Summary:
In this episode of Startup Junkies, hosts Caleb Talley and Jeff Amerine talked with Stacy Taniguchi, a retired professor and a current senior consultant and managing partner at Beta Experiences. Beta Experiences is an innovative consulting venture backed by research and psychology, where clients are led to discover what their core values are so they can design a life of thriving. While he was a professor at BYU, Stacy became a tour guide. As Stacy met some other guides, they realized they had expertise in consulting, so they began taking people out into different environments and teaching them through experiences. Throughout the episode, Caleb, Jeff, and Stacy discussed how Beta Experiences came to be, what the experiences are like, and tips for creating a life where you can thrive.
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Show Notes:
(1:03) Introductions
(1:30) Origin Story
(7:10) Client Base
(9:55) Informing the Work at Beta Experiences
(17:24) Backed by Academic Benchmarks and Psychology
(21:58) Enjoying the Journey
(29:33) The Experiences
(34:03) Landing the Plane and Advice to Younger Self
Links:
Quotes:
“…[We are] helping individuals take a look at their life and realize that you can either endure life or endure your business or endure your family, or you can work with us and we’ll help you with certain types of tools to develop more of a thriving kind of environment.” Stacy Taniguchi, (8:47)
“So my hope is that this ‘choose to thrive’ that I’m trying to teach people is hopefully an avenue to give them some hope again, because what I teach is not complex. It’s not rocket science…They’re just creating a list, but there’s a pathway to do it…We’re not creating a bucket list. In fact, I tell people don’t call this a bucket list. This is a list to thrive.” Stacy Taniguchi, (16:02)
“We just want people to get on board to start taking control of their future.” Stacy Taniguchi, (17:14)
“That’s one thing that I’ve found through my research that you really need to do: to be able to create a list that’s going to be meaningful, and in many cases, transformational, which in my mind, creates a life to thrive.” Stacy Taniguchi, (20:33)
“…We all come from [an] academic background [and] all of our stuff is evidence based…It’s not just anecdotal — it’s because we know research backs up what we’re talking about.” Stacy Taniguchi, (33:33)
Choosing to Thrive with Beta Experiences
In this episode of Startup Junkies, hosts Caleb Talley and Jeff Amerine talked with Stacy Taniguchi, a retired professor and a current senior consultant and managing partner at Beta Experiences. Beta Experiences is an innovative consulting venture backed by research and psychology, where clients are led to discover what their core values are so they can design a life of thriving. While he was a professor at BYU, Stacy became a tour guide. As Stacy met some other guides, they realized they had expertise in consulting, so they began taking people out into different environments and teaching them through experiences. Throughout the episode, Caleb, Jeff, and Stacy discussed how Beta Experiences came to be, what the experiences are like, and tips for creating a life where you can thrive.
Background on Stacy
Stacy was born and raised in Hawaii on an island that was largely rural and agricultural. Growing up, Stacy spent his days surfing and going to school. He probably would have ended up following the typical path and working on a plantation forever if he didn’t have a clarifying moment because of a photo in Life Magazine. In one issue, there was a picture of a man holding a list of one hundred things he wanted to do in life. Stacy was inspired and, over ten years, created his own personalized list, though he didn’t take his list seriously at first. Then one day, weeks after hiking the highest mountain in the US with a client, Stacy got a call from the man’s family saying he had passed away. However, he got to achieve one of his lifelong dreams of climbing that mountain before he passed. This inspired Stacy to truly think about what makes a meaningful, transformational experience, and he began to dream of how he could help others choose to thrive.
Beta Experiences
Beta started in 2008 after a potential client came to Stacy and his partner needing to solve a huge pain point for their large pharmaceutical company. The company’s patent was about to expire on the drug they sold, and they realized things had to change moving forward. However, many at the company were resistant to change. In an attempt to help their clients, Stacy and his partner designed an experience in Moab, Utah, with mountain biking as the medium for teaching that change could be positive.
Since that experience, Stacy and his team have helped a whole spectrum of clients, from large companies nationally recognized in their fields, to local companies, and even families. Recently, they have also started helping retired people transition from corporate life to a slower-paced personal life.
The team at Beta Experiences uses academic research and psychology to help clients create a list of things they want to do based exclusively on their core values. Through different experiences, Beta ultimately helps their clients figure out who they truly are, what they hope to accomplish, and how they can create a life to thrive.
“That’s one thing that I’ve found through my research that you really need to do: to be able to create a list that’s going to be meaningful, and in many cases, transformational, which in my mind, creates a life to thrive.” Stacy Taniguchi, (20:33)
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