Good marketing, like a good story, gives people a reason to stay invested.

Daire Paddy and I talk about what marketers can borrow from romance novels, especially when it comes to emotion, pacing, trust, and the slow build that often happens before someone becomes a client. We also get into why your marketing should feel like a preview of what it’s actually like to work with you.

We talk about:

• Why emotion plays such a big role in marketing decisions
• How to balance tension with a clear sense of the outcome people want
• Why some of your best clients may be quietly paying attention for months or years
• How your marketing can build trust by showing people how you think and work
• Why trends and formulas work better when your own voice is still recognizable

People don’t always buy because of one perfectly timed post. Sometimes they’ve been reading, watching, and paying attention quietly for a long time before they’re ready to move. 

And when they do, the marketing that got them there should feel consistent with the experience they’re about to have with you.

Website: https://linktr.ee/dairepaddy
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dairepaddy
Stacked & Steady Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/stacked-steady/id1896711226 

Check out Daire’s romance novel recommendations:

• Into the Blue by Emma Brodie
• Abby Jimenez
• Seven Days in June by Tia Williams

Creating content can be something you love and still be something that pays you.

AyChristene and I dig into the business side of the creator economy, from pricing brand deals and negotiating with confidence to building multiple income streams that can actually support your life. We also talk about the mindset that keeps creators undercharging and why getting paid doesn’t make your work any less authentic.

We get into:

• Why making money from your content doesn’t make you less authentic
• What actually goes into pricing a brand deal beyond follower count
• Why usage, deliverables, platform, and engagement all affect your rate
• How creators can build income beyond brand partnerships
• Why sustainable content creation also requires boundaries, support, and flexibility

There isn’t one magic number that tells you what your work is worth. The goal is to understand what you’re being asked to deliver, ask better questions before naming your rate, and build a creator business that isn’t dependent on one source of income.

Website: beacons.ai/aychristene
Empower Your Worth: The Ultimate Pricing Guide for Creators: https://beacons.ai/aychristene/empoweryourworth
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aychristene

Marketing doesn’t have to mean spending all day posting or trying to keep up with every platform.

Elissa Fesyk and I talk about the role conversations, referrals, and genuine relationships can play in a simpler marketing plan. We get into how to stay visible without making social media your whole strategy, how to reconnect with people without making it awkward, and what relationship marketing can look like when it actually fits your personality and capacity.

We talk about:

• Why referrals can be one of the strongest ways to grow a business
• How social media can support your marketing without taking over your time
• What reconnecting with past clients or contacts can look like without a hard pitch
• Why follow-up matters after a conversation or referral ask
• How to build a simple relationship-marketing rhythm that works for your life

You don’t need hundreds of conversations or a complicated CRM to make relationship marketing work. Sometimes it starts with knowing who you want to reconnect with, making a simple ask, and giving yourself a realistic amount of time to keep those relationships moving.

Website: https://fesykmarketing.com/
Join Momentum Collective for free: https://momentum-collective.beehiiv.com/
Substack: https://notesfromelissa.substack.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fesykmarketing/

You can be great at what you do and still hesitate when it’s time to tell people about it.

Sheena Yap Chan and I talk about the confidence it takes to make your expertise visible, especially when putting yourself out there doesn’t come naturally. We get into self-promotion, perfectionism, the inner work behind visibility, and what changes when you stop waiting to feel completely ready.

We talk about:

• Why confidence doesn’t have to look loud or extroverted
• How staying in the background can limit the opportunities people have to find your work
• Why there’s often a gap between how capable we are and how capable we feel
• How imperfect action helps build confidence over time
• What rejection can teach you about continuing to trust yourself and try again

Being visible doesn’t require having all the answers or feeling confident every day. Sometimes it starts with trusting that you can figure things out as you go and taking the next step before you feel completely ready.

Find Sheena’s books, social links, free Visible Framework Toolkit, and other resources at: SheenaYapChan.com/links
Website: https://www.sheenayapchan.com/
Podcast: https://thetaoofselfconfidence.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sheenayapchan/

A business can say all the right things about inclusion and still create an experience that tells a completely different story.

I sit down with Celeste Warren to talk about what it takes to move equity from intention to action. We look at why changing who is in the room is only part of the work, how bias can get built into everyday decisions, and what leaders can do to make their values visible in the way people are hired, promoted, supported, and evaluated.

We get into:

• Why hiring a diverse workforce doesn’t automatically create an equitable workplace
• How policies, practices, and leadership decisions can reinforce bias
• What it looks like to turn company values into everyday standards and behaviors
• Why transparency matters when people are trying to understand how decisions get made
• Where smaller businesses can start when they want to build a more inclusive organization

Equity isn’t just about what a company says it believes. It shows up in who gets opportunities, how decisions are made, what gets rewarded, and whether people can actually see those values reflected in the way the organization operates. 

Download Celeste's free Manager’s Equity Quick Start Guide: https://crwdiversity.com/

Grab your copy of The Truth About Equity: What It Really Is, What It Isn’t, and Why Everyone Wins When We Get It Right: https://mybook.to/TruthAboutEquity

MrBeast and James Patterson took a familiar Beast Games-style experience and carried it into a completely different format. The result was The Most Dangerous Games, which debuted at No. 3 on The New York Times hardcover-fiction list.

What interests me isn’t the size of MrBeast’s audience. It’s how recognizable the experience still feels when it moves from YouTube into a book, a contest and a larger launch campaign.

In this episode, I talk about:

• Why your strongest ideas don’t have to stay in one format
• How to make a new offer still feel recognizably like your brand
• Why giving people a smaller experience can help them understand the bigger offer
• How founder-led brands can carry the same experience across different levels of the customer journey
• The question to ask when identifying what makes your approach distinct

You don’t need MrBeast-level reach to use this idea. Start with the frameworks, experiences and perspectives people already associate with your work, then look for ways they could travel into something new. 

Grab the free 2026 Mindful Marketer’s Holiday Handbook for help planning your Black Friday offer and holiday marketing: https://onlinedrea.com/holiday/

Registration is also open for Plan Your Black Friday Campaign With Me. It includes immediate access to the complete Black Friday Promo Kit, the live workshop and replay. Sign up here: https://onlinedrea.com/black-friday/ 

When marketing isn’t working, the instinct is often to add something.

More content. More ads. Another platform. A better tool. Another funnel.

But more attention can’t fix what’s already unclear underneath it. This week, I’m walking through four areas to check before you spend more money or increase your marketing output: your offer, your message, the path from attention to purchase, and what happens after someone shows interest.

I break down:

• How to tell whether your offer is clear enough for someone to understand quickly
• Why your messaging needs to match the problem your buyer actually wants solved
• How good content can attract attention without necessarily attracting the right buyers
• What a clear path from discovering you to purchasing from you can look like
• Why follow-up matters when someone is interested but isn’t ready to buy today

One post shouldn’t have to complete your entire sales process. Before you add more traffic, content, ad spend, or another platform, find the weakest part of the system and strengthen that first.

If you’re ready to work on these pieces with support, we’re putting the Q4 planning into action inside the Mindful Marketing Lab.

If you joined me live for the Q4 planning workshop, you have until Thursday, September 24 at 11:59 PM ET to join the Lab with your first month for $47.

Join here: https://onlinedrea.circle.so/checkout/lab?coupon_code=Q4PLAN 

Podcasting can be one of the most intimate ways to build trust with an audience. It can also turn into a demanding content machine when you feel like you have to keep producing, promoting, and following every rule about what a “successful” show should look like.

Becky Mollenkamp and I dig into what sustainable, values-led indie podcasting looks like when you stop measuring your show against expectations built for bigger teams, bigger budgets, and completely different circumstances. 

From perfectionism and production pressure to download numbers and community support, we look at what helps a podcast stay useful, human, and sustainable over time.

We talk about:

• Why “good enough” can make podcasting more sustainable than chasing perfect production
• How to choose a cadence and format that fit your actual capacity
• Why your reason for podcasting matters more than chasing someone else’s download numbers
• How community can help with the emotional side of podcast burnout
• Why values-led podcasting spaces need more nuance and fewer one-size-fits-all formulas

A sustainable podcast doesn’t have to follow every industry rule. It needs to work for the person creating it, serve the reason it exists, and give you enough support to keep showing up over time.

Join us for Burnt Out to Standout

Burnt Out to Standout is an online event for indie podcasters building trust and growing their brands without burning out, happening September 29-30, 2026

I’ll be kicking off Day 1 with Creating Community Around Your Podcast at 1pm CT.

Get your ticket: https://mic-drop.teachery.co/enroll?a=YrbRpR43

You can know what to post, have the strategy, and still sit there overthinking whether you should share it at all.

Alexis Adams joins me to talk about the internal pressure that can make marketing feel harder than it needs to, from perfectionism and comparison to old patterns, self-doubt, and the tension between pushing through discomfort and recognizing when something genuinely isn’t aligned.

We get into:

• Why learning and planning can become a safer substitute for actually taking action
• How perfectionism and trying to say everything can make it harder to post
• How to tell when fear is something to move through and when it may be a signal to step back
• What comparison can reveal about what you actually want
• How self-trust, confidence, and realistic boundaries shape the way you show up in your business

Marketing without internal pressure doesn’t mean you’ll never feel uncomfortable. It means knowing yourself well enough to understand what’s driving the decision and choosing your next step intentionally.

Work with Alexis

Website: https://www.confidentlytherapy.org/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/confidently.alexis 

Alexis offers a free 30-minute audit intensive focused on the mindset, perfectionism, people pleasing, self-doubt, or boundary challenges you’re working through. DM Alexis the word AUDIT to get started.

It’s easy to start planning a Black Friday promotion by asking one question: What should I discount?

But before you make the coupon code, you need to know what the campaign is actually supposed to accomplish.

I’m walking through how to plan your Black Friday campaign from the business goal out, including how to choose an offer that fits your capacity, think beyond immediate revenue, and prepare your audience before the sale ever goes live.

You’ll learn:

• Why your campaign goal should come before the discount
• How to choose an offer your business can realistically deliver
• When a bonus, bundle, or added support may work better than lowering the price
• What your audience needs to understand before they’re ready to buy
• How to map out the warm-up, invitation, reminder, and follow-up stages of your campaign

A Black Friday campaign doesn’t have to be a one-off revenue push. The goal is to create something that makes sense for your business now and gives customers a clear next step afterwards.

Plan your holiday campaigns

I’ve refreshed my Holiday Planning Guide with key dates for 2026 and 2027, campaign planning support and resources to help you build your promotions through the end of the year.

Get the guide: https://onlinedrea.com/holiday

Your content is getting likes, comments and shares. People are paying attention. So… where are the clients?

Before you create more content or redo your entire strategy, it’s time to figure out where the connection between engagement and revenue is breaking down.

In this episode, I’m walking you through the most common reasons your content can perform well without creating inquiries or sales. You’ll learn how to tell whether you’re attracting potential buyers, how your offer connects to the conversation and what people need before they’re ready to take the next step.

We’ll explore:

• Why broad educational content can attract peers and beginners instead of potential clients
• How to build your content backward from the offer
• What a useful call to action needs to communicate
• How an unclear offer or clunky checkout can quietly cost you sales
• Where nurturing fits when someone likes your work but needs more time

I’ll also guide you through a conversion-path audit. You’ll choose one strong piece of content and trace what happens from the moment someone sees it through the final purchase or inquiry step.

Once you find the first unclear or broken part of that path, you’ll know what deserves your attention. No frantic content overhaul required.

If you’re already showing up but your marketing isn’t creating consistent clients and income, join us inside the Mindful Marketing Lab. You’ll get ongoing strategy support, monthly live trainings and weekly co-working sessions designed to help your marketing contribute to real business growth.

Join the Mindful Marketing Lab:
https://onlinedrea.com/lab