you just re-calibrate or just say go again. There is almost no limit what we can achieve mentally.” – Steven Shelley
You’ll also learn
Where to find inspiration and how to focus on positive things How focusing on the next step helps to reach your goal Stephen’s climbing story of Matterhorn without previous experience How is it to jump from Mont Blanc Crossing the Atlantic ocean with a limited water supply and a broken seat. How Stephen survived in the middle of ocean How trying different things shape you as a personFind Books and resources mentioned here:
Big Magic - Creative Living Beyond Fear by Elizabeth Gilbert Eeyore The Donkey - Winnie The Pooh Bear - Walt Disney charactersFollow Stephen Shanly on Instagram and Twitter
https://www.ikonns.com/podcast/episode8
Produced by Jason Sanderson - Podcast Tech
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The tables have turned and today it’s time for Alex to shine the spotlight on Mimi. Behind all that public social media presence, Who is the real Mimi…? And is that even her real name?
Originally a Caspian Sea girl from the city of Baku in the country of Azerbaijan. Mimi tells her story of how watching American movies as a child with her sister Leyla, made her want to jump in front of a camera.
After finding a painting recently, that she had once painted, depicting that very same scenario, (maybe on subconscious level) the world would have it - that’s where Mimi would end up. But it wasn’t always that obvious.
Early ideas of becoming a dancer, a model or even a pianist (If her mom would have her own way) would soon be thrown out of the window. Instead, frequently looking up to the sky and watching planes pass by, she turned to visualising herself travelling everywhere in the world.When her family decided to immigrate to Canada, she felt as if she was walking right into her dreams as she boarded her very first airplane. But the cold shock of Winter in Canada awoke Mimi to reality that her dreams were not always going to be 100% as she imagined.
At the same time dealing with the school bullies that pushed her for a F.O.B (fresh off the boat) reaction, she quickly realised it was best to ignore them and spend some time soul searching for her real self. Albeit a new one.“You have to protect and defend yourself, you have to observe your reactions to other peoples messages. If you learn, fine! If you learn nothing, move on, don’t attach yourself to something that isn’t your problem.” - Mimi Ikonn
While saving up for weeks at her first Job she decided it was time to change her name legally to one both her family and friends had been calling her for most of her life. A new name - a new start!
From here she tried a few jobs and bared the responsibility helping towards paying her parents mortgage, bills and even saved to buying her first car. Her story then takes us to meeting Alex, dropping out of college, working a dream job in image consulting and founding Luxy Hair.
In the second half of this story; Mimi explains how she was so used to operating in survival mode. So much so, that when she finally arrived at financial well being, she only found herself becoming severely depressed at the thought of it. Again, not all being quite as she’d imagined.
She takes us behind the mindset changes she needed to go through including visiting a 10 day meditation trip to a Vipassana Retreat. And how a specific incident with her guiding Monk changed her life forever!
“You can not run away from yourself, where are you gonna go? If there’s a problem we’ll call ambulance.” - The Real Voice of SANITY
You’ll learn:
What keeps Mimi going Her passion for giving value to her audience Why social media is important - and it’s not about money Why she chooses to not post on her darker days How staying humble gives her energy How she can’t make a fake smile Why money isn’t a motivator Why she has to share everyday....And so much more.
Hope you enjoyed this week’s episode, you can find out more about Alex and Mimi here:
Mimi’s Instagram
https://www.youtube.com/mimiikonn
https://www.youtube.com/alexikonn
You can find out more about Vipassana here: 10 Day Meditation Retreats
Produced by Jason Sanderson - Podcast Tech
