Picking a Podcast Category - Entrepreneurship, Post 2 of 3

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).

A Mind for Memory with Brian Skellenger, Survivalist – Connecting The Dots with The Renaissance People

This episode is a family affair! I’m joined by my younger brother Brian Skellenger, the voice and creative spirit behind this podcast’s theme song. I also view him as a Renaissance Person, a label we debate over the course of the episode (in true sibling fashion). In this show, I share how my thoughts around the term “Renaissance Person” and the idea of a “Renaissance Mindset” have been morphing.We also talk about the pros and cons of having a Renaissance Woman as an older sister, how our parents’ careers influenced our mindset, the power of improv, and being drawn to fellow Renaissance People (and NYC as a hotspot for finding them). Plus, I think you’ll be intrigued by Brian’s thought process as he designed this show’s theme song, at least I was!Promised Show Notes Materials (take a drink):Sign up for updates on my podcast and what's happening in the Renaissance People Community.Episode 7 Stephanie CastilloRange: Why Generalists Thrive in a Specialized World by David EpsteinReview of the play “Vestibular Sense” from Minnesota Public RadioTake it With You newsletter for job seekersPacking Your Skillset Suitcase newsletter issueAFI’s 100 Years…100 Movies downloadable list of “the 100 greatest American movies of all time” (released in 1998 and updated with a 10-year anniversary list in 2007, which isn’t actually 10 years so I don’t understand their math)What are Overtones? YouTube Short video by Eric MartinOVERTONES! What are overtones? What do they sound like? Longer YouTube video explaining the science of overtones more deeply by KHensenMusic and all sorts of awesome examples from singing groupsWater Whys Spring 2026 Visual SciComm Seminar SeriesMaking Math Inclusive for Everyone with Microsoft 365 blog post by Peter WuLinkedIn post by Sara Shunkwiler about the new #Microsoft365Math hashtag with link to recording of talk about math accessibility (and the post she’s resharing talks about being a survivor, even more serendipity)LinkedIn post by Ailee Dixon announcing her new role as a Blind Disability & STEM Equity AdvocateMagnet Theater in Manhattan, NYC. Performance schedule for Brian’s improv team, Lil’ Spoon.Follow Brian on Social Media:Instagram | YouTubeA few things Brian and I discuss:2:09 Brian’s rejection of my potential terms for his identity, why he feels like a “survivalist”, and he defines the term.6:22 How my definition of “Renaissance Person” and the “Renaissance Mindset” is morphing9:02 Big sister Sara embarrasses her little brother11:44 Living in the shadow of a Renaissance Person older sibling and finding theater14:52 The impact of our parents’ careers on our mindset20:55 The power of improv (and why Renaissance People are particularly good at it)25:20 Rejecting hyper specialization31:35 Brian’s performance in the show ‘Vestibular Sense” and how his Renaissance Mindset helped him land the lead role’34:50 The toolkit of skills we bring with us throughout our career36:05 How connecting the dots means being empathetic in the arts38:27 Being drawn to fellow Renaissance People42:06 Brian’s though process in creating the Connecting the Dots with The Renaissance People theme song48:28 Improv Game with the snarkiest response yet to “You know you’re a Renaissance Person if…”50:27 Rapidish Fire Questions52:10 Why our childhood jobs at a movie rental store were great Renaissance Person jobs56:07 The challenge of math accessibility for blind or visually impaired learners (and Sara’s upcoming free virtual seminar speakers on the topic)58:07 Why you should go to Magnet Theater if you’re in Manhattan on a Thursday evening to see musical improv (and possibly Brian’s improv team)Quotes from the episode:(Brian) Well, of course I couldn't pick anything that you picked for me!(Sara) Oh, course not! Big sister can't tell you what to do.(Brian) I have to be an original.(Brian) At least maybe other people like you would say that I am a Renaissance Person or something. But I picked a word and then I like looked it up and it has a completely different meaning. So I'm changing the meaning of this word…(Sara) Do it!(Brian) Like, beware Webster's Dictionary. You're getting a new entry!(Sara) He's in a fighting mood!(Brian) Exactly!(Brian) I do agree that, while I don't necessarily consider myself a Renaissance Person, I do think that I have a well-rounded skillset and mindset. And I think part of that was like, I mean, I'm sure some of that is just genetic or whatever. But I think having you as an older sibling to model sort of like, you can be good at everything if you want to be. If you have the aptitude for it. That set the bar pretty high, which was both daunting, but also freeing in a way(Sara) Yeah.(Brian) I didn't feel super self-conscious about like being interested in a wide variety of things when some other kids were sort of hyper specializing.(Brian) I figured out that I could sort of turn something that was an insecurity into something that made people laugh, which is, 'cause I was cast as this really nerdy character. And I was a dork, as a kid and I still am. I was so nervous that the other kids were gonna laugh at me in a "make fun of me" sort of way.(Sara) Yeah.(Brian) But then, when I was able to like, oh, I'm entertaining these people. They're laughing with me in a way.(Sara) And you have control over the laughter. I'm making it happen.(Brian) I think improv has a lot of good applications outside of just being entertaining because improv theaters do workshops and stuff for businesses and it's a great tool to just learn how to “Yes, and…” somebody else's idea that might be completely different than what you had in mind.Follow me, Renaissance Woman Sara Kobilka, on LinkedIn, where I put most of my social media energy and Facebook.If 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…

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Picking a Podcast Category – Post 2 of 3