Amy McLaren - Operating from Your Passion

“Until you actually take action and move forward on something, you don't know what can happen.” Amy McLaren

Our guest today is Amy McLaren. She's the author of a book, “Passion to Purpose:  Seven Step Journey to Shed Self Doubt, Find Inspiration and Change Your Life and the World for the Better.” Amy hit a crossroad a few years ago, where she found herself in that thinking spot that many of the people involved in the great resignation are now sitting, but she did something about it.

In today’s episode, Amy will talk about her experiences that led her to what she does today as well as her motivation to keep going.

Listen in!

• I'm an entrepreneur of three businesses that are all founded around my passion but I started out as a grade one teacher where I worked for 10 years.
• At some point I lost the joy in it and I was beginning to feel like I wasn't the best version of myself for my kids, for my husband for my community.
• Once we had our daughter, I went part time and started diving into some entrepreneurial things and then eventually went full time.
• While I was teaching, I was kind of helping my husband build his business on the side and starting this nonprofit that I wanted to run.
• We raised some money and went down to El Salvador, helped an orphanage and lived with a community on top of a mountain for two weeks.
• That was really the start of realizing that I wanted to go beyond the classroom and start helping others and learning from other people.
• My non-profit grew and eventually, I resigned from teaching and now I run my nonprofit and two other businesses as well.
• When you're clear on something, you have to move and take a step forward.
• Today, I am proud to say that we've raised 8 million dollars in 10 years but ultimately it is about the impact that we have been able to have.
• There were some things that didn't work out but we kept moving forward.
• I've learned so much about myself as much as like they've learned and we've just really learned together as an organization.
• Until you actually take action and move forward on something, you don't know what can happen. You don't know what opportunity is there or you don't know, you know what door it could open.
• you've got to look at what fulfils you and break them down into these buckets, then make sure they're getting filled.
• I've had naysayers in my life which led to a lot of self-doubt creep up on me when I was adopting our son or speak on stage about our nonprofit.
• One thing I always say to myself is I've done hard things before and I have to remember that when talking to people.
• Remember to live your story because oftentimes other people's stories and other people's views come to you and that's their and not yours.
• We have to fill our brains with good things and be mindful not to let all of what people say come inside and change our thoughts or direction.
• There is so much opportunity and so many little bits of time that you could use to fill your brain with things that could open up your mind to the possibility of what could be.
• You don’t have to run multiple businesses to leave a legacy and make an impact, it is the little things that we do every day that add up overtime.
• When you build that connection and involve the community and staff, they end up wanting to be part of something that has an impact.
• I really believe that your passion is your purpose and then using what you love to do to leave more impact and to do more good in the world.