In this Business Blast podcast episode, host Tyler Wagner interviews Fran Mauney, an educator, technology specialist, and independent consultant. Fran shares her career journey, highlighting bold moves from leading education and technology initiatives in a large school district to a technology distribution company (SYNNEX) and Intel Education, and finally launching her own consulting business to care for her aging mother. She emphasizes the importance of investing in others by "planting seeds" of knowledge and using a gradual release of responsibility to develop talent. Fran offers broader business advice centered on maintaining a positive, humble attitude, building strong teams, and leveraging individual strengths. She reflects on advice she would give her younger self—being authentic, embracing failure, and pioneering for others. Fran discusses her happiness philosophy, rooted in daily gratitude, faith, and purpose. She cites the book "StrengthsFinder" by Tom Rath as transformative, explaining how focusing on strengths rather than shortcomings freed her. The episode concludes with Fran’s favorite quote about being authentically you, and provides her online presence (website, LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook).
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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 provides you with all the resources you need to become a successful author. You can learn more about Authors Unite and join the free community at authorsunite.com. Now let's jump into the episode.
All right everyone, welcome back to another episode of the Business Blast podcast. I'm your host Tyler Wagner. I'm very excited for this one. Her name is Fran Mooney. She is an educator, technology specialist, and now an independent consultant. So welcome to the show, Fran.
Thank you so much, Tyler. I really appreciate you having me on today.
Of course, and I appreciate you coming on. And we'll dive into the first one. The first question I have for you, Fran, is what is the best story from your life that has an underlying valuable message?
Great question, Tyler. So, Tyler, I feel like I'm living my best life right now. Like you said in the introduction, I am an independent consultant now for Arbonne, and now I'm able to use my talents to invest in others and help them be all they were created to be. I just have made a couple of bold moves in my career. So about 4 years ago, I was leading education practices, technology initiatives for a very large school district, and I was called to go and work for a large technology distribution company called SYNNEX, and I led their education practice, worked for Intel Education and helped get devices into the hands of students so that they could go one-to-one. And it was just a great time for 4 years. I did that and helped with their IoT practice. And then about 2 months ago, I felt like I needed to make a bold move. And I decided to start my own business. So I've been working for 2 and 3 jobs at a time as a teacher and a trainer and a professor, and also being a wife and a mom and a daughter. And I left all that so I could take care of my 94-year-old mother. She has macular degeneration. So I've been spending a lot of time doing what's important and connecting with people, going in nature and exercising, serving others, and really taking care of my mother while I'm running my business as well.
Thank you for sharing that with us. The next one I have for you is what is the most valuable piece of information we should know that is within your expertise or industry?
Excellent. So I really advise people to invest in others, to share your expertise and help your coworkers along the way. Don't hoard your ideas. Don't keep your ideas to yourself and watch the seeds as you plant seeds in other people, watch them grow exponentially. Be a scatterer of seeds. And I love the gradual release of responsibility. So I've done that my whole career, which has spanned over 35 years now. I have been one that I love teaching others. So we'll go in and I'll train someone how to do a job and we'll— they'll watch me do it and then we'll do it together and then they'll do it by themselves with me standing with them. And then eventually they're able to do it and then they can go out and train someone. So that's my advice, is to invest in others.
And what's your best piece of overall business advice? So not necessarily industry specific.
Yes, I think attitude is the difference maker. I think being positive is very important. I think being humble is also equally important. So what I advise people to do is to know that You can't do it all on your own. You need a team. You can't be the person that is just the expert in all areas. So you want to make sure you surround yourself with a great team. I like to find the strengths and talents of those people that are around me, and then I like to invest in them by letting them use their creativity. And their gifts and talents as we work on projects together. And that way they're able to build their talents and strengths and they feel good in what they're doing. But they're also helping me because I may not have that same strength and I need their help on projects. So that is my advice, is to have a good attitude, be positive, be humble, and look for the strengths and talents on your team.
And if you could give your younger self one piece of advice, what would that be?
I would say to be authentically you, that you were created on purpose for a purpose. And don't worry so much, don't try to control everything, and don't be afraid to fail. I like my role in life, a lot of times I've been a pioneer. I've been the one that's going out there and exploring and trying new things. And I feel like I kind of paved the way for others. And I am not scared of making a mistake so that I can say to people that I'm working with or that are following in my footsteps or that are in the same job role as me, listen, I've done it this way. These are the mistakes. That can happen. We want to steer away from that. So my advice is help others be successful by learning from their mistakes and don't be afraid to fail.
And in your opinion, what is the key to happiness?
I would say the key to happiness is being grateful every day. Before you get out of bed, you should write down or you should say out loud 5 things that you're grateful for. And to know that others can't make you happy. The— my faith helps me so much and it brings me happiness. And I know that the fruit of the Spirit is love and joy and peace and patience and kindness and goodness and faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. And knowing that there's a purpose for my life and pursuing that dream, that brings me happiness, but that's not found from others.
And what is the best book that you've read, and what was the number one thing you learned from that?
So, gosh, Tyler, there's so many great books that I've read that have influenced me, but I'm gonna choose Strength Finder for today, so by Tom Rath. And I really enjoyed reading that book. I feel like it's set me free. I feel like so much of our time, like from the cradle to the cubicle, we devote most of our time thinking of our shortcomings and not thinking of our strengths. And so when I read that book and I realized that I was a great positive person and I was a developer and I was a connector and I was adaptable and I had strong beliefs, that those were my gifts and that I needed to spend time doing those things. So, you know, you always hear when you're growing up, you can be anything you want to be. But really, we could be saying you can't be anything you want to be, but you can be a lot more of who you already are. So that really helped set me free and was really important for me.
Yes. And what is your favorite quote and why?
So, um, I think that quote, to be authentically you, is, is the one that I would like to go with. You can't be anything you want to be, but you can do and be a lot more of who you already are.
Yes, I love it. Thank you, uh, so much for coming on. The, uh, last question I have for you before we let you go is, where's the best place for people to find you online?
So I have my own website, so it's www.franmooney.com. Now I have to spell Mooney for you because it's not spelled the way it sounds. It's Fran, F-R-A-N, M-A-U-N-E-Y. Franney.com. And I'm also on LinkedIn. I'm on Instagram. I'm on Facebook and all of those places. But I have my own website and I do love to, you know, research and do all kinds of things with social media.
Perfect. Thanks again for coming on, Fran. We really appreciate it.
Thank you, Tyler. I hope you have a great day.
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