The Holistic Business Podcast

Latest Episodes:

Behind the Scenes of the Holistic Business Academy Mar 12, 2020

Show notes

Being an entrepreneur is all about creating something that the world needs. As an entrepreneur, a question I ask myself all the time (thank you James Wedmore) is: “What can I do that no one else does?” The answers to that question tell you where your business has the most value.

I’ve actually been asking a lot of questions lately: I’m asking questions to myself, to others, and into the void of the Universe. One of the questions has been: “Hey! Where’s the vulnerability at?” Y’all, I have been craving some depth in my business life. I want real talk from folks doing things that are relevant to what I’m doing. I don’t want the shiny Instagram success story where everything turns out perfect, I want the nitty-gritty of what it felt like while you were getting there! Then, it occurred to me: If I’m not seeing this, does that mean that I’m avoiding this public act of vulnerability too?

It’s been a minute since we had a solo episode on this podcast, a “Sarah’s Soliloquy,” if you will. It seems like, if I am wanting people to be real about big business transformation, the uncertainty of decision making, and the things that drive us to take risks and imagine our lives differently, then I should probably show up and do it!

So, in this episode, I talk. I talk about the things that pushed me into changing the way I structured my business. I talk about shifting from direct service and into community building. I talk about bringing on new people and creating a team, instead of a One Woman Show. I talk about how I got my creativity back after a lot of burn out. I talk about what I am hoping for and working toward and where I am now.

I hope you’ll join me this week, not only for insight into the big things I’m learning right now (I narrowed it down to 3 today!) but also in sharing your own Behind the Scenes with the world that is hungry for authenticity and shared experience. I invite you to post and tag me in your own stories of growth, learning, trial and error, success and failure. Let’s all be in this together.

Sarah’s Upcoming Free Training: How to Impact More People Without Working Crazy Hours

SHOW NOTES

5:39– Sarah gets vulnerable about the changes in her business

10:06– Maintenance Mode: Systems, Systems, Systems!

19:31– 3 big things I’m learning about: Customer fulfillment, breaking the habit of Doing it All, and the responsibility of Leveling Up.

Click Up

Follow the Holistic Business Academy on Instagram and slide into the DMs to let me know what you think of the episode!

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“Episode 96: Behind the Scenes of the Holistic Business Academy”

Stressproof with Susan Choi Mar 05, 2020

Show notes

So, um, I don’t know about you, but I sometimes find being an independent business owner pretty fucking stressful. It’s a lot of work and I’m the bottom line and Oh My Gosh, why is Mercury Retrograde out to personally get me today? Y’feel me?

This week, I am so excited (or maybe relieved?) to be talking to Susan Choi. Susan is a high-performance stress management coach. Formerly a successful management consultant for Fortune 100 companies, Susan found her calling when she hit a wall of depression, anxiety, and adrenal fatigue, despite having a “perfect life” on paper. In her journey to heal herself and change her life, she found her passion for teaching others how to take control of their stress and live healthier, happier lives.

Susan takes us to the real roots of our stress and shows us how to take responsibility for our experiences. Turns out, we can’t control everything around us! We can’t run away from our stress or distract ourselves out of it. The only thing we can do is to connect with ourselves, feel our feelings, and take control of our thoughts. This may feel like a hard pill to swallow for some, but it gives us incredible power.

Did you know that 95% of the thoughts we think in one day are the same exact thoughts we thought the day before? What does that mean for us, when we find ourselves cycling in our stress? Are you stuck in the story? Or are you in Facts Land? In this episode, Susan explains how our uncomfortable thoughts and feelings are trying to help us and she gives us real tools to redirect that energy into thoughts and practices that actually do help. She even does a live example, by putting me on the spot to talk about some stress I have been carrying, which totally didn’t make me feel vulnerable at all.

Join us this week to flex your mental muscles, practice failure, feel your fucking feelings, and think better thoughts (even if you’re an air sign/INTJ and that sounds terrible. I swear, it’s gonna be worth it).

SHOW NOTES

1:17– Susan’s journey from corporate stress-case to Stressproof coach.

9:32– First steps toward taking responsibility for your stress.

12:28– Live examples! Susan talks Sarah through a stress story and tells one of her own.

26:22– The Steps: Bringing awareness to our feelings and choosing to think better thoughts.

32:13– How Susan applies these tools to her own life.

Stressproof Podcast

Susan’s 3 part video series on how to manage stress the right way!

Connect with today’s guest, Susan Choi:
Website
Instagram

Follow the Holistic Business Academy on Instagram and slide into the DMs to let me know what you think of the episode!

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“Episode 95: Stressproof with Susan Choi”

March Energy Reading Feb 27, 2020

Show notes

March’s Energy Reading is the perfect way to set ourselves up for the end of the first quarter of 2020. Quarters are the way that tax payments are structured, but I really appreciate using them as an opportunity to have a business check-in with ourselves: Have I done what I said I would do by now? Have I gotten the results I wanted? Have I changed my mind about anything? What is required to move my business forward from here? Wait, how much am I going to owe in taxes?

This month, the cards are asking us to stop future-tripping. Of course we have goals, but are we getting so focused on where we are heading that we forget to notice where we are? The end of this quarter is a great time to ask that question. Once we know where we are, we know what we need to do next, but the cards are also here to remind us that we are often the ones getting in our own way. We tell ourselves stories that keep us from taking risks. We are afraid of growth, because growth is change; it is inherently uncomfortable. The cards are telling us that we need an intuition check. Remember: The future unfolds because we create it! We hold the vision and take action towards it.

March is calling us into work! I mean, duh, this is a business podcast, we’re always talking about work. Any business owner can tell you that owning one business is actually a hundred different jobs: you offer your work and then you also do the work that supports you being able to do the work you offered! All of it is important and all of it needs to get done. But, March is calling us to stop getting stuck in the small decisions so that we can cross the threshold and really level up in our business. It’s time to take some risks so we can return to the work we actually want to do. After all, that was the whole reason we started our business!

Join us the week for more insight from the cards, along with some tips for checking your progress and putting your feelings in the context of numbers (or letting numbers check your feelings!).

SHOW NOTES

2:49– Energy of the Month: 10 of Cups reversed. Dive into the present. Are you so goal-focusedthat you forget to check in about how you feel in the present?

9:00– Action for the Month: The World reversed. Crossing the threshold. How are you stopping yourself from leveling up? How are you holding yourself back?

15:18– Release Work of the Month: 2 of Swords. Check your emotions and trust your intuition.

20:04– Outcome of the Month: 8 of Pentacles. Leveling up means getting back to the work we are called to do.

Follow the Holistic Business Academy on Instagram and slide into the DMs to let me know what you think of the episode!

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“Episode 94: March Energy Reading”

Collaboration in a World of Competition with Dana Balicki Feb 20, 2020

Show notes

Dana Balicki is a brilliant transformational coach (or “Spiritual Road Dog”, as she calls it at some point in this episode) who helps people cultivate their sacred inner landscape. Her focus is on slowing down and making sustainable changes to your life, by inviting folks to transform their deepest-held beliefs. She was the person who got me to slow the fuck down last year, and if you have listened to this podcast for long enough, you know what a feat that was. If you remember that, you also might remember her from Episode 53! Well, this week I’m bringing her back on for something that’s a little different from our regularly scheduled program.

This interview is really more of a conversation between the two of us about how our relationship has evolved from insta-romance to a dynamic, mutually-supportive business relationship AND friendship. It’s basically an hour of us waxing poetic about how we are #relationshipgoals.

In a paradigm that tells us that your success requires another’s failure, that perfection is the only thing worthy of respect, and that vulnerability is weakness, the idea that you can be friends, clients, and collaborators all at once is almost blasphemy. Our relationship is one that gives us a foundation of hope for a better paradigm of community-building as humans and as business owners.
In this Libra4Libra Lovefest, we tell the story of our relationship and interview each other about our experiences of receiving services from a person who is also our client. We talk about how the vulnerability of collaboration makes us so much stronger as individuals and has opened us each up to amazing ideas and opportunities we wouldn’t have otherwise had. We share some specifics about what kinds of structures and boundaries have worked for us as our relationship has evolved, and get real mushy. Because Libras, am I right?
Join us this post-Valentine week to get sweet, remember that the personal is political, and hear us talk about our bangs and our butts.

SHOW NOTES

14:29– How we grew our insta-friendship into our mutually-supportive business relationship

20:49– Good boundaries remove the feeling of competition: Tools we used

27:12– The power of belief and calling the right people to you in your life and work

31:09– Our work and experience of the last year: How collaboration opens the doors to new ideas and mutual growth.

Episode 53: Saturnian Lessons with Sandy and Dana

Episode 71: Branding Photography with Chelsea Lane

Connect with today’s guest, Dana Balicki:
Website
Instagram
Dana’s Series on caring for yourself while in relationship with an addict
Dana’s Slow the Eff Down Meditation

Follow the Holistic Business Academy on Instagram and slide into the DMs to let me know what you think of the episode!

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Copy That Converts with Kate Dramis Feb 13, 2020

Show notes

Hey, remember a few weeks ago when I cornered you (very respectfully, via podcast, of course) about refusing to claim your expertise in your business? This week, I’m doubling down and bringing the incredible Kate Dramis on to tell you HOW to claim it in the actual words, writing, talking, communication part. That’s right! This week we are talking about copywriting!

Kate Dramis is a conversion copywriter for wildly successful entrepreneurs with her own signature program to teach business owners her killer copywriting process. I have learned so much from Kate and I know you will, too.

Copy is everything, because copy is really just communicating with your audience about what transformation you can offer them. Conversion copywriting, specifically, is the messaging we create that turns into sales. It’s that magical place where we get to wring the personal, intuitive parts of our branding through cold, hard data. Kate breaks it all down for us: the execution of messaging, the importance of specializing, the value of your skill set, and why it’s best to be really ultra weird.

Join us this week to learn all about copy and go behind the scenes of our own personal brand messaging (mostly Instagramming our dogs, ice cream, and resting bitch face).

Enjoyed Kate’s episode? You DO NOT want to miss her free copywriting and launch training next week! Reserve your spot here: Kate’s Free Launch Training

SHOW NOTES

0:53– WTF is copy, what do you do, and why does it matter?

10:21– Copywriting 101: Communicating your value

16:25– The strategy of conversion copywriting

23:30– Effectively selling around a launch

36:03– Finding your ultra kind of weird

James Wedmore

Mel Abraham

Connect with this week’s guest, Kate Dramis:
Website
Instagram
Facebook

Follow the Holistic Business Academy on Instagram and slide into the DMs to let me know what you think of the episode!

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“Episode 92: Copy That Converts with Kate Dramis”

Boundaries for Intuitive Business Owners with Theresa Reed Feb 06, 2020

Show notes

This week, I am thrilled to chat with Theresa Reed of The Tarot Lady. Theresa has been a professional tarot reader and astrologer for 30 years, and is a published author. In the last three decades, Theresa has seen both the world of business and the culture of the occult change drastically. She is an incredible resource of knowledge and experience and I am beyond excited to get to pick her brain for an hour, just for y’all.

In this episode, Theresa tells the story of how she came to read tarot and make it a full-time income. She shares the hardship, trials, and even physical risks she experienced as someone with a divination-centered business before Instagram made being a witch “cool”.

Theresa also goes deep about the importance of setting and holding firm policies in the early days of a business. She shares new favorite tool for weeding out customers who don’t align with her, and offers some insight (and hilarious stories) about how to let clients go when they are causing too much strife in our work life.

If you ever find yourself tempted to shape your business to other people’s expectations rather than your own, this episode is definitely for you. If you are the magical person who never has a problem saying no, then you should at least tune in to find out what to do when someone you have said “no” to tries to sneak past your boundaries in a literal disguise! Yes, that is a real story. Tune on in.

SHOW NOTES

14:19– Keeping good boundaries in your business.

17:45– Learning as you go in business.

28:36– How do you protect yourself from burnout?

42:28– Writing, publishing, and the next phase of business.

Theresa’s books
Tarot for Troubled Times
Astrology for Real Life

Connect with this week’s guest, Theresa Reed:
Website
Twitter
Linked In
Facebook
Patreon

Follow the Holistic Business Academy on Instagram and slide into the DMs to let me know what you think of the episode!

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“Episode 91: Boundaries for Intuitive Business Owners with Theresa Reed”

February Energy Reading Jan 30, 2020

Show notes

We all know that February is well on the other side of the Winter Solstice and it is technically getting lighter every day, but doesn’t it just kinda feel like the darkest month? Well, February’s energy reading is pulling us into that darkness.

This month, the cards invite us into Judgement. Oh, that’s plenty easy. We know how to judge people all damn day! Except, this card calls us to pause and turn those judgements over in our hands. What does our envy, our criticism, our trigger, say about what we want and what we think we are allowed to have? Judgement can be fun when it’s pointed at other people, and less fun when it invites us to take a good, long, honest look at ourselves. This is the work of digging into our personal muck: facing our failures, admitting our role in our own grievances, dissecting our jealousy, and holding ourselves accountable.

February is a lot of work, friends. Honestly? I pulled these cards and wanted to go take a nap! The hardest part of this work is that it doesn’t have an end. It’s not the work you can check off and get a gold star and a success story from. It’s the ongoing work of our lives, which means it has to be sustainable. Yes, the cards give us a lot of work to do this month, but they also tell us how to move into that work in balance.

Ready for that deep work? Tune into this episode. Ready to go even deeper? Come to Dollywood with me! No, I’m not kidding. Check out the episode for more details.

SHOW NOTES

4:23—Energy of the Month: Judgement. Where have I set myself up for failure?

11:30— Action for the Month: Temperance. Don’t get lost in the dark! Balance, as always, is key.

14:55— Release Work for the Month: 9 of Pentacles. Make mistakes! Letting go of mastery, in favor of growth.

19:08— Outcome of the Month: Justice Reversed. Doing the work when we know it doesn’t lead to immediate payoff.

Join Sarah Chappell and Dana Balicki on a Retreat to Dollywood!

Acedia & Me by Kathleen Norris

Follow the Holistic Business Academy on Instagram and slide into the DMs to let us know what you think of the episode!

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“Episode 90: February Energy Reading”

Are You Afraid To Call Yourself an Expert? Jan 23, 2020

Show notes

Welcome to the Valley of Despair! That land of self-doubt and hesitancy, where you know enough to know just how much there still is to learn.

In this episode, I talk about the vulnerability of claiming expertise and stepping into leadership. Oh hey, you over there with that tiny fledgling Etsy account! Did you think you could skip this one because it doesn’t apply to you? Sorry, but starting any business is, inherently, the work of leadership. Are you uncomfortable yet?

Y’know, one of the best compliments I have gotten about the support I offer is that it is “so good and so ouchie,” and that is what I am bringing to the table this week. Yes, this is a call to claim your gifts and charge forward into the world, but it is also a reminder about who loses out when we don’t do that. Guess what? You’re not just hurting your numbers or your pride, you’re also letting down people who need you. When we refuse to stand in our power and claim what we know, we can’t attract the people who need us. Being disruptive and polarizing with our deepest beliefs isn’t alienating; it is the action that creates an abundance of opportunity for everyone.

Join us this week as we shake off false-modesty and claim our experience! Oh, and bring a pencil. I have some exercises for you.

SHOW NOTES

3:30– False modesty as a self-fulfilling prophecy

6:44– Leadership, yikes!

10:06– Stepping into your role and letting the right people find you

20:05– Differentiation as a doorway to abundance: there is more than enough to go around!

Launch Incubator Offering

Follow the Holistic Business Academy on Instagram and slide into the DMs to let me know what you think of the episode!

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“Episode 89: Are You Afraid To Call Yourself an Expert?”

2019 Year in Review Jan 16, 2020

Show notes

We’re slowly wading into 2020, which is a great time to take stock of the last year: What we achieved, where we fell short, and how we grew. It’s time to pat ourselves on the back and be proud, because all of that learning deserves to be celebrated! This week, I review my 2019 business year by looking at my goals, my challenges, what worked really well, and what really didn’t.

I share my experience of starting a membership site, and how it changed my relationship with my work life. I talk about finding my center for my business, allowing my health to take precedent over my numbers, and look at what good boundaries can do for business. Spoiler Alert: Constant engagement and working 24/7 isn’t the answer. (Huh, weird). Turns out, time management and personal boundaries are magic and working less actually made more space for the growth I wanted.

I also share my personal philosophy about goals, and dig into the stories I was telling about myself that were keeping me from offering my best gifts.

Please join me in this retrospective and bop on over to instagram to chime in! I want to know about your goals, your stories, and what you are carrying forward into 2020.

SHOW NOTES

1:50– What are you most proud of?

9:37– What worked in 2019

19:45– What didn’t work in 2019

25:13– The pacing of this business year

Love this podcast? Help connect us to more people like you, by leaving us a review on itunes.

Follow the Holistic Business Academy on Instagram and slide into the DMs to let me know what you think of the episode!

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“Episode 88: 2019 Year in Review”

Prosperity Magic with Winifred Tannetta-Costello Jan 09, 2020

Show notes

This week, we are thrilled to talk to witchy shop owner Winifred Tannetta-Costello. Winifred is an intuitive healer, Reiki practitioner, hypnotherapist, past life regression facilitator, and eclectic witch. She is the woman behind AwenTree, a brick-and-mortar shop in Massachusetts.

Winifred is a wealth of knowledge about magic, healing, and running a successfully expanding business. In this episode, we talk about everything from Winifred’s personal history with magic, the evolution of retail in an online world, and what still draws people to the physical spaces we build.

Winifred also shares some of her everyday practical spellcraft that she uses to support her business, and gives us a crash course in prosperity magic that you can apply to your life and business today.

If you’re looking for real-ass magic and honest shop talk, make sure to catch this episode!

SHOW NOTES

3:00– Winifred shares stories of her family and her magical roots

12:00– The story of how AwenTree came to be

19:09– The internet isn’t out to get us! Taking a physical business online and getting the most of both

28:31– The intersection of business and magic: prosperity magic for every day

43:55– A special gift for listeners

Winifred’s free gift for our listeners

Connect with this week’s guest, Winifred Tannetta-Costello:
Website
Instagram
Facebook

Follow the Holistic Business Academy on Instagram and slide into the DMs to let me know what you think of the episode!

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