I’m interested in the fact that your average person has no idea what an amazing, miraculous creative era we are living in! Growing human ears on mice? Building walking dog-style robots? Moving things with your brain waves? The question isn’t “what is possible” but what ISN’T possible?

I’m a diehard reader of Wired and Fast Company magazines, but I am hardly an early adopter tech geek.  I have an iPhone because it was a gift and just enough tech knowledge to be stunned and awed by the collective mind’s capacity for invention and reinvention. Home is TED.com where reasons to be “rationally optimistic” abound:

MakerBot (a 3-D printer???), Maker Faire, etsy, crowdsourcing, open source…. Almost all done for the love and joy of creating than a profit motive. Dan Pink talks about this at length in his new book Drive which then takes me down the rabbit hole of  thinking about all of these amazing “business” books and the ideas within them: The Long Tail, Blink, Freakonomics, A Whole New Mind, The Art of Possibility.  They are not only informative but enjoyable (a completely separate form of creativity, eh?).

Never, in history, has the opportunity to be AUTHENTIC and RELEVANT been so accessible to all of us ORGANIC? It moves at the speed of light these days. The challenge, I think, is in learning how to harness and trust it. I absolutely DO NOT have the answer to this, but I’m learning.

(This post was inspired by Chris Anderson’s amazing article in Wired)

[FULL DISCLOSURE: After years of following her and often quoting/linking to her, she recently became a client. THAT is a whole other conversation. But long before that happy occurrence, she was a significant part of the inspiration for my blog's focus: authentic, relevant, organic business practices.]

Not everyone I talk to here will meet all three of those attributes but Jeannette most certainly does  and is the reason I ALWAYS wanted her to be my first interview.

• Authentic: she is up-front and clear about her struggles with relationships…and foster animals
• Relevant: she started Law of Attraction coaching a year or two before Oprah broke The Secret and made LOA common terminology
• Organic: she built her incredibly loyal following by caring, by interacting, through incredible generosity

In addition to coaching, Jeannette has a variety of popular information products (e-books, cds). This year saw the unveiling of Good Vibe University: a full-service membership site that is crammed with content and every day reveals what a brilliant and loving group of individuals have chosen to interact with Jeannette on this mission of hers.

So, let’s talk!

Hey Jeannette! How long have you been The Good Vibe Coach?

Was there a period of time that you were working a day job while you built your online and coaching business?

That was the original plan, but it didn’t work out too well!  The job was so exhausting and time consuming that I didn’t have the energy (and certainly not any positive energy) for building my coaching practice.  So while I did go through two coach training programs while I was still employed in the corporate world, I didn’t take building my business seriously until I actually gave notice.  And that’s when good things started to happen.

How long have you been blogging? How has that impacted your business?

It’s funny, because I used to swear that I would never blog.  Ever.  Mostly because it seemed everyone else already was, and I didn’t want to just follow the herd.

But I did start Law of Attraction Playground on Blogger in spring of 2007, soon migrated to Good Vibe Blog on WordPress, in which time blogging has become one of the favorite parts of my business!  It satisfies several personal core values, including connection, authenticity, passion, freedom and fun.  It’s allowed me to connect with other like-minded folks and to build a community around the topic I’m passionate about.  Not to mention it is becoming, over time, a nice vehicle for highlighting products and services, too.

Was there a particular moment or post where you thought “uh-oh, I may have something here?” (jump in followers, increased rank, etc?)

I have had a few ”Yay, this is working!” moments when there would be a new record number of comments (or in the beginning, even a comment from someone I didn’t know would get me excited!), or when someone would ask for paid advertising space, or when the incoming links started growing.  Mostly, though, it’s been a gradual evolution of success – no obvious or overnight milestones or wins.  I think that’s part of the trick to staying engaged, because the success isn’t always easy to spot.  It kind of sneaks up on you over time – at least, that’s been my experience.

How many hours per day/week do you spend building your online presence?

I’ve got a feeling that actual number might surprise me.  I don’t formally track it, but my best guess is, between the blog, Twitter, and Facebook that it probably averages under an hour a day.  Some days more, some days less.  I don’t have any set rules about how often or when to check in, I just follow inspiration and do what feels good.  I will say, though, it took me a while to get in my good groove with twitter.  (I used to live there after I first discovered it!)  So I’m feeling much more balance with it all.

If another solo practitioner of some sort asked for some of your lessons on using social media as a business tool, what would you say?

Don’t do it if you’re only engaging it to make something happen for your business.  If you don’t genuinely enjoy spending time on social media, it will come across to others and won’t help as much as something else would that you enjoy more.  People are attracted to passion and enthusiasm and authenticity.  If you can’t be that with your social media, don’t waste your time.

If you were starting over, what would you do differently?

I would be less afraid of making mistakes; in fact I would embrace doing something wrong in favor of not doing it at all. I wouldn’t have worried so much about how it’s “supposed” to be done, relied less on the “experts” and more on my gut.  And I would make a point of enjoying the whole journey more.  It really IS the best part – It really is the best part, you know.  The building of it, the part where you’re not sure what – if anything – is coming from it all.

In the online/social media/blogging world, what are your pet peeves?

Someone trying to convince me they know what’s best for me.  Being “sold” to and fear based and scarcity-based marketing.  Turns me off every time.  I probably miss out on a lot of great content because they’re relying on traditional methods to make the sale.

What do you love, love, love about what you do?

That I’m in charge!  That I get to make my own mistakes, I get to try out something different and do it my way, I get to talk about whatever I want, and that I get to do it alongside other brilliant, fun and inspiring creators!

What do you think it means to be authentic?

For me it means not pretending, not saying or doing something just because it’s what’s expected or what I’m supposed to do or what sounds good to others.  It means honoring my intuition, telling it like it is even when it’s not pretty, and not succumbing to external pressure to do it different.  It’s a real-ness that allows for the kind of genuine connection that just can’t be beat. 

Follow Jeannette on Twitter @goodvibecoach.