Work-life balance is a myth. How can you make everything exactly even? Why should you? That’s why we are so thrilled to bring you Tara Street & Kathleen Shannon of Braid Creative. They have built a business helping creative entrepreneurs blend their work and life into a personal brand. You will love their inspiring expertise on blending work, life, and family; handling communication struggles, the secret sauce of using mottos, the joy of being a rejuvenile, and more. Listen in on their work-life blend.
In this episode:
• We landed dream guests, guys!
• Tara & Kathleen specialize in personal branding for creative entrepreneurs who blend work and life – like designers, writers, artists, foodies, photographers, health and lifestyle professionals.
• They share a 7-year age difference, with a brother who is a real-life sideshow freak sandwiched between them. That makes for three massively creative siblings.
• Tara’s Memoir style blog that Misty totally missed but is now obsessed with reading.
• As a late gen Xer, Tara remarks on the straddle between having one foot in the old school way of how you have a career and business and the new world of having an online personal brand.
• Kathleen grew up online so showing up and being seen comes more natural to her.
• Randy finds it hard to believe that Kathleen could ever be embarrassed.
• Growing up in the suburbs in the 80s, so immersed in books, shows, and movies; was a catalyst for creativity.
• The Braid girls and Misty have dads that share common scare tactics which included turning off the power to the house.
• This episode turns into a slight love letter to our favorite 80s shows and movies.
• Hear about their ad agency background, where they put their sisterhood to the test of working together.
• Working with your sister can be even more intense than if you’re married.
• If you love something let it go, so Tara set Kathleen free to do wild things like audition for America’s Next Top Model.
• Tara was surprised to get an itch, she thought she would be at the agency for life; but she soon found herself leaping to join Kathleen.
• Some people have a song reference for everything. Tara has a movie or show reference for anything. She is an encyclopedia.
• Can you hear the kitty cat? MEOW
• Kathleen moved across the street from Tara and now they’re stuck in the middle of the city together.
• Discover how John Hughes influenced Tara’s home of choice.
• Their dad even brainstorms taglines.
• Saturdays with extended family includes work conversations, board games, but mostly doing your own thing.
• Letting each other shine is key to their success. But it all boils down to not being able to be who they are without each other.
• Being experts at blending their sisterhood and working together, means they have grown their expertise at having the hard, awkward conversations that can be necessary.
• Learn their notecard method for making decisions, having hard conversations, or your next airplane ride – great for people who make decisions without weighing all the pros and cons and also for people who have analysis paralysis.
• Braid Motto for 2016 – Sister Biz
• Find out if all the family togetherness and the sister’s close bond is ever weird for their husbands.
• Tara’s husband had one big goal for the first year of Braid Creative.
• Which season would you rather be homeless in? Randy & Kathleen disagree.
• Jeremy (Kathleen’s husband) tortures Tara with complicated new board games.
• Boy mom struggles: Tara already has a strategy for endearing herself to who her boys will bring home someday.
• How parenthood has changed the type of pleasure we take in our lives.
• Rejuveniles – Tara enjoys introducing her kids to all the retro fun of her childhood.
• One sister is really good at making snacks, like Cher’s character on Mermaids. And she serves them while humming a particular theme song.
• Kathleen revels in something that other daycare moms are complaining about.
• Tara allows her kids to explore media without censoring all of their input and believes that it enhances their imagination rather than substitutes for it.
• Kathleen felt most glorious during her Warrior Mama photo shoot with Misty, even if we almost got arrested for getting too close to the buffalo while partially nude. (Kathleen was baring that gorgeous maternity bump; everyone else was clothed.)
• Sometimes, Tara is crying when she feels most glorious or maybe she’s reading to kids at school.
• Misty wants Tara to come read bedtime stories to her kids… or to her.
• We discuss theme songs, backyard sheds, and Kathleen’s narcolepsy during movies that take place on water.
• We talk about our creative crushes and give a few shout outs.
• Kathleen & Tara turn the tables and ask us a few “revealing” questions.
• Misty confesses that she has a habit of accidentally exposing herself. Kathleen consoles her with a story of her own
Tara said:
It doesn’t matter if it’s Braid or if it’s Being Boss, or what it is – the tide rises for us together. Tweet This
I can just envision us being 70 years old and being like, “Hey, I’ve got a passion project. Let’s do it!” Tweet This
Kathleen said:
Realizing we could leverage that blend & help others feel aligned in their work & life, it’s been really cool. Tweet This
We don’t trust anyone that doesn’t watch TV. Tweet This
Misty said:
I feel like work-life balance is a myth. There’s just no way to make everything even out. Tweet This
I don’t want to take pictures of the way people look. I want to take photographs of the way people want to feel. Tweet This
Dive Deeper:
Kathleen’s Warrior Mama Portraits
The Love List – The Heartbeat of Southern Style + Culture
SPECIAL NOTE FROM MISTY:
If you are a creative in business or thinking of starting a business, you need these ladies in your corner. Check out their offerings at Braid Creative. If you aren’t in the place to dive into Branding & Biz Visioning with them, you need to spring for the Braid Method e-course. It’s worth every penny! I’m happy to give you a more in-depth review, but the simple version is go hire Braid or invest in their course ASAP. Really, I think the price of the e-course is going up this week so jump on it.
