I'll be bringing you exciting advice and insight from incredible "road less traveled" entrepreneurs, creative professionals, and spiritual business gurus. These empowering dialogues are from my iTunes podcast "Spiritpreneur School" and my spiritual business empowerment course "Become the Guru Bootcamp."
Madisyn Taylor is the co-founder, editor-in-chief, and writer of the popular inspirational website and daily email DailyOm. Madisyn has contributed articles and an online course to Oprah Winfrey's Oprah.com. Her Hay House published books include, "DailyOm: Inspirational Thoughts for a Happy, Healthy and Fulfilling Day" and "DailyOm: Learning to Live." Her "Releasing Fire Meditation" is inspiring people in powerful new ways. Madisyn Taylor has more than 20 years of experience in personal development and alternative healing methodologies.
Abiola: Madisyn, I really wanted you to be a part of my Spiritpreneur School series because you are a soul coach and recognized leader in self-help and spirituality. Who the woman is behind the bio?
Madisyn: Wow! You know, I'm really just an average everyday woman on an extraordinary journey called life. I'm a mother and a wife and a writer. I'm a huge daydreamer which is really helpful on my line of work.
I'm a lover of Mother Earth and everything upon her, her oceans. I'm a gardener and I'm just really a person trying to make the best of this life this time around, and really make it count this time around..
Abiola: That is so beautiful. My mother is also an avid gardener and I think that there is something very sacred and special about women who have that connection to the Earth.
Madisyn: Absolutely! Even before I started DailyOm, I had an aromatherapy products company that was doing very well, sold all over the world, and the recipes came from nature herself.
I would meditate in my garden and tune in to nature and, yes, I was that weird woman that talked to flowers and trees. But, you know, they talk back to me and they gave me the recipes for all my products and it was a beautiful relationship.
I think it is very important, especially if you have your own business, to take time to be grounded. Stepping out with nature is really a great way to keep grounded.
Abiola: You have changed the culture with DailyOm. You've been a part of the ushering in of this new era that makes it possible for people like me who were weirdos and outsiders to be a little bit more recognized. Like, "Oh! That's what you're doing" because of the work that you, Madisyn, have done. How did DailyOm get started?
Madisyn: Scott, my husband, had a dream and DailyOm came to him. And from that day forth, we set out to do it. I had always enjoyed writing and journaling.I had never had a book out but I knew I could write daily essays. I started writing these stories every day and putting them out to 'who knows who' and started to gather small readership.
Less than six months in, we were deep into DailyOm and I had to make this decision. "Do I keep Madisyn Taylor Design going and DailyOm going and just hire someone to take over my aromatherapy company?" And the answer came to me in meditation to just let it go.
And that was really hard for me to let go all of my hard work, the company I had built that was at the height of its success. But I needed to allow DailyOm to flourish. I felt I knew how important it would become.
Abiola: First, I want to highlight that DailyOm came to your husband in a dream. And then, when you meditated on whether you should leave the other business, you listened to that guidance. What is really key is that you are intimately in touch with the divine and then you're having the courage to then answer that calling and make the leap.
Madisyn: This is not a gift solely for a few select people and unfortunately it gets bred out of us in our American culture. This is everyone's birthright, to be able to tap in into the divine and to listen to your gut.
But I will say it doesn't happen overnight. It is something I had practice because it had been bred out of me as well. And like a muscle, it can come back. And that came back through practice of daily meditation.
For me, it's usually 20 minutes but sometimes 10. And sometimes 10 minutes twice a day and then you start listening to that voice. And sometimes you almost feel a pestering, "Okay, go and sit now. I have a message for you." So, anyone can do it.
Abiola: Madisyn, is there a guiding principle that you'd like to share?
Madisyn: My guiding force is Spirit and so my mantra is basically listen to my gut and trust my intuition. Because of my sensitivities, I don't read works from other people and I tend to stay really isolated for my work as a writer. So I rely on myself and my connection to the divine.
My mantra would be: always trust the information that's coming through and really process that through your third chakra, which is right above your belly button, your power center, and that's where the gut feelings reside.
Abiola: I would love to go deeper on the topic of abundance and prosperity. There's a challenge that I've encountered with spiritual business coaching clients and with myself in the past. A lot of people who hold themselves to be spiritual people, who are answering their callings then have judgments about money.
I had to release what I called "the sisterhood of traveling brokenness" and learn that money is energy and that prosperity is a gift. Can you please speak the various beliefs about money that some spiritpreneurs, professional creative entrepreneurs, and artists hold?
Madisyn: When [spiritpreneurs] have issues around receiving money, I just say. Stop it. You're not supposed to live in a dirt tent! You are allowed to flourish. And you're right, money is energy.
I find the best way to get around that issue is to really have people look at how they grew up with money. Did their parents save and were they stingy? Or did they spend all of their money? Did they make bad investments? And did they talk about money? Or were they always saying how broke they were?
It's really beautiful to have people just journal about their experiences and their feelings about money. Sometimes, when I say to people, "Okay, imagine yourself walking down the street of Beverly Hills. How does that make you feel?" And people say "Oh, I don't belong there." Well, guess what message you're sending?
That's just an exercise. Of course not everyone wants to live in McMansion in Beverly Hills; but if someone thinks they don't even deserve, that is a big red flag to look at.
Spirit wants us to flourish. Spirit wants us to have abundance; to have everything, to have our dreams come true.
Find Madisyn Tayor at DailyOm.com, and subscribe to the "Spiritpreneur School" podcast on iTunes.
Abiola Abrams is a transformational speaker, women's self-worth coach, creator of the Sacred Business Academy's "Become the Guru Bootcamp," and author of the award-winning "Sacred Bombshell Handbook of Self-Love." Get her free "Sacred Self-Worth Kit" of empowerment goodies at: OwnYourBombshell.com. Take her free 4-part video workshop, "Spiritpreneur Success Strategies" at BombshellMyBusiness.com.
For more from Abiola on starting your own movement, watch this video: