Reinventing Your Path: Transforming Challenges into Opportunities

In this episode of the Age of Reinvention podcast, Emily Bron interviews Maureen Edwards, a branding strategist and founder of six successful companies. Maureen shares her journey from corporate leadership to entrepreneurship, tackling ageism, embracing AI, and finding purpose after 50. With a focus on mindset and reinvention, she encourages listeners to overcome fear and pursue fulfillment in midlife. Don’t miss this inspiring conversation on taking bold steps towards a meaningful future!

TIMESTAMPS:
00:00 Keep Moving Forward: Embracing Optimism
01:54 Introducing Maureen Edwards: A Journey of Transformation
04:47 Maureen’s Entrepreneurial Beginnings
05:27 Navigating Reinvention and Overcoming Challenges
06:48 The Importance of Continuous Growth
09:43 Helping Clients Overcome Midlife Challenges
12:15 Mindset Coaching and Building Confidence
17:48 The Value Accelerator Program
20:21 Success Stories and Personal Transformations
24:43 Maureen’s Personal Reinvention Journey

Emily Bron: Welcome to the Age of Reinvention, the podcast where we explore what it truly means to redefine your freedom, lifestyle, and purpose in midlife. Whether you are contemplating a career shift, looking to rediscover your passions, I’m barking on the journey of personal transformation. You are in the right place.

We are excited to welcome a genuinely inspirational figure, Maureen Edwards, to our show today. Maureen is an award winning branding, marketing, and business strategist, an inventor, and the dynamic force behind the founding of six successful companies. Maureen has navigated her own journey of transformation, moving from a high powered corporate leader to an inspired entrepreneur and coach.

Now she helps others find their path to fulfilling life beyond the conventional milestones. As a founder of Ingenicom Communications, she’s the forefront of integrating AI to enhance business outcomes, helping companies future proof their revenue, profitability, and sustainability. Another fascinating fact is that Maureen was Emily Braun’s first business coach.

A celebrated Wharton University instructor and a national business educator, Maureen has clinched over 30 industry awards and offers her voice as a keynote speaker and media expert. She teaches us How to stay competitive in the board joining digital revolution. Today, she shares her invaluable insights on redefining personal and professional life through the lens of innovation and strategic reinvention.

Hello, Maureen, I’m pleased to have you at my online studio today.

Maureen Edwards: Oh my gosh, Emily, that was such a nice introduction and it is so nice to come full circle and see you again and honored to be your first coach really and truly.

Emily Bron: Thank you very much. I remember your lessons. I cannot say that I implemented all of them because I’m still learning and, but now my first question to you Maureen, reinvention is a courageous step at any stage in life.

You have an impressive reinvention journey of your own from founding six successful companies to becoming an award winning entrepreneur. Could you share what inspired you to start your first company and what has driven you to continue creating and innovating?

Maureen Edwards: I have to tell you, I never expected to be an entrepreneur.

I was a corporate girl. All the way. I love dressing in business suits. I loved, empowering a team. I had no intention of taking that journey until I had an aha moment and invented a pet product. Just clear out of the blue. Like most inventors, they don’t really seek to invent a product.

They just stumble upon it. And I took a risk. I risked everything. I risked my house. I leveraged my 401k, even my kid’s college education to build a manufacturing facility and commercialize this pet product. And I have to tell you, Emily, I almost lost everything with that first reinvention of myself.

That was a huge risk. And it took a lot of, I guess self reflection to say this reinvention is a tough one. How do I turn this around and reinvent myself again to, recognize what has gone wrong here and do some deep reflection. And I think that’s what has to happen when you reinvent yourself.

And I turned that company around and sold it. And that allowed me to be very reflective about. What were my next steps and what were my next reinventions? What was I going to do? And that was what brought me to build the next company. And then you learn so much from that, that you can become a different person and evolve.

And maybe that comes from boredom. I don’t know. Do we reinvent ourselves because we get bored with the old person? Maybe.

Emily Bron: We’re growing because we are growing.

Maureen Edwards: Yeah. I think that if you don’t grow then what does that say about you? You’re just going to stay stagnant in the same person. And that’s boring.

That’s boring. We can’t we got to keep moving forward. And that’s what every company led me to was that growth and that growth. And that led me to learning enough about business, about success, about failure that led me to being able to say, you know what, I’ve learned enough to be able to help others.

Build theirs and know the pitfalls to avoid, know how to overcome the challenges, know not to make the mistakes that I very were very harsh learning experiences for me that they can avoid. And that’s what brought me to another reinvention, another chapter. And that’s where I got to meet People like you who are on the entrepreneurial journey and it’s been a true passion.

But it also let me open a very large agency to let me work with larger companies that were already more established and needed more high end marketing and branding and more business strategy. And it was a way to balance both people.

Emily Bron: Yeah. And I believe the last reinvention when you launched your companies to teach other happened for you being after 50.

Maureen Edwards: Yeah I had been doing Ingenicom for, it’s on its 12th year now, but it was really during COVID. That eight simple steps happened. I was doing these workshops, obviously in person, I had a proprietary blueprint that I had followed in my companies that I was teaching others to do. And then when we couldn’t get in person anymore, I’m like, I’ll take it all online for you, and then the courses started online and then the coaching kind of followed and it was just reinvented itself, right?

It just evolved. by accident. And you’re right. It was over 50 that I said, okay, I’ll implement this. And sometimes we see opportunities and we either take them and we run with it or we go, you know what? I’m not doing it. I got bigger, better things. I’m not taking this on. But then we could miss something, but it was after 50 and I could have said to myself, you know what?

Do I need this? At 50, do I need another company? Do I need to start something else? I already have an agency. I don’t need it. Think about all the things I would have missed. I would have missed you, right?

Emily Bron: I remember a lot of inspiring people in our group. I don’t know it was first group for you or, and I left group and I’m considering now to join back, but it’s a different story.

And I was following, but I lost stories of some of them, but yeah. I was inspired by other people who were a part of our group, and I was so happy to see the success in what they’re doing. And it’s actually provided me, I think, even inspiration to start this podcast. But now the next question for many midlife is a crossroads of reflection How do you help clients after 50 years old prioritize their goals and overcome the hesitation, which often you know, part of this profound period of change?

Maureen Edwards: I’m going to talk about something maybe that a lot of people don’t want to talk about because it’s a lot of clients that come to me. Okay. A lot of people over 50, unfortunately, have been displaced in the workforce due to ageism. It’s insidious out there. And it’s very sad because you have very highly talented people who need to make an income.

And unfortunately they say, Oh, I’ve got to, become an entrepreneur. I got to start my own business. And that’s really not what their passion is. It’s by default. And I don’t want anybody to have to go and reinvent themselves. With all this hesitation, kicking and screaming, and not wanting to embrace something that they’re passionate about because they have to.

Because their confidence has been just so crushed because they were a corporate executive. They felt good about themselves. They had all this talent and somebody took it out from under them, Emily. And now they come to me and they go, help me build this. And I’m having to help build their confidence. I’m helping to inspire them before I even help them build a business, right?

And so that’s hard. And so once we get them on track with that and build their confidence and make them feel like this could be a good journey for them, and they’re still sending out resumes at the same time, I’m like, you either have to commit to this. Or you don’t and it’s I have to teach them to fall in love with this process and some of them do and embrace it and really find out that they’re good entrepreneurs, that they really love it.

And they do build a great coaching company. Maybe it’s a great health and wellness company. We pull out their strengths. Where did you come from? Where’s your network? Where do you really feel you can change people’s life? That’s what we do is we tap into what makes them feel good and what they could do for people.

That’s the first thing to build their confidence.

Emily Bron: It’s actually a mindset coaching. It’s getting your mindset to the levels that you want to be. People are ready to jump to the new chapter.

Maureen Edwards: But it’s hard

Emily Bron: to jump to a new chapter.

Maureen Edwards: Haven’t you found that?

Emily Bron: I did it several times, even over the couple of last years, and I remember I know my hesitation, but it’s Again, it’s my characters.

I’m pretty adventurous by spirit and yes, but I understand and I see another people who, like in my kind of estimation, in much better situation as I feel, and they hesitant for years. For years, they had, they wanted, they say, Oh, I saw you’re so good. You can do it and you can do it. You have even more like support, a cushion or whatever talent that you can do it.

And no, we just look at you. No, it’s not about me because I understand. And actually my question coming from. To make this jump, leap, pivot, whatever you use, you need to have some driving force.

Maureen Edwards: I think it’s fear. And I think we have to ask them, where’s the fear coming from? And when we dig deep into it, is it fear of failure?

There’s no such thing really. These are growth opportunities. Pull them out. And I’ve had people where their business has not worked out, but a lot of times it’ll lead to something else. that does work out and has actually worked out more successfully. And it led them to that. And they will say, you know what?

The best thing that ever happened to me was that, that business that we worked on that really didn’t work out as well as I expected it to. And I said, why do you think it didn’t work out? I maybe didn’t do this, and this like I should have. I dragged my feet on this. I didn’t put the money in the right places.

I was too scared to take the jump on this and this. And I said, now you learned from that. Did you do things differently with this one? Yeah. So really, was that a failure? No, it was learning mistake, learning process. So I think a lot of it is fear that people are going to make mistakes, fear that they’re going to have to take accountability for those mistakes.

Yes. And I think it’s the failure aspect. That’s why they don’t leap. It’s very hard, isn’t it? It’s hard to reinvent yourself.

Emily Bron: It’s very hard, and I’m still in process, and I enjoy it, I enrolled to the university a couple of weeks ago, to online university, just for pure desire to learn but for me, after 50, and I’m beyond 50 I say something else.

I will not have another time, if not now too. So when? There is my time. There is my time. Yes, it could have do this mistake, say, Being in 30. Okay, I’m not in 30 anymore, but I can offer something that I was not been in when I was 30 years old. And even I’m looking at myself, how much I learned, I became different person over this four years, more comparing the 20 years I’ve been in different position, and I was still contractor, it was, I was never in full time job, in Canada.

I I, A world differently, I understand about marketing. I became different person and I thought to myself, even I don’t get such a company as I envisioned, but I met so many wonderful. People and learn from them and I continue to build my relationship based on my new knowledge and understanding that it’s already gained, not financial, maybe, but on the personal level, I gained.

It’s how I see my mistakes. You know what? It’s,

Maureen Edwards: it’s building your confidence muscles. It was, it’s just Oh my gosh, look how far I have come. And when I’m coaching people, when I’m looking at these business people who never knew how to do a Facebook ad, and then it’s like, Oh my gosh, I had one woman who never knew how to do an ebook.

And then when she finished it, she was like, who knew? And she’s 70 years old, 70 years old and never knew how to do an ebook. She said, I would have never in a million years. Thought that I could go on Canva and create an ebook. That’s continuous learning. Continuous learning. I have a client who has a huge cheesecake company at 75 and treks in to the events every Saturday to sell her cheesecakes.

It’s incredible. So people who say, I’m too old for this. I’m too old for that. I can’t learn digital marketing. I can’t get on a computer. Come on. It’s mindset. Exactly like what you said.

Emily Bron: After actually completing two eBooks, I was sure that I can write now the whole book. I just get different direction because Yes, I thought, okay, now when I did this, I can write a book, I can do this.

I even was not thinking about it. But many of our listeners are in midlife. And they’re looking to redefine the purpose in professional life direction. How can you start? Meaning S T A R T blueprint program aid in personal and professional reinvention.

Maureen Edwards: Now that you mention that, I reinvented the Start Blueprint.

And now, yeah, now we call it the Value Accelerator. Now, same concept, the same concept, but I changed And just tweaked it a little bit because this is the exact same program that you start your business in the right direction. But I felt like we needed to reinvent the word value so that people. Could relate more to the concept.

And this is what’s important when you are a marketer or somebody branding things, you have to talk to people. You have to, communicate with them. You don’t you can’t be afraid to make a change if there’s a disconnect and while so many people understood. The start word, many people did not, but when I tested the word value accelerator, they understood demonstrating the value to their customers and learning that to convert more in their business and bring more revenue than starting their business in the right direction.

Do you see me? It was just a play on words. I say to business owners out there, if something isn’t working. Don’t keep doing the same thing over and over again, thinking it’s going to change. Talk to people, ask questions. Don’t let your ego get in the way and make the change for the betterment of who you serve so you can serve them better.

And I reinvented it. So it’s now called the Value Accelerator, same blueprint, gets the same people to where they can make more money, stay ahead of the competition, build sustainability in their business. But what I do is I can serve more people now because the aha moment for them is there.

Emily Bron: Does that make sense?

Absolutely. Absolutely. And I believe that you have other programs as well for real acceleration of the first level leaping to the next, but obviously it’s a different process. And could you share a success story of individual who, with your guidance and teaching, successfully reinvented themselves in midlife?

And what were some of the key strategies? That led to the transformation in addition to a mindset change.

Maureen Edwards: I think I’m going to talk to about Misha, who you know, who Misha is. She’s been one of my clients for a long time and she became a mindset coach. Later in life and that decision was made based on tragedy and sometimes we walk a road in which tragic things happen to us and we can either just sit there and wallow in them, whether it’s a loss of a child many layoffs and financial issues failed marriages.

And she’s an open book about all of it. She’s completely authentic that life will bring you to your knees and you can either stay down there or you can rise above it. And when you experience things like that, you can say, I’ve made many mistakes, but I’ve gotten back up. How do I reinvent myself to help others with it?

And when she was over 50, she said, enough is enough. I’m going to take these hardships and help others overcome theirs. And so when she came to me, she said, I have this idea. I have this vision. This is the type of company I want to build. How do I do it? How do I make it happen? I only have a vision, but I don’t know how to implement it.

And that’s when we dug really deep. And I said, the first thing you have to do is envision the person you’re going to be working with. And don’t talk about the features of what you do. Talk about how you’re going to change their life. Because as business people, as people, you have to think about who you serve.

And for those of you out there who are service people, who are creating things for people, how do you change their life? Don’t tell me features. Tell me benefits. What are you going to do for them where they walk out of there and go, you know what, Emily made a difference for me, Maureen made a difference, Misha made a difference for me, one person at a time, and she’s a success story.

She’s been doing this now 6 years, 6 years, and she works with the 40 plus community. She has people now who are 70. 65, 70 who want to reinvent themselves. She has a lot of people who are hardships. They’ve been hit with hardships. And I’m proud of her because a lot of businesses don’t last that long.

And she has a steady stream of clients who may only need her for 30 minutes. And she makes a difference. A 30 minute brainstorming session and that’s it. And she’s impacted them or they do three hours. She offers a range of access to her. And I think that’s also a key to being successful. Not everybody can do a big hurrah with a coach.

Not everybody has that type of money or even that type of time, but give them access to you. At different stages. And so I’m very proud of her because she had a vision and it was based on hardship. Now, not everybody is going to build a business or be successful based on that, but sometimes that’s a starting point for people making changes.

And I know I had to make quite a few and I made a huge change this year. And it came from hardship. And it’s the biggest transformation I’ve ever had in my life, has been over the last six months, Emily. The biggest.

Emily Bron: But, we are not for pretty background. And I understand that’s a personal circumstances.

And I know that after 50, actually, it’s happened with a lot of us and it’s what is life about. So I understand that now you on the next reinvention stage in your personal life. Yes. So other circumstances.

Maureen Edwards: Yeah. Yeah. I am. I’m sitting on the beach for six months. I have two more weeks left. Yeah. My husband and I sold our house in a day.

They bought all the furniture and we packed up and moved to this 700 square foot bungalow right across the street from the ocean. And I walk over there every day. Stick my toes in the water. And it’s been a six month sabbatical, spiritual, mental, physical, emotional, a complete transformation.

Unlike I had ever expected, I knew that I needed to change. I just didn’t know. The evolution that it would be and my husband and I are both going back is completely different people with a completely different perspective. And I changed my entire business model on the agency side to a complete AI focus that has just exploded.

And I didn’t even want it to explode. Emily, I just saw an opportunity, a vision. I jumped on it and then all of a sudden it was bigger and I’m like, I don’t want this. I’m sitting on the beach. Don’t do that to me, but sometimes things come and you got to be careful what you ask for, but these six months have been monumental for me.

And now, so my word of this year, some people pick a word of the year, and mine was anew, anew, A N E W. I didn’t really know why I picked it. Next year, it’s whatever. Whatever happens, it’s okay. It’ll be alright. That’s my word for 2025. Where are you

Emily Bron: relocated? Where

Maureen Edwards: are you now? So I moved from Annapolis, Maryland, and we just picked up, and one of our favorite places is Beaufort, North Carolina.

It’s this small little coastal town, and then we moved to Atlantic Beach, which is 10 minutes away. You would never know where it is. It’s totally off the grid. Alright. Nobody knows. If you keep going down, you’ll run into Emerald Isle. Everybody knows where that is, but no nobody knows where we are.

Nobody. Yep. I wanted some place where nobody could find us. Literally.

Emily Bron: And I found it. And I’m happy that such places exist in the United States.

Maureen Edwards: I, and that was the thing, is I felt like the world was falling apart here. That’s another thing that I think people sometimes feel like they need to drop off the grid, right?

There’s just so much contention. I felt like there’s, there was so much bad energy all around and it was causing, there’s a lot of mental health problems. And I think, there’s a lot of stress and I felt like the energy just wasn’t positive. And I came down here and the energy is so positive that there’s a part of me that isn’t looking forward to going back there, even though our family is there, our friends there we did, we bought a new house and I haven’t even seen it.

It’s sight unseen. We have we don’t, I don’t even care. And it’s a quarter of the size I left, but it’s a little bit bigger than this, and I don’t even care. It’s just so liberating. So when I say to people, reinventing yourself too is also releasing yourself of the things that Weigh you down. That mean nothing.

Emily Bron: Nothing. Maybe not important for you anymore. Actually, it’s one of the topics that it’s so hard for all of us to rid of our, some possessions. Old mental constructions we’ve, were so valued for years, it’s, we thought that it’s part of us and when we clean out this layer, apparently we can live even better without it.

Maureen Edwards: When my house burned down a couple years ago, we lost everything anyway. So we had already, yeah, so we had already lost it. So we never really replaced it anyway. So at that point, the process was already in place, so it didn’t mean anything anyway.

Emily Bron: But sense of liberation, sense of being new Maureen, new inventor, and actually new ideas which coming when you feel content, I believe, or you feel more harmony on balance with your new stage of life, yes?

Maureen Edwards: Yeah. So it’s interesting, we talk about people being fearful and hesitant and I’m seeing this now every day with the AI revolution coming in. People don’t want to, don’t want to embrace this. They don’t even want to address it. My business people that I’m, working with and even the bigger companies, they’re like, you know what, it’s a trend or it’s a fad or and I’m like, no, you don’t understand.

Transcribed If you don’t embrace this, you will be lost. You will be left behind. You will be the dinosaur. And I said, do you think Google, nobody’s using that. Facebook, social media, did you all just stay under your bed and not address it? I will tell you right now, this is the fourth industrial revolution.

And so if you don’t rescale, you don’t upscale and over 50 is going to get lost behind worse than anybody. So if you’re seeing people being displaced now, it will be worse. If they do not reskill themselves. If they don’t give themselves a competitive edge to get back into the workforce and so many of them have to work till they’re 60 or 65, especially in this country now, and you’re going to end up losing your job and not being able to save for retirement.

Like you thought you would. You’re not going to be able to keep your job long term. You will be the first to go because you don’t have the skill set. And you have every opportunity right now to get in on it and future proof your income, your career, and your long term goals. But you have to be open to learning, to reinventing your mindset towards something like this.

If you don’t, you will not survive. Long term in a lifestyle that you want, and I’m trying to get that message out.

Emily Bron: What exactly are you offering in this regard? And why I’m asking because I already using several AI tools, which I feel match whatever I need to do with podcasting, with content creation, but I know that they Growing, even the tools that I’m using, they’re changing every month, like new features, new release.

What are you offering in your AI program? What kind of tools for what kind of purposes? First off, kudos to you

Maureen Edwards: that you are even understanding what chat GPT is. Because, no offense to the people I’m seeing, but they have Never even investigated it, the workshops I do. They absolutely we have to do it right then in there.

All right. So I do a lot of workshops 1 introductory, getting them to feel comfortable with it. I’m getting them to understand the difference between chat. G. B. T. Gemini. Claude understanding that there are different ways to use them really getting into the nitty gritty of the prompts and the frameworks, which make all the difference.

We build full portfolios that are geared towards their specific industries because there isn’t a one size fits all. So if somebody needs to be re skilled or up skilled in finance, your prompts will be different. your portfolio is different. Somebody who’s in health and wellness, somebody who’s in healthcare, somebody who comes in retail.

So if you are required to write an email, you need to know this. Brochures, social media, newsletters, any type of writing. The AI language models need to be mastered. Now they are partners, they’re your collaborators, they are your assistant. They do not replace you, so I do not want anybody to think this is taking over and it’s Terminator.

And that’s where that fear needs to be eliminated. Okay, this is a tool to make you better in your business. All right, if you don’t want to own a business, this is where you can talk AI with an employer if you’re looking for a job and say, here’s my portfolio. This is where I can come to your company with hit the ground running.

This is what I have created. I can even teach your staff, the department I would be working in where we literally build an entire portfolio. So those are for the job seekers. I also work with a lot of veterans. Veterans are coming out and are at a disadvantage because they’ve been in logistics, a lot of female veterans.

We literally rebrand them as AI gurus when they come out and they are at such a competitive edge at that point. They are moving right into learning about logistics because most of them have that background, predictive analytics. So business people, we take it up a notch for them as well.

Especially in customer targeting the really getting into chatbots e commerce. So it’s just very focused in and nailed down a little bit deeper. So we’re signing a lot of government contracts in workforce development. Helping these people get back to work, helping these veterans get back to work, and then companies are bringing us in to do these workshops to get their employees upskilled.

So we have a lot of different arms to this company as far as teaching internally, and then government contracts. And then I have my business owners who need to understand 1, eliminate your fear. And understand how you use it in your business, whether it’s podcasting good example, how I’m using it.

I’m using it to write my book. Here I have all these videos like you would have as a podcaster.

Emily Bron: What tools are you using? Can I ask?

Maureen Edwards: Yeah, so you take all the transcripts. And so I don’t know what your favorite AI language model is. I love Gemini. Gemini is fabulous. ChatGPT and I’m not getting, I’m not an affiliate.

I just want to let you know, nobody’s paying me a commission for this. But I love Gemini because it will give you images. I can do 30 social media posts in 30 seconds. Literally, the whole thing. You write the right prompts, you got it. It can give me, it can give me URLs, everything. So one of the plugins that you can do is a YouTube plugin, right?

And you can literally or you can even upload all your transcripts. And then ask the right prompts of what you’re trying to gather information for your book, right? And it will pull it out for you so you don’t have to search through all that transcript information. And, I have all the content. Then I can ask them certain questions to ask for insights.

And say you know what? Maybe this guest said this and say, can you go ahead and elaborate? This guest said this. said that they prefer linkedin marketing. Why do you think they would prefer linkedin marketing over another platform for their participants, their particular health and wellness business?

And they will give you all of the information about what linkedin does versus that. This is just an example, all because of a conversation I had from an interview. a conversation you and I would have about a podcast. So it would be something like I said here on this podcast about reinvention, and you would put the right prompt in from that transcript and ask AI, go ahead and search for this question that I had for Maureen.

And her answer is this. What insights do you have? That would also allow me to elaborate on other women doing this, and this. Do you know what I mean? You have to come up with the questions. You have to direct it. But it’ll elaborate for you to be able to build a book based on the conversations you’ve been having.

And so there’s a plug in for it with YouTube, because that’s probably where you’re putting them. But I also download all the transcripts, and you can upload all these transcripts too.

Emily Bron: I can open the portal about my kind of tools I’m using. And I was it was a period that I was using different for video production, comparing what would work for my purposes.

But for copywriting, I use copy AI, and I’m speaking with this tool and they are up to me. Old version and they have even specific workflow, which I don’t need because I don’t have company, but I see how every month they have new features and we understand each other. I believe coffee. I already know my style because I prepared and I thought.

Use this MyStyle, this template. I’m using Grammarly just, to be sure that I’m I’m not English speaker, native, and even that I’m, inside. So I do kind of several filters, but my research Copy AI Grammarly for grammar I was using by word, but now not sure. I was using different for video, I’m using descript actually because it’s using transcription to change the video.

And so I’m using Notion, so now every tool, every application, which before was good by itself, has this AI component inside it, yes? But I’m afraid now, not afraid because if I will try to look for the new tools, there are so many of them, I would We lost, trying them. It was period six months till I figure out what might work good for me.

And you’re probably saving a lot of time to people who in this hard decision moment, what is good for me for this task and for other tasks.

Maureen Edwards: And I can’t tell you how many vendors will reach out. Can you test this one? Can you test this one? But like you said, it’s changing like every day. There are days I am so overwhelmed, mostly because I have to master these prompts, because it’s all in the prompt, it’s all in the framework, and they’re just changing all the time.

I love Canva. Canva’s new features of AI are second to none. Of course, oh, it’s incredible, but I will tell you their prices are going up 300%. I’m not happy about that at all. And then if you want audio voiceovers, if you feel like you want a voiceover for anything, Murph AI is really good.

Different voices, Murph AI. If sometimes with podcasts that I think are really cool, is if you have An audio that introduces you here’s Emily Braun with the age of reinvention. Let’s redefine your freedom. And it’s a very high end professional podcast thing that you literally sound like you have an MC introducing you.

And then a close out.

Emily Bron: I believe my tool can do it, I just didn’t get to the stage. And again, because of competition and descriptors and Riverside I look at this competition and I understand that they’re trying to introduce the best features, but let’s go out of the specific, which might be boring for people who don’t know what we are speaking about.

And I understand how important is it for individuals today, specifically being after 50, to keep up with technological and societal changes as they reinvent themselves in midlife. So in general, what resources do you recommend? To stay informed and adaptable for this age group.

Maureen Edwards: I’m just going to say, take it one step at a time.

We’re talking about so many multiple things and I applaud you for, doing three and four, but that is your type of personality. You’ll dive right into things. But I always say to people, like even my business people who want to go on social media and incorporate four and five platforms. And they’re just learning and I’m like, just pick one, just pick two, go ahead and ease into things, right?

If you are just doing social media in your business, pick one. All right, that, that’s it. And so I don’t want people, I’m all about simplicity. You know that. My one company is Eight Simple Steps and I teach everything in eight. Simple steps one at a time and simplicity is your friend. Don’t rush it.

Master one thing and go to the next. Read about things, right? And if you see something that is like 30 pages to read that they’re trying to teach you, close it up. Nope. Go on YouTube. I think YouTube is very helpful. YouTube videos when you see three minutes, learn something in three minutes. Great.

If you see 30, click off. I also want people to realize, if you’re starting a business, you’re doing a new endeavor, and you don’t know something, find somebody who does, okay? I always say, if your car breaks down on the side of the road, okay, would you go ahead and watch a YouTube video on how to fix it? If you didn’t know, no.

And so I applaud, those people who say, I don’t know something. This is totally out of my lane. I’m going to find somebody who can move the needle for me, move my business forward, help me. Emily, you did that? You hire coaches who know more than you because you value your business, you value what you’re doing, you value your customers enough to learn to be able to help them.

And a lot of people bypass this. So I say, take it slow, learn, with simple steps, one thing at a time, and then hire people to help you when things are more complicated. Invest in yourself, invest in your business. Invest in yourself, too. Maybe you need to hire a coach for Mindset for you.

Maybe you need to find somebody, a health and wellness coach to help you get back on track. Alright, invest in yourself for your own mindset. If you need a reinvention and you don’t know how to get there, okay, if you need a spiritual transformation, I’ve done this for six months. If you don’t know how to get there, somebody like Emily knows how to get there.

Then find out how you have somebody who can help you with it. Or else you just spin your wheels and you waste time and you get nowhere. And so that’s the advice I have for people, and I don’t know if that’s the answer you want, but I just find a lot of people waste a lot of time when they don’t need to because they think they can take it on and they have no experience doing it.

Emily Bron: Maureen, you just get to the point, because in this second season, which my official title is Reinvention Guides and Coaches. I have business coach interview like you. I have transformation coach. interview. I have spiritual coach, even several of them. I have one psychiatrist, one psychologist and many different coaches because I understand, again, there is no one size fit and for different people at different stage there are different needs and I’m happy that I know these people.

And now I’m looking for more people like this who Can offer different approach, different point of view. And I asked the question for them to share what they do, how they offer. So listeners can select what they need at this or other point. It’s actually the mission of my podcast to provide education.

And I don’t invite luminaries. But professionals who can help you reinvent yourself. So you’re inventing yourself, you’re thinking about it. It’s a concept or listening stories of other people who already pass the stage or doing it now or have some insight or share some story and you have guides and coaches.

Which offer variety of options to learn from and I’m promoting it this way Because I understand how not easy it is and how confusing and might be even you found your You know, you moved three steps And I know, and you stopped, okay, what to do next? It’s what I felt over the years. I climbed this ladder.

Okay. I’m on this hill. Okay. What is the next for me? And because, and and everyone knows that reinvention can sometimes feel isolating. How do you foster community and partnerships spirit among your clients and within your broader network? To support them through the journey.

Maureen Edwards: That’s a really good point.

I know in business, especially a community is mandatory because you could be sitting in your basement with nobody and it’s so funny because I have a business coach and people are like, wait a minute You’re a business coach. Why does a business coach have a business coach? Every coach should have a coach And if you don’t, then I really question why are you a coach, right?

I’m hiring a nutrition coach because I don’t know enough about nutrition and I can’t seem to keep myself accountable, right? I think it would be amazing, to have a reinvention community. Everybody’s trying to work out their own reinvention and sharing that story. And I don’t know if you have something like that Emily, but what an amazing thing for people to all come together and talk about, how are they reinventing themselves and work it out.

Together too. It’s a personal thing that can be really helpful to talk together. That would be a great community, membership thing. Once a month they meet, every month, and of course that, that’s something they pay for. That’s a service that you would offer. And I think that’s an amazing service you could offer for people that I think that’s incredible.

You would be amazing doing that.

Emily Bron: Okay, I’m still working on the concept and, at this stage of my podcast development the biggest problem, to, for people to know, to find me. And as I’m mastering my podcasting techniques I believe the concept is shaped as well. But yes, for me it’s a idea.

I cannot say marketplace. It’s more community. of coaches and people who reinventing themselves and they have different needs at different time and actually even personality, we like this type of personality, other type of personality and it’s actually open. For everyone by free, but speaking about community, it’s how I understand I can serve the community.

And I even don’t know yet exactly the parameters of this community. I defined them people after 50 who looking for invention, who would like to to have support and inspiration or hesitating. And they need this additional, Maybe story or something that would move the needle, as you say.

Maureen Edwards: You know me. You know me. I’m always your coach. I’m always your coach. I’m always seeing opportunities for you.

Emily Bron: Thank you. And I’m really thinking about about you in this regard. And. By the way, reflecting on your successful career and personal growth, which is continued, as we know, can you share insight or mantra that keeps you motivated and may resonate with our audience during times of uncertainty or transition?

What is your fuel?

Maureen Edwards: It took me a long time, and I have to tell you, I learned this from my husband, so I’m going to give him credit for this. Because so many things have happened to us, and sometimes I just didn’t think I would be able to get back up. And he always said to me, Maureen, just keep moving forward.

There is no backwards. There is no rear view mirror, just keep moving forward. And it took a long time to adopt that, but once I really did, and once I saw what he has always seen, and he is the ultimate optimist. My husband’s amazing. I’m a realist. He tells me I’m a pessimist. I am not a pessimist. I am a realist.

But I now have adopted that mantra, and that’s what kind of keeps it going.

Emily Bron: So I understand that your husband has been your most significant source of inspiration and strength during difficult

Maureen Edwards: times. And we’ve had a lot of those, so I would never have been able to make it without him, and it’s been 31 years yeah.

And now that the kids are grown and gone and, last six months, we say, what’s our next, right? Where do we go? Yeah. And so we now have a whole vision. And that’s what these six months have also brought is good conversation about reinventing a marriage on top of not just personal, but people now have to look at reinventing relationships.

Yeah. Welcome to the club of reinvention, I would say. I’m going to leave it there, right? Reinventing a marriage, and I think that’s your next topic. Reinventing relationships over 50. That’s a big one. I’ve reinvented friendships. Some of them I dropped completely that weren’t working for me, Emily.

Got rid of them over these last six months. Don’t return the texts. They’re over. Reinventing relationships. Reinventing my marriage. It’s,

Emily Bron: yeah, it’s great. I’m just amazed every time I meet you, speak with you. And yes, it’s what is life about. It is what age of reinvention about. Reinvent yourself professionally, personally, relationship wise, vision of the future, your relationship with the world, your relationship with family, with people around and with people far away.

Reinventing yourself for the new world to come, to be relevant, to be part of and to be still person you wish to be, or you even don’t know, or you’re going to be in the future. And yeah, and finally, what encouragement can you offer those contemplating a significant career pivot or entrepreneurship?

Maureen Edwards: I would say to you that if you are passionate about this, if you are saying to yourself that I want more and I want to feel empowered and I want to control my destiny, I say, don’t take the leap until you put all the pieces together.

If you have a corporate job, don’t leave it. Work off their money. Work off their resources. Do it behind the scenes. Not on their time, of course, but put an exit plan together very smartly and when you are ready to say I’m embracing it the time has come go ahead and say That’s it and enjoy every moment of the journey no matter how hard it is Make sure You get support for the things that you are not good at and make sure you recognize it.

Don’t let your ego get in the way where that business is not going to be as successful as you envision it to be.

Emily Bron: That’s my advice. Thank you very much. And today, you were listening to Maureen Edwards. Thank

Maureen Edwards: you, Maureen. Thank you, Emily. Best of everything to everybody. And don’t be afraid to evolve, transform, and reinvent yourself.

It’s actually quite liberating.

Emily Bron: Absolutely agree.

Maureen Gaige-Edwards

 Your Organization’s Solution to Leveraging AI | Fractional CMO | Inventor | University Instructor | Keynote Speaker

Maureen is an award-winning branding, marketing, and business strategist, and 2x inventor who has built 6 companies from conception to commercialization and achieved 30+ industry awards. With a focus on using data-driven insights to build successful brands and execute highly effective marketing campaigns, she has a proven track record of delivering impressive results and driving revenue growth for both startups and established companies across various industries. She is a keynote speaker, national business educator, media guest, and university instructor specializing in digital marketing and AI strategy.

Welcome to the “Age of Reinvention” podcast! This episode delves into the transformative journeys that redefine freedom, lifestyle, and purpose in midlife. Today, we have the pleasure of hosting Maureen Edwards, an award-winning branding, marketing, and business strategist. Maureen’s remarkable reinvention story is inspirational, from a corporate powerhouse to a successful entrepreneur and coach.

Meet Maureen Edwards

Maureen Edwards is a dynamic force in business strategy and innovation. As the founder of six successful companies and a celebrated instructor at Wharton University, she has earned over 30 industry awards and established herself as a leading voice in entrepreneurship and AI integration. Her journey from a high-powered corporate career to an inspired entrepreneur and coach exemplifies the power of personal transformation. Maureen’s mission is to help others find fulfillment beyond conventional milestones, leveraging her expertise to future-proof their revenue, profitability, and sustainability.

The Courage to Reinvent

Reinvention requires courage and determination. Maureen’s journey illustrates this perfectly. From starting her first company with a pet product invention to navigating the highs and lows of entrepreneurship, Maureen faced many challenges. She risked everything—her house, 401k, and even her children’s college funds—but her resilience and reflective nature enabled her to turn those risks into successful ventures. Reflecting on her journey, Maureen emphasizes the importance of growth and evolution, whether from boredom or a deep-seated need for change.

Growth Through Setbacks

Maureen attributes much of her growth to hardships and setbacks. She acknowledges that every failed endeavor was a learning experience that propelled her toward more tremendous success. Her story underscores that failure is not the end but a growth opportunity that often leads to more significant achievements. Her advice to aspiring entrepreneurs is to embrace failure, learn from it, and use it as a stepping stone to reinvention.

Reinventing Over 50

For many, midlife is a crossroads of reflection and aspiration. Maureen works with clients to help them prioritize their goals and overcome the hesitation often accompanying profound life changes. Many over 50 have been displaced from their careers due to ageism and forced into entrepreneurship. Maureen’s approach is to build their confidence first, enabling them to embrace their new roles passionately.

Maureen also reinvented her programs to better serve her clients. Her “START Blueprint” evolved into the “Value Accelerator,” a concept that resonates more deeply with her audience. This change exemplifies her advice: if something isn’t working, don’t be afraid to make necessary adjustments for the betterment of those you serve.

Stories of Success

One of her significant success stories is Misha, who transitioned from various personal hardships to becoming a mindset coach later in life. With Maureen’s guidance, Misha turned her vision into a thriving business, helping others overcome their adversities. Maureen’s approach focuses on identifying strengths, building confidence, and being authentic—principles that have led Misha and many others to success.

Embracing Technology and AI

Maureen emphasizes the importance of adapting to technological advancements like AI, which she considers the fourth industrial revolution. She offers workshops to help people understand and leverage AI tools professionally. Maureen warns that those who do not embrace AI will be left behind. Her programs cater to various industries and focus on eliminating fear and fostering a proactive mindset toward technology.

Build a Supportive Community

Community support is invaluable during times of reinvention. Maureen believes in fostering a partnership spirit among her clients, encouraging them to share their journeys and support each other. She advises building a community where individuals can work out their challenges together and access various coaches for guidance in different areas of life.

Conclusion

Reflecting on her successful career and ongoing personal growth, Maureen shares a mantra that keeps her motivated: “Just keep moving forward.” She learned this lesson from her husband, who always encouraged her to look ahead rather than dwell on past setbacks.

Her final encouragement to those contemplating a career pivot or entrepreneurship in midlife is to be strategic and prepared. Maureen advises working on your new venture while still employed, utilizing resources wisely, and getting support for areas outside your expertise.

We hope Maureen’s story and insights inspire you as you navigate your own journey of reinvention. Remember, it’s never too late to redefine yourself and embrace the possibilities that await.

Thank you for joining us on this episode of Age of Reinvention. Stay tuned for more inspiring stories and expert advice. If today’s episode resonated with you, please subscribe, share with a friend, and join us next time as we explore the landscapes of reinvention and transformation.

Until then, here’s to your journey of rediscovery and the bright future that awaits.