the question is, when you are committing to action is like, why are you committing to it?

You know, there's, there's things that we should do and there's things that we wanna do.

And really understanding that intention and making that really sort of.

Coming from the inside out is what we believe is important to make kind of a sustainable steps, sustainable steps to doing the thing you want to do.

And so with people who join the Vision 2020 program, we kind of broke it down into kind of four pathways.

There's, they wanna create a new offering, they've got a new invitation, and I'll tell you more what, what that means.

Uh, kind of got a new perspective they wanna put out into the world.

Or they're just going in a completely new direction and it's very much exploratory.

There's nothing they want to give.

There's more kind of like I want to explore.

And so just to break that down in a bit more details to, to get to that process of action, we believe you need to really tune into the needs to.

And when you understand those needs, and these are high order needs.

The way I wanna think about it, this is less about, you know, safety and security.

This is more about self-actualization needs.

These are kind of these things like learning growth, friendship connection, things that are more, um, less existentially or, I don't know, I.

Life urgent for want of, gotta think of a better word.

If you've got a better phrase for that, please let us know.

Less seismic.

Less seismic.

Less, yeah.

Less life.

Quay.

Uh, and so yeah, the needs tuning into those needs then based on those needs, making a commitment that really, really enforces the actions that you wanna sort like to carry out and to, to create momentum.

And so in terms of the different, um, pathways, and I won't go into too much detail here, but just to illustrate it, if it's a new offering, if it's something like a product or a service you wanna put out in the world, something that's new and that's something that's different, there's doing it because you wanna make money or there's doing it because it meets your needs for contribution, creativity, growth, and potentially stability.

Because adding to the business that you want to sustain yourself with and feel safe with.

If it's something like an invitation, and when I'm talking about invitation, you wanna collaborate, you want to build a community, you wanna start a movement, you wanna go in a, you know, create a broader change, be part of a system of change, or you're motivated to buy a mission.

Then the action is to put the word out there.

It will be to engage with other people.

Would be maybe to arrange an event, maybe put up a manifesto just to tell the story of what you're, why you're doing what you're doing.

But that again, isn't just because you should do it.

It isn't just because we told you to do it or these, you know, you've seen someone on YouTube tell you that's what you're gonna do.

It's because you have a need for collaboration.

You have a need con for connection.

You have a need for community, and you have a need for friendship.

And so again, tying the needs to actions.

And then similarly.

If you have you, I dunno, you've been an experienced entrepreneur or experienced coach, or you've been like writing and researching in the dark, hidden from the world, and now you wanna launch this idea to the world.

You've got a new perspective, a new way of looking things, a new way of working for us.

It is like a new way of doing business.

And you'll need to put that into the world.

And again, there are ways and strategies to do that.

But ultimately tying into what's gonna motivate you to do some of the hard works, to get over the hard work, to get over the hurdles that might be like fear or self-doubt or imposter syndrome, and, and those needs again, can be personal growth, self-expression, creativity, contribution.

Those are the needs you wanna meet.

And so you want to have those in mind.

And then finally, it could be potentially just.

Life has gone one way and you decided to go another way and it's a complete shift.

You're gonna change because of life quakes, like Lawrence was saying, you know, something's happened in your life that said, you know, this path, it could be an illness, it could be a bereavement, it could be a redundancy, it could be exiting your business and suddenly, do you know what?

I need to go somewhere different 'cause I don't wanna, what got me here is not gonna be get me there and I don't even know where there is.

And so there it's like the actions are.

Basically going out into the world, reaching out to people, going to new spaces and experiences and traveling.

Maybe that may be scary because it's not the same as the way you used to behave, and that's why, again, tuning into the needs.

What are the needs?

Personal growth, self-expression, self-discovery, creativity, authenticity.

Again, words I'm just throwing out there.

That might not mean anything to you right now, but it's just an invitation to think about what are these things inside us that are telling us to do something else that.

We might get in the way of ourselves from doing, and this is where this idea of commitments come into play.

Talked about the actions, which the things that we are gonna do in the world, Ty, to tie them to a need.

So the give us a reason to actually act, but to get through that you need to commit to something that might be a bit challenging or something that's gonna pull you forward.

So it could be curiosity, it could be a need to be seen.

Or commit to be seen, I should say.

You might have a need for safety, but you need to commit to be seen.

They might be intention, but when you analyze the different needs of like, oh, maybe it's, I need creativity and self-expression are important to me.

If you're not seen, then how do you develop these ideas and how do you also be to contribute, meet that need for contribution?

what, what comes up for me is really to have a deeper, I would say, attunement with oneself.

Right.

It, it requires that, it requires an understanding of one's needs and then an understanding of again, going back to that Socratic principle of what's good enough, we're now safe enough to try when it comes to, um, exploring how those needs can be met.

Um, because it might be, you know, the, the strategies that we choose and how those needs will be met or the actions that we choose.

Um, might be too broad or too, encompassing that does not meet with the capacity or the time or the resources that we have in a given moment.

So for me, I have the, the image that I have is really like a, An accordion, right?

Of like, mm-hmm.

When you're thinking about your needs and you're thinking about the commitments that you'd want, you also think in terms of the capacity and the resourcing that it, it's needed for you to be able to determine what will be your next course of action.

well done for weaving the accordion into our work.

I dunno how you did that.

I haven't managed to, I've got one set next to me and I'm not gonna play it.

Um, yeah, I like this model because it feels like an evolution.

Like you said, Carlos.

Um, in the past we've really wanted people to launch something and I think that energy is great 'cause it gets you going, but also at the same time it can be.

A bit debilitating for some people who don't feel ready to launch or they don't have a thing to put out into the world.

And so it can stop us from moving forward.

Um, so I, I love this idea of, um, moving forward, sort of expanding.

So the perspective, new perspective for me really talked to me.

'cause I thought of when we started the Happy Startup School, it was really about that.

It wasn't, I don't think I ever had a goal to create a whole new direction necessarily, maybe, but it wasn't clear.

Um, I don't even know if we wanted to launch anything.

It was just this perspective on how to do startups or how to do business.

So that for me really speaks to that idea of it shouldn't, not knowing where you're going, not knowing what you wanna launch shouldn't stop you from moving forward and being able to, like you said, just tune into what's going on for you.

And I know for me that time, creativity, um, impact those were needs, even contribution, maybe respect to, uh, being met.

I.

In the way that I wanted.

And so there was a bit of frustration, which got me going.

I know some of the people in, in my group in the program are, you know, finding, actually there's something I'm annoyed about that, you know, there's an injustice or there's a status quo that I wanna fight against.

So using that energy to, to move forward in, even in doubt or even, even in spite of not knowing, um, what it might become, I think is so key.

Because again, part of the reason we're doing this is people hit a block and they get stuck and then they dunno where to go.

So at least having some guide rails.

Is useful.

Even if you then say, actually now I know what I wanna launch and I shift into that launch energy because the light bulb goes off or you have a conversation and I think that's the beauty of this stuff is you'll never know by sitting still hiding away, but you're definitely.

Accelerate that process like we're doing, working out loud and, and hopefully getting some feedback and insight from other people.

I'd like to explore that, just that you know, that that part of your story just to maybe illustrate this idea of, uh, the new perspective.

Because what, what, the thing that we did do at the beginning of the Happy Startup School and what you designed was the Happy Manifesto was write manifesto, and before that you had been blogging and writing quite a lot and being, and going on social media.

What I heard before was this idea of, you talked about frustration and injustice.

well, I think there was a personal thing of just not feeling like I was harnessing my creativity in the way that, uh, I was when I was, maybe when we started out with a small studio, just me and you, or when I was freelance, I was brought in as a designer, so I was kind of tapping that need, tapping into that need as we.

But the agency more and more, it was a lot of business development, a lot of, um, marketing, managing the guys and the team and, and, um, well, guys and women Fiona as well.

Um, but yeah, a lot of managing and, and, um, leading really, which, okay, that's just what you step into.

So yeah, there was some needs being met, but really deep down, I think I had the need for creativity and also.

Just this desire to really wanna make a mark in someone, I dunno what that was, but to feel like, yeah, I'm really proud of this thing we've created.

You know, at the time it was the agency and we just, you know, in essence piggyback off other people's visions.

But over time it felt like I wanna put my name to something that I'm proud of, that I feel is more me.

And that represents all the things I care about.

And again, I didn't have the language at the time of what those things were.

We started to work on our values, didn't really have the language of needs.

Um, so that was one thing.

And I think just.

The general narrative about business and particularly startups was very much, this is the only way there is, uh, a thing called Silicon Valley.

And that's the thing we look to for all of the right ways to do things.

Everyone else in the world is, you know, a kind of microcosm of that.

So like accelerators, uh, incubators, funding, you know, all of that stuff.

So there's just a general.

Assumption that anyone who wants to start up has to do it this way.

Um, and more and more we work with businesses and even building our own, we found actually those aren't the kind of businesses that we're, we're helping to build.

And those aren't the ones that like me up the ones I wanna work on.

The ones that really committed to building something that they're proud of, not just I want to get in this, make a bit of money and then, you know.

Move to St.

Lucia or something, or go and play golf for the next five years, whatever it is.

So just a, a mismatch of values and, and, and visions.

So there was, I guess, a, a in intrinsic need and then an external desire to just bang the drum for a different approach and a different perspective, like you said.

and I was gonna add onto that the, we had a business model that worked.

we could make money off of projects.

It was potentially a business.

Uh.

That you could grow and develop.

And we saw other agencies like us and we got onto this idea of being a startup studio and this trying to meet creativity as well as building sort of products and businesses at the same time.

And I think that for me, an important part of this was even though that could have been successful, it didn't meet our needs.

It wasn't something that.

Was, wasn't aligned to our feeling of success.

Mm-hmm.

Because we weren't, to be honest, it would've been a lot easier if we didn't have sort of, if we weren't humans, just like built the business based on paper.

And I'm gonna, I'm gonna pull you up on that 'cause that's a judgment on the people who have built the business like that because it isn't so much about not being human is about not being ours.

Yeah, well my point being, it wasn't, you know, I'm not saying this is an easy path, but in, I'm just being a bit facetious in terms of from a, I don't know, a business coaches' point of view, looking at our business going, why would you wanna do that?

'cause it doesn't make sense.

'cause what makes sense is to keep growing the business.

so yeah, I say it to kind of provoke, not saying that anyone else who does that can visit.

And I think this is, this is the, I would say resistance when we're following our needs, right?

Or.

In, uh, uh, in Virginia sector, she used the word yearnings.

When we're, when we're really tuning into our yearnings, there's an either, um, you realize, oh, this is my need.

And then there's a reality check of Am am I, you know, the things that I'm doing, does it meet my need?

Mm-hmm.

And then there's a, an option to, well, even if it doesn't meet my need, but.

You know, this can be comfortable, which is something that has been, um, shared by Lucy in the chat a while ago.

Like, it, it becomes a, a PA place of comfort.

So, because it's a place of comfort, this is what I know to do, this is what I can, you know, learn from others to do, then you keep going at it.

Right.

So there's, there's different choices that we're afforded when we, um, look at our needs and the actions that we can take.

And sometimes, like what also from from the chat, uh, MV engineering says, you know, like maybe the mentality around being a startup and what you need to do as a startup, like the hustle mentality does not really fit with your nature, does not really fit with who you are and what you value and your needs.

So.

There's a lot of, things to also recalibrate, you know, because we might say, oh, it's so easy.

You just think of your needs.

No, but there's a lot of recalibration that needs to, um, go into this context of then how do we pursue a life that needs our needs?

Yeah.

And I think I wanna talk to that comment.

'cause I, I was curious about that.

There is.

So the tension, one of the tensions that I see, uh, with people in our program is tuning into yourself and what lights you up was one, what's energetic and making money.

And then suddenly that's all mixed in because of this idea of making profits from your purpose and passion and all this stuff, which we've been, we've talked about in the past.

And.

If you're gonna get someone to pay you something, they're not necessarily, unless you're an artist, and this is another conversation, we can have another time.

They're not just gonna pay you for doing stuff that you love.

' cause there's, they're gonna get something from it.

They're gonna support you for a reason because it mal aligns with their values.

They're gonna get a benefit from the thing that you do because you're solving a problem, whatever that is.

But when we start conflating, all right, is anyone gonna pay me something for something I wanna create?

That's when you can get really stuck.

And this is why these paths I think are really important is just to start off with this idea of just an action, not a revenue model, not a potential billion dollar unicorn.

And action.

What happened with us is it was an action.

Like Lauren's saying, there was no pro, no product or service involved.

There was no kind of like business plan, whatever, no business plan at all.

But at the same time, there was an action that was meeting a need.

We were lucky.

And I think part of it also is because we knew how to run a business.

'cause we've run a business.

We turned those actions.

Into offerings, which then turned into a business, and this is where we are at at the moment.

It was a long, 12 year windy, potentially scary journey.

A lot of relationships to money issues coming up because for a long time I.

We weren't making the money we did as an agency.

Yeah.

But we still persisted.

So I think to that question of could not, could it be that not everyone is cut out to a startup?

If your definition of startup is Facebook, Twitter, some kind of digital thing, that's gonna make money straight away.

No.

But if your definition of starting up is just starting up, then everyone can basic up everyone.

Yeah.

So this is a thing of the thing that we.

Part of these conversations, I feel is about, is like us telling people we're called the Happy Startup School, but we're not called the Happy Facebook, Twitter, Amazon School.

This is our version of startup.

But, but Carlos, let's also put it in, in terms of, um, neurobiology, right?

What we know about how our brain works and how our brain works is we get the dopamine rush when.

Um, you know, we get validated when we do something, when we create something and that's the, that that's what we want.

When it comes to taking action, it's creating that dopamine rush and connecting it with, Hey, if I do this, there's something that happens and then you get motivated more.

And that's the rewiring that we want to do in our brains.

That by doing these actions, we're rewiring our capacity to see possibilities outside of our comfort one.

Mm-hmm.

And what is even fascinating is they're already even saying, actually, when we move, um, we have hope molecules that goes and rushes through our, you know, through our brain and in our body.

So movement in itself as the physiology of movement creates our, uh, you know, or, um, set us for res resilience in a sense.

Mm-hmm.

And this is, this is that, you know, like we have it very much innate already in our body and society and our experiences of how, you know, life is.

Somehow conflates with that, you know, because again, that's why we seek comfort.

That's why we procrastinate.

That's why we, um, you know, try to limit ourselves because of the experiences that we've had.

So, creating action is allowing our brains to rewire and connect, because what, you know, what fires together, wires together.

So the more that we take action, the more that we see possibilities for ourselves.

And I think what I've always, you know, this whole thing like who's our niche?

How, what's the, how do we.

Kind of, um, talk about what we do.

And it isn't necessarily a, I dunno, a demographic, but I, more and more I've come to believe it's about what you're talking to there, Lana's.

Like there's something holding us back.

And it isn't, knowledge isn't skills, it isn't even money.

Uh, and that's where I think what we're trying to tap into this lower, deeper level journey of a startup.

We can talk to you about pricing, marketing, creating products, telling your, all of that stuff, no problem.

We can do that.

But what we are very sensitive to, and this is what we're deepening our work in, is actually there are hidden blockers or even visible blockers that can only be overcome through a bit of reflection and more importantly, community.

And this is kind of, uh, why I think we are, I think walking the walk in a sense or walking the talk is like, we need community.

That's why we started this thing.

That's the whole point.

Happy Startup School existed and so, and we know because we need it.

We've seen the benefit of it for people like us who also need it in business.

Well linked to, The tiny experiments work is, is, and like you said, the the stuff we don't see is habit building.

Really.

It's such a big part of, of our work.

It's why we do our program over, over five months.

Not to just do this kind of short, sharp burst of acceleration and then fall off a cliff.

But how do you build sustainable habits that feel safe and feel, feel like, like, like I said, you are, you're moving forward and also there's like an energy exchange.

I feel like you said there's, there's something in the body.

But there's also this exchange when people see.

We're doing something that we're moving forward and they can kind of engage with it.

And even if it is baby steps and it's still in its infancy, it's not, um, fully formed, I think that's what in some ways and dears people to an idea or to a path is they feel like they can add to this rather than it's done, it's ready.

And I don't have anything add to make it better.

I'm curious about the energetic aspects of this work that we do.

I.

Because there's something about, um, I dunno, giving a talk for the first time or just launching a product.

there's something that can really hit your nervous system.

It's, you know, when you're selling something for the first time.

And I think there's something about a, a community but also.

Uh, a longer journey that helps us regulate over a longer period, so the launch isn't so scary, isn't so big.

And our bodies are better suited to.

Lana, you are a much better expert on this than I am.

I was just about to say e even for, for seasoned people who have been giving workshops and trainings, we, we would, you know, we would experience, uh, sense of resistance or Trepidation and anxiety.

It's, it's, but part of the human experience.

Right.

Of, um, and this is why I love Tara Moore.

Um.

Work on playing big.

She defined it as, oh, we have a la uh, we Jewish, um, culture.

They have a language around the different type of types of fears.

And for her understanding what is this fear coming from is very important because there's the fear that holds us back, or there's the fear that we face when we're leaping, you know, so.

What, what kind of fear is that?

Right?

And for us to be able to understand that better allows us to also understand, okay, then how can I resource myself?

How can I get myself settled so that I can be able to do the work that I need to do?

And what you said, what do you mean?

You say Lana, settled bodies.

Settled bodies, exactly.

I, I feel like we're building a community of settled bodies.

That's why we have a fluffy launch.

Right.

So well it came out of, I think where people are at the program at the moment is about to sort of release their ideas.

There's a vulnerability there, there's a fear there.

Um, and going back to that thing I said at the start about, you know, the hard launch is the hustle.

It is the late nights, it's.

Praying and hoping, and you know, it's a big bet, isn't it?

Um, the soft launch is obviously where most people in our community find themselves.

They try and test ideas.

They try and sort of poke their head out slowly.

but the fluffy launch I see is doing it in community, so doing it with support at every turn, and not just in community, as in I release it to a community before I go public.

This idea of circles of connection, so starting with one of us like that, your mentor, then sharing it with your small buddy group of five or six people.

Then sharing it with a wider cohort, and then maybe sharing it with the wider community and then going to LinkedIn or wherever you used to share it to.

So this idea of safety and support and friendly.

Um, critical friends, let's call them friends that are there to support you, but also give you good advice to move forward and, and so you just feel more confident and courageous through that process rather than taking a big bet on this and it feels scary.

Exactly.

Exactly.

And it is, well, finding the right people to, to witness the work.

So it doesn't feel like they're just about to stamp on your idea every time you say a word.

Um, let's close off, uh, some final thoughts, uh, reflections, um, before we close, for me, I'm really more into, uh, fractals, you know, the work that we do with ourselves, um, reverberates to those that we want to touch, those who want to serve.

So this is deep work.

yeah, I think for me.

Like what we talked about today just gives a language and um, some kind of sense to something that's quite chaotic, which is change and transitions and new beginnings.

And so I find it helpful to, to think in those terms.

And also because we've got so much experience of working with people, I can start to see when I talk to people where they might fit into some of these camps that we've talked about at the beginning anyway.

And certainly like where they're at now.

So I find it helpful.

I'd be curious to see how other people find it as we go, go on this journey with them.

so the thing I, we didn't talk as much about but uh, sticking with me is the idea of healthy commitments.

because this whole thing about doing something intentionally, it's like, who is it for?

Ultimately, because I think, I feel sometimes an unhealthy commit commitment is to do it because someone told you to do it or you should do it.

'cause that's how you launch a business.

As opposed to I'm committing to myself, I'm committing to the people I wanna serve and that's why I need to push through imposter syndrome, fear of failure, the uncertainty unknown.

Uh, and I'm, I'm willing to experience that.

And this is again, maybe part of the reason why we have settled bodies in our community.

Helping people habituate to the uncertainty because they are committed to support others.

And I love the ripple effects, Lana, in terms of the, the what we, how we turn up, ripples out to other people and how we are feeling now are the repercussions of the ripples of the people around us.

So if you are scared to launch something new or you know you've never really done something, just take a look at the environment.

Maybe you need to reroute, Check out Lana's talk and rerouting to understand why you need to do that, um, search for Happy Startup Summer Camp rerouting Lana, and you'll find it.

Cool.

Thank you very much everyone.

Really.

Thanks everyone.

Appreciate that, and I hope you got useful and helpful.