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What It's About
During unusual times, a podcaster and health professional takes a breath and creates an online meditation community.
Words of Wisdom
Brooke highly recommends finding a side hustle that aligns with your skills and talents. She says, “Take the time to figure out what your true gifts are instead of following someone's else's blueprint for how to be successful. There is so much messaging around how to be an influencer and an expert… I'm glad that ultimately I created a project where I can do what I do best- learn, connect, gather, and also highlight other people's genius.”
Fun Fact
Rolfing, Brooke’s day job, was invented by Dr. Ida P. Rolf in the 1940s in order to cope with both her own and her son’s health issues. When Dr. Rolf was alive, she said this about Rolfing: “This is the gospel of Rolfing: When the body gets working appropriately, the force of gravity can flow through. Then, spontaneously, the body heals itself.”
Notes from Chris
Episode 1235
The bodywork practice known as Rolfing began nearly a century ago in the United States. It was invented by Dr. Ida P. Rolfer, a biochemist who was searching for a way to help solve her son’s health problems. Decades later, a 20-something named Brooke Thomas found her way to Rolfing to manage her own chronic pain. All she was hoping for was to find relief from her pain, but she found a whole new vocation. Brooke was stunned at how well this practice worked for her. She had been dealing with physical and neurological injuries since birth. In her words, getting rid of the pain was euphoric to the point where it felt disorienting! So began Brooke’s journey with connecting her body and her mind. She began to do Rolfing, also called bodyworking, as a professional. Eventually, Brooke decided that she wanted to start a podcast for people involved with the manual and movement therapy fields, called Liberated Being. For years, she loved running the podcast. She interviewed all kinds of people in the field, and she kept hearing about embodiment and somatic meditation. Essentially, that is meditation based more on bodily awareness and sensation. Over her years of podcasting, Brooke kept hearing her listeners say that while the podcast made them feel less alone, they were still craving even more of a community. These people wanted to find others with similar experiences—and Brooke wanted to fill that need. She reconfigured Liberated Being into an online community that offered live meditations on Sundays, one class every month from a guest teacher, and a social network where members could stay connected. Brooke could have never anticipated that in just a month and a half after she launched Liberated Being, a pandemic would be running rampant all over the world. More than ever, people would be relying on virtual connection. With the added stress everyone was feeling, she quickly decided to go from group meditation just once a week, to group meditation six days a week. Not only that, but Brooke quickly expanded the community. Originally, she only planned to open it up to new members once per quarter for about two weeks. She wanted the group to feel more cocoon-like, without new members joining all the time. However, after the crisis began, she decided to open it up to new members throughout the pandemic. As it turns out, both Brooke and the original members all have a “more the merrier” feeling about it. Already, Brooke is making $2,700 a month from her new side hustle. While it isn’t as much as her day job, it has brought a much-needed boost, all while allowing her to be more mindful and connect with people wherever they are.MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:
- Learn more about Brooke at her personal website,BrookeThomas.me, and her online community at, LiberatedBeing.community.
- PE Teacher Makes $11,000 with Membership Site: A PE teacher starts a blog that makes more than $11,000 through a sustainable revenue model that will likely grow with each passing month.
- Journalist Gets Paid to Host Outdoor Activities: Faced with a wave of newsroom layoffs, a journalist in Maine launches a membership community of readers who want to participate in outdoor activities.
- Rogue Financial Analyst Earns $34,000 from Golf Membership Site: After losing his job, moving to Thailand, and starting a new career, this former financial analyst creates a golf membership site that currently earns $2,800/month in recurring, passive income.
Quote of the Day
"Take the time to figure out what your true gifts are instead of following someone's else's blueprint for how to be successful."
—Brooke Thomas #SideHustleSchool
