The Sustainable Success Podcast

Mornings with Carly is our private client podcast where I drop three 5-10 minute episodes every single week, full of mindset practices and inner work inspiration, client lessons, and WholeCo behind-the-scenes debriefs. And today, right here on The Sustainable Success Podcast, I’m sharing a preview of THREE of those episodes! All as part of our first ever Spring Spectacular, only the biggest sale we’ve ever run in nearly 6 years of business here at WholeCo. Check it out here: WholeCoMedia.com/spring-spectacular Here are the episodes you’ll get to listen to today: Is there ever a time to take on a wrong fit client, especially if you want the money?Tried it; didn't like it. A convo on the value of experimentation in biz (even if you don't like the results)How might your desire to be liked (or a fear that you won’t be liked) play a part in your business right now?Mornings with Carly is typically only reserved for our EXPAND clients, and we occasionally invite members of live rounds of our courses to subscribe as well. For this week only, however, you can get lifetime (of the podcast) access to Mornings with Carly simply by picking up either of our bundles at Spring Spectacular. Learn more about Spring Spectacular right here: WholeCoMedia.com/spring-spectacular If you are loving this podcast, please take a moment to give us a review! You can do so right here in the app you're listening on, or at RateThisPodcast.com/sustainablesuccess — be sure to let us know what you loved most about this episode, so that we can publish more like it! If you haven't already done so, subscribe or follow The Sustainable Success Podcast so that you can be notified every time we release a new episode taking you behind the scenes of what it really takes to build a business that brings you as much joy as it does revenue. Discover how to build your business, your way in our comprehensive free training, The Sustainable Success Starter Kit. https://www.wholecomedia.com/starter-kit Always know what to post with Not Another List of Content Prompts. https://www.wholecomedia.com/content-prompts-podcast Clearly express who you help and how so that you can confidently showcase what makes you and your work unique everywhere that you’re marketing and selling your stuff with The Aligned Niche. https://wholecomedia.com/aligned-niche-podcast Learn about our comprehensive business training program, EXPAND. This program is for online service providers, coaches, and practitioners who have already seen some success in business but are now ready to expand their business-building acumen, trust themselves as the leader of their business, and build their business, their way. https://www.wholecomedia.com/expand Join our community inside the Big-hearted Entrepreneurs Facebook group: facebook.com/groups/wholeco Know someone who would love this episode? I'd be honored if you'd send it to them.

A couple years ago, I realized that I had made an assumption about one of my clients that led to me skipping over some really important work with them — which ultimately slowed down their progress and ability to expand. Naturally, I felt like sh*t when I realized what had happened. After I had worked through some of those emotions, I then reached out to the client to own up to my mistake — one of the most simultaneously liberating and terrifying actions I had taken up to that point in my business. In todays’ episode of The Sustainable Success Podcast, I share what happened next. Episode 023. When you inevitably “get it wrong” with a client, here’s what to do I also walk you through exactly what YOU can do when YOU make a mistake with a client, so that you can not only rectify the situation with the client, but also how to set yourself up to not repeat this mistake in the future. Before you go and listen, I’ll leave you with this: It’s entirely normal to make mistakes (we’re human after all!). So much so that us making mistakes in our businesses actually isn’t that newsworthy or notable. What really matters is not the mistake itself, but rather how we respond to it. I share how to do so in episode 023. Tune in today wherever you listen to podcasts! If you are loving this podcast, please take a moment to give us a review! You can do so right here in the app you're listening on, or at RateThisPodcast.com/sustainablesuccess — be sure to let us know what you loved most about this episode, so that we can publish more like it! If you haven't already done so, subscribe or follow The Sustainable Success Podcast so that you can be notified every time we release a new episode taking you behind the scenes of what it really takes to build a business that brings you as much joy as it does revenue. Discover how to build your business, your way in our comprehensive free training, The Sustainable Success Starter Kit. https://www.wholecomedia.com/starter-kit Always know what to post with Not Another List of Content Prompts. https://www.wholecomedia.com/content-prompts-podcast Clearly express who you help and how so that you can confidently showcase what makes you and your work unique everywhere that you’re marketing and selling your stuff with The Aligned Niche. https://wholecomedia.com/aligned-niche-podcast Learn about our comprehensive business training program, EXPAND. This program is for online service providers, coaches, and practitioners who have already seen some success in business but are now ready to expand their business-building acumen, trust themselves as the leader of their business, and build their business, their way. https://www.wholecomedia.com/expand Join our community inside the Big-hearted Entrepreneurs Facebook group: facebook.com/groups/wholeco Know someone who would love this episode? I'd be honored if you'd send it to them.

I’ve heard it again and again: “I need to create a more scalable offer, because 1:1 client work is just so exhausting.” Every time I hear a business owner say it, I… 1 - Validate the exhaustion. That sh*t is real. But also… 2 - Invite them to explore whether it’s actually the 1:1 work that’s exhausting and needs to be done away with, or if there’s something else happening within the 1:1 work that is in fact the root cause of the exhaustion. Imagine you come to me saying that “working 1:1 with clients is exhausting.” When we probe a bit further, you actually realize: “I have mostly attracted clients into this offer that seem to want me to ‘fix’ everything for them and that aren’t actually doing what THEY need to do to see their intended result.” If that’s happening—as I’ve seen MANY times with business owners across so many different industries—then OF COURSE you’re exhausted. It’s a lot of work carrying responsibility for your own personal success alongside the success of your business, and now you’re trying to also carry a bunch of other people’s success. Goodness, even the weight of responsibility for one more person’s success is too much. While it’d be easy to think that “that’s just the type of person who is attracted to this work,” what’s actually happening is that that’s just the type of person that you have been attracting into this work—very likely through the way that you’ve been positioning and languaging and marketing and selling the work. Which means: if we can adjust how you’re talking about this offer so that it actually speaks to a Right Fit client, you’re going to stop attracting clients into the work who aren’t ready or willing to carry their side of things, and start attracting clients who are so much “lighter” to work with. Now, any time I support a client through this exploration, I don’t do it from the place of: “you can’t give up 1:1 work.” That’s not productive nor is it even my decision to make. We might very well go through this exploration process and discover that it’s not actually about the 1:1 work and yet still ultimately decide to release the 1:1 work. The difference is that now the business owner is making a decision to release 1:1 work not from a desire to escape something painful, but rather to expand into something they’ve decided is more aligned. And that underlying motivation means that it’s MUCH more likely that they’ll be less likely to repeat the pattern in whatever else they move to. Think about it. If you’ve been attracting wrong fit clients into an offer, and you simply shift the offer, you’re not actually changing the issue, you’re changing the channel for the symptom to show itself. Whereas if you get clear on what the real problem is—your words are attracting wrong fit people—and then you change those words, not only is the original “channel” of 1:1 work now clear, but you’ll be able to carry that newfound approach to messaging, positioning, marketing, etc to any offer you are selling. You’re able to actually solve the real problem, not just in the original offer, but in all of the offers. Wrong fit clients are just one of the common reasons I’ve seen 1:1 client work being so dang exhausting. I share the other three common reasons as well as what you can do about them in todays’ episode of The Sustainable Success Podcast. Episode 022. Why is 1:1 client work so dang exhausting? Whether 1:1 client work is actually super exhausting for you, or you’re simply looking for ways to set your 1:1 client work up to be more sustainable, tune in today! MENTIONED IN THE EPISODE Episode 019: What do you do if clients aren't using the support available to them?The Sustainable Success Starter KitPowerful Offers that TransformEpisode 021: Voxer Office HoursBlog Post: Boundaries Online Business Owners Can Set for More Sustainable + Successful Client Containers If you are loving this podcast, please take a moment to give us a review! You can do so right here in the app you're...

Every month I spend a whole day talking individually with business owners on Voxer (a walkie talkie app) inside of our comprehensive business training program, EXPAND. And every single month, I think to myself: goodness, these conversations would be supportive for SO MANY business owners (including and beyond the one I’m actually going back and forth with!). Which is why this month, I decided to pull together five questions that were asked and share my responses with you on The Sustainable Success Podcast. Yep, I’m essentially taking you behind the scenes and answering the questions as if YOU had asked them. Here’s the questions I’ve answered in todays episode (episode 021): ➡️ How do I set up a 1:1 offer, when my health is somewhat unpredictable and I can't guarantee I'll be available or ready for client sessions? ➡️ I'm feeling a lot of pressure to make my marketing work, because I need to get clients, and it's making it hard to actually show up in my marketing because of all of the pressure. What can I do? ➡️ I'm building a course. How do I know if something is a necessary component of the curriculum, a bonus, or not something to include at all? ➡️ I had a prospective client book a call with me, and they filled out their application with really short answers that didn't really help me understand how I could help them. Do I need to shift my application questions? Are they a wrong fit? ➡️ I have bursts of energy and clarity where things are really working, I have momentum, and I’m super inspired. But inevitably a week later I fall into a hole and seem to forget everything. How can I proceed more sustainably? Tune in today to basically get some free business coach-sulting, and of course, come and join us inside of EXPAND when you’re ready to have these types of conversations (& so much more) in-depth with me, each and every month. MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE Powerful Offers That TransformRight Fit Filter If you are loving this podcast, please take a moment to give us a review! You can do so right here in the app you're listening on, or at RateThisPodcast.com/sustainablesuccess — be sure to let us know what you loved most about this episode, so that we can publish more like it! If you haven't already done so, subscribe or follow The Sustainable Success Podcast so that you can be notified every time we release a new episode taking you behind the scenes of what it really takes to build a business that brings you as much joy as it does revenue. Discover how to build your business, your way in our comprehensive free training, The Sustainable Success Starter Kit. https://www.wholecomedia.com/starter-kit Always know what to post with Not Another List of Content Prompts. https://www.wholecomedia.com/content-prompts-podcast Clearly express who you help and how so that you can confidently showcase what makes you and your work unique everywhere that you’re marketing and selling your stuff with The Aligned Niche. https://wholecomedia.com/aligned-niche-podcast Learn about our comprehensive business training program, EXPAND. This program is for online service providers, coaches, and practitioners who have already seen some success in business but are now ready to expand their business-building acumen, trust themselves as the leader of their business, and build their business, their way. https://www.wholecomedia.com/expand Join our community inside the Big-hearted Entrepreneurs Facebook group: facebook.com/groups/wholeco Know someone who would love this episode? I'd be honored if you'd send it to them.

I couldn’t stop checking. Every minute it seemed, new subscribers were joining our list. In just one week, we added 1,500 new subscribers to our email list, after spending years under 400 people. It was exciting beyond belief. It also was terrifying. In the last couple of years, we’ve put more emphasis on growing our audience than we ever have here at WholeCo. Our list is now hovering right around 4,000 people instead of 400, and we have even more plans to grow that’ll be implemented in the coming weeks and months. In order to effectively 10x our audience, I’ve had to do something that I’d successfully avoided for most of my prior 3 years in business: be visible. And uncontrollably so. We all know as business owners that we have to be visible. We also all have a unique-to-us tolerance for visibility, especially when it comes to visibility in front of a new or “cold” audience or any sort of visibility where you cannot actually see the people who are seeing you. (Think: live video, viral Reels, podcasting, etc.) And when we hit that tolerance, ohhhhhh boy. It becomes downright overwhelming. If we know that we need to be visible, and even that we want to be visible in order to grow our businesses, then we can choose to preemptively support ourselves by building capacity to be visible. In todays’ episode of The Sustainable Success Podcast, I’m sharing a specific practice that you can use to increase your sense of safety being visible. The first time you do this practice, you’ll have immense clarity on what’s really going on when being seen feels so damn scary or distracting. When you repeat this practice in conjunction with additional deep work, you’ll slowly, bit by bit, build up your capacity to be seen. Increased capacity makes even astronomical visibility a heck of a lot more tolerable, and even eventually, a relatively neutral or “no big deal” part of being a business owner. While normally I’d say you can tune into The Sustainable Success Podcast whenever you want, whatever you’re doing, with this one I’d recommend tuning in when you can set aside at least 10 or so minutes to engage with the practice shared in the episode. I’m so excited and grateful to support you in increasing your sense of safety in visibility. Tune in today to episode 20 to begin your journey with increased visibility. If you are loving this podcast, please take a moment to give us a review! You can do so right here in the app you're listening on, or at RateThisPodcast.com/sustainablesuccess — be sure to let us know what you loved most about this episode, so that we can publish more like it! If you haven't already done so, subscribe or follow The Sustainable Success Podcast so that you can be notified every time we release a new episode taking you behind the scenes of what it really takes to build a business that brings you as much joy as it does revenue. Discover how to build your business, your way in our comprehensive free training, The Sustainable Success Starter Kit. https://www.wholecomedia.com/starter-kit Always know what to post with Not Another List of Content Prompts. https://www.wholecomedia.com/content-prompts-podcast Clearly express who you help and how so that you can confidently showcase what makes you and your work unique everywhere that you’re marketing and selling your stuff with The Aligned Niche. https://wholecomedia.com/aligned-niche-podcast Learn about our comprehensive business training program, EXPAND. This program is for online service providers, coaches, and practitioners who have already seen some success in business but are now ready to expand their business-building acumen, trust themselves as the leader of their business, and build their business, their way. https://www.wholecomedia.com/expand Join our community inside the Big-hearted Entrepreneurs Facebook group: facebook.com/groups/wholeco Know someone who would love this episode? I'd be honored if you'd send it to them.

Something we don’t often like to talk about as business owners who work with humans is the reality that some of our clients aren’t actually utilizing the support that is available to them and/or that they aren’t actually doing what THEY need to do in order to create the results they intend or desire to create. They’re not doing the curriculum and/or any of their own implementation. They’re not getting you the assets that you need to do your work (and to do it well). They’re not booking calls or using Voxer support or _________, despite the fact that they’re still paying you month after month. Is it your fault? Is it their fault? Do you need to be doing more? Do you need to chase them up (again)? Or can you just “let them go”/wash your hands of the responsibility (or even the client) until they figure it out? I think it’s safe to say that the vast majority of us business owners WANT our clients to succeed. But when your clients aren’t utilizing the supports and resources available to them, and you’ve purposefully designed your offers (aka they actually need to be utilizing the resources available to them), then it’s very likely that the client is NOT succeeding how you want them to, and how they very likely want to as well. Which, I don’t think I need to tell you, is frustrating for EVERYONE involved. So what do you do? Well, that’s exactly the question I’m answering in this of The Sustainable Success Podcast. In episode 019 —What do you do if clients aren’t using the support that’s available to them?—I’m sharing… Clients utilizing the support and inclusions that are available to them is crucial to their ability to succeed in or with your work, and therefore likely to both your satisfaction with the work and to receiving rave reviews, referrals, and re-sign-ups (where applicable). If you want to more reliably facilitate the intended results of your work, and you have or have had clients who aren’t engaging with the whole process, then you’re DEFINITELY going to want to listen to this episode. Tune in today. LINKS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE: Tune into S6E1 - "Behind the Scenes of WholeCo's Messy Middle" - wholecomedia.com/s6e1 Download our free guide, Powerful Offers That Transform - wholecomedia.com/powerful-offers If you are loving this podcast, please take a moment to give us a review! You can do so right here in the app you're listening on, or at RateThisPodcast.com/sustainablesuccess — be sure to let us know what you loved most about this episode, so that we can publish more like it! If you haven't already done so, subscribe or follow The Sustainable Success Podcast so that you can be notified every time we release a new episode taking you behind the scenes of what it really takes to build a business that brings you as much joy as it does revenue. Discover how to build your business, your way in our comprehensive free training, The Sustainable Success Starter Kit. https://www.wholecomedia.com/starter-kit Always know what to post with Not Another List of Content Prompts. https://www.wholecomedia.com/content-prompts-podcast Clearly express who you help and how so that you can confidently showcase what makes you and your work unique everywhere that you’re marketing and selling your stuff with The Aligned Niche. https://wholecomedia.com/aligned-niche-podcast Learn about our comprehensive business training program, EXPAND. This program is for online service providers, coaches, and practitioners who have already seen some success in business but are now ready to expand their business-building acumen, trust themselves as the leader of their business, and build their business, their way. https://www.wholecomedia.com/expand Join our community inside the Big-hearted Entrepreneurs Facebook group: facebook.com/groups/wholeco Know someone who would love this episode? I'd be honored if you'd send it to them.

I often joke that giving in-depth feedback to our clients is one of my love languages. It’s just SO rewarding to see business owner after business owner’s face light up when they finally GET why their messaging or their content hasn’t been as effective as they’d like and/or hasn’t felt extraordinary to either them or their audience (as signified, often, by a lack of engagement). After having given in-depth feedback on dozens of business owners’ content in the last couple of years, there are some pieces of feedback that I find myself giving again and again and again. And when clients make these shifts to their content, PHEW! The results naturally begin pouring in. In today’s episode of The Sustainable Success Podcast, I’m sharing exactly what those 10 most common pieces of feedback are. And the great news? These are shifts that you can make to your content right away to begin making it even MORE extraordinary and effective. Tune in today wherever you listen to podcasts to episode 018. The 10 most common pieces of feedback I give to clients on their content. If you are loving this podcast, please take a moment to give us a review! You can do so right here in the app you're listening on, or at RateThisPodcast.com/sustainablesuccess — be sure to let us know what you loved most about this episode, so that we can publish more like it! If you haven't already done so, subscribe or follow The Sustainable Success Podcast so that you can be notified every time we release a new episode taking you behind the scenes of what it really takes to build a business that brings you as much joy as it does revenue. Discover how to build your business, your way in our comprehensive free training, The Sustainable Success Starter Kit. https://www.wholecomedia.com/starter-kit Always know what to post with Not Another List of Content Prompts. https://www.wholecomedia.com/content-prompts-podcast Clearly express who you help and how so that you can confidently showcase what makes you and your work unique everywhere that you’re marketing and selling your stuff with The Aligned Niche. https://wholecomedia.com/aligned-niche-podcast Learn about our comprehensive business training program, EXPAND. This program is for online service providers, coaches, and practitioners who have already seen some success in business but are now ready to expand their business-building acumen, trust themselves as the leader of their business, and build their business, their way. https://www.wholecomedia.com/expand Join our community inside the Big-hearted Entrepreneurs Facebook group: facebook.com/groups/wholeco Know someone who would love this episode? I'd be honored if you'd send it to them.

There are energies that you can intentionally cultivate to make marketing feel more full of ease. I share what they are in today’s episode of The Sustainable Success Podcast, episode 017, The Mindset Behind Sustainably Successful Marketing. So many business owners are wondering “what they’re missing” in their marketing that would finally make it EASY. If that’s you, I have good news and bad news: The bad news is that I’ve been doing marketing for business (my own and others) for 7+ years at this point, and marketing is STILL not EASY. The GREAT news is that when I intentionally cultivate the 4 energies that I share in today’s episode, I can still experience EASE even amidst the challenging things. If you’re ready to build a sustainable marketing practice, I invite you to tune into today's episode and see which of these four energies you can even more intentionally cultivate in your marketing practice. I’ll see ya there ☺️ If you are loving this podcast, please take a moment to give us a review! You can do so right here in the app you're listening on, or at RateThisPodcast.com/sustainablesuccess — be sure to let us know what you loved most about this episode, so that we can publish more like it! If you haven't already done so, subscribe or follow The Sustainable Success Podcast so that you can be notified every time we release a new episode taking you behind the scenes of what it really takes to build a business that brings you as much joy as it does revenue. Discover how to build your business, your way in our comprehensive free training, The Sustainable Success Starter Kit. https://www.wholecomedia.com/starter-kit Always know what to post with Not Another List of Content Prompts. https://www.wholecomedia.com/content-prompts-podcast Clearly express who you help and how so that you can confidently showcase what makes you and your work unique everywhere that you’re marketing and selling your stuff with The Aligned Niche. https://wholecomedia.com/aligned-niche-podcast Learn about our comprehensive business training program, EXPAND. This program is for online service providers, coaches, and practitioners who have already seen some success in business but are now ready to expand their business-building acumen, trust themselves as the leader of their business, and build their business, their way. https://www.wholecomedia.com/expand Join our community inside the Big-hearted Entrepreneurs Facebook group: facebook.com/groups/wholeco Know someone who would love this episode? I'd be honored if you'd send it to them.

The simplest way to “stand out from the crowd” online is NOT by having a unique value proposition or trying to define exactly what makes you different from your competitors or the people who do similar work as you. It’s not by talking about “why people want to work with you.” It’s not by sharing unpopular opinions, or showing up in your underwear, or sharing one vulnerable thing per day on social media. (Of course, unless those things are truly authentic to you, your brand, your audience, and your goals/dreams/priorities.) It’s none of those things, because inherent in all of these is a desire to manufacture what makes you unique rather than allow yourself to happen upon it organically. (I say this with nuance, because there certainly comes a moment in time where having a clearly articulated statement on “what makes our work unique” becomes necessary.) The simplest way to “stand out from the crowd online” actually allows you to organically find your “unique thing” organically. And it allows you to actually LOVE (and be successful on) the journey of finding the thing that makes you unique. I share exactly what this simplest way is in todays’ episode of The Sustainable Success Podcast (and don’t worry, I share it right at the beginning—I won’t leave you hanging any longer than you have to be!). Tune in today to Episode 016: The simplest way to “stand out from the crowd” online, so that you can begin TRULY standing out without (somewhat or wholly) manufacturing something that makes you “unique.” If you are loving this podcast, please take a moment to give us a review! You can do so right here in the app you're listening on, or at RateThisPodcast.com/sustainablesuccess — be sure to let us know what you loved most about this episode, so that we can publish more like it! If you haven't already done so, subscribe or follow The Sustainable Success Podcast so that you can be notified every time we release a new episode taking you behind the scenes of what it really takes to build a business that brings you as much joy as it does revenue. Discover how to build your business, your way in our comprehensive free training, The Sustainable Success Starter Kit. https://www.wholecomedia.com/starter-kit Always know what to post with Not Another List of Content Prompts. https://www.wholecomedia.com/content-prompts-podcast Clearly express who you help and how so that you can confidently showcase what makes you and your work unique everywhere that you’re marketing and selling your stuff with The Aligned Niche. https://wholecomedia.com/aligned-niche-podcast Learn about our comprehensive business training program, EXPAND. This program is for online service providers, coaches, and practitioners who have already seen some success in business but are now ready to expand their business-building acumen, trust themselves as the leader of their business, and build their business, their way. https://www.wholecomedia.com/expand Join our community inside the Big-hearted Entrepreneurs Facebook group: facebook.com/groups/wholeco Know someone who would love this episode? I'd be honored if you'd send it to them.

I made a mistake with a client when I was supporting them to create messaging that, on one hand, was embarrassing, but on the other, really made me stop and think. And I realized: in this moment, I had chosen “effective marketing” over being values-led in the way that I speak. (I share what that mistake was in todays’ episode of The Sustainable Success Podcast - Episode 015: Our words have POWER + that’s why I won’t use these in my marketing.) Since then I’ve taken a good hard look at the language I use in my messaging and marketing, and asked myself time and time again: does this contribute to the world I wish to contribute to? The answer: a LOT of the language that’s so normalized in this online business industry—and that I, too have previously used—is absolutely NOT contributing to the world I wish to contribute to. And so I’ve made some decisions about words/phrases that I will not use in my marketing. I share 8 of those words/phrases in this episode as well as my reasoning for not using them (+ 3 bonus words/phrases that I’m still exploring) — not in an effort to shame anyone who IS using them, but as an invitation for YOU to explore the words you’re using in your marketing. And really, as an invitation for you to ask: is this language contributing to the world I wish to contribute to? The language that’s really normalized in this online business industry has, in many ways, created the culture that so many of us…how do I say this nicely?…hate. We can begin to change that culture, simply by beginning to shift the language we are contributing to it through our messaging and marketing. Tune in today. If you are loving this podcast, please take a moment to give us a review! You can do so right here in the app you're listening on, or at RateThisPodcast.com/sustainablesuccess — be sure to let us know what you loved most about this episode, so that we can publish more like it! If you haven't already done so, subscribe or follow The Sustainable Success Podcast so that you can be notified every time we release a new episode taking you behind the scenes of what it really takes to build a business that brings you as much joy as it does revenue. Discover how to build your business, your way in our comprehensive free training, The Sustainable Success Starter Kit. https://www.wholecomedia.com/starter-kit Always know what to post with Not Another List of Content Prompts. https://www.wholecomedia.com/content-prompts-podcast Clearly express who you help and how so that you can confidently showcase what makes you and your work unique everywhere that you’re marketing and selling your stuff with The Aligned Niche. https://wholecomedia.com/aligned-niche-podcast Learn about our comprehensive business training program, EXPAND. This program is for online service providers, coaches, and practitioners who have already seen some success in business but are now ready to expand their business-building acumen, trust themselves as the leader of their business, and build their business, their way. https://www.wholecomedia.com/expand Join our community inside the Big-hearted Entrepreneurs Facebook group: facebook.com/groups/wholeco Know someone who would love this episode? I'd be honored if you'd send it to them.

Our podcast is celebrating it’s second birthday this week! In celebration, I’m sharing an inside look at what you TRULY need in order for your podcast to “be successful” as well as how to tell if right now is the right time to start (or be running 😬) a podcast. If I’m being honest, when I first started my podcast two years ago, I wasn’t ready. I THOUGHT I was, but then there came a moment where I began feeling SO stifled by it as well as confused on what role it was supposed to play in my business, that things had to change. (And we ended up taking an 8 month break because of it!) In this episode I share how trying to make my podcast GROW my audience, NURTURE my audience, and GENERATE LEADS from my audience was a strategy doomed for failure from the start. I also share why that didn’t work and what I’ve since chosen to do instead—that has made podcasting so much more joyful (and effective!) for me as well as being way more valuable to my audience. Tune in today wherever you listen to podcasts by searching for The Sustainable Success Podcast. Today’s episode is number 014 - Strategy du Jour: Podcasting for Business (& the foundations you need first!) If you are loving this podcast, please take a moment to give us a review! You can do so right here in the app you're listening on, or at RateThisPodcast.com/sustainablesuccess — be sure to let us know what you loved most about this episode, so that we can publish more like it! If you haven't already done so, subscribe or follow The Sustainable Success Podcast so that you can be notified every time we release a new episode taking you behind the scenes of what it really takes to build a business that brings you as much joy as it does revenue. Discover how to build your business, your way in our comprehensive free training, The Sustainable Success Starter Kit. https://www.wholecomedia.com/starter-kit Always know what to post with Not Another List of Content Prompts. https://www.wholecomedia.com/content-prompts-podcast Clearly express who you help and how so that you can confidently showcase what makes you and your work unique everywhere that you’re marketing and selling your stuff with The Aligned Niche. https://wholecomedia.com/aligned-niche-podcast Learn about our comprehensive business training program, EXPAND. This program is for online service providers, coaches, and practitioners who have already seen some success in business but are now ready to expand their business-building acumen, trust themselves as the leader of their business, and build their business, their way. https://www.wholecomedia.com/expand Join our community inside the Big-hearted Entrepreneurs Facebook group: facebook.com/groups/wholeco Know someone who would love this episode? I'd be honored if you'd send it to them.

When that ad came up in my feed, all I could feel was rage. I couldn’t believe that this person was claiming to be something that, from where I stood, was so obviously NOT true based on the contents of this ad. It absolutely pissed me off to the point where I went to write a post about it, and talk about all the reasons why this was SO WRONG. But before I hit “publish,” a little voice stopped me in my tracks by asking, “Carly, what’s really happening here? What is this rage really about?” Turns out: yes, I deeply believed that what this person was doing was wrong, untruthful, and potentially quite harmful to many of the people who bought into it. But also: I was afraid that people might think I was doing the exact same (though slightly different flavor) thing. One of the biggest lessons I’ve learnt in the last 5+ years of building and running my business is that there’s never really a WRONG time to look at what’s really going on, internally. Because even if, yes, externally, the thing we’re seeing IS exactly what we’re seeing—definitely not invalidating that!—the internal experience that we have in reaction to what we’re seeing defines a lot more of our own reality than we may initially think. And it’s only by looking inward with curiosity and an overabundance of compassion that we can use everything we’re seeing and experiencing—yes, even the definitely shitty stuff—for our betterment. Not to mention: it’s often when we do the internal work around whatever that external stuff brings up that we can then move from a place of power to enact change on/in/with the external stuff (if that’s something we feel called to do, of course!). This week on The Sustainable Success Podcast I’m talking about How I Refocus My Rage at the Online Business Industry. And no, we’re not just pretending like everything is fine—because it’s not—but we are talking about what we actually want to and can do about it. If you know anything about me, you know that I THRIVE in the exploration of the liminal space between two truths, so this episode was really a fun one for me and I think also is going to be a nuanced take to something that there’s a LOT of conversation about, all the time. Plus, it was a bit of a cathartic experience since I could talk about the things that just feel (and often are) YUCK in our online business space, without actually talking about it in a way that made me part of the yuck (I think, anyway) 😅 Tune in to episode 013 - How I Refocus My Rage at the Online Business Industry on The Sustainable Success Podcast today. If you are loving this podcast, please take a moment to give us a review! You can do so right here in the app you're listening on, or at RateThisPodcast.com/sustainablesuccess — be sure to let us know what you loved most about this episode, so that we can publish more like it! If you haven't already done so, subscribe or follow The Sustainable Success Podcast so that you can be notified every time we release a new episode taking you behind the scenes of what it really takes to build a business that brings you as much joy as it does revenue. Discover how to build your business, your way in our comprehensive free training, The Sustainable Success Starter Kit. https://www.wholecomedia.com/starter-kit Always know what to post with Not Another List of Content Prompts. https://www.wholecomedia.com/content-prompts-podcast Clearly express who you help and how so that you can confidently showcase what makes you and your work unique everywhere that you’re marketing and selling your stuff with The Aligned Niche. https://wholecomedia.com/aligned-niche-podcast Learn about our comprehensive business training program, EXPAND. This program is for online service providers, coaches, and practitioners who have already seen some success in business but are now ready to expand their business-building acumen, trust themselves as the leader of their business, and build their business, their...

For the last few weeks I have been launching EXPAND, our comprehensive business training program, to a segment of my email list. I kicked it off with a 3-day live event that was an absolute blast and received rave reviews from live and replay attendees alike. But in the days that followed, I came upon a familiar feeling. One that arises pretty much any time that I set a goal. Apathy. If I was the Carly of a few years ago, I would start thinking something was wrong. I’d think that maybe I didn’t really want to bring people into this program (that I’ve been developing and refining for the better part of 3 years now and absolutely adore running). Or that I have mindset issues that need to be resolved. Or that obviously since I couldn’t “hold the energy” I was going to fail and nothing good was going to come through. But this time as the apathy seeped into my being, I was able to greet it with a warm hug. For this is the part of me that is afraid of being hurt or disappointed, and therefore it was doing what it has been taught to do in order to protect me from such “scary” feelings and experiences. The logic goes: If I completely disengage from the goal and disconnect from my desires, then I won’t be able to feel the pain of disappointment. It makes sense in theory, but in practice, much like many other self-protective responses, it actually ends up contributing to the exact outcome it is afraid of. Because if I disengage from the goal, then I’m not going to take action to achieve the goal. If I disconnect from my desires, then I won’t be motivated to look for and take hold of opportunity and insight. I hugged my apathy tight, and told it I see you. I shared with it that I was grateful for what it was trying to do. And then I asked if it would let me, my adult present day self, take the wheel—maybe it’d like to go play in the field with the butterflies and flowers (my sacred space in my inner world) instead? She ran off with glee (she didn’t want to be carrying the weight of seeing me and this launch succeed). In todays’ episode of The Sustainable Success Podcast, I’m sharing how I cultivate my capacity to hold tightly (not suffocatingly) onto the things that I actually DO desire to hold onto. Instead of letting them go out of fear of not receiving or experiencing them. Tune in today wherever you listen to podcasts to episode 012. Cultivating Expanded Capacity for Resilience, Resoluteness, and Recommitment.

For the last few weeks I have been launching EXPAND, our comprehensive business training program, to a segment of my email list. I kicked it off with a 3-day live event that was an absolute blast and received rave reviews from live and replay attendees alike. But in the days that followed, I came upon a familiar feeling. One that arises pretty much any time that I set a goal. Apathy. If I was the Carly of a few years ago, I would start thinking something was wrong. I’d think that maybe I didn’t really want to bring people into this program (that I’ve been developing and refining for the better part of 3 years now and absolutely adore running). Or that I have mindset issues that need to be resolved. Or that obviously since I couldn’t “hold the energy” I was going to fail and nothing good was going to come through. But this time as the apathy seeped into my being, I was able to greet it with a warm hug. For this is the part of me that is afraid of being hurt or disappointed, and therefore it was doing what it has been taught to do in order to protect me from such “scary” feelings and experiences. The logic goes: If I completely disengage from the goal and disconnect from my desires, then I won’t be able to feel the pain of disappointment. It makes sense in theory, but in practice, much like many other self-protective responses, it actually ends up contributing to the exact outcome it is afraid of. Because if I disengage from the goal, then I’m not going to take action to achieve the goal. If I disconnect from my desires, then I won’t be motivated to look for and take hold of opportunity and insight. I hugged my apathy tight, and told it I see you. I shared with it that I was grateful for what it was trying to do. And then I asked if it would let me, my adult present day self, take the wheel—maybe it’d like to go play in the field with the butterflies and flowers (my sacred space in my inner world) instead? She ran off with glee (she didn’t want to be carrying the weight of seeing me and this launch succeed). In todays’ episode of The Sustainable Success Podcast, I’m sharing how I cultivate my capacity to hold tightly (not suffocatingly) onto the things that I actually DO desire to hold onto. Instead of letting them go out of fear of not receiving or experiencing them. Tune in today wherever you listen to podcasts to episode 012. Cultivating Expanded Capacity for Resilience, Resoluteness, and Recommitment. If you are loving this podcast, please take a moment to give us a review! You can do so right here in the app you're listening on, or at RateThisPodcast.com/sustainablesuccess — be sure to let us know what you loved most about this episode, so that we can publish more like it! If you haven't already done so, subscribe or follow The Sustainable Success Podcast so that you can be notified every time we release a new episode taking you behind the scenes of what it really takes to build a business that brings you as much joy as it does revenue. Discover how to build your business, your way in our comprehensive free training, The Sustainable Success Starter Kit. https://www.wholecomedia.com/starter-kit Always know what to post with Not Another List of Content Prompts. https://www.wholecomedia.com/content-prompts-podcast Clearly express who you help and how so that you can confidently showcase what makes you and your work unique everywhere that you’re marketing and selling your stuff with The Aligned Niche. https://wholecomedia.com/aligned-niche-podcast Learn about our comprehensive business training program, EXPAND. This program is for online service providers, coaches, and practitioners who have already seen some success in business but are now ready to expand their business-building acumen, trust themselves as the leader of their business, and build their business, their way. https://www.wholecomedia.com/expand Join our community inside the Big-hearted Entrepreneurs Facebook group:...

Do you ever wonder what is your responsibility and what is your client’s responsibility when it comes to ensuring their success? Behind closed doors, I have had this conversation so many times, and now I want to share my insights. Join me as I share my thoughts on: Creating Conditions for Client Success (3:32) 2. Trusting Clients and Balancing Responsibilities (14:38) 3. Lowering My Program Price While Increasing Accountability (20:37) If you ever wondered how to balance the scales that are oh so delicate, this episode really gets into the heart of it. “As we navigate the complexities of business, remember: Perfection may be unattainable, but progress is always within reach. Trust the journey, embrace responsibility, and let self-trust be your guiding star." Carly Jo Bell, The Sustainable Success Podcast, S6 E5

Do you ever wonder what is your responsibility and what is your client’s responsibility when it comes to ensuring their success? Behind closed doors, I have had this conversation so many times, and now I want to share my insights. Join me as I share my thoughts on: Creating Conditions for Client Success (3:32) 2. Trusting Clients and Balancing Responsibilities (14:38) 3. Lowering My Program Price While Increasing Accountability (20:37) If you ever wondered how to balance the scales that are oh so delicate, this episode really gets into the heart of it. “As we navigate the complexities of business, remember: Perfection may be unattainable, but progress is always within reach. Trust the journey, embrace responsibility, and let self-trust be your guiding star." Carly Jo Bell, The Sustainable Success Podcast, S6 E5 If you are loving this podcast, please take a moment to give us a review! You can do so right here in the app you're listening on, or at RateThisPodcast.com/sustainablesuccess — be sure to let us know what you loved most about this episode, so that we can publish more like it! If you haven't already done so, subscribe or follow The Sustainable Success Podcast so that you can be notified every time we release a new episode taking you behind the scenes of what it really takes to build a business that brings you as much joy as it does revenue. Discover how to build your business, your way in our comprehensive free training, The Sustainable Success Starter Kit. https://www.wholecomedia.com/starter-kit Always know what to post with Not Another List of Content Prompts. https://www.wholecomedia.com/content-prompts-podcast Clearly express who you help and how so that you can confidently showcase what makes you and your work unique everywhere that you’re marketing and selling your stuff with The Aligned Niche. https://wholecomedia.com/aligned-niche-podcast Learn about our comprehensive business training program, EXPAND. This program is for online service providers, coaches, and practitioners who have already seen some success in business but are now ready to expand their business-building acumen, trust themselves as the leader of their business, and build their business, their way. https://www.wholecomedia.com/expand Join our community inside the Big-hearted Entrepreneurs Facebook group: facebook.com/groups/wholeco Know someone who would love this episode? I'd be honored if you'd send it to them.

Launching is one of those strategies in business that people often feel like they HAVE to do in order to be successful at generating leads for their work. But just like all STRATEGIES, that simply isn’t true. And the reality is: even if you create some amazing launch with a 3 day challenge people are SO excited about and sales emails that sound SO good—without the foundations underneath this strategy, it’s very hard to make even the most “tried and true” launch strategy actually reliably work for YOU. In today’s episode of The Sustainable Success Podcast, I’m going deep into exactly what makes a launch successful (or not), and it’s NOT: the number of emails you send (tactic), the type of conversion event you run (strategy), the length of your pitch (strategy), or any of those other things that so many of the launch plans you’ll find online focus on. It’s the FOUNDATIONS (there are three of them) underneath the strategies and tactics being built within the correct-for-your-business context. I’ll show you exactly what I mean in Episode 010 of The Sustainable Success Podcast, Strategy du Jour: Launching (and the foundations you need first!). If you are loving this podcast, please take a moment to give us a review! You can do so right here in the app you're listening on, or at RateThisPodcast.com/sustainablesuccess — be sure to let us know what you loved most about this episode, so that we can publish more like it! If you haven't already done so, subscribe or follow The Sustainable Success Podcast so that you can be notified every time we release a new episode taking you behind the scenes of what it really takes to build a business that brings you as much joy as it does revenue. Discover how to build your business, your way in our comprehensive free training, The Sustainable Success Starter Kit. https://www.wholecomedia.com/starter-kit Always know what to post with Not Another List of Content Prompts. https://www.wholecomedia.com/content-prompts-podcast Clearly express who you help and how so that you can confidently showcase what makes you and your work unique everywhere that you’re marketing and selling your stuff with The Aligned Niche. https://wholecomedia.com/aligned-niche-podcast Learn about our comprehensive business training program, EXPAND. This program is for online service providers, coaches, and practitioners who have already seen some success in business but are now ready to expand their business-building acumen, trust themselves as the leader of their business, and build their business, their way. https://www.wholecomedia.com/expand Join our community inside the Big-hearted Entrepreneurs Facebook group: facebook.com/groups/wholeco Know someone who would love this episode? I'd be honored if you'd send it to them.

Look around the online business world and you’ll see that most people are un/consciously defining “success” as “making the most amount of money, in the least amount of time, doing the least amount of work.” I remember the early days of my business, thinking that there was something wrong with me since I didn’t make “6 figures in 6 months.” I mean, heck, I barely even made 5 figures in my first 12 months (I ended the year having made about $14k…and yes, that was working full time in my business). Thankfully by the time that I was hearing messages about how you can “build a million dollar business in 3 years” — and my third year in business was “only” my first 6-figure year — I had begun extricating myself from the pervasive online business culture that I now call Speedy Success, and was able to truly celebrate and appreciate the long-worked-for 6-figure accomplishment. As I look back now with the benefit of 5 years experience at the helm of WholeCo, I honestly have so much gratitude for the fact that my growth has been, by many definitions, slow. Because the truth is, if I had risen to meteoric success like I thought I “should” be able to in those first couple years of business, I’m almost certain that I would have ended up burning out, breaking down, and very likely also deciding to burn everything down. My slow growth has been a gift. And in today’s episode of The Sustainable Success Podcast, I invite you to relish in the generosity, expansiveness, and beauty of “slow” growth as I share some of the benefits I’ve found in growing more “slowly” than is so often sold as the “goal pace” in this online industry. Tune in today to episode 009 - The Benefits of Slow Growth in Your Online Business. (If you’ve already listened, I’d love to hear your answer to that question I ask at the end 😉) If you are loving this podcast, please take a moment to give us a review! You can do so right here in the app you're listening on, or at RateThisPodcast.com/sustainablesuccess — be sure to let us know what you loved most about this episode, so that we can publish more like it! If you haven't already done so, subscribe or follow The Sustainable Success Podcast so that you can be notified every time we release a new episode taking you behind the scenes of what it really takes to build a business that brings you as much joy as it does revenue. Discover how to build your business, your way in our comprehensive free training, The Sustainable Success Starter Kit. https://www.wholecomedia.com/starter-kit Always know what to post with Not Another List of Content Prompts. https://www.wholecomedia.com/content-prompts-podcast Clearly express who you help and how so that you can confidently showcase what makes you and your work unique everywhere that you’re marketing and selling your stuff with The Aligned Niche. https://wholecomedia.com/aligned-niche-podcast Learn about our comprehensive business training program, EXPAND. This program is for online service providers, coaches, and practitioners who have already seen some success in business but are now ready to expand their business-building acumen, trust themselves as the leader of their business, and build their business, their way. https://www.wholecomedia.com/expand Join our community inside the Big-hearted Entrepreneurs Facebook group: facebook.com/groups/wholeco Know someone who would love this episode? I'd be honored if you'd send it to them.

If you’re thinking about making an annual plan for your business, I’ll probably recommend that you don’t. Of course, I love me some nuance, so here’s what I mean: If you have NOT… …then annual planning is more than likely NOT something worth investing your time and energy in right now. (And that’s a great thing!) Which means: for MOST of our clients here at WholeCo, annual planning makes absolutely no sense. I share why in this episode of The Sustainable Success Podcast—episode 008 Permission slip to skip annual planning—as well as the 3 things I recommend you do instead. When I’ve had this conversation with clients, they consistently walk away feeling SO MUCH FREER to just run their business as they want to, without being burdened by the weight of a big ol’ plan. I want that for you, too. Which is why I invite you to tune in today to this conversation. If you are loving this podcast, please take a moment to give us a review! You can do so right here in the app you're listening on, or at RateThisPodcast.com/sustainablesuccess — be sure to let us know what you loved most about this episode, so that we can publish more like it! If you haven't already done so, subscribe or follow The Sustainable Success Podcast so that you can be notified every time we release a new episode taking you behind the scenes of what it really takes to build a business that brings you as much joy as it does revenue. Discover how to build your business, your way in our comprehensive free training, The Sustainable Success Starter Kit. https://www.wholecomedia.com/starter-kit Always know what to post with Not Another List of Content Prompts. https://www.wholecomedia.com/content-prompts-podcast Clearly express who you help and how so that you can confidently showcase what makes you and your work unique everywhere that you’re marketing and selling your stuff with The Aligned Niche. https://wholecomedia.com/aligned-niche-podcast Learn about our comprehensive business training program, EXPAND. This program is for online service providers, coaches, and practitioners who have already seen some success in business but are now ready to expand their business-building acumen, trust themselves as the leader of their business, and build their business, their way. https://www.wholecomedia.com/expand Join our community inside the Big-hearted Entrepreneurs Facebook group: facebook.com/groups/wholeco Know someone who would love this episode? I'd be honored if you'd send it to them.

I was in tears as I planned out todays episode of The Sustainable Success Podcast. Mostly because when I look back at this past year and see, really see, just how difficult it was, I can’t help but be so proud of my 1-year-younger self who moved through this year and handled each and every one of these things to the absolute best of her ability. There were so many moments throughout this past year that I questioned why everything was so hard. There were so many moments where I asked myself or a select few people close to me why the heck YET ANOTHER HARD THING was happening. There were so many moments where I could have chosen to give up. To throw in the towel. To just collapse under the weight of feelings of powerlessness to change the myriad of difficult situations I found myself in. And you know what I did instead? I kept going. Not in a “grin and bear it” way. Heck no. I was too exhausted for the pretenses that would require. But rather in a way that continually allowed me to honor the business—and the life—that I had right then, and then, and then, and then, and in every single moment. (Instead of doing what my angsty teenager self wanted, which was just to “be there already” and for it to “just be easy, FINALLY”) I share my practice for honoring the business you have today in this episode. The practice that I’ve used again, and again, and again throughout this past really-freaking-tough year. As you think about the year that’s ahead…just a few days away if you’re reading this when this episode first came out…a time that is SO filled with thinking about “where you want to be” and “what you want to create,” I invite you to begin by honoring the business you currently have. Tune in to episode 007 (the James Bond episode? lol) of The Sustainable Success Podcast today. I truly believe you’re in for a treat with this one 💛 Thanks for listening. If you are loving this podcast, please take a moment to give us a review! You can do so right here in the app you're listening on, or at RateThisPodcast.com/sustainablesuccess — be sure to let us know what you loved most about this episode, so that we can publish more like it! If you haven't already done so, subscribe or follow The Sustainable Success Podcast so that you can be notified every time we release a new episode taking you behind the scenes of what it really takes to build a business that brings you as much joy as it does revenue. Discover how to build your business, your way in our comprehensive free training, The Sustainable Success Starter Kit. https://www.wholecomedia.com/starter-kit Always know what to post with Not Another List of Content Prompts. https://www.wholecomedia.com/content-prompts-podcast Clearly express who you help and how so that you can confidently showcase what makes you and your work unique everywhere that you’re marketing and selling your stuff with The Aligned Niche. https://wholecomedia.com/aligned-niche-podcast Learn about our comprehensive business training program, EXPAND. This program is for online service providers, coaches, and practitioners who have already seen some success in business but are now ready to expand their business-building acumen, trust themselves as the leader of their business, and build their business, their way. https://www.wholecomedia.com/expand Join our community inside the Big-hearted Entrepreneurs Facebook group: facebook.com/groups/wholeco Know someone who would love this episode? I'd be honored if you'd send it to them.