Drawing from a diverse range of experiences and ideas, Heidi Totten started both the 100 Humanitarians and the Eclectic Entrepreneurs. These ventures create community and provide a framework of relationships and learning that help people around the world learn how to offer up their best work.
Episode 12 Show Notes
- Heidi Totten – https://www.heiditotten.com/
- The 100 Humanitarians – https://100humanitarians.com/
- The Eclectic Entrepreneurs – https://www.eclecticentrepreneurs.com/
Episode 12 Script
This is Rebecca Clark. Episode 12 Eclectic this’ll Podcast is for anyone that knows they haven’t yet found and offered up their best work but are compelled to seek it out and do it. Are you ready to do in February but 2019 which is this year I submitted my resignation letter. I’d work for the organization for 14 and 1/2 years as a government employee and a year and 1/2 as a government contractor. I’d worked in various roles, had learned a ton about life work, project management, program management, learning management systems, culture, politics so much. And I have been talking to my boss before. I submitted my resignation, giving him a heads up that even though I was learning every day and fully engaged that I was not supposed to be doing this type of work going forward. I was in charge of the Learning Management systems and we had just gone through a major implementation, and we’re still working out the kinks oven implementation that actually went live many months ahead of schedule, which also meant that there was more work to do with the business process, reengineering and implementing new processes and standards and that kind of thing. So we’re in the cleanup phase of a major implementation and going into full on operations, just like all the other systems that were fully operating. And I go home after submitting this formal resignation letter and the entire evening I just had all kinds of emotions, like what on earth that I do. I’ve been paid well for many years. I had reached kind of the top of what you can reach in regular government service and in a fairly stable job. You know, considering government can always change things up but fairly stable job with good benefits, lots of vacation, sick time. And it met my needs and our family needs to this point. And I was going to knowingly give that up because I felt so strongly and had done so much thinking about it for so long that I needed to do something else going forward. I needed to switch gears now in order to create the rest of the future. Now, my resignation was not a two weeks resignation. Have had their long time, a lot of different roles. I have a lot of different information. I’ve tried to share along the way, but I knew there would be a time where I need to wrap things up. Mentor. Some people pass along information, and I also offered to help recruit, hire and train my replacement, and they took me up on that. And I think this kind of time period also allowed me to work through all my fears and feelings about leaving, as well as some of those people around me that were fearful for me because I’d operate from a lot of faith and trust in that kind of moment. So I go to bed that night. It had to be on a Friday night and that Saturday morning I get into my social accounts and my friend Heidi had e mailed me and said, Hey, I need you And of course, that’s intriguing, especially after you’ve just given up. Hutch of that provides a living for your family, and she said, I need you because I’m starting something. I’m starting this website. We’re in offer courses and other materials to learn for entrepreneurs, and we’re not just gonna offer those like Buddha, me or any other online website. We’re gonna also make sure that we become a community of entrepreneurs helping each other, getting to know each other, being accountable to each other, setting goals and to really go to the next level. And I want you to be part of it. And so we had a conference call to talk about it, and I was in. I share this story because in a moment of great change, it was amazing tohave someone right there coming to me, saying, Hey, I need you and how important that communication was at that particular moment in my life after making a decision, we’re like, Oh, I cannot believe I just completely let go And even though I was letting go from a state of gratitude for every minute I had at the organization, in every dollar they paid me and everything I learned it was still scary. And who am I to let go of something that is an established six figure income and expect that somehow there’d be another opportunity that was the same or better? I realize what I’m Rebecca. I made that decision, and something’s gonna work out if I’m supposed to be doing something else, and so I am now part of this group of online entrepreneurs, and it’s called the eclectic Entrepreneurs. And I will share the link in the show notes. And this came about because Heidi Tartan decided to create it. And I know Heidi. I’ve known her for about 20 years. She lived in the Washington D. C area for a while, and she was a recruiter. But that’s not how I knew. I knew her through a singles organization where she was the president and helped orchestrate tremendous growth in that organization during the time frame that she and others were leading. She and those other leaders decided that I should be in charge of a part of the program in Northern Virginia for their courses and social events for these singles. And I got to be part of the logistics and marketing and planning and everything for one location of that. So that’s how I got to know Heidi during that time period. You know, that’s the dotcom era that your 2000 ish and she moved west, and I was here doing my various jobs and you get a little disconnected. But then, of course, the social networks came around, and so I connected to her in that, and I got to see that she was continuing to recruit. But she also experimented a lot. And social media kind of can allow us access to people’s lives as they share it. Of course, that you may not have known about them, and I saw that she was dabbling with gardening, some kind of square foot gardening. And then she was doing some health coaching. And then she started a recruiting company, and then after that was sold or went through changes. She went on to work for a company that was creating a learning management system, kind of like, you know, me. Then she started creating some of her own online courses and consulting. And as she was doing those activities, she one day heard a voice in her head say, Go start a group on Facebook called 100 humanitarians. I’ll let you know why and Heidi, someone who follows voices in her head. Ah, she’s always experimenting and trying new ideas and bringing other people into the fold, and she decided to act upon that. So she started that group on Facebook, and I remember it because it just suddenly appeared in my feet and, like Oh, Alex, interesting I’ll click, like are all Click joined. And she did that through various experiences. She was exposed to people who we’re traveling to Kenya to do work in Kenya and she went and she fell in love with Africa and decided to set up a relationship with a group of people in Kenya. And that’s what her focus has been. She takes expeditions to Kenya four or five times a year where they go, help set up learning centers and plant food and teach different skills. And that’s not super unique. I don’t think I’m sure a lot of us know a few humanitarian organizations that do this kind of thing. But I think what’s beautiful is she’s also served other purposes within that mission. So some of the people from Kenya have come over and worked with her and her group of humanitarians over in the United States, and she’s also formed a close knit group of friends and other humanitarians. The actively work on preparing to go to Kenya in United States, and it’s brought a lot of people together working hard and learning new skills, and I just love this combination of a humanitarian organization that knows and understands that being, um, humanitarian helps everyone in the process not just the people in Kenya, not just the people who go on the trip to Kenya, but all of the other people that are supporting the effort and then the beauty of having the Kenyans come back to United States and teach those involved in the humanitarian efforts what they know and what they love and building mutual and sustainable relationships. I just love that part of the way that she is sustaining the 100 humanitarians is through this eclectic entrepreneurs portal, this portal of learning that brings together entrepreneurs where they can put up their courses and their podcasts and they’re learning materials. And they can participate in weekly masterminds and hold each other accountable and reach goals and expose each other to resource is and people that we didn’t know about before. And that is different than some of the other online sites, and that’s when you realize it’s Kim. It’s true community building where you are more involved in each other’s lives than just putting up a course and trying to earn money from it. And so Heidi definitely earns the name that she uses of eclectic entrepreneur because she has tried out so many different types of entrepreneurship. And she’s a great example of following and a spiritual nudges and internal promptings and nudges from other people to keep trying, keep exploring and you never know which idea will be the idea that you settle on for a while to pursue and get more in depth on and to see how many people she’s able to bring together that want to do that she’s attracting the right people, people who want to improve and learn and grow and help others learning grow. So I want to make sure that you knew who Heidi Tartan was and that you, if you’re interested, take a look at eclectic entrepreneurs or ah, 100 humanitarians, and I will put links to them in the show notes. But to remind us all to stick close to people like Heidi, that air actively growing and pursuing and are open to change and a failure. One comment she made the other day that I loved is that when she talks to people, she’ll say So do you want to go to Kenya? I say Well, I would if I had the money Her I would if I had the time. It’s like, No, no, I’m not asking if you have the money or the time Do you want to go to Kenya? And if they dio, she shows them how they can do that and everything else. They’re worried about conf all into place for them to do it. And that’s another example of if you have a strong why to do something that somehow the money, the time, the help will all fall into place somehow for you to accomplish that. So, do you want to go to Kenya? If you do talk to Heidi, I haven’t gone yet. 2020 My friends 2020 And if not, Kenya will come to you. But again, just highlighting another pivotal nudge er in my life and hoping that whether or not you connect 100 humanitarians and the eclectic entrepreneurs that you continue to pursue your ideas and to continue to have a goal even if you don’t have any idea how you will get to it, there will be a way and to keep trying things have a great day. My friends and Thanks for listening. Thank you for listening to another episode of the move your desk show. 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