Unconventional Life – Podcast, Blog, Live Events

Author: Jules Schroeder

Ep298: Listening to Internal Direction with the Leading Online Business Coach and Entrepreneur Leah Gervais
Modern human life for many of us has often descended into a repetitive pattern of school, work, and retirement. Many of us feel chained to a 9 to 5 job that we will probably have until our 60s, and it is completely reasonable to break free from this cycle, but it is terrifying to act on especially if this has been our reality for a long time.

This was true for blogger, coach and entrepreneur Leah Gervais. Before her blog Urban 20 Something popped off, she described it as a rough start with a lot of mistakes and embarrassment, but in knowing herself, Gervais understood the steps she needed to take to be successful.

Originally from Colorado, Leah started her early 20s with a dream to be a corporate lawyer in New York City. And for a young aspiring lady boss, what sweeter fruit to pluck than The Big Apple itself. But later on, that dream seemed less and less appealing to her and she found herself at a crossroads.

“After two years working as a paralegal, and this is so close to being my reality, something in me was like, ‘Hell no, this is not it.’”

Leah had gone through the entire process of enrolling at New York University, from taking her tests, to securing recommendations, but after fighting with what her guts were telling her, she put the dream on hold and received other offers from different schools. She’d gone on-campus tours and measured the pros and cons of each university, but after all that, she had decided to decline them all.

High on life, Leah started her blog Urban 20 Something to document her story of growth and success, in hopes that it would inspire and help others as well, and even though she lacked direction, she was sure this was closer to what she wanted to do.

“The thing I’m sure about is my passion for entrepreneurship and my passion for working with entrepreneurs, but I was so misdirected and unclear in those early days of blogging.”

“The first 2 years looked like a lot of trial and error, a lot of embarrassment, a lot of putting myself out there and hearing nothing in return.”

Reading about other entrepreneurs, Leah felt hopeless for a time in her journey since she had the drive but she lacked the ideas.

“I prayed to God to please send me an idea,” she said, comparing herself to Spanx founder Sara Blakely and LearnVest.com CEO Alexa von Tobel, “It didn’t occur to me that I could be my own asset and I could use what I had gone through to help others.”

This was the direction that she needed and from here she is helping many others listen to their internal compass.

Leah affirms that “In the online business world, we need to collectively put more emphasis on the power of knowing yourself and recognizing that what works for other people may or may not work for you.”

She tells us that instead of listening to other people’s morning routines or productivity hacks, she instead spends more time listening to what her body and mind are saying, and listening to their needs. She notes that this is sustainable in the long term and will work for her more effectively.

The same goes for business, and for breaking away from the repetitive patterns of modern living and the 9 to 5 life. For those who want to leave their work in pursuit of being their own boss, she advises them to ask themselves.

“Is going ‘All In’ gonna’ psych me up? Is that gonna light a fire under me? Or is that just going to stress me out?”

More from Leah:
- Blog – www.urban20something.com
- Website – https://leahgervais.com/
- Instagram – leahgervais_
November 30, 2021
Ep297: Making a Path from the Pain with Singer-Songwriter and Breakthrough Coach Adena Sampson
Our wounds are an opening into the best and most beautiful part of us, the same couldn’t be truer for musician and entrepreneur Adena Sampson. Born with a fragile body and a broken home, Adena learned to value what was whole and let the light seep through the cracks.

A house rarely feels like a home when you grow up in dysfunction. On top of this, Adena also had to deal with Chronic Lyme Disease which added physical pain to the emotional aching. But like many great talents, meeting pain also meant discovering your art, and for Adena, it was music.

Seeing herself in the lost and the broken, she now offers her talents as a musician and her experience as a fellow survivor of trauma to help others find their way and make peace with the cause of their pain. Today, she uses her voice through her albums, books, and mentoring sessions to reach out to thousands of people, spreading a single message – “You are not alone.”

“Because if I’m still standing,” Adena says, “I know that you can too. It is a choice.”

With all the problems she’s heard from people who’ve asked her for help, Adena makes it a point that the reason for most of our problems today originates from the old traumas that we never sorted out. She makes it a point that traumas aren’t always big bundles of burdens, they could also be small insecurities and doubts that your mind unconsciously carries around. She says that dealing with the muck and grime of the past, doesn’t just demand effort but self-love as well.

“A big part of my healing has not just been self-awareness, self-discovery, and self-mastery but truly self-love” Adena stresses, “[This meant] reclaiming my power, taking responsibility for what it is I’m creating in my life.”

Adena knows that the road to getting better isn’t easy, that’s why she emphasizes the need for support and proper guidance to turn your trauma into tools that bring out the best in you.

“It’s like the more you go through the muck, the more you face the obstacles., the more the obstacles become a path.”

More from Adena:
- Website – https://www.adenasampson.com/
- IG – @adenasampson
- FB – Adena Sampson
- LinkedIn – Adena Sampson
- YouTube – Adena Sampson
November 22, 2021
Ep296: Investing in the Environment with Environmentalist Entrepreneur and Energea Investments Co-Founder Mike Silvestrini
The Earth is one thing we all have in common; whatever we take from this planet is reflected on this shared soil we call a home. So, for environmental philanthropist Mike Silvestrini, giving back to nature is the go-to plan of action.

Co-founder of Energea Investments and the main founder of over 400 renewable energy development projects, Mike is a firm believer that environmentalism and financial conservatism can coexist and that the entrepreneurial lifestyle can be achieved with an environmentalist mindset.

Energea is a renewable energy retail investment platform. Since launching the company’s first solar energy offering in August 2020, Energea has raised more than $65 million to invest in its Africa, Brazil and U.S. portfolios. To date, retail investors have realized a 12.27% IRR.

Prior to Energea, Mike was co-founder and CEO of one of the largest commercial and industrial solar firms in the U.S. He managed multiple renewable energy funds worth more than $500 million in aggregate and oversaw the development of more than 400 renewable energy projects

“We’re trying to show a for-profit approach to our profession and have the result be more good things for the earth.”

With that in mind, Mike plans to take the market for renewable energy and bring it forward to the public with a vision to make a market that invests in the Earth. And even though today’s current market for renewable energy is pretty big, it’s still trillions of dollars away from the goal he has in mind. Despite this, Mike has faith that humans are an incredible species with boundless potential.

“I’m a big believer that humans are incredibly capable… humans can manage the gaseous content of our atmosphere, I think that we are so capable as a species that we can really do anything.”

The Eco CEO also reminds us that saving the environment and changing the world’s view on sustainable living, as well as resource consumption, is no easy task—it’s a global effort that starts with an individual choice. Making that decision to live a sustainable lifestyle and influencing others to take the same path is only the first step for the world to turn a new leaf.

“We have to start today, we have to get busy, and we need businesses to be focused on sustainable issues so that we can harness that incredible power of capitalism and put it to work towards rebuilding.”

More From Mike:
- IG – @energea.global
- FB – Energea Global
- Twitter – @energeaglobal
- Energea – https://www.energea.com/
- LinkedIn – Mike Silvestrini
November 15, 2021
Ep295: Pairing Creativity with Commerce in a Unique Way with Best-Selling Author and Founder of RLVNT Media, Tina Wells
How many of us can say that the same things that matter to us now, mattered to us as a kid? Tina Wells can say the same. Her adoration with books as a little girl led her to become an award-winning, bestselling author of several middle-grade series including The Zee Files and Honest June.

In fact, when you visit her Instagram (@tinawells), it would probably still reflect a lot of the same things she enjoys such as consuming culture, creating, travelling and just being with the people she loves.

In her early years, growing up in suburban New Jersey, she shared with us how her parents are very much firm believers in education. She’s the eldest of 6 children in a very active family who spends a lot of time together as she recalls having a fun vibrant household. And even until now, they’d see each other often, travel together and also love travelling individually.

Preparation, Inspiration, Recreation and Transformation

As a business strategist, advisor, and founder of RLVNT Media, Tina has four phases she applies in every book and every project she creates. Everything is going through a cycle called Preparation, Inspiration, Recreation and Transformation.

Preparation is when figuring out if the business, idea or service makes sense. Inspiration is when you ask yourself how do I make it happen? Who’s done it before? It’s all about getting inspired to bring this idea to life. Recreation, it’s where you go out to do something fun and you take a step back so that you can look at your product, and check how to make it even better. And lastly, Transformation is bringing it all to life.

Pairing Creativity and Commerce

Tina is also the Founder of Elevation Tribe, the platform for women of colour who want to launch, grow, and lead businesses. To her, doing all of these different things is her way of existing as a full expression of herself.

One of the things Tina is proud of from Gen Z is the ability to pair creativity and commerce in a really unique way that the previous generations failed to figure out. She is optimistic of many shifts that are going to happen as people realize that they’re able to make money doing the things that they love to do in ways that maybe weren’t available to that previous generation.

Loyalty of Readership

We all have the ability, whatever our idea is, to dig deep and know as much as we can in the industry that interests you. So Tina’s advice is to watch what’s happening, watch how people are moving, watch for pain points and how you get your intended buyers.

And this answers the question of why Tina chose the preteen demographics for her books. She loves the universal themes of that age, the awkwardness, and the fact that they’re still at a phase where they’re impressionable. She wants to grab that opportunity to get some good stuff in there and focus on getting the values there. So for anyone who’s thinking about a creative business, it’s how you focus on your audience and really continue to deliver for that audience.

Tina always believed in making a vision really clear and doing everything she could to get that vision across.

“I am always striving for work-life harmony. I don’t really believe work-life balance exists, but I believe in harmony in creating the life that we want.”

More of Tina:
- Website: tinawells.com
- IG: @tinawells
- LinkedIn – Tina Wells
- Facebook: Tina Wells
- Twitter: @tinacwells
November 8, 2021
Ep294: Seeing the Angel in the Marble with Michelangelo Mindset co-founder and Just Listen Author, Dr Mark Goulston
It had almost been 30 hours since Dr Mark Goulston had last seen sleep.
Before being a UCLA professor of psychiatry, an FBI and police hostage negotiation trainer, and a jury consultant on the OJ Simpson’s trial, Michelangelo Mindset co-founder and Just Listen author, Mark Goulston was a trainee himself under American Association of Suicidology founder, Dr Ed Shneidman.
A turning point in Mark’s life was the patient, assigned to him by Shneidman, whom he called Nancy. She had made three suicide attempts in the past three months and had been hospitalized on several occasions. Upon her discharge, Mark would need to check on her as an outpatient.
“Every time [Dr. Shneidman] did a consultation, it was always the same,” Mark narrated, “he would page or call me and say that there is this lovely young woman, ‘She’s in a lot of pain. You can help her, Mark. See her.”
“I went to see her for about six months, and I didn’t think I was helping her, but that was the longest she’d gone without a hospitalization or a suicide attempt.”
On top of this responsibility, Mark also covered for other doctors and checked on their patients once a month on Saturdays and Sundays. In one Monday session with Nancy, Mark was sleep-deprived and exhausted. He felt chills down his spine, and the room seemed colourless.
“I’m a psychiatrist, not a psychologist so I did a neurologic exam on myself…,” he continued, “And I had this realization, [that may be] I’m not having a stroke or a seizure. I had this crazy idea that I was looking at the world through her eyes and feeling her feelings. So, because I was sleep-deprived, I blurted something out that normally I wouldn’t say.”
“Nancy, I didn’t know it was so bad, and I can’t help you kill yourself,” he stated, “but if you do, I will still think well of you. I’ll miss you. And maybe I’ll understand why you had to, to get out of the pain.
Remembering his training, Mark gasped, thinking he messed up because he had just given a suicidal patient permission. However, Mark was astonished to see that he and Nancy finally made eye contact.
“Thank you for understanding I’m overdue,” Nancy said. “If you can really understand why I might have to kill myself to get out of my pain then maybe I won’t need to.
Following this story, Mark shared with us a story from an even younger period in his life, when he had dropped out of medical school for the second time. In his conversation with the Dean of Students, William McNary, McNary said”
“Mark, you didn’t mess up, because you’re passing everything. But you are messed up.” The dean continued, “if you get un-messed up, I think the school will be glad they gave you a second chance. Mark, even if you don’t become a doctor. Even if you don’t do anything, for the rest of your life, I’d be proud to know you, because you have a streak of goodness in you that we don’t grade in medical school. You don’t know how much the world needs that goodness.”
In founding the Michelangelo Mindset, Mark shares that they got the name from a quote by the Italian sculptor where Michelangelo said, “I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free.”
For Mark, that mindset meant looking into your future and clearly seeing happiness and fulfilment. This was the concept that has guided many defining moments of his life.
In his career as a suicide specializing psychiatrist, Mark saw hope inside his suicidal patients that they couldn’t see or feel. He saw hope in Nancy just as the dean saw hope in him.
“I was the David in the marble of my future that I couldn’t see but Dean McNary could see.”
Mark shares with us that we can also be Michelangelo for the marble of the people we love.
He teaches us the HUVA Method where we conduct an analysis of the conversations we’ve had recently. Mark says that once a day, we should look back at a conversation and ask ourselves if we made that person feel Heard, Understood, Valued and if we Added value to that conversation.
To Mark, conversations are more than just tools of information, it can also save a life and contribute to the making of a kinder world.

More from Mark:
Website: markgoulston.com and michelangelomindset.com
Podcast: My Wakeup Call
LinkedIn: Dr Mark Goulston
IG: @markgoulston
November 1, 2021