Mindy Gibbins Klein Joins Us On The Steve Jobs Inspired Join Up Dots Podcast
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Introducing Mindy Gibbins Klein
Mindy Gibbins Klein is today’s guest joining us on the Steve Jobs inspired Join Up Dots business podcast.
She is a lady who is was born in New York and now lives and works from her present home in the United Kingdom and as far as i can see never stops smiling.
She is the founder & CEO of The Book Midwife® and Panoma Press, a cooperative publishing house for business and personal development authors.
Which means that if you want to be an author, and get to the top of the charts then this lady is the place to go.
Or perhaps you are in the process of writing a book and are struggling to get words onto the page.
You are walking around, not shaving, wearing your dressing gown for days on end, blaming writers block for your distress.
Well she can blow these issues out of the water, as for a start she feels there are no reasons for writers block, she feels its just bad planning.
How The Dots Joined For Mindy
Its what we do before we get truly creative which is the key to everything.
And that is what the Book Midwife is about.
Along with her team, she can help you give birth to the finished article, and help it get into the hands of the people who need it most by utilising promotion, media appearances and a myriad of other trusted routes to success.
With a client base of over 500 published clients its not a surprise that she has now been an international speaker for more than 15 years and has presented to over 10,000 business executives and entrepreneurs in over 10 countries.
But did she always want to be in the publishing business, or like many of us did she stumble into it by accident?
And what does she feel is the hardest part to anyone, who wants to do as she has and start their own successful business?
Well lets find out as we bring onto the show to start Joining Up Dots with the one and only Mindy Gibbins-Klein
Show Highlights
During the episode we discussed such weighty topics with Mindy Gibbins Klein such as:
Why we should work towards perfection if that is at all possible, but don’t think for a moment that we have to achieve perfection before we start. This will stop you more than anything.
How when she was a child she had the passion to become a teacher, and now in any many ways has achieved the essence of what she believed being a teacher was all about.
How our self-limiting beliefs can come from anywhere, but we need to be aware of them to be able to overcome the challenges that they set us.
How she never has a bad day, but does of course have bad times within those days. Total positive mind-set
And lastly……..
Why her Father held back from a dream of writing until after retirement, and she sees it as such wasted time and belief in yourself.
How To Connect With Mindy Gibbins Klein
Return To The Top Of Mindy Gibbins Klein
If you enjoyed this episode with Mindy Gibbins Klein, why not check out other inspirational chat with Isabel Foxen Duke, Selena Soo, Lauren Juliff, and the amazing Michael Michalowicz
You can also check our extensive podcast archive by clicking here – enjoy
Full Transcription Of Mindy Gibbins Klein
Intro [0:00]
When we’re young, we have an amazing positive outlook about how great life is going to be. But somewhere along the line we forget to dream and end up settling. Join Up Dots features amazing people who refuse to give up and chose to go after their dreams. This is your blueprint for greatness. So here’s your host live from the back of his garden in the UK. David Ralph.
David Ralph [0:26]
Yes, I know everybody is Join Up Dots Episode 255. And it’s another lady. It’s funny when I started doing this show, I couldn’t get a lady to come on it for love nor money really. But now I seem to be surrounded by them is pretty good place to be really is. And today is a lady who has got a fascinating tale because she was born in New York and now lives and works from our present home in the United Kingdom. And as far as I can see, she never stopped smiling. She’s the founder and CEO of the book midwife and panola Press. I cooperative publishing house for business and personal development offers, which means that if you want to be an author and get to the top of the charts, then visit the lady to go to, or perhaps you in the process of writing a book and struggling to get words onto the page you’re walking around, not shaving, wearing your dressing gown for days on end, blaming writer’s block for your distress. Well, she can blow these issues out of the water as best as she feels there are no reasons for writer’s block. She feels it’s just bad planning is what we do before we get truly creative, which is the key to everything. And that is what the book midwife is about. Along with her team, she can help give birth to the finished article and help it get into the hands of the people who need it most by utilising promotion, media appearances and a myriad of other trusted routes to success. We have a client base of over 500 published clients. It’s not surprised, but she’s now been an international speaker for more than 15 years to and has presented to over 10,000 business executives and entrepreneurs in over 10 countries. But did you always Want to be in the publishing business? All right, many of us did. she stumbled into it by accident. And what does she feel is the hardest part? Anyone who wants to do this as she has started her own successful business? Well, let’s find out as we bring onto the show to start Join Up Dots with the one and only Mindy Gibbins Klein. How are you Mindy?
Mindy Gibbins Klein [2:18]
Doing great. David,
David Ralph [2:20]
Its lovely to have you here. We were talking just beforehand. And although I gave you the big introduction, of coming from New York, you haven’t got the accent. You’ve lost it. We’ve we’ve rubbed it out of you for a while.
Mindy Gibbins Klein [2:32]
I have been here for 23 years. So what I like to say nowadays is that it’s a bit half and half.
David Ralph [2:40]
Did you remember actually sort of coming across and having more of an accent or did you always have a sort of softer one when he was over in New York as well.
Mindy Gibbins Klein [2:48]
I was in the suburbs, so I think I never had the really strong accent that some people have. I also lived away I lived in Argentina for a whole year when I was 16 to 17 and spoke no English at all. So the accent didn’t progress there. And I went to university in Canada for three years. So by the time I came to the UK, I’d only probably lived about 20 years in the US.
David Ralph [3:13]
Did you ever sort of wanderlust spirit? Because that’s quite ballsy isn’t it as a 16 year old going to Argentina, not being able to speak the language and living there for a year. I don’t know how I could have done that. When I was 16.
Mindy Gibbins Klein [3:24]
I did speak a bit of the language, I was very lucky to have been identified as somebody who could pick up languages. So from nine to 16. I had studied a lot of Spanish, and I don’t think my accent in Spanish was very good back then. But I just I was determined to to perfect not only the accent, but obviously the language and vocabulary and to the point where at the end of that year, people would scratch their heads and say what part of Argentina you from they couldn’t quite figure it out.
David Ralph [3:53]
Are you somebody that’s focused on the perfection the fact that he was determined to do it or use it as a task
Mindy Gibbins Klein [4:00]
Yeah, definitely not perfection but determined. Yes. And I still retain that, you know, if I set my mind to something, I usually don’t stop till I find a way. And it doesn’t have to be perfect. In fact, that’s, that’s one of the things that I work with clients on, you know, working with books amongst other things, people won’t get a book done and they won’t publish it until it’s perfect. And guess what it never it says it. So we, you know, help people understand that it’s more much more important to get it out and to get it right. But But is that not
David Ralph [4:37]
nothing. That’s all generally holds life back. The fact that it has to be perfect. I can’t do this until I’ve got x y Zed in place. I can’t do this until I’ve got the money in place. Are you a big advocate generally in life, not just in your business, or just giving a go and working with what you’ve got?
Mindy Gibbins Klein [4:55]
Yes, you guessed it. I think, you know, I really hate to see people Stopping themselves and, you know, planning. And I mean, we love planning here at the Midwest but over planning over analysing where they get into that paralysis by analysis. I do know a lot of people like that. And it’s a shame because they always say, I’m going to do this. But first, I just need to do this, that and the other. And then they don’t actually get off the first point. They don’t manage to do anything about their dream. So yeah, I am a big believer in taking that leap of faith. And the net will either appear or you will find a net and you’ll figure it out as you go. But it’s really really important to to jump in especially these days. We’re in such a fast paced world, aren’t we? Well, yeah,
David Ralph [5:44]
we are and those kind of issues of perfection, as you say. It’s, it’s a game changer. Really. Once you throw that out the window and go, look, this is going to be what it is. I’m going to move forward. But the key words that you said is you work it out. You find a way Rounding I had a very stressful morning yesterday because I record a daily show and I hadn’t planned it out well enough that I needed more shows to get through to the new year and it suddenly dawned on me but a lot of people don’t want to be recording on Christmas Day, which is which is Yeah, fair enough there they were with their families. But that’s one of my recording days is first day and I suddenly looked at it and oh, my God, I’m not gonna have enough people and there’s going to be a show, but there’s not gonna be any one live. What do I do? So I sold like mad yesterday to try and find people and contact people Do you know anybody who can jump in next week or we can record shows and you get it done? Don’t you? If you if you do anything you you can get it done just by deciding that you want to achieve something?
Mindy Gibbins Klein [6:48]
Yeah, I agree.
David Ralph [6:51]
When you as a young girl even if because when we take you back in time on Join Up Dots. When you as a young girl in the suburbs of New York. If I said to Mindy, what do you want to do when you grow up? Would it have been what you’re doing now? Or did you have other dreams and passions?
Mindy Gibbins Klein [7:08]
The funny thing is, I do remember exactly what I used to say. Because it hasn’t really changed that much. I all I wanted to do is be a teacher, and or an actress. They now say, actor, but, you know, I wanted to act. I wanted to be on a stage and I wanted to be teaching and guess what, that’s what I do. I spend most of my time training people and doing speeches and doing these sorts of things speaking. So I guess I am living the dream, and not in the way that I thought it was back then. I didn’t know that this kind of career existed, and I’ve kind of created it for myself. But yeah, I do. I do think that it’s worth tapping into those dreams from your childhood, and seeing if there are elements of those dreams that you can fulfil. Not exactly in the way you thought but there’s always a way to go after that dream it’s never too late.
David Ralph [8:06]
But that’s the theme of this show the tagline is connecting our past to build our future because
Unknown Speaker [8:11]
it is the young,
David Ralph [8:12]
the young Mindy the young David, those passions when you would do something and you didn’t get paid for it, you just love doing it. And the fact that you said yeah, I want to be a teacher. I can see that totally because I remember having that same vibe remember years and years and years I was a trainer in in corporate land, almost the same thing other than people will listen to you when you were trainer teaching adults even if they’re not paying attention, they won’t get up and walk around like kids do. So do you find actually when you look back on it being a teacher in front of a classroom of children, would that actually be still a great thing to do or do you go No Actually, the vibe the essence of what I wanted to do? Is better met no teaching
Mindy Gibbins Klein [8:55]
I did I did have a go at teaching children Spanish through An organisation here in the UK. And I think I was doing a pretty good job, but it is really hard to keep their attention. They’ve been at school a full day, during the whole day. And then they come and they do an extra class in Spanish and some of them were very young. And they died just didn’t do very well with that. In one case, in particular, I just took a deep breath and walked out of the classroom to try to compose myself. And I thought, you know, what men do this is not for you. And I enjoyed teaching people who, who want to be there. And and that’s, I suppose, the common denominator. So some kids want to be there, and some were lovely. But for the most part, I like working with adults and people who’ve chosen to to study whatever it is that I’m teaching,
David Ralph [9:45]
or even the sort of corporate gigs where they’re just told to turn up like they still sit there quietly, I I had to do a day teaching in a senior school. And as I say, I was a good trainer and I could just train on any subject. So they said to me, would you go and do And I went, Yeah, no problem at all. And I went down there, and now you kind of ran Riah and you felt half the time you was almost wanting to shout at them to shut up and sit down. But then you were thinking when I can’t do that, that means I’ve lost control. I don’t know how teachers do it on a daily basis.
Mindy Gibbins Klein [10:16]
I don’t either. I really admire them. I did shout, I’m ashamed to admit in that situation.
You know, that that’s when I knew I had lost it.
David Ralph [10:27]
The ultimate smiler started shouting,
Mindy Gibbins Klein [10:30]
I probably shut when I don’t think I did smile. I was shouting, but you know it, you’ve got to understand where your limits are. And you know what, simply not worth doing as well.
David Ralph [10:43]
But my teachers in my day used to pro Blackboard rubbers and whiteboards and stuff, but obviously, we had Blackboard and they would throw these lumps of wood and chalk. You know, it could kind of kid and you were dark and more often than not the person that wasn’t paying attention. Got a Hit by it. And they weren’t the right person to get the data chalkboard rubber thrown at them. It was it was kind of mild. The key when I was growing up off of Tebow and abuse and god knows what, he toughened me up, he toughen me up. You can, you can hit me in the face with a blackboard rubber from about four feet now and I can just survive anything. Absolutely, yeah. So when did you start your business when because you say that you’ve created it yourself. You wasn’t even aware of that. You could earn a living in such a way. Were you in a gig that you didn’t like? Was it? Some other speech that you saw? How did you start to think Yeah, I know what I can do. I can create the book midwife.
Mindy Gibbins Klein [11:44]
Of course, it makes total sense. Now, as you know, the fact of the matter is I was made redundant I was laid off and for the third time in five years, I think five or six years and it was really great. Because each time that I got a package, I got some money, and I started another job. So
David Ralph [12:06]
what were you doing Mindy when you were getting laid off?
Mindy Gibbins Klein [12:08]
marketing roles? Right? Okay, so that my, my background? Well, if I take it straight back, I went into sales positions with my Spanish and various other skills right from university. And I did my MBA, and I really liked marketing. So sales lead into marketing. Then we were running a sales training department, which got picked up by a marketing department. And when I came over to the UK, I applied for a job, which I went and moved up to Holland, Yorkshire to do and that was running the marketing department for the telephone company up there, and which wasn’t something that I’d planned but I wanted to stay in the country. And and I just thought, Well, what am I skills, what have I done, and that was the easiest thing for me to go after. So I did that. That moved back down south, I worked for Nortel networks. And then I worked for another company each time when the role ended. I took my package and went on to do the next thing but the last time I just had emotional feelings about it, you know, it didn’t end very amicably. I won’t name the company, but you know that it just kind of tore me to bits. And also my kids were about six and seven or seven and eight. And I thought, you know, Enough Enough with all the travelling all around the world, I love it. But I wasn’t balancing things well enough for me. It wasn’t working 100% so I thought, well, I could go out on my own. I’ve got this cushion. Most people don’t have a decent chunk of money to get started doing something. And I had some redundancy insurance as well, which came with the best thing ever. It came with a mentor. And, you know, I figured it out very, very soon what I wanted to do, I said, I’ll run a marketing consultant. See, but as fate would have it, my first book had just come out. And I also was doing a lot of Tony Robbins work and motivation and self personal development and that sort of thing. So I I started my marketing consultancy, I also started a life coaching business, I thought, well, I can do both. I didn’t know back then it was called a portfolio career. So I had a very small portfolio of two things I was doing. And everywhere I went, people were most interested in the book, not the marketing and coaching. But the book, what was the book about and it was about something that had happened in the States when I still lived in the states and a friend of mine had fallen down a flight of stairs and developed epilepsy. And it’s not something that anybody knew anything about. We were in our late 20s and he had a really rough ride with it. hit his head very hard had uncontrolled seizures. Couldn’t do his job the way he wanted or the company wanted, ended up being let go from that job, which is a story in itself and became depressed and took his own life, sadly. So I wrote that book does a bit of catharsis author to tell his side of the story because he was no longer with us. And and just to explore my thoughts and feelings and my creative writing. And it was really important to me to get that message out. So I sort of had three things that I was doing. And I started working with the epilepsy charity here in the UK, became a volunteer, started speaking for them. So it all sort of coalesced at that time that I had coaching skills, marketing skills, and a book. And people just started coming to me saying, Can you coach me with my book, and I need to market it. And you know, just everywhere I went to his book, book, book, book book, and gradually everything else just fell away. So I’d love to say that it was all strategic and it was part of a plan and that, you know, I listened, every time the universe knocked, I said, Okay, I have to go in this direction. And the book midwife was formed in the second or third year of doing the coaching. And I realised that’s all I really had time space, and an interest for
David Ralph [16:19]
participation. Brilliant story, though, isn’t it when you realise that you are actually being driven by the opportunities coming to you. So many people will get this idea they will create a business and then they will go out and try to find the clients. But you actually kind of found the clients before you even had the business. That was quite fortunate, wasn’t it?
Mindy Gibbins Klein [16:39]
Yeah, I was trying to find marketing clients. And I was working on marketing projects. So I had one or two long projects that I won, but they weren’t as fulfilling anyway as the book stuff. It just yeah, it just kind of came to me that that this is what I was meant to actually. Now I can tell you what really happened and I’ll tell the listeners Do tell this from stage sometimes. I was doing I was marketing books that people had self published, which is a soul destroying thing anyway, self publishing is, is not all it’s cracked up to be. We may have time to talk about that later. But these books would come across my desk. And in one case, it was just so bad. I couldn’t market it. So I called the publisher that it sent it to me. And I said, I don’t think I can do this. They said, well, too late. We’ve already promised and you know, it’s been paid for, and blah, blah, blah. So, I met with the author and I said, Look, you know, you’d have to change this, that and the other. And, you know, I wanted him to make a whole lot of changes, he thought he was finished, and I realised that my favourite part of the work was way before all that way before the book was published way before it was even written. And even before his plan. I heard you say in the intro, you know, have you been trying to write a book in new stuck. I try to catch people even before that, because that’s where I feel like my gift lies, that that’s where I can offer them the best support right at the beginning to help craft from the start. And you know that and that’s when I decided, I said no more working on things that are so far along that I’d rather tell them to start over because they won’t want to hear that and they won’t want to do it.
David Ralph [18:26]
But let’s play some words that really sort of emphasises this point in your life. And this is Jim Carrey.
Jim Carrey [18:32]
My father could have been a great comedian, but he didn’t believe that that was possible for him. And so he made a conservative choice. Instead, he got a safe job as an accountant. And when I was 12 years old, he was let go from that safe job. And our family had to do whatever we could to survive. I learned many great lessons from my father, not the least of which was that you can fail at what you don’t want. So you might as well take a chance on doing what you love.
David Ralph [18:59]
Now How much of a chance did you take? Obviously, you found your thing. You got clients, but were you still scared of going out alone? Or were you really gung ho, I’m going for this.
Mindy Gibbins Klein [19:12]
It was a whole lot of fun while I had that cushion of money. But I, well, it’s amusing to think about it now. But I didn’t plan things very well. And I went through that money in about two or three years. So even working, but you know, not earning enough for the household. And so then went through all the savings. And then I was scared. So it wasn’t right at the beginning. I think, you know, what kind of fear was it, fear of the unknown, wondering if I could succeed, you know, that those are the obvious ones. And my husband was self employed as well at that time. So we basically had no guaranteed income at all. And that’s, you know, that can be scary. And at some point, I just got determined, I realised, you know, that I’d forgotten one of my skills, which is determination. And then I cranked it up and then things started to, to really go, you know, go well,
David Ralph [20:07]
and and do you buy into the words that Jim Carrey was saying, did you believe that most people, not all people, because some people just aren’t that way, but do you think most people should look for finding the thing that they love and taking a chance on it?
Mindy Gibbins Klein [20:20]
I definitely do. And one of the other stories that I tell in my speeches is about my own dad, who put his writing dreams on the back burner for 40 years. And he only allowed himself to write when he retired from his teaching career. And basically, on the day of retirement, he went back to his his first love and he ended up writing quite a lot in the I think he lived 19 years after that. And he wrote, you know, for pleasure then, but yeah, it was kind of sad because a friend of his that he had lived with, went for his dream and made it big and wrote screenplays in Hollywood and there was always you know, a Bit of envy and remorse and things like that. But he wouldn’t even do it part time he needed while he was too busy in this job. So I don’t know what would have happened if he’d gone for it back then. But he held back like so many people do.
David Ralph [21:15]
He’s not even so many people, whether it’s, to me, it seems, probably the top 10% of people are getting off their backside and doing it the next life 30% are thinking about doing it. And then all the rest are just moaning about their lot. That’s how it seems to me and I’ll just pick those those percentages off the top of my head, but it does seem to be that that the small percentage of successful people are the ones that just do it. And as you say, it’s not perfect. We’re just gonna do it. Screw it, just do it.
Mindy Gibbins Klein [21:46]
Yeah, but you know what, there are very legitimate or not legitimate but
understandable limiting beliefs that people have. And I do, and I have some myself that you know, we all still have them. The key is how do you deal with those beliefs? So beliefs? Like, you know, I don’t know where to start. I have never done it before. Well, that’s true. If not, you know, beliefs like, I don’t think I have enough money, but you don’t know what can be done on a shoestring until you try to trust me on that one. You know, that I don’t have any contacts. I don’t have this. I, you know, I’m too tired. I’ve been working all day. And then you flop in front of the TV, would it be easier to flop in front of the internet, do some research be take just the same effort? Now I have my iPad any way too much information. But we know there’s lots of limiting beliefs that people have and you know, coming from the coaching world, that’s one of the things that I really enjoy dealing with. So if somebody presents something, and it sounds like an excuse, by the way, so that’s if you’re sitting there wondering, do I have limiting beliefs? If you ever find yourself saying yes, but that is probably, you know, a limiting belief that’s about to come out of your mouth.
David Ralph [23:01]
is astonishing these beliefs event or we all kind of think that we’re in control of our own destiny and I even doing this show I’ve had things I look back on now. And I think, why did it take me so long to actually do that? And I think in my head it was once again, it’s those beliefs where I was thinking, right, he’s not quite right now, on a mobile platform, I need more of this. I need more of a event. I see other people doing similar things, and they seem to just be whizzing past me. And where where do you think we get these these limiting beliefs? Is it just live? Is it parents? Is it
Mindy Gibbins Klein [23:32]
just in us all of the above? It can be things that happened to us at school. You know, the classic one that we get at the book midwife is, oh, you know, I want to write a book, but I’m not a writer. So I, you know, I just become curious. Oh, what makes you think you’re not a writer? Well, you know, I’ve been told I’m not a writer. So by any chance, was that some teacher at school, you know, when you were 1112 years old? Yes. I was told I couldn’t write. Ah, I see. And did you get your papers all marked up in red? Yes. And it was mostly spelling and grammar. Yes. So you could be a writer that just needs a bit of a spell check, which we have now. And it’s interesting though, that, you know, you hear one thing when you’re a kid, and you keep it with you for your whole life. And it can limit you. That’s why it’s called a limiting belief. We get them from the media, you know, you need to be thin to be on TV. I mean, I’ve been a victim of that or other, let me just lose 25 pounds. And then I’ll pitch my show to stations again. And you know, there are a few people on the TV quite a few that aren’t real thin. But you get these beliefs in your head, and then they are quite hard to shake.
David Ralph [24:47]
It’s the hardest thing, isn’t it? shaking those beliefs and especially when you’ve got a dream. And because I get so many emails from people that go, I’ve got this dream and I want to do it and I speak to them, and we start working on a sort of programme of actually doing it. But one of the things that I don’t want to do is share that dream with anyone else because I know the first negative comment is going to knock them off their feet. And they’re not going to be able to do that is his peer group. And was peer group impression important for you when you started getting your business going? Obviously, you had the mentor but did you try to surround yourself with other people who were doing well,
Mindy Gibbins Klein [25:23]
I didn’t find people in the Tony Robbins environment, which is a very positive environment, do you know running courses to help people develop their life and business but primarily their life skills. And that was really useful. I used to love plugging into that. I also I didn’t know it was going to be so good. But I joined a networking organisation called big business networking International. And that, you know, I was forced to show up as the professional that I am. And and they were, you know, 30 or 40 other professionals there from different, different industries. And you have the chance to get to know people everybody was on. It was a level playing field, you could promote your business. In fact, that’s the point. And I learned a lot there. I went every single week, which is how they work. Lots of people don’t like that, or they’re not willing to do it. And it’s like, you know, show up somewhere quarter to seven in the morning. Are you crazy? I said, Well, I’d like to work with other people who are prepared to do that, that that was exciting to me. So that was my peer group for a while. For the listeners out there.
David Ralph [26:23]
We’re talking about peer group and how important it is. It did I need to have real people always the virtual world just as powerful. Well,
Mindy Gibbins Klein [26:32]
you’ve got both now. So it’s not either wrong, but that’s, you know, I enjoy meeting up with people face to face because you can look in their eyes, and you can get a lot accomplished that way. Obviously supplement with virtual some people. I do have some friends who live you know, in the Outer Hebrides and remote places where they really are reliant on the internet, social media, Skype and things like that, which is great. Right. And they also do network locally but it’s it’s not vibrant like London or New York, you know that. So I feel and and network with people face to face meet up with people as well. But you know, make sure you use all the tools that are available to us whether we’re so blessed to have all these tools now in our society.
David Ralph [27:21]
So So how do you structure your business? Or do you have an office? Do you go to the office or is it all online? How does it work?
Mindy Gibbins Klein [27:27]
Well, I end up doing a lot of retreats and workshops, and those are always in lovely places, hotels, and generally, and you know, in the countryside, and my trainings are sometimes in the countryside, sometimes in cities, sometimes it clients locations. So I’m out and about a lot. It you know, I don’t have one, two weeks that are the same. So if you had if you looked at the whole year, probably about 70% of the time I’m not at my home office. So I have an office at home and we run a virtual team. There are 26 of us. And I only see four or five, locally, you know, but they still come into the home office, we’ve we’ve got extra desks and computers and things. ones coming in a little while, but I don’t have an office office and extra overhead. Because that’s been really important to me. I run several businesses, as you said, I’m running the publishing business, where we have editors, designers, web people, PR people, admin people that are based all over the UK and all over the world. And it works because we’ve, you know, we use all the systems, we use the cloud, you know, without getting into too much boring detail. We’ve set it up that way. And I’ve been asked several times, don’t you want an office? I said, Why would I do that? Nobody would come to the office. They’ll love the freedom of working at home. And as long as the job gets done, then we’ll carry on that way it works.
David Ralph [28:57]
I was watching a programme that we have in the United Kingdom. didn’t call them secret millionaire where they take some millionaire and they they scruffy him up and make him look a bit down at Hill and put him into a town and he kind of goes around and finds charities. And I’m sure you’ve seen this mean to yourself. And there was a chap who came from India, and he was wearing a T shirt and trainers. And he just looked like basically he was living rough on the streets. And he’s workers said, Now that’s how he looks. And that’s exactly how he looks. But he ran his whole business. And he has a series of kind of pawn shops where you can take your old DVDs into the shop and you sell them and you can buy ones that other people are taken in. It’s very popular. You see him all around the United Kingdom. And he runs his home office from a pub. And he goes in and he says, What’s the point in having an office I’ve just got free Wi Fi here and he buys himself and he puts his laptop on and he runs his whole this this cooperation from a pub which is astonishing. Isn’t it?
Mindy Gibbins Klein [30:00]
It is astonishing. I mean, not to me, because I have a lot of meetings in pubs, restaurants, wine bars, you know, hotel lobbies and elsewhere. But to other people who think that it can’t be done. Yeah, if we’re experiencing an age in a time where we’re just trying new things that have never been done before the whole, you know, sort of hot desking and finding a place of, you know, plugging in at Starbucks, that that was never necessarily before, but it’s never people were kind of required to be at their desks. And now, I’ve just read that 40% of the US workforce are going to be freelancers by the year 2020, which is nearly half. And that’s astounding, because the US has a huge population. And it’s probably similar here. So you really can’t predict how the business is going to look or how it’s going to go and people who try to do They’re hills and keep things the same as they were, might be disappointed.
David Ralph [31:04]
Would it be easier now building your business with all the technological advancements that we’ve had over the last few years with your experience now, could you get it up and going much quicker because of what we’ve got around us?
Mindy Gibbins Klein [31:16]
I think so. And I think I do see colleagues of mine, setting things up or new projects or, you know, new products. I see people doing things very quickly, and why not? I did what I could with the resources I had. And that’s all you can do. So, you know, I would never look back and, you know, be sad that my journey was the way it was building my business slowly. As you know, in retrospect, it was the perfect thing. Because as I say, I had two young kids, and I was able to do some school runs and I was able to spend some time and I was, you know, home a lot. And then as the business took off, I found you know, it was not quite back to the way it was when I was in the corporate world, but I am, I had less time I was required to be out, you know, going to networking things or speaking in the evenings. And you know that that’s just how it went. So if I built it really fast, I might not have had that precious time. And you were
David Ralph [32:15]
you okay with that, but the slowness of it, he wasn’t putting pressure on to yourself, I should be at this point. Because that seems to be an entrepreneurial habit as well. But yeah, we almost look at other people and go, Ah, I should be where they are, but you don’t assess but they’ve taken as long to get it as get it going as you have.
Mindy Gibbins Klein [32:34]
Well, you know what, David I, I have had moments like that. And that’s usually when I forgotten to keep it in perspective. Not everybody was also trying to be a mom with two teenagers. And, you know, we’ve been renovating a house. I had family in the states and I’ve been, you know, trying to get over there two or three times a year so not everybody everybody’s got different situation. Anyways, I should be there, that person you don’t know what they gave up and sacrificed. So I’m pretty good at talking to myself and reminding myself to keep the perspective. And and that’s what you have to do. You know, you, you never have the exact same situation as someone else. And my mom taught me that. She said, don’t wish that you were in their shoes because you have to take the whole package.
David Ralph [33:22]
That’s very wise, isn’t it? But But we all do it that way. We all look, no matter where we are, in our journey, we will still look at other people. And that’s what I want, which is great in one way because it It drives you on. But also it does increase that pressure on yourself, which nobody else is putting on you. It’s just about you should be at that point. That’s where it should be happening for me.
Mindy Gibbins Klein [33:44]
Yeah. Or you can just take that philosophical approach and say, maybe I’m on the perfect journey and I’m exactly where I’m meant to be.
David Ralph [33:54]
As a Tony Robbins, sort of, the lot of the courses that you took has it has that really match your life.
Mindy Gibbins Klein [34:00]
Definitely, I’ve found I’ve just come back from one of the events, which is my my voice is a bit lower than normal having shouted my way through 10 days, and there’s, there’s a lot, there’s a lot going for that, you know, keeping yourself upbeat being with other positive people, learning skills, actual skills and tools to manage yourself out of these moments. For me, it’s only moments I never have a bad day, I might have a bad half an hour. But I never allow myself to indulge in a bad day and waste a whole day. So you need to be able to get yourself out of these things. I mean, I used to get people to coming to me for coaching, and I felt more like a crutch than a coach. And I don’t like you know that the idea that someone else thinks they need to lean on you, and that you’re going to pull them out of something. I think we’re all capable of pulling ourselves up to a higher standard and, you know, being the best version of ourselves that we can be I know that
David Ralph [35:01]
we just have to decide to do it. Don’t worry, I say that to my kids. Every morning, I go, gonna have a good day at school and I go, I wish I wasn’t going and I go, well, then you’re gonna have a rubbish day you can choose to have a good day or a bad day.
Mindy Gibbins Klein [35:14]
Yeah, it’s hard for kids. I don’t know, if I would have had these insights as a kid. I was ready for it. You know, when I began learning about personal development, so, you know, I’m happy to share thoughts with anybody, if they end up connecting with me. I can chat about a whole lot more than books and publishing. I think we’re given a life and you know, how great is it if we can really make the most of that appreciate our life, you know, be grateful for things and, you know, just squeeze all the juice out of it?
David Ralph [35:46]
Well, let’s play the theme of the show now, and this is the words that Steve Jobs said back in 2005. And I always like to know whether they resonate with the guests. So this is Steve Jobs.
Steve Jobs [35:57]
Of course, it was impossible to connect with dots looking forward when I was in college, but it was very, very clear looking backwards 10 years later. Again, you can’t connect the dots looking forward, you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something, your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. Because believing that the dots will connect down the road will give you the confidence to follow your even when it leads you off the well worn path. And that will make all the difference.
David Ralph [36:31]
Can you see your life going that way? When you look back on it? Is it true what Steve’s been saying,
Mindy Gibbins Klein [36:36]
Oh, it’s very true. You know that everybody that you interview probably knows that. Yeah, hindsight is 2020. Right? You just you can look back and it all makes perfect sense for most people. Perhaps there are some where they look back and they don’t understand what led to that place. But you know, people who spend the time and are either An open, you know, can probably see, in my case, I don’t spend a lot of time looking back anyway. I mean, you’ve asked me to, which is great, I’m happy to. I am I’m also not so focused on always living in the future. I used to teach for the for the sales, training staff, I used to do a goal setting course. And I like doing goal setting for myself and others, but I don’t like spending a whole lot of time on it, because then you kind of living in the future. And of course, the most important time is the present is this actual moment right now. So there’s, there’s always a time and place to look back and look forward. But the most important thing is is to look at where you are right now this moment and what can be done.
David Ralph [37:48]
Because one of my big skills I went through Strength Finders 2.0 which is a skill finder course. And my number one is futuristic, which is very me I’m always thinking of the possibilities. CDs and stuff. And I’ve deliberately tried to do what you’ve said, try to be more present at the moment because you know, living in the clouds is great, but doesn’t get anything done. You’ve got to be present in the moment to start moving things forward, don’t you?
Mindy Gibbins Klein [38:14]
Wait, you need I think what you really need is an appreciation of what you have now, as well as some kind of energy that is going to keep you moving towards things that are exciting. And your future life your destiny, you know, whatever you want to call it. I am, I think where where most people go wrong with the goal setting is they set these goals and they think they won’t be happy until they achieve them. And then they miss out on the present. So I guess my best advice to anybody listening is to have the goals know where you’re heading, but also appreciate where you are right now kind of have one foot in each camp.
David Ralph [38:51]
So if you look at the words of the show to Steve Jobs, speech, do you have a big.in your life when you look back and go, yes, that’s when Mindy RT to really find a path.
Mindy Gibbins Klein [39:02]
Well, it was when I finally took that leap of faith and became self employed. And, you know, but that’s when I started looking back to my skills. So perhaps that wasn’t the big dot. There were a few little dots, dots around writing, which gave me confidence that I could write, which as I say, this is helpful. And, you know, doing various training jobs and speaking and getting good feedback on it. So you know, that just propels you forward. There wasn’t one specific moment like an aha moment. For me, maybe other people have that.
David Ralph [39:41]
I think a lot of people have said, but there are moment there. Their key big door was when they was at their lowest point that seems to be a theme that runs through the show where they had a decision to either fight back or just let it all go and that that was the end of it.
Mindy Gibbins Klein [39:57]
I didn’t really have a lowest point. I’m not good. Doing lowest points, as I’ve said, but I might have had a lowest point, you know, on my bank balance or something, but I didn’t notice it. You know, being being ever the optimist, and positive attitude and all that sort of thing. And I think I approach things in a different way. And I do feel very lucky and very blessed to have grown up in a personal development environment and been exposed to all this from my early 20s. And, you know, really, really great people, great family good opportunities. So that that wasn’t my impetus that that’s in the personal development world. That’s what we call away from. And that’s useful for a lot of people not mean necessarily, you know, I’m more of a towards person.
David Ralph [40:44]
So just before we send you back in time on the sermon on their mind, where is your business going now? What’s your plan for the next two, three years or whatever? Maybe you haven’t got a plan. Are you happy as it is? Or are you in expansion mode? What’s happening?
Mindy Gibbins Klein [41:00]
I have I have several plans because the publishing company got a major equity investment last year, which I was very pleased about, we pitched for that. And so we now have big plans to fulfil, growing that we’ve grown from a very small almost self publishing outfit to a proper publisher that does everything the big guys do. But usually on a smaller scale, we’ve attracted some very good professional authors. The coaching and training company and the speaking work that I’m doing that is carrying on and it’s I’m seeing invitations coming from different countries and you know, there’s there’s a whole lot of really exciting stuff happening there. There’s my team is building so I have a team of coaches that train on the methodology and coach our clients, and that’s going to grow as well. So everything that was set in motion is at that point where it can now to start accelerating and growing bigger So we’ve got Foundation, we’ve got systems and all that in place. One of my big dreams is to have my own retreat centre, because I keep using hotels, which is great. And it’s fun, and I use different places, but I really like having a place where, you know, I can bring people home, I entertain at home, and I just have this feeling that I need my own place. But we haven’t chosen which country so that’s a bit tricky. There’s there’s a there’s a few kind of grey areas still there, David, but I know generally where we’re heading. And I know certainly the you know, the numbers that we need to hit and all the businesses and you know, things are things are going very, very well. There’s a real place for entrepreneurial publishing, as well as the the book coaching to make sure people write the best book in the first place. And those two things go hand in hand and that I’m going to carry on doing that. Well, I have breath in my body
David Ralph [42:57]
and even though you’ve had so much success and You’ve gone through the leap of faith in business, there comes times when you have another leap of faith and you expand whatever, that doesn’t excite you your plans, is there any sort of scary, scary news in it?
Mindy Gibbins Klein [43:12]
Well, they should, they should be big enough to stretch you and to scare you a bit. But I’ve got references for having done it once or more than once. So you’ve got to look back. And you know, you mentioned Strengths Finder, I mentioned success finder, you know, look for the successes, you’ve had to give you a bit of faith that actually I can do it, I’ve got proof, so I can do it again. And that’s really how I lead my life. When I think oh, I don’t know, I think now Come on, you know, you’ve done this, you’ve done that. This is just a different variant. And so growing something is just, you know, a bigger version of what you’ve already done. And so yeah, of course, you can do it kosha can
David Ralph [43:55]
that’s the message that goes out to everyone out there. It’s gonna be scary, but just work through And you can do it. Well, this is the part of the show that we call the Sermon on the mic. And this is when we send you back in time to have a one on one with your younger self. And if you could go back in time and speak to the young Mindy, what advice would you give and what age would you choose where we’re going to find out now because I’m going to play the theme. And when it fades, you’re up. This is the Sermon on the mic.
Unknown Speaker [44:24]
Here we go with the best of the show.
Unknown Speaker [44:42]
Well,
Mindy Gibbins Klein [44:44]
you know, there’s something that you don’t know and that is, everything’s gonna work out. Many people think that it’s, it’s all got to be mapped out and planned out in the greatest detail and you get people telling you that advisors, career advisors, bosses, you know, where are you going to be in three years time? Sometimes it’s not totally clear. And you know what, that’s okay. Because you have skills and you have dreams that are unique to you. So the best thing that you can do is just latch on to those and keep the faith. The point about having a dream is not so that you can keep it as a dream is it so you can start approaching that dream? And now you have some setbacks. But it’s it’s not really about the setbacks. As they say, it’s not about how many times you get knocked over. It’s about how many times you get up after. So sometimes you may need to take a slightly different approach. You may need to keep going for that dream but with a different path. I would also if Are you be open to all the people that come into your life because it’s all very well having technologies and The internet and all the great things that we have. But life wouldn’t be life without people. And I think one thing that you need to remember is that these people are in your life for a reason. You may not know what that is. But just to be more open, more accepting more appreciative of every single person that you come in contact with, make that extra effort, deepen relationships, stay in touch with people, be open to new people, even people who’ve seen different from you, because they’re probably the ones that have something for you that is very special, a lesson, something for you to learn. Dealing with somebody that’s very different from yourself who has different ideas, you may not even like them. There’s probably a reason that they were put across your path, so you can avoid them. Or you could maybe look for the lesson does require a bit of extra effort. This is something that most people are not willing to do. But then again, you’re not most People I, I would say, You’re very special. I know that. And you need to know that at a deep, deep level to keep moving forward. When times are tough, you can just remember that and appreciate those people, some people in your life might be the perfect ones to help you through a rough patch. So will it be smooth sailing all along? No. The idea is to enjoy that journey, even when it’s rough seas, and enjoy it with the people that are there in your life. That’s what I would say to you, Mindy, how can our audience connect with you? I have a number of websites. So if somebody is interested in writing a book, ideally, you know, before they even start, but at any stage book midwife book midwife.com or they can simply google book midwife. I think we have the first 65 pages of the book if they’re interested in inviting me to speak to their group or are interested in anything to do with speaking or becoming a speaker themselves. That it’s Mindy gk.com. That’s Mindy dk.com. Find me on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, this, you know, or YouTube. There’s lots of my videos. I don’t really do Instagram, but I’m sure we’ll see each other online. And I’m always delighted to have a chat with anybody who wants to progress their life and get their ideas out there, in the form of writing and speaking, because having the ideas and having the dreams in your head is one thing, sharing them with the world is an opportunity. And I would say an obligation. And so people want to pursue that. I’m always happy to have a chat
David Ralph [48:47]
will have all the links on the show notes. Mindy, thank you so much for spending time with us today. joining up those dots and please come back again when you have more dots to join up. Because I do believe that by joining up the dots and connecting our past is the best way to build our futures Mindy, thank you so much.
Outro [49:04]
David doesn’t want you to become a fated version of the brilliant self you are wants to become. So he’s put together an amazing guide for you called the eight pieces of advice that every successful entrepreneur practices, including the two that changed his life. Head over to Join Up dots.com to download this amazing guide for free and we’ll see you tomorrow on Join Up Dots.
David Ralph [49:30]
Haha, you thought you got rid of me? Now I’m just going to ask you a favour anyone out there who’s enjoyed the show. And as enjoyed all the shows, could you go over to iTunes and leave a review the more reviews I get, the better the show will perform. And then it’s a win win. You’ll be getting me every single day for the rest of your life. Don’t know that’s a good thing or a bad thing. But yeah, iTunes, David Ralph, Join Up Dots. And I love you so much or even come down to walk your dog. Thanks very much. Bye bye
