CYLS 139: Sex, Life & Mentoring: A Startups Success Connecting Experts and Clients From the Comfort of Their Living Rooms with Elise Schuster

Summary: About our Guest: Elise Schuster is the Co-Founder of okayso, an app that provides quick, personalized answers from experts concerning life’s most intimate questions. Her experience working in the field of sex education spans over 15 years, beginning as a sex educator at Babeland. During her time at the company, Elise taught hundreds of workshops and answered thousands of questions. She previously worked on youth development at The Door, the country’s largest development agency serving over 10,000 marginalized youth each year. With a Masters in Public Health from Columbia University, Elise has extensive training and consulting experience in LGBTQ issues, pleasure, sexual health, and adolescent development.   Episode Summary Elise Schuster’s company, Okayso, provides clients with confidential access to experts who cover topics from sexual health to self-image. Using a non-traditional path for a startup, Elise and her co-founder were able to create an innovative app that not only supports positive mental health, but also is funded by a federal grant. The distinct way in which she has achieved success is an inspiring account for any CEO looking for new methods for establishing and operating their business.   Insight from this episode: Secrets to enhancing your business by analyzing other industries. Strategies for building a productive relationship with your co-founder. How to find and embrace your company’s unique path to success. Elise explains how she used skills learned in graduate school when she started her company. Strategies for evaluating the goals of your business using Elise’s “Fantasy Island” technique. How to embrace self-compassion and use it in your life. Why CEOs who are just starting out should seek out the company of other new CEOs.   Quotes from the show: “It’s really always helpful to have kind of those touchstones. I think you can get so in it, that you, kind of pulling back and seeing that bigger picture, every little bit is incredibly helpful.” - Elise Schuster, Episode 139 “I think that, often when you read things about startups or you read about successful businesses, you don’t see the messiness behind them. You also often see only a couple of paths.” - Elise Schuster, Episode 139 “There’s not one way of helping people. You have got to figure out what is going to work right for you.” - Elise Schuster, Episode 139 “Everybody deserves to lead happy and healthy lives. And that includes sexuality. It’s just as much a part of our lives.” - Elise Schuster, Episode 139 “I think that we get so many messages in the world about what it means to be a woman and how you’re supposed to behave and act. So I think most of it, for me, is really just to realize you have everything that you need within yourself to do this.” - Elise Schuster, Episode 139 “Even in those moments that it feels like you don’t know what you’re doing, it’s okay to not know what you’re doing, you don’t have to have every single thing figured out, but you probably have it a lot more figured out than you realize. So keep pushing.”  - Elise Schuster, Episode 139 “Self forgiveness is the biggest thing. That’s the only way you can really move forward.” - Kevin Y. Brown, Episode 139 “It’s okay to take shortcuts. Because everyone takes shortcuts.” - Elise Schuster, Episode 139 “The things that I thought made us unappealing are the things that made us appealing, Sometimes the things that you think are your weaknesses are actually your strengths” - Elise Schuster, Episode 139 Resources Mentioned:   Leapfrog: The New Revolution for Women Entrepreneurs by Nathalie Molina Niño   React Native   Favorite Book:   When Things Fall Apart: Heart Advice for Difficult Times by Pema Chodron     Favorite Quote: Motto by Brene Brown that everyone is doing the best that they can with what they have.   3 keys to Create Your Best Life: Self-compassion Determination Love   Stay Connected:   Create Your Life Series: https://www.facebook.com/cylseries/ https://www.instagram.com/cylseries/   Kevin: www.kevinybrown.com www.instagram.com/kevinybrown www.twitter.com/kevinybrown www.facebook.com/kevbrown001   Elise Schuster: www.okayso.co/ www.eliseschuster.com/ www.instagram.com/heyokayso twitter.com/akadallas twitter.com/heyokayso www.facebook.com/akadallas www.facebook.com/heyokayso www.linkedin.com/in/eliseschuster www.linkedin.com/company/okayso elise@okayso.co Subscribe to our podcast + download each episode on  itunes, google play, stitcher and www.createyourlifeseries.com/podcast