We are very proud to feature our Wonderful Web Radio Rising Star interview. In this segment, we speak with Keran Barrett. Keran is a freelance garden writer (who from necessity, has also taken on other part-time positions to support her freelance career). Being able to take control over where she works and how she does it, has always been very important to her; she believes that in 2012, the opportunities to be independent are better than ever.

You can find out more about Keran by going to:  http://womenlearntorun.com or www.HowToKeepMemoriesForever.com

Transcript of the Interview

Jane: Hello everyone and welcome to this week’s episode of Rising Star Radio. I’m your host Jane Hinchey, and you can find me at www.janehinchey.com. Today in the hot seat we have with us Keran Barret. Hi Keran, how are you?

Keran:  Fine, very well thankyou Jane, how are you?

Jane:  I am well.  To get us started, why don’t you share with us who you serve and how you serve them?

Keran:  Ok, its women; women who are forty and over. My intention was to write originally a book on gardening, but I ended up by actually writing a book about learning to run at the age of forty and over for women.  So I’m hoping that this will help others to learn that you are never too old to take up challenges, but my main aim is actually to complete a membership site so that long term I can help women record their stories of their lives through photographs; and that’s what I’m really passionate about doing.

Jane:  That sounds incredible; I love the sound of that. So, do you have a website or somewhere people can find and connect with you at the moment?

Keran:  Yes I do,  www.womenlearntorun.com and also www.HowToKeepMemoriesForever.com

Jane:  Fantastic. Thank you for that.  Now of course you’re a member of the Wonderful Web Women community.  Can you tell us what program or product that you’ve purchased that you’ve taken action on?

Keran:  Definitely the list building toolkit as well as all the fabulous free information that Janet very readily shares with all of us through her video blogs.

Jane:  I love Janet’s TV show it’s awesome, especially all that behind the scenes stuff.  It’s great isn’t it?

Keran:  Absolutely wonderful.  It’s helped me enormously.

Jane:   So you got the list building course, what did you learn from that that led you to taking action?

Keran:  I’ve learnt to be organised and to batch tasks so that I’m more efficient, I can do some forward planning and it just helps with my mindset, so I found that with a different blog to what I’ve talked about already, aside from my main interest, I’ve been using a blog to actually practice and create better habits, so I’d say that batching was a really really useful tool I learnt and I also learnt to set my intentions for the day and that mindset I find is really useful to help me stay focused on what it is that I want to achieve on that particular day, and that can change from day to day and probably to focus on one task at a time and to master it.  So with list building, there are just so many different avenues and not all of them I think suit everyone at the same time.  So to take one task, focus on it and master it and then each step will build on the last one.

Jane:  Fantastic, they are really good points that you’ve made there.  So what’s changed as a result of you taking that action?

Keran:  Oh, heaps of things.  I knew the information intellectually but I was really anxious about actually doing it in case I failed, but then I found once I took action I felt very empowered by what I’d learnt.  I created my e-book on ‘women learn to run’ by writing it myself but I outsourced one chapter and that was a really great experience and the end result was better than I could have achieved on my own, and again creating bonus products I felt like that was another world, but once I actually started learning how to do it and actually did it, I realised it was something not just for other people but something I can do as well. And in all of this, I think there are technical aspects that we just need to learn how to do.  It can be frustrating but it’s also enormous fun and it also has meant that I am less reliant on other people if I do it myself or I can outsource it because I understand it better.  I happen to really love the “techy stuff” and it’s given me some new skills as well.

Jane:  Fantastic and I think it is very awe inspiring that you’ve written your very first e-book.  That is a magnificent achievement, so well done.

Keran:  Thank you.

Jane:  What tips can you share with our listeners today that they can take action on themselves?

Keran:  I would say take just one thing that you don’t know enough about.  There’s often lots of things that we think ‘where do you start?’ and you can feel a bit overwhelmed, but just by taking one thing and focusing on that topic and then implementing it, I’ve found that that’s been my best – I suppose, mantra to try and live by.  If you put it in your diary, think about it the day before you do it, visualise yourself mastering it and then actually doing it – and there are many lessons from that one step that have a spill over effect into other areas of your life.  I suddenly realised that I am capable and knowledgeable and it has taken the edge off the fear of the unknown and just put it now within my grasp and within my sphere of ability.

Jane:  Absolutely, I agree.  That’s great.  Now you’ve given us some inspiring information here today.  Is there anything else that you’d like to add?

Keran:  Probably just to say that nothing will change if you don’t and also I’m a bit of a perfectionist and one thing I’ve learnt is that there are some things that you must get right and there are other things that you can refine later.   So working out what are the basics that I need to make this work and then move on and don’t get caught up in too much detail that you don’t need to at that point.

Jane:  That is so true.  So thank you so much Keran for your time today and for sharing your experiences with us.

Keran:  You are very welcome Jane.

Jane:  So this has been Jane Hinchey. Thank you for listening and don’t forget to tune in next week for another Rising Star Radio interview.