147: Following Your Dreams, Growing Your Passion, Product Launches and Webinars with Melyssa Griffin

<h3><span style= "text-decoration: underline; color: #89aadd;">Subscribe to <em>Earn Your Happy</em> on iTunes.</span></h3> <p>Four years ago, teaching English in Japan, Melyssa Griffin decided to start a blog to connect with more people. She soon realized, however, that this blog was becoming less of a hobby and more of something she felt called to monetize and turn into a career. She left teaching and decided to offer web design services. After a couple of years, she had created a profitable business, but she still felt a touch restless… she still felt the pull to teach and do more with MORE people.</p> <p>Melyssa decided to return to teaching, but this time in a different realm. She now teaches online workshops and courses to those who want to start their own business. And one of the things she’s most passionate about is managing the online communities that go along with them.</p> <p>Community has always been an important and intriguing part of Melyssa’s life and I love that she had the opportunity to compare Japanese culture/community with American culture. While she found that Japanese culture, in general, tended to be more reserved (opinions and personalities) there was still a sense of community. It was a concept that wasn’t questioned – it just was. Originally from California, Melyssa found that while the culture varied (more outgoing, more flexibility), there was one universal truth. It became clear one day as she watched a Japanese man and his child play in the park. She noticed that even though she couldn’t understand what they were saying, she could still understand the “conversation” through their body language, intonation and facial expressions. It was a deeper human connection that we ALL have.</p> <p><em><strong>“We all have this intimate connection that we all have to each other that has nothing to do with the languages we speak.”</strong></em></p> <p>With a focus on this connection and sense of community, Melyssa went on to open and close several businesses – a greeting card shop, a web design s