Leanna Johnson's guest appearances

Leanna Johnson

The Grass Gets Greener: Overcoming Childhood Trauma and Thriving in Life through Inspiring Stories

TREPX Podcast | For enTREPreneurs by enTREPreneurs, TREPX Podcast provides actionable advice, tips, and steps for freelancers, startups, and early-stage companies to grow into a business bigger than themselves.

In The Circle

Mark Cuban

Tina Dietz

LeBron James

Tom Schwab

James Madison

Matt Damon

John Lee Dumas

Nick Loper

Christopher Anderson

Chris Smith

Sara Moulton

Russ Perry

Mike Michalowicz

Jason Swenk

David Moody

OwlTail

In this edition of In The Circle, Eric Lopez, and Victor Anderson preview the Seattle, Los Angeles, Stillwater, Knoxville, Athens, Tuscaloosa, Gainesville, and the Tallahassee Regional. Eric talks with Troy Head Coach Beth Mullins and Ace pitcher Leanna Johnson about Troy making the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1996. Eric also talks with ACC Network/ESPN analyst and former North Carolina Tar Heel Brittany McKinney. McKinney will be part of the ESPN crew on the call for the Tallahassee Regional this weekend. Eric and Victor also discuss the latest from the Austin Regional and make their regionals picks.

In this edition of In The Circle, Eric Lopez, and Victor Anderson preview the Seattle, Los Angeles, Stillwater, Knoxville, Athens, Tuscaloosa, Gainesville, and the Tallahassee Regional. Eric talks with Troy Head Coach Beth Mullins and Ace pitcher Leanna Johnson about Troy making the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1996. Eric also talks with ACC Network/ESPN analyst and former North Carolina Tar Heel Brittany McKinney. McKinney will be part of the ESPN crew on the call for the Tallahassee Regional this weekend. Eric and Victor also discuss the latest from the Austin Regional and make their regionals picks.

2021 NCAA Softball Tournament Regional Previews Part II, Beth Mullins, Leanna Johnson, and  Brittany McKinney

Micky Deming: (00:35) Hello and welcome to the TREPX Podcast! This is Micky Deming and I’m really excited about today’s interview! I had a chance to talk with a fellow journalist. I talked to Leanna Johnson who is a journalist and who is using her journalism to build a business around it and to promote entrepreneurs to help them tell their stories. As entrepreneurs, as business owners we talked about this in the Chris Smith interview if you’ve heard that, telling your story is one of the most important things you have to figure out how to do. How to pull out those stories of who you are, of why you do what you do, and sometimes we can’t pull it out of ourselves. We need to be interviewed, we need to talk to someone else, and a journalist can really help with that. So Leanna is doing that for others and she is really documenting everything that she’s doing, everything that others are doing, on her website. It’s some really cool stuff. So if you are at all curious about how to do some better storytelling, some better writing, you definitely want to check out her site and everything she’s up to. You can find it at LostLass.com and again that is Leanna Johnson. Had a great time talking to her. Talking about the fun journalism stuff that we’ve both seen with interviewing and telling stories. Very much enjoyed chatting with her. Again, you can see her at LostLass.com and see this interview at TREPEXGroup.com. Please enjoy this interview with Leanna Johnson. Micky Deming: (02:04) Hello Leanna Johnson, welcome to the TREPX Podcast! How are you doing today? Leanna Johnson: (02:08) Hey Micky! Glad to be here! Thanks for the opportunity. Micky Deming: (02:11) I am really pumped because we have so much in common. I just sense how exciting that is! The main thing is that we are both journalist. I guess I would be a former journalist, but it’s still in my soul and you are very much a journalist. This is going to be fun! Leanna Johnson: (02:30) I think so too! Micky Deming: (02:31) I don’t think I’ve interviewed a journalist before, but here’s where I think I was disappointed because our way into journalism, yours was so much more noble than mine! I was reading your website and it says, “I became by the human experience. I combined my love of world cultures, curiosity of the human condition, and global awareness to create a multi-dimensional, multi-media career”. That’s so awesome! Leanna Johnson: (02:58) That was also really good copywriters, just so you know! Micky Deming: (03:04) When people ask me like why did you get into journalism? I say, well I was a pretty good writer and I like sports, so I thought I could write about sports and that’s my answer. Yours is so much cooler! Leanna Johnson: (03:16) Blinding skills! Yeah well, I guess writing has always been sort of a part of how I communicate and I traveled a lot when I was a kid and up until now. I have a pretty multi-cultural background, so it just kind of seemed to fit. I don’t know, it was sort of a natural progression. I grew up wanting to be an FBI agent, so I didn’t start off with the journalism thing. I sort of rejected the idea of criminal justice early on in college when I figured out how much desk work that would be and how probably boring that would become and I thought you know what, I can just kind of make my own rules and do my own thing as a journalist and still have that kind of detective, dangerous, fun experience. So there might be a little bit of an adrenalin junkie in there too. Micky Deming: (04:17) That’s cool! So you’re going to create the next cereal, that’s what you’re saying. You’re working on that right now? No, this is cool! There are so many things I want to ask. This audience being entrepreneurs, I always have said this, that the skillset you needed for journalism is so important in marketing and entrepreneurship and communication and so I think there is a lot we can learn from you and your experience, but before we get into that I just want to let you share kind of an overview of your business and how you’ve turned your journalism skills into an actual business. Leanna Johnson: (04:55) Well Micky, I honestly didn’t take the traditional route. When I think of journalism, I think of someone who works on the school paper, who practices photography from when they’re like 13, and interviews everyone, and just sort of builds up this really solid, awesome background with internships, and jobs, and so forth in college. I did not do any of that. I did dabble a little bit in newspaper and magazine journalism early on in community college, but I took kind of a roundabout way to get to it I guess. Instead of majoring in journalism, I actually majored in communication at UIC in Chicago. You could concentrate in journalism, but I really got this, I think of it as, English degree for 21st century people where you can actually make money as opposed to where you can’t. I learned kind of the basics of marketing and PR and because I was fascinated by culture, I combined that with Asian studies. So I was studying Asian film, Asian media, kind of global communication trends, and then I was sort of funneling that into journalism. I ended up doing some really cool work with a Bollywood dance troupe who I danced with for a while and then I did photography and video for and I ended up with this weird little internship at a church near my house where I would make promotional videos for their rummage sales and sort of learn things on the fly. So a lot of the journalism, aside from the writing which really has been a continuous interest for most of my life, the sort of multi-media aspect of journalism, the interviewing that all kind of build haphazardly and fell into it. That created a lot of interesting stories and a lot of interesting freelance work. My first freelance video was a funeral and I still remember sticking a camera in the faces of people who were mourning the loss of their loved one. I thought, oh God I don’t know if I’m in the right field. I don’t know what I’m doing here, but I think my love of travel sort of led me back to this idea of having a solid blog, of having a solid presence, of connecting with the community of people, and I think that’s really where my interest in entrepreneurship and business sort of started to take off. Micky Deming: (07:58) That was going to be my next question is like a lot of people that kind of have that skill set aren’t normally going to think how can I work on my own like this? So I’m curious, like did you always fill like kind of wired that way? Like I want to find a way to make this work and what’s it been like to transition to that and to have your own business? Was that difficult at all or did you just kind of know, like I have to make this work no matter what? Leanna Johnson: (08:28) I knew pretty early on that having a full-time sort of desk job, career was going to be very difficult for me. I am very independent, not very good with authority. I have had a series of kind of odd part-time jobs over the years that really made me appreciate sort of a different side of life and having the flexibility and I always ended up choosing flexibility over the stability of benefits and vacation days and sick days and so forth. That just kind of worked for me. I mean, it’s hard eating Raman a lot, but you can basically anywhere and you can take three months off and travel to Europe and you can’t really do that with a traditional desk job. So that and again sort of being part of, I found a good travel community in Chicago. They started off as Go Girl and they are Wanderful now. A beautiful network of women travelers and a lot of them were bloggers. There were a good number of journalists and a good number of photographers and they built their lives around this love of travel. I thought that’s what I want to do, except with journalism. I want to build my life around what I love to do so I have that flexibility to go where I want to and to travel and to see the world as it is and not sort of as I want it to be. Micky Deming: (10:05) Right and I think there is kind of a like two things working at once there. Your skillset that you own and that you do is also the same thing that is allowing you to have clarity about the things you want to do. I know in the business that you have, the people you work with, a core element of it is the writing, is the storytelling, is the information gathering and I think probably one of the biggest challenges for entrepreneurs is like I have so many ideas in my head, I have so many different things going together at once, like how do I clarify that? Do you find that’s a big part of what you’re doing as you work with people, is to help them put on your journalism hat and condense it and find what actually really matters? Leanna Johnson: (10:56) Yeah! No, that’s very true. I think it’s also, as an entrepreneur, that I think that’s an important part of being and entrepreneur, being a journalist, is being able to see things from all different angles and to kind of narrow the focus, if you will. Not only for other people but for yourself as well because you’re never going to have a solid business if you’re not sure which direction you’re heading in. So it’s sort of finding that purpose, finding those niches that you feel like you have, you can bring some good information to the table, you feel like you have a passion for, you feel like you have some expertise in, and sort of narrowing those down. It’s a lengthy process, but eventually, you can take that struggle and you can market it and in this age where authenticity and transparency are the catchwords of marketing, it’s really blogging and sort of confessing those sort of weaknesses as you build your business really helps you figure out what audience you’re looking for and what your audience needs. It connects you, I think, in a very strong way. As you said, it is a big part of being a journalist is really kind of narrowing that down for people. Figuring out not only what they want to say, but the story they need to tell and to how best to tell it. What media form to use, the right words to go with their brand, and so forth. Micky Deming: (12:43) Yeah, I love that. I think that’s extremely important. I think every business needs a journalist around at least because I know like just from my experience, you know if you’re telling a story or you’re righting for a newspaper it is always better to have more sources or more information than you need. I’d rather have too much than not enough because you can always filter through it and I think, you know, for entrepreneurs they have so much and they’re like I actually do have too much, but I don’t know how to filter through it. We have this here at our company, like where our founder a lot of times will just throw information at me because he’s like I know that if it’s not worth using right now you’ll get rid of it, but I know at least your eyes will see it and I’m always like good! I want more information just because I’ll filter through it and I think that’s an important thing for people to understand, like how can you use those skill? Don’t just delete information, but take it in and find out what is most important. As far as storytelling, I think that’s almost become a buzzword now with marketing. It’s like, how do you tell your story and be authentic? That’s a real skill. I’m curious, what are some of the things you’ve done to help people and to do it for your own business that are key elements in good storytelling? Leanna Johnson: (14:09) Oh my goodness! Ummm, well see honestly I have a love-hate relationship with this whole personal branding, personal marketing thing because it really forces you to get really into not only what you want to do and what you’re good, but why. Where do you come from and who are you as a person and it gets really personal and deep very quickly. I have had a hard time with that because I am not the best at self-motion, to be honest. I don’t like it. I don’t feel like I’m using the right words to describe myself. It always seems easier to tell someone else’s story than your own, but I think it’s an invaluable part of building a business. Especially in a century where freelancing is at an all-time high.  What with the economy, what with the job market, you’ve got so many people going into business for themselves. Just all across the board and all different sectors and there really is this rush to sort of stand out from the crowd. I think personal marketing is kind of the key to that. I have had to sort of dig into my multi-cultural and travel background. I lately did an article series on what it’s like to grow up in different parts of the world and how disconnected and unusual and sort of different that can make you feel and how you sort of end up with an identity crisis. Then I sort of took the idea of mental issues like PTSD or anxiety, which I have some issues with, and that’s sort of another personal platform that you can work from. You know, past interests, past experiences, hobbies, you know it really is about taking the basics of who you are as a person and it’s funny how difficult that can be at times and saying, you know what, what do I have to say about this. How can I market this as a skill? How can I promote myself this way? It can be something as simple as just talking to people in a dance class or at a coffee shop you like to frequent. It’s really not about selling yourself 100% of the time, but recognizing that you as a person are a valuable commodity. Not just because of your skill set, but because of your character and your interests and your experiences and kind of building on that. I don’t think anyone can do that alone. I have had a lot of people who have had to help me see that and sort of focus into that. Micky Deming: (17:12) Yeah, isn’t that funny? It like goes to that same conversation with journalism. I feel the same way. It’s so much easier to write about others, to talk about others, to promote others than it is for yourself, but at the same time, I have had people that I’ve interviewed that are like I’ve never said something like that before. I’ve never heard myself communicate that way before. You asking questions brought that out of me and we have to do the same thing. It doesn’t have to be a professional journalist, just someone who can ask good questions and bring those things out can be incredibly clarifying just to get interviewed. I think that’s incredibly important. Leanna Johnson: (17:54) Yeah, I agree. Micky Deming: (17:56) So it’s cool. That’s kind of what I think is interesting with this is just how you can take these skills of writing and of researching and of gathering information and use them as a business. I am curious to know, as you are pulling this together and it’s kind of new territory, what’s next for your platform and where are things headed? Leanna Johnson: (18:24) Well now that I’ve got sort of a decent website and a decent brand, again that’s kind of been a trial and error process, and now that I’m finally getting somewhere with that and I’m comfortable with it, I see a lot of promotion. That is something that I’m sort of dreading, but I know it will have to happen, but I’m hoping this year to make the transition to being a full-time freelancer. I’m not sure how doable that is at the moment, but it’s the small steps in between I think that will really get me there. There’s registering your business, there’s establishing sort of a client base and figuring out the markets that you really want to work for, the magazines and newspapers you’re interested in, the kind of regional publications, or online markets that will be willing to pay you at least decently for your work until you are at a point where you can sort of ask for more money. I spent the last year, did a couple of paid gigs, but a lot of it, a lot of my published work was unpaid and it was great exposure and it was great promotion for me and for them, but now I’m like ok I need to get paid for all of this. This is a lot of work, a lot of time, and a lot of effort and there’s nothing wrong with that. It’s really part of being in a business and I think sometimes we have to kind of let ourselves off the hook, at least as a writing I just kind of want to go into a cabin in the woods and just write. Just go that Thoreau route and sort of write. You know writing is a form of art and sort of be that artist, but at the same time, I also want to be a part of the world and be recognized and paid for what I do. There’s that as well. Definitely next step is kind of pulling together that business now that I have a logo and a face to put to my work and a good solid body of work in the same place, which is saying something. It’s all about findings those clients and really setting up my life to work around what I want to do. Micky Deming: (21:02) That is so great! Well, I think you’re definitely on the right track. Just having skills that fill needs and having the ability to tell stories, the ability to communicate, the ability to pull real information out from people and tell their story I think is awesome! I am excited for you! I am grateful for you taking the time in this interview. I think there’s a lot to take away from your story and all you shared. I want people to find out more because I think your services would be valuable for the entrepreneurs listening. Where can we find out more about all you’re up to and find you on the internet? Leanna Johnson: (21:42) Oh yeah, sure! So my new website just launched. It’s LostLass.com. I am also on Facebook at Lost Lass Facebook page and if you are interested in looking me up on Twitter, Leanna Lost. There is that kind of marketing continuity right there. It’s picking a word and sticking with it! I thought that kind of fit who I am and kind of my brand and yeah, happy to connect with anyone. I love collaborating on different projects. I also have a world music radio show called Masonna Sounds. It is with a small new local station, mostly geared towards the South Asian community in Chicago, but its radio (__________). They are on Facebook and Twitter as well and so far I broadcast twice a month. I’m hoping to kind of expand on that in the next few months. Micky Deming: (22:52) Very cool; that’s great stuff! Thank you so much for sharing and for taking the time, I really appreciate it. You keep up the great work! Leanna Johnson: (23:00) Thanks Micky, you too! Announcer: Thank you for listening to the TREPX Podcast.  For more episodes, interviews, and business growth tools, please visit TREPXGr

Micky Deming: (00:35) Hello and welcome to the TREPX Podcast! This is Micky Deming and I’m really excited about today’s interview! I had a chance to talk with a fellow journalist. I talked to Leanna Johnson who is a journalist and who is using her journalism to build a business around it and to promote entrepreneurs to help them tell their stories. As entrepreneurs, as business owners we talked about this in the Chris Smith interview if you’ve heard that, telling your story is one of the most important things you have to figure out how to do. How to pull out those stories of who you are, of why you do what you do, and sometimes we can’t pull it out of ourselves. We need to be interviewed, we need to talk to someone else, and a journalist can really help with that. So Leanna is doing that for others and she is really documenting everything that she’s doing, everything that others are doing, on her website. It’s some really cool stuff. So if you are at all curious about how to do some better storytelling, some better writing, you definitely want to check out her site and everything she’s up to. You can find it at <a href="http://LostLass.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">LostLass.com</a> and again that is Leanna Johnson. Had a great time talking to her. Talking about the fun journalism stuff that we’ve both seen with interviewing and telling stories. Very much enjoyed chatting with her. Again, you can see her at <a href="http://LostLass.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">LostLass.com</a> and see this interview at <a href="http://TREPEXGroup.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">TREPEXGroup.com</a>. Please enjoy this interview with Leanna Johnson. Micky Deming: (02:04) Hello Leanna Johnson, welcome to the TREPX Podcast! How are you doing today? Leanna Johnson: (02:08) Hey Micky! Glad to be here! Thanks for the opportunity. Micky Deming: (02:11) I am really pumped because we have so much in common. I just sense how exciting that is! The main thing is that we are both journalist. I guess I would be a former journalist, but it’s still in my soul and you are very much a journalist. This is going to be fun! Leanna Johnson: (02:30) I think so too! Micky Deming: (02:31) I don’t think I’ve interviewed a journalist before, but here’s where I think I was disappointed because our way into journalism, yours was so much more noble than mine! I was reading your website and it says, “I became by the human experience. I combined my love of world cultures, curiosity of the human condition, and global awareness to create a multi-dimensional, multi-media career”. That’s so awesome! Leanna Johnson: (02:58) That was also really good copywriters, just so you know! Micky Deming: (03:04) When people ask me like why did you get into journalism? I say, well I was a pretty good writer and I like sports, so I thought I could write about sports and that’s my answer. Yours is so much cooler! Leanna Johnson: (03:16) Blinding skills! Yeah well, I guess writing has always been sort of a part of how I communicate and I traveled a lot when I was a kid and up until now. I have a pretty multi-cultural background, so it just kind of seemed to fit. I don’t know, it was sort of a natural progression. I grew up wanting to be an FBI agent, so I didn’t start off with the journalism thing. I sort of rejected the idea of criminal justice early on in college when I figured out how much desk work that would be and how probably boring that would become and I thought you know what, I can just kind of make my own rules and do my own thing as a journalist and still have that kind of detective, dangerous, fun experience. So there might be a little bit of an adrenalin junkie in there too. Micky Deming: (04:17) That’s cool! So you’re going to create the next cereal, that’s what you’re saying. You’re working on that right now? No, this is cool! There are so many things I want to ask. This audience being entrepreneurs, I always have said this, that the skillset you needed for journalism is so important in marketing and entrepreneurship and communication and so I think there is a lot we can learn from you and your experience, but before we get into that I just want to let you share kind of an overview of your business and how you’ve turned your journalism skills into an actual business. Leanna Johnson: (04:55) Well Micky, I honestly didn’t take the traditional route. When I think of journalism, I think of someone who works on the school paper, who practices photography from when they’re like 13, and interviews everyone, and just sort of builds up this really solid, awesome background with internships, and jobs, and so forth in college. I did not do any of that. I did dabble a little bit in newspaper and magazine journalism early on in community college, but I took kind of a roundabout way to get to it I guess. Instead of majoring in journalism, I actually majored in communication at UIC in Chicago. You could concentrate in journalism, but I really got this, I think of it as, English degree for 21st century people where you can actually make money as opposed to where you can’t. I learned kind of the basics of marketing and PR and because I was fascinated by culture, I combined that with Asian studies. So I was studying Asian film, Asian media, kind of global communication trends, and then I was sort of funneling that into journalism. I ended up doing some really cool work with a Bollywood dance troupe who I danced with for a while and then I did photography and video for and I ended up with this weird little internship at a church near my house where I would make promotional videos for their rummage sales and sort of learn things on the fly. So a lot of the journalism, aside from the writing which really has been a continuous interest for most of my life, the sort of multi-media aspect of journalism, the interviewing that all kind of build haphazardly and fell into it. That created a lot of interesting stories and a lot of interesting freelance work. My first freelance video was a funeral and I still remember sticking a camera in the faces of people who were mourning the loss of their loved one. I thought, oh God I don’t know if I’m in the right field. I don’t know what I’m doing here, but I think my love of travel sort of led me back to this idea of having a solid blog, of having a solid presence, of connecting with the community of people, and I think that’s really where my interest in entrepreneurship and business sort of started to take off. Micky Deming: (07:58) That was going to be my next question is like a lot of people that kind of have that skill set aren’t normally going to think how can I work on my own like this? So I’m curious, like did you always fill like kind of wired that way? Like I want to find a way to make this work and what’s it been like to transition to that and to have your own business? Was that difficult at all or did you just kind of know, like I have to make this work no matter what? Leanna Johnson: (08:28) I knew pretty early on that having a full-time sort of desk job, career was going to be very difficult for me. I am very independent, not very good with authority. I have had a series of kind of odd part-time jobs over the years that really made me appreciate sort of a different side of life and having the flexibility and I always ended up choosing flexibility over the stability of benefits and vacation days and sick days and so forth. That just kind of worked for me. I mean, it’s hard eating Raman a lot, but you can basically anywhere and you can take three months off and travel to Europe and you can’t really do that with a traditional desk job. So that and again sort of being part of, I found a good travel community in Chicago. They started off as Go Girl and they are Wanderful now. A beautiful network of women travelers and a lot of them were bloggers. There were a good number of journalists and a good number of photographers and they built their lives around this love of travel. I thought that’s what I want to do, except with journalism. I want to build my life around what I love to do so I have that flexibility to go where I want to and to travel and to see the world as it is and not sort of as I want it to be. Micky Deming: (10:05) Right and I think there is kind of a like two things working at once there. Your skillset that you own and that you do is also the same thing that is allowing you to have clarity about the things you want to do. I know in the business that you have, the people you work with, a core element of it is the writing, is the storytelling, is the information gathering and I think probably one of the biggest challenges for entrepreneurs is like I have so many ideas in my head, I have so many different things going together at once, like how do I clarify that? Do you find that’s a big part of what you’re doing as you work with people, is to help them put on your journalism hat and condense it and find what actually really matters? Leanna Johnson: (10:56) Yeah! No, that’s very true. I think it’s also, as an entrepreneur, that I think that’s an important part of being and entrepreneur, being a journalist, is being able to see things from all different angles and to kind of narrow the focus, if you will. Not only for other people but for yourself as well because you’re never going to have a solid business if you’re not sure which direction you’re heading in. So it’s sort of finding that purpose, finding those niches that you feel like you have, you can bring some good information to the table, you feel like you have a passion for, you feel like you have some expertise in, and sort of narrowing those down. It’s a lengthy process, but eventually, you can take that struggle and you can market it and in this age where authenticity and transparency are the catchwords of marketing, it’s really blogging and sort of confessing those sort of weaknesses as you build your business really helps you figure out what audience you’re looking for and what your audience needs. It connects you, I think, in a very strong way. As you said, it is a big part of being a journalist is really kind of narrowing that down for people. Figuring out not only what they want to say, but the story they need to tell and to how best to tell it. What media form to use, the right words to go with their brand, and so forth. Micky Deming: (12:43) Yeah, I love that. I think that’s extremely important. I think every business needs a journalist around at least because I know like just from my experience, you know if you’re telling a story or you’re righting for a newspaper it is always better to have more sources or more information than you need. I’d rather have too much than not enough because you can always filter through it and I think, you know, for entrepreneurs they have so much and they’re like I actually do have too much, but I don’t know how to filter through it. We have this here at our company, like where our founder a lot of times will just throw information at me because he’s like I know that if it’s not worth using right now you’ll get rid of it, but I know at least your eyes will see it and I’m always like good! I want more information just because I’ll filter through it and I think that’s an important thing for people to understand, like how can you use those skill? Don’t just delete information, but take it in and find out what is most important. As far as storytelling, I think that’s almost become a buzzword now with marketing. It’s like, how do you tell your story and be authentic? That’s a real skill. I’m curious, what are some of the things you’ve done to help people and to do it for your own business that are key elements in good storytelling? Leanna Johnson: (14:09) Oh my goodness! Ummm, well see honestly I have a love-hate relationship with this whole personal branding, personal marketing thing because it really forces you to get really into not only what you want to do and what you’re good, but why. Where do you come from and who are you as a person and it gets really personal and deep very quickly. I have had a hard time with that because I am not the best at self-motion, to be honest. I don’t like it. I don’t feel like I’m using the right words to describe myself. It always seems easier to tell someone else’s story than your own, but I think it’s an invaluable part of building a business. Especially in a century where freelancing is at an all-time high.  What with the economy, what with the job market, you’ve got so many people going into business for themselves. Just all across the board and all different sectors and there really is this rush to sort of stand out from the crowd. I think personal marketing is kind of the key to that. I have had to sort of dig into my multi-cultural and travel background. I lately did an article series on what it’s like to grow up in different parts of the world and how disconnected and unusual and sort of different that can make you feel and how you sort of end up with an identity crisis. Then I sort of took the idea of mental issues like PTSD or anxiety, which I have some issues with, and that’s sort of another personal platform that you can work from. You know, past interests, past experiences, hobbies, you know it really is about taking the basics of who you are as a person and it’s funny how difficult that can be at times and saying, you know what, what do I have to say about this. How can I market this as a skill? How can I promote myself this way? It can be something as simple as just talking to people in a dance class or at a coffee shop you like to frequent. It’s really not about selling yourself 100% of the time, but recognizing that you as a person are a valuable commodity. Not just because of your skill set, but because of your character and your interests and your experiences and kind of building on that. I don’t think anyone can do that alone. I have had a lot of people who have had to help me see that and sort of focus into that. Micky Deming: (17:12) Yeah, isn’t that funny? It like goes to that same conversation with journalism. I feel the same way. It’s so much easier to write about others, to talk about others, to promote others than it is for yourself, but at the same time, I have had people that I’ve interviewed that are like I’ve never said something like that before. I’ve never heard myself communicate that way before. You asking questions brought that out of me and we have to do the same thing. It doesn’t have to be a professional journalist, just someone who can ask good questions and bring those things out can be incredibly clarifying just to get interviewed. I think that’s incredibly important. Leanna Johnson: (17:54) Yeah, I agree. Micky Deming: (17:56) So it’s cool. That’s kind of what I think is interesting with this is just how you can take these skills of writing and of researching and of gathering information and use them as a business. I am curious to know, as you are pulling this together and it’s kind of new territory, what’s next for your platform and where are things headed? Leanna Johnson: (18:24) Well now that I’ve got sort of a decent website and a decent brand, again that’s kind of been a trial and error process, and now that I’m finally getting somewhere with that and I’m comfortable with it, I see a lot of promotion. That is something that I’m sort of dreading, but I know it will have to happen, but I’m hoping this year to make the transition to being a full-time freelancer. I’m not sure how doable that is at the moment, but it’s the small steps in between I think that will really get me there. There’s registering your business, there’s establishing sort of a client base and figuring out the markets that you really want to work for, the magazines and newspapers you’re interested in, the kind of regional publications, or online markets that will be willing to pay you at least decently for your work until you are at a point where you can sort of ask for more money. I spent the last year, did a couple of paid gigs, but a lot of it, a lot of my published work was unpaid and it was great exposure and it was great promotion for me and for them, but now I’m like ok I need to get paid for all of this. This is a lot of work, a lot of time, and a lot of effort and there’s nothing wrong with that. It’s really part of being in a business and I think sometimes we have to kind of let ourselves off the hook, at least as a writing I just kind of want to go into a cabin in the woods and just write. Just go that Thoreau route and sort of write. You know writing is a form of art and sort of be that artist, but at the same time, I also want to be a part of the world and be recognized and paid for what I do. There’s that as well. Definitely next step is kind of pulling together that business now that I have a logo and a face to put to my work and a good solid body of work in the same place, which is saying something. It’s all about findings those clients and really setting up my life to work around what I want to do. Micky Deming: (21:02) That is so great! Well, I think you’re definitely on the right track. Just having skills that fill needs and having the ability to tell stories, the ability to communicate, the ability to pull real information out from people and tell their story I think is awesome! I am excited for you! I am grateful for you taking the time in this interview. I think there’s a lot to take away from your story and all you shared. I want people to find out more because I think your services would be valuable for the entrepreneurs listening. Where can we find out more about all you’re up to and find you on the internet? Leanna Johnson: (21:42) Oh yeah, sure! So my new website just launched. It’s <a href="http://LostLass.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">LostLass.com</a>. I am also on Facebook at Lost Lass Facebook page and if you are interested in looking me up on Twitter, Leanna Lost. There is that kind of marketing continuity right there. It’s picking a word and sticking with it! I thought that kind of fit who I am and kind of my brand and yeah, happy to connect with anyone. I love collaborating on different projects. I also have a world music radio show called Masonna Sounds. It is with a small new local station, mostly geared towards the South Asian community in Chicago, but its radio (__________). They are on Facebook and Twitter as well and so far I broadcast twice a month. I’m hoping to kind of expand on that in the next few months. Micky Deming: (22:52) Very cool; that’s great stuff! Thank you so much for sharing and for taking the time, I really appreciate it. You keep up the great work! Leanna Johnson: (23:00) Thanks Micky, you too! Announcer: Thank you for listening to the TREPX Podcast.  For more episodes, interviews, and business growth tools, please visit TREPXGr

How Entrepreneurs Tell Their Story with Leanna Johnson - Episode 69

In this episode, I'm joined by Leanna Johnson of Lost Lass. Leanna joins me to share her story of how she's been able to heal after an attack that left her dealing with PTSD, and the role that travel has played in all of it. http://thegrassgetsgreener.com/leannajohnson Get your FREE audiobook and 30-day FREE trial from Audible.com at: http://thegrassgetsgreener.com/audible

In this episode, I'm joined by Leanna Johnson of Lost Lass. Leanna joins me to share her story of how she's been able to heal after an attack that left her dealing with PTSD, and the role that travel has played in all of it. <a href="http://thegrassgetsgreener.com/leannajohnson" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://thegrassgetsgreener.com/leannajohnson</a> Get your FREE audiobook and 30-day FREE trial from <a href="http://Audible.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Audible.com</a> at: <a href="http://thegrassgetsgreener.com/audible" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://thegrassgetsgreener.com/audible</a>

TGGG068: How Travel Can Help Us Heal from Trauma with Leanna Johnson