Picking a Podcast Category – Post 2 of 3

Sara stands outside smiling as she proudly holds up her copy of Jenni Gritter's "The Sustainable Solopreneur"

As I mentioned in previous post, setting up your hosting platform requires choosing which categories your podcast fits under. My primary category is Education and specifically self-improvement. For my secondary category, I chose Business – Entrepreneurship and here’s why.

Podcast settings page for "Connecting the Dots with The Renaissance People" showing the main, secondary and third category the show will appear under. Sara has chosen Education, subcategory Self-Improvement, Business subcategory Entrepreneurship and Society & Culture subcategory Philosophy.

Blazing a Trail

For many Renaissance People, the path to truly embrace their creativity and desire for variety in the work arose when they became entrepreneurs. Starting Renaissance Woman Consulting was how I finally found the freedom to:

  • Work the way I wanted
  • With the organizations and people I believed in
  • In a way that better aligned with my priorities and values 

I’m still very much in the thick of building a life as a “sustainable solopreneur”, guided by career coach Jenni Gritters who just published her book on the topic which I HIGHLY recommend). 

In this book, Jenni talks about the 5 Principles of Solopreneurship: intention, self awareness, flexibility, creativity and reciprocity. I’m not going to do a deep dive into this, but I want to highlight a few ideas.

Intention

The building of a Renaissance People Community grew out of my involvement in Jenni’s CREATE program. This community was just something I dreamed of before CREATE helped me think intentionally about how I would make it happen. 

I created this podcast intentionally as a free way for people to get to know me and start to recognize that they have many similarities with my Renaissance People I will be talking with. I initially wrote “I will be interviewing”, but these episodes are much more of a conversation than an interview. (I also “met” Jenni via the podcast she previously co-hosted, The Writers’ Co-Op. I also recommend that, particularly the first five seasons, for others interested in starting a freelance business and rejecting the hustle culture). 

Self Awareness and Flexibility

As I mentioned above, starting my own business allowed me to fully embrace being a Renaissance Woman and working in a way more aligned with my needs. In this podcasts, I’ll be talking to multiple guests about the freedoms and the challenges of this type of opportunity specifically for Renaissance People.

We’ll share strategies we’ve used to balance the freedom and overwhelm of being your own boss. Basically, how we moved beyond “I can do anything but I don’t know what to start!”

Creativity

After recording 3 interviews so far, I’m already in awe of and inspired by the creativity of my guests and I hope you will be too. I’m letting their comments and suggestions guide me as I adjust the questions I ask and the way I plan my episodes. This podcast is a flowing liquid changing constantly as it travels along. I hope this inspires other entrepreneurial Renaissance People to get creative with the business they want to build.

Reciprocity

I’m a first born daughter. I’m a Virgo. I’m a mom. I’m a business owner. I’m very good at taking care of others and stubbornly saying, “I got this. I can deal with whatever challenges arise.” But as the world keeps reminding me, we need to both breathe in and out. 

I love finding the way to support the work of others, especially Renaissance People. As I mentioned in my first episode, I get a thrill out of sharing resources in the show notes which includes promoting other people’s businesses. 

While some might consider having another career coach on my show for episode 3 as being a conflict of interest (after all, I offer career coaching to Renaissance People), I don’t see it that way. 

First, said coach, Melissa Vining, had ME on her podcast

Second, both of us benefit from being able to share our conversations with a wider audience. In fact, after we finished recording her episode, we even discussed a future collaboration so the reciprocal growth can continue.

In this podcast, I hope to model how uplifting others can lift you up as well, both as an entrepreneur and as a human being.

This gif, Lift Each Other Up, by libby vanderploeg is such a great visual representation of what I’m about (though I don’t limit myself to just other women).

The Renaissance Mindset: A Manifesto of Sorts Connecting The Dots with The Renaissance People

Get ready, folks, this one’s a doozie! This solo episode became a “manifesto of sorts” as I shared my current definition of the “Renaissance Mindset”. This mindset is a philosophy that helps explain the complicated, sometimes seemingly contradictory actions of Renaissance People that set us apart.I look at survey data from past guests to explore what it means to be “multi-passionate”, and I dive headfirst into research around being a “lifelong learner”. I once again share neuroscientist Paula Croxson’s elegant explanation of the “left brain vs right brain” myth. I discuss patterns in how Renaissance People think and act, where we shine, the critical role we can play in today’s world and so much more.If this conversation sparks ideas for you (even if it’s a challenge to something I’ve said), reach out and let’s connect! You belong in the Renaissance People Community!Promised Show Notes Materials (take a drink):Sign up for updates on my podcast and what’s happening in the Renaissance People Community.Work with me to Find Your Golden Thread Join the Renaissance People group on FacebookSign up to learn more about Fertile Grounds, a monthly virtual gathering of multi-passionate Renaissance People tentatively schedule to launch in late summer 2026Lifelong Learning in the Educational Setting: A Systematic Literature Review by Win Phyu Thwe and Anikó KálmánProfiles of epistemological beliefs, knowledge about explanation norms, and explanation skills: changes after an intervention by Eric Klopp, Theresa Krause-Wichmann and Robin StarkLifelong learning tendency scale: the study of validity and reliability by Yelkin Diker Coúkuna and Melek DemirelPatrick Meaney’s LinkedIn post about shaping your career like a brambleSara’s LinkedIn post with her Left Brain, Right Brain artificial choice rantA Brief History of the Resting State: the Washington University Perspective by Abraham Z Snyder and Marcus E RaichleReview of the split brain work that Brenda Milner was part of (credit also to Mike Gazzaniga for this research)Range: Why Generalists Thrive in a Specialized World by David EpsteinHabits of a Renaissance Man: Learning how to learn from Leonardo da Vinci (curriculum PBS Learning Media)This episode includes clips from all of my guest episodes so far! Here are the links:Ep. 2: Operating at the Intersection of STEM, Creativity and Fun with Nancy Scales Coddington, Multi-PassionateEp. 3: Embracing an Outside-the-box Mind with Melissa Vining, Boundary SpannerEp. 6: The Secret Lives of Multi-Passionates with Marika Luneau, Multi-PassionateEp. 7: Pitching Your Own (Ph)uture with Stephanie Castillo, Jill-of-all-tradesEp. 8: Bringing Worlds Together Full Circle with Jess Rowell, Renaissance WomanEp. 9: A Mind for Memory with Brian Skellenger, SurvivalistEp. 10: The Forever Revolution with Jenni Gritters, Multi-PassionateEp. 11: Side Quest Unlocked with Elin Filbey, Multi-PassionateEp. 12: A Different Kind of Wonderful with Paula Croxson, Renaissance WomanEp. 13: It’s All or Nothing with Morgan Anderson, Multi-PassionateEp. 14: Capture the Flow with Alycia Buenger, Multi-PassionateFollow Sara Kobilka on Social Media:LinkedIn | Instagram | Facebook | BlueSkyA few themes I discussed:00:59 My podcast categories choices01:56 Survey says…we’re passionate!04:45 Lifelong learner rabbit hole10:38 Going wide AND deep12:34 Live hard, play hard14:04 Paula Croxson explains the myth of “left brain” vs “right brain”17:28 Expansion and boundary spanning19:49 Our intensity20:51 Learning and sharing22:04 Systems thinking23:25 Comfort with nuance24:01 Defining Renaissance Person27:11 Why not “generalist”?30:25 Your Fertile Grounds invitationIf you’re extra curious, check out Renaissance Woman Consulting to learn more about some of the many types of work I do.And should you care to support the production of this podcast, I’d love it if you’d buy me an oat milk cappuccino, my caffeinated beverage of choice.This podcast is hosted and edited by Sara Kobilka.Theme music is by Brian SkellengerPodcast distribution support provided by K.O. Myers of Particulate Media

Want to support me with this launch? I’d love you for you to comment on and share my posts on social media.

Cappuccinos get me through my day. If you want to help support this habit, contributions are always appreciated

Buy me a coffee logo with text in cursive and a cartoon travel coffee cup

admin
Author

admin