The Complete Creative

As a creative entrepreneur, success is about so much more than how your business is doing.
My friend Anne Miller and I took this conversation to the trail—literally. I’m pushing my grandson in the stroller, we’re getting a little winded on the hills, and we’re talking about how much our definitions of success have changed over the years.
We talk about money, health, relationships, creative work, business, getting older, and how easy it is to keep working toward something simply because you used to want it.
Sometimes that feeling that something is a little off is worth paying attention to. Maybe you’ve outgrown a goal. Maybe your priorities have changed. Or maybe it’s simply time to get clearer about what you want now.
We also talk about being happy with what you’ve created while still wanting more—and making small recalibrations as you go instead of assuming you have to change everything.
If you’re building a creative business, this is a chance to zoom out from the usual measures of success and think about the whole thing: What do I want my life to look like, and how do I want my creative work to fit into it?
 
We also mention my conversation with Allie Kuhland about Human Design and creative work:
⁠Listen to Human Design & Creative Work with Allie Kuhland
 
Connect with Anne Miller:
https://www.rethinkingsuccess.life/
 
→ If you're ready to work in seasons but aren't sure how it could be possible for you, schedule a Work Your Way Breakthrough call with Brie HERE.
 
This episode is part of the Work Your Way Summer Series — a collection of conversations about rethinking work, creativity, and the way you move through your days. Explore the full series: www.creativemindscoach.com/podcast/work-your-way-summer-series

What if your business didn’t have to look the same all year long?
I’m sitting outside at what we affectionately call the “swing set sanctuary” with my friend and fellow coach Kolette Hall for a conversation about doing business in seasons—and giving yourself permission to build work around the life you actually want.
Kolette has intentionally created a business that changes with the seasons of her life. For her, summer means something very specific: Long Live Summer. She steps away from much of her regular marketing, pauses her newsletter and podcast, keeps a small number of client calls she genuinely enjoys, and creates more room for reading, family, travel, reflection, and simply being.
And her business still works.
We talk about what it takes to trust a way of working that might look different from what everyone else is doing—and why experimenting is such an important part of figuring out what actually works for you.
Because building a creative business isn’t about getting everything exactly right the first time. You get to try things, pay attention, make little course corrections, and keep walking toward the work and life you want.
In this conversation, Kolette and I talk about:
What it means to do business in seasons instead of working the same way 365 days a year
Why Kolette intentionally created a referral-based coaching business
How she experimented her way into her “Long Live Summer” approach
Letting go of the idea that consistency always means doing more
Creating a life-first business based on what you actually want
Paying attention when something in your business just doesn’t feel like a fit anymore
Why your business can keep working even when you’re not constantly marketing
Giving yourself permission to change something that worked before but doesn’t work now
Dreaming bigger before you know exactly how you’ll make it happen
Finding support that helps you keep walking toward what you want
One of my favorite questions from this conversation is ridiculously simple: What if you could?
What if you could take the time off? What if your business could work differently? What if you could build your schedule around your creativity, your family, your adventures, or whatever matters most to you?
You don’t have to know exactly how yet.
Maybe you just get to start walking toward it.
Long Live Summer.
 
Connect with Kolette Hall:
⁠kolettehall.com
 
→ If you're ready to work in seasons but aren't sure how it could be possible for you, schedule a Work Your Way Breakthrough call with Brie HERE.
 
This episode is part of the Work Your Way Summer Series — a collection of conversations about rethinking work, creativity, and the way you move through your days. Explore the full series: www.creativemindscoach.com/podcast/work-your-way-summer-series

Katie Pulsifer spent years being the kind of employee every company wants.
High-achieving. Trusted. Loyal. The person you put on the important project because she will figure it out and get it done.
Then, one day, it was over.
The job she loved ended unexpectedly, and suddenly the identity that had served her so well for decades didn’t fit the business she was building next.
In this episode of The Complete Creative, I’m joined by Katie Pulsifer, master certified life coach and creator of the Golden Coaching Certification, for a conversation about what it looks like to stop following business advice just because it’s popular and start paying attention to how you actually work best.
Katie shares how she moved from a long career in fashion, product development, and corporate leadership into coaching, then spent five years helping grow The Life Coach School before returning to her own business at 55.
And yes, she tried ALL the things.
Facebook ads. Webinars. Freebies. Software. Hiring too soon. There are apparently stacks of old course binders in a closet, which made me feel much better about every business experiment I’ve ever quietly abandoned.
What Katie discovered is that her business grows through something much more natural to her: conversations with real people.
She builds through connection, relationships, thank-you notes, cheering people on, and asking herself who she wants to “put love on” that day.
We also talk about how to tell the difference between something feeling uncomfortable because it’s new and a genuine full-body no, why data matters when you’re deciding what to keep or release, and what happened when Katie stopped trying to force herself into the “do one thing” rule and embraced multiple revenue streams instead.
This episode is part of my Work Your Way Summer Series, and I love Katie as an example of what’s possible. You do not need to copy her business. You don’t need to quit Instagram or start a Substack.
But you can start asking better questions about your own.
In this episode, we talk about:
The identity shift from exceptional employee to entrepreneur
The difference between a skill gap and a mindset gap
What Katie learned from business strategies that didn’t work for her
Why conversations and connection became the foundation of her business
How she decides what to keep, change, or let go
Why Instagram was a full-body no and Substack became a full-body yes
The value of shedding the “beginner” identity
Why “do one thing” isn’t the right advice for everyone
Using values, data, and self-trust to make business decisions
Connect with Katie
⁠Visit Katie Pulsifer Coaching
Katie also has a short reflection quiz on her website for those moments when you know you’re meant for more but can’t quite put language around what that is yet. She personally sends back a voice memo with her reflections on your answers—which feels VERY on brand for this whole conversation.
⁠Read You Are Golden on Substack
Mentioned in this episode
We talk about trusting those full-body yeses and nos in your business. If that piece made your ears perk up, listen to my conversation with Allie Kuhland about Human Design and creative work:
⁠Listen to the Human Design episode
 
→ If you're ready for work to feel different but aren't sure how it could be possible for you, schedule a Work Your Way Breakthrough call with Brie HERE.
 
This episode is part of the Work Your Way Summer Series — a collection of conversations about rethinking work, creativity, and the way you move through your days. Explore the full series: www.creativemindscoach.com/podcast/work-your-way-summer-series

Building a business can feel surprisingly lonely, especially when you're trying to figure everything out on your own.
 
We could spend so much time looking for the next strategy, marketing tactic, or productivity hack that we forget one of the most valuable assets we have as creatives: the people around us.
In this episode of The Complete Creative, I'm joined by Brian Thompson, who co-founded the CreativeMornings Austin chapter and now serves as Content Manager for the global CreativeMornings community. Through his work creating social media content and the weekly newsletter, Brian has a front-row seat to the power of creative communities around the world. We talk about why the relationships you build can shape your creative work, your confidence, and the opportunities that come your way.
Brian shares how CreativeMornings has created a space where thousands of creatives have found connection, encouragement, collaboration, and unexpected opportunities simply by showing up. We also talk about curiosity, following the energy, and why meaningful relationships often become the catalyst for our best work.
If you've ever felt like you have to build your business by yourself, this conversation is your reminder that you don't have to.
In this episode, we talk about:
Why community is one of the most valuable investments you can make in your creative business
What makes CreativeMornings such a powerful space for connection and collaboration
How simply showing up can lead to opportunities you never could have planned
The difference between networking and building genuine relationships
Why curiosity creates more opportunities than having all the answers
How following the energy can shape both your creative work and your business
Why the people you surround yourself with influence the work you create
Mentioned in this episode:
CreativeMornings: https://www.creativemornings.com/
Brian's coworking community, Stoke the Coals: https://stokethecoals.com/
Connect with Brian on Instagram
Artist and longtime CreativeMornings Austin visual storyteller Ami Plasse: https://www.gonzoviz.com/amitaiplasseartist
A special shout-out to Ami Plasse, whose live visual storytelling has become such a memorable part of the CreativeMornings Austin experience. His work is incredible, and I highly encourage you to check it out.
Brian and I also touch on an idea that's become a recurring theme throughout the Work Your Way Summer Series: money is energy. If that part of the conversation caught your attention, be sure to listen to my conversation with Crystal Hiatsma, where we explore how your relationship with money shapes the way you work, create, and grow.
 
→ If you're ready for work to feel different but aren't sure how it could be possible for you, schedule a Work Your Way Breakthrough call with Brie HERE.
 
This episode is part of the Work Your Way Summer Series — a collection of conversations about rethinking work, creativity, and the way you move through your days. Explore the full series: www.creativemindscoach.com/podcast/work-your-way-summer-series

What changes when you start treating your nervous system as part of your business strategy?
 
In this episode of The Complete Creative, I’m joined by nervous system coach and educator Leah Davidson as part of my Work Your Way series. We’re talking about how nervous system regulation affects the way creative entrepreneurs make decisions, handle uncertainty, respond to stress, and keep moving forward without letting pressure take over.
Creative entrepreneurship asks a lot of us. We share personal work, make decisions without guaranteed outcomes, try unfamiliar things, invest in ideas, and regularly move beyond what feels comfortable. When that pressure builds, it can show up as procrastination, fear of being seen, difficulty making decisions, resistance to investing, or the feeling that something must be wrong with us.
Leah offers a more compassionate and practical way to understand what’s happening. These reactions may not be signs that you’re unmotivated or incapable. They may be signs that your nervous system is trying to protect you.
In this conversation, Leah explains why regulation does not mean feeling calm all the time. A healthy nervous system gives you the flexibility to experience activation, emotion, creativity, and uncertainty without becoming completely overwhelmed or shutting down.
We also talk about how stress from your business can spill into the rest of your life, why your body often notices dysregulation before your mind does, and how to recognize the “yellow lights” that signal it may be time to pause.
Those signs might include:
Thought spirals or rumination
Frustration that appears more quickly than usual
Tension, a racing heart, or changes in your breathing
Becoming short, sarcastic, or reactive
Feeling like one more thing cannot go wrong
Avoiding visibility, decisions, or opportunities
Physical symptoms that become louder during stress
 
Leah also shares her three-step Safety Sequence, a simple practice that helps bring your brain and body back into communication.
 
You’ll learn:
Why your nervous system can act like the CEO behind your business decisions
How uncertainty and unpredictability affect creative entrepreneurs
Why procrastination and fear of being seen may be protective responses
How nervous system challenges can spill into your relationships and personal life
The difference between stress reduction and stress resilience
Why trying to think your way into calm does not always work
How the brain and body communicate through the nervous system
Why regulation practices work best when you use them before a stressful moment
How to respond with more agency, clarity, and intention
What to do after you react in a way that does not feel aligned
Leah is a nervous system coach and educator, a speech-language pathologist with 27 years of experience in traumatic brain injury, and the host of the Building Resilience podcast. She also offers advanced nervous system resilience training for coaches, therapists, and helping professionals, along with Resilient Brilliance journals and mental health stationery.
Connect with Leah
⁠Learn more about Leah Davidson and her nervous system work
⁠Explore Leah’s Resilient Brilliance journals
 
Listen to Leah’s Building Resilience podcast through her website or your favorite podcast platform.
 
→ If you're ready for work to feel different but aren't sure how it could be possible for you, schedule a Work Your Way Breakthrough call with Brie HERE.
 
This episode is part of the Work Your Way Summer Series — a collection of conversations about rethinking work, creativity, and the way you move through your days. Explore the full series: www.creativemindscoach.com/podcast/work-your-way-summer-series
 

What if your relationship with money isn’t actually about money?
What if the way you check your bank account, receive payment, spend money, talk about numbers, or feel pressure to “make it happen” is showing you something deeper about safety, self-worth, shame, receiving, and trust?
This is another episode in the Work Your Way series, and I’m talking with certified life coach Crystal Hiatsma about rethinking your relationship with money as a creative entrepreneur.
Crystal brings such a grounded, expansive perspective to this conversation. We talk about money as energy, money as a mirror, and how the way we relate to money often reflects something deeper about safety, self-worth, shame, receiving, control, and trust.
Instead of treating money as something to force, fix, or fear, Crystal invites us to notice what money brings up in our bodies and beliefs. Those little money activations — checking your bank account, spending money, receiving money, talking about numbers, or feeling pressure to “make it happen” — can become clues. Not because anything is wrong with you, but because your relationship with money may be showing you where there is more room for healing, openness, and self-trust.
In this episode, we talk about:
Why money can feel so emotionally charged
How money mirrors our beliefs about safety, worthiness, productivity, and belonging
The connection between money, love, receiving, and shame
Why the energy behind your actions matters in business
How nervous system regulation can support money work
What money triggers can reveal about subconscious beliefs
Why “hard work equals money” may not be the whole story
How money can flow through us in ways that support our lives and communities
What it can look like to bring more creativity, openness, and possibility into your relationship with money
This conversation is an invitation to look at money differently. Not as something that has to be heavy or stressful all the time, but as a relationship you can bring curiosity, compassion, and even a little more fun into.
Because how you’ve been taught to think about money is only one way.
Mentioned in this episode:
Crystal’s Instagram: @its.crystal.noel
Crystal’s retreat: https://www.coachcrystal.ca/retreat
 
→ If you're ready for work to feel different but aren't sure how it could be possible for you, schedule a Work Your Way Breakthrough call with Brie HERE.
 
This episode is part of the Work Your Way Summer Series — a collection of conversations about rethinking work, creativity, and the way you move through your days. Explore the full series: www.creativemindscoach.com/podcast/work-your-way-summer-series

We’ve all been taught to manage our time.
The planner. The habit tracker. The perfectly color-coded calendar. Very cute. Very organized. Sometimes even helpful.
But for creative entrepreneurs, there’s something even more important to pay attention to: your energy.
In this episode of The Complete Creative, I’m talking about one of my foundational beliefs: your energy is one of your greatest business assets. We’ve been taught to optimize our schedules, track our habits, and squeeze more into our calendars, but that can easily become the wrong focus.
Instead of asking, “How do I get more done?” I want to ask a better question: “How can I design my work around the way my energy actually moves?”
I’m sharing the Creative Compass framework and focusing on two powerful pieces: aligning your energy and designing your rhythm. I’ll walk you through how this has looked in my own life as I’ve shifted into full-time travel, adjusted my workweek, created Me Monday, and learned to protect the energy that helps my business thrive.
In this episode, I’m talking about:
Why your energy may be a more important business asset than your time
How the Creative Compass framework helps you clarify your vision, anchor your identity, align your energy, and design your rhythm
Why designing your calendar before understanding your energy can keep you stuck
How I redesigned my workweek around travel, marriage, creativity, coaching, and rest
The difference between work that energizes you and work that drains you
Why creative entrepreneurs do not have to follow a traditional Monday-Friday schedule
How to ask better questions about time, work, environment, capacity, and life
Why protecting your creative energy can help your business grow in a more sustainable way
This episode is an invitation to stop forcing yourself into systems that were never built for you and start becoming a student of your own energy. Because when your work supports your life, your business gets to become lighter, clearer, and more extraordinary.
Mentioned in this episode:
The Creative Compass framework
The Work Your Way series
Human Design and Creative Work with Allie Kuhland
 
→ If you're ready for work to feel different but aren't sure how it could be possible for you, schedule a Work Your Way Breakthrough call with Brie HERE.
 
This episode is part of the Work Your Way Summer Series — a collection of conversations about rethinking work, creativity, and the way you move through your days. Explore the full series: www.creativemindscoach.com/podcast/work-your-way-summer-series
 
 
 

Have you ever caught yourself thinking, “Maybe I just need a better system, more discipline, more clients, or a vacation”—only to discover that the heaviness is still there?
In this episode, I’m exploring something many creatives and business owners experience but rarely stop to examine: the difference between work that is hard and work that feels heavy.
Hard work can be meaningful. It’s often where growth, learning, and creativity happen. But heaviness is different. It lingers. It follows you when you’re away from your desk. It drains your energy and keeps pulling at your attention.
Instead of rushing to fix it, what if the heaviness is offering valuable information?
In this episode, I share how to recognize when you’re reaching for quick fixes, why your brain wants immediate answers, and the questions that can help you uncover what’s really happening beneath the surface. If you’ve been feeling overwhelmed, misaligned, overcommitted, or simply tired of pushing harder, this conversation offers a different approach.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
The difference between hard work and heavy work
Why “working harder” isn’t always the answer
Common bypass fixes that keep us stuck
How expectations, misalignment, and worry can create heaviness
Questions to help you identify the real source of overwhelm
Why heaviness is information, not failure
How small shifts can create more lightness in your work and business
 
→ If you're ready for work to feel different but aren't sure how it could be possible for you, schedule a Work Your Way Breakthrough call with Brie HERE.
 
This episode is part of the Work Your Way Summer Series — a collection of conversations about rethinking work, creativity, and the way you move through your days. Explore the full series: www.creativemindscoach.com/podcast/work-your-way-summer-series

What IF the primary purpose of your business isn't to serve the world, it's to make you rich? And, service is just the byproduct?
That's the kind of assumption-flipping you hear from Amber Smith, my coach and the author of Quiet Wealth, who joins me this week to talk about what she calls a "right-sized" business — one built around what you actually want, instead of what scaling culture told you to want. Amber shares the moment she sat in a room full of entrepreneurs planning their company exits and realized she didn't want one — she wanted to know her clients' names, not just their account numbers. I share my own version of that: deciding I needed a "me Monday," immediately judging myself for it ("who takes a full day during the "work week" to do whatever they want?"), and then realizing that day isn't selfish — it's the seed for everything I create the rest of the week.
We also get into the practical side: how "the math has to math" — what you charge has to actually fund the life you want, on the hours you actually want to work. And how an energy audit (looking at what gives you energy versus what drains it) can show you what to keep, change, or hand off entirely.
One of my favorite moments was when Amber said: "It's good for the world when you get what you want." That idea has stayed with me since we recorded.
In this episode, we talk about:
What a right-sized business actually means, and why it looks different for everyone
Building your business around your life — instead of shaping your life around your business
Why "the math has to math": pricing and working hours that actually fund the life you want
Using an energy audit to spot what's draining you and what's worth doing more of
Why experimentation (and noticing dread) is often how you find clarity
Defining success on your own terms — and why that number is different for everyone
→ If you're ready for work to feel different but aren't sure how it could be possible for you, schedule a Work Your Way Breakthrough call with Brie HERE.
 
This episode is part of the Work Your Way Summer Series — a collection of conversations about rethinking work, creativity, and the way you move through your days. Explore the full series: www.creativemindscoach.com/podcast/work-your-way-summer-series

What if the reason work feels harder than it should isn’t because you’re doing it wrong?
What if you’ve simply been trying to work in a way that doesn’t fit who you are?
Many creative professionals spend years chasing productivity, pushing through burnout, and trying to follow someone else’s formula for success. We tell ourselves we just need to be more disciplined, more organized, or more consistent. But what if the real issue isn’t effort—it’s alignment?
In this episode of the Work Your Way Summer Series, I’m joined by high-performance coach and Human Design expert Allie Kuhland for a conversation about energy, burnout, decision-making, and why understanding your natural wiring can completely change the way you approach work.
Allie shares how Human Design helped her recover from burnout and create a more sustainable relationship with work. Together, we explore how understanding the way you’re designed to make decisions, use energy, and contribute your gifts can help you stop forcing productivity and start creating a way of working that feels more natural, effective, and fulfilling.
Whether you’re building a business, navigating a career transition, leading a team, or simply wondering why work feels harder than it should, this conversation offers a fresh perspective on what becomes possible when you stop trying to fit someone else’s mold and start paying attention to how you’re uniquely designed to operate.
In This Episode We Discuss:
What Human Design is and how it works
The five Human Design types and how they approach work differently
Why burnout often happens when we’re working against our natural strengths
How Human Design can help you make better decisions
The difference between forcing productivity and creating alignment
Using Human Design in business, leadership, creativity, and entrepreneurship
How understanding your energy can improve both your work and your life
Signs that your current way of working may no longer fit you
Why success doesn’t have to come at the expense of your well-being
Questions We Explore in This Episode
What is Human Design?
Why does work feel harder for some people than others?
Can Human Design help prevent burnout?
How do the five Human Design types approach work differently?
How can entrepreneurs use Human Design in business?
What does it mean to work in a way that fits your natural strengths?
How do you know when you’re working against yourself?
Is there a more sustainable way to build success?
One of the core ideas behind the Work Your Way Summer Series is that there isn’t one right way to work.
You have more agency than you think.
Working your way doesn’t mean avoiding hard work or escaping responsibility. It means discovering how to do your work on your terms within the life you’ve chosen.
This conversation is an invitation to question inherited assumptions about productivity, success, and work—and to explore what becomes possible when you start working in a way that fits who you are.
Explore the Work Your Way Summer Series
This episode is part of the Work Your Way Summer Series on The Complete Creative Podcast—a collection of conversations exploring a simple but powerful question:
What if work could feel better?
Through conversations with coaches, authors, entrepreneurs, creatives, psychologists, and thought leaders, we’re exploring how to build a healthier, more sustainable, and more aligned relationship with work.Read more about this episode here:
https://creativemindscoach.com/post/human-design-creative-work-allie-kuhland
 
→ If you're ready for work to feel different but aren't sure how it could be possible for you, schedule a Work Your Way Breakthrough call with Brie HERE.
 
This episode is part of the Work Your Way Summer Series — a collection of conversations about rethinking work, creativity, and the way you move through your days. Explore the full series: www.creativemindscoach.com/podcast/work-your-way-summer-series
About Allie Kuhland
Allie Kuhland is a high-performance coach and former sales leader who blends Human Design with practical business strategy to help people build careers, businesses, and lives they’re excited to wake up to.
Website: www.alliekuhland.com