In this Business Blast Podcast episode, host Tyler Wagner interviews Amy Blaschka and Bruce Kasanoff, co‑founders of Ikigai Park City and co‑authors of the mindfulness book I Am: Escape Distractions, Unlock Your Imagination, and Unleash Your Potential. The conversation explores their journey from solo entrepreneurs to collaborative partners, emphasizing the power of partnership and community for scaling impact. They discuss the importance of clarity and specificity in personal branding, share practical partnership insights—balancing synced visions with complementary instincts—and offer advice they would give their younger selves, focusing on overcoming fear and standing out positively. The guests reveal their perspectives on happiness, highlighting the practice of saying “no” to misaligned commitments and adopting a mindset that chooses happiness regardless of external circumstances. They reference influential reading, notably Viktor Frankl’s Man’s Search for Meaning, and stress the role of environment in shaping growth, urging alignment of people and surroundings with one’s destiny. The episode concludes with information on how listeners can connect with Amy and Bruce via LinkedIn and their website ikigaiParkCity.com.
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Welcome to the Business Blast Podcast. I'm your host, Tyler Wagner. This episode is brought to you by Authors Unite. Authors Unite makes the process of becoming a published bestselling author as simple as sipping your morning cup of coffee. You can learn more about Authors Unite at authorsunite.com. Now let's jump into the episode. ¡Hola!
¿Cómo estás?
All right everyone, welcome back to another episode of the Business Blast Podcast. I'm your host Tyler Wagner. Today I have a really fun episode. We have two people joining us. It is Amy Blashka and Bruce Kasanoff. They are the co-founders of Ikigai Park City, a new institute that brings together successful professionals who want even more meaning in their careers and lives. They are also co-authors of the mindfulness book I Am: Escape Distractions, Unlock Your Imagination, and Unleash Your Potential. Both of you, welcome to the show.
Thanks for having us, Tyler.
Thank you. Thanks, Tyler.
Of course. This should be a lot of fun. I've had a few other interviews where we've done it with two people, so these are always— I think they're actually more fun. We will dive into the first one for you both. The first question I have for you both is, what is the best story for from your lives that has an underlying valuable message?
So I'll jump in because I think Amy's part of my answer, which is don't be a lone wolf. I spent a lot of my time as a ghostwriter, and Amy and the institute we founded is part of, you know, I guess our decision to join forces and to pull other people in because we want to transform millions of lives and you just can't do anything big by yourself.
And then, Amy, did you want to—
Well, I completely agree with what Bruce said. And it's true. I think, you know, what we found is growth is a group effort. You know, I think each of us before kind of coming together, we're operating sort of as solo entrepreneurs and doing our own thing. But really, that only takes you so far. Right? So it's, it's all about joining forces with sort of other like-minded committed souls that really want to improve their lives. And in Bruce, I found a partner to do that. And together we hope to help others do that as well.
That's awesome. Thank you both for sharing that with us. Um, the next one I have for you guys is what is the most valuable piece of information we should know that's within your expertise or industry?
Amy, you want to go?
I can. You know, I don't know that this is definitely specific to our industry. I was thinking about this though. One thing I've heard, and it kind of translates across all, that you're something specific to a special few. And I say that as something that's important in the industry and expertise only because you need to have clarity. You need to have clarity about what you want, about what you're good at, and you need to be able to explain that, those things to other people in order to succeed. So, you know, being something specific means by definition, you can't be all things to all people and you need to know who your target is, those special few, you need to know who you want to work with, who you want to hire you, how you want to move through the world. So something specific to a special few is something that's, I think has been valuable for me personally, and from a personal branding perspective, but also getting clarity about what you want to do, and how you want to do it, and who you want to do it with.
Yeah, it's all clarity. I would just say clarity, like having clarity, how you're going to add value to people. Perfect.
So I feel like that would kind of like answer our next question as well. And that is, what's your best piece of overall business advice? So maybe you guys, I feel like you guys have great synergy and like a great partnership. So like, maybe you could dive a little bit deeper into that and like, you know, maybe some things you've learned from being partners and maybe some tips, because I do think that's hard for entrepreneurs when they're doing their own thing. And although a partnership is better, and I do believe that teamwork makes the dream work, I do think that it can be a bumpy road sometimes. Like, there are struggles with that. So, maybe you guys could share some insights there.
Right. So, the key that makes our partnership work, I think, is that we have a lot of areas that we're in sync with. We want to transform millions of lives. We can finish each other's sentences a lot of times. And yet, you know, for example, Amy has instincts that sometimes are different than mine. And, you know, with other people in the past, I've kind of said, well, you don't understand. And even though I sometimes do that with Amy, there's a very strong voice in my head that says, you know, honor her instincts, because a lot of times they're right and they lead me to something that I would rushed past. So to me, the— if you have to have a partner like that, and if you have a partner who you think makes you better, then it's great. And it's worth, you know, that, well, that took longer because we had to go two perspectives. And if you feel that the reverse is true, that you're just— this is taking longer and I'm not getting anything— then you're with the wrong partner.
That's right. Yeah, I would just add to that, that, I mean, really Having, having a lot of similarities is great when you have a similar mindset and you're kind of in sync in that way, it's great. But I do think there's something to be said for sort of that complementary skill set to have and work with people that, you know, you need to be able to identify what am I really good at and what do I love to do and what things don't I love and what I'm not so great at and be able to bring in other folks to complement what you do so you're stronger together.
Yeah, totally. I agree with that. And I'm excited for your answers here. So we all have our past. So if you could both give your younger selves one piece of advice, what would that be?
I'll start. I would say the biggest is something I wish I would have told or listened to when I was younger. Someone would have told me, I don't know if it makes sense, but it's stop hiding. And I mean that in several different ways. I mean, it's, it's everything is rooted in fear. Things that prevent us from growing, prevent us from trying new things, from being curious. Everything is— we can make up rationalizations, "Oh, I'm doing this because I need to do this. I need to be practical." But really, everything's rooted in fear. And, if you stop hiding, put yourself out there, put yourself out there to try new things, to be curious, to explore new opportunities, new arenas. And, if there's a secret desire, something that you really are passionate about that you love that you actually are good at but you've been afraid to kind of approach, Sometimes it's just that nudge to stop hiding and get out there. I, for me personally, that's something over the last several years that I've learned to do, and it's reaped huge benefits, and I'm so much happier because of it. So I wish I would have done that earlier in my life, but, you know, I've done it now, so I'm happy.
Yeah, I agree completely with that. The other thing, so Amy and I are working, this guy Lonnie Maine is associated with it, the guy Park City, he's created something called Red Shoes Living. And one of the things that he's taught us, his big, big message is stand out for the positive. You know, and I, man, I had talent young, but I didn't always get that. I wanted to be, you know, the smarter person who would say, oh, you don't understand. And you gotta— it's okay to jump in there, but you have to stand out in a positive way, not in a critical way, not in a smarter than you way, not in a this sucks way. Stand out for the positive.
Kind of going a little bit of a different path, in your opinions, what is the key to happiness?
I'll start, and it may not be what you're expecting, but I think one thing I've learned to do that has helped me be happier is learning to say no to some things. What I mean by that is you say no to those things that don't really align with who you are or your goals or what you want to do. So you can say yes to those things that do, and it's hard when you're somebody that works in service, that loves people, that wants to help. But, you know, you can be bombarded. We only have so many hours in the day and so many things to do, and you need to be able to really be mindful of that. And it's not to say you don't help people, but I think you need to keep in mind, how am I spending my time? What am I doing? And is this bringing me joy and happiness? And, you know, you maybe carve out a small percentage that you can, you know, explore some things that may or may not do that. But I think being mindful to be able to say, yeah, I'm not going to do that, or I'm not going to take on that client, or this isn't really right for me, or it doesn't support really things that I know will make me happy and what's important to me.
So I'm going to sound Buddhist here, but the path to happiness is happiness. You either decide to be happy or you're not going to be happy, because if your happiness is dependent on everything going great, you won't be happy.
And what is the best book that you both have read? And what was the number one thing you learned from that?
I think Bruce wanted— we talked about this one earlier. Bruce had a great answer. Go ahead, Bruce.
Well, it's been a busy day. I love Man's Search for Meaning, which is, you know, how I got my purpose is to help other people find their purpose. So that is the thing that really resonated with me. Yeah.
And I think that, I mean, I haven't read that, but Bruce and I have talked extensively about that and many books. I wouldn't say there's just one best book that I've read, but it's all about that kind of search, right? Search and curious and meaning and what am I supposed to be doing with my life? How can I help people? And coming around to that idea that really my purpose is to help inspire transformation in others. So it's been sort of not just one book, but sort of a journey even to get there. But many of the things that Bruce and I read or we talk that we talk about or that we, you know, recommend to other people have those similar themes and kind of coming back to knowing yourself better so you can help others know themselves better.
And what are your favorite quotes and why?
Well, one of the things we always say is your environment always wins. And, you know, we've structured a lot of the Guy Park City around that, that, you know, if you want change and growth, and you don't change the people and the circumstances around you, you won't change because your environment pushes you back to— if you hang around with people who sit around and watch TV and eat potato chips, you're not going to get in shape. And you start hanging around with people who would like to go out on century bike rides, you're going to get in shape. So your environment always wins and you either honor that or you don't change.
Yeah. And I would say just to add to that, one thing that we've come— that is sort of along the same lines, we've come to realize and really love is that the people and the elements around you need to support your destiny and not just your history, right? So, where you're going, where you want to be, and being really mindful that includes— your environment includes people, it includes elements, different things, your behaviors, your lifestyle, but really about supporting your destiny.
Yeah, I agree. Environment is huge. And so, yeah, I appreciate you guys sharing that. Yeah, the last question I have for you both, and thank you both again for hopping on. This was fun. Is where are the best places for people to find and connect with you both online?
Oh, I think primarily we're both on LinkedIn a whole bunch, so we always love to connect with people there. And then of course people can visit our website, our ikigaiParkCity.com website, and learn—
which is so— I-K-I-G-A-I and then Park city.com. EekyGuyParkCity.com.
Awesome. Thank you for the spelling. And thank you both again for hopping on. Really enjoyed it.
Thank you, Tyler. Appreciate it. The podcast you just heard was published with Anchor. Got something you want to say to the creator of this show? Send them a voice message using the Anchor app, free for iOS and Android.
