Ep 64: Sounds True with Tami Simon
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Ep 64: Sounds True with Tami Simon
Episode 64: Show Notes
Today’s guest, Tami Simon, founded Sounds True at the age of 22 with a dream and a tape recorder. Though she had no experience running a business and only a vague idea of what she wanted the company to be, Tami had her guiding principle strongly in place: to disseminate spiritual wisdom.
Over its 36-year history, Sounds True has grown into a multimedia publisher that has produced over 6,000 titles, including Light Watkins’ Knowing Where to Look, has been included twice in the Inc. 500 list of the fastest-growing companies, and is North America’s leading publisher of spoken-word spiritual teachings.
Partnering with the leading spiritual teachers of our time, including Eckhart Tolle, Michael, Beckwith and Wim Hof, Sounds True now has a successful book publishing program and has scaled to produce events, certification programs, and transformational online learning experiences. Tami hosts the popular Sounds True podcast, Insights at the Edge, which has now been downloaded more than 20 million times. She is also the founder of the Sounds True Foundation, which is dedicated to bringing spiritual education to people who would otherwise not have access.
In today’s episode, Tami shares how she discovered her love for audio journalism, the prayer that came to her during a rebirthing session that set the course for her work with Sounds True, and how "disseminate spiritual wisdom” became her code words and guiding principle.
We also touch on the existential concepts Tami engaged with as a child, the sequence of events following the death of her father that led to her starting Sounds True, and how she became attuned to the “sound of truth,” as well as why she is so passionate about conscious capitalism and changing the landscape of the work environment.
Tune in today for all this and more!
Key Points From This Episode:
What Tami’s favorite toy or activity was as a child; why she loved football.
Learn about her upbringing in a liberal Jewish family and their early emphasis on education.
The idea she heard echoed in her house: you’re judged by your actions and your good name.
The existential concepts she was interested in as a child and how Sounds True could be seen as a product of her desire for “real conversations.”
Find out why Tami says that books saved her life, particularly the work of Hermann Hesse.
Why she saw herself as a self-described outsider from a young age.
How she viewed success as a teenager and why she wanted to be a philosophy professor.
What led her to study at Swarthmore and be introduced to Professor Gunapala Dharmasiri.
Why Tami says she felt a sense of homecoming in the three Buddhist marks of existence.
What inspired her to leave college and go on a personal pilgrimage from Sri Lanka to Nepal.
How she found her mentors in books; she had the mystics, and they were with her.
Hear about Tami’s first experience of meditation on a 10-day retreat in Sri Lanka.
The story of how she waitressed in what she describes as a greasy Chinese restaurant.
How she discovered her love for audio journalism by working at a community radio station.
The prayer that came to her during a rebirthing session at the time: “God, I’m willing to do your work. Please, show me what it is.”
The sequence of events following the death of her father that led to her starting Sounds True.
How "disseminate spiritual wisdom” came to be Tami’s code words and guiding principle.
Some of the first recordings that Tami made and how she came to speak with some of the great spiritual teachers of the 1980s.
The early days of her cassette recording business and how it evolved into Sounds True.
Hear about the operating principles she developed with her first ever business partner.
The three bottom lines of Sounds True: be true to the mission, make every step of the process beautiful and honorable, and make some cash!
Why Tami believes that the ‘how’ is just as important as the ‘what’ or the end product.
How she came up with the name, Sounds True, and what is means: the sound of truth.
How she came up with the idea for the Prison Audio Project while moving apartments.
What Tami believes the people she has interviewed over the years have in common.
How she views success these days and what she hopes her name will mean; she gave it all.
The advice she would give her younger self: don’t waste so much energy worrying.
Tweetables:
“Quite honestly, [I feel] a tremendous sense of debt; debt to the world, to take everything that I was given as a person and do some good stuff with it for other people.” — Tami Simon [0:20:08]
“When I went into Naropa, even this groovy university where people meditate as part of their coursework, I realized, I just didn't want to be in college. There was just something in me that wanted to be free.” — Tami Simon [0:42:56]
“As part of this rebirthing process, these 10 sessions, you're given the opportunity to say what your prayer is for your life. As a result of those rebirthing sessions, the prayer that came to me was, ‘God, I'm willing to do your work. Please, show me what it is.’” — Tami Simon [0:46:21]
“Disseminate spiritual wisdom – when I started Sounds True and people said, ‘What are you doing?’ – those were my magic words, because they were given to me. [Those were] my code words.” — Tami Simon [0:53:21]
“One, I needed to be true to this mission: disseminate spiritual wisdom. Two, I needed the process of our work, every step should be beautiful. Every step should be good. Every step should be honorable. Then the third part was, we’ve got to make some cash.” — Tami Simon [1:04:11]
“For me, the how is as important as the what. Whenever people tell you, ‘The ends justify the means’ – that doesn't work for me.” — Tami Simon [1:05:26]
“The tonal quality of someone's voice, the way they put their words together, everything impacts me in a very visceral way. When people are sharing deep truths, it's like, my whole body vibrates with the sound that is being expressed.” — Tami Simon [1:09:31]
“The people that are closest to me, I need to make sure I'm pouring out my heart for them all the time, every day.” — Tami Simon [1:16:18]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode: